The Seminar

We were expecting to be sitting in a big room where there would be university lecture style. It wasn't! It was in a small dingy room with small round tables.

There was a certain buzz in the room where 'consultants' or sales people are explaining why they would benefit from their timeshare plan. At some points during appointment, I found it hard to hear!

The consultant sat us down, and began with the spiel:
How many Vacations do you go to a year?
Where do you go on Vacations?
How much do you spend on accommodations?
How many more years would you expect to travel for?

Then they walk over to a computer, plug in the data, out spits a number of how much you will spend on vacations for the remainder of your life. They claim that they are using conservative numbers (ie, the lower of the inflation rate range for hotels, etc.).

We were supposed to be wow'ed by the numbers!

Then they start to explain the timeshare cost. You get to choose how many points that you buy. You pay the fee outright, and you will receive the points every year towards a vacation. Their special was that if we bought that night, we could pay less money for more points. The deal was only if we had bought that night.

Then they work out a calculation to finance the fee over a 10 year period. They compare with our original number on how much we spend on accommodations over the 10 year period on vacations, and try to justify that within about six years, of the timeshare program, it would be paid off!

I guess there are opportunities to sell your timeshare as well if you don't want it anymore. PTP said that they would be able to help you sell. (I'm sure there's a fine print to selling or getting out of your timeshare).

Point to Point Destinations is a Group RCI Affiliate, therefore they have access to resorts and hotels around the world. The points that receive annual can be used towards any Group RCI Affiliate. I think if you book at least six months in advance, you use your full points. If you book within a shorter period, there's up to about 50% off the points. As with all hotels/resorts, seasonal points applies, where you need to use more points for using the resort in the high season (ie, Christmas holidays, summer holidays), but it depends on resort.

In addition to the one time fee there are annual fees as well (part of maintenance fees for the condo's and hotels). The kicker was fee for a catalog that they mail to you annually. Its a thick book that you need to search through to find your perfect vacation (spot).

Oh, there's more - every time you book, there's a booking fee. If you book for a week, then the week booking free applies. If less than a week, there's a lesser booking fee.

At this point, the consultant explains that if we buy today, and refer people to our seminar, we receive a referral fee that would cover part of the annual expenses. We asked if the 'friend' had to become a customer in order for us to receive the referral fee, and our consulting said that it was simply for referring a friend to the seminar - later on we found that that was not true, as your referral must sign up to become a PTP member for the referral fee.

We take a walk across the street to the Rosedale on Robson Hotel where PTP has one or two suites. Its an ok suite, on one of the higher floors. It had a great view of other Vancouver buildings. The view was probably the best part of the room!

We asked if the consultant was a member? He answered no, but he was going to be a member.

We go back to the PTP building and watch the RCI video. It shows their great vacation resorts along the beaches, golf, skiing, etc... Wow it is great to go on a vacation! My wife said to me, "ok, lets plan our next vacation!"

After realizing that about 120 minutes have past and that when we came they said it would be a 90 minute session, it was about time to wrap it up. They gave us some time to think about it.

I guess our general impressions:

• need to investigate further and think about it before dive into it. I don't believe that a 2 hour talk would convince me to write a check for about $15,000 and commit to annual fees for the rest of my life.
• I guess if wanted to buy a timeshare, it would be advisable to buy early in your life, so that you can enjoy and try the different resorts every year for the rest of your life
• I wanted to check out other timeshare programs such as Intrawest or others and find out what their deal was.
• I wasn't impressed with the room presentation - if they are selling high quality 4-5 star resorts, they can probably find a better room for a presentation.
• We thought the consultant was quite nice fellow and explained things ok.
  

The consultant came back in and asked us what we thought. Then he brought in the "closer". The lady which obviously comes in and closes the deal. She goes through the numbers again, and tries to do the hard sell! She tried to explain the difference between PTP and other Timeshare programs out there. She says, "usually people are gushing out of wanting to buy the timeshare after their presentation". She also indicated that over 50% of the people who attend the seminar actually becomes a member. TRUE or FALSE??? I doubt it!

Realizing that she wasting her time on us, she leaves the room. Another 'cool' relaxed guy comes in the room. He's the one with the parting gift. He asks us to sign a form to say that by leaving today's presentation, we will not be allowed to be receive another deal or discount for becoming a PTP member again for life!

The parting gift (two gifts actually): The gifts are from a company named Odenza.

1. You and one companion are entitled to round trip airfare from a select major Canadian international airport to Las Vegas, Nevada plus 2 nights of accommodations.

• Terms and Conditions:
• Check in is on a Monday or Tuesday. Travel is not permitted for 7 days before, after, on any State, Provincial or Federal Holiday.
• The recipient is responsible to pay for all expenses including, but not limited to: transfers, food, gratuities, all pertinent fees and taxes (airport, airline, hotel and processing) and miscellaneous expenses, where applicable. Once reservations are confirmed, a $50.00 Odenza service fee will be levied for all changes, cancellations or no shows, in addition to charges levied by the hotel, airline or travel service provider, if applicable.

2. Promotion Cruise Offer - Odenza - Ocean Adventure Bronze 2 for 1 with Carnival Cruises. Entitles one cruise passenger to a complimentary base cruise fare when a second passenger purchases a cruise fare at the Odenza 2 for 1 rate, which is at or below the Carnival Brochure "LIST" rate.

We'll keep posted of the registration procedure for the free gifts!
In the meantime, we got what we wanted - to learn about timeshare programs & our free trip to Vegas! ;)