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Good News: Bucket List is history!

TheTimeTraveler

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I know there has been a lot of discussions over the last 18 months regarding accessing days/weeks in the Destination Program based upon what bucket you were pulling from and whether you were using Legacy Points (deeded weeks) or Purchased Points.

I'm happy to report that Marriott has now officially done away with the "bucket program" and points are points regardless of their origin (Legacy or Purchased) and you can now access anything/everything available.:)

I had read some rumors to this and a Senior VOA @ Marriott confirmed this to me this morning.

This makes accessing any property (new or old) much easier for anyone who is the Destinations program which I think is great news!:cheer:

Basically, us Legacy owners can easily get into the new properties such as Crystal Shores, Oceana Palms and the Lagoons over in Hawaii, and those who purchase points can gain access to the older, sold out Legacy resorts (as well as the newer properties).

Now, the only issue I see is skim:crash: but that's for another thread.





.
 

RBERR1

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Hope you are right but until someone in customer advocacy confirms or they official release that I will hold my breath.

Unfortunately VOAs are never consistent on answers.
 

dioxide45

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Basically, us Legacy owners can easily get into the new properties such as Crystal Shores, Oceana Palms and the Lagoons over in Hawaii

I don't think this is anything new. Think about Kauai Lagoons. It is probably the only true trust property. There are only a very few units that were sold as weeks almost 100% of inventory is in the trust. Many legacy owners have posted great success in getting reservations using legacy points to get Kauai Lagoons.

The sales staff will try to convince you that you won't be able to get in to any new properties, though Kauai Lagoons pretty much proves this wrong.

In a legal sense there is no way at this point that Marriott can truly remove the legal "buckets". The problem is that the sales reps want you to know about the existence of the buckets to try to sell new points but the VOAs want to downplay it because it only causes issues when they can't book a reservation.

and those who purchase points can gain access to the older, sold out Legacy resorts (as well as the newer properties)..

I don't think there was every a doubt about this. It has always been known that trust points could access any inventory in the exchange company. Though that inventory is still reliant on owner deposits or getting inventory from other sources, something that MVCI has been very successful in doing.
 

SueDonJ

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I think this just goes back to, the technicality is that the different "buckets" of inventory have to exist by virtue of the way the DC system is set up, while the practicality is that the DC Exchange Company is what allows Marriott to mingle the inventory in one place so that both Trust and Exchange Members have access to it.

Enrollees in the DC (defined as Exchange Members) have had access to Trust inventory since the first day DC Points reservations were taken. As well, Trust Members have had access to inventory not conveyed to the Trust since then. Like others have said, none of this is breaking news.

What would be new is if Marriott has totally revamped the DC system (the way it appears your Senior VOA says they have,) and has re-filed and gotten approval of the new documents with the regulatory agencies. I won't believe that's been done until I see the amendments and have received official written notification from Marriott.

BUT, I still hate that the reps are saying things that make all of this so confusing! It's ridiculous for them to say, "inventory isn't in separate 'buckets' any longer," especially because technically, that's not true. All they have to say to get across the practical application of the DC system is the simple explanation, which is that all available inventory can be and currently is co-mingled in the DC Exchange Company where any DC Member can access it.
 
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mightywyrm

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Not sure exactly what you're saying here. Legacy points could always access trust points in the exchange pool. Are you saying that legacy points can now access trust points that haven't been deposited into the exchange pool?

No, he's referring to the hassle that those of us who have both DC and legacy points had to put up with. For those who purchased no DC points, there is no change and you never had to deal with this amazing nonsense.

As I and a some others have reported, there is (hopefully, *was*) a very real distinction between points. In order to piece together inventory from the points buckets to which the OP is referring, in the form of a single reservation, MVC sometimes had to mix and match.

In our case, the process involved a MVC decision - inadequately explained - to borrow from future year DC points rather than use current year legacy points. We were provided notice of this less than optimal usage of our points in a summary email, which included a vague warning that some of our points would expire on a near-term date, and that this was the our problem to manage.

Because at that time we couldn't see anything online, and because the email summary of this transaction was anything but helpful, it took three or four emails and calls to pin down what had occurred, and understand how the program works from a customer perspective.

I posted a summary on this thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152187&page=2
 

GregT

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This is great news, if this is true.

I believe we'll be able to confirm this by doing some inventory checks 12-13 months out at places that are primarily in the Trust (like Kauai Lagoons, or that Ritz property).

If true, we should see that inventory right away and not have to wait for it to be released to Legacy Point owners.

I hope this is correct -- and I concur with the other poster that the primary issue now then is skim, and people have had 18 months to adjust to it.

Thanks for posting this -- I'll try and test it to see how accessible the inventory is.

It will also be important to figure out of Trust Points and Legacy Points can be combined for a daily reservation (ie, for a single day, versus some days are booked with Trust Points and some with Legacy Points).

Best,

Greg
 

SueDonJ

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No, he's referring to the hassle that those of us who have both DC and legacy points had to put up with. For those who purchased no DC points, there is no change and you never had to deal with this amazing nonsense.

As I and a some others have reported, there is (hopefully, *was*) a very real distinction between points. In order to piece together inventory from the points buckets to which the OP is referring, in the form of a single reservation, MVC sometimes had to mix and match.

In our case, the process involved a MVC decision - inadequately explained - to borrow from future year DC points rather than use current year legacy points. We were provided notice of this less than optimal usage of our points in a summary email, which included a vague warning that some of our points would expire on a near-term date, and that this was the our problem to manage.

Because at that time we couldn't see anything online, and because the email summary of this transaction was anything but helpful, it took three or four emails and calls to pin down what had occurred, and understand how the program works from a customer perspective.

I posted a summary on this thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152187&page=2

I think the OP is actually repeating something that's been talked about quite a bit on TUG that isn't only related to your particular issue. The OP says that a Senior VOA has told him today that the various inventory "buckets" no longer exist. Poof, they're gone!

The existence of those "buckets" doesn't affect only those who purchase DC Points, and the OP mentioned that what he heard will affect Trust and Exchange Members equally.

The buckets CAN'T simply disappear, the way the OP is saying, without Marriott having to make HUGE changes to the DC system and then getting regulatory approval for the changes. There's been no evidence to support such changes.

It is true that for owners like you, the inventory "buckets" cause unique problems when you're trying to combine the two different types of DC Points for one stay. But the OP doesn't appear to be limiting this thread to that unique situation.
 

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The buckets CAN'T simply disappear, the way the OP is saying, without Marriott having to make HUGE changes to the DC system and then getting regulatory approval for the changes. There's been no evidence to support such changes.


The buckets don't have to disappear -- Marriott simply has to manage the inventory as if they are one bucket. I believe it could be done and am curious to see if we see evidence of this behavior. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Best,

Greg
 

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No, he's referring to the hassle that those of us who have both DC and legacy points had to put up with. For those who purchased no DC points, there is no change and you never had to deal with this amazing nonsense.

As I and a some others have reported, there is (hopefully, *was*) a very real distinction between points. In order to piece together inventory from the points buckets to which the OP is referring, in the form of a single reservation, MVC sometimes had to mix and match.

In our case, the process involved a MVC decision - inadequately explained - to borrow from future year DC points rather than use current year legacy points. We were provided notice of this less than optimal usage of our points in a summary email, which included a vague warning that some of our points would expire on a near-term date, and that this was the our problem to manage.

Because at that time we couldn't see anything online, and because the email summary of this transaction was anything but helpful, it took three or four emails and calls to pin down what had occurred, and understand how the program works from a customer perspective.

I posted a summary on this thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152187&page=2

I think we need to clarify some terms.

DC points = points in the exchange pool from converted legacy weeks or deposited into the exchange pool from trust points.

Trust points = Points in the trust, not deposited in the exchange pool.

Exchange pool = Inventory in a common pool that comes from a variety of sources including trust points and legacy weeks.

I read your summary. Correct me if I'm wrong but it appears you were trying to make a reservation with your trust points for a unit only available to the trust but you didn't have enough so they borrowed trust points from the following year. You had some DC points from your legacy week but they didn't use those.

I don't see an issue here. If you wanted to combine trust points and legacy weeks for a reservation you must deposit your trust points in the exchange pool and then convert your legacy weeks to points so they are in the exchange pool. Then you can use the combined points for a reservation at any unit available to the exchange pool.

If you wanted to make a reservation for a unit only available to the trust then you must have enough trust points to do that. Legacy weeks by themselves or in combination with trust points can never access units only available to the trust.

The reverse is also true. Trust points can never directly access legacy weeks. In order for trust points to access a legacy week they have to be deposited into the exchange pool and then they can access legacy weeks that were converted to DC points.

Once either side deposits into the exchange pool they can't go back.
 

mjm1

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Greg, I agree with your comment. This would be a very recent change as I had a conversation with a rep at Desert Springs over the Christmas/New Years break and they still treated them separately for a one day reservation. Hopefully this change rings true.
 

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The buckets don't have to disappear -- Marriott simply has to manage the inventory as if they are one bucket. I believe it could be done and am curious to see if we see evidence of this behavior. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Best,

Greg

This is what the Exchange Company effectively allows now, that Marriott can dump every interval available by whatever means into one giant pool that all DC Members can access. It is a single source for managing inventory.

But if the "buckets" do not disappear by way of changes to the entire system, that single source is an illusion. As long as the "buckets" do exist, Marriott is required to satisfy inventory control audits that specify the In/Out source of every Point bought/sold/exchanged/used/banked/borrowed/etc.

The one and only test of whether Marriott has successfully re-vamped the entire system to do away with the "buckets," the way the OP says has it has been changed, is the one that you mentioned whereby a Member would be able to combine both Trust and Exchange Points for a single-night stay. Until the approved docs that would support the changes necessary to allow such a transaction are produced, I think what the OP heard is simply a new version of an old trick that the Marriott reps should stop playing.
 

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A quick check of Inventory Availability suggests that they are loading Trust Inventory and making it available to Legacy Points upon release.

Examples where Inventory is available now for booking as Legacy Point owner:

Late January 3BR 2013 at Timber Lodge
Late January 3BR OV 2013 at Ko Olina
Late January 2BR 2013 at Kauai Lagoons

I think the probability is very high that all three of these weeks are sourced from the Trust and not from Legacy Week owners.

I'll look for more patterns that suggest Marriott is managing the two buckets as if they are one.

It is still not clear what the implications are for a combined Trust/Legacy point reservation, but this is good news for Legacy Point owners/renters.

Thanks very much,

Greg
 
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Beefnot

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Could it be a sophisticated, commingled system that rivals how airlines and hotels manage inventory? If so, there are guaranteed to be some pissed off folks when check-in rolls around during oversold situations.
 

mightywyrm

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I think we need to clarify some terms.

DC points = points in the exchange pool from converted legacy weeks or deposited into the exchange pool from trust points.

Trust points = Points in the trust, not deposited in the exchange pool.

Exchange pool = Inventory in a common pool that comes from a variety of sources including trust points and legacy weeks.

I read your summary. Correct me if I'm wrong but it appears you were trying to make a reservation with your trust points for a unit only available to the trust but you didn't have enough so they borrowed trust points from the following year. You had some DC points from your legacy week but they didn't use those.

I don't see an issue here. If you wanted to combine trust points and legacy weeks for a reservation you must deposit your trust points in the exchange pool and then convert your legacy weeks to points so they are in the exchange pool. Then you can use the combined points for a reservation at any unit available to the exchange pool.

If you wanted to make a reservation for a unit only available to the trust then you must have enough trust points to do that. Legacy weeks by themselves or in combination with trust points can never access units only available to the trust.

The reverse is also true. Trust points can never directly access legacy weeks. In order for trust points to access a legacy week they have to be deposited into the exchange pool and then they can access legacy weeks that were converted to DC points.

Once either side deposits into the exchange pool they can't go back.

Your premises and factual statements are fine, and for the most part even your summary, but your conclusion that this is nothing that I didn't bring upon myself is false. You're assigning too much intent to me, and not enough to MVC. So your implied argument (that our experience can be dismissed) is invalid.

The main thing wrong with your portrayal is that *I* was trying to do anything other than request a reservation. I didn't set out to select points from one bucket for use in another, and neither the VOA nor anyone else disclosed the mechanics of this operation in a "what this means to the customer" manner. That was all under the covers, and in fact accompanied by misleading statements and implied problems that had to be unearthed...

Also, this occurred a year ago, when the program had less inventory, the VOA was struggling to use what was later explained to me as "test mode" process, and the like. Today there is new functionality on the MVC site, and they've made or actualized whatever other enhancements to aid the program in published and unpublished ways. Also, we've learned to be alert to this issue since then. So I'm hopeful that this process is better now.

Again, all I did was call up and ask for was a reservation. MVC gave me one without providing any useful and or even necessary insight. I was led to believe all was well. (To avoid further second-guessing, I'll note that I did ask the VOA about points totals and she indicated that she was still working on them, but my numbers sounded right and I would receive a confirmation email. "Okay fine, I have to get back to work anyhow, so thanks, etc.")

When the email arrived, it was a 100,000-foot level summary containing a perfunctory statement that x,xxx points were used, without distinction between buckets or pools, along with a curious warning that we needed to use some of our remaining points (which I expected to have been used for the reservation) by a near-term date.

So I checked into it, and learned that MVC (not myself) took what we (wife and I) consider to be a few liberties in order to do the booking. None of this was reported at the time of the reservation, and as noted previously I had tried to confirm that all was well. I had to dig into the details to get an acceptable - barely - answer.

Now, I suppose we could fall back on the fact that we were "dumb enough" to buy the points without knowing in advance that there would be such pitfalls and gotchas, and on some level I'd have to agree with you. Yet that's all the more reason to post these experiences. After all, isn't this what TUG is supposed to be about? I prefer to understand what is going on rather than be led blindly by the nose the way this process was designed, and imo *some* common sense ought to prevail.

I appreciate Sue's and Greg's comments and am hopeful that this is more than some informal, off-the-cuff statement from one VOA's or salesman's perspective. I hope it's more. It should be more.
 

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Your premises and factual statements are fine, and for the most part even your summary, but your conclusion that this is nothing that I didn't bring upon myself is false. You're assigning too much intent to me, and not enough to MVC. So your implied argument (that our experience can be dismissed) is invalid.

The main thing wrong with your portrayal is that *I* was trying to do anything other than request a reservation. I didn't set out to select points from one bucket for use in another, and neither the VOA nor anyone else disclosed the mechanics of this operation in a "what this means to the customer" manner. That was all under the covers, and in fact accompanied by misleading statements and implied problems that had to be unearthed...

Also, this occurred a year ago, when the program had less inventory, the VOA was struggling to use what was later explained to me as "test mode" process, and the like. Today there is new functionality on the MVC site, and they've made or actualized whatever other enhancements to aid the program in published and unpublished ways. Also, we've learned to be alert to this issue since then. So I'm hopeful that this process is better now.

Again, all I did was call up and ask for was a reservation. MVC gave me one without providing any useful and or even necessary insight. I was led to believe all was well. (To avoid further second-guessing, I'll note that I did ask the VOA about points totals and she indicated that she was still working on them, but my numbers sounded right and I would receive a confirmation email. "Okay fine, I have to get back to work anyhow, so thanks, etc.")

When the email arrived, it was a 100,000-foot level summary containing a perfunctory statement that x,xxx points were used, without distinction between buckets or pools, along with a curious warning that we needed to use some of our remaining points (which I expected to have been used for the reservation) by a near-term date.

So I checked into it, and learned that MVC (not myself) took what we (wife and I) consider to be a few liberties in order to do the booking. None of this was reported at the time of the reservation, and as noted previously I had tried to confirm that all was well. I had to dig into the details to get an acceptable - barely - answer.

Now, I suppose we could fall back on the fact that we were "dumb enough" to buy the points without knowing in advance that there would be such pitfalls and gotchas, and on some level I'd have to agree with you. Yet that's all the more reason to post these experiences. After all, isn't this what TUG is supposed to be about? I prefer to understand what is going on rather than be led blindly by the nose the way this process was designed, and imo *some* common sense ought to prevail.

I appreciate Sue's and Greg's comments and am hopeful that this is more than some informal, off-the-cuff statement from one VOA's or salesman's perspective. I hope it's more. It should be more.

I agree that the Marriott reps should do more to explain the unique situations that Owners of Trust and Legacy Points are in, especially when it comes to using a combination of those Points to book a single stay.

At the very least, I hope that the VOA's are no longer finagling a Trust Owner's combined Trust and Legacy Points such that banking and borrowing is effected without the Owner's permission or knowledge. I understand how what you related took place, but I also completely understand your dissatisfaction with everything that took place with respect to that reservation.

I am extremely interested in what you and other similar owners can contribute to the issue/discussion of using a combination of Points to book a single-night stay - IMO we can't prove a material change to Marriott's system unless that transaction is allowed now where it wasn't before. But as DC Points purchasers you also can contribute a whole lot of working knowledge of every facet of Trust Membership. It's a "new and exciting" trail you're blazing for the rest of us. :)
 

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A quick check of Inventory Availability suggests that they are loading Trust Inventory and making it available to Legacy Points upon release.

Examples where Inventory is available now for booking as Legacy Point owner:

Late January 3BR 2013 at Timber Lodge
Late January 3BR 2013 OV at Ko Olina
Late January 2BR 2013 at Kauai Lagoons

I think the probability is very high that all three of these weeks are sourced from the Trust and not from Legacy Week owners.

I'll look for more patterns that suggest Marriott is managing the two buckets as if they are one.

It is still not clear what the implications are for a combined Trust/Legacy point reservation, but this is good news for Legacy Point owners/renters.

Thanks very much,

Greg

Agree, good news. But it's not new news! Since the first day DC reservations were taken, Legacy Owners have been able to book what was assumed to be Trust intervals.

Are Trust intervals being conveyed to the Exchange Company more frequently or on a greater percentage basis? Possibly, but we won't ever be able to prove it. It could just be that what we TUGgers have theorized all these months since the advent of the DC is coming to fruition - that as time goes on and more owners are participating in DC Point usage, the inventory will mingle and the system will function the way it was designed.

Taking this back to the OP, I think there is a significant difference between a Marriott rep saying, "... Marriott has now officially done away with the "bucket program" and points are points regardless of their origin ..," and saying something simple about the technical and practical aspects of the DC system resulting in an almost seamless usage of Trust and Legacy Points in the DC Exchange Company. The quoted statement is simply not supported by the existing governing docs, and goes a long way toward verifying the perceived lack of trustworthiness of Marriott reps. The second notion explains the system simply while not misrepresenting it. As well, it would result in me (ymmv) feeling less like the Marriott reps think that they need to insult our intelligence by using technically-incorrect statements to prove a correct practical application.
 

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Agree, good news. But it's not new news! Since the first day DC reservations were taken, Legacy Owners have been able to book what was assumed to be Trust intervals.

Sue,

I understand what you're saying, but this is improved (ie, earlier) inventory availability over what I've seen previously.

I certainly don't dispute that Legacy Owners have been able to book what was assumed to be Trust intervals, but being able to see it 12.5 months out is new to me for these prime times (January ski and Jan Hawaii).

Additionally, some of these are 3BR's, which are not deep in the Trust. I'd been under the impression that Trust Inventory is held back from being available to the Exchange until Marriott felt that Trust Point owners had first shot.

If these limited 3BRs are available 12.5 months out -- that's a change in the methodology for making inventory available to points owners. Other TUGgers may have already realized this, but I didn't realize it until today.

Whatever the history here, I'm happy to see it -- I concur with you that true blending of Trust/Legacy Points for a single day's reservations is still to be proven (and may never happen) but I'll take this development.

All the best,

Greg
 

ral

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I suggest that Crystal Shores be used as a valid test. This property has just 2 three bedroom penthouse units, and if the majority of these weeks became part of the trust, they should be readily available if the "bucket" system is no longer in effect.

Having enough legacy points, I tried for one night thru the end of November 2012 and was unable to find any availability which leads me to believe usage is only available for trust points.

It would be interesting if a trust point owner did the same search to verify that the buckets still exist.
 

GregT

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I suggest that Crystal Shores be used as a valid test. This property has just 2 three bedroom penthouse units, and if the majority of these weeks became part of the trust, they should be readily available if the "bucket" system is no longer in effect.

Having enough legacy points, I tried for one night thru the end of November 2012 and was unable to find any availability which leads me to believe usage is only available for trust points.

It would be interesting if a trust point owner did the same search to verify that the buckets still exist.

Crystal Shores 3BR PH is available for check-in on January 26, 2013.

Interesting stuff -- thanks!

Greg
 
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good morning

Tuggers...

This is HUGE:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

This means that Trust inventory is available to a Premier Legacy owner BEFORE it is available to the majority of Trust owners. 1/26/2013 is outside the 12 month window. I would bet that not many PURE Trust owners have 6500 pts and could see a 1/26/2013 unit...

I think this blows up the Trust > Legacy points thing once and for all!!!!

The system has matures and there has been enough cross pollination of the buckets (Trust has puled Legacy ressies and vice versa) that we no have a system, despite legal semantics where Trust =Legacy products...

Perhaps MVCD can working on making new Trust sales by improving the "mousetrap" instead of scaring (telling us we will never see Trust stuff) a old mice ...
 

dioxide45

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I suggest that Crystal Shores be used as a valid test. This property has just 2 three bedroom penthouse units, and if the majority of these weeks became part of the trust, they should be readily available if the "bucket" system is no longer in effect.

Having enough legacy points, I tried for one night thru the end of November 2012 and was unable to find any availability which leads me to believe usage is only available for trust points.

It would be interesting if a trust point owner did the same search to verify that the buckets still exist.

It was my understanding that those penthouse units, while expensive, were very fast sellers. Do you happen to know the actual unit numbers for those two 3BR penthouse units?

Kauai Lagoons is probably the best overall test. There are 44 units with 2114 intervals in the trust. The total possible intervals are 2288. That means that there are only 174 intervals owned by either weeks owners or fractional. Over 92% of the intervals are owned by the trust. Once the other buildings open, that percentage will grow closer to 100%.
 
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pwrshift

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If this is true and if Marriott eliminates the 'skim' I could be tempted. :)
 

gblotter

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I think we need to clarify some terms.

DC points = points in the exchange pool from converted legacy weeks or deposited into the exchange pool from trust points.

Trust points = Points in the trust, not deposited in the exchange pool.

Exchange pool = Inventory in a common pool that comes from a variety of sources including trust points and legacy weeks.
To keep things straight in my own mind, I refer to the two different types of points as "Legacy Points" and "Trust Points".

If this is true and if Marriott eliminates the 'skim' I could be tempted. :)
IF this is true, it is only an administrative change in how Marriott manages the exchange pool. Before anyone gets too excited, remember that administrative changes can also be "undone". What a day giveth, a day can taketh away as well.

Still, it is a significant change that sweetens the deal considerably for enrolled legacy point owners (in my mind at least). It justifies a reconsideration of whether I will enroll.

We will be at Maui Ocean Club in March. On average, their sales staff seems to be a little more knowledgeable and ethical. I'll see what they have to say about this change and perhaps enroll then if there are some incentives thrown in.

Regarding incentives: My understanding is that Marriott is still offering the 800 bonus points for legacy week enrollments, plus one or more AC weeks depending on the number of years remaining with your current Interval Membership. Do I have that correct?

I remain uninterested in purchasing trust points - now or ever.
 
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SueDonJ

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It was my understanding that those penthouse units, while expensive, were very fast sellers. Do you happen to know the actual unit numbers for those two 3BR penthouse units?

Kauai Lagoons is probably the best overall test. There are 44 units with 2114 intervals in the trust. The total possible intervals are 2288. That means that there are only 174 intervals owned by either weeks owners or fractional. Over 92% of the intervals are owned by the trust. Once the other buildings open, that percentage will grow closer to 100%.

Except, Kauai Lagoons may not be the best "test" here because it's the one property that Marriott has been offering at discounted Points rates since almost the beginning of the DC. Wouldn't they have had to pre-emptively load the Exchange Company with Kauai Lagoons inventory to handle the requests?

To a lesser extent, the same is true for Crystal Shores because it's another of the resorts which Marriott has singled out at different times for discounted Points rates. Not as often as KL, but often enough.

*****
I'm still a little confused here in this thread. It seems to me that we've moved off of the OP's main focus onto the issue of how/why the DC Exchange Company appears to be well-stocked now with a mix of Trust and Legacy intervals, to the point where it's possible now to reserve inventory much more in advance of check-in than we used to be able to do.

The OP said that he's been told by a Senior VOA that, "... Marriott has now officially done away with the "bucket program" and points are points regardless of their origin ..." That cannot be technically or functionally true unless one thing can happen - that a single-night stay can be booked with a combination of Trust and Legacy Points. That one thing can't happen unless the governing docs for the DC have been extensively amended, and we haven't seen any evidence of that. The reps who are saying it need to 'put up or shut up' because they're not contributing anything of value to the program.

As for the Exchange Company availability, I don't think there's any doubt that we're seeing some changes since the DC was rolled out. But IMO those changes are a natural progression of the system as it was designed to function, and not a result of some new, contrived acts by Marriott to force inventory availability that the system wasn't designed to support. IOW, this is what we expected would happen with continued DC Points usage. Didn't we? :shrug:

As far as the skim disappearing, forget it. IMO as much as we see the problem with it as it pertains to our Weeks ownerships, Marriott couldn't have invited the Weeks to play in the DC playground without some form of skim to cover the breakage from 7-day rigid stays now being converted to stays of more or less than 7-days. If we didn't have this particular form of skim to deal with, we'd have some other form. I have to think of this as a case of 'the devil you know' because it'd be a pain in the neck to have to figure out a whole new form.

(But Brian, now that you mention it again ... you're still THE fascinating test subject for me what with all your Weeks and the many ways you use them. If you enroll your Weeks and use them in the exact same ways you always have, you will be saving yourself money by not paying transaction fees and you will NOT be subject to the skim. It only exists when you convert enrolled Weeks to Points usage, which you would not have to do. I'm still flabbergasted that you're a DC holdout.)
 
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