Tweet
I got a cold call from SMA, Summit Marketing Associates, out of Florida tonight, basically guaranteeing they could use my points to rent out 4 weeks to conference people. Of course, they charge me up front for exchange fees etc... Has anyone used them? Having gotten excited at the thought of making some money, I now am thinking it is a scam. Anyone? TIA!!
-
-
99.9% likely to be a scam. Anytime someone wants money before performance---it's a red flag. Then, the call was from Florida ---often the home of timeshare related scams. -
butComment
-
Anyone else? They have a B+ with the BBB but the whole thing makes me nervous. I could use the money, but not...Comment
-
I disagree with this statement. The percentage should actually be 100%.Originally posted by tonyg View Post
Other than that, it is spot on.
OP: if you choose not to take this advice from a very experienced TS'er, then you are on your own.
KurtComment
-
Renting to conference goes sounds plausible enough to get people like you hooked. But there is essentially no commercial market for renting timeshares to convention goers. I tell you this as someone who goes to conferences regularly, who has been involved in planning conferences, and as someone who has actually used timeshares to go to conferences and on occasion I've actually rented timeshares to convention-goers.Originally posted by baykelzac View Post
At the core, there are several key reasons why this doesn't work.
First is the situation that there are very few timeshares that are located close enough to major conference centers to make them a realistic option. Most conventioneers want to be stay close to the convention location, because that is where all of the activities occur.
Even if you solve that problem the next hurdle is marketing your space to those conventioneers. Rest assured that the conference organizer is not going to release lists of names to some lodging company operating in competition with the designated conference hotels. The convention organizer has minimum commitments for filling rooms as conference hotels; rentals such as this cut into the conference budget. Also, the organizer isn't going to release lists of names for people to be spammed.
Beyond that, you now have the problem that it's hit and miss as to having check-in and check-out days actually line up with arrivals and departures.
***
So with all of that how have I wound up in timeshares. I attend one modest-sized conference regularly that goes to some out of the way locales where sometimes there are timeshares nearby. Sometimes I can exchange in. A couple of times it has been in a location where I actually had access to timeshares using a point system, and I have rented to people I directly know who are conference attendees.
And that really is the market for timeshares at conferences. People using timeshares they own, the occasional person who seeks out a timeshare to stay at because they have a sunk cost in having a week paid for and deposited, or a timeshare owner marketing units to people the owner knows.
As for a commercial market renting timeshare to conventioneers - that market simply doesn't exist. It sounds plausible enough to hook people, but it isn't there. I go to enough conventions and do enough of my own bookings independent of the conference organizer that if there were such a market I would have found it or seen it advertised or stumbled across it. It's not there.“Maybe you shouldn't dress like that.”
“This is a blouse and skirt. I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You shouldn't wear that body.”Comment
-
Figured as much. The guy is a great salesman, and claims they are in charge of 40 co9nventions a year and thus it all gets rented out. He keeps harping on the BBB rating, which is a B+, which in my opinion isn't all that great anyway. Not doing it, obviously. Do NOT want to put money out ahead of time...they should be able to do it on the other end IMO.Comment
-
Anytime they want money upfront from you, run away and don't look back.Comment
-
This isn't even a creative scam. We see this very same scam over and over again. An "advertising/marketing" company that lies through their teeth to entice you to give them your credit card number for what you think is a SALE or RENTAL of your property for big bucks. There is never a sale or rental. What you pay for is to advertise your timeshare on their crappy website.
Speaking of their crappy website. NOTHING will ever rent or sell at those absurdly, outrageously HIGH rental or sale prices. They also have ZERO Las Vegas timeshares for sale and FIVE timeshares in ALL of Florida for sale - at ridiculous prices of course.
The BBB rating is deceitful as well. They have been running the scam for only about a year and have 12 complaints already. The only reason why they are not an F rating is because their corporation was started in 2007. It looks like the corporation was inactive for awhile and reopened for this scam venture. It won't be long before they are F rated.
This company is in business for ONE thing only - your upfront fee. The website is simply part of the scam.Last edited by RX8; 11-15-2012, 04:55 AM.Comment
-
My wife and I have used them and signed up about 4 years ago. We did pay an upfront fee, and Summit Marketing Associates did come thru with offers as stated in about a week and a half to two weeks if my memory is correct. We have been using them for the last several years now, and they do what they say unlike alot of the other calls we used to get. My family and are are not traveling like we used to, being that the kids are grown and are helth isn't what it used to be. I hope that this helps and puts your mind a little bit more at ease.
The MillersComment
-
Yes, thanks. Going to look them up right now and give them some money.Originally posted by ZORROIZUP View PostComment
-
-
Of course it looks like a shill is involved now---posting from the home of most timeshare scammers---sunny Florida. The only favorable thing I ever heard about Slummit MarketingComment
-
SHILL ALERT! SHILL ALERT! 2 POST SHILL ALERT!
Now we return to our regular grousing. Carry on.Comment
-
Post card con in Tucson: http://tucsoncitizen.com/bbbconsumer...ng-associates/
Vacation Times story: http://vacation-times.org/1/post/201...d-florida.html
Insider tells the inside story: http://www.ripoffreport.com/blabber-...arke-6bz9d.htm
Shills inspire me to do researchComment
Comment