Pros & Cons of a Timeshare Presentation

Hubby and I have been timeshare owners for the past eight years. We originally bought our timeshare through Shell Vacations in Hawaii. At the time, my sister lived in Hawaii and we were visiting every year. The timeshare made sense to cut down on hotel costs. Now that we live in Virginia and have two kids, we haven’t been back to Hawaii. The nice thing is we trade our timeshare points to stay in other locations. This summer we are at the Shawnee resort in the Pocono Mountains- beautiful!

Even though we own a timeshare, we still get approached about the timeshare presentations. The companies offer an incentive for you to sit there and listen to their sales pitch. There are pros and cons for taking part in the presentation and we found the pros outweighed the cons this time!

Pros

The incentives can be well worth it. From free activities, to a free stay or cash money. This time we were offered $100 via American Express.
If you are truly interested in a timeshare, I suggest you listen to several presentations by different companies or do your research online. We went with the first one we heard back in Hawaii and we wish we would have gone a different route (although we are still happy with our points!).

Cons

Time out of your vacation. Most companies say that it is a 90 minute or less presentation. Make them stick to that! We have been in situations where it was much longer. This week it was only 70 minutes and we earned $100 in that time!
Have a discussion with your significant other before the presentation. Believe me, the timeshare sales people are good at what they do. They make it sound like you need to buy. If you don’t want to buy, make sure you have that discussion and you are prepared to say no.
You will probably be put on a call list for future promotions. Yes, those telemarketers will be calling.
They may run a credit report.

A timeshare presentation is not for everyone. We were strapped for cash this trip so it was perfect for us! We actually took that $100 and went straight to the grocery store. We bought our whole weeks worth of groceries (we splurged since we are on vacation!). So for this vacation, the only thing we are paying out of pocket for are the activities and the fuel for the car.

What do you think about timeshare presentations? Are they worth it or a waste of time?

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Renae Chiovaro

Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.