[2023] New II Exchange Restrictions For Select Resorts [MERGED]

[Hindsite]

I agree with you 100%, Marriott is not getting out of the game. They will have to change the rules once again.

They've already started by limiting the number of time MVC weeks owners can exchanged via II over a year, into certain resorts. That could be to drive up the number of enrolled owners that elect for points, or it could be a capacity management initiative.
Its not a rule change but a change to long term practice. So little of how the system works is not "rules", that its easy to make changes to alter behaviour.

 

[Venter]

They've already started by limiting the number of time MVC weeks owners can exchanged via II over a year, into certain resorts. That could be to drive up the number of enrolled owners that elect for points, or it could be a capacity management initiative.
Its not a rule change but a change to long term practice. So little of how the system works is not "rules", that its easy to make changes to alter behaviour.

This is new to me. Do you mean that they are restricting exchanges into certain resorts as a rule change in II. Could you expand on this statement? Is this an observation of some kind or concrete evidence? If this is true it definitely may change the exchange game where people buy resale to use exchanges.

 

[dioxide45]

This is new to me. Do you mean that they are restricting exchanges into certain resorts as a rule change in II. Could you expand on this statement? Is this an observation of some kind or concrete evidence? If this is true it definitely may change the exchange game where people buy resale to use exchanges.

Probably something heard at a sales presentation....

The only limit I am aware of in II is the 1 in 4 rule with Vidanta in Mexico. This isn't exactly something that is new, Vidanta has done it for years in RCI. Vidana changes the rules more often than I change my underwear.

 

[Hindsite]

Probably something heard at a sales presentation....

Most happy for you to verify yourself and others.
Go and test an exchange into Aruba Surf club and go as far as the resort advisements page and see the restriction.
Similar for St Thomas and St Kitts.

 

[Hindsite]

This is new to me. Do you mean that they are restricting exchanges into certain resorts as a rule change in II. Could you expand on this statement? Is this an observation of some kind or concrete evidence? If this is true it definitely may change the exchange game where people buy resale to use exchanges.

Go and do a test exchange for Surf club, St Kitts or St Thomas and you will see it as you go through the process.
Yes it is new
Yes it is a new rule in II that applies to specific resorts during a calendar year, providing a 3 week limit.
Yes, if it is allowed to spread through the system its going to be a problem for any owners who use II to go to the same place for more than 3 weeks in a year.

 

[dioxide45]

Go and do a test exchange for Surf club, St Kitts or St Thomas and you will see it as you go through the process.
Yes it is new
Yes it is a new rule in II that applies to specific resorts during a calendar year, providing a 3 week limit.
Yes, if it is allowed to spread through the system its going to be a problem for any owners who use II to go to the same place for more than 3 weeks in a year.

Are you referring to this?

If so, the limit on getaway confirmation per concurrent week isn't new. That existed pre-pandemic and did seem to go away in the early part of the pandemic but has returned. I don't recall the restriction on three confirmations per calendar year so that certainly seems to be new. I take back what I said about a sales presentation . That said, this is a pretty loose restriction as the getaway restriction always was and probably impacts less than 1% of owners. I wonder if they are targeting resorts that may have significant guest certificate activity to try and stomp out rentals? It could also just be a situation of supply and demand and we may see Marriott go the way of Wyndham down the road with owner priority periods.

 

[Hindsite]

@dioxide45 thanks for checking and verifying.
If it was supply and demand I can see the reason for Surf club, but St Kitts seems to have plenty of inventory so limiting it seems counter productive.
It could be a way to drive enrolled weeks owners towards electing for points.
The 2nd to last sentence is what concerns me as it limits to 3 in calendar year. If that's 3 concurrent, fine if its 3 weeks over the year its more of a problem.

 

[dioxide45]

@dioxide45 thanks for checking and verifying. I'd be less concerned if it was limited to Getaways, but the 2nd to last sentence includes exchanges.
If it was supply and demand I can see the reason for Surf club, but St Kitts seems to have plenty of inventory so limiting it seems counter productive.
It could be a way to drive enrolled weeks owners towards electing for points.
If this restriction pervades through the system, then its going to be a problem for even modest II users.

I do agree about St Kitts and do find the limitation there to be rather strange. Perhaps they thought by limiting St Thomas and Aruba that it would just push people to St Kitts and they mnight as well limit there too. This limitation could put pressure in Cancun and make Lagunamar a harder exchange or getaway booking.

I am quite sure that sales people will latch on to this limitation to try and convince weeks owner holdouts who are heavy II users (like we are) and try to convince them to buy in to points. I in fact expect this to be mentioned at our next sales presentation...

 

[Hindsite]

I do agree about St Kitts and do find the limitation there to be rather strange. Perhaps they thought by limiting St Thomas and Aruba that it would just push people to St Kitts and they mnight as well limit there too. This limitation could put pressure in Cancun and make Lagunamar a harder exchange or getaway booking.

I am quite sure that sales people will latch on to this limitation to try and convince weeks owner holdouts who are heavy II users (like we are) and try to convince them to buy in to points. I in fact expect this to be mentioned at our next sales presentation...

Nothing on Lagunamar as far as I can see.
Indeed sales will spin this to add to the stories that II will become unusable for owners.
Please do put sales to the test, just to make sure that they are absolutely current on the recent change

 

[dioxide45]

Pulling this discussion out of the Trust point 2024 MF budgets released thread and thanks to @Hindsite for bringing this to our attention. It seems that II, perhaps under the thumb of Marriott Vacations, has placed limits on confirming into certain resorts. Here is the text from the Resort Advisements page (second page when going through booking flow on II).

This resort limits the number of Confirmations that may be made by a Member, including without limitation, those made in connection with an exchange, Getaway and/or accommodation certificate to no more than 3 during each calendar year. Any Confirmations made in violation of this restriction will be subject to cancellation.

I went through and looked at all the resorts this may impact. I have a pretty weak trader and I could only look at the resorts I can pull with my deposit. Here is a list of resorts I found in II with this new three confirmations in a calendar year restriction;

• Marriott's Aruba Surf Club
• Marriott's Frenchman's Cove
• Marriott's St. Kitts Beach Club
• Marriott's StreamSide - Birch
• Marriott's StreamSide - Douglas
• Sheraton Lakeside Terrace Villas at Mountain Vista
• Sheraton Mountain Vista

If anyone wants to check and see if any other resorts have the restrictions, here are the resort codes still requireing validation; BPW,HRA,MFL,MNY,MQB,MGQ,MVK,MBF,MMI,MKI,MKO,MKB,MWO,MAW,SKR,KAA,KAN,WNA,WPV,WCU,WSJ

 

[dioxide45]

I am not sure what the reasoning is for the new restrictions. I hypothesized in that other thread that perhaps it has to do with rental activity or demand, but St Kitts is on the list and there is always an abundance of these sitting in II for instant exchange. I also notice that StreamSide - Evergreen does not show the restriction.

 

[Mongoose]

I am not sure what the reasoning is for the new restrictions. I hypothesized in that other thread that perhaps it has to do with rental activity or demand, but St Kitts is on the list and there is always an abundance of these sitting in II for instant exchange. I also notice that StreamSide - Evergreen does not show the restriction.

This isn’t uncommon is it? I thought a lot of RCI had limits for 1 use every three years.

 

[tschwa2]

Do all of those locations have active sales, selling either points or in the case of non US properties weeks? If so they may be locations that get a lot of non owner long term stays and it is a sales incentive. You won't be able to stay here for more then x weeks if you don't buy (and book through) Marriott. For years II resisted the 1 in x type restrictions or any restrictions on the number of exchanges but Vidanta seems to have stood strong and refused to make any deposits if II didn't agree to the restrictions that rci was already enforcing for them. It is to overcome sales objections (why would I buy if I can exchange in a lot cheaper with the timeshare/vacation club I already own) not because they are trying to make sure that everyone has a fair chance at getting a reservation.

 

[dioxide45]

This isn’t uncommon is it? I thought a lot of RCI had limits for 1 use every three years.

II has for a long time had restrictions on Getaways, pre-pandemic these were quite common. No more than 3 concurrent getaway confirmations to the same resort. A lot of resorts had these, even the ones in Orlando. Those went away with the pandemic and that specific restriction is actually in the screen shot of post #1. I only see one resort that still has that specific restriction without the separate 3 confirmations in a year and that resort is one of the ones in Spain.

1 in 4 has been around for a long time in RCI and recently made it's way to II with Vidanta. I much prefer the three confirmations in a year as compared to 1 in 4 type restrictions.

 

[dioxide45]

Do all of those locations have active sales, selling either points or in the case of non US properties weeks?

Aruba is a fairly easy exchange and they are currently selling Caribbean weeks there (Aruba & St Kitts). I am sure there are active sales in St Thomas, though I don't know about StreamSide. That is a pretty old resort. The odd thing about StreamSide is that there are several other Marriott and Vistana resorts in close proximity, but none of them have exchange restrictions.

 

[tschwa2]

Aruba is a fairly easy exchange and they are currently selling Caribbean weeks there (Aruba & St Kitts). I am sure there are active sales in St Thomas, though I don't know about StreamSide. That is a pretty old resort. The odd thing about StreamSide is that there are several other Marriott and Vistana resorts in close proximity, but none of them have exchange restrictions.

I thought the Steamside one seemed odd too.

 

[Hindsite]

I don't have a copy of the II Terms and conditions and the site is down for usual Sunday maintenance so I can't look, but this limit is per "Member" the Vidanta one (if I recall right) is per membership/ownership. Does that mean if there are 2 people on the deeds, and hence there can be 2 II accounts, that it could be each II account can book 3 per year?
I was also wondering if this is aimed at thinning of the +++Chairman herd and similar non-branded equivalents, to catch those that own on behalf of wider family and consistently book for several people who aren't on the deeds. I'm sure that there are people who could divide up their ownership and still have multiple Chairman accounts, if this did bother them, and I have see high volume unbranded TS owners successfully accessing lots of MVC inventory via II.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't have a copy of the II Terms and conditions and the site is down for usual Sunday maintenance so I can't look, but this limit is per "Member" the Vidanta one (if I recall right) is per membership/ownership. Does that mean if there are 2 people on the deeds, and hence there can be 2 II accounts, that it could be each II account can book 3 per year?
I was also wondering if this is aimed at thinning of the +++Chairman herd and similar non-branded equivalents, to catch those that own on behalf of wider family and consistently book for several people who aren't on the deeds. I'm sure that there are people who could divide up their ownership and still have multiple Chairman accounts, if this did bother them, and I have see high volume unbranded TS owners successfully accessing lots of MVC inventory via II.

Even with two owners, there is only one membership number. My wife and I are on our deeds and we each have separate logins to II, but we share a single member number. So I suspect it is limited by member number.

 

[Hindsite]

Even with two owners, there is only one membership number. My wife and I are on our deeds and we each have separate logins to II, but we share a single member number. So I suspect it is limited by member number.

Thanks for confirming. I had it mixed up with the 2 separate MVC ownership numbers.
I can't believe MVC is doing this to target owners with smaller holdings wanting to use II to go for just 3 weeks per year to a single resort, so there must be more behind this.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out. If it gets in the way of our plans I'll just split off one of our weeks and get another II membership either by unenrolling or taking a name off the deed, depending on which works better for overall cost and long term usage. There's nothing in the Abound status that does anything for us now, so its no loss to reduce it.

 

[alwysonvac]

Pulling this discussion out of the Trust point 2024 MF budgets released thread and thanks to @Hindsite for brining this to our attention. It seems that II, perhaps under the thumb of Marriott Vacations, has placed limits on confirming into certain resorts. Here is the text from the Resort Advisements page (second page when going through booking flow on II).
View attachment 82783
Purchase of Getaways to this property limited to not more than three Getaway confirmations per concurrent week, per membership. Confirmations not adhering to this restriction are subject to cancellation. This resort limits the number of Confirmations that may be made by a Member, including without limitation, those made in connection with an exchange, Getaway and/or accommodation certificate to no more than 3 during each calendar year. Any Confirmations made in violation of this restriction will be subject to cancellation.

I went through and looked at all the resorts this may impact. I have a pretty weak trader and I could only look at the resorts I can pull with my deposit. Here is a list of resorts I found in II with this new three confirmations in a calendar year restriction;

• Marriott's Aruba Surf Club
• Marriott's Frenchman's Cove
• Marriott's St. Kitts Beach Club
• Marriott's StreamSide - Birch
• Marriott's StreamSide - Douglas
• Sheraton Lakeside Terrace Villas at Mountain Vista
• Sheraton Mountain Vista

If anyone wants to check and see if any other resorts have the restrictions, here are the resort codes still requireing validation; BPW,HRA,MFL,MNY,MQB,MGQ,MVK,MBF,MMI,MKI,MKO,MKB,MWO,MAW,SKR,KAA,KAN,WNA,WPV,WCU,WSJ

@frank808
Heads up possible MKO (Ko Olina) limitations.

I didn't find that indicated on the Resort Advertisement Page today for an II exchange using my Vistana week.

 

[dougp26364]

. I am sure there are active sales in St Thomas, though I don't know about StreamSide. That is a pretty old resort. The odd thing about StreamSide is that there are several other Marriott and Vistana resorts in close proximity, but none of them have exchange..

I can’t say the sales force is at Streamside, but I can confirm that we were offered a tour when we were at the Ritz Carlton Club and Residences while in Vail. We turned them down. I assumed it would have been at the MVC resort in Vail as Avon is far enough away as to be inconvenient for a presentation out of Vail.

 

[Hindsite]

@alwaysonvacation can you check Aruba Surf club (Not Ocean Club) or MVC St Thomas or St Kitts using your Vistana ownership?

 

[alwysonvac]

@alwaysonvacation can you check Aruba Surf club (Not Ocean Club) or MVC St Thomas or St Kitts using your Vistana ownership?

Note: My username is alwysonvac (someone recently created alwaysonvacation)


Yes, I see the restriction indicated for Aruba Surf Club and St Kitts with Vistana and WorldMark.

 

[Fairwinds]

As previously posted the same restriction shows up at St. Thomas MFC

 

[alwysonvac]

Only getaways mention on KAA. Nothing mentioned on MMO, MM1, MKW, KAN, SKR, WNA, and WPV.