Marriott Going to Point Syst

I have just learned that if we enroll into the new Marriott points program, we will then be assigned an all new Interval International account, which they are calling the "corporate account". As a result, we will have two separate II accounts (our old one and this new on). (So much for simplicity!)

Apparently the old II account will operate as it always has in the past (i.e., will require an annual membership fee, trade fees for ALL trades including Marriott to Marriott trades, etc.).

Does anyone know if the new II "corporate account" will have the same exact inventory for trades as the old account (including both Marriott and non-Marriott inventory)? Or, will each II account have separate inventories? Also, will the trades work as in the past (i.e., Marriott to Marriott trades have priority; up trading, such as from a one to a two bedroom is possible; etc.)? Also, will the "corporate account" include the same Getaways as in the past?

I went on line to the Marriott site and entered their chat space. The answer was that both those in the new Marriott Program and those who continue to trade thru the old II program have access to the same weeks.

I was not able to get an clear explanation as to how this works with two organizations working off the same data base -- expecially since one of them is dealing in days.

Perhaps someone else can try Marriott on this and see if you get a more detailed response.

I have read that Marriott is pulling its inventory from II. When looking for a Getaway, I couldn't find any Marriott properties in Florida, so I assume this might be correct. Anyway, we will now be staying at a Hyatt time share and will probably avail ourselves of their presentation to learn about thier system and how it might compare. Seems to me that if Marriott is driving their best customers, namely current owners, to competitors properties, they are "shooting themselves in the foot." Also, we will not be using our Marriott charge card since American Express offers us better benefits when not stay with Marriott.

Where did you read that Marriott is pulling their inventory from II? That is not what Marriott is saying so the person at Marriott is either clueless or what you read was wrong.

As far as not getting your request, that has happened to me many times before the new program kicked in.

If Marriott deserves to be hammered I'm all for it, but I would like to see more factual based conclusions. Otherwise we are all just waisting our time BS ing.

I am a five week Marriott owner (including 3 Hawaii weeks) and for each of the past 13 years I have traded (through Interval International) for weeks in Palm Desert to accommodate myself and 15 golf buddies for a winter week of golf. However, this year the Marriott trades that I have had no problem doing in the past, simply are not there. My strong suspicion is that the new Marriott points program is the reason for this, especially given that in this down economy travel demand is down, not up.

As a result, I am already experiencing first hand that Marriott's claim that deeded owners can still do everything that they have always done in the past is pure fiction.

I'm in Palm Desert now and just signed up for the new system, as they turn the screws on you for an acceptance during the presentation. Knowing we have 10 days to cancel, I just went ahead and did it.

Concerns: *With our new points, it's possible we can no longer even get home resort for 7 nights. I spoke with the Marriott Desk at II and they explained that you can still book your week at your home resort.

* We might not be able to get any other resorts, based on what others are saying. Not an issue, as we have not been trading as well as others, so it might end up working out better.

We added 1,750 points to get Premier, which provides 13 month windows for reservations, similar to what multiple week owners had. We'd also of course have a few more points to be able to have short stays. But the MF's are sky high, at $0.40 a point.

I'm thinking it's better to wait and see how things go with the points we currently have. I will likely cancel our contract, as I had no other option during the tour. They did waive the $600 fee, but 1 year of new MF's will eat that up. And the $17K as we enter the double dip recession definitely keeps me up at night.

I will likely opt into the points system, as it appears it's a better way to go for owners who want to easily move within Marriott. We have no desire to stay at non-Marriott properties.

We talked to a Marriott rep yesterday. She said that additional points cost $9.20 each. You said that you bought them at $0.40 each. That is a HUGE discrepancy! I am really confused. In either case, I just can't see the advantage of paying an enrollment fee, a yearly club fee - $165.00, and a large amount for each additional point. The rep kept saying that we would have the flexibility to book shorter stays for any day of the week. I do that now in Marriott motels and earn points. If I am only staying a day or two, I don't need a timeshare. I understand that others might, but at what cost? It just doesn't benefit us. Also, we own an every-other-year timeshare but the fees are exactly the same as if we owned it every year. I can't see how that helps us. So we are definitely NOT buying. If you are losing sleep at night over 17K (I definitely would), I would cancel and give it more thought. Just saying - sleep is important :-)

The maintenance fees are $.40 per point. So for 1,750 points, it would cost .40*1,750=700. So an additional $700 per year for adding 1,750 points.

I'm not really sure what 1,750 will get me. You can only bank unused points I believe for 1 year and I'm concerned I could end up leaving points on the table.

Beyond that, it's really a matter of dishing out $17K and then adding $700 to the $1,600 I already pay. If the economy was more stable, I would go for it.

I still think being a buyer in a recession can actually be the best time to buy, as sellers are eager to offer incentives since buyers are scarce. But Marriott is very conservative and won't respond to the current conditions by offering a cash for clunkers style fire sale.

But it's still real estate and I expect to see prices lower to get me to move. As always, Marriott will continue to increase the cost and you won't see reductions. Marriott expects there will always be buyers regardless of the economy. People enjoy vacations and will continue to travel.

Thanks for your advice, as I've been up 2 nights in a row. I still may add more, as I actually like the new program, as the point system is just a new option for those who want to explore other resorts. If you mostly want to visit your home resort, the point system is not a fit.

"I'm thinking it's better to wait and see how things go with the points we currently have. I will likely cancel our contract, as I had no other option during the tour."

What do you mean you had no option? How about the word NO?

It will take years (many) to totally "prove" what has been conjectured on this web site for months. However, the anecdotal evidence seems to make the case rather strongly. No upside for current owners to join points. Huge upside for Marriott to sell you (again, in points) what you have already bought for your deed. Forty cent maintenance fees are huge! Take the money that you would pay on maintenance fees (for points) and use it to rent a week on redweek (OK, sometimes you will need a little more, but if you keep your $17K around, you can draw down on that to pay the difference). If you add in your old maintenance fee (deeded week) and incremental maintenance fee for points, I am sure you would have enough to rent most Marriott weeks on redweek. Do the math.

j227 wrote:

"I'm thinking it's better to wait and see how things go with the points we currently have. I will likely cancel our contract, as I had no other option during the tour."

What do you mean you had no option? How about the word NO?

That's not the "point." I wanted to have the opportunity to get the incentives, but think about my decision. If you say no on the spot, that's it--no incentives should you change your mind later.

Tours are the best way to get incentives, which also would have included them waiving the $600 enrollment fee for the point program.

I did decide to cancel... On the way home, we dropped by the sales office and canceled. Surprisingly, there was no high pressure onslaught of execs trying to save the deal. Our sales rep was professional and treated me with dignity. So no issues, as others experienced hostility for walking away.

Below is a FAQ on the Marriott website

I originally purchased my Marriott Vacation Club week(s) as an external sale through the secondary market. Would the benefits of enrolling be different for me? If your external purchase closed prior to June 20, 2010, it is eligible to be enrolled with the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program. The enrollment fee for one externally purchased week will initially be $1,495, and enrolling multiple externally purchased weeks will initially total $1,995. This offer is expected to be available only through December 31, 2010. Once you enroll your week(s), you will gain the annual option to elect Vacation Club Points, and you may also add the option of trading your week(s) for Marriott Rewards points if the week(s) you purchased externally are eligible for Marriott Rewards trade. You also will gain the benefit and convenience of the annual single-use fee (Club Dues).

Does his mean that they are not going to accept external purchases after June 20, 2010? If this is so, then what are our resale options?

robertw312 wrote:

Below is a FAQ on the Marriott website

I originally purchased my Marriott Vacation Club week(s) as an external sale through the secondary market. Would the benefits of enrolling be different for me? If your external purchase closed prior to June 20, 2010, it is eligible to be enrolled with the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program. The enrollment fee for one externally purchased week will initially be $1,495, and enrolling multiple externally purchased weeks will initially total $1,995. This offer is expected to be available only through December 31, 2010. Once you enroll your week(s), you will gain the annual option to elect Vacation Club Points, and you may also add the option of trading your week(s) for Marriott Rewards points if the week(s) you purchased externally are eligible for Marriott Rewards trade. You also will gain the benefit and convenience of the annual single-use fee (Club Dues).

Does his mean that they are not going to accept external purchases after June 20, 2010? If this is so, then what are our resale options?

From my tour visit, the points program essentially shuts down the resale industry. You can still buy resale weeks from other "legacy" owners, but they will not be open to the new points program.

Also, if you buy new points on tour, like the one I just took, you can't resell those points anymore. If you want to sell, I was told Marriott would buy the points on a 60/40 split. Marriott just closed the door on the resale industry from what I can tell.

I take issue with the conclusion that Marriott just shut down the reslale industry. There is a case to be made that they just helped it. If you wish to go to Grande Ocean or someplace that is already sold out and owners have a high rate of usage, the way to make sure you can go there is to purchase a deeded unit. And the market price of these units will be far less then purchasing the points needed -- and you are far more likely to get there. In addition, the mtce fee for the deeded property is far less then the 40 cents per point. And you can still trade the unit thru II.

So given the above, how did Marriott shut down the resale industry?????

j227 wrote:

I take issue with the conclusion that Marriott just shut down the reslale industry. There is a case to be made that they just helped it. If you wish to go to Grande Ocean or someplace that is already sold out and owners have a high rate of usage, the way to make sure you can go there is to purchase a deeded unit. And the market price of these units will be far less then purchasing the points needed -- and you are far more likely to get there. In addition, the mtce fee for the deeded property is far less then the 40 cents per point. And you can still trade the unit thru II.

So given the above, how did Marriott shut down the resale industry?????

You take issue? Are you kidding? What you outlined is for legacy weeks that are currently owned and are not migrated into the new points program. Sure, nothing changes for these weeks.

My point was for any new timeshares that Marriott sells, they shut down the resale market. Over time, the resale industry will shrink.

There could be a short term spike in resale, where people will try to sell their legacy weeks, knowing the point system can be expensive. But long term, there is no growth, as there will be fewer sellers. Current legacy owners will also move into the point system, further reducing the pool of sellers.

I also "take issue" with your logic on what happens if a property like Grande Ocean is sold out where the only way to stay there is to buy a resale week. This scenario is precisely what the point system provides. You now own a piece of all 53 Marriott VC's and therefore can book at G.O. by using your new points.

Yes, you can potentially buy a deeded week from someone, but over time, there will simply be fewer sellers. You now have a finite pool of sellers. Marriott can't eliminate the resale market, but they just closed it to all future sellers.

Easy on the question marks and learn to spell "resale" before you slam people for posting their opinion.

Hi Everyone, I would like to share the recent experience I have gone through with our Marriott ownership. We currently own 5 weeks that we purchased directly from Marriott many years ago. Like many of us we became accustom to the excellent trades and up grades (one bedroom to a two bedroom) we received from Interval for our exchanges most of the time.

We did decide to try the new point system because we were going to be "premier elite" and have so many extra benefits because of our owner level. (I say this tongue in cheek of course) This discussion has gone over prices and many other details about this so I will leave it at that.

Last week I tried to make reservations for next year. I am trying to make a pretty complicated exchange for high demand areas. In the past I have been very successful with Interval to accomplish the trades and receive the upgrades using the master portion of our Grand Vista lock off.

This time my normally very accommodating rep at II was very flustered and flatly refused to even consider the upgrade. I found that odd and of course felt some anger. But one thing we (myself included) have to remember is that the true intent of the exchange is a trade for what you have to an equal (hopefully) to another place that you want to go.

I have not read my contracts recently so if I am wrong please accept my apology, but I don't think there is anything that said we were guaranteed an upgrade from a one bedroom to a two bedroom or that we would get into the place we wanted to go.

It is the dream that we were all sold to be able to do this but as always it is based on availability. If no one has put it in for trade, no one is going to be able to exchange. That is why the basic rule of "buy what you want when you want to go there" is absolutely key. Because the worst case is you use your home resort when you purchased.

However, I am the same as most people, I am not happy with the changes that have happened with availability so far. The confusion that is going on within Marriott about the new system and with Interval on how to use it is tremendous. The prospect of getting the great exchanges that we used to get seem to be diminished tremendously and the point system inequity makes me crazy.

The inequity makes the system something I will probably not use unless it is a last resort. Like many others we can not get into another place in Marriott equal to ours for a week using points. It takes more points than we are given for our week. This to me seems outrageous. A platinum 2 bedroom should be equal to a platinum 2 bedroom. Again, this is just my opinion. But I do think it is another way for Marriott to make more money. "Oh, you want to go there? Well you just need another 1,000 points to make that happen. Oh, and by the way they expire by the end of the year if you don't use them."

Another very confusing factor is the deadlines to manage the points on the new system. Some of the deadlines are associated with the season you own, some are June, some are September and of course there is still the December deadline. I truly hate that bit.

Lastly I did try to use the points we have from the incentive to join to make a reservation. Funny, I could reserve the dates all around when I wanted to go but not the actual dates I wanted to stay. So much for no blackout dates. It still may have been an availability issue but how can I tell for sure?

So, that is my rant about my experience so far. Not too positive but at least it is first hand about what happened.

I thought when you met with the rep, you got something for your time (points?). I will not meet with my rep after hearing about your experience. I am trying to sell my timeshares, so I am not interested in paying more fees. Maybe I should run for the Board of Directors...I have learned a lot from these posts.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I did not know about the different experation dates for points, and the difficulty to reserve time via points. I own 3 Marriott weeks purchased from Mariott, and have not taken the option for points. I have spoken with Marriott sales reps who contantly say it is easy to get the internal trades via points. When individuals like you take the time to share your specific experience I gain a whole new perspective.

Hi barbaras186, You should run for the board!

That is true that to take a tour and listen to the sales presentation they will give you a gift. If it has been less than 3 months (I think that is the time frame but please don't hold me to that because I am not positive)

Our award was Marriott reward points because that is what we chose from the options. But I believe the awards are different at each of the resorts.

Don't be afraid to go to listen. Especially if you want the award. You have a great deal of information that you have gotten from this forum and will be in a good position to listen from an educated position.

We don't have any trouble telling the sales person "no" so we go for the award when it fits our schedule. We also like messing with the sales person. They do get flustered with us. But oh well, it makes us laugh. So, I guess we have a bit of a mean streak. :-D

Hope this helps.

There has been a lot of discussion on this site about how inventory will be manages as that is a major factor (if not THE major factor) on how this new program works.

After talking with several people from Marriott, here is the way I would summarize it. 1. There are three inventory bins. 2. They are: - Property owner weeks. - Points days/weeks. There come from property owners turning their weeks into points.