The Savvy Tourist

It Pays to use a Travel Agent

The general belief or myth is that is costs more to use a travel agent when booking your vacation. That is simply not true. Actually, the opposite can be true after you see what kind of special deals an agent has access to and the savings you will incur thanks to their expertise. I was a travel agent for many years and still get requests for assistance with vacations from my readers and past clients. I can offer advice but I no longer have any affiliation that allows me to book trips, so I ask anyone out there that is interested in planning a vacation, please call Carolyn, a.k.a. Blondie, at Why Not Travel. You will be in good hands.

For more information on why you should consider the services of a travel agent, check out a post I wrote a few years back, Why Travel Agents?  And don't forget to read How to be a Good Customer

 

A savvy vacation choice

With the price of gas (and everything else) everyone is looking for new and improved ways to budget. Having been a travel agent, I can tell you that vacations are the first thing to either get thrown out of the budget completely or else purchased as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, when you skimp on your vacation, you are essentially cheating yourself out of the best time you have with your family and friends. Personally, I would rather clip coupons and carpool than skimp on my vacation. I was always sorry when I booked a "budget" vacation.
There are ways to have a great vacation without skimping and one of them is by renting a house, possibly with friends and family, instead of paying resort prices. Sharing the cost of a house or condo is always more cost effective. You have facilities to cook some meals instead of eating out 3 times a day. You don't have to pay for parking your car, you don't have to walk through the lobby in your swimsuit, you don't have to tip anyone or cram 4 people (or more) into 1 hotel room. Everyone has a little more space to call their own and in some cases, you can take the family dog. One of the online booking agencies that I recommend is HomeAway. There are more destinations to choose from than you can imagine. Whether you prefer Italy or Martha's Vineyard, North Carolina or Africa, there is a home to suit your vacation needs. There are even homes for rent for RV travelers to "take a break" and spread out for a little while. I consider this a much more savvy way to travel, and I will always recommend it over timeshares any day.

Disney Vacation Club

I know I promised I would keep my Disney obsession on Mickey and Me, but as I'm sure you've figured out by one of my previous posts, I lie apparently. After all the fuss about poor customer service during my Las Vegas Timeshare adventure, I wanted to share with you "the way it is suppose to be". Last night we received a phone call from Disney Vacation Club ,which we have been a member of for 12 years. They wanted to make sure we knew about their new availability here in California and the best way to contact them if we needed anything in regards to our vacation ownership. They wanted us to know about the new villas that were being built at Disney's Grand Californian, and would we like to come over and see them when they are ready for previewing. Well, of course I want to see them, are you kidding? Now keep in mind that our current membership allows us to use these new villas when they are ready. We do not have to purchase anything else, nor are they promising any big breakfast, lunch or dinner to lure us over there. You see, they know that their product will sell itself and it will do it quite quickly, so no need to play games. I will write more about the Disney Vacation Club over on Mickey and Me for those of you that are interested.

And now....for the rest of the story!

I am going to try and wrap this up in what I will refer to as "The Final Chapter" of the Las Vegas Liar and My Encounter in Sin City.
Now that I had escaped the clutches of Westgate Resorts , my son and I decide to relax and enjoy a leisurely breakfast and try to put all this behind us. We ate at a lovely place called Lombardis Romagna Mia where the service and the food were impeccable. That calmed me down a bit to once again be treated like a human being.
While waiting for my parents to complete their "3 Hour Tour", we decided to try and come up with something fun to do later when we were all reunited. We decided the Comedy Magic Show that my parents would have tickets to after the tour would be fun. I would just buy our tickets so we could all still go together, even though I was being punished. The show times were 1pm and 3pm so we planned on the latter. It was now only "noonish" (that is a technical airline term I have been informed by one of my readers).
One of the "perks" of staying at Planet Hollywood is it's convenient location to shopping.  Miracle Mile Shops is basically attached to Planet Hollywood. It is what used to be the really cool outside-like shopping experience at the Aladdin. The ceiling is painted to feel like the open sky above, and the floor is tiled like an old cobblestone walk. But don't worry, they are changing all those quaint little features into more glitz, glitter and excitement for your future pleasure. Anyway.....we window shopped while we waited for my parents. We waited........and waited.....and waited. By 2:30pm I was very worried and figured my father had picked up where I left off and possibly they too had been impounded for their behavior. Finally, nearing 3pm, I heard from them. It had been a horrible experience and had we not already paid for a second night at the hotel, we would be leaving immediately, I was informed.
This had been much worse than your typical timeshare routine. They had been given a tour alright! They showed them the model suite of the "yet to be built" Planet Hollywood Towers, the building site, and the lovely shopping mall. Then they dragged them into a room with what looked like a bunch of telemarketers (land salesmen) feeding everyone Kool-Aid and discussing their future on "vacation ownership". My parents have always been very "savvy" with their investments and were anxious to read the fine print and fully understand what the offer entailed. They wanted to read the paperwork, discuss their options and also talk to a lawyer. Can you imagine someone wanting to do all those things before buying real estate? They must be crazy!! Westgate was having absolutely no part of that. They either bought right now, on the spot, or the price goes up $3,000. If they walk out of that room to discuss anything with anybody (namely me), the deal was off the table. At this point, several options had been tossed at them, and all the facts and figures were very fuzzy. They asked if they could take some paperwork with them to look over for awhile. The answer was "NO". They needed to buy right away, before this opportunity to vacation next door to George Clooney passes them over. What? I am going to have to call George and see if he knows they are throwing his name around to sucker people into buying here. Believe me when I say "buying" is loosely interpreted. For your purchase, you get the chance (Las Vegas lingo) to possibly vacation at Planet Hollywood, if it is available, or possibly "somewhere else" just like every other timeshare offers. You also get the privilege of paying real estate taxes on the 1/12th of the ownership, but you do not get any income from the rental profit. Sound familiar?
After my parents repeatedly declined the offer(s), the original salesman just up and left the table. In walks "a higher up" to give them one last chance. He is the only one that has this ability, yeah right!! Do you feel like you are buying a car yet? Anyway, after once again declining the offer, yet another guy came in to "escort" them out. There was no thank you, nice to meet you, we appreciate your time, nothing!!! Just get the hell out!
Hey .....what about breakfast? Oh....you can grab a sandwich out of the cold box on your way out. OMG!! Can you believe the lack of professionalism here? I figured if the "product" was worth anything, it could easily sell itself. Real Estate usually does. Instead, these people try to shove it down your throat and then threaten you and withhold nourishment. So, if they had actually bought anything, would they get the "breakfast" carrot that had been dangled in front of them? Well, guess what? Not only have they not eaten anything all day, we have managed to miss the only 2 show times that were available for the Comedy Magic Show. There's some worthless gifts. As for the "rest of the gifts", we took advantage of the 2 buffet tickets to the Sahara and we managed to win $137.50 at the black jack table with the $100 worth of "non-negotiable" chips.
The next morning we got the hell out of there so fast it would make your head spin. Who wants to vacation in something that looks like the ass end of an old Cadillac anyway?

Being in college (and always thinking), my son decided I needed a "nice" business card, like the one I gave to Westgate, and a "not so nice" business card for times such as these. He said he didn't think they felt very threatened by my cutesy little pink and white card. So, a new business card is on the drawing board for "Annie Ego", the much feared travel critic. Any suggestions from my readers would be welcomed.

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...............

Who's afraid of the 34th floor?

Me! That's who!! You guessed it, my room at Planet Hollywood was on the 34th floor. How lucky for me, NOT! So, we checked in at the  PH front desk with little to no trouble. The rooms were prepaid and we could check in with Westgate Vacations for the rest of our package up until 10pm that night. After being in the hills of Tennessee without Internet service, I asked the guy at the front desk if Internet was provided in the rooms. He informed us that Wi-Fi and cable hook-up were provided in all the rooms. I was ecstatic! That is such a great amenity for hotels to provide these days. We proceeded to the elevator and I held my breath for 34 floors. Ordinarily not an easy task, but we had the "express" elevator that basically flies past the first 23 floors (again, lucky me). The rooms were absolutely fabulous! That particular floor had recently been remodeled (Planet Hollywood used to be The Aladdin) and we had a gorgeous bathroom with huge jacuzzi tub, large shower, and lots of room overall. There was a 42 inch wide-screen TV for our viewing pleasure and a very comfortable bed with lots of pillows. We were able to get adjoining rooms so that made it really fun, like being in a suite. So far, I was pretty impressed. Everyone else appreciated the view too. Me, not so much.
Anyway, I plugged in my laptop and began following the steps to hook up to the Internet. While reading the directions posted I noticed there would be a charge of $12.99 per day. I guess "provided" or "available" does not actually mean "complimentary". I was sure that front desk guy had left me with the impression the service was free, but then again, they have a knack for that in Las Vegas. You think something is complimentary, but you later find there is a catch that requires a purchase of some kind. At this point, I was so happy just to have Internet available to me I wasn't too bothered with having to pay for it. This could easily have been my error. (Please make note of how reasonable I can be, it will come in handy later). I followed all the procedures for Wi-Fi hook up as it really wasn't very difficult. At least not until I actually wanted to visit a website. My computer was pretty sure it was connected, but I couldn't navigate to anywhere. I called the Internet help number and was put on hold by a computer that was busy helping other customers for almost 30 minutes. Finally, after much time went by it was determined by Cox Communications that the hotel has not turned on the Internet access to my room because they do not have a credit card on file for me. Are you kidding? So, I called the front desk and tried to give them my credit card over the phone so as to gain access to the Internet. I was told I would have to come back downstairs for that......all 34 floors. Yikes!!!! Tell me they didn't know they needed my credit card when I asked them if I had Internet available in my room. Maybe that is another reason I thought it was a free service........silly me! Well, far be it from me to waste a good trip downstairs so I decided to go ahead and check in with Westgate Vacations and pick up the rest of our amenities (gambling chips). We did a rather uneventful check in that required a photo id and a signature and instructions to meet at 11:30 am for our tour the next day. Unfortunately, their "system" was down and they were unable to provide us with the dinner tickets, show tickets, or chips. They asked if we would mind waiting until tomorrow and pick everything up when we came for the tour. We were still very unsuspecting at this point so of course we were agreeable. Third flag up the pole........

Sin City Saga continued.....

I should probably fill you in on a little "back history" as to how we got involved in this mess to begin with. We wanted to visit some relatives who live in Las Vegas and I thought it would be a good time to show my parents some of the sights and maybe take in a show. So, I sent my mother on the great quest for a good "middle of the week" deal at a hotel on the strip. I figured if we were going, we might as well be where the action is, or at least some of the coolest hotels. Well, my mother is not only a "savvy tourist", but also a "savvy shopper". She can spot a deal a mile away. I told her not to go cheap, since you do get what you pay for in Vegas, but stay within reason. She found a great deal on the Internet for a "vacation package" offered by Westgate Resorts. When she called the toll free number they were anxious to book this package for her. Listen to all you get.........2 nights at Planet Hollywood, 2 tickets for the buffet at the Sahara Hotel, 2 tickets for a comedy magic show, a free breakfast presentation and $100 worth of gambling chips. All this for $149. We thought Mom had found her usual great deal. Apparently these packages were of "limited availability" and they only had certain packages available for a certain demographic of people at these prices. I figured this was some sort of promotional thing that happens in Las Vegas so as to rip people off in every age group, race, religion and sexual preference category. So as luck would have it, they had a package available for a married couple, and one for a single female. So, my parents took the "married couple" package and I took the "single female" package. I informed them that I was "traveling as a single female" (knowing my husband would be out of the country for work). The customer service rep informed us that we had to make at least $60,000 per year and fit into the category (married, single) that we booked to qualify for all the special amenities that we were being given, including and most important, the 90 minute breakfast presentation. (This is where the first red flag went up.) 90 minute breakfast presentation? I heard breakfast but I had no idea it was going to take me 90 minutes. For what exactly I asked. Oh, it is just a little tour and presentation showing us the new Planet Hollywood Towers I was informed. Tour? Who said anything about a tour? Anyway, the rep explained a few things about how Planet Hollywood was building a new resort and it was being offered as a vacation opportunity. Oh, now I get it, it's a timeshare! She tried to say everything except "timeshare", since it carries the same stigma as "Amway". Believe it or not, I was actually kind of excited to see this new "vacation opportunity" since I write a travel blog and hope to be that "much feared" travel critic some day. I planned to bring home lots of great information for my readers. The next step was being transferred to the Confirmation Center and having us answer these questions we were prompted for on a recorded phone line.(second flag up the pole). So, yes I make at least $60,000 per year, and yes, I am traveling as a single female. The damage was done, the trip was booked and paid for and we would be on our way to Vegas in a week for a fun filled adventure. Or so we thought............

Pardon this brief interruption......

I know you are all anxiously (humor me) awaiting more great news about my trip to Tennessee, but I must interrupt the scheduled posting to rant about my brief (and last) trip to Las Vegas, NV. Please keep in mind that I do not intend to belittle anyone's love for this crazy city. I understand that millions and millions of people flock to this absolutely chaotic excuse for a money sucking black hole of a tourist trap and they love every minute of it. It's just not my bag baby!  I came to Las Vegas to meet some relatives that actually live here and also some that were visiting from Colorado. That part of my experience (I use that term loosely), was actually quite pleasant and enjoyable. After having a lovely dinner with family, we should have just driven straight home, no passing GO, no collecting $200! My nightmare with Las Vegas started almost immediately after leaving my cousin's house. We managed to get ourselves lost getting back to our hotel after being given very good directions and told we looked "perfectly capable" (keep in mind these particular relatives don't know us very well). We finally found our way to the hotel by keeping The Stratosphere Hotel in view at all times. Once we found "the strip", how hard could it be? Well, let me tell you, it can be quite the challenge getting where you need to be without getting run over or running someone over. Patience is not their strongest virtue in this city that never sleeps.

We  were booked for 2 nights at Planet Hollywood through a "vacation package" offered by Westgate Resorts. "Vacation package" is slang for "get sucked into a 3 hour tour of a property that has not yet been built, in which you will be forced to make a huge financial decision within moments of hearing the offer and have absolutely no time to think about it or read the fine print first". Okay, now I think you know where I am going with this. Unfortunately, it was such a horrible experience that I have to gather all my thoughts carefully before I write them down for the world to read. I have to interview a few other folks that were involved, and possibly consult my lawyer to make sure I cannot be sued for slander after stating my opinion and writing about my own personal experiences. Just a little back history, I have actually attended several "timeshare presentations" and of course you all know I own a timeshare with Disney, so I am not new to the procedures involved. I went into this with an open mind, but I came out of it with what should be an attention getting story. To be continued.............