[2018] How happy are you with your Marriott ownership?

[tugcccsp]

I am a weeks owner, purchased resale, and Marriott has treated me very well, both on phone calls, and at the resorts.

 

[Mroze]

How much were MVC developer weeks pre-2010?

Developer weeks at Ko'Olina were north of $35K for an EY-2BR Island-View.
While resale was also high. In 2006 we paid $17K for an EY-2BR-IV. You can get these for half now.

 

[TravelTime]

Developer weeks at Ko'Olina were north of $35K for an EY-2BR Island-View.
While resale was also high. In 2006 we paid $17K for an EY-2BR-IV. You can get these for half now.

Oh wow! I thought my enrolled DPs and resale weeks were expensive. No wonder they allowed pre-2010 owners to enroll for $1495. You had already paid more than your fair share. All in, I think I have paid $55K for the points and enrolled weeks. I get over 11K DPs per year which gets me to Presidential level. MVC has tried to offer me a hybrid package to get to Chairman’s level but I said no. Right now, there is no real perk except more time to roll over and use DPs at Chairman level. But the sales person said they are changing Chairman’s level with the integration and if I get in before, I would be grandfathered into the new level that will be above Chairman’s level. I initially signed up but rescinded within 5 days because I got home and realized there is too much uncertainty. That was last December 2019 when we were in Timber Creek in South Tahoe. Now with Covid, there is even more uncertainty so I can’t imagine buying into Chairman’s level with the gamble I might get upgraded to something better. I am taking my bet on that MVC will allow me to enroll my Vistana week for $1000-$2000 and I can reach Chariman’s level and possibly get upgraded to the next level. My Vistana Maui EOY week will likely be worth the same as an EOY Ko Olina week. That is a lot of DPs. Now that I am writing this, it seems unlikely. MVC has all the power.

 

[TravelTime]

Developer weeks at Ko'Olina were north of $35K for an EY-2BR Island-View.
While resale was also high. In 2006 we paid $17K for an EY-2BR-IV. You can get these for half now.

Okay I just realized you bought resale and then were able to enroll it all in for $900. All in, you are under $18K. That is reasonable. Great deal and strategy.

 

[pedro47]

I wish Marriott’s had more resorts in North Carolina, Baltimore/Washington,DC, and in Charleston, SC or Savanna, Georgia areas

 

[TXTortoise]

Maui pre-2010 price points

 

[gln60]

We are very happy with our Marriot ownership...we purchased 2BR 2ba Harbour Lake(first few years the name was Horizons) in a trailer on the site Pre Construction price about 20 years ago..we decided to purchase DC Points during a stay at Frenchman’s Cove in 2013....and additional points during a stay at Crystal Shores in 2019....over the years we have vacationed at many top notch resorts through II exchanges for a fraction of the price that paying cash would have cost...occaisionaly we use DC Points for weekly vacations,but most times we add 2,3 or 4 days to a weekly exchange.....being a part of the “Marriot Family”has worked out for us very well for us.

 

[gln60]

I am happy with both DCP-Points Exchanges [MVCI] & Weeks-Exchanges [via II].
Like the MF-Payments online using our AMEX-Bonvoy [6-Points/$].
Really like the ability to search [Filter on Location/Name] and check based on monthly calendar.
Like that Marriott lets me check availability [13-Months out] whether I have points or not.
Really like the Single-Fee Club-Dues that covers Exchanges/Changes/Cancellations/Banking/Borrowing.
Like that I can bank 2-Years out and not pay any fees.
Really like that I can put a reservation On-Hold while I check other permutations and make other arrangements.
Like the consistency of quality and standards across all resorts.
RITZ: Really like the ability to book Ritz properties and more recently the expanding choices in cities with the Pulse collection.
BONVOY: Love the ability to get preferred treatment [due to Bonvoy Titanium] and upgrades in some resorts [e.g. Breakfast in Australia & Free-Breakfast at Ritz St. Thomas].
INTERVAL: Love the fact that I have paid ZERO M-M Exchange Fees [exception Size-Upgrade] in the last 3 years. Like the unlimited Zero-Fee II-Changes now includes Westin/Sheraton.

The one thing I dislike is having to call up to cancel a reservation. With COVID they are only operational 9:00-5:00pm EST which is inconvenient.

Q: Why is the total of the Poll 109%?

Well stated Michael

 

[dioxide45]

Okay I just realized you bought resale and then were able to enroll it all in for $900. All in, you are under $18K. That is reasonable. Great deal and strategy.

I think for initial enrollment prices it was as follows;
Internal Weeks
One week - $595
Two or more weeks - $695

External Weeks
One Week - $1,495
Two or more weeks - $1,995

 

[frank808]

Maybe I should start a separate thread. But quick Q: did you purchase from developer? Are any of these benefits available to resale buyers?

I bought no units from the developer. But last year I did purchase 5000 DP points at $11 to enroll my two fractionals and two weeks.

For the previous decade I have only owned resale weeks and am happy owner. If I was not happy with Marriott, I would not have bought direct last year.

Now is Marriott perfect with resale owners? No, but I find they treat resale owners decently. When you buy into a system (direct or resale) and understand the rules, you tend to be a happy owner.

If MVC or HGVC change the deeded rules AFTER purchase, I would be very unhappy owner.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[itznae2u]

I am a weeks owner, purchased resale, and Marriott has treated me very well, both on phone calls, and at the resorts.

How do I purchase a resale?

 

[TXTortoise]

You can buy resale weeks and points from well-known brokers, Redweek.com, individuals, TUG Marketplace, etc.

Decide what you are after, maybe do a bit of searching for informative threads on here and look at the Marriott FAQs at the top, and go from there.

 

[LMills]

I am a weeks owner, purchased resale, and Marriott has treated me very well, both on phone calls, and at the resorts.

Did you ever try to find out if you can enroll your resale purchase into Marriott's programs? If yes, were you successful? Also, who did you have to contact?

 

[LeeSoFL]

We did our first Club purchase in 2014, 7000 pts, then 3000 more a few months later. Two weeks ago, we decided to drive over to Marco Island for six nights, just to get our toes back into a vacation experience. Great resort with excellent social distancing rules. All guests complied and we had a wonderful time. One cloudy morning, we called to do a presentation, more because they were offering a $200 Visa card. Very low key, easy going sales agent who offered a great deal. We bought 3000 points, and bought a resale week from Marriott. The week can be used, or converted to 2500 MVC points annually. The price came out to about $6 a point for the 5500 we added. It's an odd time to decide to jump to Chairman, but there has to be a rosier future, far different than we're experiencing now.

 

[bogey21]

My guess (as an ex Marriott owner) is that those who are using their Weeks or Points are happy and that those who are in Sell Mode aren't...

George

 

[McLaddie]

I am a newbie to here, having stumbled across the forum. I am generally unhappy as it just doesn't work for me. The move to points away from weeks has just made everything much harder to access when in the first few years we were able to go to some interesting places via Interval. So now we seem to be Marriott driven and while their facilities are luxurious, they are few and far between and really too US focussed. So if I want to go and experience anywhere it has to be based in the US, because it is really difficult to get access to anywhere else, and then there is the time and cost of getting there. The principle of staying in one fixed resort doesn't really work for me at the moment. We never used the resorts last year, have rolled them over again this year with Covid, but I don't have any expectation of actually finding anywhere I would want to go. The whole world of resale and rental is a new thing to me, and I guess I have a lot of homework to do to see whether I can make it work for me/the family. It would be nice for it to just not cost me a fortune each year!

 

[DeeCee]

Hi everyone. We bought a legacy week - gold season at Surfwatch on Hilton Head Island in 2016. We paid $6500 including whatever fees may have been involved (don't remember exactly), but direct through Marriott resale. We love the resort, lost it in 2020 due to COVID - we had Easter week planned. We work for a school district so bought it specifically so we could travel during the Spring breaks.

So...happy about the gorgeous resort, and love Hilton Head. It's easy to get to, we can drive (14 ish hours) or fly and be there in under 3. With COVID, we're not looking to get on a plane any time soon and the access by car was one of the major decision makers for our purchase.
.
Not happy about the purchase price - which I figured out AFTER we bought it - that we paid too much. I knew about TUG resales, but it wasn't coming up when we were looking and we felt more comfortable buying direct through the resort at that time. Move forward 4 years - had 3 great trips. We are still hoping they'll be many more, but not so sure when that will be, given the current situation with the virus and some personal (but happy) family things happening. We have Spring break 2021 booked, but won't be able to go due to our personal family obligations.

Then COVID hit, for all of us.... I'm nowhere near happy about the way Marriott handled the shutdown, causing us to lose our week to an II certificate. We're not II members, because we have no plans of trading out in the future. I was hoping for an option to extend 2020's week usage for a few years or at least be able to turn it into rewards points, which my contract allows for any year. Marriott wouldn't allow for that option since they closed the resort so close to our arrival date and the regular cut off to trade it for rewards points had past (no exception could be made due to COVID?). Therefore, our only option was to buy II membership and pay the exchange fee of $99 to use the certificate. This adds $200 to the cost of owning (maintenance fees) for the 2020 year.

I know many people lost travel money due to COVID and we are not the only ones. However, I really tried to book a place for this year, during a school vacation period that would equal our maintenance fees, plus II membership, plus exchange fee - approximately $1660 - for this current year. Due to the certificates offering leftover inventory and covid- top picks for us were not an option. We managed to get a sleep 4 (Surfwatch unit is a sleep 6) a couple of hours from home for the week before Christmas (we're both off). Unfortunately, I could rent the same type of unit at the same place through a local realtor for a little more than 1/2 my maintenance cost - $750. All in all it was not the hit some people lost on cancelled vacations (I'm not including the flight cancelations - credited to travel banks), but it's still money lost and if Marriott had allowed me to at least transfer my week to RP, I wouldn't have had to pay II or exchange fees.

Add that to the fact that to Marriott the week is worth ZERO. I called to see how much they would pay for us to sell it back to them. There was a time we would have gotten about 1/2 what we paid, but they told me they would take it back with no money paid to us, but they would pay the closing costs.

In consideration of all above, and at this point in time, we are not happy with our Marriott timeshare. Sounds like the timeshare dismay one reads about on these and other message boards. I feel stuck with it instead of happy to have it....hopefully, that will change if we ever get back there before we feel we need to get rid of it. We have discussed renting it, but have never done such a thing so not really comfortable with the prospect of renting on our own. And, we'd like to give it one more try before letting it go.

stay safe, be well
Dee

 

[csalter2]

Hi everyone. We bought a legacy week - gold season at Surfwatch on Hilton Head Island in 2016. We paid $6500 including whatever fees may have been involved (don't remember exactly), but direct through Marriott resale. We love the resort, lost it in 2020 due to COVID - we had Easter week planned. We work for a school district so bought it specifically so we could travel during the Spring breaks.

So...happy about the gorgeous resort, and love Hilton Head. It's easy to get to, we can drive (14 ish hours) or fly and be there in under 3. With COVID, we're not looking to get on a plane any time soon and the access by car was one of the major decision makers for our purchase.
.
Not happy about the purchase price - which I figured out AFTER we bought it - that we paid too much. I knew about TUG resales, but it wasn't coming up when we were looking and we felt more comfortable buying direct through the resort at that time. Move forward 4 years - had 3 great trips. We are still hoping they'll be many more, but not so sure when that will be, given the current situation with the virus and some personal (but happy) family things happening. We have Spring break 2021 booked, but won't be able to go due to our personal family obligations.

Then COVID hit, for all of us.... I'm nowhere near happy about the way Marriott handled the shutdown, causing us to lose our week to an II certificate. We're not II members, because we have no plans of trading out in the future. I was hoping for an option to extend 2020's week usage for a few years or at least be able to turn it into rewards points, which my contract allows for any year. Marriott wouldn't allow for that option since they closed the resort so close to our arrival date and the regular cut off to trade it for rewards points had past (no exception could be made due to COVID?). Therefore, our only option was to buy II membership and pay the exchange fee of $99 to use the certificate. This adds $200 to the cost of owning (maintenance fees) for the 2020 year.

I know many people lost travel money due to COVID and we are not the only ones. However, I really tried to book a place for this year, during a school vacation period that would equal our maintenance fees, plus II membership, plus exchange fee - approximately $1660 - for this current year. Due to the certificates offering leftover inventory and covid- top picks for us were not an option. We managed to get a sleep 4 (Surfwatch unit is a sleep 6) a couple of hours from home for the week before Christmas (we're both off). Unfortunately, I could rent the same type of unit at the same place through a local realtor for a little more than 1/2 my maintenance cost - $750. All in all it was not the hit some people lost on cancelled vacations (I'm not including the flight cancelations - credited to travel banks), but it's still money lost and if Marriott had allowed me to at least transfer my week to RP, I wouldn't have had to pay II or exchange fees.

Add that to the fact that to Marriott the week is worth ZERO. I called to see how much they would pay for us to sell it back to them. There was a time we would have gotten about 1/2 what we paid, but they told me they would take it back with no money paid to us, but they would pay the closing costs.

In consideration of all above, and at this point in time, we are not happy with our Marriott timeshare. Sounds like the timeshare dismay one reads about on these and other message boards. I feel stuck with it instead of happy to have it....hopefully, that will change if we ever get back there before we feel we need to get rid of it. We have discussed renting it, but have never done such a thing so not really comfortable with the prospect of renting on our own. And, we'd like to give it one more try before letting it go.

stay safe, be well
Dee

I’m not sure why you’re unhappy?

If you owned a condo and you couldn’t use it because a hurricane or fires in the area prevented you from using it, who would you blame? Yourself? Would you be upset with the mortgage company fo still requiring payment? Would you be upset with the utility companies for still expecting payment? Would you still be upset with with your insurance company for still expecting payment? You would get zero for the very same issue.

You had the option to buy into Interval International. That was a better option than nothing at all. Many timeshares did not have such an option. Marriott did not even have to provide that option. There are but so many weeks in a year so there are a finite number of available units for owners to use. This was a very unprecedented event and from what I’ve seen everyone’s lives have changed for work and play. I’m sure since you work for a school district you have seen lots of changes, sacrifices and cutbacks of some sort to somehow meet the needs of students.

 

[csalter2]

I am a newbie to here, having stumbled across the forum. I am generally unhappy as it just doesn't work for me. The move to points away from weeks has just made everything much harder to access when in the first few years we were able to go to some interesting places via Interval. So now we seem to be Marriott driven and while their facilities are luxurious, they are few and far between and really too US focussed. So if I want to go and experience anywhere it has to be based in the US, because it is really difficult to get access to anywhere else, and then there is the time and cost of getting there. The principle of staying in one fixed resort doesn't really work for me at the moment. We never used the resorts last year, have rolled them over again this year with Covid, but I don't have any expectation of actually finding anywhere I would want to go. The whole world of resale and rental is a new thing to me, and I guess I have a lot of homework to do to see whether I can make it work for me/the family. It would be nice for it to just not cost me a fortune each year!

You can still use weeks as you always have. You don’t have to use points. If you deposit your week early, you should be able to get good trades on II.

 

[DeeCee]

I’m unhappy because I’m unhappy. I don’t think I need to justify that. Yeah if I owned a condo I couldn’t use because of a hurricane I’d be unhappy. But how can one compare owning a place with 365 days a year usage with 7 days a year usage. Hurricane passes, I go to the condo. Covid passes so does the timeshare options (1week)for use. The lack of other options for the opportunity to use my timeshare - not a condo - is what has me unhappy especially when other options are attached to my contract(converting to rewards points for hotel usage). As I said in my post many people lost many things due to Covid. But this is a timeshare board. So I’m only talking about my timeshare. I’m not discussing or making light of my husbands loss of employment for instance. Or my neighbors passing due to Covid. Many awful horrible and unfortunate , more important things have happened. But again, this is a timeshare board and like anyone else out there, I have a right to feel the way I feel about the way Marriott handles things. DVC (our other timeshare) worked it out much better.
Dee

 

[DeeCee]

You can still use weeks as you always have. You don’t have to use points. If you deposit your week early, you should be able to get good trades on II.

I can use my weeks and will. But Marriott offered interval certificates with a 4 month booking window in place of my week. That’s different (and doesn’t allow for early deposits) than trading out and depositing early. Use of interval certificates are based on availability at the 4 month mark. I believe that 4 months is usually 2 months but Marriott extended it to 4 months due to Covid.? One must pay to be an interval member as well as paying to use the certificate. When we bought our week we bought specifically for the location and season, therefore never had (and still don’t) intentions of trading out or joining interval. Another aspect of our purchase that was a driving force in buying was the option to convert our week to hotel points.Marriott wouldn’t make an exception on the timeline for doing so among the Covid pandemic. That was disheartening and I still can’t figure out why that would be an issue. Those hotel points would be used anywhere anytime so a availability or lack of shouldn’t have been looked at as a problem. Hotels aren’t held for owners like timeshare resorts ....

 

[frank808]

I can use my weeks and will. But Marriott offered interval certificates with a 4 month booking window in place of my week. That’s different (and doesn’t allow for early deposits) than trading out and depositing early. Use of interval certificates are based on availability at the 4 month mark. I believe that 4 months is usually 2 months but Marriott extended it to 4 months due to Covid.? One must pay to be an interval member as well as paying to use the certificate. When we bought our week we bought specifically for the location and season, therefore never had (and still don’t) intentions of trading out or joining interval. Another aspect of our purchase that was a driving force in buying was the option to convert our week to hotel points.Marriott wouldn’t make an exception on the timeline for doing so among the Covid pandemic. That was disheartening and I still can’t figure out why that would be an issue. Those hotel points would be used anywhere anytime so a availability or lack of shouldn’t have been looked at as a problem. Hotels aren’t held for owners like timeshare resorts ....

You bought the week direct resale from Marriott. Is the week enrolled in the DC point system? If it is enrolled, the week be in your corporate II account. With your annual club fee you have a II membership already.

Might want to look into this.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[frank808]

I am a newbie to here, having stumbled across the forum. I am generally unhappy as it just doesn't work for me. The move to points away from weeks has just made everything much harder to access when in the first few years we were able to go to some interesting places via Interval. So now we seem to be Marriott driven and while their facilities are luxurious, they are few and far between and really too US focussed. So if I want to go and experience anywhere it has to be based in the US, because it is really difficult to get access to anywhere else, and then there is the time and cost of getting there. The principle of staying in one fixed resort doesn't really work for me at the moment. We never used the resorts last year, have rolled them over again this year with Covid, but I don't have any expectation of actually finding anywhere I would want to go. The whole world of resale and rental is a new thing to me, and I guess I have a lot of homework to do to see whether I can make it work for me/the family. It would be nice for it to just not cost me a fortune each year!

I have been trading for over a decade. I have been happy with trading and even have trades into MKO from Jan to June of 2021.

Since the introduction of the points program a decade ago the environment has changed. I used to be able to get trades 12 months in advance. Trades dont come in as early but I have been able to see more trades easily into MVC resorts within 10 months or so.

I definitely see more trades into Marriott resorts via II within 60 days compared to pre DC points time period.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[bogey21]

My guess (as an ex Marriott owner) is that those who are using their Weeks or Points are happy and that those who are in Sell Mode aren't...

I would add that I expect that those who bought resale are probably a whole lot happier than those who paid Developer prices...

George

 

[DeeCee]

You bought the week direct resale from Marriott. Is the week enrolled in the DC point system? If it is enrolled, the week be in your corporate II account. With your annual club fee you have a II membership already.

Might want to look into this.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Hi, yes we bought the week direct resale through Marriott, but since that was after 2010, we cannot enroll it into the points program, but don't want to anyway.
We own DVC points, are very very happy with our Disney timeshare, and really just wanted a Marriott week during gold season on Hilton Head. We bought Surfwatch sight unseen and fell in love with the resort the first time we went there. Owning our gold season week at Surfwatch, paying what we paid, not being an enrollable week, and not wanting to use it for trades, are all perfectly fine with us and, in fact, this is exactly what we were looking to do with this ownership.

We're not unhappy with owning Surfwatch, we're unhappy with the way Marriott handled things with the shut down. With Disney, we didn't lose one point, nor any vacation time (as we did have to cancel two vacations), and in fact are getting a prorated reimbursement for our annual pass (as is everyone, not just DVC members - at least that's how I understand it). So I guess I was expecting a more "work with you" kind of attitude from Marriott. After all, if one was to purchase the points program direct through Marriott, it's pretty much comparable in price to purchasing Disney points direct through Disney - depending on the amount of points through either - and both companies have a comparable reputation. Well, not so much to me anymore, but that's just me.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

Dee