MARRIOTT / CORONAVIRUS [MERGED]

[hcarman]

Yes, it would be nice if points that can't be used within a use year be allowed to be used in the next use year. We paid for these points and due to circumstance beyond our control we cannot use or bank them to another year. In my particular situation, I was scheduled to use previously banked points on April 2nd but have since canceled due to the situation at hand. Since these were banked points, they expire 6/30/2020 and cannot be banked again. I also have an Encore package that the banked points were bookending the reservation. Then Encore package must be used prior to 12/31/2020 which is an extension from the April 30, 2020 deadline, so thank you MVCI for that. I am ultimately going to lose about 600 points as I have booked the other points for a trip in June to Las Vegas, first time at Grand Chateau (any thoughts on the resort).
Thanks

I am in the same boat as you - I have an April reservation and my points are banked as well and will expire in July. So extending the holding account to allow for 120 day out booking will not do a thing to help me.
I have an Encore presentation too but luckily it is in the fall and hoping this all blows over by then. It is nice that they extended yours, but not surprising since this is a sales department promotion. In other words, there is a potential sale. With people losing jobs and seeing first hand how they are treated by MVCI when they can't travel for safety reasons (not to mention the govt. encouraging people to not), I am guessing their sales will be way down for a while. But the message needs to get out so those that can make a difference at MVCI will hear it as well.

 

[barbg]

Here is my guess. If everyone books fall and winter 2020 dates, there will be no availability for those that do not plan far in advance. How will sales find new customers to join if there is almost no availability?

That might be the point.... trying to increase their sales. Good luck with that, Marriott. As an existing customer, I would not be recommending Marriott at this point. I would have to expect much of Marriott's sales comes from referrals.

 

[Soomac]

We bought Marriott because we trusted Marriott. Due to travel 3rd April - obviously not any more! 6700 points at stake. The 120 day holding account is of no use. I am a teacher restricted to school holidays. Don’t even think things will be back to normal by then!! Total lack of thought on Marriotts part. Please dont expect recommendations!!!

 

[TravelTime]

I understand that people are upset with Marriott about their policies. Just keep in mind that there are a lot worse losses you could be having at this time. If your worst loss is losing a week or losing some points, then you are lucky. There will be tremendous financial misery from this crisis.

 

[Soomac]

I understand that people are upset with Marriott about their policies. Just keep in mind that there are a lot worse losses you could be having at this time. If your worst loss is losing a week or losing some points, then you are lucky. There will be tremendous financial misery from this crisis.

 

[sportsfan1]

I understand that people are upset with Marriott about their policies. Just keep in mind that there are a lot worse losses you could be having at this time. If your worst loss is losing a week or losing some points, then you are lucky. There will be tremendous financial misery from this crisis.

I know it's frustrating for Marriott owners (myself included), but you make a very powerful point. There will be significant financial loss from all of this. People will lose jobs (some already have), businesses will go bankrupt, and some folks could lose their life savings. And to add more levity to this crisis - some will lose their lives.

It's all perspective. I can deal with losing my week, and possibly not even taking a vacation this year. It pales in comparison to what some will endure.

 

[Soomac]

You are correct but we are not immune to the financial misery either just wouldn’t mention it on this thread. This thread is about Marriott. Plenty of other forums will cover just how horrrible the situation is for many people.

 

[barbg]

You are correct but we are not immune to the financial misery either just wouldn’t mention it on this thread. This thread is about Marriott. Plenty of other forums will cover just how horrrible the situation is for many people.

I agree this is about Marriott..... I lost 30% of my retirement last week and other people lost more in many ways. All of these losses are the reason Marriott needs to show some compassion.

 

[tfleeman]

I am also a very unhappy Marriott owner, have been an owner since 97, never really had a problem until now. I left I I because they are useless cant book anything with them before dont know why they think we will be able to now. I did everything I could even called corporate office and told them how upset I am. If you want the number it is 800-860-9384 ask for Chase. Had 2 weeks booked leaving march 29 thru april 12, now I get 2 worthless I I certifications that I may as well throw in the trash. Everyone should call and complain, I plan on having my lawyer look into their contract see what it really says. Oh and to the person that said it could be worse that you could be going into financial ruin as well , well most people here are not youngsters and have a 401 that is now in the crapper with our vacations.
Tim Fleeman

 

[gln60]

I had to cancel 2 DC points reservations in the last week....one reservation(Aruba Surf Club) i used points that expire on December 31,2020 that went into a holding account and i must use them before the end of the year(have to use these in the next 8 months or lose them)...im confident that i will be able to use these points to take a late summer vacation and/or add some days to a November confirmed vacation...the other cancelled reservation(Boston Custom House) the points also went into a holding account that wont expire until December 31,2021(no problem using these)...that being said,both my wife and i are retired,so we have alot of flexibility.......its definitely a stressfull and challenging time to be a timeshare owner, no matter where you own

 

[Steve Fatula]

Why would you need a lawyer? Read your documents, it says exactly what they are doing. You didn't read the contract before you purchased? That is and has always been the cancellation policy. Surely you didn't spend a lot of money for something without researching or understanding what you were buying? If you want to understand how your timeshare works, you should read some of the answers in the large Marriott/Coronavirus thread. Lots of people chiming in who do not understand what they own. A timeshare is NOT a hotel, and NOT a vacation club. You OWN the property along with others. If they gave you another week without restriction, people who did not cancel would be unable to reserve their weeks. By having the restriction, it makes sure you only get excess inventory, not take it away from someone else who did not cancel. The weeks that were cancelled are gone, they can't be merge with future weeks where there are mostly owners wanting.

Imagine your house, and having 52 people who own it, one week each. Now, you lose March/April, what can you give to those people, another week? And if you do, which of the other owners do you rob it from? So, now you'll say gee, then I should not have to pay. That's where the fact that you are an owner comes in, it's your property, so, you take the risk with a timeshare. Unlike a hotel which someone else owns. You have to pay the staff, amenities, pools, refurbishments, landscaping, water, electric, cable, you name it. If you don't understand that, look at the annual report from your owners association and it will detail what your money goes to. You don't even want to know what happens should a property get destroyed by a hurricane for example.

Regarding 401ks and not being youngsters. If you are at or close to retirement age, you should not have your money in riskier investments anyway. I don't, and the paper loss is minimal for me. of course, paper gains are minimal for me too, before the virus hit.

I sure hope they cancel all these threads being started and merge them!

 

[controller1]

. . .

Imagine your house, and having 52 people who use own it, one week each.

. . .

Corrected for you as I assume this is what you meant.

 

[sportsfan1]

I agree this is about Marriott..... I lost 30% of my retirement last week and other people lost more in many ways. All of these losses are the reason Marriott needs to show some compassion.

I saw a video from Marriott's CEO a few days ago. Did you know he is battling Pancreatic Cancer? He was visibly emotional for his employees and he said that some properties will never open again. I'm not saying you should or should not be sensitive to a big corporate giant like Marriott, but just know they are also taking losses. It's not Marriott versus the world.

 

[rthib]

Lots of really great points

Thank you for speaking some sanity.

 

[goaliedave]

Maybe they will come around. My Diamond Resorts "Sampler" points have been extended to a 3 year from 2 year booking window. I think eventually they will all do the same with regular points.

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[dioxide45]

I am super disappointed as well. We booked our trip 9 months ago and are supposed to go this Friday. I am basically being offered an II trade within 30 days. We have a 3 bedroom oceanview villa. That II trade is basically worthless to us. I am one of those owners who remained as a week owner instead of converting it over completely to the point system. I am paying an extra fee annually so that I can turn in my week to point equivalent. I feel they are treating us week owners as second class citizens. I see their policy would allow point owners to get their points back into their account and book again within a 120 day window. That means they have a chance to get something equivalent. Me, on the other hand, do not. Hilton Vacation Club are waiving cancelling fees and restrictions. When I voiced my displeasure, the email I got back basically said we do have insurance that you could have bought, but you didn't. Well, this is different. This is a global event and we are not even allowed to go in without being quarantined. It is not an individual traveler facing unexpected events. Marriott better rethink this!

I don't understand the issue with insurance. Being quarantined is the reason you buy trip insurance. I get that this is a global pandemic, but why shouldn't you need to have insurance to cover such situations? Say I buy insurance and you don't. They give you a full refund or full use of points for no additional cost. I bought insurance and got the same thing. What is the incentive or need for me to buy insurance in the future when if I don't I know they will just give me the same benefit as those that didn't. While it is a global event, it still doesn't negate the need for proper trip insurance.

For those that can only travel during peak times and can't afford the loss of MF, you need to stop "self insuring" yourselves and buy trip insurance. Especially something that covers cancel for any reason. Now of course, insurers are limiting these new policies and they will cost a lot more, but insurance is ultimately the best option otherwise understand that you are self insuring.

I also understand that many other timeshare companies are waiving fees and waiving restrictions. Do realize that there is still a cost to that and likely a heavy customer cost. Marriott could do that today, but then 6 months from now people would be complaining that they can't get the reservation they want. This because all those other people that cancelled are all trying to book in to a short six month travel window at the end of the year. All those other timeshare companies will have issues like this later this year and many unhappy owners won't be able to get the reservations they want or not get anything at all and their points will still go to waste. They may also have had a week or 10 days booked now but have to break up their vacation in to multiple short stays later. People will be enraged because they had a week booked and think they should be able to again book a full week later. That may not be possible since in most cases inventory is long ago released and it is already pretty booked up. Remember that many timeshares run high occupancy rates, even in the off season.

I have been on both sides of the fence on this whole issue. I do think Marriott could make better concessions, perhaps stretching out use over multiple years to limit the burden on any single use year. That may work for point owners, but for week owners ultimately we own a vacation home for one week a year along with 51 other owners. If I can't go this week and I want to go three months from now, it means some other poor sap can't go on their vacation three months from now.

 

[jshen]

jshen,
Really it all depends on your specific situation whether the points or weeks cancellation policy is better.

If you cancel DC points at less than 60 days they go into a holding account now restricted to 120 days out- so that’s better than the II booking window.
But my points expire 12/20 and there are very limited options for holding account points so if I can’t work out travel before the end of the year my points are gone.
Depositing a week in II gives 2 years to use it although if cancelled 14-60 days in advance you do have only 60 days ahead booking.
I will likely lose my points but hope to use my week before expiration.
The only thing that will likely save my points is if marriott were to extend the expiration date. I don’t expect that will happen.
I‘m an enrolled legacy weeks owner and because I only own Marriott my membership has saved me fees not caused more (again it just depends on the individual).

Thanks for the clarification. I don't know all the ins and outs of the point system. I'm not trying to pit legacy owners against point owners. I just want to see an equitable treatment of all owners. It's times like these that a corporation's/business's or even an individual's value system comes through.

 

[Big Matt]

This is another thread that amazes me. People simply don't understand that they own the time share and not the company that facilitates the reservation process.

 

[DeeCee]

No, my banks are not losing my mortgage payments, car payments, and all the other things. But I'm not losing my house or my car either.
I get the whole 'this is what you bought thing' so many are posting about, and what maintenance fees are for, because I pay them with DVC and have for 20 years. I didn't lose one gosh darn thing with DVC and I had a trip planned for last week. I did NOT cancel within the appropriate cancellation period and due to this coronavirus (parks were still open when I cancelled) I did not lose one thing. DVC rocks, they know how to take care of PEOPLE because it's people that ultimately can make them or break them.
Maintenance fees, along with property taxes, and operational costs, also off set the costs of resort activities, resort staff, resort upkeep and so on. Well, the resort is closing down a significant amount of these services and amenities - heck based on the next few days the beaches may be closed! Yet Marriott is saying come to your resort or lose your week to a maximum option of being able to book within II with a 60 day window - but first lay out money for II. We can't even go for a haircut here in New York, yet we should travel to be more or less confined in a resort with depleted amenities where there's little to no tourism either due to a global pandemic, risk passing the virus or picking it up for the sake of showing up or losing out?

NOTHING will convince me that what Marriott is doing is right by it's members. No post about about it being okay to pay $1500 into a company who could give a hoot about it's members and not offer better options during a worldwide pandemic is going to make me think Marriott is in the right. Call me stubborn, flame me for not understanding my maintenance fees, whatever, we all have a right to our thoughts and opinions. Mine is - Marriott is a people business - but not now. Had I thought they weren't as stand up a company as Disney, we would never have purchased. Selling is probably what we'll do, probably what we'll have to do if my hubby can't get back to work in the foreseeable future - and I won't miss Marriott, not after this.

Dee

 

[hcarman]

No, my banks are not losing my mortgage payments, car payments, and all the other things. But I'm not losing my house or my car either.
I get the whole 'this is what you bought thing' so many are posting about, and what maintenance fees are for, because I pay them with DVC and have for 20 years. I didn't lose one gosh darn thing with DVC and I had a trip planned for last week. I did NOT cancel within the appropriate cancellation period and due to this coronavirus (parks were still open when I cancelled) I did not lose one thing. DVC rocks, they know how to take care of PEOPLE because it's people that ultimately can make them or break them.
Maintenance fees, along with property taxes, and operational costs, also off set the costs of resort activities, resort staff, resort upkeep and so on. Well, the resort is closing down a significant amount of these services and amenities - heck based on the next few days the beaches may be closed! Yet Marriott is saying come to your resort or lose your week to a maximum option of being able to book within II with a 60 day window - but first lay out money for II. We can't even go for a haircut here in New York, yet we should travel to be more or less confined in a resort with depleted amenities where there's little to no tourism either due to a global pandemic, risk passing the virus or picking it up for the sake of showing up or losing out?

NOTHING will convince me that what Marriott is doing is right by it's members. No post about about it being okay to pay $1500 into a company who could give a hoot about it's members and not offer better options during a worldwide pandemic is going to make me think Marriott is in the right. Call me stubborn, flame me for not understanding my maintenance fees, whatever, we all have a right to our thoughts and opinions. Mine is - Marriott is a people business - but not now. Had I thought they weren't as stand up a company as Disney, we would never have purchased. Selling is probably what we'll do, probably what we'll have to do if my hubby can't get back to work in the foreseeable future - and I won't miss Marriott, not after this.

Dee

I have owned Marriott Vacation Club for quite some time and saw a change in their customer service when they separated from Marriott Hotels. We have had a few things we tried to contact our condo board about and never even got a response. We have some good friends that went through a real hardship with a medical issue that resulted in serious financial strain. They didn't want to back out on their maintenance fees but asked MVCI if they could pay it over the course of three months due to loss of one portion of their income (hubby couldn't work). They were not even given the decency of a response and after the second month when they made their payment they received a nasty gram removing all benefits, threatening to report to credit bureau, place lien, etc. Yet you could see their track record - they had always paid in years prior and this year they had split the payment into three payments - they had paid 2/3 of the bill. Wouldn't it make more sense and cost less to let that owner make their third payment at month 3 instead of paying to place liens on the property, etc. and place them in even more debt. Not to mention show a little compassion? Well, the second vacation club they owned was not with MVCI - that company was more than willing to allow them to pay over the course of several months (in fact, they let them pay over 6 months given the circumstances). They may have been locked out of booking or staying (I don't know) but they were treated like a valuable owner and with compassion. Guess which property they sold as soon as they got the chance? Karma?

I know some will say they shouldn't have bought the vacation clubs if they didn't have lots of financial cushion. But they couldn't project the future and these things are not just marketed to the rich. The sales staff always say maintenance fees won't go up significantly, but we all know with Marriott they do. My husband and I had a similar situation this year (not as bad) - but enough that we decided to rent ours out - until all this happened and we had to cancel the rentals for the well being of our family members that were paying us to rent out our properties. It is hard enough putting money into these things when you are pinched, but to put money into something that you aren't able to use through no fault of your own is even worse. The government is requesting people not to travel unless essential - and many are trying to do the right thing. But I guess no good deed goes unpunished- as a friend used to say.

 

[HudsHut]

Welcome to TUG, Tim:
The II certificates are your only hope. Where were you going March 29 - April 12?
II does require a learning curve. You need to search early and often. The certificates are worth the time that you put into searching with them. If you are not willing to search, you won't get a replacement vacation.
Tell us where you were going to vacation, and/or where else you may be interested in going. You may have to take an off-season week this year. You will need to be flexible.

I hope you stick around, read, and ask questions. We can help you search or we can alert you if we happen to see what you're looking for.

Members typically post great II inventory on the Sightings forum (last forum, scroll all the way down.) While you're searching II, if you see something great, please contribute to the Sightings forum by posting what you found.

 

[jbeachlvr]

I posted similar issue in another thread. We were due to use our week at Surf Club 3/29 - 4/5. When Aruba closed entry to all Int’l psgs. I called regarding my options, which would be deposit with II and book an exchange 30 days from check-in—I’m not certain of expiration. Then, on 3/21, I received an email from Marriott Owner Services that said,
“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.”

At this point, Im ok with losing my week. Ive been a Marriott timeshare owner for over 30 years. But, this pandemic, could be our last as I’m not sure which companies/resorts will survive.


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[Steve Fatula]

I also understand that many other timeshare companies are waiving fees and waiving restrictions. Do realize that there is still a cost to that and likely a heavy customer cost. Marriott could do that today, but then 6 months from now people would be complaining that they can't get the reservation they want. This because all those other people that cancelled are all trying to book in to a short six month travel window at the end of the year. All those other timeshare companies will have issues like this later this year and many unhappy owners won't be able to get the reservations they want or not get anything at all and their points will still go to waste. They may also have had a week or 10 days booked now but have to break up their vacation in to multiple short stays later. People will be enraged because they had a week booked and think they should be able to again book a full week later. That may not be possible since in most cases inventory is long ago released and it is already pretty booked up. Remember that many timeshares run high occupancy rates, even in the off season.

I am not familiar with those other systems offering no restrictions. I wonder this though - is it possible they have far more unsold inventory? If that was the case, it's easier to waive those restrictions without too much pain. If not, then, they are merely deferring the complaints until later when they'll have a huge mess on their hands. And that's likely worse.

 

[Steve Fatula]

NOTHING will convince me that what Marriott is doing is right by it's members. No post about about it being okay to pay $1500 into a company who could give a hoot about it's members and not offer better options during a worldwide pandemic is going to make me think Marriott is in the right. Call me stubborn, flame me for not understanding my maintenance fees, whatever, we all have a right to our thoughts and opinions. Mine is - Marriott is a people business - but not now. Had I thought they weren't as stand up a company as Disney, we would never have purchased. Selling is probably what we'll do, probably what we'll have to do if my hubby can't get back to work in the foreseeable future - and I won't miss Marriott, not after this.

I do appreciate that you are standing up for your position. I would agree your best bet is to sell your ownership given your intense dislike. I disagree with what you are saying, however, you are most certainly entitled to your position or feelings. I do hope your husband can get back to work, there are a few (but not a ton of course) people hiring in various parts of the country, perhaps not as good jobs though. It is indeed a stressful time for the vast majority of people. I see my neighbor taking steps to cut back, I am sure that's not unusual at this point. I do wish you well!

 

[SueDonJ]

I want to start a new thread so Marriott will know how we feel. ...

I'm sorry but it doesn't do any of us any good to let the entire TUG Marriott forum be inundated with complaints about MVW's handling of this issue - it leads to far too many duplicate posts and confusion. For the time being everything that relates solely to the inventory issues caused by travel restrictions due to COVID19 is being merged into [this] one thread. As time goes on and as unique situations arise, there may be space available to allow some leeway.

For what it's worth I know that MVW occasionally reads TUG, sometimes because their attention is specifically called to a thread and other times because it's what their social media employees are supposed to be doing. I would guess that right now, while they can't even keep up with the telephone, email, Twitter and Facebook traffic, TUG probably doesn't have any MVW eyes on it. That's another reason to merge all this stuff into one thread, so that when they finally do have the time to analyze every corner for how their response has been received, they'll be treated to one monster of a TUG thread that they'll ignore at their own peril.

For those who want to make sure that MVW has their eyes on individual situations sooner rather than later: Marriott Vacations Worldwide - Contact Us