Only 11 properties in WorldMark South Pacific

In listening to all the wonderful descriptions of WorldMark South Pacific -- with the option to take trips at WorldMark The Club (USA), cruises on ICE and destinations with Interval -- it would be easy to skip over the fact that WMSP only has 11 properties!

Let's see -- 23,000 members across 11 properties.

And read further, you'll see there are only approximately 380 apartments used by WMSP in those 11 properties.

That gives a bit under 20,000 weeks of accommodation per year for 23,000 unitholders -- an average of less than one week per unitholder.

Why the undersupply? Could it be that 6000 credits is not sufficient, on average, to obtain a week's accommodation? Or perhaps it's because unitholders swap their credits for other holidays with WorldMark in the USA, ICE and Interval?

But what about the "bonus time" where unitholders can pay cash for accommodation? That means that even less weeks are being used, since there is over-capacity. Plus, presumably some unitholders hold more than 6000 credits.

Gee, maybe people just aren't taking the holidays they intended?

Tags: trendwest worldmark

4. My Trendwest Experience 2 - The Presentation

On the designated night, I attended the Trendwest presentation, making sure that I go there the requisite 15 minutes early to go in the draw for $500.

It turns out that the $500 draw is actually over a period of several months amongst all the people who attended Trendwest sessions at all locations during that period. So, the chance of winning is actually quite low, yet a successful incentive to get people to attend and arrive early. A great investment by Trendwest!

Sign-in
Rushing to get to the sign-in desk on time, I was presented with Trendwest financial disclosure information and had to sign a small slip of paper saying that I have received said documentation. That's probably part of the Financial Services legal requirements since Trendwest is acting as a provider of financial services.

I also dropped my entry for the $500 draw into a box.

Waiting
We were next ushered into a waiting area with about 25 seats, a large video screen showing exciting vacations and an area offering (rather cheap) refreshments. The room had other attendees (both singles and couples) who weren't particularly interested in eye-contact or friendly conversation.

I cruised around the room and noticed a Code of Practice on the wall. The paragraph that stood out went along the lines of:

Attendees are allowed to leave the presentation at any time without being put under undue pressure. (My approximately recollection.)

This started to give me an uneasy feeling!

Partnership
This waiting period didn't last long and we were all soon called by name by friendly, similarly-clothed individuals. It turned out that these would be our assigned salespeople for the night.

We passed by a noticeboard with pictures of happy people (with dates shown in the lower corner) who had presumably purchased a Trendwest package. In studying the photos, it appeared that the salespeople were the ones with the biggest smiles!

We were taken to small tables, each party sitting face-to-face with their assigned 'friend'. I'll refer to my assigned salesperson as 'Bob'.

Bob first confirmed that I had received the appropriate documentation, told me that the whole idea was to have a fun evening and got me to complete a questionnaire about income and holiday habits. They pretty-much had this information already so I didn't mind supplying it again. He also confirmed that I'd be able to get a holiday if I stayed for the complete 90-minute presentation. (This was mentioned in the fine-print on the letter I had received confirming the evening's activities.)

The Video
All groups were then ushered into a theatrette where we were shown a video about the "WorldMark by Trendwest" concept. I'll explain more about Trendwest/WorldMark in future posts. However, it's worth noting that the video featured Noni Hazelhurst (past presenter of Channel 7's 'Better Homes and Gardens' and occasional actress).

The video outlined the relationship between Trendwest and Cendant. If you're interested, I've also found information online about Cendant purchasing Trendwest.

This was then followed by a Trendwest staffer trying to have an interactive, exciting conversation with the audience. Judging from the response, I'd say that most people were just there for the free holiday!

The Sell
We were all then taken back to our assigned salespeople. Bob led me through the process, using a pre-printed form to illustrate his points. Interestingly, this form had lots of blank bits that he deftly completed while writing upside-down! The ability to write upside-down is probably a part of the salesperson selection process at Trendwest! :)

Bob told me all about the great destinations, links with ICE (who offer cruises) and Interval where holiday credits can be used to have holidays at non-WorldMark properties.

This was all a little strange since the idea of timeshare is that there are multiple shared owners of property. If it's possible to exchange points "out" of WorldMark, then how does the recipient get paid? Does it require an equal exchange of WorldMark time to the other party (meaning non-WorldMark people stay in WorldMark properties) or does it mean that there is a money equivalence to holiday credits? More about that later!

Standard vs Premium
One particularly interested tidbit came up in conversation with Bob, to do with the Standard vs Premium deal.

You see, the standard deal is something like 12,000 units for a period of 60-odd years (I forget how much, but it's for the current life of the unit trust, without automatic renewals). That's all.

The Premium deal is:

• The ability to start with only 6,000 units and buy more later (with the price fixed for 12 months)
• First-year membership of ICE and Interval (which would actually be better in later years since you'd probably want to use WorldMark properties only in your first year or two -- but at least this introduces people to the concept of ICE and Interval and certainly gives a better marketing message for intending purchasers)
• The ability to 'stockpile' credits for a year and 'borrow' credits from the next year (effectively giving access to 3x credits for a single booking)
• Access to bonus time where you pay 6c/unit for 'standby' rates at WorldMark properties (but the fineprint later shows this to be fairly restrictive)
• ...and some other things I can't recall

What's the deal? Well, you can only purchase Premium membership on the night. If you walk out the door without signing, this opportunity is lost forever! (Well, the fineprint actually says until you get invited by Trendwest again.) You can only purchase Standard membership after the night.

I asked Bob what the cost would be to upgrade from Standard to Premium and his response was "Oh, nobody does that!".

Yes, it turns out that if people don't sign-up on the night, they don't bother purchasing. This explains the need for various sales tactics on the night. (I won't say they're high-pressure, but there are lots of incentives and attempted financial justifications in an effort to try!)

Even though nobody apparently purchases the standard package, it is fully documented in the disclosure information. My perusal of sales on the Internet suggests that only Premium credits are available.

The Close
So, after the requisite time of chatting I declined to accept the offer and was ushered to a person to receive my free gift, then out a side door.

I found the whole process quite interesting -- both finding out about Trendwest and examining the whole sales process (hence this website).

I'll post more about the financial worth of a Trendwest offer later.

Your feedback
Did this match with your experience of a Trendwest information night? Post your experiences by clicking on the comment link below!

Want to read more?
Visit the main page of this site for the latest posts, or click one of the Archive links on the right.

-- Fabbo

Tags: trendwest worldmark

3. Read the fineprint!

I was reading through the Trendwest website and saw that they're listing cheap holidays to destinations like Townsville.

This piqued my interest because, according to what I was told by Trendwest, only WorldMark unit holders or their guests are entitled to stay in WorldMark properties. So are the holidays on offer at WorldMark locations, or other locations? Why are they offering these holidays?

In reading through the Terms & Conditions, I found this:

This offer is designed for permanent residents of Australia, and is not available to groups (two or more affiliated couples). You, or if married or in a relationship, both parties must attend an informative sales presentation of approximately 90 minutes (whilst on your holiday) on the benefits of WorldMark resort holidays – an innovative, affordable, flexible timeshare enjoyed by over 225,000 families worldwide. Non-attendance at the WorldMark resort holidays presentation will result in full charge of the package price. Once payment has been received, package & package price is non-refundable.

So, it appears that this is just one more sales tactic to get people to attend the Trendwest information sessions.

I've heard stories of people attending other timeshare information sessions (not necessarily with Trendwest) where they get a holiday to a nice location, but have to spend some of their holiday time attending the information session. Okay, so they get a holiday -- but there would be a bit more pressure to accept the offer in exchange for the free holiday. Australians have a very strong concept of "fairness" and accepting the free holiday might make some people feel guilty.

Too-strong a sales tactic? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

-- Fabbo



Tags: trendwest worldmark

2. My Trendwest Experience 1 - Phone Call

Okay, some of you are wondering about my experience with Trendwest. I shall attempt to recount what happened...

Phone Marketing
Initially, Trendwest contacted us by phone. I presume that they just have massive databases of people that they call, or maybe they use the phone book. All I know is that when I have mentioned this experience to other people, they also stated that they've received calls from Trendwest!

During the Trendwest presentation (detailed below), our presenter stated that Trendwest used to do television advertising but this proved too expensive. That's why they offer incentives to attend the information sessions. I'll comment later on the massive marketing effort (and cost!) that this must involve.

During the phone call, questions were asked of income, age and whether single or with partner. I normally feel compassion for these people working in telephone call centres and tend not to hang-up on them immediately. Okay, it's "leading them on" a little bit, but I like to instill some confidence in them before I say "no thank you". They're doing the best they can in their job -- it's not fair that people abuse them just because they didn't want to be disturbed or don' t believe in the product.

In fact, a friend of mine uses Caller ID at home simply to stop the telemarketing. It's a shame that we're now victims or marketing in our own home!

Okay, back to the call...

As an incentive to attend a free Trendwest information session, we were offered a 2-day holiday somewhere in Australia. There were lots of rules and sub-clauses attached, such as a $19.95 administration fee (or similar), having to choose from specific destinations and date ranges.

For some strange reason I thought it would be a bit of fun, so I accepted the invitation. We were then given details of where to attend and were offered an additional incentive of going into a draw for $500 if we arrived 15 minutes early. (Very clever -- not only an incentive to attend, but to get there early and keep their system working smoothly!)

This was accompanied by a follow-up letter with all the details and information on the incentives. It appears that instead of the holiday we could take a DVD player, CD Walkman or Stereo system. Apparently most people are attracted by the holiday on offer.

Want to know what happened on the night? Read the second part to this story to find out!

-- Fabbo

Tags: trendwest worldmark

1. What's this site about?

Purpose
The purpose of this site is to track online sales of "WorldMark South Pacific by Trendwest" holiday credits.

If you're interested in learning more about Trendwest and WorldMark, see the links on the main page: trendwestwatch.blogspot.com

Association
Please note that this site is not associated, authorised or affiliated with Trendwest.

Why did I create this site?
Like many people, I was contacted by telephone and invited to attend a TrendWest information session. I chose not to sign up on the night and instead did some research on the Internet to determine the market value of Trendwest ownership. The posts and links on this site are the fruit of my research.

I have no dispute with Trendwest, nor do I intend this site to be an anti-Trendwest site. In fact, I think that the Trendwest WorldMark concept is excellent for many people, depending upon their income and holiday patterns. I'll explain more about this in future posts.

Want to read more?
Start with reading about My Trendwest Experience and then have a look at the other postings on this site. The best way is to pick an "Archive" month from the right-hand column and read all the listings in that month.

You are invited to contribute!
I'd love to get your feedback on your interactions with Trendwest. Feel free to comment on any of these posts. If you wish to send me a message directly, write to me at trendwestwatch@gmail.com

Tags: trendwest worldmark