TS tours subsidizing unemployment.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I'm in Orlando at Westgate this weekend and my friends wanted to do a TS tour to get free tickets.

I am shocked to see that TS companies are no longer giving much in the way of free anymore. Last year my friends went on 2 tours of TS's and made $200 plus tickets to the parks. This year they were offered a deal to pay $99 for 2 tickets. They were only offered a discount of $60 off two tickets and you had to buy the tickets from them. We did find a TS sales lady at a tacky tourist shop offering $75 for a tour but would no longer pay singles to tour.

She told us that people who live in Tampa were coming and doing full touring days and hitting several TS companies and going home with hundreds of dollars so they are no longer allowing singles from Florida to tour. Not that I wanted to do this anyway but now they are just allowing marrieds to tour. Next they won't want Floridians period since they are concerned about people doing this for an unemployment subsidy.

I guess some people are doing desperately creative things to make ends meet. So you Westgate haters can feel a little sense of justice that they've gotten a little taste of their own medicine.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I still want to do a revenge tour of Westgate, but my Mrs. will have none of it. Any bad news about Wastegate is good news to me.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Tony, then you'd even be happy to know that I got this last minute wastegate vacation thanks to DAE for only $79 and I'm not planning on touring. Not sure if this hurts them or not but I feel good about it for all you wastegate haters.

[SteveChapin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SteveChapin]

I still want to do a revenge tour of Westgate, but my Mrs. will have none of it. Any bad news about Wastegate is good news to me.

We didn't have any problems in our one stay at Westgate. We arrived late (like, 9pm), refused to accept an escort to our room, unplugged the phone for the week, ignored the notes they left on the door saying we'd be billed oodles of bucks if we didn't come to a meeting, and chewed out the one salesperson who ignored the "Do Not Disturb" sign and knocked on our door at 7am.

The last wasn't a problem, it was fun :-) From what I've read, that's as painless as a Westgate trip can get. When we got a unit for my brother, we told him to unplug the phone, and he had no problems during his week.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

The phone rang at 9:30 am so I guess they are letting people sleep longer.
I didn't answer it because I knew who it was but I must say that the 2 maintenance issues we had were addressed right away. The guy who came to fix the issue yesterday said he was just happy that he had a job and didn't mind doing anything he had to at Westgate. The staff has been very courteous so far. They sound like they've had Disney training with the "MY PLEASURE" response to anything you ask about and apoligizing for any problems over and over again.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Steve, they didn't offer us an escort to our room this year so maybe they have cut down on that service or maybe it's because we arrived at 3am and they don't do it at night. Not sure.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

We didn't have any problems in our one stay at Westgate. We arrived late (like, 9pm), refused to accept an escort to our room, unplugged the phone for the week, ignored the notes they left on the door saying we'd be billed oodles of bucks if we didn't come to a meeting, and chewed out the one salesperson who ignored the "Do Not Disturb" sign and knocked on our door at 7am.

The last wasn't a problem, it was fun :-) From what I've read, that's as painless as a Westgate trip can get. When we got a unit for my brother, we told him to unplug the phone, and he had no problems during his week.

We spent 4 nights at a Westgate resort in Branson and had no problems at all. No escort to the room, no phone calls (I never leave the phone unplugged), no notes on the door. In fact, there was NO contact from their sales department at all.

This in contrast to what we experienced in Florida back in 2000 which was very similar to your stay. In fact, that stay in 2000 was so bad from a sales department bugging us point, my wife had forbidden me from booking another Westgate stay until our short stay in Branson a couple of years ago.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

Wow. To be eligible for unemployed insurance you must be able and available for work and make employment contacts seeking work/employment. The question could be is this income? Touring a timeshare for cash/is this an employment contact? Just joking you guys>

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Wow. To be eligible for unemployed insurance you must be able and available for work and make employment contacts seeking work/employment. The question could be is this income? Touring a timeshare for cash/is this an employment contact? Just joking you guys>

Well, hey if it pays the bills then you do what you gotta do right?

[figoreo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close figoreo]

We didn't have any problems in our one stay at Westgate. We arrived late (like, 9pm), refused to accept an escort to our room, unplugged the phone for the week, ignored the notes they left on the door saying we'd be billed oodles of bucks if we didn't come to a meeting, and chewed out the one salesperson who ignored the "Do Not Disturb" sign and knocked on our door at 7am.

The last wasn't a problem, it was fun :-) From what I've read, that's as painless as a Westgate trip can get. When we got a unit for my brother, we told him to unplug the phone, and he had no problems during his week.

Trying to avoid any dealings with sales people the next time we stay at Westgate Vacation Villas on Rt. 192. We like the location but not the sale people. If I were to reserve my 2 BR through their website for $109/night, would I still be bothered and threatened with being told that I must attend a room inspection meeting or be charged, etc.? Or do they only do that to owners or other TS owners who traded into Westgate. We do not own a TS at this time and do not want a TS at this time. I worry about them having my credit card on file. What could they possibly charge you for?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Trying to avoid any dealings with sales people the next time we stay at Westgate Vacation Villas on Rt. 192. We like the location but not the sale people. If I were to reserve my 2 BR through their website for $109/night, would I still be bothered and threatened with being told that I must attend a room inspection meeting or be charged, etc.? Or do they only do that to owners or other TS owners who traded into Westgate. We do not own a TS at this time and do not want a TS at this time. I worry about them having my credit card on file. What could they possibly charge you for?

We had friends several years ago that rented from westgate through an outlet like Expedia. They had nothing but trouble with them and swore they'd never stay in another timeshare again. They had their phone cut off, were told that no one we really in the unit they were in, told they hadn't paid their deposit after they had paid it when they checked in and, of course, were hounded to take a timeshare presentation in the form of a maintenance inspection.

But that was years ago. In the year 2000 we had the same problem. A couple of years ago we at one of the Westgate timeshares in Branson, MO and I think the only time they asked us about taking a sales tour was when we checked in. No one salesman escort to our unit, no phone calls, nothing. Maybe they've changed since our first stay with them in Florida or, maybe Branson does things a little differently. At any rate, we'll never stay at a Westgate resort in Orlando again. To many bad memories with their sales staff and why take a chance that the FL sales staff is still as agressive.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I still want to do a revenge tour of Westgate, but my Mrs. will have none of it. Any bad news about Wastegate is good news to me.

Did mine two years ago.

Breakfast. Sat for an hour while salesperson walked around, smoked, went to parking lot, worked with others. Stood in line for our tickets. Left.

3, maybe 4, hours.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I wonder how Mr. Sleaze is doing?