Dest Points - Explorer Collection

[ACP]

I have been looking at the Explorer Collection with the possibility of using some of my DP on one of the many options. Having looked at a couple, Amazon Adventure and Polar Bear watch, all of the dates for the trips were either in the past or have to be taken by the end of Dec 2015.

I went further and looked at every single option, with the exception of a Cruise or Guided Tour and found that there was not one single Explorer Collection option where there was a date available in 2016 or beyond. Some of the dates were for experiences in 2014. Marriott tell us to bank any points we have not used by End of August and any weeks we own that we want to convert into DP has to be done by end of October. So why not give us the option to spend them!

The answer I have had is many and varied, from Sales Rep at Marriott, they did not know about this seemed not to care and suggested I called Customer Services. The online chat wanted me to be specific about which one I wanted to book ( As I was simply browsing I chose one at random) I was told that it was not available at the moment. When calling Customer Services, they could see the problem, but did not have a solution.

So here we are Marriott happily selling DP, telling us what exciting adventures we can have but if you try and book one you can't.

OK I know you can book a resort using DP a year in advance, but if you don't want to do that it's a problem.

If I want to use my DP in Jan/Feb, there is a great Artice Adventure, I can't book it and by the time the dates are available it will be more expensive to book a flight or even find one that correlates to the dates of the trip.

Very Frustrating and pretty poor administration by MVC

 

[bazzap]

Very interesting and as you have found very disappointing.
I have been mulling over whether to move more towards electing weeks for points and using these for both MVC resorts and some of the "Collection" options, rather than primarily interval exchanges.
Your findings don't bode well for the alternatives.

 

[SueDonJ]

I hope you don't mind I've asked an MVW contact to look into this for TUG; will let you know if/when there's a response.

 

[tiel]

Noticed the dated-ness of a number of offerings a while back. It IS really annoying. In one instance, we were just looking to spend a smallish number of points we had no other need for on a golf package. Called to purchase it, and was told it had expired months before and was no longer available. I asked why it was still on the website and got an I-don't-know-and-I-don't-care response.

MVCI needs to start paying attention to this. They put so much emphasis on all the options we're supposed to have, but are not doing a good job on delivering n terms of making the information available on the website. I don't want to have to call to see what is available, I want to be able to explore on my own.

On a vaguely related subject, I seem to recall when the program was first rolled out, occasional specials were offered where the points required for purchase were reduced...does this happen any more? Just curious.

 

[ACP]

I hope you don't mind I've asked an MVW contact to look into this for TUG; will let you know if/when there's a response.

Thanks Sue. Owner Services in Cork are also going to try and find out. Be good if you here something.

We are back in Hilton Head in January and currently on the web are two offers for HH, one is a meal at Wise Guys and the other is the Zipline. As we have a few points to use I would like to see if they are available again

 

[SueDonJ]

... On a vaguely related subject, I seem to recall when the program was first rolled out, occasional specials were offered where the points required for purchase were reduced...does this happen any more? Just curious.

I don't remember seeing any for quite a while. BocaBoy comes to mind as a TUGger who took full advantage of reduced-Points stays in Hawaii during the first few years of the DC.

 

[mjm1]

This is interesting. My FIL is thinking of taking the trip to Italy next year, but I don't think he has looked into the detail yet. He would be very disappointed if there aren't any dates available.

Thanks for looking into this and sharing your findings.

Mike

 

[ACP]

This is interesting. My FIL is thinking of taking the trip to Italy next year, but I don't think he has looked into the detail yet. He would be very disappointed if there aren't any dates available.

Thanks for looking into this and sharing your findings.

Mike

I think the guided tours are OK for 2016 as they are run by Collette vacations so Marriott piggyback to them. Just worth checking out the hotels as they are usually below Marriott standard.