Friday, May 18, 2012

High Pressure Tactics

This article perfectly sums up what I wrote in my post about my experiences with Sundance Vacations. One comment from the article that agrees with me is:

"They’re making the deal better and better each time. So every time they’re doing that, it’s creating confusion," said Thomas. "Pressure like that to sell you on the spot and not give you time to do your research should be a red flag for any consumer."

 That happened to me at Sundance Vacations and again in some timeshare presentations I've been to. How can the same supposed deal go from $50,000 to $6,000 in four levels of sales attempts? That's what happened at the last timeshare presentation I went to. We resisted to the end and took our free gift, but it left me wondering how they get away with it, and why people don't feel absolutely ripped off at $50,000.

One thing that has been on my to-do list for years is to read some hospitality books. I'm trying to understand why this freaking industry can sell the same product to different people for different prices. Why can the same sea on an airline vary from $125 to over $1000 depending on who you are, what organization you belong to, and the time of day or day of the week? How can the same hotel room go for $99 if you're government, $79 if you're AARP, $159 if you just walk in off the street, and the paper on the hotel room door says it's $250? Then if you come in on a Sunday afternoon during slow season with a hard ass attitude, you can get it for $69?

I think the hospitality industry rips people off. Yes, they provide good services we all need. But why don't we all just pay the same price?

Another quote from the article you should keep in mind if you're told you won a prize and have to attend a presentation to get it is:
"This is a business. They're not giving something away to you," Kuzma said.

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