Is this one of the packages where you are required to attend the sales pitch?

At most, you are in for an hour and a half presentation. At the end of the presentation, tell them you aren't interested in purchasing and that will be the end of it. (And make sure you do tell them you aren't interested in purchasing at the sales pitch .. if you really are interested, read all of Dave M's posts above.)

Marriott's sales techniques are very low keyed compared to everybody else in the industry.

Last July, I did a private trade, trading my timeshare for a Maui week. At Maui, we signed up for the tour to get the 15k MR points. We looked at the model, got some information on trading in our equity for a new unit, got a price sheet, some brochures and then the salesman asked me if I might be interested. I told him, that we weren't. He thanked me for not wasting any more of his time, and that was the end of it.

We also took the Starwood tour at the Westin for 7.5k SPG points, where they have sales headquarters for new timeshare developement at the far end of Kaanapali. After getting all the information, I let them know that I wasn't interested, and even so, they still brought the closer into the room, and push they did, very hard, in fact. It was not very nice compared to Marriott, and many of the sales people there are ex-Marriott timeshare salespeople from Kauai (we recognized some of them).

An interesting question to ask the sales people is what there closing rate is. Marriott claimed they sell to 1 in 3. The Starwood folks claimed 1 in 2, so if you can believe those numbers, I guess the sales pitches work for them. Fortunately, Hawaii has a very consumer friendly law so you can cancel the transaction within 7 days, if I'm remembering the numbers correctly.

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 11-08-2002).]