My wife and I just got back from Orlando. We were invited down to the Westgate Lake Resort in Orlando, Florida. For $100, we stayed in 5 star condo that had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, dining room, and living room (that'll usually run for about $340 a night). We also got 2 free tickets to an attraction of our choice (we ended up going with Magic Kingdom). All we had to do is sit through a 90 minute tour/presentation on Westgate's Time Share program.

It was great and well worth it. They also offered me a really great deal on a Time-Share. $7,600 for a pre-construction Time Share on their 2/year flex program. I was very tempted, but as it wouldn't be availabe until construction was complete on it in Jan of '07, I opted out (we still got the free tickets to Magic Kingdom). Besides, I'm just not quite ready to get into Time-Shares. That can become very complicated from an investors point of view.

Anyways, what really great promotions have you been offered that you've taken advantage of?

That's a common thing for time shares. A free stay in one of the condos to try to get you to buy.

My family took advantage of the same kind of deal for a vacation to Las Vegas. But damn, our presentation lasted like 4 or 5 hours. They kept badgering us for what seemed like forever. Finally they let us fuggin' go!

But I spent like half the vacation just in my hotel room watching tanks roll through the deserts of Iraq on TV.

Hating all buiness, economics, real estate, etc, i have never even considered such "promotions"

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Same for me.

Hippie.

Although those promotions really have nothing at all to do with being 'in' real estate, business, or anything of the sort...

Yeah, from what I understand they use several different means of making these types of promotions available. For one, an owner of a timeshare can give out "promotion" flyers. If the person comes, then the owner get's $20 off what they owe (or cash). If the person comes and purchases a timeshare, then the owner who sent them the promotion gets the $20 cash and then somewhere between 200-600 points which can be traded in towards what they owe on their timeshare (with each point equaling one dollar).

Another means they use is what they call "Body Snatchers." They have stands set up at various exists along major Interstates and Highways leading to Orlando that offer similier promotions. So if you're heading towards Orlando and you see a sign that says "free tickets" to an orlando attraction, then you might want to consider stopping. $50 will get you a typical 5 start hotel room (with a jacuzzi) a night. It'll also get you up to two free adult tickets to an Orlando attraction of your choice. They're only good for one time only and you'll have to sit through a 90 min tour while they try to sell you on the idea of owning a timeshare (which, with Westgate, you can actually trade for at other 5 star hotels and even trade in for a cruise or a private yaht complete with a captain and helmsman).

My job offers free vacations to San Diego, Vegas, Florida, Hawaii...and its for employees only, its company wide though and usually about 5,000 people go each year.

Westgate Sucks and so does Orlando.

Why people keep coming here, I'll never understand.

Cos they cant get enough of Homicide? obviously!

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Whatever you do, don't vacation on the Jersey shore. We don't need you shoobies hogging our roads and doing 40 on the freeway.

That didn't come out right.

Now we need someone to go on a killing spree in Orlando.