# Will Marriott and Interval Cut Ties?



## hcarman (Oct 15, 2014)

When we had our MVCI Owner's update this past summer, we were told that 80% of owners were not using Interval - and it may go away at some point.

First of all, that would be a real bummer for us.  Between my Mom and us - we make multiple Interval trades throughout the year, and we enjoy use of our "extra weeks" that we get from Interval - even if we can only do a long weekend.  We can't take a guest room and trade up to a two bedroom through the Marriott Destination Club system - instead we would need a lot more points to cover a two bedroom - even during off season.  During holiday periods, the Destination Club program has jacked up the points required for just a long weekend - in Inteval, if it is available, we can have it for the same free exchange as long as it is into another Marriott - if not, we pay the $200 exchange fee (or whatever it is these days).  We have booked weeks over holiday periods on several occasions.

Our consensus is the Destination Club Points system works well for some things - but not for others.  It can work well for you if you book during off season, or just want a few nights here or there.  And, we tend to use it to add an extra night to our week stays.  However, I can take my Canyon Villas week - lock it off into a studio and a one bedroom - and get an Interval week for each segment of the unit.  Then I can usually get another week through an AC for my one bedroom deposit (not as likely for the studio, but it has happened).  So, I can usually get 3 weeks (not to mention often 5 - if I count another feature of Interval) through this one week.  There is no way I could do that in the Destination points system.  In fact, I own platinum at Canyon Villas - but there are several peak weeks that would cost me half again the points alloted to me by the Destination Club program to get in - so with my points I could get 4 nights instead of 7.  And I only looked into this because I couldn't get in the traditional way.  Instead I landed a week at Canyon Villas in this season through an Interval search - for just my one bedroom side?

So, just wondering what others thoughts are on this?  Will Marriott eventually severe ties with Interval to keep all their inventory in their system.  Is it true that only 20% of owners are really using Interval?  Ironically, it is membership in the Destination Points program that gets us our free exchanges through Interval if we are going into another Marriott.  That in itself has made Interval an even better option.


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## vacationlover2 (Oct 15, 2014)

This will NEVER happen.  They will either stay with II or switch to RCI, but they will never not have a third party exchange company.


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## Saintsfanfl (Oct 15, 2014)

It's laughable because MVCI is an II user themselves. They use II to offload excess weeks and also to get needed weeks for reservations.

When I call II and get the "Marriott Desk" I always thought it was an II employee specializing in Marriott. I have added non-Marriott weeks and done alot of non-Marriott stuff through this "Marriott Desk". I called a few months ago and got an actual Marriott employee. I was very confused.


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## m61376 (Oct 15, 2014)

If they eliminated an exchange company, then they'd be limited to offering only Trust weeks or weeks exchanged by legacy owners for DC points for DC point reservations, which would severely limit their inventory for some resorts, esp. those that have no or very limited Trust inventory.

They need their partnership with II to fulfill DC point reservation requests. Furthermore, as more weeks are resold over the next decade, the number of legacy weeks enrolled in the Trust may very well decrease, increasing their reliance on II for those exchanges.


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## Pompey Family (Oct 15, 2014)

I hate having to use Interval. I can't stand talking to their call centre staff, I can't stand the extortionate fee's for everything and with one exception, which I wouldn't repeat, I have always traded Marriott with Marriott. I have never been able to use the AC's I receive as the majority are for use within the US and during weeks that are of no use to me.

It would be much simpler if I could trade within Marriott with no fee.


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## Big Matt (Oct 15, 2014)

The 80% number is curious to me.  I don't have any statistics, but this may actually be correct given how many people just use their week or exchange for rewards points.  

I can't imagine that they move away from II unless they do something really crazy like buying the Hilton, Starwood, Disney, DRI, or Hyatt book of business in which they would be getting toward a very large portfolio.  

I sure hope they don't disengage from them....


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## vacationlover2 (Oct 15, 2014)

I love interval.  With the Marriott corporate account, Marriott to Marriott exchanges are free and retrades are free.  I do most everything online but when I do need to call they are very helpful.

I.do agree about accommodation certificates.  They are almost useless now.


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## SueDonJ (Oct 15, 2014)

When the contract between them is up then theoretically Marriott and II could cut ties, but the current multi-year contact was renewed only six months ago, April '14.

WSJ link:  Interval International and Marriott Vacations Worldwide Mark Renewal of Long-Term Relationship

{eta} IMO as time goes on Marriott will convey more Weeks to the DC Trust, picking them up inexpensively by exercising ROFR or through Resales Operations, and they'll be able to easily mingle those in the DC Exchange Company. But they'll always maintain a relationship with an external exchange company, and II makes sense because of the favorable terms (as far as allowing DC requests to be fulfilled by II deposits) extended to MVW.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 15, 2014)

Sometimes I wish I'd kept a list of all the lies told to us by timeshare salesmen over the last 16 years. They sell on F.E.A.R. or, False Evidence Appearing Real. I've been told so many times, "If you don't give us money to change your ownership to our new program, you'll never be able to use your week, exchange your week et....again." So far none of the doom and gloom scenarios presented to scare us into seperating us from our money have come true. 

MVCI will ALWAYS have a third party exchange option, even if only 20% of their members use that option. Never believe a salesman when their primary motivation is to serperate you from thousands of your hard earned dollars.


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## VacationForever (Oct 15, 2014)

They will keep an exchange company affiliation in order to make it attractive to buyers of DC points that they have access to another 1000 timeshares outside out Marriott.


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## brigechols (Oct 15, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> Sometimes I wish I'd kept a list of all the lies told to us by timeshare salesmen over the last 16 years.


 great idea for a new thread


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## hcarman (Oct 15, 2014)

Yes, I certainly know the many benefits of Interval and was shocked to hear this.  It wasn't even in the context of selling us more DVC points.  It was more an informative thing - they had been hearing lots of owners complain about interval and say they never use them - whereas, we were telling them we thought that Inteval was a valuable part of our ownership, so they were surprised and wanted to hear about our experience..............

And no, we don't generally believe what a salesperson tells us - but thought maybe this was a legitimate possibility down the line as MVCI gets more inventory.  Just hoped it wasn't...............

As one poster mentioned - would be intersting to count the sales people lies -the most we had in one presentation was 6 really bad lies - not just white lies.  But, it wasn't Marriott - it was Bluegreen - and last we heard, the guy was fired.


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## MALC9990 (Oct 15, 2014)

I am a great fan of the DC points system, it has worked very well for me since they opened the option to enrol for European weeks owners in 2012, we have used DC points in 2013 and 2014 and have already booked 2 weeks using DC points in 2015. 

However I also still use II. I have actually used an AC for a week in 2015 at the Son Antem Resort and the cost was very reasonable. getaways are also a valuable option with II. Finally, there are times when I need to exchange to a non-Marriott resort e.g. There are no MVCI resorts in Australia and so we have in the past used II to get exchanges in Australia.

MVCI will always need an exchange company and I really do not see them dropping II in favour of RCI. If they did drop II, my exchange business would probably go to DAE.


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## Swice (Oct 15, 2014)

*interval response*

Interval happened to call me today trying to get me add resorts to my pending request.     I was talking to what seemed to be the most intelligent Interval rep (and I could spit that I didn't have the sense to ask for her name) I've ever dealt with.

Anyway, I turned the conversation to ask about Marriott deposits and if she had noticed a change.   She seemed to know the stats and quickly told me Interval had seen a drop of about 10-12% in Marriott deposits.   Obviously, those deposits would have been spread across all seasons, not just summer.   

So one could assume most owners are still using Interval as their primary source and roughly ten percent are choosing to convert to points this year.   

As others have said, it's a good bet most multi-week owners are using Interval for their primary trades and using one of their weeks for points to supplement their Interval weeks with some add on nights or other short stays.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 15, 2014)

hcarman said:


> Yes, I certainly know the many benefits of Interval and was shocked to hear this.  It wasn't even in the context of selling us more DVC points.  It was more an informative thing - they had been hearing lots of owners complain about interval and say they never use them - whereas, we were telling them we thought that Inteval was a valuable part of our ownership, so they were surprised and wanted to hear about our experience..............
> 
> And no, we don't generally believe what a salesperson tells us - but thought maybe this was a legitimate possibility down the line as MVCI gets more inventory.  Just hoped it wasn't...............
> 
> As one poster mentioned - would be intersting to count the sales people lies -the most we had in one presentation was 6 really bad lies - not just white lies.  But, it wasn't Marriott - it was Bluegreen - and last we heard, the guy was fired.



I don't doubt they hear a lot of horror tales about I.I. After all, when they sell a week, they tell the prospects how EASY it is to exchange the shoulder or off season week their buying for a Presidents week ski resort of the highest quality. No doubt people are unhappy but, the unhappiness should be directed at the lies told by the sales person rather than an exchange company that's nothing more than a like for like barter system. 

I once had a salesman tell me to buy a low value week an use it to exchange into the most difficult (according to him) resort which cost THOUSANDS of dollars more to buy. Why buy a $100,000 ski week when you could buy an off season Las Vegas week for $18,000 and just exchange in. His clients do it ALL THE TIME.

I also had a salesman tell me to buy several low value weeks from him and he'd have his personal secritary RENT them out for us to pay all our MF's.

Another told us to buy an additional Vegas week and rent it out ourselves, using the profits to pay the MF's on that week PLUS the MF's on all our other timeshares.

Sure they get a lot of complaints but, it's not really about Interval. It's about the fact it's not as easy to exchange those low cost, low value weeks as the salesmen make it out to be. 

I once overheard woman complaining that she couldn't trade her silver season Ocean Pointe week for a summer week in Hawaii......and this was back when MVCI only had Kaui Beach Club and the original Maui units plus, she'd put her request in approx 3 months before her planned travel dates. 

I've also overheard MVCI owners who've exchanged into another resort complain LOUDLY that they're unit location was the best location in the resort. They thought that since they owned a top level week  or were multiple week owners that, when they exchanged into another resort they had the right to the best of the best locations. Forget that actual owners at that resort were in those units. 

People expectations are based on the junk they're told by salesmen. It's unfortunate that they can't figure out they've been lied too.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 15, 2014)

Swice said:


> Interval happened to call me today trying to get me add resorts to my pending request.     I was talking to what seemed to be the most intelligent Interval rep (and I could spit that I didn't have the sense to ask for her name) I've ever dealt with.
> 
> Anyway, I turned the conversation to ask about Marriott deposits and if she had noticed a change.   She seemed to know the stats and quickly told me Interval had seen a drop of about 10-12% in Marriott deposits.   Obviously, those deposits would have been spread across all seasons, not just summer.
> 
> ...



I can believe those numbers for a couple of reasons. 

1. I've seen fewer weeks available for the locations I routinely check. Weeks are still there, there's just fewer options for unit size and or week.

2. Due to circumstances and the avialability of converting to DC points, Grand Chateau weeks we'd have normally locked off and deposited have gone to the DC. For three years that's a total of 6 deposited Vegas weeks from us. I could believe that there's around 10% of owners who have done the same, if for no other reason than the try out the DC and see how it works.

3. Owners needs change over the years. The need for midweek check in dates. A preference for weekend stays only. The need to lock down ONE particular check in date. There's several reasons owners might elect DC points when they would have deposited those units with Interval.

4. Broken weeks (nightly usage) means fewer full weeks to give to Interval.


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## pedro47 (Oct 15, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> Sometimes I wish I'd kept a list of all the lies told to us by timeshare salesmen over the last 16 years. They sell on F.E.A.R. or, False Evidence Appearing Real. I've been told so many times, "If you don't give us money to change your ownership to our new program, you'll never be able to use your week, exchange your week et....again." So far none of the doom and gloom scenarios presented to scare us into seperating us from our money have come true.
> 
> MVCI will ALWAYS have a third party exchange option, even if only 20% of their members use that option. Never believe a salesman when their primary motivation is to serperate you from thousands of your hard earned dollars.



I agree when a sale person open their mouth and move their lips' watch out for some very untrue statements.


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## EducatedConsumer (Oct 15, 2014)

hcarman said:


> When we had our MVCI Owner's update this past summer, we were told that 80% of owners were not using Interval - and it may go away at some point.
> 
> First of all, that would be a real bummer for us.  Between my Mom and us - we make multiple Interval trades throughout the year, and we enjoy use of our "extra weeks" that we get from Interval - even if we can only do a long weekend.  We can't take a guest room and trade up to a two bedroom through the Marriott Destination Club system - instead we would need a lot more points to cover a two bedroom - even during off season.  During holiday periods, the Destination Club program has jacked up the points required for just a long weekend - in Inteval, if it is available, we can have it for the same free exchange as long as it is into another Marriott - if not, we pay the $200 exchange fee (or whatever it is these days).  We have booked weeks over holiday periods on several occasions.
> 
> ...



***Hogwash***


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## dundey (Oct 16, 2014)

I doubt they would eliminate II without going to another major exchange company, and the only other choice is RCI.  Disney did exactly that (about 2 years ago) so its possible.  I belong to both exchange companies - II has lower fees than RCI.  RCI has more resorts, but fewer high quality ones (Disney not withstanding) IMO>

One of the only reasons that I keep II is to be able to access Marriott inventory.


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## BocaBoy (Oct 16, 2014)

Big Matt said:


> The 80% number is curious to me.  I don't have any statistics, but this may actually be correct given how many people just use their week or exchange for rewards points.



I also don't have any statistics, but I would be quite surprised if much more than 20% of owners use Interval.  Most do not trade and a lot who don't stay at their resort still trade for MR points.  We have owned Marriott timeshares for 27 years (they were with RCI for the first few years), and the first time we ever used Interval was in 2007.  Now we use II quite a bit, but we own more weeks than in the old days.


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## vacationhopeful (Oct 16, 2014)

hcarman said:


> .....
> As one poster mentioned - would be intersting to count the sales people lies -the most we had in one presentation was 6 really bad lies - not just white lies.  But, it wasn't Marriott - it was Bluegreen - and *last we heard, the guy was fired.*



And believe it or NOT, that most likely is ANOTHER LIE. I have been told that multiple times .. but a great lying salesperson is a PRODUCER and usually, one of the TOP SALESMEN at a site. 

I have seen if repeatedly at Wyndham ... to the point where other members of their sales team would tell me when I came onsite, So&So is back/still working despite all his issues .... the managers LOVED his production numbers. And I easily could avoid the Owner's Update.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 16, 2014)

BocaBoy said:


> I also don't have any statistics, but I would be quite surprised if much more than 20% of owners use Interval.  Most do not trade and a lot who don't stay at their resort still trade for MR points.  We have owned Marriott timeshares for 27 years (they were with RCI for the first few years), and the first time we ever used Interval was in 2007.  Now we use II quite a bit, but we own more weeks than in the old days.



Maybe we could start a support group:

It's been 3 years since my last I.I. exchange.......

Actually, it has been 3 years since I've used I.I. for a MVCI exchange and, even then with our MVCI weeks it's been strictly within the MVCI family of resorts. Furthermore I don't see us depositing any portion of our MVCI units with I.I. for the next few years due to changing work conditions and changing needs. I could lock-off our 3 bedroom Ocean Pointe unit and deposit the studio week but, we really don't need the extra exchange week and we like not having neighbors in the lock-off unit at that resort. If they leave their balcony door open, it creates a wind tunnel effect through the gap under the lock-off door. That and I don't like feeling as if I need to be quite when I get up early in the morning. We learned long ago that noise travels freely between the units and banging kitchen cabnets can be easily heard in the studio unit. So, likely no deposits from us in the near future. 

I have used I.I. to exchange the independant resort we use to own (gave it away this year) and I've used I.I. recently to exchange some of our DRI points to get into a pet friendly resort. In fact, I plan to use I.I. to exchange additional DRI points for pet friendly resorts that will allow us to take our dogs. 

But when it comes to MVCI, the quality drop off is to much and the cost of the MVCI week is to high for us to seriously entertain exchanging through I.I. for anything other than another MVCI resort. We purchased our Grand Chateau 3 bedroom unit strictly to be able to be able to place an ongoing request for MVCI 1 bedroom units vs trying to do instant online exchanges and exchange up in size using a studio unit.


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## ilene13 (Oct 16, 2014)

I have never exchanged my Marriott weeks.  Although I did use DC points this year for Spain.  We have 2 II accounts because we also own 4 weeks in Mexico.  I use II a lot to exchange my lock offs and I have been very successful.  My Mexican resorts have joined RCI.  The RCI program is awful and as owners we were allowed to stay with II.  I hope Marriott sticks with II.


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## rpw (Oct 17, 2014)

*10-12%*



Swice said:


> Interval happened to call me today trying to get me add resorts to my pending request.     I was talking to what seemed to be the most intelligent Interval rep (and I could spit that I didn't have the sense to ask for her name) I've ever dealt with.
> 
> Anyway, I turned the conversation to ask about Marriott deposits and if she had noticed a change.   She seemed to know the stats and quickly told me Interval had seen a drop of about 10-12% in Marriott deposits.   Obviously, those deposits would have been spread across all seasons, not just summer.



10-12%?  Hell that could just be what Marriott no longer deposits because it can fulfill DC requests directly without having to snatch them from II.  That's surprisingly small.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 17, 2014)

rpw said:


> 10-12%?  Hell that could just be what Marriott no longer deposits because it can fulfill DC requests directly without having to snatch them from II.  That's surprisingly small.



You'd like to think it's small but, judging from other guests I've spoken too when staying at timeshares, so many don't have a clue how to use their ownership outside of making a reservation at their home resort. I've always thought it bizaare that anyone would spend tens of thousands of dollars on a vacation week ownership, then not spend the time learning how to use it.


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## bogey21 (Oct 17, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> MVCI will ALWAYS have a third party exchange option, even if only 20% of their members use that option.



I think it is unrealistic to use the words "always" or "never" when talking about Marriott.  They have proven over the years that they will do what is in the best interest of Marriott.

George


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## SunandFun83 (Oct 18, 2014)

*The Timeshare Salesman Told Us ..............?*



hcarman said:


> When we had our MVCI Owner's update this past summer, we were told that 80% of owners were not using Interval - and it may go away at some point.
> .



You answered your own question.  The timeshare sales guy trying to sell me points said......  Why would you ever start to listen to that pile of bull.  The Marriott exchange priority is one of the great features of weeks ownership.  Wait for the class action lawsuit if Marriott tries to drop Interval to pressure owners to buy points.


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## yokatta (Oct 20, 2014)

Just went to a Marriott presentation last week and he said it was 90%. He also said that if I don't convert my weeks to DC there will come a time they won't let me anymore. He encouraged buying 1000 pts and would waive the fee. Told him II still works for me. I have still got what I wanted, but it is getting harder.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 20, 2014)

bogey21 said:


> I think it is unrealistic to use the words "always" or "never" when talking about Marriott.  They have proven over the years that they will do what is in the best interest of Marriott.
> 
> George



I agree that always my be a pretty strong word but, eventually they'll come back to using the exchange company as a selling point, just like they always have. Right now it's more fashionable to scare owners into thinking the only option they have is MVCI trust. Buy now or never be able to use your week as promised when you bought it the first time. Or, we lied once. Now we'll lie again to trick you into buying more. Next year we'll lie again to try and trick you into buying even more.


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## jlr10 (Oct 21, 2014)

Big Matt said:


> I can't imagine that they move away from II unless they do something really crazy like buying the Hilton, Starwood, Disney, DRI, or Hyatt book of business in which they would be getting toward a very large portfolio.  ...



This was one of the 'plans' they were floating at Waiohai in August. They would dump II and join forces with Disney and Starwood, but it would all be on a points basis, and if we didn't buy points now we could be out of luck in the future. But since we have never traded our Waiohai week, and have not plans to do so we aren't feeling the need ti drop a huge amount of $ on points.

By the time we are ready to trade, I figure that Marriott will have run the point system dry and will have come up with a new way to part us from our money to continue to use what they sold us in the first place


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## dougp26364 (Oct 21, 2014)

I've got it! MVCI is just going to buy I.I. That way there will be no third party exchange company!


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## Kilby5924 (Oct 21, 2014)

*It all about the leads II generates for MVC*

Biggest reason that Marriott won't leave II is because it is the biggest source of leads for new owners. Especially in the off season non Marriott timeshare owner trade in it keeps the sale people busy. MVC does a ton of advertising in the II magazine.


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## Clark (Oct 22, 2014)

Pompey Family said:


> I hate having to use Interval. I can't stand talking to their call centre staff, I can't stand the extortionate fee's ---
> 
> --- It would be much simpler if I could trade within Marriott with no fee.



Well, you can.



dougp26364 said:


> Maybe we could start a support group:
> 
> It's been 3 years since my last I.I. exchange.......
> 
> Actually, it has been 3 years since I've used I.I. for a MVCI exchange



It's already there, just waiting for you all. The more, the merrier.


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## pedro47 (Oct 22, 2014)

We enjoy using II no problems what so ever.


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## aka Julie (Oct 22, 2014)

We love II too.  Recently stayed at Surfwatch 3-bedroom using our Shadowridge studio lockoff.  This came through outside flexchange.  I was really surprised when I got the notification.

When II no longer works for us, we'll just use our weeks as is.  We bought where and when we like to go.


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## klpca (Oct 22, 2014)

aka Julie said:


> We love II too.  Recently stayed at Surfwatch 3-bedroom using our Shadowridge studio lockoff.  This came through outside flexchange.  I was really surprised when I got the notification.
> 
> When II no longer works for us, we'll just use our weeks as is.  We bought where and when we like to go.



Exactly how we feel. We're at Club Intrawest Pam Desert on an AC from II. Great place, even better for the price that we paid. We've had great trades through II, but we love the properties that we own. If we ever decide to stop trading, we're fine.


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