Marriott Vacation Club Making Policy For Marriott Rewards???

[kds4]

So, this was an interesting telephone call. For those who are both owners and members of Marriott Hotels rewards program, I called this evening regarding a 7 night stay last month at MGV and how it was appearing in my Marriott Rewards account. Seems I was given Elite nights credit for the 7 nights, but not given credit for the nights stayed toward the current Spring Mega-Bonus Promotion.

MR customer service initially said, "ownership nights stayed at Marriott Vacation Club properties are ineligible". I researched the Terms and Conditions for both Marriott Rewards and the Mega-Bonus promotion and there is no such restriction. In fact, the T&Cs state that Marriott Vacation Club properties are specifically included as eligible for the promotion. The only published exclusion is award stays and this was not a redemption.

Also, I last stayed enough nights (including two different 7 night MVC stays) to qualify for the points bonus during the 2011 Spring Mega-Bonus where I received a 50k point bonus. So, I asked for the supervisor.

The supervisor tried to go down the same road, adding that stays not booked through the Marriott Website will not count for this or other promotions. I reminded them that I had previously had MVC stays credited during Mega-Bonus promotions (think Spring 2011, and gave her the exact stay dates and date the bonus points were posted to my account) and that no where in the T&Cs does it say ownership/exchange stays are excluded. So, I asked them to "show me the policy". (Hey, it worked for Jerry Maguire.)

After a long period on hold, the supervisor returned and admitted that she could find no where in any Marriott Hotels systems that my MGV stay could not be counted toward the Mega-Bonus. Although, she briefly raised the moral argument that "the purpose of the promotion is to get you to stay/spend more with Marriott and stays with MVC based on ownership aren't really 'paid' nights, even with paying maintenance fees to have the night's usage each year". I quickly shot that down as MFs are exactly the equivalent of paying a nightly rate. The only difference is we pre-pay the nights annually, instead of at the actual point of stay. Still, she acknowledged that there is no policy backing up her position in any Marriott database she can find.

Great, I'm thinking. Then she took a left turn.

"Well, after consulting with another supervisor, we believe that there may be a policy within Marriott Vacation Club that excludes your stay from being credited for this promotion."

(Screeching mental tires.)

My response - "Wait a second, you're trying to tell me that MVC (an independent company) could create a policy that would preclude me from deriving a benefit under my Rewards membership with Marriott Hotels (another independent company), or in reverse that Marriott Hotels could establish a policy that could prevent me from deriving a benefit under my ownership in MVC?"

Her response - "Well, I'll need to call MVC tomorrow and continue to research this further with my promotions team."

Now awaiting a phone call back from her by COB tomorrow, or I will call again (and yes, I will be placing my own call to MVC tomorrow).

Talk about making it up as you go along ...

(and Yes, we did spend while on property during our stay resulting in charges we paid at check-out).

 

[dioxide45]

It all comes down to the term "paid stay". Our Mega Bonus is to earn a free night after every second paid stay. Since staying at a timeshare on an ownership or exchange week isn't a paid stay, it doesn't qualify. Sure you pay the MF, but that isn't revenue to Marriott International (the owners of the Rewards program), those MFs cover the expenses incurred by the owners to operate the resort and fund its upkeep.

I have never had a timeshare stay count toward a Mega Bonus program unless I booked it directly through Marriott.com.

 

[kds4]

It all comes down to the term "paid stay". Our Mega Bonus is to earn a free night after every second paid stay. Since staying at a timeshare on an ownership or exchange week isn't a paid stay, it doesn't qualify. Sure you pay the MF, but that isn't revenue to Marriott International (the owners of the Rewards program), those MFs cover the expenses incurred by the owners to operate the resort and fund its upkeep.

I have never had a timeshare stay count toward a Mega Bonus program unless I booked it directly through Marriott.com.

I don't dispute that there is merit to that position. However, if that is going to be corporate policy - codify it. Don't put employees in the position of "winging it" with loyal (MR member since 1992) customers. And if it is codified Marriott Hotels policy (and I got a bonus last year, I shouldn't have ... so be it) but don't try to tell me this MVC 'company' is making policy for that Marriott Hotels 'company', as we all know Marriott is a brand and not a singular corporate entity with universal policy making. It's a network of affiliated companies, operating independently under a corporate naming umbrella.

Please excuse any perceived aggressiveness in tone. It is merely frustration and not directed at any poster/respondant.

 

[sbeck22]

Well I got a spring mega bonus award stay for my renting of a ko olina week.

So I ended up with a free night cert already for the stay there and one night I bought my dad in SF after hawaii.

So I can say our feb stay in ko olina, as a renter, credited towards us since I updated the reservation to include our email to send us the final bill and I updated the MR # to get points on the stay. I never thought it would count as a stay. But i'll take it.

 

[rickxylon]

I tried getting mega bonus credit for MVCI stays for the last several years and have always got the same answer you received. Never received any credit for the mega bonuses.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

I think in the past when MVCI was a part of Marriott International there probably was a grey line on some of these rewards decisions.

I can recall a time when I was awarded lots of MVCI stays as credit for Mega Bonuses.

Those days may be long gone since now MVW is independent. I suspect this will be the trend of the future in other grey areas as well.

You can still get a bunch of MR points for paying your yearly Maintenance Fees using your MR Credit Card. Hope this continues, I get about 35K points each January for this transaction.

 

[BocaBoy]

It all comes down to the term "paid stay". Our Mega Bonus is to earn a free night after every second paid stay. Since staying at a timeshare on an ownership or exchange week isn't a paid stay, it doesn't qualify. Sure you pay the MF, but that isn't revenue to Marriott International (the owners of the Rewards program), those MFs cover the expenses incurred by the owners to operate the resort and fund its upkeep.

I have never had a timeshare stay count toward a Mega Bonus program unless I booked it directly through Marriott.com.

I have had a lot of these conversations with a lot of people over the years and I have received this exact same response every single time. I am very surprised that so many people are reporting they have received stay credit for their ownership stays under the Mega Bonus promotions. I have always considered it a well established rule that these stays do not count. If you rent the unit from Marriott, the rule of course is different, because that is a "paid stay".

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Its quite easy to do this today and get the credit. Here is one way I have done it for absolutly FREE and recieved the credit.

1. I find a 7 night stay at a MVCI resort for an investment of $1K or less and make the reservation.
2. I ask for an E195 MR certificate (currently 135K points). This gives me $1000 USD in MR CASH.
3. I pay for the reservation using the E195 certificate and MVCI treats the transaction as an all cash (revenue) transaction.
4. I use my MR Credit Card to book the stay. I get 5000 points for the stay and 7 nights credit towards elite nights.

I have done this over 25 times in the last 15 years. Never an issue.

I must say that I am able to do this totally free since my customers pay for all my Marriott stays (business related) so all redemption rewards are truely FREE in my case.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

I can also remember many times when you just needed to make a small charge on your OWNERSHIP stay (each day) of your 7 days and the stay would be treated as a revenue stay.

In the early years of MVCI, Marriott International's computerized systems were not as advanced and not able to easily segregate stays from revenue stays and ownership stays so this happened all the time.

I'm sure other marriott owners can remember this as well. Its obvious that Marriott is able to perform revenue recognition much better today than before.

 

[bazzap]

I guess my immediate thoughts on this debate are that
Yes - Sure you pay the MF, but that isn't revenue to Marriott International (the owners of the Rewards program), those MFs cover the expenses incurred by the owners to operate the resort and fund its upkeep.
Yes - MVW is now a separate company
However, as owners we have paid Marriott in many cases 10s of thousands of $s to pre-pay for stays for life (or at least the duration of our deeded weeks)
What are these if they are not paid stays and why should they not be recognised for promotions?

 

[dioxide45]

Well I got a spring mega bonus award stay for my renting of a ko olina week.

So I ended up with a free night cert already for the stay there and one night I bought my dad in SF after hawaii.

So I can say our feb stay in ko olina, as a renter, credited towards us since I updated the reservation to include our email to send us the final bill and I updated the MR # to get points on the stay. I never thought it would count as a stay. But i'll take it.

When you say "renting of a week"? Did you rent directly from an owner or from Marriott.com?

 

[MALC9990]

I have never had a megabonus benefit from any TS stay and indeed never thought about it as something that I had been missing.

I generally get my elite nights stay credited for each week we stay at a Marriott Resort, both as an owner at a home resort or on an exchange. There have been occasions when getting the elite nights credited and the correct points for spend at the resort credited required a missing stay request to be submitted to Marriott Rewards.

 

[kds4]

Thanks to all of the posters with info on their experiences. Sounds like I may need to take my 50k bonus from last year and run away. Will post the outcome of my call back from Marriott Rewards.

 

[sbeck22]

When you say "renting of a week"? Did you rent directly from an owner or from Marriott.com?

We rented from an owner directly who made the reservation for Ko Olina via marriott reservations. I had the marriott reservation for a year waiting for the stay. So we were inside marriott the whole time.

I was surprised to get it.

 

[LAX Mom]

My experience has been the same as others have posted. I've received credit towards the megabonus promos when I have rented directly at the MVC properties, but never when I was using an II week (exchange, getaway, or AC).

If I recall correctly the megabonus language states it only counts "paid" nights. The MF's are not considered paid nights, you have to actually pay a Marriott property a nightly rate.

However, I always receive elite nights credit for my II exchanges at Marriott properties (at least since July 2008 when they changed the policy).

 

[Quilter]

Its quite easy to do this today and get the credit. Here is one way I have done it for absolutly FREE and recieved the credit.

1. I find a 7 night stay at a MVCI resort for an investment of $1K or less and make the reservation.
2. I ask for an E195 MR certificate (currently 135K points). This gives me $1000 USD in MR CASH.
3. I pay for the reservation using the E195 certificate and MVCI treats the transaction as an all cash (revenue) transaction.
4. I use my MR Credit Card to book the stay. I get 5000 points for the stay and 7 nights credit towards elite nights.

I have done this over 25 times in the last 15 years. Never an issue.

I must say that I am able to do this totally free since my customers pay for all my Marriott stays (business related) so all redemption rewards are truely FREE in my case.

FractionalTraveler,

I read and re-read your post several times but am still confused to what's happening. Please bear with me and give a bit more detail.

Are you saying that you have to find 7 nights through marriott.com that add up to $1K or less? With Ocean Pointe at $419 a night for a studio (3/17-3/24) I can't see doing that for $1K for a week. What resorts/dates are you finding for $1K or less? I'm guessing your traveling to spots for business during non-peak times and using the timeshares like an extended stay hotel. Could that be right?

If you pay for the stay with the E195 certificate which cost you 135 MR points how do you also book (pay) for the stay with your MR Credit Card? I've searched the MR website and can't find the E195, can you tell me how to find it?

Thank you,
Suzzanne

 

[BocaBoy]

Its quite easy to do this today and get the credit. Here is one way I have done it for absolutly FREE and recieved the credit.

1. I find a 7 night stay at a MVCI resort for an investment of $1K or less and make the reservation.
2. I ask for an E195 MR certificate (currently 135K points). This gives me $1000 USD in MR CASH.
3. I pay for the reservation using the E195 certificate and MVCI treats the transaction as an all cash (revenue) transaction.
4. I use my MR Credit Card to book the stay. I get 5000 points for the stay and 7 nights credit towards elite nights.

I have done this over 25 times in the last 15 years. Never an issue.

I must say that I am able to do this totally free since my customers pay for all my Marriott stays (business related) so all redemption rewards are truely FREE in my case.

Yes, that is a legitimate "paid stay" because the certificates you are using are treated as cash. Sometimes form is more important than substance.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

FractionalTraveler,

I read and re-read your post several times but am still confused to what's happening. Please bear with me and give a bit more detail.

Are you saying that you have to find 7 nights through marriott.com that add up to $1K or less? With Ocean Pointe at $419 a night for a studio (3/17-3/24) I can't see doing that for $1K for a week. What resorts/dates are you finding for $1K or less? I'm guessing your traveling to spots for business during non-peak times and using the timeshares like an extended stay hotel. Could that be right?

If you pay for the stay with the E195 certificate which cost you 135 MR points how do you also book (pay) for the stay with your MR Credit Card? I've searched the MR website and can't find the E195, can you tell me how to find it?

Thank you,
Suzzanne

If you are an owner, you can use the "MOD" rate on marriott.com for 35% off rack rate. Also, if you are a Premier Plus member you can call MVCI and get up to 40% off the marriott.com rate if available.

I do this all the time in Orlando, Las Vegas, and California resorts.

 

[dioxide45]

If you are an owner, you can use the "MOD" rate on marriott.com for 35% off rack rate. Also, if you are a Premier Plus member you can call MVCI and get up to 40% off the marriott.com rate if available.

I do this all the time in Orlando, Las Vegas, and California resorts.

Actually the discount for Premier Plus DC members/owners is as high as 45% if using your Marriott Rewards Visa to pay for the stay.

MOD/Standard DC Owner - 25%/35% wVisa
Premier Owner - 30%/40% wVisa
Premier Plus Owner - 35%/45% wVisa

 

[rthib]

If you are an owner, you can use the "MOD" rate on marriott.com for 35% off rack rate. Also, if you are a Premier Plus member you can call MVCI and get up to 40% off the marriott.com rate if available.

I do this all the time in Orlando, Las Vegas, and California resorts.

Have you used the MOD/Visa Rate and paid with Marriott Check?
I though the MOD 35% required you to use Visa?

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Yes, I use the MOD/Visa rate and pay with Marriott Checks all the time.

The Marriott Checks are treated as CASH so if my bill is $1001 USD and I paid $1000 USD in Marriott Checks, $1 would be charged to my Marriott Visa Card.

The same thing happens with Marriott Gift Cards. I do this several times a year to gift employees with MVCI reservations. Just did this for one of my employees as a wedding gift (2 weeks in Hawaii).

Maybe others can add their experiences but I have never seen a rate changed automatically (via computerized system) in a reservation at checkout because the method of payment was changed to something other than what was on the original reservation.

I would like to hear if others have seen this?

 

[kds4]

FractionalTraveler,

I read and re-read your post several times but am still confused to what's happening. Please bear with me and give a bit more detail.

I've searched the MR website and can't find the E195, can you tell me how to find it?

Thank you,
Suzzanne

The E195 Marriott Cheques redemption is a Platinum Reward offered to Platinum Elite MR members. If you are able to see it, it appears in a separate part of the Marriott Rewards website under the '250+ Ways To Use Points' link. After clicking on that link and the new page loads, look to the right side of the new page. There should be a column entitled 'In This Section'. The last item in that column, beneath 'Do More With Points' will be 'Platinum Rewards'.

Clicking on the Platinum Rewards link will show you Marriott Cheques (including the E195) and Golf rewards options. Hope that helps.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

kds4, Thanks!

I wasn't sure if this was available for everyone to see since its a platnium offer.

 

[Quilter]

The E195 Marriott Cheques redemption is a Platinum Reward offered to Platinum Elite MR members. If you are able to see it, it appears in a separate part of the Marriott Rewards website under the '250+ Ways To Use Points' link. After clicking on that link and the new page loads, look to the right side of the new page. There should be a column entitled 'In This Section'. The last item in that column, beneath 'Do More With Points' will be 'Platinum Rewards'.

Clicking on the Platinum Rewards link will show you Marriott Cheques (including the E195) and Golf rewards options. Hope that helps.

Thanks. I finally found it.

If you are an owner, you can use the "MOD" rate on marriott.com for 35% off rack rate. Also, if you are a Premier Plus member you can call MVCI and get up to 40% off the marriott.com rate if available.

I do this all the time in Orlando, Las Vegas, and California resorts.

So I should be booking all my hotel reservations through Owner Services if I'm Premier Plus?

4. I use my MR Credit Card to book the stay. I get 5000 points for the stay and 7 nights credit towards elite nights.

Sorry, this part still is confusing me. If you pay $1K for a room I thought you get 10 points per $ for a room charge and 5 points per $ extra if it's on your VISA. Why are you getting 5000 points for the stay.

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry, this part still is confusing me. If you pay $1K for a room I thought you get 10 points per $ for a room charge and 5 points per $ extra if it's on your VISA. Why are you getting 5000 points for the stay.

I think the 5000 points is coming from a Megabonus promo. Not everyone gets points, ours is a free night after two paid stays.