Complimentary Ownership Seminar at Custom House

[dioxide45]

Yesterday (Tuesday June 9th) my wife and I had the pleasure of attending one of the three ownership seminars that are offered at Custom House. This was actually a great source of information. Not so much for the seasoned Tugger, but I could see where a lot of people could learn a lot at this on how to maximize their ownership. Timothy is a great source of information and speaks a lot about what many of us here talk about.

We were provided with 7,500 (usually only 5,000) Marriott Reward points for attending what was a 90 minute seminar. I am careful to not say "presentation" or "tour" because this was not your typical sales pitch. It Truly was a way to learn more about how to maximize your ownership. Absolutely zero pressure to purchase. If you wanted to know more you could schedule an appointment to meet with him later.

There was heavy emphasis on converting weeks to Marriott Reward points. While I know this is somewhat taboo here, there is still a lot of value you can get out of converting your weeks to points to end up using for Marriott Rewards Travel Packages.

The voice mail we also received in addition to the flier said we that, even as much as we thought we knew about our ownership, we would learn something at the seminar. I must admit that I actually did!

• The points are called Vacation Club Points, not sure where the other terms like DC Points or Destinations Points came from. So they are VCPs or VC Points, not DCPs or DC Points. I guess we made up the DC Points term here on TUG.
• Points price increase is coming on June 18th, probably up to $12.65 from the current $12.48.
• The reason Marriott is giving owners fewer points than they can use to trade back in to their own week and season (the skim) is to dissuade owners from using the system to book their home resort week. If one wants to book their home resort in their season, they want them to do so using the traditional weeks booking method.
• Marriott uses the waitlist as Truly a waitlist. If they put you on it, they really expect to be able to fill your request. You are just waiting for the inventory to become available. They wanted to be unlike the II ongoing search which is more of a wish list. This is why we see at times that points waitlists are full. Better to set the expectations ahead of time instead of having disappointed owners.

He did mention TUG in his presentation and that he reads here every day. So, Timothy, if you are reading this

He definitely mentioned the three new locations that were mentioned by Marriott in their shareholders meetings; San Diego, Miami, Big Island Hawaii. Still no official announcement on their website but he expects that around the time that they increase the price. Also mentioned are that they are looking at Washington DC and New York. No mention of Cancun.

Timothy didn't mention some of the other ways to get the most bang for the buck, like renting points and transferring them between owners. I understand why though. With points MFs at $0.47pp and them usually renting at or below that, renting makes the most sense vs. buying.

It was also mentioned that if we used II to trade in to Custom House for this week, which is Platinum season, we were very lucky and that we should go buy a lottery ticket,. Well, we did buy one for last Friday's Mega Millions draw, where is our $250+ Million Tim???

In fact, we used II to exchange in to Custom House two years in a row. Last year giving the week away and this years, staying here ourselves. So II does still work. In fact this year, we traded in about a year out and our exchange request came through in only a few days.

I wish that other properties would offer this. Perhaps find a way to shorten it to the promised 60 minutes instead of 90 minutes. I would go to one of these more often than I would do a sales tour. I think with these, you can find that you can only sign up for a future appointment the people who are truly interested in buying more points. The plus is that people don't go out with the taste of a bad high pressure sales attempt in their mouth. Also, by offering fewer points for the seminar, I think they would pretty much come out a wash on marketing expenses. Though I am not sure how well this technique would work at larger properties.

In all I think it was an excellent seminar. I wish I could have stayed behind to chat with Timothy for a little bit, but we had to run.

 

[taffy19]

Very interesting. Thank you.

 

[Werner Weiss]

• The points are called Vacation Club Points, not sure where the other terms like DC Points or Destinations Points came from. So they are VCPs or VC Points, not DCPs or DC Points. I guess we made up the DC Points term here on TUG.

I agree that this seems to have been invented on TUG. But it actually makes some sense.

The name of the program is the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program (or the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Ownership Program).

The points are Vacation Club Points. That's been their official name since the Destinations program was introduced in 2010. Such points are only available to owners who have enrolled their weeks or have purchased points in the Destinations program, not to traditional Marriott Vacation Club owners.

Here on TUG, the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program Vacation Club Points are often called the Destination Club points or DC points. While that's not official nomenclature, it's a meaningful and succinct way to tie the points to the Destinations program.

 

[bazzap]

I guess it does not really matter greatly the exact terminology used, as long as we all understand what we mean by the "Points"
I don't believe it was Tuggers just inventing names though.
Even MVC / MVCI / MVW (there we go again!) in their various newsletters and emails to us over the years have used seemingly interchangeably
Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Program
Marriott Vacation Club Destination Club Program
Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program
and no doubt other variations.
Destination Club or DC is the original one they referred to with me for the program
(programme, well I am British), so I suspect I will keep reverting to that when I talk or write about it.

 

[nakyak]

Tim is one of the better sales executives in the organization. He has been on the track a long time.

 

[SueDonJ]

I believe Tim is also one of the group of sales reps across the country who hold Information Sessions in local venues for owners local to the area. We've gotten a few invites from the Custom House-based reps.

 

[aka Julie]

In fact, we used II to exchange in to Custom House two years in a row. Last year giving the week away and this years, staying here ourselves. So II does still work. In fact this year, we traded in about a year out and our exchange request came through in only a few days.

What unit(s) did you use to get the II exchanges?

 

[SueDonJ]

I agree that this seems to have been invented on TUG. But it actually makes some sense.

The name of the program is the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program (or the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Ownership Program).

The points are Vacation Club Points. That's been their official name since the Destinations program was introduced in 2010. Such points are only available to owners who have enrolled their weeks or have purchased points in the Destinations program, not to traditional Marriott Vacation Club owners.

Here on TUG, the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations program Vacation Club Points are often called the Destination Club points or DC points. While that's not official nomenclature, it's a meaningful and succinct way to tie the points to the Destinations program.

This, somewhat. When introduced Marriott used the "Destinations" name more often than they do now, which we at TUG adopted because up to that point "Marriott Vacation Club" meant "Weeks" to us.

It makes sense that Marriott now emphasizes "Vacation Club" as Points rather than Weeks because Points have been their staple product since 2010. But I think it makes sense for TUG to continue differentiating the products as existing Weeks and the Destination Club (sold Points as well as enrolled Weeks) because so many here are not DC Members, but I'm certainly willing to go with the flow if the tide is turning.

 

[jont]

Thanks for the update. Maybe I can get my wife to go, as long as there is no sales pressure.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

No sales pressure at all in these "Group" meetings. They are not held one on one, but rather in a group presentation.

They've been doing it this way for some years now @ the Custom House, and Tim is the only salesperson there.





.

 

[puckmanfl]

good evening

Tim ..

If you are listening... If the reason for the"skim" is to prevent trading back into "home resort" give owners the option of getting full value of "Vacaion Club Points" if they waive the right to trade back into home resort. The skim eliminates the ability to do "like for like".

I don't believe that "skim" explanation for a minute...!!!!

I think they should just own it...

and say

it pays for breakage...
it replaces all the nickel and dime trading fees from II
it is a money maker

 

[dioxide45]

What unit(s) did you use to get the II exchanges?

I used a gold Grande Vista 1BR to get the week I am staying on now. The week that was for last year was inside flexchange, so I was able to use a studio.

 

[dioxide45]

No sales pressure at all in these "Group" meetings. They are not held one on one, but rather in a group presentation.

They've been doing it this way for some years now @ the Custom House, and Tim is the only salesperson there.

Correct. There were probably 10 to 12 people at the seminar. No pressure, though at the end there was the offer of 7,500 more Marriott Reward Points to meet with him one on one. We didn't want to spend another 90 minutes for only another 7,500 points, so we didn't even entertain the offer. I like the 7,500 seminar type setting with no pressure. Though think they could shorten it to 60 minutes.

 

[kmij]

dioxide,

this informational meeting sounds great. does tim travel to other Marriott's during the year? based on your opinion, I think it would be great if he did.
we would be interested in hearing the news and updates. thanks for sharing!
jean

 

[dioxide45]

dioxide,

this informational meeting sounds great. does tim travel to other Marriott's during the year? based on your opinion, I think it would be great if he did.
we would be interested in hearing the news and updates. thanks for sharing!
jean

I didn't get the impression that he travels to other resorts. He offers seminars to other owners and as well as his owners (the ones he has sold to) in the area. I think these are the ones that Sue was referring to with regard to the invitations that she has received. Marriott does offer seminars in large metro areas, perhaps he is involved with those?

 

[GregT]

I don't believe that "skim" explanation for a minute...!!!!

I think they should just own it...

and say

it pays for breakage...
it replaces all the nickel and dime trading fees from II
it is a money maker

Concur -- and it creates a situation where the skimmed owner needs to buy points to be able to effectively use the system.

Go Bolts.

Best,

Greg

 

[BocaBoy]

good evening

Tim ..

If you are listening... If the reason for the"skim" is to prevent trading back into "home resort" give owners the option of getting full value of "Vacaion Club Points" if they waive the right to trade back into home resort. The skim eliminates the ability to do "like for like".

I don't believe that "skim" explanation for a minute...!!!!

I think they should just own it...

and say

it pays for breakage...
it replaces all the nickel and dime trading fees from II
it is a money maker

Actually, I do believe it could be one of the reasons for the "skim", as well as paying for the system. I personally have never had a problem with the concept of what is called the "skim" here, but I respect the opposite opinion which seems to be prevalent here.

 

[BocaBoy]

Yesterday (Tuesday June 9th) my wife and I had the pleasure of attending one of the three ownership seminars that are offered at Custom House. This was actually a great source of information.........We were provided with 7,500 (usually only 5,000) Marriott Reward points for attending what was a 90 minute seminar. I am careful to not say "presentation" or "tour" because this was not your typical sales pitch. It Truly was a way to learn more about how to maximize your ownership. Absolutely zero pressure to purchase. If you wanted to know more you could schedule an appointment to meet with him later.

I wish that other properties would offer this. Perhaps find a way to shorten it to the promised 60 minutes instead of 90 minutes.

This is a great concept. They also did it (for 5,000 Marriott Rewards Points) at Timber Lodge when we stayed there in October of 2012. That too was a good seminar, but your description of the Custom House seminar sounds even better. An interesting detail of the Timber Lodge seminar was that both spouses did not need to attend to get the points. ( I went alone.) This I guess goes hand in hand with the no sales pressure concept.

 

[dioxide45]

This is a great concept. They also did it (for 5,000 Marriott Rewards Points) at Timber Lodge when we stayed there in October of 2012. That too was a good seminar, but your description of the Custom House seminar sounds even better. An interesting detail of the Timber Lodge seminar was that both spouses did not need to attend to get the points. ( I went alone.) This I guess goes hand in hand with the no sales pressure concept.

I don't know if we needed to attend together or not. On the flier, it was not mentioned as a requirement. Though we did both attend. I later said we couild have perhaps wrote both our names down on the signin sheet each with our MR number and got double credit . I don't think that would have worked.

 

[dioxide45]

Actually, I do believe it could be one of the reasons for the "skim", as well as paying for the system. I personally have never had a problem with the concept of what is called the "skim" here, but I respect the opposite opinion which seems to be prevalent here.

I can see where owners using points to book in to the home resort could cause a lot of problems. If everyone did it and booked outside of traditional checkin days, it would cause a lot of breakage and prevent owners from being able to easily get reservations. One owner books a seven night stay starting on a Wednesday, they have then broken two weeks, meaning someone would be unhappy. It just doesn't work well.

The skim obviously does make it so someone really doesn't get like for like when exchanging which isn't right. They could have stipulated that with points you couldn't book your home resort in your season, but for whatever reason they didn't d that.

I also don't think the skim is paying for the fees. I think the lock off and split week fees are just being sunk in to the added cost of housekeeping and other services on the HOAs. This is why we have seen a steady increase in these line items on the financials. The lockoff fee used to get returned to the HOA to pay for the added fees associated with two stays instead of one. I don't think that is happening now.

 

[puckmanfl]

Good evening...

Not to "reinvent" the "skim" thread... But it is a devastating "hit" to the single week owner... that likes to stay 7 days...

the skim makes it "7" for "6" there are ways to beat it..But it is like the "VIG" that the bookies take!!!

That "home resort" thing is an absurd explanation...If they "whack" the skim and give me full value for average week in my season..I promise never to exchage into my home resort!!!!

 

[OldPantry]

Custom House Rocks!

We spent a lovely week at Custom House over our spring vacation. While that might not count as high season, I suspect that it's pretty popular with the college-visitation crowd. At any rate, we attended the "non-timeshare" presentation as well. The guy also banged the traditional points drum. Basically, get a million points (err, he doesn't exactly explain that part) and then the first class world is your oyster. Never, never, never use the points for hotel rooms, he vociferated. It made us feel distinctly dorky, as that's about all we can ever accumulate in a reasonable time frame.

He also indicated that trading into Custom House is "impossible". Well, we also traded in via II (a one-bedroom Tahoe summer exchange). Considering how fabulous a Custom House villa (particularly in the tower) is, we felt it was a coup.

We plan to keep the Custom House as a hot prospect for future visits.

 

[puckmanfl]

good evening

I will be at Custom House 10/24-10/30 for the Annual Emergency medicine conference... Looking forward to the update.. My first visit to Custom...
MVCD resort #28!!!!

Maybe a Bruin game with SUE!!!

just saying!!!

 

[Mamianka]

Good evening...

Not to "reinvent" the "skim" thread... But it is a devastating "hit" to the single week owner... that likes to stay 7 days...

the skim makes it "7" for "6" there are ways to beat it..But it is like the "VIG" that the bookies take!!!

That "home resort" thing is an absurd explanation...If they "whack" the skim and give me full value for average week in my season..I promise never to exchage into my home resort!!!!

We are not nearly as smart or experienced as many here - but we find that a mix of weeks and Destination points is working VERY well for us. We are retired, and can lock the door and leave anytime we want, so can take advantage of shoulder seasons. We almost always go place for an entire week, and seldom longer. I (retired teacher that I am) have kept a huge chart since The Big Change in 2010 and find that we are WAAAY ahead. We own a 2BR at MGT, and a 2BR EOY at BPT. This gives us three weeks each year essentially. Yes, we enrolled for cheap at the first wave of enrollments. We NEVER have to EVER stay in a Guest Room - we get the same or bigger than what we put in when doing weeks - and the whole point things is working fine for us, too. We seldom exchange for Rewards points, but did this year to add to the *pile* we are saving up for a week in Paris next year - and that was because we were up to our teeth in extra days, weeks, etc., from being Good Squirrels with what we own. We found that NOT doing a 5-night or 7-noght package works better, because we charge enough on our Delta SkyMiles card to get ten grand in miles, for every 25 grand we spend - it adds up. Whatever the justification for The Skim, it is not going to go away - so we finesse around it, and have been OK. We also do other vacations outside Marriott - taking a Tauck cruise of the Danube in 2 weeks, took a tour of Poland last year, etc. So we have found our Happy Place in the amount that we do. We all want to maximize what we get, but the 2 of us are OK as we are. Just my 2 cents . . . And I DO Think that if you really want to, you should be able to exchange back into YOUR HOME RESORT for a discount - so you pay in points, what you got. Once you turn your place in for points, you get what you get - slightly different ball game.

 

[davidvel]

I can see where owners using points to book in to the home resort could cause a lot of problems. If everyone did it and booked outside of traditional checkin days, it would cause a lot of breakage and prevent owners from being able to easily get reservations. One owner books a seven night stay starting on a Wednesday, they have then broken two weeks, meaning someone would be unhappy. It just doesn't work well.

How is this any different if you book at a resort other than your own? You just give the broken weeks to other owners. And broken weeks are touted as an "advantage" of DC points.