[2018] Marriott Ko Olina - Rooms Control Villa Prioritization

[hangloose]

Marriott's Ko Olina Rooms Control will prioritize villa placement in this order:

PRIORITY

1- OWNERS (Weeks, Pure Vacation Club Points and Hybrid Vacation Club Point Owners)

• Note: I've asked for clarity on this point, to understand whether Weeks or DC Pts reservations are given priority first.

2- ENROLLED OWNER (When Using Exchange Points)

3- OWNER EXCHANGE (MVC Site and Non-Site Owner Exchange)

4- MARKETING GUEST

5- RENTAL GUEST

6- NON-MVC OWNER EXCHANGE


OTHER BLOCKING FACTORS

7- CONFIRMED RESERVATION TYPE (Villa Size and View Type)

For 3BRS, MKO is limited in number. As such, full 3BR villas are blocked first, then 2BR Master of a 3BR unit second.

• Note: I've asked for clarity on this point, as it indicates locking off a 3BR will always place the 2BR Master at a disadvantage for villa placement, given all full 3BRs are blocked first.

8- BOOKING DATE - An important factor in which many Owners will book 12 – 13 months in advance. Although even booking dates doesn’t always mean that an Owner will get the location and high floor. The reason for that is the Friday, Saturday, Sunday arrivals, along with Destination Point Owners who arrive any day of the week. Best to say that it has to be available on your arrival date based on availability.

9- OTHER FACTORS: ADA, Length of Stay, Scheduled/Unscheduled Maintenance, Emergency Situations, Villa Preferences (communicated by guests)

 

[Fasttr]

3- OWNER EXCHANGE (MVC Site and Non-Site Owner Exchange)

Your comments on this one confuse me. Non-Site I get, as that would be via an II exchange. But the only MVC Site owner exchange would be using DC points (Trust or Legacy) am I right ....which would put you at class 1 or 2 on your list, depending. No?

 

[hangloose]

3- OWNER EXCHANGE (MVC Site and Non-Site Owner Exchange)

Your comments on this one confuse me. Non-Site I get, as that would be via an II exchange. But the only MVC Site owner exchange would be using DC points (Trust or Legacy) am I right ....which would put you at class 1 or 2 on your list, depending. No?

This is the terminology which came directly from Ko Olina rooms control, which confused me a little also.

I imagine all II exchanges fall into this category and that they are using “site” to mean the II exchange is via an MKO owner week (re-exchanging as an MKO owner into a different MKO week) ...whereas “non-site” to mean another MVC resort II exchange?

 

[Fasttr]

This is the terminology which came directly from Ko Olina rooms control, which confused me a little also.

I imagine all II exchanges fall into this category and that they are using “site” to mean the II exchange is via an MKO owner week (re-exchanging as an MKO owner into a different MKO week) ...whereas “non-site” to mean another MVC resort II exchange?

Gotcha....that makes sense.

 

[Fasttr]

I'll be there in early April in a full 3BR OV booked via Trust points 13 months out....which should be #1 above. We'll see if I get a better allocation than it sounds like you ended up with (based on your posts in the other thread).

 

[rthib]

I am curious how I will fair. Have first night on points and then week on exchange Marriott to Marriott with II. Both have same view type by code, but will be interesting to see what they do.

 

[VacationForever]

I exchanged via II into 2 consecutive weeks of 3BR OV at MKO last March. We were assigned 8th floor OV on Moana. At that time, we had no status, except as owner of 2 Marriott weeks and Gold elite.

 

[dougp26364]

3- OWNER EXCHANGE (MVC Site and Non-Site Owner Exchange)

Your comments on this one confuse me. Non-Site I get, as that would be via an II exchange. But the only MVC Site owner exchange would be using DC points (Trust or Legacy) am I right ....which would put you at class 1 or 2 on your list, depending. No?

This may refer to the type of II membership used to make the exchange. Owners with enrolled weeks would be using their II MVC corporate account to make the exchange. Owners who did not enroll their weeks in the destination club would be using a personal (non-corporate) account to complete Marriott to Marriott exchanges.

Essentially they appear to be saying there is no preference granted to weeks exchange owners using either enrolled (MVC corporate II account) over non-enrolled weeks exchangers (personal II account)

 

[hangloose]

I exchanged via II into 2 consecutive weeks of 3BR OV at MKO last March. We were assigned 8th floor OV on Moana. At that time, we had no status, except as owner of 2 Marriott weeks and Gold elite.

(Arrow to the heart). Just kidding.

Those were great II exchanges. Especially two consecutive 3BR MKO II exchanges! Congrats. I'm curious, what did you use to find a 3BR in MKO in March. Were you exchanging using a 3BR via an OGS? Or did these just show up in inventory when searching online?

I've had a few Maui II exchanges with fantastic rooms. Two years ago for July 4th, we had a MOC 1BR OV exchange which got 7th or 8th floor in Molokai nearest the ocean. Great view and with an II exchange during a peak holiday. Sometimes, it's just luck of the draw based on what's available that exact day you check in.

Your post makes me think MKO rooms control places all 3BR OV units first (owner, II exchange, renter, etc)...even before an Owner's 2BR Master (of a 3BR unit). Again, disappointing as an MKO 3BR owner, if true.

 

[hangloose]

Updates from MKO Rooms Control:

• OWNERS - They do not distinguish between a Weeks owner reservation vs a DC Pts owner reservation.

• MKO 3BR OVs are the hardest for MKO Rooms Control to allocate room placement, given the limited number. They confirmed they always allocate the full 3BRs first. While that does not ALWAYs mean an Owner reservation for a 2BR Master (of a 3BR unit) will get a lower floor, it's probably a high probability.

• Efficiency portion of an MKO 3BR unit, will always be within a 3BR villa location. Nowhere else.

• BOOKING DATE - MKO Rooms Control re-iterated that this plays a large role into villa placement. So, book early!

Lastly, after lookin at the MKO Building Views, I realized the ground floor in the 3BR OV stack, is actually a 2BR OV unit because they lose the efficiency portion due to the hallway entrance.

 

[bazzap]

I suspect my views might heavily divide opinions, but I believe for allocation priorities there should be a level of preference for home resort weeks owners (who have 100% commitment to that one resort) over DC Points owners (who may well have equivalent overall ownership commitment, but spread across the full MVC portfolio of resorts)

 

[jhac007]

I suspect my views might heavily divide opinions, but I believe for allocation priorities there should be a level of preference for home resort weeks owners (who have 100% commitment to that one resort) over DC Points owners (who may well have equivalent overall ownership commitment, but spread across the full MVC portfolio of resorts)

I strongly agree and that should be the policy at any resort!

 

[Dean]

I suspect my views might heavily divide opinions, but I believe for allocation priorities there should be a level of preference for home resort weeks owners (who have 100% commitment to that one resort) over DC Points owners (who may well have equivalent overall ownership commitment, but spread across the full MVC portfolio of resorts)

I'm not sure that's truly possible or reasonable since there's no home resort priority for points usage. In spite of the wording I'd be truly surprised if they looked at the points used for that exchange or even at what you actually own. Some resorts, but not most, give preference for those that own there but exchange in and most treat all points owners simply as a Marriott to Marriott exchange, no more and no less. I personally believe points owners actually using their points should be above other exchangers but it's reasonable to put those who own AND are using their owned weeks ahead.

 

[GregT]

Updates from MKO Rooms Control:

• OWNERS - They do not distinguish between a Weeks owner reservation vs a DC Pts owner reservation

I am interpreting this to mean that there is no priority given to an owner at the property and booking their week reservation, versus a DC point owner using points.

If that's the case, that's an interesting interpretation. I suppose theoretically that the booking date will make this a non-issue for multi-week owners, but single week owners will be at a disadvantage versus a Presidential/Executive/Chairman booking points 13 months out that owns Trust Points.

Interesting. This may simply be the most recent version of Marriott struggling with accommodating the needs of both owners, and comparing up with what (in their view) is the most fair solution to implement.

I think it is very important that Hangloose learned about the drawback of not booking a fully intact 3BR, however I suspect many 3BR owners do the same -- keep the Master Suite and deposit the Studio, and may be surprised to see that they are getting lower floors.

Ko Olina is a great property and I'm happy to own it, but if my interpretation is correct, then I would have been just as happy now to be booking with points versus owning.

Best,

Greg

Edited: Fasttr has pointed out that the priority is given only for DC point owners, not enrolled owners, so I've corrected my note to reflect the same -- thanks Fasttr!

 

[Fasttr]

I am interpreting this to mean that there is no priority given to an owner at the property and booking their week reservation, versus a DC point owner (or enrolled owner), using points.

Per the original post, Legacy owners using Legacy points are slotted below MKO weeks owners/Trust point users.

 

[VacationForever]

(Arrow to the heart). Just kidding.

Those were great II exchanges. Especially two consecutive 3BR MKO II exchanges! Congrats. I'm curious, what did you use to find a 3BR in MKO in March. Were you exchanging using a 3BR via an OGS? Or did these just show up in inventory when searching online?

I've had a few Maui II exchanges with fantastic rooms. Two years ago for July 4th, we had a MOC 1BR OV exchange which got 7th or 8th floor in Molokai nearest the ocean. Great view and with an II exchange during a peak holiday. Sometimes, it's just luck of the draw based on what's available that exact day you check in.

Your post makes me think MKO rooms control places all 3BR OV units first (owner, II exchange, renter, etc)...even before an Owner's 2BR Master (of a 3BR unit). Again, disappointing as an MKO 3BR owner, if true.

I used 2 weeks of the 1BR portion of DSV I red season to book the 2 back-to-back weeks. Someone posted a large bulk deposit which spanned February through March 2017 of 3BRs and 2BRs under Sightings about 6 months before the travel dates.

 

[taffy19]

I may be all wrong but I believe that Marriott wants us, Legacy week owners who enrolled to decide as early as possible if we want to use points instead of our enrolled week. We can do this about 18 months out and, at the same time, you can request to be put on the wait list for another location instead. In that case, you will only compete with owners who own more than 18 weeks.

We own a fixed week/unit and don't know if this is the same for floating week/units too? In our case (Lahaina fixed week/unit owners who bought before the change) we would be hurt by the skim but we could take a smaller unit or stay less days if we still would like to end up with a very good view if we decide early. We will be there very soon and I will discuss it with room control and report back here.

PS. Edited text to try to be more clear.

 

[Fasttr]

I may be all wrong but I believe that Marriott wants us, Legacy week owners who enrolled to decide as early as possible if we want to use points instead of our enrolled week. We can do this about 18 months out and, at the same time, you can request to be put on the wait list for another location instead. In that case, you will only compete with owners who own more than 18 weeks.

We own a fixed week/unit and don't know if this is the same for floating week/units too? In our case (Lahaina tower fixed week/owners) we would be hurt by the skim but we could take a smaller unit or stay less days if we still would like to end up with a very good view if we decide early. We will be there very soon and I will discuss it with room control and report back here.

You can convert your week to points that early (earlier even), but you are still limited to the booking windows available based on your ownership status, which at the earliest is 13 months out for booking with points.

 

[SueDonJ]

I suspect my views might heavily divide opinions, but I believe for allocation priorities there should be a level of preference for home resort weeks owners (who have 100% commitment to that one resort) over DC Points owners (who may well have equivalent overall ownership commitment, but spread across the full MVC portfolio of resorts)

For placement purposes I've always believed that DC Trust Members using Trust Points to book into Trust-conveyed intervals should absolutely be on the same level as Weeks Owners using their owned Weeks, and, DC Exchange Members using Exchange Points to book into Trust-conveyed or any other type of DC interval should be a level below that top tier but higher than II exchangers. It makes sense to me that the tiers should be according to the different product originations: 1, Weeks and Trust-conveyed intervals being the inventory that makes up the pool from which MVC products can be purchased; 2, DC Exchange intervals being the inventory that's given up by Owners but manipulated internally via the DC Exchange Company; and 3, II intervals being the inventory that's given up by Owners but manipulated through an external company.

The catch with #1, though, is that the majority of intervals, including Trust-conveyed, booked through the DC are manipulated through the DC Exchange Company (as evidenced by the majority of DC confirmations coded as "MVC Exchange" inventory,) and it doesn't appear that the individual resort staff is able to drill down enough to differentiate between Trust-conveyed and all other DC intervals. Absent that, and considering that they are able to differentiate between owners of DC Trust Points and Enrolled Weeks, I think they should do as Ko 'Olina appears to be doing and allow that DC Trust Members be on an equal tier with Weeks Owners.

You're absolutely right, bazzap, that opinions on this topic are "heavily divided." No doubt I'm in a very, very small minority here, but I am really happy to see that finally a resort has updated the placement priority this way. Hopefully others will follow.

 

[VacationForever]

OK... I need a little clarity and I am new to the use of Trust and Exchange points system.

If I need 4,500 points to book a week and I want to use 3,000 trust points and 1,500 Exchange points.

Can I make 1 booking and that the system will combine the points from my 2 buckets to make the booking?

If so, am I making a Trust point reservation or an Exchange point reservation?

Are there 2 different buckets of inventory and if so, how does the system know which one to book against, or do I have to select? This is assuming that the system will combine my points to make the reservation.

 

[Fasttr]

OK... I need a little clarity and I am new to the use of Trust and Exchange points system.

If I need 4,500 points to book a week and I want to use 3,000 trust points and 1,500 Exchange points.

Can I make 1 booking and that the system will combine the points from my 2 buckets to make the booking?

If so, am I making a Trust point reservation or an Exchange point reservation?
Are there 2 different buckets of inventory and if so, how does the system know which one to book against, or do I have to select? This is assuming that the system will combine my points to make the reservation.

Yes, you can use combined Trust and Legacy points on one single ressie. But if booking online, the system requires each night to be booked with one type or the other, so that can cause issues if your point quantities don't match up perfectly to per night requirements. It has been reported that a call to MVC can override that issue.

When booking with all Legacy or combined Trust/Legacy points, all those ressies come from the MVC Exchange. That said, out of all of my ressies booked with 100% Trust points, I have only ever seen 2 that came from MVC Trust....they almost always say they came from MVC Exchange as Sue indicated in her post above (even recent ones in the 13 month window).

I think Sue's point is valid....if I book using 100% Trust points but my ressie is an MVC Exchange ressie, does room control know I have Trust points so they put me in #1, or do they think it was an Enrolled booking, putting me in the #2 slot.

To further complicate things, what if I rent Legacy points and use those to book. Am I #1 because I own Trust points, or am I #2 because ressie was booked with transferred Legacy points. Is it the ownership that controls, or what the ressie was booked with. So many questions. It's certainly very complicated as there are so many variables.

 

[bazzap]

For placement purposes I've always believed that DC Trust Members using Trust Points to book into Trust-conveyed intervals should absolutely be on the same level as Weeks Owners using their owned Weeks, and, DC Exchange Members using Exchange Points to book into Trust-conveyed or any other type of DC interval should be a level below that top tier but higher than II exchangers. It makes sense to me that the tiers should be according to the different product originations: 1, Weeks and Trust-conveyed intervals being the inventory that makes up the pool from which MVC products can be purchased; 2, DC Exchange intervals being the inventory that's given up by Owners but manipulated internally via the DC Exchange Company; and 3, II intervals being the inventory that's given up by Owners but manipulated through an external company.

The catch with #1, though, is that the majority of intervals, including Trust-conveyed, booked through the DC are manipulated through the DC Exchange Company (as evidenced by the majority of DC confirmations coded as "MVC Exchange" inventory,) and it doesn't appear that the individual resort staff is able to drill down enough to differentiate between Trust-conveyed and all other DC intervals. Absent that, and considering that they are able to differentiate between owners of DC Trust Points and Enrolled Weeks, I think they should do as Ko 'Olina appears to be doing and allow that DC Trust Members be on an equal tier with Weeks Owners.

You're absolutely right, bazzap, that opinions on this topic are "heavily divided." No doubt I'm in a very, very small minority here, but I am really happy to see that finally a resort has updated the placement priority this way. Hopefully others will follow.

The question for me then, would be is there any limit at all to this?
Should a DC Trust member, who may perhaps own just the minimum number of points and booking just 1 or 2 days be on the same level for placement purposes as a home weeks owner booking 1 or perhaps more weeks?
For me, that would not be fair.

 

[rickxylon]

Adding another factor that I heard in Aruba. They said they consider DC level as well as Marriott Reward level. So a Chairman and Lifetime Platinum has a higher priority than anyone. Not sure how they use these factors along with the others talked about here. I wonder if these factors are used by other properties.

 

[davidvel]

You're absolutely right, bazzap, that opinions on this topic are "heavily divided." No doubt I'm in a very, very small minority here, but I am really happy to see that finally a resort has updated the placement priority this way. Hopefully others will follow.

Here's an even smaller minority opinion: All owners should be treated equally, and all owners should be free to assign their usage, along with all the attendant rights of ownership, to anyone they want in exchange for whatever they want. So if I use my home week, or let my kids use it, or let my neighbor use it, or rent it to my uncle, or trade it through II, TUG or Redweek, all rights should transfer, including view category and priority. The ownership rights shouldn't go away (and be stolen by Marriott) simply because you don't personally stay there. This gives the owner full value in gifting, renting or trading their week.

Either use a random system, lottery, or rotation to give the best views within category.

I know this will never happen, and probably no one agrees, but its still my opinion with respect to property rights in general.

 

[VacationForever]

Here's an even smaller minority opinion: All owners should be treated equally, and all owners should be free to assign their usage, along with all the attendant rights of ownership, to anyone they want in exchange for whatever they want. So if I use my home week, or let my kids use it, or let my neighbor use it, or rent it to my uncle, or trade it through II, TUG or Redweek, all rights should transfer, including view category and priority. The ownership rights shouldn't go away (and be stolen by Marriott) simply because you don't personally stay there. This gives the owner full value in gifting, renting or trading their week.

Either use a random system, lottery, or rotation to give the best views within category.

I know this will never happen, and probably no one agrees, but its still my opinion with respect to property rights in general.

I believe if you rent out a reservation, you still keep your name on it, and add the guest's name. It would still show up as owner / point reservation.