Free Vacations with Timeshare Presentations: What You Need to Know
Club Wyndham and Globex Timeshare Presentations Review
Overview of the Timeshare Presentation
Timeshare presentations can be a great strategy to secure vacation accommodations if done correctly. In January, I went to two Timeshare presentations and earned two certificates that cover 8 days/ 7 nights in a destination of my choice. This was no easy feat, I had to make sure that I was ready to say no to the offer regardless of what they were offering me. The second one almost got me.
I got the invites to these presentations by attending the Travel and Adventure Show in New York. Keep in mind you have to put down money to hold your post at the presentations but when you arrive they either give you it in cash or return it to your card.
Below is a summary of my experiences at Club Wyndham and Global Exchange (Globex).
Club Wyndham Timeshare Presentation, Free Vacation
This presentation was in Midtown East NYC. When you arrive, you are greeted by a receptionist who takes your information and helps you sign in. When I was at the travel show, the agent who signed me up, included a $50 gift card, so I was provided with that and the voucher for my 8-day/7-night vacation.
After signing in, you wait for your personal agent, who will be with you for your time at their office. The agent starts by asking for information about you and getting to know you before everyone who is signed up for your time slot gets ushered into a big room to do the presentation.
The presentation pushes you to think about vacations over the next few years and how you currently vacation. It wants you to consider taking more of your PTO while also considering how inflation will affect the cost of vacations over time. Then, it introduces its program, which is based on points, so it is inflation-proof.
Once the presentation ended, I went back to the office with my agent. She then continues to ask me questions about my travel style before presenting the cost.
Originally, they showed me a plan that was 200,000 points costing $63,000 with a $8,000 deposit. Which was crazy! I do not know how they expect people to just drop that kind of money randomly. They then lowered it to $23,000 with 126,000 points and my monthly payments would be around $350 a month. The deposit would be $4,000. They tried to tell me I could do $0 down but I think they wanted me to put the deposit on their credit card and pay that off over 9 months with 0% APR.
I turned this down, they told me that a good way to pay off the $23,000, 10-year loan, would be to have friends help pay when we go on trips. While I do travel with friends, it is not enough to cover the yearly cost of this. They were really pressuring me, telling me I would be an owner in 10 years. I literally could think of many things to do that would be a better use of my $23,000.
Once they gave up, the final person came in and tried to sell me a plan that was $3,000 that would last two years so that I could try it out. I said no again.
Once this finished, I left and headed to the next presentation in New Jersey. Keep in mind that they did not really have any snacks and I was there for at least 2.5 hours.
GlobeX – Timeshare Presentation
This presentation was in New Jersey about an hour outside of the city. When you arrive you check in with a receptionist, who gives you a paper to fill out that asks you questions about home ownership and other things that may affect your income. They want to know why you may say no ahead of time.
Once you are cleared you head to a big room to meet your agent, you chat with them before heading into another room with everyone else to hear the presentation. This presentation was similar to Club Wyndham, however, they had us estimating the cost of vacations and thinking about how the cost will rise over time.
Their plan is based on a suitcase idea. For $18,000, you get 20 weeks of vacation. When you are ready to book, you have to py either $229 for non-peak or $499 for peak. if you need an extra bedroom you pay $200, the bedroom can sleep 2-4 people and if you are heading out of the continent you also have to pay a fee of $200. You have to pay a yearly activation fee of $475 a year.
If you bought that day, they were offering a package for $15,000, with 30 weeks, 10 expressways, and a $479 yearly activation.
Expressways are last-minute deals that have no additional cost like the peak and non-peak. They are basically last-minute weeks that they could not sell.
Each deal is for a lifetime and once you use all of your weeks you can renew or cancel. What I liked about this is that you could apply your weeks to cruises to lower the cost of those. So this was tempting.
I turned down both of these and by the end of it, they had gotten me down to a deal that either had a $600 or $2600 deposit with monthly payments of $100 or $134, 16% interest to finance the deal. They did offer in-house financing. However, the activation fee and the additional rates for peak and non-peak really threw me off. When I travel with family, tends to be during peak season so I could see these costs adding up over time.
I turned this down as well and got a pamphlet for my 8 day/7 night vacation.
Using the Certificates from the Timeshare Presentations
A few days after attending both timeshare presentations, I started to try to use them. I noticed that the certificate I got from Club Wyndham most of the weeks has additional fees and I struggled to activate the other. They want a $100 fee to get started with using it. I plan on figuring it out in the next few weeks.
The Club Wyndham expires in 2026 but Globex expires in 2027, so I do have some time to figure these out or gift them.
One thing that stood out to me from both presentations is that they were condo-like residencies, which I stay away from when traveling. I prefer the glitz and glam of a hotel.
Conclusion: Would I attend a Timeshare Presentation Again?
I would do this again to earn another free vacation or some sort of gift. I find them very interesting as each brand/organization has its own in some way. I would do one via Zoom that lets you earn points if I could.
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