New Marriott Rewards Property Categories and Travel Package Requirements effective Aug '18

[Saintsfanfl]

Crystal Shores upgrading a standard room to a 2BR is not an option. You first need a reservation in order to get an upgrade. You cannot get a standard room reservation at Crystal Shores because it does not exist. This is the reason why the points requirement at so many MVC properties are going up so high. Those existing points requirements are fake because it is based on a hotel room size that simply does not exist. The only way to do it currently is to pay the points to upgrade the size to what exists in actual real life. The new points requirements will now make sense and be for the smallest room size that exists.

That said, I agree with the others that MVC properties are excluded from the free upgrade ability, if it was even an option such as a lock-off type property where the points requirements matches to the studio. You are never going to book a studio on points and have the resort upgrade it to a 1BR or 2BR, or at least I have never heard of it happening.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I am not sure i have ever seen reward availability for any MVC property. Maybe i just had bad luck with my searches, but there seems to almost no availability on-line.

 

[deniseh]

I am not sure i have ever seen reward availability for any MVC property. Maybe i just had bad luck with my searches, but there seems to almost no availability on-line.

I think you are right. I have had a vacation club advisor tell me the other day that MVC rarely makes inventory available for reward availability so although it appears possible in reality it is unlikely to happen.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I think you are right. I have had a vacation club advisor tell me the other day that MVC rarely makes inventory available for reward availability so although it appears possible in reality it is unlikely to happen.

I don’t think that’s accurate. For example I can book a couple nights next month in Orlando using points and I see every MVC property available including Lakeshore Reserve and Imperial Palms. I can do the same search for Marco Island and Crystal Shores is available. The confusion might be with trying to book free nights and needing to pay the upgrade steps. Or trying to book high demand times. MVC won’t have much inventory turned over to hotel bookings for high demand times but the same can happen to regular hotels to a lesser degree.

I am not sure i have ever seen reward availability for any MVC property. Maybe i just had bad luck with my searches, but there seems to almost no availability on-line.

Free nights or points? I see availability all the time with points.

Another member mentioned staying in the Gulf Front penthouse suites at Crystal Shores using points.

I checked south Florida and Oceana Palms, Ocean Pointe, and Beach Place are all available as well.

As long as you can see it with points you should be able to call and use free nights. The caveat is you will need to pony up the points discrepancy.

 

[JanT]

I see availability at MVC quite often actually. We never really want to travel in peak times so that helps. I just wasn't sure how a TP would work if all that's available at a resort is a 2 or 3BR, i.e., would the hotel certificate work to secure the reservation.

 

[VacationForever]

I see availability at MVC quite often actually. We never really want to travel in peak times so that helps. I just wasn't sure how a TP would work if all that's available at a resort is a 2 or 3BR, i.e., would the hotel certificate work to secure the reservation.

You need to find the same room at marriott.com. If you don't find on marriott.com you cannot secure it using a hotel certificate.

 

[Fasttr]

I see availability at MVC quite often actually. We never really want to travel in peak times so that helps. I just wasn't sure how a TP would work if all that's available at a resort is a 2 or 3BR, i.e., would the hotel certificate work to secure the reservation.

The certificate is good for a studio only. Need 5K points per night to upgrade to a 1BR and another 5K points per night to upgrade to a 2BR. (This of course is all based on the current system...who knows in the new MR environment).

 

[Saintsfanfl]

The certificate is good for a studio only. Need 5K points per night to upgrade to a 1BR and another 5K points per night to upgrade to a 2BR. (This of course is all based on the current system...who knows in the new MR environment).

The new system will be based on the smallest room the property has which makes much more sense. The current system of showing how many points you need to book at Imperial Palms in a studio when the smallest room is a 3BR is about as ridiculous as it can possibly get. It is really nice that they considered this when making the changes. This is why Imperial Palms is going from 35,000 per night to 50,000. It was never 35,000. It was 50,000, so in reality it isn’t actually changing. You will see similar changes for all non-studio MVC properties. At a studio property like Grande Vista it is staying the same 35,000 points per night.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I don’t think that’s accurate. For example I can book a couple nights next month in Orlando using points and I see every MVC property available including Lakeshore Reserve and Imperial Palms. I can do the same search for Marco Island and Crystal Shores is available. The confusion might be with trying to book free nights and needing to pay the upgrade steps. Or trying to book high demand times. MVC won’t have much inventory turned over to hotel bookings for high demand times but the same can happen to regular hotels to a lesser degree.



Free nights or points? I see availability all the time with points.

Another member mentioned staying in the Gulf Front penthouse suites at Crystal Shores using points.

I checked south Florida and Oceana Palms, Ocean Pointe, and Beach Place are all available as well.

As long as you can see it with points you should be able to call and use free nights. The caveat is you will need to pony up the points discrepancy.

I was trying with points. i have mostly tried in Hawaii, but believe i also tries one or two locations in the mainland. I was really just looking around. Since your seeing availability, i will try again at a few more resorts and dates, like the ones you listed above. Maybe i just had a string of bad luck on the searches...

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I was trying with points. i have mostly tried in Hawaii, but believe i also tries one or two locations in the mainland. I was really just looking around. Since your seeing availability, i will try again at a few more resorts and dates, like the ones you listed above. Maybe i just had a string of bad luck on the searches...

If nothing shows up it helps to use flexible dates and walk forward to see if anything shows up for shoulder or offseason months. In Florida Sept is the slowest month so it wasn’t surprising seeing availability for points at every MVC in the state.

 

[SMB1]

I was trying with points. i have mostly tried in Hawaii, but believe i also tries one or two locations in the mainland. I was really just looking around. Since your seeing availability, i will try again at a few more resorts and dates, like the ones you listed above. Maybe i just had a string of bad luck on the searches...

Many nights available this Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec at Ko Olina.

 

[nick793]

Hello, sorry if this has come up previously.

My dad is a MVC owner and we make great use of our timeshare but he has no interest in TPs. I am not an owner but have a boatload of Marriott pts saved up (427k).

I was hoping to go for 2 5-night packages, but not sure if either MVCI or the regular Marriott Rewards line will let me do so since I'm not the timeshare owner. Has anyone done this? Is it possible for an owner to "gift" the ability to book these to a family member? Would having him on the line to more or less vouch for me work?

I know front line Marriott Rewards reps will mistakenly give these out to non owners, but I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Thoughts?

 

[VacationForever]

Hello, sorry if this has come up previously.

My dad is a MVC owner and we make great use of our timeshare but he has no interest in TPs. I am not an owner but have a boatload of Marriott pts saved up (427k).

I was hoping to go for 2 5-night packages, but not sure if either MVCI or the regular Marriott Rewards line will let me do so since I'm not the timeshare owner. Has anyone done this? Is it possible for an owner to "gift" the ability to book these to a family member? Would having him on the line to more or less vouch for me work?

I know front line Marriott Rewards reps will mistakenly give these out to non owners, but I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Thoughts?

You may only use your MRPs to book 7-night packages.

 

[kds4]

Hello, sorry if this has come up previously.

My dad is a MVC owner and we make great use of our timeshare but he has no interest in TPs. I am not an owner but have a boatload of Marriott pts saved up (427k).

I was hoping to go for 2 5-night packages, but not sure if either MVCI or the regular Marriott Rewards line will let me do so since I'm not the timeshare owner. Has anyone done this? Is it possible for an owner to "gift" the ability to book these to a family member? Would having him on the line to more or less vouch for me work?

I know front line Marriott Rewards reps will mistakenly give these out to non owners, but I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Thoughts?

You can reserve a 7 night travel package by contacting Marriott Rewards. As you said, the 5 night packages are for Marriott Vacation Club owners.

 

[bazzap]

I don’t know the specifics, but I would have thought it was certainly worth a discussion between your Dad and MVC Owners services to explore the possibility of him booking a 5 night Travel Package for you to use.
I am sure the restriction on these packages is intended to stop just anyone using them.
In the extreme, couldn’t your Dad just add you as an additional named Owner?

 

[nick793]

You can reserve a 7 night travel package by contacting Marriott Rewards. As you said, the 5 night packages are for Marriott Vacation Club owners.

Ok thanks! Was hoping there was a way to do it. Do you happen to know if my dad can book one on my behalf with my points? Or is that a non-starter as well? If I'm stuck with 7 nights so be it, but figured it couldn't hurt to see if this was a thing one could do.

Ideally I'm looking for a way to link our accounts and do this all from my end since I'm not yet at a point in my life where I can justify buying a timeshare (especially since we already have one in the family and don't need a second lol)

 

[nick793]

I don’t know the specifics, but I would have thought it was certainly worth a discussion between your Dad and MVC Owners services to explore the possibility of him booking a 5 night Travel Package for you to use.
I am sure the restriction on these packages is intended to stop just anyone using them.
In the extreme, couldn’t your Dad just add you as an additional named Owner?

Thanks! Yeah it definitely would be at least worth a call! I was gonna try calling tomorrow or Monday with my dad and ask but was trying to see if someone had done this before or if it was a common practice.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Thanks! Yeah it definitely would be at least worth a call! I was gonna try calling tomorrow or Monday with my dad and ask but was trying to see if someone had done this before or if it was a common practice.

You have to be the owner and someone else cannot use your points. You cannot link your points to your dads MVC account. To add you to the ownership you need to be added to the deed. Once you are added to the deed as a co-owner then MVC will add you in their system. Then you are an owner and can book a 5-night package. I wouldn’t start going through all that until you know there will still be 5-night packages after the 18th.

 

[winger]

...added to the deed as a co-owner then MVC will add you in their system. Then you are an owner and can book a 5-night package. I wouldn’t start going through all that until you know there will still be 5-night packages after the 18th.

I am under the impression the OP wants to beat the Aug 18th deadline to take advantage of the pre-devaluation TP prices.

 

[Quilter]

Thanks! Yeah it definitely would be at least worth a call! I was gonna try calling tomorrow or Monday with my dad and ask but was trying to see if someone had done this before or if it was a common practice.

If your dad has enough points he can make reservations and add you as a guest. You can owe him points or gift them to him. There is a fee for gifting so you could do an IOU of some sort.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

If your dad has enough points he can make reservations and add you as a guest. You can owe him points or gift them to him. There is a fee for gifting so you could do an IOU of some sort.

Since the primary name on the reservation can now be changed by anyone online it makes this very easy.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The Swan and Dolphin at Epcot will be 50K points. They are now 14K SPG points. That's really high. I made a reservation for our late November trip at 14K per night. Ridiculous at 50K. And I booked at 12K per night today for our late November stay.

 

[JIMinNC]

The Swan and Dolphin at Epcot will be 50K points. They are now 14K SPG points. That's really high. I made a reservation for our late November trip at 14K per night. Ridiculous at 50K.

But 1 SPG Point equals 3 Marriott Rewards points, so the real increase is just 42,000 to 50,000.

 

[controller1]

The Swan and Dolphin at Epcot will be 50K points. They are now 14K SPG points. That's really high. I made a reservation for our late November trip at 14K per night. Ridiculous at 50K.

Yes, but that's due to the way Marriott prices awards. SPG priced awards based on average room revenue. Marriott prices awards based on popularity of the property for award usage. I'm sure those two properties get their fair share of awards bookings.

 

[kds4]

Ok thanks! Was hoping there was a way to do it. Do you happen to know if my dad can book one on my behalf with my points? Or is that a non-starter as well? If I'm stuck with 7 nights so be it, but figured it couldn't hurt to see if this was a thing one could do.

Ideally I'm looking for a way to link our accounts and do this all from my end since I'm not yet at a point in my life where I can justify buying a timeshare (especially since we already have one in the family and don't need a second lol)

He could book a package using points from his MR account, not yours. The only work-around I see as a possibility, is if your father were able to have you added as an additional named owner with MVCI (as Bazzap suggested). However, I'm not sure what the mechanics of that are assuming your father were amenable.