anothercog
Recycles dryer sheets
We did the Marriott presentation in Orlando. We are loyal Marriott Gold Elite members. I've always found the company to be responsible and trustworthy and respectful to their guests.
NOT THE TIMESHARE DIVISION!
The person we dealt with was beyond rude, ignorant, and condescending. He repeatedly made incorrect assumptions about us, even after I corrected him - he just kept on spouting off the same wrong stuff. By the end, when we were quite fed up, he got even worse, which is typical of timeshare folks but I really expected better from Marriott. When we got home, I fired off a very nasty letter to the higher ups of the company. I don't think I ever got any response.
Disney, on the other hand, is as nice as you would expect Disney to be. We did the DVC tour not because we had the slightest interest in buying but because we are big Disney fans and I wanted first-hand knowledge about how it all works.
When we first sat down with the rep, I explained that. He asked about our typical Disney travel routine and I told him that we rent condos offsite for $75/night and were quite content to do that. We had no interest in staying onsite. He understood and was fine with that and admitted from the start that DVC wouldn't be right for us. But he still went through the whole presentation, showed us how it all works, answered our questions, and finished up with us getting free ice cream and the gift cards promised for doing the presentation. I would happily do their presentation again and I've recommended others to do it as well, as long as you are fully prepared to say NO and not actually buy anything.
Marriott spun off their timeshare division many years ago. They still use the Marriott name but are not the same company as the hotels.
I have never been on a Disney timeshare presentation. I bought my Disney contracts sight unseen because unlike other timeshares, it actually made financial sense for us because we want to stay onsite and hotels are too small for my family. I bought my original batch direct at a great price (back in 2009) and bought additional contracts resale. Disney is the only timeshare I would recommend (only for staying at Disney, not trading) but only at the resale prices. New prices are insane now.