"Learn What's New" Seminar at Boston Custom House

[SueDonJ]

Got this in an email today:

You're invited to an Owners-only seminar at Marriott's Custom House hosted by our resident expert, 4-week Owner and Multi-Presidential Sales Executive, Timothy Hamilton. Timothy has been with the company for 11 years and is a highly sought-after expert on usage of the weeks and points programs. Whether you have already started using points or don't know where to begin, Timothy will point you in the right direction and share strategies to maximize your ownership.

The Marriott Vacation Club Destinations™ Exchange Program has grown tremendously since its launch almost 3 years ago with more opportunities than ever before, including:

• More than 5,000 cruise options (including River Cruises)
• More than 70 amazing Epic Explorer packages
• Luxurious Ritz-Carlton Destination Club® vacations
• Marriott Rewards travel packages
• Once-in-a-lifetime special events
• Elite Levels for even more VIP special options
• And now ... book air travel with Vacation Club Points!

What are you waiting for? Let us help you maximize your vacation ownership and enjoy a lifetime of memorable vacations. To thank you for your time, you'll receive 5,000 Marriott Rewards® points.

Choose from the following dates*, first-come, first-served:

• Saturday, September 14 at 11 a.m.
• Saturday, September 21 at 11 a.m.
• Saturday, September 28 at 11 a.m.
Please note that each seminar is limited to 12 couples on a first-come, first-served basis.* In addition to the group seminar, there will be an opportunity to meet one-on-one with Timothy Hamilton. RSVP to Marianne Callahan at 617-310-6378.

*We will provide complimentary parking for all seminar attendees. In the unlikely event of a seminar cancellation, we will notify all confirmed attendees at least three days prior to that date.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

DETAILS OF PARTICIPATION

SPONSOR: Marriott Vacation Club International

Eligibility for Seminar Offer: Seminars are for current Marriott Vacation Club Owners who are residents of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. To receive 5,000 Marriott Rewards points, Owner must attend the 60-minute Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program seminar at Marriott's Custom House to receive this offer. Owners who have attended the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program seminar at Marriott's Custom House in the past are not eligible for this offer. If married or living together, couples must attend the seminar together. 5,000 Marriott Rewards points will be posted to the appropriate account 6 to 8 weeks following the completion of the seminar. For Marriott Rewards details, please visit MarriottRewards.com. Offer is nontransferable. One offer per family/household. This offer expires 9/28/13 and is subject to change without notice. Offer not valid in conjunction with any other promotion.

I'd like to go but have too many other things going on this month. Any other local TUGgers get this invite and plan on going?

 

[jont]

Would love to go, but 5000 MRP's is not nearly enough. Noticed they are now offering booking air travel with DP's. That cant be a very efficient use of points.

 

[SueDonJ]

Would love to go, but 5000 MRP's is not nearly enough. Noticed they are now offering booking air travel with DP's. That cant be a very efficient use of points.

Check out this thread for info re the airline tickets option: Airline Tickets with Marriott Destination Points

 

[jont]

Thanks Sue, my bad. I haven't really been paying attention to all the other options for points use since I think most other options are way overpriced and that i'm not a premier member.

 

[jtp1947]

We have been to Timothy Hamilton's presentations before @ the Custom House before we bought resale there and he does a very good job and no pressure. He is extremely knowledgeable. I agree, 5K points is not enough.

 

[Quadmaniac]

I just came back from MCU and they were offering 2500 MRP to go to a seminar - They called my room at least 4 times and put two sheets under my door. 5000 doesn't seem like much...

 

[channimal]

I received that as well.. yeah, 5k doesn't seem like a whole lot of incentive. Even with parking included. It will be a pain to get down there on a Saturday. Besides, after I told DW about our very expensive mistake of buying Hilton NY at retail.. and a harrowing 5 hour hostage situation at the TS 90-minute pitch at Grand Mayan .. well, she's never been the same

 

[camachinist]

To thank insult you for your time, you'll receive 5,000 Marriott Rewards® points.

25K points (considering how much Marriott has devalued MRP's over the years) and a free/discounted night would be a good start

I'm not local and didn't receive an invite but, if I were to receive one from my home resort, NCV, I couldn't imagine being inebriated enough to put up with essentially a sales pitch for 25 bucks in MRP's and validated parking. Cynical? Yep!

 

[Beaglemom3]

Would love to go, but will be away on th 7th & 14th. On the 28th is the town-wide yard sale. Good day to dump, I mean, sell some things.

Sorry to miss it, but thanks for posting.

 

[shoeie]

Marriott in AC

I received something similar to this over the summer, advertising an "information seminar" at the MVC in Galloway, NJ (Marriott's Fairway Villas).

It sort of intrigued me, as I wasn't entirely sure if it was pure sales pitch or some combination of sales and actual useful information. Oh, and they were offering a $50 AMEX gift card, rather then the 5,000 MRP's, but since I live an hour away, the $50 wouldn't have done much more than cover my gas and tolls on the AC Expressway (maybe) so I passed. But, like you, was curious as to what transpired.

 

[EducatedConsumer]

I just came back from MCU and they were offering 2500 MRP to go to a seminar - They called my room at least 4 times and put two sheets under my door. 5000 doesn't seem like much...

Marriott should be held accountable for making multiple calls to a guest on vacation and repeatedly soliciting the guest with the likes of menus under their doors. For some odd reason, there are people at Marriott who think that once someone decides to become an owner, that they (Marriott) has an open invitation to keep pounding them while they are on vacation to attend a sales presentation. I am no longer civil when Marriott's marketing people or their marketing people disguised as concierge call our room. I put the Front Desk on notice when we check in that we do not want to be called by their marketing people, and it seems that Marriott's take on our request is that because we are under their roof, it's OK to keep calling us.

While there are some here who perceive their time as less valuable than Marriott's, we maintain that our time is more valuable than Marriott's, and when we are on vacation, we do not want to be bothered by Marriott sales or marketing people. It is shameful that Marriott does not respect that.

 

[shoeie]

Marriott should be held accountable for making multiple calls to a guest on vacation and repeatedly soliciting the guest with the likes of menus under their doors. For some odd reason, there are people at Marriott who think that once someone decides to become an owner, that they (Marriott) has an open invitation to keep pounding them while they are on vacation to attend a sales presentation. I am no longer civil when Marriott's marketing people or their marketing people disguised as concierge call our room. I put the Front Desk on notice when we check in that we do not want to be called by their marketing people, and it seems that Marriott's take on our request is that because we are under their roof, it's OK to keep calling us.

While there are some here who perceive their time as less valuable than Marriott's, we maintain that our time is more valuable than Marriott's, and when we are on vacation, we do not want to be bothered by Marriott sales or marketing people. It is shameful that Marriott does not respect that.

I guess everyone has different experiences. We just spent 5 days at Surfwatch and 4 at the Manor Club and didn't receive a single phone call the entire time. The most we heard was a single question when we checked in at Surfwatch to ask if we would be interested in attending a presentation. Once I said no thank you, that was the end of it.

 

[WFP]

Been reading this forum for a few years now but finally decided to register as a user. Thank you for all your information and help the past few years.

We stayed at the Custom house twice the past couple of months since we are local and can do short stays. DC points really helped even the "Enrolled" Ones we use.

We attended one of the sales presentations billed as informational. It discussed better usage of MR points and was actually interesting. The sales manager is enthusiastic but when we decided to not buy Trust Points he suddenly clicked OFF and was disinterested in us. To bad since we were interested.

Anyway, thanks again for all the good info that can be gleaned from the site.

/WFP

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I did a seminar in May for Orlando owner locals at a Courtyard and the offer was 20k points. Only 3 couples in our session so they scratched the seminar part. Was only there 45 min. The points never showed up so I asked around and two reps corrected the error because I got them twice a few weeks later. 40k points for a 45 min presentation can't be beat.