MVC is blocking single night reservations... What Restrictions have you found?

[hcarman]

I was told by corporate that each resort has its own inventory control person that sits in Orlando and makes these tweaks. I would imagine it depends on the resort. But would have no idea what goes into these decisions. But Crystal Shores is particularly bad. Whole months where nothing but 7 day stays are permitted. Ironically, we own a week at Crystal Shores but don't always want to travel for the whole week - part of why we joined the Destination Club Program (now Abound). We have converted our week into points only to find nothing but 7 day stays are available at the 13 month mark, at the 12 month mark, and even at the 10 month mark.

 

[Dean]

I stayed at NCV twice on one night stays in July this summer.

I think this will be hit or miss and vary from resort to resort. It is unlikely to be present all the time though CS seems to be the most affected currently. Bottom line is that successes don't answer the question.

 

[tha]

I was told by corporate that each resort has its own inventory control person that sits in Orlando and makes these tweaks. I would imagine it depends on the resort. But would have no idea what goes into these decisions. But Crystal Shores is particularly bad. Whole months where nothing but 7 day stays are permitted. Ironically, we own a week at Crystal Shores but don't always want to travel for the whole week - part of why we joined the Destination Club Program (now Abound). We have converted our week into points only to find nothing but 7 day stays are available at the 13 month mark, at the 12 month mark, and even at the 10 month mark.

When I have looked into converting a Vistana week into Abound points I have noticed that you do not receive enough Abound points to book peak weeks. Every move you make in MVC comes with a "haircut". Best to stay with your deeded week in terms of flexibility and buying power.

 

[bazzap]

When I have looked into converting a Vistana week into Abound points I have noticed that you do not receive enough Abound points to book peak weeks. Every move you make in MVC comes with a "haircut". Best to stay with your deeded week in terms of flexibility and buying power.

When electing Week(s) for Abound Points, it is generally not a good idea to do this to use the Points to book back into your home resort.
However, it can be beneficial if booking for a lower season, smaller unit, less prime view… when you may even be able to book back for more than 7 days.

 

[Dean]

When electing Week(s) for Abound Points, it is generally not a good idea to do this to use the Points to book back into your home resort.
However, it can be beneficial if booking for a lower season, smaller unit, less prime view… when you may even be able to book back for more than 7 days.

I agree. Electing points can allow for more flexibility including the ability to bank a week you might not use on a given year. Another way I've used the ability to elect points is combined with exchanges. Say I have a reservation using weeks or points and then later get an exchange for that same option, I can then cancel a points reservations or for weeks, I can elect points if there's enough time, rent it out or deposit with II which ever is best in the situation.

 

[bizaro86]

When electing Week(s) for Abound Points, it is generally not a good idea to do this to use the Points to book back into your home resort.
However, it can be beneficial if booking for a lower season, smaller unit, less prime view… when you may even be able to book back for more than 7 days.

Yeah. Because it'd be too bad if you wanted to book back into your home resort in high season for less than a week (because that's all the points you had due to skim) and then couldn't book at all because of an undisclosed minimum stay condition that required 7 night bookings.

 

[Eric B]

When I have looked into converting a Vistana week into Abound points I have noticed that you do not receive enough Abound points to book peak weeks. Every move you make in MVC comes with a "haircut". Best to stay with your deeded week in terms of flexibility and buying power.

It really depends. For me, the platinum plus fixed weeks I own would yield more Abound points than it takes to book them because they are on the edge of the gold plus/platinum plus border. There is a "haircut" but it is about a 5% reduction from the average season point value. The result of this for a fixed week owner would wind up being a bit of a reduction for something like 55% of the weeks and a bit of an improvement for the other 45%, though the spread will vary. With a floating week, the same distribution will essentially hold true; you'd do better booking with Abound points when the point value for the weeks are lower - that should go without saying, of course. Whether you can book the peak weeks in your deeded season through booking your floating week or not despite having the technical ability to will depend on demand. Bottom line is that information is power and they do publish the point values far enough in advance for folks that want to plan in advance.

 

[MikeM132]

Unfortunately the nature of timeshare sales is that you're selling something that most people don't need at a price that's way over its actual value that most can't afford anyway. They can always spin something to be a positive or gloss over a negative.

I'm a salesman and understand the concept of emphasizing the positive, trying to find some resonance with the buyer in some way. I would never argue timeshare is a great value for money. I would (in Marriott case, anyway) argue that the resorts are all very nice, very consistent, in prime locations. However, what I would be emphatic about (and why I got into this) is a timeshare forces you to go on vacation. Inertia and indecision are powerful forces leading to another wasted year. Nothing is more valuable than time. I am very lucky to have been told this about 45 years ago by a big shot at the company I worked for then. Now as for your experience, getting all these great things at a lower price is even better. I bought 3 places from Marriott, before I learned about TUG. Now daughter has two enrolled Hawaii weeks (we passed them to her), which I'm not sure could have happened with resale. I don't dwell on it. I find it hard to maintain a bad attitude in a hot tub under a palm tree.

 

[Dean]

I'm a salesman and understand the concept of emphasizing the positive, trying to find some resonance with the buyer in some way. I would never argue timeshare is a great value for money. I would (in Marriott case, anyway) argue that the resorts are all very nice, very consistent, in prime locations. However, what I would be emphatic about (and why I got into this) is a timeshare forces you to go on vacation. Inertia and indecision are powerful forces leading to another wasted year. Nothing is more valuable than time. I am very lucky to have been told this about 45 years ago by a big shot at the company I worked for then. Now as for your experience, getting all these great things at a lower price is even better. I bought 3 places from Marriott, before I learned about TUG. Now daughter has two enrolled Hawaii weeks (we passed them to her), which I'm not sure could have happened with resale. I don't dwell on it. I find it hard to maintain a bad attitude in a hot tub under a palm tree.

For some that's true and I believe it is for us, for others it may lead to a life of misery with financial woes, frustration and generally a bad experience. Unfortunately the latter is true far too often. When you feel you have to lie and deceive to be successful, there's something wrong with the product or the sales model or both.

 

[hcarman]

When I have looked into converting a Vistana week into Abound points I have noticed that you do not receive enough Abound points to book peak weeks. Every move you make in MVC comes with a "haircut". Best to stay with your deeded week in terms of flexibility and buying power.

Yes, this is very true. However, if you convert your week to points and travel during a lower season you can actually get more than a week for the points. Or there are times when you can't make a full week work and are willing to take the "haircut" to be able to split your stay. Many reasons why an owner might opt to not use their week.

 

[hcarman]

For some that's true and I believe it is for us, for others it may lead to a life of misery with financial woes, frustration and generally a bad experience. Unfortunately the latter is true far too often. When you feel you have to lie and deceive to be successful, there's something wrong with the product or the sales model or both.

I agree. We have had good experiences as well up until recently. It really does sour the experience when you find you have been lied to about some feature of the program that was important to you. And it is sad that the sales model involves so much pressure and deceit. And really no way to effectively exit the program. We own Disney as well and one thing I will say is that I have never felt that a salesperson has deceived and embellished on the program. I can also sell my Disney for a reasonable price and be out of the program, if I so choose. I can't say the same about Marriott or Hyatt.

 

[Red elephant]

Marriott Waikiki is limiting only 3 night stays for Sep, Oct, Nov 2025 did not check other dates .

 

[Bill4728]

We have found that there are times where the resort has open rooms but they will not allow you to book a short stay. That said, I just made a reservation at NCV for one night that is the day before a II exchange. and a second reservation for two nights after the exchange. The best thing is I got a 30% discount as a presidential owner booking at 60 days before check in.

 

[dioxide45]

We have found that there are times where the resort has open rooms but they will not allow you to book a short stay. That said, I just made a reservation at NCV for one night that is the day before a II exchange. and a second reservation for two nights after the exchange. The best thing is I got a 30% discount as a presidential owner booking at 60 days before check in.

I would fully expect that short and even single night reservations are wide open inside 60 days. In many cases, resorts may only have individual nights as available.

 

[winger]

We have found that there are times where the resort has open rooms but they will not allow you to book a short stay. That said, I just made a reservation at NCV for one night that is the day before a II exchange. and a second reservation for two nights after the exchange. The best thing is I got a 30% discount as a presidential owner booking at 60 days before check in.

What month(s)/date(s) where the one and two nights? I believe NCV's blocks are seasonal based some checks I have done in the past (e.g. summer months)

 

[hcarman]

I just tried to book Crystal Shores for next November (2025). Nothing available all month for a stay less than 7 nights. However, when I plugged in 7 nights at least half of the month opened up. So once again, I was looking for 5 or 6 nights but had to book 7. This has been very hush hush at the sales presentations where they push the flexibility of the vacation club points over the legacy weeks, and they push premier levels so you can book 1 night or more at the 13 month mark. Not.

 

[pedro47]

I book a reservation for February 2025 @ Surfwatch, I have the confirmation number, but the reservation number is not showing.
I thought this was fixed.

 

[Hindsite]

I book a reservation for February 2025 @ Surfwatch, I have the confirmation number, but the reservation number is not showing.
I thought this was fixed.

If you mean an II MVC reservation, it was fixed for me when I got an OGS match a week ago.

 

[pedro47]

I got it. I need to read the whole e-mail.
Both reservation have the reservation numbers.

 

[SueDonJ]

Yes, this is very true. However, if you convert your week to points and travel during a lower season you can actually get more than a week for the points. Or there are times when you can't make a full week work and are willing to take the "haircut" to be able to split your stay. Many reasons why an owner might opt to not use their week.

I've always thought that when it comes to the "skim" (i.e. the majority of enrolled Weeks do not yield enough Abound Points to book back into the same or similar resort/season/unit size/view stays,) the compare/contrast metric that should count the most is with II. My SW Weeks are much more valuable as points generators than as II exchange bait because they're 3BR non-lockoffs and there are very few of those in either Marriott's or II's portfolios. So either way that generally limits my exchanges to 2BR or smaller units and/or less-demand seasons, but using II that's considered an equal week-for-week exchange while using Points gets me the II-equivalent week-for-week exchange plus leaves me with a Points balance.

For some of us, depending on the Weeks we own, II delivered a "skim" long before Abound (formerly Destination Club) was a thing.

 

[Hindsite]

My SW Weeks are much more valuable as points generators than as II exchange bait because they're 3BR non-lockoffs and there are very few of those in either Marriott's or II's portfolios.

Yes, there are exceptions at the edge of the ownership profiles in all directions, and that's why the FAQs for Abound provide a caution for people to check whether electing is the best use of their ownership. There are indeed some excellent club points generators in the system, and some terrible ones. Same as there are excellent II traders and terrible ones.

 

[pedro47]

I got it. I need to read the whole e-mail.
Both reservation have the reservation numbers.

II answered my email and resolved the issue in less than 24 hours. Kudos to II.

 

[m61376]

I've always thought that when it comes to the "skim" (i.e. the majority of enrolled Weeks do not yield enough Abound Points to book back into the same or similar resort/season/unit size/view stays,) the compare/contrast metric that should count the most is with II. My SW Weeks are much more valuable as points generators than as II exchange bait because they're 3BR non-lockoffs and there are very few of those in either Marriott's or II's portfolios. So either way that generally limits my exchanges to 2BR or smaller units and/or less-demand seasons, but using II that's considered an equal week-for-week exchange while using Points gets me the II-equivalent week-for-week exchange plus leaves me with a Points balance.

For some of us, depending on the Weeks we own, II delivered a "skim" long before Abound (formerly Destination Club) was a thing.

That's true- but, as you said, it depends on what you own. The flip is true for certain high demand weeks that Marriott allotted relatively fewer points to than you'd expect relative to what Marriott.com charges to rent the week. Aruba weeks and possibly some other Caribbean weeks fall into this category. Aruba weeks were allotted less points than weeks that Marriott itself was charging half the rent for, command high rental rates and have great trading value in II. So it's not only the "skim" but the point allotment that determines whether a property is a good points generator. For example, my 3BR Gold week gets 3975 points, and last I looked (and there's a dearth of availability) Marriott.com was charging over $1300 a night, and my 2 BR Plat. (4075 points) has commanded similar rates as of a year or two ago. The 2BR side can get me basically anything in II and even the lock-off has gotten me 1 and 2 BR's in prime locations. I can morph a lock-off from my 2 or 3BR unit into a 3000-6500 point value trade in II.

I don't play with the points much, but I'm guessing there's better availability of the better points generators, since owners have the incentive to deposit them and, conversely, less availability of the poorer generators, since owners are better off renting or trading in II and there'd be a high demand for good value points reservations.

 

[Dean]

As I've said a number of times on TUG, I think the skim was necessary to account for the inefficiencies of a points system compared to a weeks system. They also took the opportunity to redeploy the demand and effectively restructure the seasons more dynamically. I do believe they went slightly overboard but I strongly suspect this was more due to their insecurity with the change and not a nefarious act to generate rental options. Were there other ways to do so, absolutely, but the alternative would likely have centered around being more restrictive on using the points more like Wyndham or Bluegreen functions (more Wyndham). I don't know the HGVC system as well to compare that option.

 

[dioxide45]

As I've said a number of times on TUG, I think the skim was necessary to account for the inefficiencies of a points system compared to a weeks system. They also took the opportunity to redeploy the demand and effectively restructure the seasons more dynamically. I do believe they went slightly overboard but I strongly suspect this was more due to their insecurity with the change and not a nefarious act to generate rental options. Were there other ways to do so, absolutely, but the alternative would likely have centered around being more restrictive on using the points more like Wyndham or Bluegreen functions (more Wyndham). I don't know the HGVC system as well to compare that option.

HGVC (legacy) charges fees for most transactions. So this would naturally limit the number of shorter stays as more short reservations means more fees and money to be paid to make those reservations. MVC just built the fee in as a skim rather than charge cash for it.