Latest presentation

[dougp26364]

Really nothing new. $200 visa + $50 Marriott experience dollars.

1. Forget Hyatt being integrated. It’s not happening.

2. Marriott has been looking for other systems to purchase. Nothing said about those additional systems being integrated ala Vistana, Westin and Sheraton.

3. The big sales push was to trade deeded weeks for trust points with a minimum purchase of new points at the rack rate of $17.94. The fear factor was the illusion of big SA’s coming. With the cash reserves Marriott collects, there better not be a rash of SA’s in the future.

Overall a little more adversarial of an update than in the past. I didn’t engage. Sometimes it’s best just to allow the salesperson to be wrong.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Can you please fill in the abbreviation "SA?"

 

[dioxide45]

Can you please fill in the abbreviation "SA?"

Special Assessment.

 

[dioxide45]

What resort was your presentation at?

2. Marriott has been looking for other systems to purchase. Nothing said about those additional systems being integrated ala Vistana, Westin and Sheraton.

I've been thinking about future timeshare consolidation in general and I'm not sure how much more could happen. Perhaps with some of the lower end lesser known chains and brands like Capital Vacations, Vacatia and Westgate? Westgate already bought VI Resorts. Perhaps there are some smaller brands like Breckenridge Grand Vacations that could be a fit? Maybe some individual properties like Dawn Beach Club in St Maarten that was once co-located with the Westin Dawn Beach Club but was heavily damaged by hurricanes and ultimately reopened not long ago as a JW Marriott property. That would certainly be more of an affiliate type situation comparable to Los Cabos Baja Point in the Vistana system. They could offer enrollment in Abound and open another sales office to sell something, not sure what, maybe St Kitts weeks. I would have to think they don't have a lot of St Kitts inventory now that Aruba took over sales of those weeks.

 

[ljmiii]

1. Forget Hyatt being integrated. It’s not happening.

Yeah...this has always been a case of 'Hyatt VC might be integrated into MVC if/when Marriott International buys Hyatt Hotels & Resorts' despite what unscrupulous salesweasels have been known to say.

 

[dougp26364]

What resort was your presentation at?

I've been thinking about future timeshare consolidation in general and I'm not sure how much more could happen. Perhaps with some of the lower end lesser known chains and brands like Capital Vacations, Vacatia and Westgate? Westgate already bought VI Resorts. Perhaps there are some smaller brands like Breckenridge Grand Vacations that could be a fit? Maybe some individual properties like Dawn Beach Club in St Maarten that was once co-located with the Westin Dawn Beach Club but was heavily damaged by hurricanes and ultimately reopened not long ago as a JW Marriott property. That would certainly be more of an affiliate type situation comparable to Los Cabos Baja Point in the Vistana system. They could offer enrollment in Abound and open another sales office to sell something, not sure what, maybe St Kitts weeks. I would have to think they don't have a lot of St Kitts inventory now that Aruba took over sales of those weeks.

Mayflower in Washington DC.

Per a salesman at BGV Grand Colorado several years ago (pre Covid I think), Marriott had inquired about purchasing Grand Colorado, but only that resort and not the other three.
The brothers who co trolled the resorts ultimately turned them down and are now developing the Imperial Resort next door. While it could happen, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I’m not certain there’s a lot of systems out there Marriott could purchase and integrate. Maybe there’s a few individual resorts, but that’s not going to make a big splash.

Hotel style resorts are a possibility and that appears to be the way they’ve been leaning lately. Im curious about what accommodations will look like on Charleston and Savanna. If they’re closer to Custom House then it’s something we can use. If they’re more like a hotel room as in the case with San Francisco, then it’s of little to no use to us. Right now I’m sitting in the lobby of a hotel watching Sports Center because I get up 2 or 3 hours before my wife. We didn’t buy timeshare to stay in hotel rooms.

One other thing mentioned was the new regime wants “value added” options and is looking to improve the value of cruises and tour packages. That’s an easy out for me as we’ve been timeshare owners since 1998 and haven’t seen the needle move in all that time. We were shown high end cruises in shoulder season that were supposedly cheaper to use points than pay cash, but paying the equivalent of $10,000 per person for a Med cruise in May wasn’t appealing to me. I told the sales rep I’d consider it once it was a reality instead of a promise.

 

[pedro47]

I can see Marriott’s and Hilton affiliated with a very small numbers of Hilton Resorts. Especially those Hilton Resorts that meet Marriott’s standards. IMHO.

 

[ljmiii]

I’m not certain there’s a lot of systems out there Marriott could purchase and integrate. Maybe there’s a few individual resorts, but that’s not going to make a big splash.

I would love for MVC to buy Divi (which has 10 properties in the Caribbean). But they are privately held and at the moment I don't see MVC throwing a ton of cash at them.

Hotel style resorts are a possibility and that appears to be the way they’ve been leaning lately. Im curious about what accommodations will look like on Charleston and Savanna. If they’re closer to Custom House then it’s something we can use. If they’re more like a hotel room as in the case with San Francisco, then it’s of little to no use to us. Right now I’m sitting in the lobby of a hotel watching Sports Center because I get up 2 or 3 hours before my wife. We didn’t buy timeshare to stay in hotel rooms.

I completely agree. The NYC and SF MVC City Collection locations are pretty much useless to us but we've stayed in and enjoyed the ones in Boston, San Diego, South Beach, and Washington D.C. because they have suites. My hope is that Charleston and Savanna will at least be like Waikiki and D.C. with a mix of studios and 1BRs.

 

[dougp26364]

I completely agree. The NYC and SF MVC City Collection locations are pretty much useless to us but we've stayed in and enjoyed the ones in Boston, San Diego, South Beach, and Washington D.C. because they have suites. My hope is that Charleston and Savanna will at least be like Waikiki and D.C. with a mix of studios and 1BRs.

We’ve enjoyed the City Collection in Boston, San Diego and Washington. We toured the SF location and were seriously disappointed all the way around. I doubt we ever stay at that location. The only issue I had with San Diego was that it wasn’t that close to a bus stop. Washington and Boston are very short walks to the city metro stations

 

[dougp26364]

Yeah...this has always been a case of 'Hyatt VC might be integrated into MVC if/when Marriott International buys Hyatt Hotels & Resorts' despite what unscrupulous salesweasels have been known to say.

A couple of months ago the salesman said they were still working on it and it was going to happen.

It use to be MVC sales was pretty straight forward and reasonably honest. Now they’re all over the place, but I think that’s because they’re not building new shiny resorts and they’ve become dependent on churning current owners by reselling them what they already own plus a small amount of new points to make a little profit.

 

[ljmiii]

We toured the SF location and were seriously disappointed all the way around. I doubt we ever stay at that location...

We stayed at the MVC SF City Collection once for a one night stay when there was a family gathering. I needed to pay for three rooms and staying at the MVC using points was a lot cheaper than booking us all into a SF hotel.

The rooms were 'fine'...actually our King Courtyard View room wasn't bad at all (for a hotel room) but the rooms with 2 Queens stuffed into them felt very tiny. But I would never want to stay for more than one night.

 

[daviator]

Mayflower in Washington DC.

Per a salesman at BGV Grand Colorado several years ago (pre Covid I think), Marriott had inquired about purchasing Grand Colorado, but only that resort and not the other three.
The brothers who co trolled the resorts ultimately turned them down and are now developing the Imperial Resort next door. While it could happen, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I’m not certain there’s a lot of systems out there Marriott could purchase and integrate. Maybe there’s a few individual resorts, but that’s not going to make a big splash.

Hotel style resorts are a possibility and that appears to be the way they’ve been leaning lately. Im curious about what accommodations will look like on Charleston and Savanna. If they’re closer to Custom House then it’s something we can use. If they’re more like a hotel room as in the case with San Francisco, then it’s of little to no use to us. Right now I’m sitting in the lobby of a hotel watching Sports Center because I get up 2 or 3 hours before my wife. We didn’t buy timeshare to stay in hotel rooms.

One other thing mentioned was the new regime wants “value added” options and is looking to improve the value of cruises and tour packages. That’s an easy out for me as we’ve been timeshare owners since 1998 and haven’t seen the needle move in all that time. We were shown high end cruises in shoulder season that were supposedly cheaper to use points than pay cash, but paying the equivalent of $10,000 per person for a Med cruise in May wasn’t appealing to me. I told the sales rep I’d consider it once it was a reality instead of a promise.

I am hoping that the new City Collection property in Waikiki is the model for what they will build going forward. Remember that many of the City Collection properties are hotel rooms BECAUSE they are converted hotels. Whereas new construction allows them to build the rooms they want to build.

Rooms with kitchenettes make sense to me for urban locations and the ones in Waikiki are just the right combination of size and functionality for us. I'm hoping for similar in Charleston (if it gets built), Savannah, etc. I wouldn't mind some "City Collection" hotel conversions if they are able to pick them up on the cheap, but if there are no advantages over a hotel room, I'm likely to just book a hotel. Having more space, a separate bedroom, the ability to make breakfast and store and reheat food for other meals if desired, and perhaps make simple meals, are all reasons for choosing a timeshare.

 

[davidvel]

We’ve enjoyed the City Collection in Boston, San Diego and Washington. We toured the SF location and were seriously disappointed all the way around. I doubt we ever stay at that location. The only issue I had with San Diego was that it wasn’t that close to a bus stop. Washington and Boston are very short walks to the city metro stations

A trolly stop is a block and a half away, as well as bus stops.

 

[jp10558]

Not that I'm in the market for Marriott but I really don't see the hotel room conversions being that interesting at least at the points values I've generally seen. I want 2BR minimum for my TS stays. It's a lot harder IMO to book 2 units at a timeshare than to book 2 hotel rooms, and I'm not really sure it's cheaper - really depends I guess - at least with a hotel stay you're not locking in having the points or weeks forever. I guess it's just a mismatch for me because usually i just book 2BR, but if I have to book 2 1BR then I'm needing 2x the weeks on the times I'm not going to a city.

 

[dougp26364]

Not that I'm in the market for Marriott but I really don't see the hotel room conversions being that interesting at least at the points values I've generally seen. I want 2BR minimum for my TS stays. It's a lot harder IMO to book 2 units at a timeshare than to book 2 hotel rooms, and I'm not really sure it's cheaper - really depends I guess - at least with a hotel stay you're not locking in having the points or weeks forever. I guess it's just a mismatch for me because usually i just book 2BR, but if I have to book 2 1BR then I'm needing 2x the weeks on the times I'm not going to a city.

The City Collection doesn’t work for everyone. Families or those needing more than one bedroom probably won’t find the value in it. Young couple without children and empty nesters like us can find value. For us it need to be more than a hotel room unless we’re just spending one night.

For instance, as I type this, my wife is still in the bedroom asleep. Recently we spent the night in a hotel. In order for me to drink my morning coffee without disturbing my wife I had to get dressed in the dark and head down to the lobby for a couple of hours. Even as empty nesters hotel room just don’t cut it for us but, we generally don’t need the larger 2 bedroom unit either.

 

[chinh9]

I recently looked at every property Marriott has available for us and x’d out all properties without suites as the reason we and many others we’ve talked to even bother with timeshares is for the larger living area with full kitchen so we as a family can travel more comfortably and not have to deal with multiple hotel rooms. It’s a lifestyle travel thing and to do hotel rooms only is only going to resonate with older couples and couples without kids who are traveling solo and even then it’ll be less desirable bc at that point it’s no different than prepaying for basic hotel rooms which makes timeshares overall far less of a “value.” I consider them similar to a country club. It’s buying convenience and the better family travel experience it creates in prime areas and it’s less about “getting your moneys worth.”

There’s a lot of headache to timeshares and that alone makes it not worth it to many unless you have a simple deeded week at the same property each year. I’m going to literally have to teach my wife and kids how to do this which is kind of insane. That being said, with tug it is easier to get more out of a timeshare than one typically could with the great brains helping us out here.

Just my 2 cents as a new’ish member.

 

[ljmiii]

I recently looked at every property Marriott has available for us and x’d out all properties without suites...

There are only two Abound properties without suites (the SF and NYC City Collection properties)...though there are many that only have 1BR suites. And many that don't have 1BR suites for that matter.

...and many others we’ve talked to even bother with timeshares is for the larger living area with full kitchen....

The absence of a full kitchen is indeed more prevalent....but most families don't use an oven on vacation anymore. And so you see new-ish properties like Waikoloa that have nice 2BR villas with a W/D and large-ish kitchen w/full size refrigerator that are perfect for most families (including ours)...but no oven.

 

[ljmiii]

The City Collection doesn’t work for everyone. Families or those needing more than one bedroom probably won’t find the value in it. Young couple without children and empty nesters like us can find value. For us it need to be more than a hotel room unless we’re just spending one night.

Don't discount young couples with children. It was the need for a 1BR suite for our family with young children that got into timesharing in the first place. We were perfectly willing to put the kids to sleep in the living room while we stayed awake in the bedroom...but hotels charged exorbitant rates for suites in high demand locations.

For instance, as I type this, my wife is still in the bedroom asleep. Recently we spent the night in a hotel. In order for me to drink my morning coffee without disturbing my wife I had to get dressed in the dark and head down to the lobby for a couple of hours. Even as empty nesters hotel room just don’t cut it for us but, we generally don’t need the larger 2 bedroom unit either.

That's our life as well...and why we stay in suites whenever we can. I go to bed while my lovely wife stays awake in the living room and I get to enjoy my morning coffee in the living room while she sleeps.

 

[chinh9]

There are only two Abound properties without suites (the SF and NYC City Collection properties)...though there are many that only have 1BR suites. And many that don't have 1BR suites for that matter.


The absence of a full kitchen is indeed more prevalent....but most families don't use an oven on vacation anymore. And so you see new-ish properties like Waikoloa that have nice 2BR villas with a W/D and large-ish kitchen w/full size refrigerator that are perfect for most families (including ours)...but no oven.

Yes I neglected to mention for now we only want 2 bedroom suites since we have 3 kids. So the 1 bedrooms are out for us.

And agreed maybe the oven itself isn’t a need. We do use it from time to time though so it’s nice to have. Kinda like a formal dining room in most modern family houses lol. Just a much more expensive and harder to maintain convenience to have just in case. Although to your point I doubt we’d ever be upset if it was not there.

 

[ljmiii]

Yes I neglected to mention for now we only want 2 bedroom suites since we have 3 kids. So the 1 bedrooms are out for us.

That makes sense...

 

[jellen613]

We went to a presentation at the Mayflower DC fall of 2024. Our salesman was one of the most inexperienced I had met. He told us if we bought more, he would personally manage our rentals and the rental income would cover the MFs. Then the "closer" tried to present us with statistics of how "most travelers" in our situation would manage our portfolio. He was pretty insistent about the stats and what we should do. Needless to say, because of TUG we know better.
The presentation was worth it because we got $400 experience vouchers, which we used for a great tour, some nice meals, and some Christmas gifts at the Whitehouse gift shop on property.

 

[ljmiii]

And agreed maybe the oven itself isn’t a need. We do use it from time to time though so it’s nice to have....

In our almost two decades of timesharing I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we've used the oven. And always for the same food...pizza. Either reheating leftover pizza or cooking frozen pizzas it's the one thing a microwave can't do for us.

 

[chinh9]

We went to a presentation at the Mayflower DC fall of 2024. Our salesman was one of the most inexperienced I had met. He told us if we bought more, he would personally manage our rentals and the rental income would cover the MFs. Then the "closer" tried to present us with statistics of how "most travelers" in our situation would manage our portfolio. He was pretty insistent about the stats and what we should do. Needless to say, because of TUG we know better.
The presentation was worth it because we got $400 experience vouchers, which we used for a great tour, some nice meals, and some Christmas gifts at the Whitehouse gift shop on property.

Amazingly in the last owners update we did at Ko’Olina our guy who was supposedly very experienced he said the same nonsense! He tried to say they’d manage getting it rented for us personally. He also said Marriott has an internal travel agency to book flights and accommodations for us if we were presidential status or higher lol. And he also lied about 15 times. Blatant lies. Unbelievable what some will say to get a sale.

 

[chinh9]

In our almost two decades of timesharing I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we've used the oven. And always for the same food...pizza. Either reheating leftover pizza or cooking frozen pizzas it's the one thing a microwave can't do for us.

lol that’s the truth. We also use it to reheat some seafood so it doesn’t smell horrible and taste like it smells post microwave.

 

[daviator]

In our almost two decades of timesharing I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we've used the oven. And always for the same food...pizza. Either reheating leftover pizza or cooking frozen pizzas it's the one thing a microwave can't do for us.

...and we've used the oven to roast a turkey and (along with the stove and microwave) prepared a full Thanksgiving feast on Thanksgiving, at least a dozen times over the years. We've baked cakes and cookies and casseroles in the oven. We use the oven for something nearly every trip. So I don't think the oven is superfluous at all.

But we pretty much never want to do ANY of those things while staying in a dense urban (city) location with tons of dining choices right outside the door. That's why I think the City Collection properties don't need to be quite as well equipped, at least for us. But I feel exactly the opposite for the less urban, more resort-like locations. I want a full kitchen and a dining/living area. But I think it's fine that there are a selection of properties in the network and perhaps not all of them are our cup of tea. It would be a lot to expect that every property was perfect for every type of traveler.