Change to Interval Int'l history functionality

[dioxide45]

It should be noted that II is losing members. Almost 100,000 since 2022. It represents about a 7% decline. That could be due to a few factors. Perhaps more multiple week owners but it still indicates that some amount of members aren't renewing.

 

[rickandcindy23]

It should be noted that II is losing members. Almost 100,000 since 2022. It represents about a 7% decline. That could be due to a few factors. Perhaps more multiple week owners but it still indicates that some amount of members aren't renewing.

How do you know that? That's interesting. But Marriott is pushing Abound, an internal trade system that will keep those folks trading that way. Once you know Marriott's product, it's tough to break away.

Interesting that I could see the recent January Ko Olina 2 bedrooms with a 2 bedroom SBR. The cost to trade is about the same as trading with Marriott. Marriott is actually more expensive, even using a 2025 1 bedroom at Willow Ridge. Lockoff fee ($99), trade fee ($199), upgrade fee ($59) and eplus fee ($89), all of those fees make a 1 bedroom trade to a 2 bedroom very expensive. No upgrade fee and no lockoff fee for the two bedroom. I figure the 1 bedroom as 2/3 of the MF's of the 2 bedroom.

 

[dioxide45]

How do you know that? That's interesting. But Marriott is pushing Abound, an internal trade system that will keep those folks trading that way. Once you know Marriott's product, it's tough to break away.

Interesting that I could see the recent January Ko Olina 2 bedrooms with a 2 bedroom SBR. The cost to trade is about the same as trading with Marriott. Marriott is actually more expensive, even using a 2025 1 bedroom at Willow Ridge. Lockoff fee ($99), trade fee ($199), upgrade fee ($59) and eplus fee ($89), all of those fees make a 1 bedroom trade to a 2 bedroom very expensive. No upgrade fee and no lockoff fee for the two bedroom. I figure the 1 bedroom as 2/3 of the MF's of the 2 bedroom.

Marriott Vacations Worldwide discloses the number of II members in their quarterly earnings releases. The thing is, everyone who buys Abound Club Points also becomes an II member. So the total number of II members includes all the Marriott owners that have either Trust Points or enrolled weeks. It seems Marriott owners probably make up about half of II's total membership base which is a little less than 1.5 million members.

 

[Hindsite]

Where does it increase revenue so substantially that it outweighs the risk of an exodus of owners?

The business problems that II have are around reducing losses, not just growing revenue at any cost. If you are a customer who routinely takes significantly more value out of the exchange than you put in, you aren't good for business. If they don't address that when it happens too much, there won't be an exchange for anyone to use and your ownership will be of no use to you. An exodus of owners who take lots more than they give is not a bad thing.

 

[heathpack]

The business problems that II have are around reducing losses, not just growing revenue at any cost. If you are a customer who routinely takes significantly more value out of the exchange than you put in, you aren't good for business. If they don't address that when it happens too much, there won't be an exchange for anyone to use and your ownership will be of no use to you. An exodus of owners who take lots more than they give is not a bad thing.

Actually my sense with Hyatt was that HVC didn't particularly want my type of owner any more (ie one that would never buy their godawful points product) and that driving me out maybe wasn't unintended. Its entirely possible that the same process is unfolding with my Marriott ownership. They might just want me gone, so that they can move on. If that's the goal, then I'm not going to fight it. Will be happy to depart and vacation in other ways.

Personally I think both Hyatt and Marriott are dumb if they want me gone, but they hold more cards than I do, so if I see the writing on the wall, I will get out of dodge pretty quickly. Well- not entirely out of Marriott because we would keep our Barony week that we use.

 

[Hindsite]

Personally I think both Hyatt and Marriott are dumb if they want me gone, but they hold more cards than I do, so if I see the writing on the wall, I will get out of dodge pretty quickly. Well- not entirely out of Marriott because we would keep our Barony week that we use.

They really don't single people out in the way you present, if you put yourself in a category of customer that doesn't deliver what the business needs, you are going to find yourself off-side and exit being in your interest. I'm the same, as long as my ownership delivers the value I want from vacation lodging that we want then I'll keep it, when it doesn't I'll ditch it happy in the knowledge that its been great for us for decades. I don't much care whether MVW wants me as a customer or not, just whether me being a customer of theirs works for me.

 

[heathpack]

They really don't single people out in the way you present, if you put yourself in a category of customer that doesn't deliver what the business needs, you are going to find yourself off-side and exit being in your interest. I'm the same, as long as my ownership delivers the value I want from vacation lodging that we want then I'll keep it, when it doesn't I'll ditch it happy in the knowledge that its been great for us for decades. I don't much care whether MVW wants me as a customer or not, just whether me being a customer of theirs works for me.

I am not taking it personally. Apologies that I did not write "me, or people like me" to make it more clear for you (or people like you).

However, I (and possibly people like me) still think its immensely dumb. The problem isn't people like me who work to obtain value. Most people aren't willing to work that hard and will do the easy thing and buy from the developer, if they are convinced the thing they are being sold has value. The problem MVCI has right now is that the thing really is of questionable value to new buyers. The existing owners are at least helping to keep the lights on. Pushing out existing owners obviously makes some kind of sense to someone, just not to me (or possibly people like me).

 

[rickandcindy23]

I also think it's ridiculous to reduce the trading power on our formerly excellent traders, only to lose the Marriott inventory to Sheraton owners.

The same can be said of the Westin Princeville inventory that SBR and SDO one bedroom deposits can no longer grab online (with eplus). It takes a two bedroom SBR to get the one bedrooms at Westin Princeville, but Marriott 2025 deposits can see those one bedrooms. I love the one bedrooms and may be grabbing some with Marriott weeks, but 2026 weeks do not pull these one bedrooms, either.

Who is going to get inventory that Marriott owners and Sheraton owners are not getting? It's a question I ask often, as I see various inventory with unexpected deposits.

 

[Hindsite]

IWho is going to get inventory that Marriott owners and Sheraton owners are not getting? It's a question I ask often, as I see various inventory with unexpected deposits.

No clue what the inner workings of the II business are or what they are finding from an analysis they do, we can only guess. We do know from the latest MVW investor presentation that they saw lower revenue from II, so that means they have to do something different.

They seem to be experimenting with Hyatt Key West inventory, available +12 months ahead for $$ that are below Maint fees for all but a few weeks, but not available as exchange widely. Its not been snapped up, so they need to find how to shift inventory in the $2000-2800 MF range without loosing their shirts on exchanges that have $500-1000 MF.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't have any 2026 deposits left and am kinda out of the loop on the reductions in trade power. It did always seem odd to me that a studio or even 1BR could easily pull 2BR Hawaii deposits, but we did it in the past and it was great. We don't know what kind of additional breakage there may be within II. Perhaps none, it may just mean that deposits sit out there a little longer while people with higher trade power or larger units come to confirm trades into these units. In the past, bulk banks would disappear rather quickly because it didn't take much for to confirm the trade. Now it takes more and there are fewer weeks out there capable of the trade, so the deposits may linger longer.

In the past, II seemed to me more driven by earning the exchange fee. It didn't matter if a studio traded into a 2BR, they still got the same amount of dollars. Are they changing directions? Every deposit still equals an exchange fee. It will only be breakage that might impact revenue. Fewer confirmed trades means less exchange fee revenue.

I do think it would be better for the consumer if II was a separate entity from Marriott Vacations Worldwide. Having MVW hand in the pot isn't something I am all that big on.

 

[iowateach]

I use the TripIt app. I forward flight info, hotels/timeshares, rental cars, etc. into the app. I've been using it for 15 years, so I have all my records for stays at all timeshares. It won't solve the problem for timeshare history, but I highly recommend it going forward.

 

[GrayFal]

I use the TripIt app. I forward flight info, hotels/timeshares, rental cars, etc. into the app. I've been using it for 15 years, so I have all my records for stays at all timeshares. It won't solve the problem for timeshare history, but I highly recommend it going forward.

I literally just started using this two months ago and I love it.
I am using the free version, do you use paid or free?

 

[zentraveler]

I literally just started using this two months ago and I love it.
I am using the free version, do you use paid or free?

I was likely one of their first batch of users in 2006 and have been using the Pro version since then. At the time I was traveling a lot for my work and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I still think that. I have close to 300 trips in there and have many times gone back to look at a trip I made a few years ago to remember that great hotel (etc) where we stayed.

The Pro version has always been worth the modest amount they charge. There were many years when it notified me of flight/gate changes or delays before United did. There are other features I haven't kept track of, but they been adding very useful features steadily. The best of these is the way it handles confirmations that are forwarded to them (really, all I do is hit the forward button; no need to edit them in any way). It always handled the main ones like airlines, hotels etc. but the ones that weren't in a main system of some kind were put in "unfiled" and we needed to enter those by hand. Now almost all of them go straight into the plans.

My only complaint/wish is that they would provide a way to download all of our trip data to our own hard drives. I have lived in some fear that they will be bought out, or some other change, and all of our data (considerable and irreplaceable for me) will be unavailable. They also haven't updated some of their interface in years, but the app itself just gets better and better. Highly recommended!

 

[Larry M]

Also disappointed that no notice that decades of history would be lost.

My URL is: https://www.intervalworld.com/web/cs?a=285#exchanges What would be the rewrite to that?

Just change the number and see what happens. It won't do any harm. Leave everything else the same. Or maybe use just a number and the the "#exchanges" off.

 

[klpca]

I was likely one of their first batch of users in 2006 and have been using the Pro version since then. At the time I was traveling a lot for my work and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I still think that. I have close to 300 trips in there and have many times gone back to look at a trip I made a few years ago to remember that great hotel (etc) where we stayed.

The Pro version has always been worth the modest amount they charge. There were many years when it notified me of flight/gate changes or delays before United did. There are other features I haven't kept track of, but they been adding very useful features steadily. The best of these is the way it handles confirmations that are forwarded to them (really, all I do is hit the forward button; no need to edit them in any way). It always handled the main ones like airlines, hotels etc. but the ones that weren't in a main system of some kind were put in "unfiled" and we needed to enter those by hand. Now almost all of them go straight into the plans.

My only complaint/wish is that they would provide a way to download all of our trip data to our own hard drives. I have lived in some fear that they will be bought out, or some other change, and all of our data (considerable and irreplaceable for me) will be unavailable. They also haven't updated some of their interface in years, but the app itself just gets better and better. Highly recommended!

I have been using Tripit since 2009. I don't fly enough to worry about the pro version, so I have been happily using the free version since I started. It works so well and it is what I share with my kids when we travel so that they know where we are if necessary. It has helped me with conflicting plans as well. I cannot imagining traveling without it. I used to print out everything and keep a manila envelope in my backpack. Now it is just tripit.

 

[iowateach]

I literally just started using this two months ago and I love it.
I am using the free version, do you use paid or free?

I have always used the free version, but I have two trips planned in the next two months so decided to treat myself and try out the Pro version.