It really isn't all that difficult to understand the release dates for booking Marriott Weeks or Points. The owners' website has a 'Helpful Tools' section where you follow the prompts to select whether you're using Weeks or Points, your desired resort and check-in date (and if using Points, the number of nights of your desired stay,) after which the inventory release date field is populated. I get why it was confusing having to know the seasonal calendar of the resort(s), the release day of the week and whether a holiday might push the date a day ahead or behind because that's what we needed to know back before these tools were made available, but with these website tools it's not necessary to know any of the machinations now. It's really been made very simple.
As for the reservation rules using owned Weeks:
- when booking single Weeks; the Release Date is 12 months prior to the first check-in day of the desired interval, the inventory is released immediately at 9AM Eastern on that date, and you can either book online or through a call to Owner Services.
- when booking multiple Weeks that fall consecutively/concurrently on the calendar (at either the same resort or different resorts); you must be using units or lock-off components from two or more owned Weeks, the Release Date is 13 months prior to the first check-in day of the first desired interval, the inventory is released immediately at 9:00AM Eastern on that date, and you must call Owner Services because the online system does not support immediate confirmations of multiple intervals. (There is an online request form for 13-mos Weeks inventory but those requests aren't handled until the phone queue is empty, so don't rely on it for anything but the least-demand inventory.)
*Worth noting is that Marriott is allowed to release for 13-mos bookings only "up to 50%" of the Weeks intervals, then at 12-mos all intervals become available. (Also worth noting is that there is language in the governing docs that prevents Marriott from using the 13-mos window to book its own intervals, although I'm not sure if that language is in every resorts' gov docs. It's definitely in those for one of my resorts.)
And for DC Points:
- the Reservation Windows are dependent on ownership status levels and the number of nights of the desired intervals. (Special rules may come into play if you're using restricted Holding Account points and/or booking something in the Luxury/Ritz-Carlton categories.) Again, figuring it out is not as difficult as it might appear, and it's made clear in this
'Benefits At A Glance' chart. Inventory is 'officially' released at 9AM Eastern but in practice it's actually released shortly after midnight on the release day, and, all Points reservations can be processed online.
*Worth noting is that a similar "up to 50%" restriction for 13-mos Points inventory is stated in the docs.
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More and more reading this thread I'm convinced that the only real integration that's going to happen is that certain Vistana Weeks/Points will be eligible to be elected on an annual basis for Marriott Destination Club Points. If the same rules as what are in place with Marriott enrolled Weeks apply, then enrolling a Vistana product should have no bearing on the Reservation Rules and Windows currently being used by Vistana owners. That means that if you enroll and don't elect DC Points in a given year, the same rules/windows that you use now will be what you use then. If you enroll and elect DC Points in a given year, then you will use the rules/windows that apply to DC Points. That's what I expect will happen but of course, it's anybody's guess right now.
