Beware The Hard Sell In Soft Whites Could Mean Timeshare

The caller ID can tell you when those timeshare solicitors are on the other end of the phone, but who would suspect fresh-looking men and women wearing white tennis outfits on the beach?

During the Memorial Day weekend, Sunterra, a timeshare vacation-ownership company with 89 resorts in 13 countries, will deploy guerrilla-marketing teams, courtesy of PJ Inc., New York, at beaches on the coastlines of New Jersey, Florida and Texas.

They will carry Sunterra see-through beach bags and distribute packets of suntan lotion with a blue Sunterra hanging card asking, "Where will your next vacation be? Come vacation with us." The card also lists the company's phone number and the Web address www.sunterragetaways.com. Radio spots in those markets also will support.

"We have an exciting timeshare product that is attractive to families who spend time at popular beaches, and we are taking our message to them, on the beach," Dave Lucas, Sunterra evp and CMO, said in a statement. "In doing so, we hope to drive traffic to [the Web site] and gain important information about public perception of timeshares and vacation habits so we can reach new customers in a way that traditional timeshare marketing cannot."