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| - TLDR: yes, you get legitimate free gifts for attending, you sign a contract to get them, so if it's past 3 hours that you're at the presentation, you are entitled to leave. If you intend on purchasing, wait until the very end and state that you are interested and can't afford it until the very last part when the manager comes over to conclude the presentation. They will then offer the "employee discount," which can still be higher than your peers depending on who you're with. Wait it out until you see the lowest they offer. 1/3.2 people will make a purchase, even though virtually everyone attends with the intention of saying, "No," and getting the free stuff.
My review of their marketing practices:
Grandview works with a lot of vendors that work on the strip and bribe couples to attend a presentation. These vendors are located inside of casinos and along the sidewalk as you walk from casino to casino. The vendors are paid when you sign up to attend the presentation, and they honestly don't care if you buy the time share or not. Vendors will pretty much say anything to get you there, with the most common bribe an offer for discounted show tickets, gambling credits, food vouchers, and so on. Note: you must attend the time share presentation at Grandview to receive your "gifts."
As you sign up, you're required to initial things and disclose information such as your income, if you and your partner live together, etc. to ensure you're a viable candidate. You may even be required to put down a deposit. This is a contract. I put down $50 for two shows, two dinners, a ride on the high roller, $100 gaming credit at Casino Royale (on promotional machines that don't let you cash out unless you hit the jackpot), $25 to use at select Ceasar's Palace casinos, and 2 nights in a Ceasar's Palace hotel. Seemed like a good deal for a couple hours of your time, right?
The following morning, we were told to meet at Ceasar's Palace to get shuttled to the Grandview. We were promised breakfast, so we signed up for the 9:15 departure slot. When we arrived at the vendor's booth, they asked to see my credit card just to verify I had a method of payment in the event I wanted to make a purchase. I was told to just hold it up and cover my number. It was never taken from me, but I did have to show them my I.D.
We left around 9:30 and arrived at approximately 9:45 to the resort itself. Located miles up the strip in a seemingly desolate area was the Grandview. The parking lot was tightly packed. When we arrived, we were seated in a waiting area until our personal sales person came and fetched us at 10:00 a.m. This person is with you the whole time. The first 30 minutes, our rep lead us to our breakfast, which were small pastries. They will spend that time sitting with you trying to build rapport.
After the rapport building, they get started. The building you're in for the presentation is literally dedicated for sales. They will show you all of the resorts owned by RCI, and they will ask you rhetorical questions to get you saying, "Yes." For example, "Do you like vacations? Do you think quality time with your partner will make your relationship last longer?"
After the first floor introduction to RCI resorts, you'll walk by photos on the wall of Nevada attractions such as beaches and water parks. Then you take the escalator upstairs and you're on the floor you'll spend the majority of your time on. It's approximately 11:00 a.m. at this point- one hour in. The sales person will assure you they aren't doing hard sales and just want to show you how you could benefit from a time share. I can't remember what terminology our sales guy said, but he called it something like "vacation sharing."
There's more literature on the wall, a map to show all the resorts in the world, and you'll get more rhetorical questions such as, "Wouldn't you like to travel anywhere in the world and not waste your money on hotels?"
The whole time you're on this floor, you'll probably spend about an hour listening to them talk about whatever is on the wall and how Grandview is a gold crown and Vegas is a top destination. They try to create urgency by saying they will sell out soon and allude to a massive discount if we purchase today. Then they take you to a table and walk through more crap to try to show that you'll spend over $100k on hotels over the next 30 years.
After the painful presentation, you'll tour the property, see the pools, and interior of rooms. The last step is showing you the prices. They will start with showing you the price if you come back another day and then will pull out their price sheet. It's been over 3 hours at this point, and I have insisted we had a hard stop at 1. The sales person flat out disrespected my time. I later learned that I could have left since I only signed up for 2-3 hours, even though he told me that I needed to complete the whole presentation before receiving my gifts.
Poor experience (4.5 hours), sketchy practice
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