New AC Offers from II

[SueDonJ]

Wow! I haven't been offered AC's for II deposits for any weeks for the last few years, for two of them I think it's been at least four years. Today I got a mailing for all three of them, and it has our DC corporate account number on it rather than our old account number. The terms are, deposit by 3/18/12 with check-in dates between 8/16/12 and 10/31/12.

Anybody else seeing AC offers for the first time in ages?

 

[Mamianka]

We got one yesterday - but our plans are made into 2015. Once you start using DC points, you are *in the mob* until you can come out even, or leave a very small amount *on the table*, and return to straight trades. We have been able to massage our points (theoretically) so that we get as many night as we would if we locked off our places, but never have to stay in a guest unit - all 1BR. Yes, we had to trade all-Platinum MGC into Dc points, and go some places in other season - but that was our choice, sometimes based on weather and also cheaper airfares at that time. We spent a huge amount of time on planning all this - which was fun, dont't think I am complaining - so I hope that various pieces drop into place for us as the years tick by. We used an AC this past year to go to Epcot, and might do so again at some point - if in fact we decide to toss one of our properties into II. We lock off and will put a half in there sometimes - but for the AC, they want the whole thing.

Question - can you lock off, and deposit both HALVES with them, and get the AC? We never use a 2BR, unless we get a 2BR in a trade when we put in a 1BR - then we might invite a friend.

Thanks,

Mamianka

 

[windje2000]

We got one yesterday - but our plans are made into 2015. Once you start using DC points, you are *in the mob* until you can come out even, or leave a very small amount *on the table*, and return to straight trades. We have been able to massage our points (theoretically) so that we get as many night as we would if we locked off our places, but never have to stay in a guest unit - all 1BR. Yes, we had to trade all-Platinum MGC into Dc points, and go some places in other season - but that was our choice, sometimes based on weather and also cheaper airfares at that time. We spent a huge amount of time on planning all this - which was fun, dont't think I am complaining - so I hope that various pieces drop into place for us as the years tick by. We used an AC this past year to go to Epcot, and might do so again at some point - if in fact we decide to toss one of our properties into II. We lock off and will put a half in there sometimes - but for the AC, they want the whole thing.

Question - can you lock off, and deposit both HALVES with them, and get the AC? We never use a 2BR, unless we get a 2BR in a trade when we put in a 1BR - then we might invite a friend.

Thanks,

Mamianka

Don't forget that it is possible to rent the points you need to cover a shortfall and close out a 'point year' even.

(See GregT's board)

 

[kjd]

Got two AC offers yesterday. One for a three bedroom MGC and another for a two bedroom MGC. Won't take either offer. Can get a better deal with a lock off trade through II.

 

[zilla]

Not all AC are the same

Be careful with deposit if you are thinking about an AC. I have used 5 different AC in the past few years and always used them for flex change to Hawaii. I was offered one for my Maui week this year, but I needed to deposit my week by Jan. 15 2012 for a check-in between April and the end August. I called and asked questions to the agent about using the proposed AC for flex change to Hawaii. She told me I could based on availability of course. So I made the deposit. Two days later when the cert. showed up in my account it would not allow me any flex change to Hawaii even though there inventory in the system for Feb. 2012. I called II customer service and the agent said it was a marketing issue, sorry there was nothing she could do for me on the AC. I then called back to the Marriott desk at II and explained the situation to a different agent. She could not change the AC, but she said she could cancel my entire deposit and give me my week back. I guess because it had not been used yet. I took back my week and said thank you.

 

[thinze3]

This is different.

AC's usually start to "trickle in" in late March and then pick up by April.

 

[iluvfla]

Please!! Disregard my ignorance, I am fresh around here, can tell me what AC means????
Thanks, and keep up the good work !!!!!

 

[SueDonJ]

Please!! Disregard my ignorance, I am fresh around here, can tell me what AC means????
Thanks, and keep up the good work !!!!!

An AC is an Accommodation Certificate, good for an extra week if you deposit your week with Interval International for an exchange. The availability for the extra weeks is somewhat limited and you have to pay an exchange fee to use it, but it's a good way to get extra value from a deposit.

Here's a good post with a lot of info from the "Marriott FAQ" sticky at the top of this board.

 

[SueDonJ]

We're all set for this year, using our weeks at our home resorts after doing a combination of Weeks/DC Points last year. We won't be cashing in these AC offers - I just posted because it was a shock to get the offers at all considering that the last few years II hasn't offered anything. I also thought it was worth noting that the offers are in our new, corporate II account - that's a concern TUGgers have had about enrolling in the DC.

I hope this is a sign of things to come, though, even if the AC's are more limited than they used to be. Looking ahead to 2013 and 2014 I'm pretty sure we'll be doing something with our weeks other than home resort use. It's always nice to have choices.

****
Terry - it IS different, and what's really interesting is that even this far ahead, the check-in days skip pretty much 90% of the Plat season in Hilton Head. Odd all around.

 

[cruisin]

ACs are horrible any more mine the last year have all gone to waste XYZ covers about the same stuff and cheaper

 

[CashEddie]

We just received two ACs in our legacy II account. I called and checked as to why we received them since we didn't deposit our week and was told these are the AC incentives for signing up for the DC (which we did in November). Apparently, you get one AC per year of membership you have remaing in your legacy II account.

 

[dioxide45]

We just received two ACs in our legacy II account. I called and checked as to why we received them since we didn't deposit our week and was told these are the AC incentives for signing up for the DC (which we did in November). Apparently, you get one AC per year of membership you have remaing in your legacy II account.

Actually it is an incentive to keep your legacy II account open after enrollment instead of canceling and getting a pro rated refund.

 

[winger]

Actually it is an incentive to keep your legacy II account open after enrollment instead of canceling and getting a pro rated refund.

Lol too late for me, I canceled my legacy account last month.

 

[kjd]

Why wouldn't AC be available if you had a Marriott DC legacy account? A lot of us ended up with two II accounts and would like to clear one and get a pro-rata refund. If not, it's no big loss because AC don't work very well in lock off situations unless II is really desperate for deposits.

 

[dmharris]

Here's a question I've not seen posted: If we enrolled in DC and in the coming years also enroll in II, just pay dues, don't deposit; will they still give us ACs as an incentive to stay enrolled?

 

[dioxide45]

Why wouldn't AC be available if you had a Marriott DC legacy account? A lot of us ended up with two II accounts and would like to clear one and get a pro-rata refund. If not, it's no big loss because AC don't work very well in lock off situations unless II is really desperate for deposits.

The AC is available for those that enroll in DC and keep their old individual account open. You can opt to cancel it as long as you don't have any pending deposits or confirmations and get a pro-rata refund.

 

[SueDonJ]

Here's a question I've not seen posted: If we enrolled in DC and in the coming years also enroll in II, just pay dues, don't deposit; will they still give us ACs as an incentive to stay enrolled?

If you mean will they continue to give us the "in lieu of" AC's that they give when you enroll your Weeks in the DC and your new/corp II account is opened, then I wouldn't think so because they figure out how many you get based on the expiration date of your old/individual account at the time of enrollment.

The Club Dues you pay after enrolling in the DC cover membership in II through the new/corporate accounts. Unless you own non-Marriott timeshares that you want to trade through II, why would you keep and maintain an ind II account? But this sort of gets around to why I mentioned that the mailing for our AC offers indicated our new/corp II account number - one of the questions we all had about the new accounts was whether everything would be the same in them as it's been in the old. IMO the mailing we got answers the question as far as AC offers, anyway.

 

[SueDonJ]

We just received two ACs in our legacy II account. I called and checked as to why we received them since we didn't deposit our week and was told these are the AC incentives for signing up for the DC (which we did in November). Apparently, you get one AC per year of membership you have remaing in your legacy II account.

Hmmm. When they first offered these they were staggering the issue dates so that they didn't all expire at the same time, at the one year mark. And we didn't get one per year of remaining II membership, we got one AC if we had between one year and 35 months remaining until our old account expired, two AC's if we had between three years and 59 months, three AC's if we had more than five years remaining. The first AC was issued upon enrollment and expired one year from the date of issue, the second on that expiration date and also good for one year, the third after that.

If yours both expire in a year and you can't use them both before the expiration, you could probably call and ask them to cancel the second now and re-issue it a year from now, the way they've issued the ones to most every other enrolled member. (Except, if you only had two years remaining on your II account and should only have been issued one AC based on what they issued to the rest of us, you might not want to call their attention to their mistake. )

Also, be aware that these AC's have the most-restricted grids of any AC types, and the grid isn't lifted in flexchange. Mine expired because we just couldn't find anything available when it was convenient.

 

[CashEddie]

Unless you own non-Marriott timeshares that you want to trade through II, why would you keep and maintain an ind II account?

I think you have to also maintain a legacy II account if you have Marriott resale weeks that are not eligible for DC enrollment. I just purchased a resale MGC week and I had to put it in my legacy II account.

 

[CashEddie]

Hmmm. When they first offered these they were staggering the issue dates so that they didn't all expire at the same time, at the one year mark. And we didn't get one per year of remaining II membership, we got one AC if we had between one year and 35 months remaining until our old account expired, two AC's if we had between three years and 59 months, three AC's if we had more than five years remaining. The first AC was issued upon enrollment and expired one year from the date of issue, the second on that expiration date and also good for one year, the third after that.

If yours both expire in a year and you can't use them both before the expiration, you could probably call and ask them to cancel the second now and re-issue it a year from now, the way they've issued the ones to most every other enrolled member. (Except, if you only had two years remaining on your II account and should only have been issued one AC based on what they issued to the rest of us, you might not want to call their attention to their mistake. )

Also, be aware that these AC's have the most-restricted grids of any AC types, and the grid isn't lifted in flexchange. Mine expired because we just couldn't find anything available when it was convenient.

Hey Sue,

You are probably right on the formula on how these ACs are assigned. We may have missed that part of the owner presentation when we signed up for the DC at Grande Vista.

Yes, both ACs expire in Jan 2013, 7 days apart. And the dilemma we are in now is to figure out how we can use both this year, given our other travel plans for the year. I think we are going to use one for HHI during Thanksgiving week (I just got confirmed this morning for SurfWatch) but have to decide on the other. II already knows how/why I got the two so I will just call them to see if they can reissue on of them for next year so I don't have to pay to extend it.

 

[dougp26364]

Wow! I haven't been offered AC's for II deposits for any weeks for the last few years, for two of them I think it's been at least four years. Today I got a mailing for all three of them, and it has our DC corporate account number on it rather than our old account number. The terms are, deposit by 3/18/12 with check-in dates between 8/16/12 and 10/31/12.

Anybody else seeing AC offers for the first time in ages?

We recieved the first offer of an AC for our Marriott Grand Chateau week since we became owners. Perhaps it has something to do with Planet Hollywood Towers being taken over by Hilton and that inventory going to RCI now rather than I.I. plus, the potential lost inventory from Marriott owners utilizing the DC.

Personally, my love affair with AC's ended long ago. The last several AC's have been all but worthless unless I wanted to travel in off season or over developed areas. A lot of what was available was off season IN overdeveloped areas. I couldn't even get away from the grid during the flexchange period.

Maybe the AC's are better now but, I've been so dissapointed in the last few that I don't even look at them anymore.