MARRIOTT / CORONAVIRUS [MERGED]

[DeeCee]

Dee, this is your week, not Marriott's week. You own it. Marriott is the management company. Situations like this are horrible, but it isn't your fault or Marriott's fault. Your best bet is to go ahead with the II option and put in an ongoing search each month. Eventually you will get something you can use. If you don't like that option, just go to Hilton Head and make the best of it. The problem is that the island may be closed off to tourists by then. You can always just chalk up the MFs you paid to a really bad situation that hopefully never happens again. This is happening to hundreds of people and there's really not a lot that can be done since the weeks will pass and you can't put extra months on the calendar.

Good luck, and stay safe in NY.

Yes, thanks. I am still weighing the options. The problem is Hilton Head, God forbid, may be in the same situation we find ourselves in by April 12th, or we may be in a more restrictive state, so there's probably not much chance we can actually go to Hilton Head, or anywhere else - jeez a supermarket is a stretch. It's bigger than so many realize, way bigger. We can take walks, around our own neighborhoods, or in the parks, but playgrounds are closed off within the parks, and we have to keep a distance from other people. Hair and nail salons, any non essential businesses are shut down. People are losing their lively hood by the day here.

In this setting, in this collective frame of mind, there's not much thinking about getting in a car to drive 14 hours for a vacation. Definitely not getting on a plane for sure. Jetblue refunded all our money on account, no penalties, to be used for a future date, and it's not their fault either - but uh Marriott can't figure that out. There's not much thinking about going on a vacation where we would risk picking up or transmitting this virus there anyway. The President of the United States is telling us to stay away from each other all over the country, not just our governor here in NY, people all over are out of work, "chalking up" MF's with nothing for them, when so many have to think about paying their bills with no jobs, and no money, well, sorry but for us throwing away money on anything at this time is not a reasonable solution. Airlines are going to take a major hit, maybe even bankruptcy, but they're not penalizing their customers. I'm going to write and call and see if something, anything, can be done. I'd take hotel points and use them somewhere when we can finally travel around again.

Let's hope and pray this stays contained here and the other states never know how bad it can get...

Dee

 

[jfmerriman]

I have been a Marriott timeshare owner since the late 80’s. Weeks only (no destination points) in Florida (those 2 weeks sold), and since it opened, Aruba Surf Club. In all these years, this is 1st time we’ve been in this situation. We had JetBlue insurance but no Marriott insurance.
We were due to fly 3/29 to Aruba for our week, but on 3/16, Aruba closed entry to ALL int’l passengers. Since we were in the less than 14-day checkin, MVC is allowing deposit with II but I have the 30-day confirmation to exchange window. I had to complete an online form on my MVC owner’s page, and they said they’d get back to me with details.

Do I use my current week reservation # to deposit into II? Or wait for MVC to respond to me?


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I have a very similar issue: My home resort is MVC Aruba Surf Club, and our family was due to fly on March 28. After the travel ban announcement from the Aruba government on March 12, I called the MVC customer service team on 3/14 and was told that since my trip was less than 14 days from check-in, my only alternative was to deposit my week with II. This is outrageous and I said this to the service rep as well as a manager, but to no avail, they simply quote policy! I simply want to keep my week at the Surf Club, at some later date, but MVC won't accommodate my request. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[dioxide45]

I have a very similar issue: My home resort is MVC Aruba Surf Club, and our family was due to fly on March 28. After the travel ban announcement from the Aruba government on March 12, I called the MVC customer service team on 3/14 and was told that since my trip was less than 14 days from check-in, my only alternative was to deposit my week with II. This is outrageous and I said this to the service rep as well as a manager, but to no avail, they simply quote policy! I simply want to keep my week at the Surf Club, at some later date, but MVC won't accommodate my request. Does anyone have any ideas?

It seems that is really your best option. The problem is that if they let everyone book for later in the year, there would be too many people for the number of available weeks.

 

[Dean]

It seems that is really your best option. The problem is that if they let everyone book for later in the year, there would be too many people for the number of available weeks.

Probably but it's very possible enough people will not travel that there will be excess inventory for a while even with the 120 day expansion of the holding account. That's why I suggested earlier one of the options they might have considered was to use weeks in inventory that looked like they might not be used otherwise. There may be excess II inventory for the same reason, we'll see.

 

[hangloose]

I simply want to keep my week at the Surf Club, at some later date, but MVC won't accommodate my request.

I also wish MVC would at least allow deeded week owners to reschedule within this calendar year, IF inventory is available later in the year. They obviously cannot give inventory that is not available, but at least a few could have the option perhaps.

 

[Mrs.SLLP]

Yes, thanks. I am still weighing the options. The problem is Hilton Head, God forbid, may be in the same situation we find ourselves in by April 12th, or we may be in a more restrictive state, so there's probably not much chance we can actually go to Hilton Head, or anywhere else - jeez a supermarket is a stretch. It's bigger than so many realize, way bigger. We can take walks, around our own neighborhoods, or in the parks, but playgrounds are closed off within the parks, and we have to keep a distance from other people. Hair and nail salons, any non essential businesses are shut down. People are losing their lively hood by the day here.

In this setting, in this collective frame of mind, there's not much thinking about getting in a car to drive 14 hours for a vacation. Definitely not getting on a plane for sure. Jetblue refunded all our money on account, no penalties, to be used for a future date, and it's not their fault either - but uh Marriott can't figure that out. There's not much thinking about going on a vacation where we would risk picking up or transmitting this virus there anyway. The President of the United States is telling us to stay away from each other all over the country, not just our governor here in NY, people all over are out of work, "chalking up" MF's with nothing for them, when so many have to think about paying their bills with no jobs, and no money, well, sorry but for us throwing away money on anything at this time is not a reasonable solution. Airlines are going to take a major hit, maybe even bankruptcy, but they're not penalizing their customers. I'm going to write and call and see if something, anything, can be done. I'd take hotel points and use them somewhere when we can finally travel around again.

Let's hope and pray this stays contained here and the other states never know how bad it can get...

Dee

Dee, we can drive to Hilton Head in about two and a half hours. When Daddy was alive, my large extended family stayed at a Marriott resort there countless times -- long before we ever became MVC owners. The irony is since joining MVC, we have not been back. Daddy loved it there. Hilton Head, Tybee Island, St. Simons Island -- anywhere coastal and tranquil, he loved. So many wonderful memories, but too painfully beautiful for me to revisit right now - if that makes sense. So although it has been a few years since I've been back, Hilton Head is Hilton Head because it is a carefully planned town of mostly private, gated communities and the resorts, of course. South Carolina is under a state of emergency and restaurants are not able to provide dine-in service. Hilton Head has never been home to a large number of chain eateries, restaurants and grocery stores. As of yesterday, city council voted to close Hilton Head's public beaches, according to the town's paper of record, the Island Packet. "Friday’s announcement had no effect on residents who could get to the beach from private access points, like many gated neighborhoods, nor tourists at island resorts or renters at places with private access." Assuming the resorts remain open and the resort has beach access, guests appear to be able to at least enjoy that. Savannah, Georgia is less than an hour's drive from Hilton Head, but with that state reporting nearly 500 confirmed cases of the virus and residents being asked to remain at home, getting food and supplies will be like anywhere else in our country right now: a challenge. I hope all will be well with you and your family. If you decide to make the 14-hour drive, be safe and please share your experience. At the end of the day, MVC can and should consider every owner's situation on a case-by-case basis. There are no rules or regulations against that. I know when all of this clears, I have a lot of questions for Florida's Office of the Attorney General.
One more thing: The article below from The Island Packet mentions Marriott.

https://www.islandpacket.com/news/coronavirus/article241329211.html

 

[hangloose]

Wishing everyone struggling with aspects of COVID-19 the best!

Came to the realization tonight that the 2 1/2 week vacation in Hawaii where we invited a bunch of extended family just isn't going to happen in April. The decision to cancel vacation is hard, given many of us TUGGers live for it...get up early to book 12/13 months in advance at exactly 9am, etc, etc. While disappointing, the loss on maintenance fees is small in comparison to others with sick family members or struggling to keep their business afloat. My only desire here was that Marriott Vacation Club had a bit more flexibility somehow for weeks owners. DC Points sure would have been nice here, as at least I would have 'restricted' points vs pretty expensive maintenance fee loss on multiple Hawaii weeks.

Now off to cancel everything else (airline, car rental, dog daycare, etc)...and more importantly to figure out my next vacation. Wondering how soon is safe .

 

[dioxide45]

I know this isn't Marriott related, but we actually had success with United Airlines earlier. Wife and I had flights booked to California with United using miles. I had read up on FlyerTalk to see what they were doing. While it seems that they are waiving change fees for flights paid with cash, they were still charging redeposit fees for award flights. My wife called them and after over an hour on hold they said they would waive the redeposit fees and we had the points back. I was shocked. We really didn't want to pay to redeposit since we had actually already paid once to redeposit these miles from another flight we were going to take but cancelled because we moved to Florida.

 

[Steve Fatula]

DC Points sure would have been nice here, as at least I would have 'restricted' points vs pretty expensive maintenance fee loss on multiple Hawaii weeks.

Now off to cancel everything else (airline, car rental, dog daycare, etc)...and more importantly to figure out my next vacation. Wondering how soon is safe .

Yeah, who knows when it will be safe again. DC points were very useful for this once in a lifetime event (hopefully). But even an enrolled week was good also. While I had to cancel my Hawaii week (which turned out to be all but assured as of today anyway with governors announcement), it was an II exchange. But since it was enrolled, I can indefinitely (well, up to 2+ more years) retrade it every couple of months until things are good, since retrades are no cost. That's a pretty nice feature of an enrolled week.

I had cancelled due to needing surgery and various visits before then, but, would have now anyway. However, given how important beds are, I'm not sure that's going to happen anyway. My surgery would be far less important than someone in critical condition. I really need it, but, not for life threatening purposes.

 

[jbeachlvr]

I have a very similar issue: My home resort is MVC Aruba Surf Club, and our family was due to fly on March 28. After the travel ban announcement from the Aruba government on March 12, I called the MVC customer service team on 3/14 and was told that since my trip was less than 14 days from check-in, my only alternative was to deposit my week with II. This is outrageous and I said this to the service rep as well as a manager, but to no avail, they simply quote policy! I simply want to keep my week at the Surf Club, at some later date, but MVC won't accommodate my request. Does anyone have any ideas?

We were due to check-in 3/29 for our week. we are weeks owners there too. I got the same less than 14-day deal (no deal). I just received email yesterday from Marriott Owner Services that says ,
“Unfortunately Interval International has blocked that resort from being deposited. that being said Marriott's Customer Advocacy team is looking at options for compensation and will be contacting the owners.”

Can hardly wait for what “compensation” it will be! Will report back here once I know.


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[amy241]

I also wish MVC would at least allow deeded week owners to reschedule within this calendar year, IF inventory is available later in the year. They obviously cannot give inventory that is not available, but at least a few could have the option perhaps.

This was my hope as well. But it appears unlikely.

 

[amy241]

Yeah, who knows when it will be safe again. DC points were very useful for this once in a lifetime event (hopefully). But even an enrolled week was good also. While I had to cancel my Hawaii week (which turned out to be all but assured as of today anyway with governors announcement), it was an II exchange. But since it was enrolled, I can indefinitely (well, up to 2+ more years) retrade it every couple of months until things are good, since retrades are no cost. That's a pretty nice feature of an enrolled week.

I had cancelled due to needing surgery and various visits before then, but, would have now anyway. However, given how important beds are, I'm not sure that's going to happen anyway. My surgery would be far less important than someone in critical condition. I really need it, but, not for life threatening purposes.

What is the announcement? Can you post a link to the news story?

 

[hangloose]

What is the announcement? Can you post a link to the news story?

The second round of restrictions into Hawaii was announce by the Governor yesterday. Basically a 14 day quarantine starting Thursday 3/26 for any travelers into the state. Must stay in their hotel or residence. This is in addition to closing restaurants, activities, etc. Ko Olina (as a resort community) and indicating it was closing hotels and all public access. Appears they are closing the lagoons and associated beach. MKO will remain open for owners with limited amenities.

Ige announces 14-day quarantine measure for incoming travelers

The measure will go into effect Thursday so — a delay officials said was aimed at preventing chaos at the airports.

www.hawaiinewsnow.com

Hotels at Ko Olina Resort will temporarily close amid coronavirus pandemic | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hotels at Ko Olina Resort, including Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa, will close starting Tuesday.

www.staradvertiser.com

 

[caribbeanqueen]

I have a trip planned for April 27 for only two nights at Ocean Pointe. We have a vacation home in Venice Florida where we were going to spend the rest of our week. Many of the beaches in Florida are closing down (not sure how it works in front of Marriott property). We have not yet decided what to do but I did get an email from Frontier Airlines offering us a $50.00 voucher for my husband and I if we cancel our flight. The other issue is my SIL is in the Coast Guard and they are not allowed to travel. I am not sure how long this will be in effect. We have till Monday to decide. Our flight home is with Southwest. My daughter and family would be flying in Southwest and home with United. The flights can probably be cancelled without an issue. I assume my Marriott points cannot be put back but will be lost since we did not bother with travel insurance?

 

[TS2traveler]

Aloha, all,

I have 4 weeks reserved for Marriott Ko Olina Resort in April/May, and am thinking about what I should do about the corona virus problem. Perhaps some of you can comment on my thoughts?

I called Marriott and asked about options, and the person I spoke to (who didn't sound very knowledgeable) told me that cancellation of owner weeks is a loss for me, and that is why I was supposed to buy vacation insurance. I had bought the insurance. So I should just call the insurance company, file a claim and get my Maintenance fees back?

Is that true? Is there no way to reschedule the date on my reservation to another time, say in September, if the weeks are available? Even if there is a change fee? I have a call-back request into Marriott right now, and I'm waiting to hear from someone there who can help me with the answer to this question, but I'm wondering if any of you have encountered this before?

Otherwise, would I deposit the weeks into Interval and hope I could exchange into something later? I think I have heard that exchanging back into a Marriott property, especially your home property, through Interval, is not available...True?

Also, if I deposit into Interval at this late date, (Late Deposit) would I only be eligible for last minute exchanges?

Anyone have any suggestions on what I can do?

Mahalo

Based on my discussions with Marriott regarding an upcoming April stay at Shadow Ridge,
the only option for an Owner Week is to do a late Deposit with Interval which limits your reservation window to only 60 days before arrival. My reservation at Shadow Ridge was within the 61 day cancellation policy.
Really upset with this option since it is out of our control to even be there with a statewide shelter in place.
Not feeling real special being a Marriott timeshare owner with this treatment.....basically losing the use of a timeshare week.....

 

[dioxide45]

I have a trip planned for April 27 for only two nights at Ocean Pointe. We have a vacation home in Venice Florida where we were going to spend the rest of our week. Many of the beaches in Florida are closing down (not sure how it works in front of Marriott property). We have not yet decided what to do but I did get an email from Frontier Airlines offering us a $50.00 voucher for my husband and I if we cancel our flight. The other issue is my SIL is in the Coast Guard and they are not allowed to travel. I am not sure how long this will be in effect. We have till Monday to decide. Our flight home is with Southwest. My daughter and family would be flying in Southwest and home with United. The flights can probably be cancelled without an issue. I assume my Marriott points cannot be put back but will be lost since we did not bother with travel insurance?

Interesting that an airline is offering a voucher to get you to cancel? Perhaps they want to cancel the whole flight? Though I guess if they do that they would have to refund the whole amount where if they have you cancel, they just give you credit to use along with the $50 voucher?

As for your DC points, you can cancel the reservation and have the points placed in to a holding account where they can be used to make a reservation no more than 120 days before travel. They don't have to be lost. Of course finding another time to use them may not be easy.

 

[dioxide45]

We were due to check-in 3/29 for our week. we are weeks owners there too. I got the same less than 14-day deal (no deal). I just received email yesterday from Marriott Owner Services that says ,
“Unfortunately Interval International has blocked that resort from being deposited. that being said Marriott's Customer Advocacy team is looking at options for compensation and will be contacting the owners.”

Can hardly wait for what “compensation” it will be! Will report back here once I know.


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Well, that sure is a new turn of events.

I suspect what they will do is use some other past or future deposit that Marriott gave to II and transfer it to you in II. I believe these are referred to as replacement weeks. They do this if someone buys late in a year and can't get a reservation for their current use year. For you, it will look just like a regular II deposit. Just a guess though, who knows what they will do.

 

[Steve Fatula]

We were due to check-in 3/29 for our week. we are weeks owners there too. I got the same less than 14-day deal (no deal). I just received email yesterday from Marriott Owner Services that says ,
“Unfortunately Interval International has blocked that resort from being deposited. that being said Marriott's Customer Advocacy team is looking at options for compensation and will be contacting the owners.”

Can hardly wait for what “compensation” it will be! Will report back here once I know.

I have never heard of that one! I presume you tried from the MVC site or via MVC? I wonder if it would work from the Ii website, you already have a confirmation number so it would be easy to (try to) deposit it there.

 

[jbeachlvr]

I have never heard of that one! I presume you tried from the MVC site or via MVC? I wonder if it would work from the Ii website, you already have a confirmation number so it would be easy to (try to) deposit it there.

It’s so crazy, because, for my 2019 Aruba Surf Club week I did a Marriott deposit into II, and the resort wasn’t blocked then.


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[Steve Fatula]

It’s so crazy, because, for my 2019 Aruba Surf Club week I did a Marriott deposit into II, and the resort wasn’t blocked then.

Try it via the II site. If it were me, I would not believe what MVC told you, maybe they are right, but, I would be skeptical and want to see it myself. Dioxide45 below may well be correct, and it would make sense, but I'd still want to see it for myself. I just don't trust all the MVC reps.

 

[dioxide45]

It’s so crazy, because, for my 2019 Aruba Surf Club week I did a Marriott deposit into II, and the resort wasn’t blocked then.


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When did you deposit the 2019 week? It certainly wasn't now. I suspect the current block is because Aruba is not currently allowing any tourists. II knows that no one can trade in to the week, so why take it?

 

[caribbeanqueen]

Thank you Dioxide for the information. I saw that on the website but wasnt quite sure what the holding account entailed. it is only 500 points luckily but still....
Frontier stops travel the week of my April 22nd flight into Fort Myers for the season so I imagine they are trying to cancel flights until next fall. I think we are going to cancel for now and maybe this summer if things return to semi normal we can go then.
jbeachlvr sorry you are having so much trouble. This has really wreaked havoc on so many!

 

[DeeCee]

Based on my discussions with Marriott regarding an upcoming April stay at Shadow Ridge,
the only option for an Owner Week is to do a late Deposit with Interval which limits your reservation window to only 60 days before arrival. My reservation at Shadow Ridge was within the 61 day cancellation policy.
Really upset with this option since it is out of our control to even be there with a statewide shelter in place.
Not feeling real special being a Marriott timeshare owner with this treatment.....basically losing the use of a timeshare week.....

But Marriott is not losing the maintenance fees. Basically pay them for nothing. Unbelievable!

 

[DeeCee]

When we bought our week, we bought resale but direct through Marriott. It came with the option to convert it to 100,000 Marriott Rewards points instead of using the week. I'm wondering if anyone knows, under this stipulation, if Marriott would allow us to do this instead of depositing the week? Anyone know?
They apparently don't have hours on Sundays, so I can't call until tomorrow...
Thanks,
Dee

 

[Steve Fatula]

Uh, no. Again, a timeshare is not a hotel in any way shape or form. YOU own the timeshare, not them. You are responsible for the workers there, upkeep, landscaping, personnel, amenities, etc. whether you use it or not. In a hotel, it's THEIR building, personnel, etc. and therefore you owe nothing if you do not stay there. If there are 52 weeks owners for a specific unit and you don't use 1 week, who of the other 51 are going to give you their week so you can use it? No, it's not a perfect explanation for those of you who understand timeshares but it does illustrate the point. This is a risk of timeshares.