Timeshare Sales Presentations: 3 Biggest Lies

Fifty timeshare owners were recently surveyed about their timeshare sales presentation experiences. Over 90% were given lies. Here are the top three:

1. "The time you purchase will trade for anything, anywhere, anytime."

Truth be told, exchanging can be very tricky. There is a complex system in place to determine the "trading power" between two resorts. Basically the system tries to match like units with like units. Owners of a peak season unit at one resort, can likely trade for a peak season unit at another resort. All "peak seasons," however, are not created equal. Your ability to exchange for what you want, when you want it is never certain.

Nearly half of the respondents felt they had been lied to regarding the exchanging or trading power of their home resort. Victims were told such lies as, "We have the highest demand of any timeshare in the system."

Nearly every timeshare has the ability to be exchanged for another. There are 3rd party networks of resorts which manage this process. Occasionally you can buy at a crumby resort and trade for a great one. This is by far the exception to the rule.

Exchanging can also be very expensive. One of the major timeshare exchange companies charges $250 to act as the middle-man in an exchange between two timeshare owners. This is about 25% of the price you'd pay to rent the unit.

2. "You can make money renting your unit."

Most timeshare owners must go into debt to purchase their timeshare from the developer. They go into debt so willingly because they are often told they can rent out their unit and actually make some extra money.

The problem is that timeshare owners generally have no idea how to effectively rent out their unit. The resort is more than happy with this situation as they usually provide a service to rent out the unit for the owner -- for a fee. This fee is typically around 35% of the rental price. And they don't guarantee a rental. If it doesn't rent, you're out of luck. This is definitely not a guarantee.

Every timeshare unit also comes with yearly maintenance fees. These fees cover upkeep and taxes at the home resort and range from $500-$1000 per unit per year. Often an aggressively-priced timeshare rental doesn't even cover these fees.

3. "This deal is only good for today."

This is a standard sales line if ever there was one. Creating a sense of urgency to get the sale is one of the oldest tricks in the book. This is a lie. You don't have to act today. The greatly overpriced timeshare will be available tomorrow as well. They will never refuse your money when there is so much commission on the line.

Even with all the unethical selling techniques, 97% of the respondents were happy with their home timeshare resort/network. One respondent summed it up when she said, "Most people just do not realize that using timeshares is such an affordable way to see the world!"

Timeshares are a great product if you know how to buy them and use them. A thriving timeshare resale market exists. You will rarely if ever get the best deal when you buy directly from the developer.