Originally Posted by trinculo
The last few times I've been to Vegas I've been offered a lot of discounted shows, meals, etc. in exchange for attending a timeshare presentation. I've steered clear of them based entirely on that one episode of The Simpsons where they can't get out of a timeshare presentation.
It's not nearly that bad.
I'll probably be going to Vegas again this month, and I'm curious whether there are actual good deals to be had by attending these presentations, and how painful they are. Note that I'm not interested in actually buying a timeshare, and would only be attending to get discounts or points or whatever.
We are locals, we make a habit of attending them if the schedule works for us and the reward is good enough. Currently there's only one in town that I'm aware of that we aren't ineligible for due to having attended too recently.
- What actually goes on in one?
They try to hawk a timeshare. The general format is a movie or other general presentation followed by a one-on-one sales pitch.
- How many other people are typically in one? Is it a one-on-one sales pitch, or are you with a group of other people?
I've seen 20 to 100 people.
[quotue]- Will you get the discount, points, whatever if you make it clear you're not interested in the timeshare and are only sitting through it to get whatever it is you're getting?[/quote]
They have to give you whatever was promised.
We always play it by simply turning down whatever they are trying to sell.
- How long do they last? Seems like the average is about 1.5 to 2 hrs based on some other threads I've read on FT
They'll say 90 minutes. The reality is more like 2 hours. Note that once when one ran long we simply pointed out a conflicting schedule and left--and got our rewards.
- What's the best thing you've gotten out of attending one?
$100 in general-use gift cards. Closely followed by $100 in Home Depot gift cards. We've also gotten $135 in food once. Note that as locals we are more likely to be offered cash or near-cash than things like show tickets. Tourists are more likely to be offered show tickets. You *MIGHT* be able to negotiate a bit.
- Are there certain hotels or places to go in Vegas where you'll get the best stuff for attending a presentation?
They generally call us (in-state calls, the federal do-not-call does not apply) so I can't comment on the hotels. We have only gotten one presentation from a hotel.
- Are there certain presentations that you've had bad experiences with?
Other than being disgusted with obvious lies from the salesmen, no. Assume they are lying through their teeth and do not buy no matter how good it looks.
In evaluating what the presentation is worth look at things with a very critical eye. The vacations are garbage. We've never tried to book one so I don't know the details but I do know they consider the value to be basically $0. We count as value only things which are totally clear. A show ticket is a show ticket (note: the seats will be bad), a gift card is a gift card (be sure you know where it's for.) Food is food if you like the place. Gambling is worthless. (Don't value it on the expected winnings of betting that much. They restrict you to betting it in very poor circumstances.) Assume no value in anything where you don't know exactly what you'll get (including show tickets--if you don't know what show it's going to be a garbage show. Also one of or x of a list of prizes is garbage.)