How to Go About Qualifying Timeshare Information on the Web

Whether timeshare owners enjoy their interval or not, most will tell you the distractions that come with the purchase can be quite overwhelming. From the resort’s high pressure upgrades to third party resale and exit programs, the noise of the industry is tremendous. Buyers that are unprepared for bombardment often endure a subpar experience. Those that avoid impulse decisions and invest time in qualifying timeshare information are usually familiar with an enjoyable one. It’s no secret that many owners regret their decision to buy one. But a lot of the time, how they manage the purchase isn’t always their fault.

As we’ve been analyzing the noise of timeshare travel over the past few weeks, we’ve noticed that there’s been one constant. Every claim, opinion or sales pitch has essentially derived from selfish ambition. No matter who’s presenting to fractional owners online, their purpose and goals are pretty much one sided. The consumer is rarely considered and often times led to believe in something that simply isn’t true.

At VOC, Accurate Timeshare Information is Important.

While most timeshare websites will do anything for your attention, we hope you find our blog refreshing and advantageous to your goals or desired outcomes as an owner. The last thing we want you to think is that we’re apart of the noise and trying to persuade you to cancel your timeshare contract. Although termination tends to be the best case scenario when you’re in financial trouble, making smart decisions is the most important thing every owner should do.

Qualifying timeshare information not only helps you avoid deceitful schemes, it allows you to make wise, confident decisions. This is where we want to help. If you’ve been tuning into our blog over the last year, you should have a good understanding for the way timeshare companies persuade potential buyers and their current owners. Aside from the resort, you should also know just how conniving predatory agencies can be. Even review platforms and oblivious, misinformed keyboard warriors can be pretty convincing these days. 

At VOC, we don’t want you to have to navigate these voices alone. Just the thought of it can be overwhelming. At the same time, knowledge is power. When you take the time to understand who is targeting you and why, then qualifying timeshare information becomes easy. Similar to finding the best deal on a car, you can’t rely on the salesman’s song and dance to guide you.

Avoid Making Lazy Timeshare Decisions

No timeshare owner wants to wonder which deal is real or regretfully pay for a property they don’t understand. But in order for them to see through the nonsense, they have to educate themselves on reality. We’ve been able to prove that you can’t believe everything you read on the web. In most cases, it’s not that easy to verify the advice you receive. But ignoring ambiguity here can be extremely costly. The good news is, we’ve put a lot of time into teaching consumers how to go about qualifying timeshare information.

Timeshare Information Worth Qualifying.

While the general public has enjoyed our exit fraud checklist and the coverage on the aforementioned topics, these aren’t the only channels in the ears of timeshare owners. So in our last installment of this series, we thought we’d highlight the remaining influential strategies that can fog the judgement of buyers and alter the enjoyment of their experience altogether. The reason why so many are misled online is the simple fact that sales driven organizations know more about the consumer than the consumer knows about them. So, hopefully this next section provides additional clarity on the intentions behind most timeshare spiels.

1. Resort Employees Are Often Incentivized.

Timeshare companies have now realized there is far greater potential when targeting people online. In the past, they were limited to telemarketing techniques, partnerships and even street teams. They now have the ability to publish and recycle digital content while leveraging consumer data to persuade people to buy or spend more. This benefits no one more than the resort’s employees – that are incentivized to sign up new members. 

Every fractional owner that is placed under a new perpetual agreement (first time buyers or upgrading owners) comes with a handsome reward. Since we already know prominent resorts often attempt to control the narrative in the timeshare industry, you have to assume employees are following suit. Any way they can garner a lead on the web will be maximized. While many keyboard warriors are motivated by a negative or misguided experience, some are simply an extension of the resort itself.

Moreover, the masterminds behind a majority of timeshare exit scams have been former resort employees. They know how to cater to the emotions of fraction owners and leverage their desire for a satisfactory experience. Online messages, chats and other forms of media can be used in a number of ways to garner some sort of payout for those affiliated (or formerly affiliated) with the resort. 

While some employees eventually choose to speak out against timeshare sales tactics, most of the communication is extremely biased and misleading. This is why qualifying all timeshare information, no matter how intelligent it sounds, can save you a lot of disappointment and even more money. When you don’t validate what you’re reading, there’s no telling who’s behind the ploy and what their intent actually is.

2. Affiliates & Third Party Referral Commissions.

When we discussed the maneuvers of timeshare review websites last month, we touched on the way these platforms utilize SEO and marketing to their advantage. Recently, timeshare companies have started to adopt this as well. Since they really only specialize in one thing, selling intervals, they’ve started hiring external agencies to decrease their acquisition costs. One of the ways they’ve set out to accomplish this is a quantitative approach called back-linking.

In this process, contracted digital arms (affiliate marketers or lead generators) direct online users to a unique website landing page by posting comments and publishing other forms of content online. Enticing, misleading messaging can be placed on articles of popular websites, social platforms or on any domain that allows display ads. The performance of the affiliate link is measured by the number of clicks, the time spent on the destination site and how many visitors convert (submit their personal information). Those managing the blasts are compensated based on the goals of the payer. 

We mention this element of influence because, like resort employees, these publishers are motivated by selfish ambition. They’re not exactly interested in communicating truth, rather persuading people to take action. By placing thousands of links across the internet, they know someone is bound to take the bait. Tons of people eventually fill out contact forms after stumbling across a phony comment that links to a free giveaway, guarantee or relevant solution. 

While an emotional owner (or enraged family member of one) can mislead a lot of people on the web, the greed of commissioned marketers is a lot more dangerous. Once a timeshare entity has your personal data, they can continue to bombard you with offers or alluring services however they please. By qualifying timeshare information and following the breadcrumbs (digital paper-trail) of these posts before taking action, you’ll realize most backlinks are nothing more than a mirage.

3. Timeshare Information Websites.

While the purpose of affiliate marketers and timeshare review platforms is to elicit leads for a payout, some websites look to gain authority within the marketplace. Although some of the content they publish is valuable, these operations tend to only publish insight that benefits them. For example, TUG (Timeshare User Group or TUG2) claims to be a “non-biased” user group platform but they apparently delete comments that don’t align with their personal agenda – which is to send timeshare owners to brokers through their platform. 

Since the website is run by a team of experienced digital marketers, they rank fairly well in search engines. This allows them to be visible on a number of online searches regarding timeshare ownership. The problem is, they spend a lot of time promoting resale programs and telling visitors it’s impossible to legally get out of timeshare contracts. When you analyze their comments, it’s easy to assume users actually work for TUG. What’s even more concerning is that they come off as a legitimate influence but details of their claims aren’t available unless you pay for a membership. 

Some former members have even claimed the site made their private information public. Other users have even pointed out some of TUG’s authors manage their own timeshare rental businesses. Since we’re not in the business of getting into keyboard cyber battles with biased teams of marketers, we’ll allow you to judge the narrative for yourself. Either way, a plethora of websites like this exist online. Qualifying timeshare information in these places will help you understand how greedy operations leverage false, baseless information to their advantage.

How to Qualify Timeshare Information on the Web.

Look, we live in an era where the internet’s information highway is at full throttle. Sadly, it’s difficult to find much truth about timeshares online right now. Far too many entrepreneurs, scam artists and marketers are blinded by the opportunities to make money off of vulnerable buyers. In order to avoid the narrow-mindedness of most forms of communication, you have to start qualifying timeshare information on your own.

Before you believe in something you read, you have to ask yourself a few questions. Is the person, account or company aggressively trying to alter my perception or persuade me to adopt theirs? Do they come across as selfish or arrogant? Does it seem like they’re more interested in getting me to listen to them instead of listening to me? Are their claims vague or irrelevant to what I’m seeking? Is what they’re communicating verifiable? If you’re unable to reach a level of confidence, then it’s never worth your time. 

At VOC, we take pride in being able to answer all of your questions and take into consideration your personal experience. Not every fractional owner views the purchase the same way. Not all disgruntled buyers need to get rid of timeshares. At the end of the day, owners simply deserve an ability to find an ideal solution that makes sense for them. But unless they’re committed to qualifying timeshare information, it’s going to be hard for them to know what to do.