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Hotel companies frequently offer what seem like ‘too good to be true’ holiday deals – but the catch is that you need to attend a timeshare presentation during the break. Some people are comfortable doing so in order to get a great holiday deal, other people can’t think of a worse way to spend their free time.

Even if you would never consider one of these offers in ‘real life’, you might be interested in the ‘virtual presentations’ that Marriott Vacation Club is currently running – in order to bag 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points:

The presentations are conducted over Microsoft Teams and are scheduled to last approximately 90 minutes.

As you might expect, there are some criteria you need to meet (although an actual interest in timeshare doesn’t seem to be one of them!):

“The virtual presentation is designed for couples (spouses/partners) aged between 30 and 70 with a joint annual income in excess of ₤65,000 / €75,000. If married or living together, couples must attend the sales presentation together, in order to qualify for the 15,000 points.” 

I value 15,000 Marriott Points as being worth about £80-90, so it’s not a bad return for your time.

Bottom line

I can’t imagine that virtual presentations are a great format for the typical timeshare hard-sell techniques. Therefore, I would expect the presentation to be more along the lines of persuading you to come along in-person on a discounted holiday sometime in the future (where the real selling can begin), rather than getting you to agree a 30 year contract immediately online.

Either way, I’ve instructed InsideFlyer’s Tom to investigate further – keep an eye out for his report to see whether he signs over his life savings or not…

If you’ve already attended one of these virtual presentations, please share what you thought about it in the comments below!