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VacationGuard Insurance [MVC Insider 10/13]

enma

enma

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Love the new travel insurance plan. So glad they went back to yearly plan, not per trip plan!
 
I agree with you. I am calling tomorrow!! I wonder if it is inclusive of all of a person's timeshares-- whether or not they are Marriotts.
 
We have used the Marriott annual plan in the past, and the one trip plan last year. I am pretty sure it only covers Marriotts, and I think with the old annual plan it only covered owned weeks and exchanges, not Marriotts from Getaways or ACs. I am also happy this annual plan is back, and with a lower fee than what we paid the first two years we used it.

I tried to find the details online, but did not want to fill out the forms to get to the complete info, as we don't need to start it yet. We have never had a claim, but it is great to know we'll have major trips already covered for the whole year with one policy!
 
Happy to see insurance back

I was so happy to see that they brought back the insurance. I think the last time it was for 13 months. I tried to find more information on line, but will call in the morning.

The last time they had this policy, it was for your Marriott vacation.
 
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Return of annual travel insurance

Just received my Insider newsletter and it looks like they are again offering annual coverage, but at a great rate- $119 a year.

Looks like they listened to our complaints!

It appears that it must be purchased for the calendar year (there is verbiage that it is in effect for the period your MF's cover) but I am not sure about that. Looking on VacationGuard's website there was also something about being purchased within 3 days of payment of MF's for waiver of pre-existing condition, but not sure if this refers to Marriott's specific plan or not.

Perhaps as Marriott is contacted and more details are found out, others can post back in this thread so there is one place for the info. After I posted this I noticed that the travel insurance was mentioned in the thread on the NYC hotels, but I think a thread about the travel insurance alone would be worthwhile.
 
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Here is a link: http://pages.email1.marriott-vacations.com/owner-insider?loc=HQ59*1-2U1SYX&article=year-vacation&campaign=2013-oct&cid=email-mvc-owners-insider-2013-oct-cb-learnmore-protect-vacations

Interestingly it is through Vacation Guard. The same company many were recommending as a replacement to the old plan. In fact, when you click the link on the MVCI landing page it takes you directly to the Vacation Guard website and shows the Timeshare Plus plan priced at $119. It was recently priced at $119 but now looks to be $159 without going through the MVCI link. When you go through the MVCI link, it adds a location number. Most likely related to MVCI which offers the special pricing.
 
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I noticed that. But it's a big boon for residents of certain states, since unless I am remembering wrong VacationGuard would not underwrite in NY and I am not sure where else.
 
This appears to be a great deal if it covers maintenance fees, including exchanges. I had to use my Travel Guard twice, but both were for my actual owned weeks. I am curious how they would handle claims for II exchanges or DC points if the MF were paid in a previous year. Two of my trips next year include exchange stays.

Although cash is a better deal, I have 350 penalty box DC points left, so I may use them for the insurance.
 
Superchief said:
Although cash is a better deal, I have 350 penalty box DC points left, so I may use them for the insurance.
Click to expand...

Although you're right about the cash price being better, if it turns out it has to be bought anyway for Jan. 1-Jan. 1st, it might be a good use for any points left over at the end of Dec. that would otherwise expire, and Greg's website might be a cheap way to supplement if you're 50 or 100 points short or, on the flip side, want to make a few dollars if you have a 100 or 200 points leftover.

I think many, if not most, point users land up having a small surplus that goes to waste, since it takes a lot of machinations to exactly use your points.
 
I just bought the package for 2014. I have a copy of the policy that for some reason you can't see until you actually buy it. I have it in .pdf and I'd like to post it but I have no idea how to do that. It's 16 pages long so a copy and paste would be rather long for a post.

So far it looks pretty good especially since I'm taking two separate trips in 2014 with maybe another if the stars align correctly.

If anyone wants the .pdf PM or Email me.
 
I assume its $119/pp. I would need two policies to include me and my wife???

Looks like a great deal.

Amex has stopped enrollment in nearly all travel insurance.
 
When you click on the link, it takes you to VG and a form is presented for purchasing the policy. The first box on the form is "Use Year", and the choices are 2013 and 2014. Then you put in the start date, which is a little confusing, because regardless of when you buy during the year, the policy is effective only for that calendar "use" year, so it may as well default to Jan 1 of the "use" year OR the current date, whichever is later.

What I don't understand is, if I buy a policy for use year 2014, will an exchange of a 2013 week for a 2014 week be covered? And what about the use of points that are banked into 2014 or borrowed from 2015 into 2014...are those reservations covered by the 2014 policy?

In other words, I'm not sure what "use year" means. Anybody know for sure?
 
Just talked with Marriott

I was excited about the insurance plan for the year. I called this morning to enroll and this is what I discovered. I can not buy insurance for 2014 because I have already reserved my two 2014 weeks. You can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week so my exchanges in 2014 would not be covered. It will cover an exchange using a Marriott Week, because you have paid the maintenance for the Marriott. I was very disappointed because I have already deposited a 2014 week and would be looking for an exchange in2015. That week would not be covered bacause I did not purchase the insurance when I reserved my 2014 week. Hope this helps, but it is not as user friendly as the old insurance.
 
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jimf41 said:
I just bought the package for 2014. I have a copy of the policy that for some reason you can't see until you actually buy it. I have it in .pdf and I'd like to post it but I have no idea how to do that. It's 16 pages long so a copy and paste would be rather long for a post.

So far it looks pretty good especially since I'm taking two separate trips in 2014 with maybe another if the stars align correctly.

If anyone wants the .pdf PM or Email me.
Click to expand...

Jim, you had better call Marriott, because they told me this morning that I could not buy insurance for 2014 because I had already reserved my 2014 weeks and you can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week. That's what they just told me, when you call they put you through to someone selling the insurance.
 
ahdah said:
I was excited about the insurance plan for the year. I called this morning to enroll and this is what I discovered. I can not buy insurance for 2014 because I have already reserved my two 2014 weeks. You can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week so my exchanges in 2014 would not be covered. It will cover an exchange using a Marriott Week, because you have paid the maintenance for the Marriott. I was very disappointed because I have already deposited a 2014 week and would be looking for an exchange in2015. That week would not be covered bacause I did not purchase the insurance when I reserved my 2014 week. Hope this helps, but it is not as user friendly as the old insurance.
Click to expand...

That was also the problem with the "one trip" plan. The weeks covered had to be from the current use year. So we had one week covered, and one not. I assumed at least the other coverage (medical, etc) would be until the specific return date, but with a calendar year policy restricted to weeks from the current use year, it probably will only be in effect for those trips using the weeks eligible for that year. That kind of defeats the reason for an annual policy.
 
Ann in CA said:
We have used the Marriott annual plan in the past, and the one trip plan last year. I am pretty sure it only covers Marriotts, and I think with the old annual plan it only covered owned weeks and exchanges, not Marriotts from Getaways or ACs.
Click to expand...

Actually, the old plan covered Marriotts from Getaways, XYZs and ACs also.
 
I haven't called Marriott or VacationGuard yet but I have gone through the policy a bit. I did a search for "use year" and the term appears nowhere in the actual policy. This is their explanation of a Covered trip,

"Covered trip means a period of travel away from Home to a destination outside your city of residence and the Covered Trip does not exceed 180 days."

Interesting that I actually had to type that in because they had their .pdf file locked with a password.

Here's another section,

"This plan provides coverage for multiple trips during one year up to 365 days from receipt. Each trip must not exceed 180 days."
 
m61376 said:
I noticed that. But it's a big boon for residents of certain states, since unless I am remembering wrong VacationGuard would not underwrite in NY and I am not sure where else.
Click to expand...

I think this might/must have changed.

I was able to purchase the coverage this July.
 
jimf41 said:
I have a copy of the policy that for some reason you can't see until you actually buy it. I have it in .pdf and I'd like to post it but I have no idea how to do that. It's 16 pages long so a copy and paste would be rather long for a post.
Click to expand...

Complements of jimf41 here is a copy of the VacationGuard Policy.
 

Attachments

  • VacationGuard Policy.pdf
    467.2 KB · Views: 416
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ahdah said:
I was excited about the insurance plan for the year. I called this morning to enroll and this is what I discovered. I can not buy insurance for 2014 because I have already reserved my two 2014 weeks. You can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week so my exchanges in 2014 would not be covered. It will cover an exchange using a Marriott Week, because you have paid the maintenance for the Marriott. I was very disappointed because I have already deposited a 2014 week and would be looking for an exchange in2015. That week would not be covered bacause I did not purchase the insurance when I reserved my 2014 week. Hope this helps, but it is not as user friendly as the old insurance.
Click to expand...

I hope this isn't the case and you just spoke with an unimformed representative (similar to what often happens when I call II). Otherwise, this would greatly diminish the demand for this insurance for 2014, since I would expect that most of us have already reserved or exchanged for our 2014 weeks, and the insurance is just now being offered. This makes no sense:shrug:
 
ahdah said:
Jim, you had better call Marriott, because they told me this morning that I could not buy insurance for 2014 because I had already reserved my 2014 weeks and you can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week. That's what they just told me, when you call they put you through to someone selling the insurance.
Click to expand...

Well I just checked my CC activity and they charged me for the policy already. Thanks to FASTRR you can view the .pdf policy. I don't see anything in it that prevents any coverage reference a "use year" or an exchange. I'm sort of waiting for those of us who are good at finding the gotcha's in the fine print to chime in before I make any calls for an explanation.

As I read the policy it's pretty clear as to what is covered and for how much so I don't really have any questions about it. The policy term that they confirmed is for the entire year of 2014.
 
jimf41 said:
Well I just checked my CC activity and they charged me for the policy already.
Click to expand...

Jim....I just started a read through, but on page 1, it says you have a 21 Day Free Look Period within which you can get your money back if you decided to cancel. That said, I'll read on and likely chime in with anything that jumps out to me.
 
Superchief said:
I hope this isn't the case and you just spoke with an unimformed representative (similar to what often happens when I call II). Otherwise, this would greatly diminish the demand for this insurance for 2014, since I would expect that most of us have already reserved or exchanged for our 2014 weeks, and the insurance is just now being offered. This makes no sense:shrug:
Click to expand...

Agree. Since many of us make reservations 12-13 months out, they would need to be offering policies for use year 2015 soon, at least in December, and that doesn't seem to be the plan. If they were going to do that, it seems that would an option now.

At this point, we have made all of our reservations for all of our weeks for 2014 so this insurance would do us no good. And the exchanges we have for 2014 are based on deposited 2013 weeks.

I could be very very wrong, but I have to beleive we are getting bad information about the timing of reservations for coverage under this policy.
 
I read something about having to take it out by a few days after the MF's are paid, and that it was good for the use year that the MF's covered. Which makes sense- 2014 reservations are covered by the MF's paid in Jan., 2014.
 
ahdah said:
I was excited about the insurance plan for the year. I called this morning to enroll and this is what I discovered. I can not buy insurance for 2014 because I have already reserved my two 2014 weeks. You can only buy the insurance when you reserve the week so my exchanges in 2014 would not be covered. It will cover an exchange using a Marriott Week, because you have paid the maintenance for the Marriott. I was very disappointed because I have already deposited a 2014 week and would be looking for an exchange in2015. That week would not be covered bacause I did not purchase the insurance when I reserved my 2014 week. Hope this helps, but it is not as user friendly as the old insurance.
Click to expand...

I think perhaps you got a rep that wasn't up to speed on the new annual plan? This sounds like what would apply to a per trip plan. I think questions may be better directed to Vacation Guard and not MVC Owner Services with this new plan. It is a plan that Vacation Guard has offered for a long time, it just has special pricing and the option to now use DC points through MVCI.

Last year I called and talked with Vacation Guard and there was no mention that you had to have the insurance before booking your vacation for the Timeshare Plus policy.
 
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