Don’t Fall Prey to the Timeshare Salesperson at Your All Inclusive Resort

One person that will no doubt greet you as you arrive at your all inclusive vacation destination is the sneaky timeshare salesperson and it’s important you know their tricks to make sure you don’t ruin your vacation, finances, or both! I’ve been offered free excursions, fancy meals, massages on the beach, and hundreds of dollars in resort credits all just to attend a “short” presentation at the best restaurant on the property. And yes, they can be pushy, very pushy… even convincing my wife to give me a guilty look when I turned down a free massage on the beach! Their pushy tactics and hundreds of dollars worth of perks for attending are for a good reason… timeshares are not a good deal and those presentations are not worth your valuable time at the resort.

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So what’s the deal with timeshares anyway? A timeshare provides you partial ownership of a room on the property that you are entitled to use during a set period of time each year. While you aren’t using it, someone else with the same partial ownership is. For the purchase price of the timeshare (usually $10,000 – $20,000), you are guaranteed a vacation on the property every year… this might sound nice in the moment since you usually just arrived in paradise and you’re feeling amazing. However, there are some serious downsides to timeshares:

• There are deceptive annual maintenance fees that you are required to pay, often $500 – $1000 a year. These fees are often about the same price as the resort portion of an annual vacation, so you could have just booked a vacation at the resort without the timeshare for the same price!
• Timeshare contracts are generally indefinite, which means you’re obligated to pay that annual maintenance fee forever and you’re also locked into paying for an annual vacation at that resort forever. It doesn’t matter if your finances change, you need to take a year off of traveling, or you just want to experience a different resort… you’ll be stuck paying for that vacation at the same resort for the rest of your life.
• Your timeshare and annual maintenance fee may cover your time at that all inclusive resort, but you’re still on your own for airfare, ground transportation, and travel insurance. Unfortunately, you’ll pay more for that flight because you won’t benefit from the package deals that Expedia and other travel sites offer because you’ve already paid for the resort via your timeshare.
• Generally, timeshares require you to take your vacation at the exact same time every year. This time might not work well in your schedule and you certainly won’t be able to shop around for the best deals on flights.
• Aside from the idea of being stuck at the same all inclusive resort for the same week for the rest of your life, don’t forget that those resorts aren’t premiere forever. They age and become less desirable over time and so too does your timeshare!

So how do you avoid the timeshare salesperson? The best way to do this is to recognize where they hunt and do your best to avoid them all together. We’ve been stuck talking to timeshare salespeople in two different locations:

• In many all inclusive resort destination airports you will find an area between customs and the ground transportation where timeshare salespeople linger. Their tactic is to approach confused looking travelers, grab their papers and offer to help you find your ground transportation. They seem very helpful at first, but soon they are offering you a free excursion and dinner at a resort that isn’t your own… ding, ding, ding this is the timeshare presentation and it’s guaranteed to waste an entire day of your hard earned vacation.

Tip: Keep your papers with your ground transportation information in your bag and avoid eye contact with nicely dressed folks hanging out before the ground transportation area. You’ll know you’re actually in the ground transportation area when you see signs for car rental places. If someone asks if they can help you find your transportation, just say “no thank you” and keep walking forward.

• At your own all inclusive resort you will often find timeshare salespeople disguised as the concierge. The concierge is important because they will make your reservations at the Ala Carte Restaurants, which we highly recommend. However, when making your reservations they will often offer you a meal at a nicer restaurant and other perks… ding, ding, ding this is the timeshare presentation and it will last much longer than they promise. 

Tip: Use the concierge in your building or by the pool rather than in the lobby. In our experience, these staff are less likely to try selling timeshare or aren’t salespeople at all.