Something for Nothing

The news is very clear about the state of our economy, we are going the wrong way. The cost of gas is off the charts and with the merging of the major airlines, there will be fewer routes scheduled which means the planes will be full and the prices will be high.

So for those of us who consider vacationing a priority and an absolute necessity in order to fight of the stress brought on by working for a living, the outlook is bleak. In fact I would venture a guess that heading into the travel season, we will spend more on gas in July and August than we spent on our whole Orlando vacation as recently as a few years ago. It is disheartening…but not hopeless.

As a consumer we feel the crunch of a tough economy every time we leave the house. We feel it at the pump, we feel it at the grocery store, we even feel it when we notice that the prices at our local pizza place just went up. Because of this ever-present strain on our wallets, it is easy to forget that with the exception of the big oil companies and banks (who seem to always be operating in the black) businesses are feeling the crunch too. That is why it is the best possible time to get something for nothing or very close too it. When Business are in a bind, what is the one true constant? A big sale will bring in buyers, even in the driest of times. The timeshare industry is not different. This is the easiest time and the most important time to stretch your vacation dollar and the absolute most value possible.

The standard operating procedure for a timeshare company is to offer the customer an amazing deal for peanuts. In exchange for this amazing deal, the customer agrees to spend 90 minutes hearing about their timeshare program. The hope for the timeshare developer is that the prospective owner will see enough value in vacation ownership to want to buy. The problem with this program in times like this is that the number of prospects who are in a position to take a vacation is smaller. So the importance of making sure that everyone who comes in contact with one of their marketing efforts take advantage of it and ends up in their showroom is greater than ever. So as a person who wants to take a vacation this year, you are asking yourself “okay, what does this have to do with me”? The answer is simple, if a 3 day 2 night stay in Las Vegas was not enough incentive to entice to into the timeshare sales office, how about 3 days 2 nights in Las Vegas for $49 and we will throw in 2 show tickets? Or maybe you are already in Las Vegas and you 2 free tickets to see “Viva Las Vegas” aren’t enough to peek your interest, what about 2 tickets to see Cirque du Soliel, or 4 tickets. Maybe you are not a Las Vegas person, how does 4 days in Orlando and 4 free tickets to Disney or Universal Studios, excited yet? What about spending some time in Hollywood California or Napa Valley, can you almost taste the merlot? The point here is that is the world of timeshare promotional vacations, it is a blue light special everyday and when timeshare are tough they timeshare developers are willing to do awful lot to get some time to talk with you.

I know, the hang up with this is that people are often “concerned” that they are using these companies to get something for free when they have no interest in buying a timeshare. But let’s be honest do you think the people a Coca Cola get upset if not every single person who sees one of their commercials runs out and buys a Coke? Let me put your mind at rest, almost no one has plans of buying a timeshare until after they take part in a timeshare presentation. In addition, for the most part those people walk out of the timeshare tour and do not buy, which is fine. The good men and women who run the marketing departments at all timeshare companies know that 8 out of nine people who set foot on at timeshare floor will walk out without a purchase. But, these prospective timeshare owners will have seen a new idea and if the salesperson did a good job, they had a wonderful time and there is a pretty good chance that, they will take another tour in the future and if things change, they just might buy a timeshare. What the executives in the timeshare industry also know is that is 8 out of 9 prospects don’t buy, that means 1 out of 9 does and that is enough to make the timeshare world keep turning. So maybe you are one of the eight and if so that is okay, but as a wise man once said, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and maybe once you know, you will not one of the eight!