Off Property Timeshare Consultants
What is an off property timeshare consultant?
To keep it short and sweet – these are the people lurking around hotels, shopping malls, resorts, and calling you on the telephone to that try to convince you to attend a timeshare presentation. They are known as an OPC’s, or off property consultants, and tend to be some of the best salespeople in existence. The OPC I encountered during my stay in Vegas was very successful in coercing my husband and I into attending a “brief” presentation for some property down the street in just a matter of minutes. After a few words about a great, new, up-and-coming area along the strip, and the promise of two Lance Burton tickets, we were in the van, on our way to make the worst purchase of our lives.
What is the job of off property timeshare consultants?
An OPC is hired by development companies. The developers instruct the OPC to use whatever means are necessary to ensure that the development office is full of potential (usually uninformed) buyers all day long. The OPC is going to tell you exactly what you want to hear, and will be purposely vague when it comes to the details of the presentation you are about to attend. They will often refer to their offer as an “investment opportunity” (which is something we all know timeshare definitely is NOT – Why Timeshare is a Bad Investment), or even lead people to believe that they are part of a focus group/consumer research study, and will not be shown any product to buy.
How are off property timeshare consultants paid?
OPC’s are paid based on how many people they refer to a timeshare presentation each day. Being paid per person is good for the OPC, but not always good for the timeshare salesperson. Off property timeshare consultants have been known to convince people to show up by lying about their marital status, employment, yearly income, and other qualifying characteristics just to get people in the door. There have even been incidents of OPC’s giving fake wedding bands to potential customers to make them look like they were an of-age family looking to purchase vacation ownership.
As you can see, the timeshare system is broken. Many timeshare salespeople are tired of being referred unqualified or uninterested applicants, and this is evident in the way many people are treated at timeshare presentations. The salespeople can not trust their floor reps, and the developers can not be trusted at all. This is just another great reason to buy on the resale market and avoid all of the hassle and cost involved with buying timeshare straight from a developer. Beware of any OPC, do not take any tours, do not get sucked into the game that the developers have already stacked against the consumer.
That’s right everyone Timeshare is the boogy man! If you are a sheep and cant make decisions for yourself in investing 100% agree do not go to a timeshare presentation, on the other hand if you have a brain you can just say “no”.
I strongly disagree with most of this article. High pressure, pffff it all depends on the resort and the competition in the surrounding area. Asnfor the opcs, we have one of the hardest sales jobs in the world. As to most opcs lying or saying whatever it takes to hook a tour is false. There is a such thing as a thirty day kick where buyers can refund everything. That usualy happens when an opc just gift pitches a family or doesnt properly inform. in my company, we incorporate a great deal of our pitch with timeshare vacation ownership….. Its required, but then again i do work for one of the most succesful timeshare companies as stated by interval international. We do things the right way.
If I ask you… should I buy the pick up truck my friend is selling me?…. what would you reply?… well, maybe you will say ” I don’t know.. do you need a pick up truck?”, can you afford it? etc… well same happens with a time share, some people can make good use of it, some don’t, for various reasons, the main problem with this industry is that once you are in a timeshare presentation, pushy (but skilled) salesmen make a web is near to impossible to escape.. why? 2 reasons… if they sale they make great money.. if they don’t, they get fired.. a timeshare sales room has an incledible amount of pressure in the air. If developers manage a different way to sell it, maybe something good will come out of it.
As this article mentions, timeshare is not an investment, that can be sold for a profit. They are great to use for quaility accomodation which can be swapped with other properties. Great!! Sad how people feel they need to lie to get others to see their product… As one person said above, it is a good purchase for the right person…. crap if you not wanting something like this.
The timeshare business is like any other business. Let me ask you this: Are all preachers,doctors,lawyers,retail stores associates,financial consultants, car salesman,carpet salesman, furniture salesman, dentist, waiters(waitress), etc,etc,etc…reliable,honest and sincere???? PROBABLY NOT!!! Same thing here!!!! Timeshare programs are not for everyone. Yes there are some “shady” timeshares around. If you don’t take vacations every year, you don’t care about staying in nice places for you and your family, you don’t care about the money you spend in hotels, you don’t care about traveling the world,etc,etc,etc.. well then you are probable part of the very few miserable, lousy, cheap,people that form part of this great world of us called EARTH!!!
HAPPY VACATIONS!!!
you must sell timeshare. there are those of us “cheap” people who literally CAN NOT afford to take a vacation every year and in most cases, it has nothing to do with money, it has everything to do with the crappy world economy and most being forced to hold down 2, 3 sometimes up to 5 jobs…just to survive. timeshare ownership is nothing more than a frivilous luxury to those with higher intelligence. i’ve been involved in this industry for a good 4+ years and have noticed that your garden variety timeshare salesperson is usually on the lower end of the intelligence scale and usually viewed right up there with used car salespeople (slimy, evil etc.). so, for you to sit there and say that people who don’t purchase timeshare are “cheap” is completely false. good thing you didn’t mention what timeshare you worked for too…
No Al, I totally disagree. The timeshare industry is NOT like every other business, and your post alone makes that pretty evident, as virtually every one of your “claims” was at least misleading, if not downright false.
My husband and I vacation several months a year. Not only do we stay in absolutely amazing places, we also usually pay far LESS per week than what most timeshare owners pay in annual maintenance fees alone.
We also stay at timeshare properties all the time, only instead of “buying in”, there’s a number of sites on the internet where you can rent directly from owners–who are just seeking to recoup a fraction of their annual costs. Or we obtain “excess inventory” RCI weeks, where we pay a whopping cleaning fee of $199 to $299 — and that’s not per day, but rather the total cost for an entire week.
We only stay at timeshare properties though when we can’t find anything better. I don’t care how “nice” you think your timeshares are, they’re really nothing more than furnished apartments, nothing special or unique about them. They can not even begin to compare with some of our more unique and amazing lodging experiences, including suites converted from historic: castles, lighthouses, paddleboats, train caboose, a nunnery, or our treetop suite outside a national forest, etc.
And OH! I almost forgot the B&B we stayed at that was converted from an old jail, where the guards serve breakfast in your own little cell. Camping out for 5 days at a “blue grass” festival, held in an Indian reservation, Oh, the places we’ve stayed!
Frankly, if the only thing we cared about was staying in a really “nice” place, we’d just stay home. I’ll bet your timeshares don’t come with 65″ LED/HD/3D TVs, now do they? I think not!
We can also usually find wonderful vacation packages that include both airfare and lodging, often for LESS than the cost of airfare alone, and if not, just a little above. Timeshare owners still have to pay for airfare/transportation, food, attractions, and all the other vacation expenses. Add all those in, and I’m sorry, but there are MUCH better package and “all inclusive” vacation deals out there.
And for those of us who work really hard and want a little luxury and pampering, well, timeshares also don’t provide room service, daily housekeeping, turn-down and concierge service.
I worked as an OPC for 8 years and you could not have been more spot on with the description!
i a opc and you are right
you don’t work in Las Vegas do you?