I find the best places to visit for timeshare presentations are Orlando, Myrtle Beach, and Vegas. I believe Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are also good, as well as Massanutten. If you stay in Vegas hotels, walking through the lobby is a quick way to get an invite to a presentation. Keep an eye out for timeshare kiosks in all the big Vegas casinos and hotels. I have been approached near the elevators at the back of the Golden Nugget and on the mezzanine level of New York New York where you take the overhead walkway to some of the other hotel casinos.
In Orlando, even many of the inexpensive motels will have a timeshare desk on site. For example, I’ve been able to sign up for a timeshare presentation while checking into a Howard Johnson’s. But that is not the only place to keep a look-out. Even stopping for gas in Orlando can be an opportunity for an invite.
If you rent a timeshare property on your next vacation, nine times out of 10 you’ll be invited to attend a “lunch” or “breakfast buffet” which is really just a presentation in disguise, so if you actually want to attend one, be sure to say YES. Just make sure that you negotiate. Usually there’s a better offer than what they initially present to you at the desk, so after the initial pitch, I tend to say, “can you do any better than that?” and look like I’m wavering on saying yes. Honestly, the sales presentations are often so time consuming that you do want to make sure you get a good deal before agreeing to attend.
Oh, here’s another way to find yourself on a timeshare mailing list — sweepstakes. Many travel related sweepstakes are a marketing promotion method for timeshares. So if I’m visiting someplace I will likely want to visit again in future, then I go ahead and fill out any sweepstakes forms I come across at hotels and other tourist places.
Once you are own a few mailing lists, you should occasionally get calls with offers to take a heavily discounted trip as long as you promise to attend the timeshare presentation. A lot of times the call might be for a place you have no intention of visiting, or you just got back from there. But before you turn it down, ask the telephone rep if any other locations are available. Once I received a call about visiting Myrtle Beach, which isn’t my favorite location, but it turns out that the resort company (Wyndham) was also promoting their Oceanside, CA resort at the time and so I took them up on that offer instead — a win/win for both of us because I’d be far more likely to even consider buying in California, whereas there isn’t a chance I’d buy in Myrtle Beach.