The Holiday Passports Gift Package

They still had incentives to offer before we could leave the building. The first gift, as they promised when we were "picked up" at Knott's Berry Farm, was two prepaid round trip tickets to Hawaii including weekday accommodations for two nights and three days.


Next, Nicole offered us an unbeatable deal! For only $999, a box of Holiday Passport vacation opportunities! I opted for interest-free monthly payments of $100! This box includes a variety of cruise and hotel discounts as follows (www.holidaypassports.com):

HOLIDAY PASSPORT owners enjoy incredible savings on a versatile array of extraordinary vacation privileges.

• Pre-Paid Accommodations
  50 complimentary room nights for two at more than 25 popular destinations, in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and many more destinations to choose. For a spectacular travel experience, Holiday Passports allows you to combine several destination options into the same vacation.
  
  Enjoy two, three or four-night (varies by destination) complimentary accommodations at the following getaways:
  

  CURRENT DESTINATIONS: • Anaheim, California • Branson, Missouri • Cabo San Lucas, Mexico • Cancun, Mexico • Cocoa Beach, FL • Daytona Beach, Florida • Freeport, Bahamas • Ft. Lauderdale, Florida • Hilton Head Island, SC • Las Vegas, Nevada • Mesquite, Nevada • Miami, FL • Orlando, Florida • Ormond Beach, FL • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico • San Carlos, Mexico • Sedona, Arizona • Smokey Mountains, Tennessee • St. Pete's Beach, FL • Tecate, Mexico • Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

   
• Major Discounts at All-Inclusive Resorts
  Up to 50% off published rates at the world's most sought-after destinations; Mexico and the Caribbean. Accommodations, unlimited food and alcoholic beverages, daily activities including non-motorized sports equipment and nightly entertainment. Holiday Passport owners have 11 resorts to take advantage of these major discounts.
  
  Experience the leisure and luxury of three to seven-night accommodations, with all the accompanying privileges when you purchase the all-inclusive package. Holiday Passports' special discounted rate is available at resorts in these fabulous destinations:
  
  MEXICO - Cozumel, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Nuevo Vallarta
  
  CARIBBEAN - Playa Grande, Bavaro
  
• Savings on Cruises up to 60% 
  Take advantage of up to 14 cruises on more than 50 Caribbean, Mediterranean or Pacific itineraries onboard Carnival or Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
  
  Holiday Passport owners will enjoy exceptional cruise privileges which include exotic destinations, fabulous food and pampered service-by selecting from the cruise lines' current published itineraries at savings up to 60% off the published brochure rate.*
  
  Relax in carefree style for three to seven days at sea while you take advantage of huge discounts on the cruise of your dreams.
  
  Sample cruise itineraries can be viewed on the Carnival or Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Travel Card or by visiting their respective website.
  
  *Discounts are based on the published brochure rate. Special rates or promotions offered by Carnival, Royal Caribbean or other travel suppliers do not apply to this offer.
  
• Bonus Travel Privileges
  An ever-changing inventory of vacation options that includes pre-paid airline tickets and discounted airfare to a variety of popular destinations - Tahiti, Acapulco, Honolulu and more.
  
  Holiday Passport owners get extra value from their travel package with these current Bonus Privileges:
  
  PREPAID AIRFARE TO HONOLULU FOR TWO when you purchase accommodations through Holiday Travel of America at a participating resort.
  
  HALF-PRICE ROUND-TRIP AIRFARE TO TAHITI with the purchase of one ticket at full price.
  
  PREPAID AIRFARE TO SAN DIEGO FOR TWO with the purchase of accommodations through Holiday Travel of America at a participating resort.
  
  ROUND-TRIP AIRFARE TO CABO SAN LUCAS FOR TWO from San Diego for $250 per person plus tax.
  
  ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

HOLIDAY PASSPORTS gives you. . .

. . .MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY.

• Plan the vacation you want, time and time again. By combining your choice of the individual travel offers included in your Holiday Passports portfolio, you have the flexibility to experience dozens of different dream vacations.
  
• Update your Holiday Passports on-line. New vacation offers will be added to Holiday Passports periodically. To find out what exciting new travel privileges are available to you, simply access your personal on-line account 24 hours a day and browse the "What's New" section.
  
• Give Holiday Travel Passport Cards to friends or family. Fully transferable, these exceptional travel offers make wonderful gifts!

. . .MAXIMUM VALUE.

• Enjoy unparalleled savings on as many as 30 dream vacations. Holiday Passport owners enjoy the same privileges at a fraction of cost. This unprecedented value is available only through the extensive resources of Holiday Travel of America, an established leader in the industry.
  
• Be a smart, privileged traveler. Holiday Passport owners soon realize the value of their state-of-the-art travel package. In fact, many Passport owners may find that they have recouped their cost of the initial investment by taking just a few vacations!

. . .MAXIMUM CONVENIENCE.

• It's so easy to make your dreams come true. Your Holiday Passports Portfolio includes 30 Passport Checks, with more than 50 individual vacation opportunities and a sheet of corresponding destination stamps. To reserve the travel option of your choice, simply fill out a Passport Check, affix the stamp and mail. We'll contact you within a week.
  
• Redeem your Passports on-line. The convenience of on-line registration and reservations is offered as an additional value to passport owners.
  
• Use our CD-ROM for step-by-step vacation planning. Also included in your Holiday Passports Portfolio is a CD-ROM that's linked to on-line reservations, which lets you navigate easily through all your travel options.
  
• Let Holiday Travel of America take if from here. Holiday Passports was designed to be simple to use. Our staff of professional travel consultants is on hand to help make your travel experiences as trouble-free and memorable as possible, from beginning to end.

The 90 minute sales pitch becomes 6 hours

The Lawrence Welk Resort in Temecula, CA appears to be in the middle of nowhere. Getting to the sales building requires a wiggling drive through the many different areas of the resort, appropriately enough. From what I could see, it was a golf country club with plenty of swimming pools and happy slides for the kiddies.


Linda was surprisingly nice and accommodating with us. It was apparent that she did not desire to pressure us into buying something we would not really use or could afford. The presentation took place in a large conference room with individual cafe style tables. Each salesperson had their own table, but the chit chat from nearby discussions made it hard to concentrate.


They offered complementary coffee, juice and light snacks so as to keep us pleasantly comfortable.


Down to the pricing. Last, but not least, the financial addendum came into play. Ownership is purchased in terms of "weeks" that can be used at the Temecula resort or "exchanged" for days at other locations around the world. Don't quote me on this, but for a 2-bedroom layout with 4 weeks of vacation opportunity per year the purchase cost is around $69,000. There are financing opportunities with Welk Resorts at 14.99% APR/APY(?). Also required is an annual "maintenance/home ownership association" fee of around $700.


There's plenty of room to negotiate, and the financial manager can move weeks and numbers and bedroom layouts around to suit your financial ability. But in the end, the price just didn't seem to make optimal financial sense.


After six hours, we declined. I felt guilty for asking so many questions, but they should not have left the hefty profiting till the very end. Next, Linda dropped us off at the "checkout/gift" counter where we sat with another very nice lady, Nicole, who explained which gifts we were entitled to for experiencing the presentation...[see next post]

Hook, line, and sinker at Knott's Berry Farm

We couldn't even get to the ticket counter before the nice lady carefully stepped away from her sales booth and asked us if we lived in the area. She then offered us a wonderful Hawaii vacation package. What did we have to do? Of course, without explicitly stating "time share presentation" she explained how we could participate in a "promotional opportunity."


I quickly realized what she was talking about, but since we would be down near San Diego anyway we opted to put $40 down to reserve our presentation appointment. She promised that once we showed up we get our money back right away - not exactly - the fine print requires participants to stay for the 90 minute presentation, as expected.


Even if we chose to not purchase the promotional opportunity (timeshare ownership) we would receive the Hawaii vacation at no expense other than the cost of tax. Also, as a thank you for reserving an appointment we received two Regal Theaters movie tickets; other options were baseball games and wine tasting.


So, at this point we walked away with two movie tickets, but must attend the ownership presentation in Temecula in two weeks or our $40 reservation fee will be forfeited.