Do you have to listen to the timeshare speech or no?

I agree. I dint really care about the perks. Price is the bottom line, and at 47, I doubt I'll be heading there for too many more years? We get plenty good prices thru Orbitz. Only reason we have the do the referral this year, is we cancelled our trip last year last minute. We got a full Oasis Sens refund, but the airline voucher couldn't be used with a secondary site, and had to book the flight separate. Without the Orbitz bundling discount, we needed a referral to make this work.

 

If you aren't planning on buying or don't know but decide early during the presentation not to buy, I can't imagine even their high powered pitch would go on that long. I am not saying it never happened - but it is not the norm or anything close to it.

If you do decide to buy, it does seem that it takes a long time (my recollection which may be faulty is that it took an hour give or take) for them to run your credit card , prepare your contract and then walk through your contract with the "legal verifier" or what ever that persons title is and sign it. I remember being annoyed by that both when I signed my contract and when I upgraded. But.. in both cases it didn't come anywhere close to being a 5 hour ordeal.

 

We are not members and didn't go on a referral, but when we were there in early September, I honestly could not believe how rude the lady was who offered us "the map" after we checked in. My husband still laughs at how rude he thought I was being our first trip ever several years ago when I firmly turned down the lady trying to give us a map (all because I had gotten excellent advice on this forum). He later figured it out after talking to people who had gotten roped into sales presentations and understood why I had handled it that way.

This time, post-reopening, the woman was more aggressive than ever. I politely said no, we didn't need a map. She continued to follow us and ask why we didn't want a map. We said we had already seen one. She got visibly upset about this fact and asked multiple times WHO had given us a map. I finally told her I had gotten one from someone else who had already been there, so I didn't need one. She was still trying to stop us as we opened the doors by the bar to head down to the sexy pool. Every time I went to the lobby after that, I was worried about getting harassed by those ladies in the nice dresses.

It put a huge damper on the beginning of our vacation. I hate causing a scene and I hate feeling like I'm being rude, but my husband and I have absolutely no intention of ever becoming members, so there's no sense even entertaining the notion, and I still cannot believe how awful that woman was.

 

We are heading there in june 2018 for 4 nights after a week at breathless rc. So I have two questions about membership and benefits...
1. What perks do you actually get?
2. Can I upgrade and get those same perks without a membership? If we get a beach front suite (one step under a penthouse) do we get the same benefits as a member?

There is no way I would get a membership without taking the resort for a test ride first. We were set to get a membership at breathless this year but were out off the first day by some issues. It was our second trip there.

 

So this is frequently debated at length. And I can see both sides. But I am going to attempt to make this as straight forward as I can of an answer...

1. Perks for members question. I am going to leave out a bunch of stuff I don't care about. Members feel free to add if something you care about I miss.

• Guaranteed reservations for peak times at set rates. For example between xmas and nye. halloween.
• premium liquor. Still having trouble figuring out what 'premium' includes. But I know I could only get Fireball via Premier members. I could get grey goose on my own. How Fireball is more premium than Grey goose is beyond me.
• a special bar for premier members 10 feet away from the main bar. Didn't have to wait at all at the main bar
• special quick check-in
• priority restaurant reservations
• seating on the wood deck. not ideal since this is further away from the action
• some special items on some restaurants menus. Like at Sea Flirt there were several things that I would of had to pay for but were free for premier. Maybe 4 items.
• used to be special towels. but at the opening everyone got the same towels.

2. can i upgrade and get those same perks without membership

• technically no

3. If we get the beach front suite (one step under a penthouse) do we get the same benefits as a member?

• no not the same. One step under a penthouse is not the beach front suite. It is the master suite. With the master suite you do get some of the above perks like priority restaurant reservations via a butler. But we were not able to use the premier bar for example or get fireball without the helps of a member.

End result is the price of becoming a member has never been worth the perks to us. We have always been able to find lower prices ourselves than by buying in as a member so the cost isn't better either. Perks mean different things to different people though of course. If the price starts to beat the discount prices I can find elsewhere then we would consider as we do love TTR.

 

@Jen&Kyle - I believe you got almost everything right. #1 perks - first bullet, Guaranteed reservations - the guarantee is only good as long as you make your reservation 120 days or more in advance. Closer than 120 days and your reservation is subject to availability. I had completely forgotten about that perk so I actually had to get out my contract and look that up.

 

This whole members issue has got thinking about not trying temptations. Wearing wristbands to show the level of service you will receive is pretty lame. I know most resorts have a preferred section but that is usually a small quiet/boring bar with a few snacks ... and maybe some nice loungers by the beach.

If we go there and pay for a master suite and still don't get unlimited access to the bars ad pools I would be very disappointed. Heck even with a garden view run of the house room you shouldn't feel like a second class citizen.

Just ranting .....we will probably go anyway for a test run in June '18.

 

Well let me put it this way. Pre TTR we never liked to go to the same place twice. Been to many fine resorts around the world where it was more about the luxury and being spoiled and enjoying the rewards of working hard during regular life.

Then we went to TTR and realized something amazing. Vacations can be more about fun and enjoying people and reconnecting with your spouse and just feeling like you are 20 again and living life to the fullest. TTR makes you forget about where you are sitting or what you are eating or how nice your room is simply because you are having the best time of your life.

Now after many trips we started to go to the breathlesses of the world and Desire and while we loved them and still do for different valid reasons, nothing compared to the party of Ttr. The reason we left Ttr was frankly Ttr was showing its age. But now it is redone and we love it. Went for the opening, stayed in a master and didn't feel at all like a second class citizen. We never really have even when staying in regular rooms.

So end result is don't miss out on potentially the best trip of your life. Now this type of stuff isn't for everyone which is why I say 'potentially' but it is worth the risk. Don't expect breathless or Desire quality but expect to have an amazing time.

 

In our first two trips I didn't even know there was such a thing a membership really. I mean I saw on the restaurant menus a few special items for members, and I just figured that was a paid for upgrade like many other resort have to have a "premier package". I never thought we were second class to anyone, and the service was amazing.

Really the only service difference is during the day being able to get waiter service for food and drinks poolside. Other then that it's all pretty much the same and the way you described with a special bar or special chairs for members. (which really would actually be pretty lame, unless the bar is crowded because it's all people that you have know for years that like being at that bar together).

Reading on here probably makes it out to more than what it actually is when you are in the thick of fun things down there. It isn't until a few trips in with more experience that you realize some of these perks are present.

There are tons of people that have been to the resort 10+ times, and could care less about the perks or membership. With that many trips under their belts there must be something there where clearly those things aren't all that important to everyone.

 

Thanks for the info guys. So is there a rooftop lounge/pool that is available to everyone?