Not sure where to begin. First off, if this is your first "real" job or you're being recruited without having much experience or you're a recent graduate - please do not bother interviewing. If you're like me and you didn't read these reviews until after you got hired, get out while you can. That is if you aren't enjoying it and didn't plan on selling timeshares as a career. The Google reviews of your individual resort should be a red flag, too. I guarantee you will find upset guests that were treated horribly by the sales reps.
I felt scammed and taken advantage of when I was going through the interview and hiring process. I majored in business and marketing in college and was desperate to find a marketing job, which is why I applied for a "marketing" job at Wyndham. What I didn't know is that a lot of companies will advertise sales jobs as "marketing" to get naive people to apply. Yes, you are technically doing "marketing," but I dare you to find one Wyndham marketer who knows a single thing about actual marketing. Guarantee you not a single one of them even knows what SEO stands for.
I was desperate for employment and didn't think twice when I got an interview, because I knew I needed money. This is incredibly ironic because outside of training, not a single cent is guaranteed. Shame on any company listing sales jobs as marketing and acting like they're performing essential marketing functions - when in actuality you're just prospecting horrible leads and preying on vulnerable guests at your resort.
After being hired, I was quickly moved to sales and reluctantly complied because I needed a job. The reason for this, I later found out, is that frontline has an INSANELY high turnover rate. Like, unimaginably high. They're just acquiring bodies with the assumption most of you will quit. I was there for less than a year and saw almost 20 reps come and go. Not to mention the reps that quit who were there before I was hired.
The training was useless, maybe 10% of the information I learned I actually used. If you aren't getting the hang of the job in your first week of training, you will be treated like an idiot. Expect to be put on the spot to recite pitches that you will never, ever use. You will learn from other reps, trial and error, and just by being there for a while.
I was rushed into taking appointments way too prematurely and was berated for making rookie mistakes. You will receive little to no help when you start unless you're well-liked right off the bat. If managers don't feel like you're worth their time, you might as well just stay silent and get up after 90 mins - which is exactly how many of your appointments will go.
Do not, for any circumstance, come in on your off days. Even for high-qualified leads. Save yourself the suffering. When I first started, I worked 15 straight days followed by ONE day off, and then came back to work 13 straight days before getting two days off. Establish your assertiveness early on and let management know they can't control you like a puppet. Because they will when they get the chance. In turn, they will then see you as a bad employee, but when you're scamming the poor and elderly, that is the best kind of Wyndham employee you can be. They will tell you that you aren't "hungry" enough and don't have the work ethic to become a "killer" in the industry and won't be earning as much as your co-workers. It was never worth coming in on my off days. And it wasn't for anyone else either. Odds are if they could close a deal on their scheduled off days, they could obviously close a deal on their scheduled work days, too.
Get ready for an insane amount of bizarre and super-specific rules. Yes, all of it has some weird sales purpose. But your clients will see right through it. Be prepared to be glued to your cubicle, never take restroom breaks during your appointment, enforce strict rules upon your guests (can't use their phone, can't get up for any reason, can't be left alone to think about things), use a certain tone and verbiage when calling over a manager, and go through a strange process after your appointment is done. None of this will matter when you work a different job, it adds no meaningful experience unless you want to sell timeshares until you retire. It just makes you a jerk inside and outside the office.
Most employers don't question why you're taking PTO, vacation time, FMLA, etc. but you should expect to get the third degree if you request any of that at Wyndham. It is painfully ironic that they sell these "vacation dreams" but barely give you any time off and are annoyed you would even think to ask for vacation time. Nothing is more important to them than money and unless your heart rate is at 0, they expect you to show up and sell.
Have fun doing credit checks. That is one of the worst parts of the job. Enjoy the creative language you're taught to use in order to avoid telling clients it's a hard inquiry.
If you have good morals and a good heart, it will pain you to watch your co-workers take advantage of people, and it will hurt when you're encouraged to do the same. They will exploit the most sensitive emotions if it meant a potential sale. Just wait until they tell you what to say to a prospect who just experienced the death of a loved one. It's also fun when you ruin someone's vacation because they wasted hours of their leisure time attending these presentations. I've spoken to people on honeymoons, anniversary trips, and birthdays. Their lasting memory will be how awful they felt when they were endlessly pressured during their presentation.
Have fun dealing with the lies marketing tells your clients to get them booked for an appointment. You are always at a disadvantage from the start of every appointment because marketing ALWAYS lies to get appointments booked. So you'll have to do damage control the entire time because of a lie someone before you told (appointment length, the substance of the presentation, etc).
I never want to work in a matrixed organization ever again after working here. You will have so many people to report to. All of them breathing down your neck and berating you, but when you need help - suddenly all the "managers and leaders" are nowhere to be found.
You will never know when you will get off. I have spent many days working from 7 AM and leaving at 9 PM. That isn't the norm, but it happens more often than it should. You will never be able to budget time for anything in your personal life because there is never a definite time you will clock out. And then out of nowhere, there are days where you are only clocked in for 5 hours. It is painfully inconsistent and will take a significant toll on your personal and social life. I showed up at my friend's birthday party at 11 PM on a Saturday, even though it started at 6 PM. All because I was working and was forced to stay late, despite the fact there was no real purpose or task to complete.
If you are a woman, LGBT+, POC, etc., DO NOT WORK HERE. The amount of blatant racism, sexism, and homophobia is absurd. Women are objectified and harrassed and POC are told awful things and are called slurs on a regular basis. You expect that from clients, it's pretty much a given. But you will experience it far more from your co-workers. And all that will happen is a mild scolding from management with absolutely zero consequences.
Some of the best advice I ever got from a mentor was, "examine the characteristics of the top performers in your role. If they make your skin crawl and you can't imagine yourself doing what they did to get to that position, then this job isn't for you." I took that advice because the top performers were these slimy, money-hungry Jordan Belfort wannabees. Don't sell your soul or drink the kool-aid. If you're being recruited for a sales job at Wyndham, then you DO have something valuable to offer - but I guarantee you it will be worth it to take those skills to literally any other sales job. If you lack experience or education, find better sales roles. Having Wyndham on your resume makes finding other employment almost impossible, so find a company with a good reputation and a solid product.
