Las Vegas Liar

After a pretty good sleep in my beautiful room at Planet Hollywood I was anxious to see what this tour had to offer, especially the breakfast part of it. First things first....coffee! Uh oh, where's the coffee pot? How could this be? Such a beautiful room and they forgot the coffee pot? Of course they didn't forget the coffee pot, they would prefer you go back downstairs (all 34 floors....again), stumble through the casino and pay $7 for a cup of coffee. That's where the coffee pot is...it's in the coffee shop! I'm catching on now! This is not about my convenience at all.
Westgate Resorts has their office on the Mezzanine level of Planet Hollywood so that is where our tour begins. We checked in on time at the reception area, once again showing photo id and presenting paperwork that had been included with our reservation and confirmation. This time, the gentleman at the desk point blank asked me if I was married. I said "Yes, I am, but I am traveling as a single female, as my husband is out of the country". Well, you would have thought I was either the millionth customer or I had committed murder. (Let me give you a clue...there were no balloons or confetti dropping from the ceiling at this moment). I was told that I would not be allowed to take the tour and I was then escorted downstairs where I was informed I would incur my penalty. My what? Holy Crap! Is this some sort of police action? I felt like I had accidentally lifted a can of tuna from a Sack O' Suds in Alabama and forgot to pay. Due to the serious faces on my "escorts", my parents decided they better go with me wherever I was being "escorted" to, along with my son. I guess the family that travels to Vegas together gets put in the slammer together. Don't worry, I didn't really get arrested. Instead I got royally scolded and had all my toys taken away. Seriously, the show tickets, the buffet tickets, the gambling chips, all gone! Wait, they had never really given them to me had they? (I believe this is the fourth flag up the pole).

Westgate Resorts proceeded to inform me that I had lied about my marital status and therefore I was  ineligible for the vacation package at the discounted price. They would now be charging me the full price of the room for the 2 nights and I was not getting any of the "complimentary" gifts. Somehow, that part I knew!  I informed them that I had not lied, I had always been clear about how I answered the questions. No one ever directly asked me if I was married, that is, until the guy at the reception desk. I had always clearly stated that I was traveling as a single female. The original reservation agent had stated that I had to answer the questions properly to get the package (and she, her commission). That is exactly what I had done. I answered the questions properly and without lying.....give me a break, I'm a woman, it's not that difficult. At this point, my sense of humor was dwindling. I asked these people if they were really that stupid or was it me? I said "you do know we are coaxed into answering the questions in order to qualify for this, right?" The assistant manager then glared at me and said  she was getting her manager. Great! Get the manager and while you are at it, give him my business card because I was here to write about your little presentation that has turned into a huge production. Did you forget we are in Las Vegas and your marital status can change at any minute around here?

You may be wondering what my poor supportive family is doing right about now and how proud of me they must be, ha ha!! This is the last family vacation I will ever convince my 18 year old to take, let me tell you that much. I urged them to go ahead and take the tour and get me lots of information about the place. I also didn't want them to incur all these penalties and beatings taking away of gifts that I was getting.

As you can guess, the manager never came out of his hiding place and only sent his assistant back to inform me they had made their final decision and I was being charged the full amount, blah, blah, blah. She also informed me that if I felt I had not lied, they would be glad to pull the tapes from my conversation with the reservation agent. I told them I thought they should pull the tapes and maybe they would be enlightened as to what really goes on (like they don't already know). They took down my cell phone number and said they would call me in a few hours as soon as they had a chance to listen to the tapes. That was one week ago...............

Comments

[Sabrina]

Oh boy, you really know how to have a good time in Vegas!

My favorite part of visiting Las Vegas is the van ride back to the airport.

[Fred]

These people don't seem to get it. There is usually one spouse that is most likely to make the decision. Forcing them to bring along the other one does them absolutely no good, it just sets the stage for hostility before the pitch begins. In your case, they got some really good reviews in the process! Sheila will be very proud of you. She hates timeshare sales people!

[Margaret]

This is certainly an eyeopener! My husband and I are going to PH in 12 days to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary! I'm hoping they will have adjusted some of their tactics by the time we visit (our tour isn't scheduled until the day before we leave and we've already arranged for our own entertainment, so aren't dependent upon this "promotion" for any fun). It's very interesting because my husband specifically asked them if this was for time share and they told us no. I believe he asked them more than once, too.

What a scam this sounds like! I HATE these kinds of "tours". The pressure they put on you to buy into these things is just so ridiculous -- worse than a used car salesman.

I was looking forward to our vacation, but now I'm not so sure :(

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[Annie]

There's more of the story to come, wait until you hear how they treated my parents.....
Don't confuse Planet Hollywood with Westgate Resorts. Overall, I think PH is okay, except for their affiliation with Westgate trying to sell the new PH Towers. I can't believe they told you it was not a timeshare. I can't wait to hear about your experience.