So, the wife and I will being going on our 5th trip to TTR at the end of June. We’ve never done the presentation for the Premier membership. Honestly, our first trip was just an excitement and never expected to go back but now we’re hooked to say the least. So my question to those who are Premier members or who has done the presentation and and decided against it, is the membership worth getting? Is it worth going through the presentation? And if we attend the presentation, what can we expect from the salesman?
we joined about 4 years ago. we have no regrets. the pay back on airfare is great. takes a little time to get it, about 5-6 months. fill out the paper work on time send in, and they send it. we loe getting the rooms we ask for, plus we really like the sky bar. go to a presentation, if you dont like what they offer, offeer your own terms see what they go to. if you dont like what they have to offer, just politely say no.
You'll likely get a wide array of opinions on this question, with some being very anti-membership (not judging, just saying). We got our membership about 10 years ago so things are likely a bit different now but my advice now is the same as I gave back then... it's about the perks. My opinion is that the perks need to be very important to you if a membership is going to be worth it for you. That may sound like a "Captain Obvious" remark (because memberships are often about perks) but many people get quite upset (and rightly so at times) about the premier rates vs. the regular rates vs. non-premium offers vs. deals on the various travel sites not working out in their favor (more than a few times we've hung out with people there that got a better deal as non-members than we got as members) so I think it's imperative that it not be about saving money. Most of the time we do save some a bit of money but the most important thing to us , by far, is the access to the premier bar. Although I have nothing but good things to say about ALL the staff at Temptation, the premier bar staff are the most wonderful people on earth, and give you the best service you're ever going to get anywhere. I think it's fair to say that most premier members feel like the premier bar staff are like family. And the premier bar is the best place at the resort to meet people. And I love hanging out with the many "lifer" members (I mean that in a good way) and the people that I refer to as "the legends", lol. It may sound silly to some, but the premier bar, all on it's own, has been worth every penny we spent. Another thing we like is that we don't have to mess around with the "deal of the day" websites... we just pick our dates and book them knowing we're at least likely to be close to being on par with whatever the travel site deals are at the time... and that most of the time our rates will be at least a little bit lower. We also love the premier check-in. It's a more relaxing check-in experience, especially after having been on a flight and shuttle, and it's more catered to your needs. And although it's not a huge perk for us the sky bar is nice to go to occasionally. What I would suggest is that you go for the smallest, lowest cost option first. You can always upgrade, and you can usually get an upgrade at a better price (with a few more extras) than if you went all in during your first purchase. Be steadfast in finding out what the smallest, lowest cost membership is though... often when you think they've gone as low as they'll go there's still a smaller package that they haven't mentioned yet. And don't let them feed you drinks, lol (at least not if you pour them back like I do), it will obviously impair your judgment and negotiation skills. Good luck!
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Apparently there’s a lot more to the membership than I realized. I guess it’s time to finally sit through the presentation and see what they offer.
Also look at being a beneficial of someone else's membership. Definitely will save you thousands. Buy a certain number of nights from membership. Exactly same benefits as the member
Definitely figure out what you want out of the membership before attending the presentation. We've been to TTR at least 10 times and a handful of trips to Desire RM - we've sat through many presentations but we never felt like it was worth it to us. So many people buy in and obviously it's worth it to them, we just don't get it, it's thousands of dollars for perks on future vacations. We've done the math lots of times and it just didn't work for us. I strongly suggest having conversations with multiple members before going in and don't get bullied in to buying. We've had the salesperson be easy going and accept our polite no thanks, but we've also had the salesperson get very pushy and rude when we politely declined and they couldn't make the sale, so be prepared for that as well. We've always had top notch service and staff go out of their way with any requests, we tip well as a thank you. Paying in to a membership didn't offer us any valuable perks that we couldn't already get.
It works like this a person buys like a 400 night membership. You can buy like 100 nights of that membership for a negotiated price. That member will register you as a beneficial member with the premier desk you get the exact same benefits as the original member. A whole membership is only good if you go to resort 2-3 times a year. If not you will never get the full 400 nights in 25 years. Just make sure you have a written contract signed with original member
One more "perk" that has not been explained here is your membership to RCI that comes with Premier. This to us, is the most important "perk". We have "exchanged" a week here at TTR to go to Jamaica, Bahamas, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Punta Cana, even New Orleans. Without getting to far into the weeds, we just spent a week in Vegas (5/20 - 5/27) in a 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen and living room at The Hyatt Vacation Club at The Flamingo for $498.00 using our RCI membership (studio for a week is $212 per night or $1,500 for the week right now). $500 for a week in Hawaii in a one-bedroom suite again with full kitchen, living room and incredible balcony and view? Can't be done. Would have been $3,000.00 for the week. We have more than paid off our membership by using it elsewhere via RCI (who wants to go to the same vacation spot all of the time...even TTR?). If you intend to travel 2 - 3 times per year for a week at a time (and RCI even sometimes has 3 - 4 day offerings)...using this makes incredible sense long-term. We even gifted a week in Hawaii for the end of this year for our son's honeymoon...$89 extra for a guest certificate but again, would have been $3K plus for them to go for a week.
