Marriott Vacation Club Inventory - Empty

[Dean]

There are certainly locations where adding a resort makes sense and could be successful. I would add a true beachfront resort in the panhandle as well- like in Destin. Or something on the gulf coast, where there is only Marco Island currently. There is plenty of beachfront from Naples up to Clearwater.

It has also always struck me as very odd to not have a Marriott resort in the Smoky Mountains. Basically every other timeshare system has resorts there, and it certainly has broad seasonal appeal. People go Spring, Summer, Fall, Christmas/New Years. Maybe Jan/Feb would be pretty dead, but that's true in many other locations as well.

They had a failed project in Gatlinburg under the Horizon's brand but they sold off the land many years ago.

 

[davidvel]

Just to give you an idea of how much inventory they could have.
If I just look at the White week (Desert, hottest time) at Shadow Ridge I-Village. There are 427 units and 8 white weeks.
I am too lazy to look up so to keep the math simple assume each of those is worth 1000 points.
That means just those junk weeks are worth 3.4 Million points. So they should have plenty of inventory to keep selling.

Shadow Ridge doesn't have white weeks, summer is silver. But what do you mean "an idea of how much inventory they could have..." and "So they should have plenty of inventory to keep selling?" Most of these weeks are owned by individual owners.

 

[cp73]

As long as they have points to sell there is no need to add additional locations. Each new points buyers thinks they are buying ocean front in Hawaii, not summer weeks in the desert.

 

[rthib]

Shadow Ridge doesn't have white weeks, summer is silver. But what do you mean "an idea of how much inventory they could have..." and "So they should have plenty of inventory to keep selling?" Most of these weeks are owned by individual owners.

Actually most of the horrible summer weeks were not sold. Every time we visited they would offer those for sale as a trader. And those numbers was just for Village, doesn’t include enclave which wasn’t on the market as long. But just illustrative of how many points were out there for undesirable weeks. Marriott still has plenty of inventory to sell.

 

[jme]

There are certainly locations where adding a resort makes sense and could be successful. I would add a true beachfront resort in the panhandle as well- like in Destin. Or something on the gulf coast, where there is only Marco Island currently. There is plenty of beachfront from Naples up to Clearwater.

It has also always struck me as very odd to not have a Marriott resort in the Smoky Mountains. Basically every other timeshare system has resorts there, and it certainly has broad seasonal appeal. People go Spring, Summer, Fall, Christmas/New Years. Maybe Jan/Feb would be pretty dead, but that's true in many other locations as well.

I love the Destin/Sandestin area a lot, but they take a beating every year from storms coming up from the Gulf. Far more than Florida's east coast.
I have an annual professional meeting in September (low prices, gee I wonder why) and we've had to cancel at least 3 times in the last 10 years.

We've come to like the many great restaurants and activities there around Destin. Very enjoyable, and a great outlet mall.
The beach is just OK, however----the hard-packed half down near the water is too steep and slanted to walk or enjoy,
and the white sand half up near the dunes is so soft and thick that you can hardly walk 25 feet. It's not the most user-friendly beach,
and the summation of these things are the reason I left out Destin as a good option for a resort.

Now as for the Smokey Mountains, you've hit the nail on the head!!!!!
Marriott DOES'T have a resort ANYWHERE close to the Smokey Mountains...are they blind?
My gosh, it's one of the most wonderful areas in the country. It's drop dead gorgeous, it's not too far for people that would drive
both from the North or South to reach it. And it would stay packed. Beach & Mountains, that's what vacationers want....but both, not just beach.
By mid-summer, we are yearning for the Fall. And we don't want to go to Branson, thank you.
So instead of spending lots of money going to a Marriott property which doesn't exist, we instead spend lots of money
going SOMEWHERE and paying cash.

For instance we are going to the Greystone Inn (in NC) this Fall. Last Fall we went to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville NC (our favorite place on earth), which would be my number one ideal location for a future resort. Two years ago we went to Vermont & New Hampshire.
We go to Boston a lot.....7 times now in the last 9 years.
We also adore the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands NC. There are a dozen excellent areas that would be fantastic for Marriott to have a presence,
but it's never happened. Even Gatlinburg TN would be a wonderful spot----plenty to do and see, and it's beautiful.
Thanks for that, Dean...maybe someone is listening.

 

[dioxide45]

Just to give you an idea of how much inventory they could have.
If I just look at the White week (Desert, hottest time) at Shadow Ridge I-Village. There are 427 units and 8 white weeks.
I am too lazy to look up so to keep the math simple assume each of those is worth 1000 points.
That means just those junk weeks are worth 3.4 Million points. So they should have plenty of inventory to keep selling.

The trust has over 570,000,000 points in it. Those 3.4 million points were sold off long ago. If the average sale is about 2,500 points, that only works out to 1,350 sales. That probably lasts them less than a month across all their sale centers.

As of March 31, 2021 MVW had over $750 million in unsold inventory. That is including Vistana, Hyatt and Marriott, but they also have gross sales of about $250 million in inventory in Q1. Now comparing gross sales to available inventory isn't apples to apples, but it seems they only have a year or so of unsold inventory.

 

[rthib]

. Even Gatlinburg TN would be a wonderful spot----plenty to do and see, and it's beautiful.
Thanks for that, Dean...maybe someone is listening.

Before the stopped Horizons. There was supposed to be a Gatlinburg property.

 

[dioxide45]

I would like them to do different resort experiences more so than just more locations. Stop throwing up the same units just on a different piece of land. I made the suggestion in a recent video that they should go the route of DVC and consider villa options like cabins, treehouse villas or even over the water bungalows. I am not talking about exotic locations but rather domestic USA. Make the experience as much about the resort as it is about the location. I mean, another resort on a different stretch of beach is just another resort on a different stretch of beach with a different shaped pool. We really liked the townhomes at Lakeshore Reserve and I would like to see more interesting villa options instead of the cookie cutter two and three bedroom villas that they churn out.

 

[KProuty]

We are looking at mountains. I just acquired a Fox Run week. Low maintenance, to try out NC. I'm looking at Gatlinburg Town Square for TN. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Vacation Club in Gatlinburg too. I want mountains!

 

[PhoenixCanuck]

I am a Chairman's owner, retired now and well over the threshold needed to qualify at that level. We always go to the sales presentation offered because of the incentives. That means we sit in on about six presentations a year. As of just this year, my standard response when they come around to asking for the sale is to tell them that until I see them investing in new hard product, I won't be investing additional points.

Having said that, we continue to enjoy our ownership immensely. But much of the "value" we get comes from being able to book in places we like such as Phoenix and Las Vegas within 60 days at the 30% discount. Those opportunities have shrunk drastically this year because of the COVID situation. And what I fear is that without new inventory coming into the system, they are going to continue to shrink. Plus there's just no excitement any more. The club and its offerings have become quite stale in the past five years Heck, they can't even be bothered to properly integrate their acquisitions in a timely manner.

I thought they did a outstanding job of rolling out the points program ten plus years ago. But since then, what? I've sensed a change in the company's mindset since it went public, and it now feels like their only real priority is making contract sales, as opposed to building and operating world class resorts.

 

[dioxide45]

The club and its offerings have become quite stale in the past five years Heck, they can't even be bothered to properly integrate their acquisitions in a timely manner.

I agree 100%. Even with the acquisition, they aren't going to be brining on any real or exciting opportunities. Sure, there is Cancun and Nassau, but outside of that most of the places there are Vistana resorts there are already Marriott properties. Sure, they could pound up a resort on the west coast of Florida, but how will it really be that much different than Crystal Shores. We need new options, not necessarily exotic locations and not necessarily the same standard 2BR and 3BR flat. I am also not interested in urban centers, but I know many owners that like that.

 

[Superchief]

I think a key reason that finding DC point availability is that people are becoming smarter in using the program. Many boomers bought their weeks to enjoy 7 night vacations with their children. Now that the children are gone and many are retired, these owners are taking advantage of the flexibility points offer. We seldom book 7 night vacations any more in order to maximize our value. We often avoid one weekend night or book 10-11 nights that include Sun-Thur the following week. When owners book the 1BR or partial weeks, this reduces the availability for the traditional 1 week in a 2BR. Retired owners are also now able to reserve multiple weeks, making it difficult for 1 week reservations at the 13 or 12 month timing.

I agree with Marty and others that MVC should add resorts on the Gulf coast of Florida and in the mountains in NC or TN. Asheville, Gatlinburg, St. Pete's/ Clearwater, or Destin would be great, as well as Whitefish, MT. I would like something near Tarpon Springs so I can eat great Greek food and pastries every night.

One problem with off season in many area is that MVC offers very low DC points for week conversion. This greatly reduces availability during those times. I seldom redeem my gold MCV week for points because it only gets 1750. I usually lock it off and exchange.

 

[Dean]

I think a key reason that finding DC point availability is that people are becoming smarter in using the program. Many boomers bought their weeks to enjoy 7 night vacations with their children. Now that the children are gone and many are retired, these owners are taking advantage of the flexibility points offer. We seldom book 7 night vacations any more in order to maximize our value. We often avoid one weekend night or book 10-11 nights that include Sun-Thur the following week. When owners book the 1BR or partial weeks, this reduces the availability for the traditional 1 week in a 2BR. Retired owners are also now able to reserve multiple weeks, making it difficult for 1 week reservations at the 13 or 12 month timing.

I agree with Marty and others that MVC should add resorts on the Gulf coast of Florida and in the mountains in NC or TN. Asheville, Gatlinburg, St. Pete's/ Clearwater, or Destin would be great, as well as Whitefish, MT. I would like something near Tarpon Springs so I can eat great Greek food and pastries every night.

One problem with off season in many area is that MVC offers very low DC points for week conversion. This greatly reduces availability during those times. I seldom redeem my gold MCV week for points because it only gets 1750. I usually lock it off and exchange.

I think one of the issues that they are looking at is having resorts in areas that are not overly seasonal. Not having to have Bronze or even Silver season increases their profits substantially.

 

[vikingsholm]

Marriott's got the Southwest covered pretty well, though I wouldn't mind seeing one in Sedona/Flagstaff, Tucson, Telluride, or Moab.

Would also be nice to have some in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and/or Wyoming.

Buying existing properties with good bones, then renovating them to Marriott standards would be my preferred way to go.

 

[emeryjre]

Marriott Vacation Club is a publicly traded company. There objective is short term higher quarterly profits. Not building a brand by long term investment in new projects that might hinder the quarterly profit growth and the short term bonuses of the high level executives. This phenomenon has happened to many of our former market leaders. Boeing and Intel are the most prominent in my mind.
The only way I know to avoid the trap that is the Marriott Vacation Club points system is to own deeded weeks for best seasons at prime resorts. Deeded weeks come up for sale. The good weeks are not being given away. But they can be bought. They generally are not being sold through the Marriott marketing machine, but rather on the resale market. Takes work and study to figure it out. If you go to a presentation and think that the Marriott (or any other timeshare family) is going to sell you a peak week at a peak resort, it is not going to happen. They are going to sell you the idea of that and after the recission period, you are on your own.