Making Reservation, why Marriott is so hard?

[myip]

Why is it so hard to make a reservation for prime week? HGVC or Starwood does not seem to have this problem? They also have a long prime season for few prime weeks. Why is Marriott is harder than other hotel (point system) reservation?

 

[daventrina]

Because they do "timeshare the Marriott way"

• They deposit peak demand weeks with II for exchange.
• They used to rent peak weeks for huge amounts of money.
• They don't follow the reservation rules at many resorts allowing 13 month reservations when they should not.
• All inventory management is done out of Florida without input/control from the resort.
• There is a self defeating reservation frenzy caused by owners having a difficult time getting reservations.
• Some resorts have to wide a season designation (Maui is all one season) and other are too divided (Tahoe is broken up into a half dozen small pieces.
• The computer reservation system can’t keep up with demand.
• There are too few reservationists at peak demand times.
• Reservations for all check-in days can now all be made on one day (in many cases Thursday- and if you miss you may be toast).

Basically, poor inventory management.

 

[Steve]

I think the reason is because Marriott allows owners to reserve the best week they can and then deposit it into II individually. In contrast, Hilton and Starwood pick the weeks which are deposited into RCI or II. The owner has no say in which week will be deposited. This can result in lower trade power for exchange, but it keeps the prime weeks available for owners who want to use them.

For example, the reason it is so hard to book the 4th of July at a lot of Marriott resorts is because everyone knows that week has the highest trade power of any week of the year in many locations. So owners who want to trade through II (and naturally want top trade power) all try to book the 4th of July.

With Hilton and Starwood, only the owners who actually want to stay at the resort for the 4th of July week book that week. It makes it much easier for owners to reserve popular weeks.

Steve

 

[ZCar]

In 9 years of Marriott, we have never had a problem.
Yes, we prefer off-season in Hawaii, but have had weeks over New Years and spring break and almost always have a Thanksgiving week at Desert Springs II.
Had no problem with Ko'Olina next March 10-24, generally a spring break time period.
We definitely prefer to do "timeshare the Marriott way"!

 

[tsl]

Why is it so hard to make a reservation for prime week? HGVC or Starwood does not seem to have this problem? They also have a long prime season for few prime weeks. Why is Marriott is harder than other hotel (point system) reservation?

Starwood is far from perfect. We own a fixed week at Harborside for the end of July. I am trying to float in my season and get an earlier week in June or July. I have called every week and nothing. Thank goodness I own a fixed week in the summer so I am covered.

 

[daventrina]

...
Yes, we prefer off-season in Hawaii,...

Lucky you
Someday we'll get to go to Hawaii in October again. We love Hawaii in October. Probably overall the best time of the year.
Maui is going to get fixed. The cutback in rental of peak weeks through Marriott will probably help. Next, they are likely to stop depositing peak demand weeks with II (the demand from II for Maui is so high, that it really doesn't matter which week II gets).
Between the two, that should make a big difference in availability for owners.

 

[ZCar]

DnT,
Coming up "off-season": Kauai Beach Club Oct. 14-21, (3 extra nights Oct. 11-14. Kauai was booked specifically to attend the HOA Board Meeting).
Then Maui Beach Club Oct. 21-Nov. 4. We made the Maui reservation just to see what Halloween night is in Lahaina. The comment was "Halloween night in Lahaina is not to be missed. Leave the kids home".

Enjoy your Maui vacation.

 

[daventrina]

DnT,
Enjoy your Maui vacation.
The comment was "Halloween night in Lahaina is not to be missed. Leave the kids home".
Enjoy your Maui vacation.

Thanks
That's what they say
At least we don't have to wait till October to go.
And we get to dive Honaloa which we usually didn't in October:whoopie:

 

[camachinist]

This year was easy (to get prime weeks). What does next year hold

Pull the lever

Pat

 

[PerryM]

Don't get mad - get glad

The problem of “Too many owners chasing too few holiday weeks” is not unique to Marriott – we WM owners face the same problem.

What to do? Post #2 is an excellent recap of the Marriott problems. WM has addressed the II exchange problem (We can’t reserve a hot week – WM gives II and RCI a basket of weeks) this has not solved the problem.

This problem is systemic and simply a side effect of timeshares. When the salesrep sells a week, they sell a dream vacation. If you have kids in school, you are limited to weeks 51, 52 and the summer months. That’s all you can use your timeshare for family vacations.

Marriott has addressed the problem of holiday weeks by making them Platinum Plus and charging 50%+ more. They could address the II problem but it would probably take an act of god to get it passed in all resorts.

(Incidentally, we are currently at the Maui Ocean Club and I understand that only 9 week 51’s were ever sold as Platinum Plus and Marriott then made the week just Platinum – anyone know why?)

As has been covered in may threads here, the only way out of this problem is to understand it and use it to your advantage – cash solves most problems in a capitalistic society (learn how to buy more Marriotts to virtually guarantee you any floating week you want).

There are dozens of schemes that solve this problem that require no money but I doubt the owners would go along with them.

Conclusion: it’s not that difficult to book the week you want if you spend time learning how to do this and perhaps buy some “throw away” weeks to do it. Use the "throw away" weeks and the same described weaknesses to your advantage.

 

[cp73]

Because they do "timeshare the Marriott way"

• They deposit peak demand weeks with II for exchange.
• They used to rent peak weeks for huge amounts of money.

• 
  
  Daventrina...
  
  Who is the they you are referring to. I assume you are referring to owners because they are the owners of the weeks that select them and then deposit them with II for trade because they will demand a higher trade value. Or are you saying Marriott gives peak demand weeks from the total available inventory away. But I dont see how that can be so.

 

[camachinist]

Daventrina...

Who is the they you are referring to. I assume you are referring to owners because they are the owners of the weeks that select them and then deposit them with II for trade because they will demand a higher trade value. Or are you saying Marriott gives peak demand weeks from the total available inventory away. But I dont see how that can be so.

I'll use our resort (NCV) as an example....Owner surrenders week to Marriott to rent or exchange for MRP's. This week is not reserved by the owner. Marriott goes eenie, meenie, minnie, moe, I'll pick a summer SoCal coast week with my toe. Poof, there it goes, right into Marriott's rental pool, or perhaps into II, though I doubt it. Multiply by however many weeks you think this happens to.

Anticipating the obvious question (how can they do that if the weeks are all reserved at the time the owners surrender for points/rental?), Marriott owns the distribution system and who knows exactly what they make available at any time. RCI (Cendant) has nothing on them, when it comes to smarts.

Gotta love business...

Pat

 

[MOXJO7282]

The one simple thing that I think would really help improve the "inventory management" is a wait list. I just know many people who reserve the prime weeks, ultimately give them up. I would bet as much as 10% of the reservations.

A wait list would wouldn't be that difficult (costly) to manage, and would be a fair way to redistribute the weeks that are put back in the pool.

Regards.
Joe

 

[JudyS]

The one simple thing that I think would really help improve the "inventory management" is a wait list.....

Disney runs a wait list for any booked-up nights in the DVC system. It definitely seems to help.

With Disney, there are just a few nights that are hard to reserve (mostly right after Christmas.) There are a few unit types, however, that are in short supply, such as the 3 bedroom Grand Villas.

 

[cp73]

I'll use our resort (NCV) as an example....Owner surrenders week to Marriott to rent or exchange for MRP's. This week is not reserved by the owner. Marriott goes eenie, meenie, minnie, moe, I'll pick a summer SoCal coast week with my toe. Poof, there it goes, right into Marriott's rental pool, or perhaps into II, though I doubt it. Multiply by however many weeks you think this happens to.

Pat

Thanks Pat...being new to timesharing I didn't realize that when you give your week to Marriott to rent you dont have to get it first (request it then surrender it). So I guess then when you give your week to Marriott to rent its more than likely going to rent for you because they are selecting the prime weeks for rentals???

 

[daventrina]

Daventrina...

Who is the they you are referring to.

MVCI.
For Maui and some other resorts, it doesn't matter which week you give II as far as trading power goes. It is the most requested resort in II by a factor of 2.

 

[floyddl]

Thanks Pat...being new to timesharing I didn't realize that when you give your week to Marriott to rent you dont have to get it first (request it then surrender it). So I guess then when you give your week to Marriott to rent its more than likely going to rent for you because they are selecting the prime weeks for rentals???

Anyone that elects to rent their week thru Marriott without selecting the week first is uninformed and has no reason to complain about what they get. However, I bet these are the very people who complain and Marriott has now essentially destroyed the rental program.

 

[Retired to Travel]

A wait list would wouldn't be that difficult (costly) to manage, and would be a fair way to redistribute the weeks that are put back in the pool.

Regards.
Joe

Joe, I enthusiastically agree with your wait-list suggestion. How do we get MVCI to implement it?

 

[camachinist]

Anyone that elects to rent their week thru Marriott without selecting the week first is uninformed and has no reason to complain about what they get. However, I bet these are the very people who complain and Marriott has now essentially destroyed the rental program.

Marriott first prompts an owner to select what they wish to do with their interval; some options I recall, as our intervals are currently all reserved and I can't access the appropriate screen:

Occupy
Lock off
Split Week
Deposit with Exchange Company
Rent through Marriott
Exchange for Points

As I've never selected anything but occupy, my understanding is that, from your implication, even if one selects "Rent through Marriott", one eventually gets the reservation calendar and can select the interval dates they wish to give to Marriott to rent. Is this correct? Can others who have rented through Marriott concur? If so, my assertion is completely wrong and I apologize. If not, then Marriott is misleading people by leading them to believe they can only make that choice when reserving the interval, where it may be possible to surrender it later, which is another inference one can draw from your statement.

Adding, IMO, neither of the scenarios above obviates Marriott's control of the reservation system and their ability to dump or exchange a date selection which an owner has made prior to surrender, if possible, or through non-specific surrender. They hold the cards and control the table in such instances.

Enquiring minds?

Pat

 

[daventrina]

Joe, I enthusiastically agree with your wait-list suggestion. How do we get MVCI to implement it?

We asked MVCI to and the answer was that it was too much work. Not sure why they aren't interested. They could use that as an excuet to charge the resorts an extra $50k/year for
reservation services.

 

[KathyPet]

Whether you choose to occupy yourself or rent makes no difference when selecting a week. Last year I went on and selected a week with a check in of July 2 using the rent through Marriott option. I also used the on line ssystem to select my week at Barony Beach and again selected the week I wanted. Makes no difference. If you are the first or one of the first in line to get on and reserve then whether you rent it or use it you can still select a prime week if it is available.

 

[camachinist]

If you are the first or one of the first in line to get on and reserve then whether you rent it or use it you can still select a prime week if it is available.

Thanks for that information. Has anyone made a similar reservation this year using the new Marriott rental system to compare?

In the case of last year's rental, how did Marriott's recitation of the rack rate for that very desirable week jive with your independently found results and did the numbers end up the same in the end, after the unit rented, discounting Marriott's commission and tidy fees? Additionally, how disparate are the rack rates for this resort from one season to the next? I ask because such rates, for high season, can be triple those of low season, at our resort.

Pat

 

[MikeM132]

I don't understand, either, how you can opt to have Marriott rent your week without having it reservred. I read on this board that it has been fairly common for a Marriott rental to fall through (one reason for the new rental policy). If a rental fell through and you got your week back, what week would they give you if you didn't already have it reserved?
I don't pretend to understand all this stuff on playing with inventory and II. So far I've been lucky, and have not really had to try to reserve a peak week at a tough resort (yet). I've also said before the silver lining of Grande Vista is the resort is big and you can get a week easier. We'll see how I do with my very limited view we bought in Maui.

 

[KathyPet]

In 2005 I logged onto the MVCI Reservation system and selected my Manor Club (non lock off) as the resort I wanted to work with. I then selected the week I wanted (Check in day of 7/2/2006). THen I said I wanted to rent through Marriott. That week did rent and I will have a check shortly for a net of $1140.00 after all comissions and fees are deducted. Under the new system that is now in place if I were to call Marriott and say I wanted to rent my week they (Marriott) will give me a list of weeks to choose from. Now I don't know if the prime weeks are included in that list or not but you have to select from the list they give you. After you select a week and do some other stuff I'm sure Marriott will send you a check immediately. When I called I asked the CR how much I would receive (net) if I was able to select the July 4th 07 week to rent out at Manor Club and her answer was $565.00. So this year $1140 and next year $565 for the same week at the same resort.
In addition we placed our Barony Gold week for rent with a check in date of 9/16/06. Last week I received the 60 day notice that no nights had rented. I called Marriott today and then sent them a E Mail requesting that the unit be withdrawn from the rental pool. THey will check to ensure that it has not rented in the last week. If it has not they will cancel the rental and deposit the week with Interval for me which is what I requested. THey will then E mail me with the II confirmation # and I will then have a week "banked" at II. I also could have requested that they simply cancel the rental and have taken the week back to use myself or give away or whatever.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

 

[bogey21]

I read on this board that it has been fairly common for a Marriott rental to fall through (one reason for the new rental policy).

As some of you know I used to own 4 Marriott Weeks and over time sold them all as I was not thrilled with many of Marriott's policies. Marriott's old rental policy, however, was not one of them. I probably had Marriott rent one of my Weeks maybe six times and never had the problem of rentals falling through. I think I got the full 7 days every time but one (and that was six days). My guess is that the new rental policy is administratively easier and more profitable for Marriott.

GEORGE