Classic Timeshare: Dateline Puerto Vallarta (Part I)

This is a piece that ran in the Examiner in my original column - 2001-2003

Dateline    Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – You’ve left the plane, you’ve collected your luggage. Before even leaving the airport, it begins. You are approached by one of the many neatly dressed, official looking men or women. They all speak English fairly well, and offer a free taxi to your resort. Or, you stop at one of the street booths with signs promoting fiestas, dinner cruises and all manners of tourist activities. You ask about the prices, they tell you it’s free.
Have you stumbled upon some kind of Shangri La? A paradise where money is not needed? No, even south of the border, you can’t get something for nothing. You have met timeshare’s first line of offense in the quest to get you into the world of vacation ownership. The Offsight Personal Contacts (OPC). Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for parasailing or a luau, simply take a tour of the “beautiful new resort” being constructed nearby.
In Mexico, Hawaii, Tahoe and many other popular tourist locations, timeshare is marketed intensively to visitors from around the world. After all, what better prospects for the benefits of low cost, luxurious travel than those already on vacation? Often the booths appear to be kiosks where you go to purchase a snorkel trip, or dinner cruise, and they are. But they are also the representatives for timeshare clubs in the region. Their job is to put warm bodies, such as yours, into one of the six million seats to be filled this year at timeshare presentations. And they are legitimate. The will give you access to the very same fiesta or lift tickets that you can buy retail in exchange for a couple of hours of your time. When you are in line to go to the event, notice how many people seem to be holding the same chits acquired by attending a presentation.
The types of inducements OPC’s need to offer have certainly changed over the years. I went to my first presentation more than twenty years ago in Atlantic City because a pretty girl in a bikini asked me if I liked to travel. Now it takes food, money, and dinner cruises - although the pretty girl in the bikini never hurts.
Here’s the thing about OPC’s that most folks don’t realize – once you show up at the presentation, their job is done. What happens after you get there has no effect on their commissions. They can be negotiated with. They will offer you two tickets to the fiesta, and you say “Gosh, but we’ve got our two kids with us”. Chances are pretty good you’ll get four passes, worth between one and two hundred dollars. Hesitate while deciding between the luau and the dinner cruise, and you have a good chance of ending up with both of them.
When my wife and I travel, professional curiosity usually compels me to attend at least one presentation. My better half is generally reluctant, right up until we’re quoted $45 per person for the luau and $30 each for the boat tour. All of a sudden, she doesn’t mind seeing what’s new in the resort world.

For the conclusion - click here