Full disclosure: I have only been to 3 timeshare presentations in my life (Hilton Elara in Las Vegas, Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas in Maui, and Hilton Waikoloa Village in Kona), so I am no timeshare expert.  I am not married, so I go to the presentations by myself.  I have never gone to a presentation outside the US, but I have heard nightmare stories about timeshare presentations in Mexico lasting hours.  Proceed at your own risk!

Good morning everyone, greetings from my local Peet’s Coffee at the SF Ferry Building.  Between the pushy salespeople (usually a small sales team), lengthy presentations, and overpriced fees, timeshares get a bad rap in the travel community.  But, if you can sit through the presentation and leave without buying a timeshare, the sales presentation can be worth your time.  To illustrate this point, I want to tell you about my 2 timeshare presentations in Hawaii last week.

The first presentation was at the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas in Maui, Hawaii, where I was staying thanks to the targeted vacation package offer I received a few months back.  I wrote about the offer details here, but to recap, I received 6 days / 5 nights in a villa studio, 5,000 SPG points, and a 6 day Avis car rental for $798.  I value 5,000 SPG points at $100, the Avis car rental at $150, so that means the stay in the studio villa cost about ~$550 for 5 nights in Maui.  That’s a great deal if you ask me.  The property is very nice, I loved the $5 Mai Tais during happy hour (4-6pm and 8:30-10pm) and the pools were great.  Valet parking is only $12/day or $10/day for self parking.

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