A Walk Down the Time Share Echo Chamber

People worry about being robbed or swindled during a vacation. But our biggest problem during our trip in Mexico last week was trying to prevent people from paying for our snorkeling trip and other activities. Why would we stop someone from doing this? The “catch” was having to listen to a 90-minute sales pitch about buying a time share.

Buying a time share is not on my list of priorities. But I may have signed on the dotted line if the intensity of the sales presentation matched the pressure from all the resort’s agents hawking us on the street.

The saga began within minutes after my wife and kids and I set off for our maiden walk to the town’s scenic boardwalk or “Malecon.” We made it about 30 feet from the hotel when this man popped up out of nowhere and greeted me with a hearty welcome to Puerto Vallarta and a handshake. After exchanging pleasantries, he ushered us into his office directly off the sidewalk. How long were we planning to stay? he asked. Had we signed up for any excursions yet?

Harmless Questions. They seemed like harmless questions, so I told him we were in town for about five days and we were interested in going snorkeling among other things. He then described a boat tour that included breakfast, lunch, free drinks, snorkeling, and a visit to a remote beach. This was just what I was after. Even better, he said this trip would only cost us $35 per adult and half of that for our kids.

As good as it sounded, I told him I wanted to sleep on it. He then reduced the price to $25 and offered to pay half the cost of having my kids swim with dolphins if I signed up on the spot.

But, I told him I’d still rather wait.

Responding to my apparent skepticism, he explained that he represented a resort that sold time shares. The resort was willing to reimburse half the cost of a number of our activities in exchange for our promise to listen to a 90 minute sales pitch on purchasing a time share.

I told him I still wasn’t interested and we continued on our walk down the street.

Tequila! After walking a few blocks, we went into a tequila store. My wife and I accepted the salesman’s invitation to try a shot of coffee-flavored tequila. But even before the burning sensation left my throat, he started asking me if we had signed up for any excursions yet. He was also looking to help subsidize our excursions in exchange for a time-share sales pitch.

Leaving the store somewhat exasperated, we pressed on. By this time, we simply ignored all the inquiries about the length of our stay etc.

On our way back, we stopped at an ice cream shop. After I placed my order, a young man started asking me about our trip to Mexico. I told him how much we enjoyed Guadalajara and some of the sights we saw there.

Eventually, he asked me how I liked Puerto Vallarta. Pointing to a fairly large plastic name tag on his shirt, he explained that he was with the Mexican Tourism Board. “We specialize in complaints,” he said. “Let me know if there’s anything that’s bothering you.” How do you like your hotel? he asked.

Sales Pitches. “The hotel is fine,” I said. “But there is one thing I’d like to complain about: all of these time share sales pitches are driving us crazy.”

After acknowledging that he had heard others mention that problem, he asked me about our plans. “Well, we’d like to go snorkeling,” I said.

“That’s great,” he exclaimed. “It just so happens, that we offer that trip for free.” It turned out that he was representing a resort selling time shares too.

Back at the hotel, my kids noticed that I seemed a bit despondent after our experience. “Are you still going to blog about Latin America?” they asked. “Maybe it’s time I started a blog about Germany,” I said.

The next day we paid the full price of our excursions with the hotel’s travel agent. After having been solicited by everyone in town the night before, we walked down the Malecon in peace.