Info Re Cancellations Due To Maui Fires [MERGED]

[tahlstrom]

I have a week at Westin Nanea beginning 9/21. I called Travelex to see what my insurance would cover. They stated that regarding the resort portion of the insurance, they would only cover a claim if the resort was uninhabitable or inaccessible. I tried to call the Westin but they aren't taking calls and rightfully so. I called MVC owner services and they have no information at this time. The rep did say she is hearing from owners who call in that two owners who called in received emails from Marriott cancelling their reservations. One had a 9/22 date and the other a 9/28 date. So now I'm wondering if I will get an email or maybe they just need to thin out the reservations?

 

[DeniseM]

You will get a cancelling by email, but they are sending them out in batches by date, and as of yesterday, they were only on Sept. 3rd.

 

[daviator]

I believe I read that all reservations In West Maui through some date in mid-October would be cancelled, and they were essentially going to wait and see for dates beyond that. So I’d expect your reservation WILL be cancelled, and once it is, it seems like you’d have a valid claim with Travelex.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I believe I read that all reservations In West Maui through some date in mid-October would be cancelled, and they were essentially going to wait and see for dates beyond that. So I’d expect your reservation WILL be cancelled, and once it is, it seems like you’d have a valid claim with Travelex.

I read on a separate FB thread that the Sands of Kahana is welcoming people with Res's. If a person wants to go to West Maui, I recommend that they try calling the resort. Many are following the governor's request and some are not.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I read on a separate FB thread that the Sands of Kahana is welcoming people with Res's. If a person wants to go to West Maui, I recommend that they try calling the resort. Many are following the governor's request and some are not.

To add to my previous post, about 10 days ago, I observed and was surprised that on ii that there were about 100 Getaways at the Sands.

2 days ago, the listed units totaled about 80. I don't know the "depth" of the units. Perhaps they are 2, 3 or 4 deep. Who knows?

But the Getaways are a good deal for people who want to get to Maui in an area that did not burn. And the costs are also good.

I also found 2 things interesting with that huge block of getaways - -
(1) the total cost for MY 3 BR unit (MF, property taxes, Renovation assessment, etc.) is substantially more than the listed Getaway cost. That makes me wonder how whoever owns the units listed can basically "sell" them through ii at less than the owners cost. I don't have an answer for that.
(2) the date range for normal owners is 365 days. But the date range of the getaways is about 490 days (as of today). According to the official SOK timeshare "Disclosure" (the basic rules governing all owners and the management company), owners have a 365 day window. But the people offering getaways outside of the normal owners window is surprising. But someone "owns" the getaway units listed! So they are owners also. In the official disclosure I did not see that there was any mention of different classes of owners. But for some reason that I haven't figured out, the owner(s) of the offered getaway units aren't limited to the same 365 day window as us regular owners. They seem to have a special deal going on. But that is just my personal opinion...

I'm hoping that there is a simple explanation that can be shared with us "regular" owners.

The preceding is my own understanding and opinions of the getaway situation based on what I saw and recorded on the Interval site. The questions and issues that I raise are based on my own opinions and thoughts.

 

[Reganb]

To Our Valued Owners,

As you may know, the devastation in Maui this past week caused by several wildfires will leave a long-lasting impact on the island and our associates and their families. The loss of life and damage to property caused by these wildfires in Lahaina and the affected areas is difficult to comprehend.

First and foremost, we are focused on the safety and well-being of our associates, as well as those few Owners, Members, and guests who are currently on Maui.

At the time of this note, power has been restored to the resort; however, internet and telephone service remain unreliable on the island.

The lack of power and communications over the past several days has been especially difficult as the management company sought to make contact with associates, Owners, Members, and guests on Maui. Fortunately, as certain roads reopened for limited purposes and limited periods of time, we were able to have food, water and supplies delivered to our resorts over the past few days.

What We’re Doing for Upcoming Reservations

Owner Services is proactively contacting Owners, Members and guests with a confirmed reservation for occupancy during August 21 to August 31 and giving them the opportunity to cancel their reservation or explore alternative options. If you have an upcoming reservation, please contact Owner Services who can assist you in changing that aspect of your travel plans.

What We’re Doing for Our Associates

While we wait for communication lines to fully reopen, we continue to try to make contact with every associate on the island. We estimate that several hundreds of our associates and their families have sustained significant damage to, or loss of, their homes and their belongings. Active efforts are underway to assist impacted associates and their families by providing temporary housing, food, disaster pay for unworkable hours, supplies and other vital resources in the aftermath of the recent wildfires.

We have had an outpouring of concern and inquiries by many wanting to assist with support for our associates and their families. We thank you for your care and generosity. To help aid those associates and their families who incur significant damage or displacement after a natural or civic disaster such as this, our company previously established an associate relief fund. To help support recovery and relief efforts, we invite you to visit our Company Relief Fund website. All funds donated are distributed directly to our associates in need. Contributions to this Company Relief Fund will help our associates and their families across all nine impacted Maui properties managed by MVW build back following the wildfires.


Our thoughts continue to be with all of our teams on Maui.

Best regards,

Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Edgar Gum
Regional Vice President
Vacation Ownership, Americas - Hawaii

 

[Reganb]

Has anyone had MVC cancel a MOC reservation?….if so,did the points go into a holding account or did the points go back to where they originated from?

Does anyone have information regarding fixed weeks ? we are scheduled for 10/7 we have heard absolutely nothing we either go or lose a 3BR 3B Please just information regarding my question Thanks

 

[Pamplemousse]

Does anyone have information regarding fixed weeks ? we are scheduled for 10/7 we have heard absolutely nothing we either go or lose a 3BR 3B Please just information regarding my question Thanks

A couple of things-
if the resort is not closed you can deposit your week into II. It’s a late deposit so you will be limited to exchanging 60 days in advance of check in but the deposit will be good for 2 years.

I just read an article today about how Maui relies of tourism and they are encouraging people to not cancel.

Call the resort or check the hub to be sure the amenities you need / want will be available.

 

[TXTortoise]

Does anyone have information regarding fixed weeks ? we are scheduled for 10/7 we have heard absolutely nothing we either go or lose a 3BR 3B Please just information regarding my question Thanks

Will be treated like others I’m sure. You’ll get an II certificate, but suppose it’s possible you’ll get nothing. For that date, and given the room, my guess is the week will remain available as they do a slow restart.

Bottom line is no one knows until you get the notice.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Does anyone have information regarding fixed weeks ? we are scheduled for 10/7 we have heard absolutely nothing we either go or lose a 3BR 3B Please just information regarding my question Thanks

Your best bet? Call Marriott Owner Services @ 800-845-4226 and receive a written and verbal confirmation.......




.

 

[Reganb]

We just received our confirmation from the Marriott for week of 10/7 fingers crossed for all travelers let’s spend as much as possible. Thanks

 

[mauix4]

Does anyone know if the II certificate they offer in this case for the wildfire cancellation, has any restrictions? For instance, I have received promo II certs in the past, but I never use them as they are limited to certain places I don't go to, and they say they are not good in Hawaii (any island). My reservation was cancelled for (Aug 16) understandable, but was put back as restricted SO. The email we received said that an owner services is contacting owners, but they have never contacted me. I only know about the II cert because I called/chatted. When I asked if there were any restrictions, they said they didn't know. Only that it was good until 12/15/24. So I didn't pull the trigger on it yet.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Does anyone know if the II certificate they offer in this case for the wildfire cancellation, has any restrictions? For instance, I have received promo II certs in the past, but I never use them as they are limited to certain places I don't go to, and they say they are not good in Hawaii (any island). My reservation was cancelled for (Aug 16) understandable, but was put back as restricted SO. The email we received said that an owner services is contacting owners, but they have never contacted me. I only know about the II cert because I called/chatted. When I asked if there were any restrictions, they said they didn't know. Only that it was good until 12/15/24. So I didn't pull the trigger on it yet.

The other restriction beyond it expiring on 12/24 that was mentioned was that you can only look 60 days in advance. However I'm not sure if that is accurate because right now there are MOC units available in Dec showing, which is clearly more than 60 days so not sure if they're just showing Dec 2023 and into 2024 it will be a 60 day window.

As for location restrictions, there doesn't appear to be one, as the normal broad list of available resorts does appear for exchange, but with limited options, so I think the answer is there is no location restriction but getting comparable to MOC might be hard with the 60 day window if that is real. I took a 1BDRM island view with Kitchen exchange for early Dec to hopefully get some value back. I wanted to wait until next year to see if more would be available but my sense is there will be less availability into MOC 2024 so I jumped on a Dec 2023 to use or rent. I say that there will be less MOC availability in 2024 through II because I'm not seeing a rash of deposits or dump of rentals for 2024, which I expected as a knee jerk reaction. So I believe if people didn't panic and had a knee jerk reaction, as time goes on demand will get back to normal and MOC availability on short notice through II will be minimal. Time will tell.

 

[BocaBoy]

Update: To answer some questions asked earlier, they canceled Ko Olina because apparently the agent thought it was on Maui. (Honest!) I discovered it an hour later but they had already given away our rooms. They found other rooms for us, but would NOT reinstate our 3 BR unit which was VERY important to our family dynamics. They were willing to screw us (President's Club member) for their mistake even though we had our reservation for almost a year, but said they could not take the reservation away from the person who had it for an hour. We made the trip (50th anniversary, not 60th as someone said in another post) but it was definitely not the same as it would have been had they not f....d up.

Now I have a boatload of holding account points from the Maui portion of the trip that will go to waste unless I can find people to make last minute reservations for. This is not the same Marriott Vacation Club I joined 36 years ago.

 

[Fasttr]

Update: To answer some questions asked earlier, they canceled Ko Olina because apparently the agent thought it was on Maui. (Honest!) I discovered it an hour later but they had already given away our rooms. They found other rooms for us, but would NOT reinstate our 3 BR unit which was VERY important to our family dynamics. They were willing to screw us (President's Club member) for their mistake even though we had our reservation for almost a year, but said they could not take the reservation away from the person who had it for an hour. We made the trip (50th anniversary, not 60th as someone said in another post) but it was definitely not the same as it would have been had they not f....d up.

Now I have a boatload of holding account points from the Maui portion of the trip that will go to waste unless I can find people to make last minute reservations for. This is not the same Marriott Vacation Club I joined 36 years ago.

That is disappointing for sure. They should have come up with a better solution for you.

 

[BocaBoy]

Does anyone know if the II certificate they offer in this case for the wildfire cancellation, has any restrictions? For instance, I have received promo II certs in the past, but I never use them as they are limited to certain places I don't go to, and they say they are not good in Hawaii (any island). My reservation was cancelled for (Aug 16) understandable, but was put back as restricted SO. The email we received said that an owner services is contacting owners, but they have never contacted me. I only know about the II cert because I called/chatted. When I asked if there were any restrictions, they said they didn't know. Only that it was good until 12/15/24. So I didn't pull the trigger on it yet.

People who exchanged through II are in a MUCH better position that those who exchanged through Abound. I have tried to understand the rationale for this, but one escapes me. Both are exchanges.

 

[TravelJoy]

Update: To answer some questions asked earlier, they canceled Ko Olina because apparently the agent thought it was on Maui. (Honest!) I discovered it an hour later but they had already given away our rooms. They found other rooms for us, but would NOT reinstate our 3 BR unit which was VERY important to our family dynamics. They were willing to screw us (President's Club member) for their mistake even though we had our reservation for almost a year, but said they could not take the reservation away from the person who had it for an hour. We made the trip (50th anniversary, not 60th as someone said in another post) but it was definitely not the same as it would have been had they not f....d up.

Now I have a boatload of holding account points from the Maui portion of the trip that will go to waste unless I can find people to make last minute reservations for. This is not the same Marriott Vacation Club I joined 36 years ago.

That is terrible Are you able to escalate to a supervisor that can extend the points or transfer to another account to ensure there is no expiration.

 

[BocaBoy]

That is terrible Are you able to escalate to a supervisor that can extend the points or transfer to another account to ensure there is no expiration.

I have tried that but they are holding firm. Not even any sympathy. It is not the owner-friendly Marriott from whom we bought Sabal Palms in 1987.