Apart from
not having the option to convert Resale weeks to Marriott Bonvoy points, which is no longer appealing anyway
not being able to enrol Resale weeks in the DC points programme, which would be appealing but is an understandable decision
I have experienced absolutely no difference whatsoever in almost 20 years between MVCs treatment of retail and resale owners.
I did not mean that anybody is rude to the the resale owners or anything like that. Far from it but a lot of features are missing because you cannot enroll. Is this not enough?
They treat resale perfectly well except:
· You cannot book at any other resort (except through Interval, limited availability)
· You cannot book more or less than a week.
· You cannot borrow points; you cannot bank points.
· You do not have any loyalty status.
· You cannot convert your VOI to Bonvoy.
· You cannot book at 13 months.
· You cannot arbitrage the value of your VOI to convert to points to
potentially rent at a higher value than renting your week.
· You cannot convert (part of) your VOI to pay for incidentals at the resort.
· You cannot have a higher discount for your cash reservations (Presidential and Chairman's Club DC Members - 35% off)
· You cannot have a higher discount for 60 days or less DC points reservations. (Presidential and Chairman's Club Members - 30% discount)
The irony is, the retail owners seem to side in general with the developers even if it greatly reduces the value of their ownership when they sell. The fact that the resale owners cannot enroll also reduces the DC inventory (especially at certain locations) and I do not see how this is beneficial to the retail owners.
More people paying DC fees is good for the company and probably good for everyone. If 200,000 unrolled owners suddenly pay $200 a year in DC fees, this is 400 million dollars that go straight to the earnings in the next 10 years. If they charge $1k for enrollment it adds another 200 millions to their bottom line right away! Does anyone know what kind of growth, what kind of effort they need to match that from the traditional sales?
To put things in prospective, they make about 150 millions in earnings from selling VOIs. If they increase their sales by 10% they will earn an additional 15 millions a year.
I have listened now to most of the Investor Day presentation and the feeling I am getting is that they think BIG and want to go FAST. Not only that their revenue is becoming more and more diversified and less dependent on the sales dept (and they are kind of bragging about that) but they will also benefit most from the digitization of their business and from selling
additional products and services if they have the biggest tent possible.
Time will tell. In any case, I am happy that I am in the camp that always said that an integration was coming because it made sense. We do not know more than that but that is at lease of of our way. Despite of what reps and those who were listening to reps were telling us.