It seems that Marriott has decided to impose restrictions on the minimum number of nights required for booking at more and more resorts, significantly diminishing the value of our ownerships. This particularly affects those enrolled in Abound/VSN who are also owners at these specific resorts. Such owners are more likely to want to add a couple of nights at the beginning and/or end of a week reservation. While I can almost understand the reluctance to allow bookings for just a couple of nights, if you already have a week or two reserved (home resort reservation, Interval exchange etc), why should adding a few nights be subject to any minimum requirement when your actual vacation is intended for 9 or 16 nights?
Furthermore, like with most, if not all other decisions that Marriott makes on behalf of our resorts, there has been no transparency, let alone consultation about this development. I'm not even sure if the HOA board members are made aware of this after the fact, let alone if any discussions take place before the changes are implemented.
Another issue is the likelihood of a larger number of points expiring unused. Suppose you have 20,000 Staroptions or 1,000 Abound points remaining for a year. If you can’t effectively use them by adding few nights to your week reservations, what will you end up doing with the points? I'm sure Marriott doesn't mind if they simply expire before you can utilize them.
