Final Straw- Selling our Marriott/Vistana Timeshares

[win555]

My frustration is not over the lost week in Hawaii, or the costs that will be lost with it, but ultimately the lack of customer service. I am tired of the the lies at owner updates, fed up with the never ending money grab of trying to devalue weeks owners and force them into either selling their weeks or buying trust points. I would hope if you had a strong and loyal customer base, you would want to do what you could to retain and protect that. I don't feel that is the case with Marriott any longer, and it actually is counterproductive to their long term strategy.

It feels sad to read about this as you have spent $150k-$200k with MVC. It makes me cautious as a prospective buyer.

 

[gwberg]

Like you I own both Marriott and Vistana. I also own Wyndham. I’ve had a similar bad experience with all three programs. I’ve enjoyed many fine vacations but I’m not going to any more sales presentations (“updates”).


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[bogey21]

It feels sad to read about this as you have spent $150k-$200k with MVC. It makes me cautious as a prospective buyer.

The secret with owning any TS is to first decide that the MFs provide fair value. If they do then buy in at a price close to where you think you can sell when you decide to exit...

George

 

[controller1]

The secret with owning any TS is to first decide that the MFs provide fair value. If they do then buy in at a price close to where you think you can sell when you decide to exit...

George

The word "secret" is the key word as several (perhaps many) of us purchased directly from the developer prior to discovering TUG or even knowing there was a resale market.

 

[vol_90]

Just read the entire tread from the beginning to here. A great read, entertainment and education for anyone looking to get into timeshares and the value of TUGBBS discussions. Thanks to all for the input whether I agreed with it or not.

To the OP sorry it doesn't work out for you going forward and believe you will be much happier moving on. Best of luck to you and your family in future vacation endeavors. There are many lifetime vacation experiences out there with your family without the need of owning a Marriott timeshare.

IMHO Marriott has done an adequate job trying to mitigate the current COVID-19 situation and I am one happy Marriott Timeshare Owner focused on maximizing my ownership for many years to come. (Disclaimer I do not own anything other than Marriott)

Enjoying my time at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club 95 days (March 24th to present) and counting. Thank you MVCI (using 120 day restricted points for under 60 day 30% discount reservations), Interval International (2 Deposit's, 2 AC's and 5 Getaway's) and Redweek. Leveraging every opportunity to maximize the value of my MVCI portfolio, II accounts and Redweek memberships.

Best of luck to all....

 

[Mroze]

The word "secret" is the key word as several (perhaps many) of us purchased directly from the developer prior to discovering TUG or even knowing there was a resale market.

Some of us [myself included] purchased Developer-Direct after discovering TUG and after discovering Resale. In fact my very first purchase was resale.

 

[Luvtoride]

I’m not sure if this comment belongs in this thread but reading here reminded me of this.

My wife and I just completed a retirement plan with our Financial Advisor. After reviewing our list of assets, I said to my wife, we forgot to include our Timeshares. She looked at me and said “that’s not an asset it’s a liability”.


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[gwberg]

60 days out on II is a terrible policy and @nokaoi9 has a right to be upset about the loss of $2400 MF. IMO MVC is lacking creativity in making this right for their customers. Perhaps they could allow a one time enrollment to points for use next year, or remove the 60 day window (very doable since they own II).

To compare, Hilton Grand Vacations is treating their owners much better; automatically pushing 2019 banked points to 2021 (which can then be deposited for another 2 years in RCI), longer unrestricted windows to reserve etc. They are trying to find ways to smooth out inventory demand over the next few years and keep owners satisfied. They are also bringing on many new resorts in 2021/22 which will help alleviate inventory demand concerns. I don't hear complaints like this on the HGV forum so there are solutions out there.

I recognize that HGV and MVC are structured differently but they are not that different; HGVC is effectively the same as an MVC deed plus points enrollment. The biggest difference is that all HGVC deeds are required to be enrolled upon purchase. And HGV doesn't own RCI like MVC owns II. The difference is that MVC is lacking the will to develop creative solutions make this right for their owners. or perhaps they are trying to penalize MVC owners who haven't enrolled?

Small point. I thought Wyndham owns RCI. No?


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[frank808]

Some of us [myself included] purchased Developer-Direct after discovering TUG and after discovering Resale. In fact my very first purchase was resale.

It took me over a decade of owning Marriott resale weeks before I bought direct from Marriott.

Dang you TUG members, if it wasn't for you guys/gals I would have never bought DP points and saved myself the $$. For everyone, that last sentence is a joke. I went in being informed and knew what I wanted to make that purchase work. I am very happy with the purchase I made last year.

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[gwberg]

I have 1500 bonus points that expire in September. Besides risking travel, what are my options?


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[Dean]

The word "secret" is the key word as several (perhaps many) of us purchased directly from the developer prior to discovering TUG or even knowing there was a resale market.

It's interesting that anyone would sign a contract and pay tens of thousands of dollars without reading the legal paperwork or doing any independent investigation. I understand how some get there: On vacation, sometimes high pressure, gifted sales person, dreaming of future vacations and the like but still. We often spend weeks if not months investigating the next car purchase which ultimately is a much shorter and less costly commitment even if the price tag is the same. Certainly in the last 20 years information has been readily available and easy accessible for much of that time. I think if you substitute the word key instead of secret in George's post it'd have the same meaning. IMO if we choose to make that type of commitment without due diligence, it's really on us but I know personal responsibility isn't popular in today's world.

I've told this story before but it seems to apply here. A number of years ago I gave a friend a free stay using my Bluegreen points. I failed to warn him about the sales process. He came home telling me he'd bought. I gave him the information about resale value and the like and suggested he cancel and investigate further but he chose to not cancel which I thought was a mistake but was his choice. At least he had the information and made the choice, still I felt bad about it.

I've made direct purchases from DVC, Bluegreen and MVC. All after being well informed about resale and all after owning resale in each system. All were strategic purchases. Bluegreen to enroll and get a boatload of qualified points for very little, DVC to get a specific contract size and configuration and 2 MVC, one to get my Grande Ocean weeks qualified years ago and one last year I'll use but also to enroll 7.5 weeks. The first with MVC didn't work out as I'd planned but wasn't a bad choice, we'll see how the second works out. DVC was my first in 94 which was before in internet was fully functional. I participated on timeshares sites in the 90's on Prodigy mostly related to DVC and on TUG in the early years. Remember resale Sally?

 

[controller1]

It's interesting that anyone would sign a contract and pay tens of thousands of dollars without reading the legal paperwork or doing any independent investigation. I understand how some get there: On vacation, sometimes high pressure, gifted sales person, dreaming of future vacations and the like but still. We often spend weeks if not months investigating the next car purchase which ultimately is a much shorter and less costly commitment even if the price tag is the same. Certainly in the last 20 years information has been readily available and easy accessible for much of that time. I think if you substitute the word key instead of secret in George's post it'd have the same meaning. IMO if we choose to make that type of commitment without due diligence, it's really on us but I know personal responsibility isn't popular in today's world.

Thanks but I really didn't need to be slapped around!

 

[Dean]

Thanks but I really didn't need to be slapped around!

That wasn't my intent, sorry you took it that way.

 

[CPNY]

After almost 15 years of ownership, which along the way has included losing a parent, getting married, and having my beautiful daughter, I am officially done with Marriott.

Earlier this week Hawaii extended the 14 day quarantine thru the end of July, we had a check in date of July 25th. I called Marriott yesterday to explore my options, and was told that the resort is still open, or I could deposit my week into II and would have two years from date of deposit to use the week, with a check-in date of less than 60 days from booking. To say I was furious is an understatement. How in good faith can they say the resort is “open” when all of the below are closed, and knowing people from the mainland would be under a 14 day quarantine? While not thrilled with the II option, I feel it is something I could have lived with, had it not been limited to the booking window of being less than 60 days. I’m likely not going to be able to book, nor would I prefer to book a nice trip (like to Hawaii) in under 60 days, which means my ~$2400 maintenance fee will turn into nothing more than a glorified getaway or AC exchange with II. On a positive note, I will no longer have to worry about managing four II memberships (Marriott corporate account, non corporate account, and two Vistana), and will save ~$8000 per year in maintenance fees, and not have to contemplate another enrollment fee when the MVCI/Vistana program is eventually rolled out. It really is sad to see what Marriott has become since we first purchased almost 15 years ago.

Having Tug there to learn from since the beginning was invaluable. We fortunately purchased Ko Olina via resale prior to finding Tug, but learned how to really maximize our ownership here over the years. Whenever we had a question, the community was quick to offer advice, which was always appreciated. Mahalo nui for all the great recommendations and suggestions over the years, it has been truly appreciated.

Aloha.

If you have a one bedroom SVV 1 bedroom 44K SO in Key West or Bella let me know

 

[dioxide45]

If you have a one bedroom SVV 1 bedroom 44K SO in Key West or Bella let me know

I thought you had enough ?

 

[CPNY]

I thought you had enough ?

I may be adding more to get rid of some ha.

 

[burg1121]

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Pretty much everybody was and still is affected by the virus. Lost 9 days in USVI at the Ritz. Then 1 week in Southern France. Life sucks then you die
Someday life will get back to normal till the next virus comes along.

 

[Laura19]

After almost 15 years of ownership, which along the way has included losing a parent, getting married, and having my beautiful daughter, I am officially done with Marriott.

Earlier this week Hawaii extended the 14 day quarantine thru the end of July, we had a check in date of July 25th. I called Marriott yesterday to explore my options, and was told that the resort is still open, or I could deposit my week into II and would have two years from date of deposit to use the week, with a check-in date of less than 60 days from booking. To say I was furious is an understatement. How in good faith can they say the resort is “open” when all of the below are closed, and knowing people from the mainland would be under a 14 day quarantine? While not thrilled with the II option, I feel it is something I could have lived with, had it not been limited to the booking window of being less than 60 days. I’m likely not going to be able to book, nor would I prefer to book a nice trip (like to Hawaii) in under 60 days, which means my ~$2400 maintenance fee will turn into nothing more than a glorified getaway or AC exchange with II. On a positive note, I will no longer have to worry about managing four II memberships (Marriott corporate account, non corporate account, and two Vistana), and will save ~$8000 per year in maintenance fees, and not have to contemplate another enrollment fee when the MVCI/Vistana program is eventually rolled out. It really is sad to see what Marriott has become since we first purchased almost 15 years ago.

Having Tug there to learn from since the beginning was invaluable. We fortunately purchased Ko Olina via resale prior to finding Tug, but learned how to really maximize our ownership here over the years. Whenever we had a question, the community was quick to offer advice, which was always appreciated. Mahalo nui for all the great recommendations and suggestions over the years, it has been truly appreciated.

Aloha.

I completely understand why you've had it. Other posters have talked about knowing the risk of booking and accepting the risk. And hey, it's only one year of maintenance fees. On April 30th, I used two years of points to book two weeks on the beach. I checked the cancellation policy and understood what my options were if I needed to cancel. I decided I could accept the cancellation policy and made the reservations. Today I found out that Marriott changed the cancellation policy on July 2nd, TWO days after I could have cancelled and booked the points. And the new cancellation policy doesn't begin to give me the options the previous policy had. Today I found out that Marriott can change their cancellation policy at any time, and the policy in effect when you cancel is the policy that applies to your cancellation. They might change the policy later, but can't promise anything will change or that it will apply to previously cancelled reservations. Marriott also told me they had no need to inform reservation holders, that I should have been checking their website to see the new policy. So yes, I too have had it. Is this the only thing that is making me walk away? No. It's the conversion to points and the fact that timeshare owners had to pay to enroll. It's their total screw-up when my father transferred the timeshare to me which cost us an entire year of usage - we still had to pay the annual fee and they admitted they screwed up. But they said they couldn't do anything about it. Hey, it's just one year of maintenance fees. What's the big deal - you have the next year and the next year. It's suddenly being the lowest on the totem pole for exchanging my timeshare for another location. Forget getting into a nice location even if you have the points, the premier owners get the advantage. Should they get the advantage because they've bought into MVC more? Maybe, but I feel like a victim of a pyramid scheme. I have no trust in this company.

 

[aland0524]

Enjoying my time at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club 95 days (March 24th to present) and counting. Thank you MVCI (using 120 day restricted points for under 60 day 30% discount reservations), Interval International (2 Deposit's, 2 AC's and 5 Getaway's) and Redweek. Leveraging every opportunity to maximize the value of my MVCI portfolio, II accounts and Redweek memberships.

Wow, I'm impressed at how you figured out how to get 95 days at Ko Olina using a cocktail of MVCI, II and Redweek, particularly 2 ACs from II. I don't think I've ever seen any Marriott properties - much less Hawaii properties - available on Accommodation Certificates - at least the many ( I currently have about 6 ACs from II) that I have don't have anything meaningful. What's the secret? (The only good properties I've seen using ACs is an occasional availability at the Marriott properties in Spain. Otherwise, nada.) You clearly have figured out how to maximize your timeshare ownerships...

 

[vol_90]

Wow, I'm impressed at how you figured out how to get 95 days at Ko Olina using a cocktail of MVCI, II and Redweek, particularly 2 ACs from II. I don't think I've ever seen any Marriott properties - much less Hawaii properties - available on Accommodation Certificates - at least the many ( I currently have about 6 ACs from II) that I have don't have anything meaningful. What's the secret? (The only good properties I've seen using ACs is an occasional availability at the Marriott properties in Spain. Otherwise, nada.) You clearly have figured out how to maximize your timeshare ownerships...

Only way Marriott Ko Olina shows up on II Accommodation Certificates or summer week Getaways is due to the Corona Virus situation. This will not likely ever happen again. Fortunate to be at the right place at the right time and was monitoring II on a regular basis. Now at 118 Ko Olina nights and counting.

I have seen many Marriott Orlando, Desert Springs and summer Park City weeks show up on AC's if you monitor closely and often. Especially soon after they are deposited into your II account.

 

[Pamplemousse]

I completely understand why you've had it. Other posters have talked about knowing the risk of booking and accepting the risk. And hey, it's only one year of maintenance fees. On April 30th, I used two years of points to book two weeks on the beach. I checked the cancellation policy and understood what my options were if I needed to cancel. I decided I could accept the cancellation policy and made the reservations. Today I found out that Marriott changed the cancellation policy on July 2nd, TWO days after I could have cancelled and booked the points. And the new cancellation policy doesn't begin to give me the options the previous policy had. Today I found out that Marriott can change their cancellation policy at any time, and the policy in effect when you cancel is the policy that applies to your cancellation. They might change the policy later, but can't promise anything will change or that it will apply to previously cancelled reservations. Marriott also told me they had no need to inform reservation holders, that I should have been checking their website to see the new policy. So yes, I too have had it. Is this the only thing that is making me walk away? No. It's the conversion to points and the fact that timeshare owners had to pay to enroll. It's their total screw-up when my father transferred the timeshare to me which cost us an entire year of usage - we still had to pay the annual fee and they admitted they screwed up. But they said they couldn't do anything about it. Hey, it's just one year of maintenance fees. What's the big deal - you have the next year and the next year. It's suddenly being the lowest on the totem pole for exchanging my timeshare for another location. Forget getting into a nice location even if you have the points, the premier owners get the advantage. Should they get the advantage because they've bought into MVC more? Maybe, but I feel like a victim of a pyramid scheme. I have no trust in this company.

Could you share what the policy change on 7/2 was? I can tell what is different now.
Hope things work out for you- good luck.

 

[dioxide45]

I completely understand why you've had it. Other posters have talked about knowing the risk of booking and accepting the risk. And hey, it's only one year of maintenance fees. On April 30th, I used two years of points to book two weeks on the beach. I checked the cancellation policy and understood what my options were if I needed to cancel. I decided I could accept the cancellation policy and made the reservations. Today I found out that Marriott changed the cancellation policy on July 2nd, TWO days after I could have cancelled and booked the points. And the new cancellation policy doesn't begin to give me the options the previous policy had. Today I found out that Marriott can change their cancellation policy at any time, and the policy in effect when you cancel is the policy that applies to your cancellation. They might change the policy later, but can't promise anything will change or that it will apply to previously cancelled reservations. Marriott also told me they had no need to inform reservation holders, that I should have been checking their website to see the new policy. So yes, I too have had it. Is this the only thing that is making me walk away? No. It's the conversion to points and the fact that timeshare owners had to pay to enroll. It's their total screw-up when my father transferred the timeshare to me which cost us an entire year of usage - we still had to pay the annual fee and they admitted they screwed up. But they said they couldn't do anything about it. Hey, it's just one year of maintenance fees. What's the big deal - you have the next year and the next year. It's suddenly being the lowest on the totem pole for exchanging my timeshare for another location. Forget getting into a nice location even if you have the points, the premier owners get the advantage. Should they get the advantage because they've bought into MVC more? Maybe, but I feel like a victim of a pyramid scheme. I have no trust in this company.

What was the policy change on July 2nd? I am not aware of any change in the cancellation policy at the beginning of July.

 

[Dean]

What was the policy change on July 2nd? I am not aware of any change in the cancellation policy at the beginning of July.

I can't see anything on the points side other than at some point they pushed the cutoff date back from July to August on the holding accounts points. They did update the weeks deposit options on 1 July. Maybe the previous poster can elaborate on what they see is different.

But yes the policies are subject to change, esp any added flexibility over the actual rules.

 

[elked12]

Wow, I'm impressed at how you figured out how to get 95 days at Ko Olina using a cocktail of MVCI, II and Redweek, particularly 2 ACs from II. I don't think I've ever seen any Marriott properties - much less Hawaii properties - available on Accommodation Certificates - at least the many ( I currently have about 6 ACs from II) that I have don't have anything meaningful. What's the secret? (The only good properties I've seen using ACs is an occasional availability at the Marriott properties in Spain. Otherwise, nada.) You clearly have figured out how to maximize your timeshare ownerships...

I see some of the Orlando resorts in there all the time. Just have to be flexible on dates

 

[dioxide45]

I see some of the Orlando resorts in there all the time. Just have to be flexible on dates

Up till a few years ago, Marriott properties on ACs were more common. Then a few years back they started blocking them for the most part. They could still be had as last minute off season weeks on an AC. The Marriott inventory in ACs now is unprecedented. We have certainly taken advantage of it. You can't beat $260 for a week at Oceana Palms. Lots of Orlando 2BR units. It is going to be hard when things get more back to normal and we can't stay in 2BR units as easily or as cheaply.