New levels ocean pt tour

[ljmiii]

Here's what I see at https://owners.marriottvacationclub.com/timeshare/mvco/benefits (apologies for the crappy formatting):

Boost Your Benefits​

Great vacations are even better with enriching Owner benefits.
The more you own, the more you can enjoy — all using your Club Points.

​

All I'm seeing is the Next Level banner and the old five tiers of ownership topping off at Chairman's Club. How did you see more?

EDITED: Nevermind...I see that others aren't seeing the new levels either.

 

[dioxide45]

All I'm seeing is the Next Level banner and the old five tiers of ownership topping off at Chairman's Club. How did you see more?

EDITED: Nevermind...I see that others aren't seeing the new levels either.

Yeah, they have the information but can't share the information unless you see the concierge and go to an owner update. I suspect they will release it at some point online, but who knows when that will be.

 

[dioxide45]

View attachment 124880View attachment 124881

I didn't use AI, here is what I created based on the images posted by @Dean.

 

[Eric B]

I kind of doubt that the sales department has all of the nitty gritty details on how things will work. They had some training that could be subject to multiple interpretations and might not reflect things that go against their interest (more sales) like whether requalified/enrolled ownerships will count. I doubt the legal department gave any sort of clearance to the training either way.

 

[dioxide45]

I kind of doubt that the sales department has all of the nitty gritty details on how things will work. They had some training that could be subject to multiple interpretations and might not reflect things that go against their interest (more sales) like whether requalified/enrolled ownerships will count. I doubt the legal department gave any sort of clearance to the training either way.

I suspect all sales has is the info provided by Dean in post #50. While we don't know either way, I would certainly expect that requalified ownerships would qualify for the two highest tiers. I don't see why they wouldn't do that. I guess we won't really know unless MVC comes out with something more or they start bumping people to these tiers.

 

[Eric B]

I like your version, @dioxide45. The only possible suggestion would be to add parentheticals for the start dates based on the color coding for Summer 2026, Fall 2026, and Q1 2027.

 

[dioxide45]

I like your version, @dioxide45. The only possible suggestion would be to add parentheticals for the start dates based on the color coding for Summer 2026, Fall 2026, and Q1 2027.

I did have that initially, but to be expedient I dropped that just for the fact that it is only temporary till everything is implemented. I might get around to adding that in.

 

[Eric B]

I suspect all sales has is the info provided by Dean in post #50. While we don't know either way, I would certainly expect that requalified ownerships would qualify for the two highest tiers. I don't see why they wouldn't do that. I guess we won't really know unless MVC comes out with something more or they start bumping people to these tiers.

I agree, they should count as that had always been part of the sales inducement. I do wonder how they’ll treat resale RCC owners, though. They get free enrollment in Abound and those points count towards status now. They might not want to annoy folks paying that much for fees even if they go to the HOAs. Of course, it’s possible they could add St Regis access to Lion & Crown directly.

 

[dioxide45]

I agree, they should count as that had always been part of the sales inducement. I do wonder how they’ll treat resale RCC owners, though. They get free enrollment in Abound and those points count towards status now. They might not want to annoy folks paying that much for fees even if they go to the HOAs. Of course, it’s possible they could add St Regis access to Lion & Crown directly.

I don't know how they would handle them but I don't know what the maintenance fees have to do with it, those go to the resort to cover operations. It seems MVC wants to protect the higher tiers to people that have paid high sales prices to them. I don't see why they would be inclinded to give resale RCC owners those points toward the highest tiers.

 

[Eric B]

I don't know how they would handle them but I don't know what the maintenance fees have to do with it, those go to the resort to cover operations. It seems MVC wants to protect the higher tiers to people that have paid high sales prices to them. I don't see why they would be inclinded to give resale RCC owners those points toward the highest tiers.

I know; I acknowledged that the fees go to the HOA. For the suites units, MVW pays for half of them and bears the burden of the bad debt equally with other owners. My take is that they have historically given benefits to owners there despite the source. They might change it but haven’t even mentioned the new tiers on the RCC side.

 

[WBP]

So, for the lowly “weeks owner,” who never drank the Kool-Aid, or never turned their wallet over to Marriott Vacation Club/Marriott Vacations Worldwide, will be displaced (in more ways than one), by the MVW customer who decides to turn their bank account over to MVW. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Good Luck to those who aspire to achieve (no pun intended) Reserve or Pinnacle levels (notice, I don’t use the word, “status”). These are precisely the clients that MVW, and the former Diamond Resorts timeshare thugs, now at MVW, are after.

Selling a $150,000.00+ Pink Elephant to a naive consumer requires sales skill, and deception. I wonder how many salespeople MVW has with that level of sales skill.

 

[CULox99]

I connected with contacts at MVC and they advised me that to reach the Pinnacle and Reserve Levels in my instance, I would only have 5,000 points credited toward qualifying for these levels and I would remain at Chairman level. I own 2BR Marriott Grand Residence, Grande Ocean, Grande Vista and 5,000 points purchased directly from MVC to enroll my 3 re-sale properties. I am not clear if legacy weeks purchased directly from MVC would qualify (My assumption is yes, but I never purchased legacy floating weeks direct). Based on this feedback, I can't imagine there will be very many owners in the Pinnacle or Reserve levels and they are so far unattainable I don't see many buying up to them direct through MVC. Obviously this could all be floated out to see how the presentations and owners react and then make adjustments or one off deals in presentations as I was told these new levels and benefits will not likely take effect until 2027.

 

[Hindsite]

I connected with contacts at MVC and they advised me that to reach the Pinnacle and Reserve Levels in my instance, I would only have 5,000 points credited toward qualifying for these levels and I would remain at Chairman level. I own 2BR Marriott Grand Residence, Grande Ocean, Grande Vista and 5,000 points purchased directly from MVC to enroll my 3 re-sale properties. I

We all went round and round this type of issue in the run-up to Abound being launched and I don't recall people seeing the link to Vistana and hence the drawing in of all mandatory resale to Abound being made. Back then people spoke to their contacts who gave a view, but still it turned out differently, as far as I read. I would take everything said, even by reliable contacts, under advisement. Legal clearly don't provide the full briefing content to Sales until its released. It could be there is a past or future cut-off date, that's been done before. It iould be a set of new barriers to entry for the new levels that exclude all resale or non-requalified resale or something else. It could be some cataclysmic booting out of unrequalified resale from Abound eligibility all together.

As we don't know exactly what they are trying to achieve from the new levels and what issues they are trying to resolve in the process, then its really easy to draw assumptions that don't pan out.

 

[ocdb8r]

I suspect all sales has is the info provided by Dean in post #50. While we don't know either way, I would certainly expect that requalified ownerships would qualify for the two highest tiers. I don't see why they wouldn't do that. I guess we won't really know unless MVC comes out with something more or they start bumping people to these tiers.

Obviously this could all be floated out to see how the presentations and owners react and then make adjustments or one off deals in presentations as I was told these new levels and benefits will not likely take effect until 2027.

As we don't know exactly what they are trying to achieve from the new levels and what issues they are trying to resolve in the process, then its really easy to draw assumptions that don't pan out.

Clearly this has to be driven by trying to increase direct sales and to that end I think excuding the "requalification" path (even if just for the highest levels) makes little to no sense. Yes, maybe that's how you spin it initially to see how the "plebs" react and to catch some low-hanging fruit of people will to drop that sort of cash just to call themselves "Pinnacle". But as an ongoing sales tool it seems to me it would have little to no value if a salesperson has to turn away new money from people who wouldn't make the cut. If this sort of approach made any sense they could have cut off the requalification path or doubled or tripled the minimum "buy in" for the existing requal system. To think that adding these paltry benefits is going to motivate someone to drop the kind of money required to hit 50k points direct is absurd. MVC execs aren't THAT dumb.

As @CULox99 said, I suspect they'll float this out and maybe even maintain the "direct only" language and then make exceptions right and left to hit sales targets. Even WITH the requal route open, the benefits they have added are so miniscule. The wait lists never work, auto-banking can be done by a bot (and the ability to do it a month later seems trivial), early check-in and view preferences don't seem to matter to on-site staff....about the only benefits that seem quantifiably worth something are the points/cash discounts and pehaps the longer "holding account" window (but how often can someone take advantage of those?!?!).

 

[RookWDW]

So, for the lowly “weeks owner,” who never drank the Kool-Aid, or never turned their wallet over to Marriott Vacation Club/Marriott Vacations Worldwide, will be displaced (in more ways than one), by the MVW customer who decides to turn their bank account over to MVW. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Good Luck to those who aspire to achieve (no pun intended) Reserve or Pinnacle levels (notice, I don’t use the word, “status”). These are precisely the clients that MVW, and the former Diamond Resorts timeshare thugs, now at MVW, are after.

Selling a $150,000.00+ Pink Elephant to a naive consumer requires sales skill, and deception. I wonder how many salespeople MVW has with that level of sales skill.

How do you believe that lowly weeks owners will be harmed by this?

 

[dougp26364]

How do you believe that lowly weeks owners will be harmed by this?

I can tell you that reserving my full 3 bedroom ocean front unit at Ocean Pointe has become nearly impossible at 12 months out. Before Abound I could get any check in day, any week in my season at the 12 month mark. A few years ago, even at the exact minute inventory was released, I couldn’t get any check in day for the full unit and was limited to 2 of the 4 possible check in days for the master unit.

At the same time I COULD reserve the full unit with a check in day of any day of the week using points.

 

[Eric B]

I didn't use AI, here is what I created based on the images posted by @Dean.

Just noticed you list 1 year as the banking duration for Chairman’s Club.

 

[Dean]

I can tell you that reserving my full 3 bedroom ocean front unit at Ocean Pointe has become nearly impossible at 12 months out. Before Abound I could get any check in day, any week in my season at the 12 month mark. A few years ago, even at the exact minute inventory was released, I couldn’t get any check in day for the full unit and was limited to 2 of the 4 possible check in days for the master unit.

At the same time I COULD reserve the full unit with a check in day of any day of the week using points.

While I do believe that points has a potential impact on the highest demand weeks for the 12 month (but not the 13 month) roll out, I do believe there are other factors. I believe the membership as a whole has gotten more aggressive in reserving. This also may be an indirect effect of points though.

 

[Hindsite]

Clearly this has to be driven by trying to increase direct sales and to that end I think excuding the "requalification" path (even if just for the highest levels) makes little to no sense. Yes, maybe that's how you spin it initially to see how the "plebs" react and to catch some low-hanging fruit of people will to drop that sort of cash just to call themselves "Pinnacle". But as an ongoing sales tool it seems to me it would have little to no value if a salesperson has to turn away new money from people who wouldn't make the cut. If this sort of approach made any sense they could have cut off the requalification path or doubled or tripled the minimum "buy in" for the existing requal system. To think that adding these paltry benefits is going to motivate someone to drop the kind of money required to hit 50k points direct is absurd. MVC execs aren't THAT dumb.

Nothing that we've seen so far says that the requalification path has been excluded. Until we see the actual change to the Abound exchange procedures all that is happening is people are interpreting a footnote on a document that only sales are providing.

Of course they aim to improve sales, but in the process they have a number of ways to do that, just as they did with the deployment of Abound to Sheraton and Westin owners. They chose a different enrollment model from what eligible MVC weeks owners had/have because the uptake was dismal, leading to a lack of good inventory in the Destination Club.

The question is, what issues are they seeking to address with HOW they implement this change. Time will tell....

 

[DRH90277]

If they advertise great resort properties in great locations but can't deliver reservations......

I think the biggest problem with our timeshare program, points or weeks, is the lack of better resorts in "availability of reservations and the number of such resorts." The days of adding great US properties such as Ocean Watch, Hilton Head, Newport Coast, etc. are gone. We are 15 plus years into the Abound points program and does anyone see anything being added like what was added pre-Abound? It's all about acquisitions of other timeshare programs, hopeful and slow integrations of these properties, and additions of pop-up hotel rooms now.

Our defensive move has been to buy great legacy properties in great seasons - it has at least given us an edge in making reservations at the better properties.

 

[dougp26364]

While I do believe that points has a potential impact on the highest demand weeks for the 12 month (but not the 13 month) roll out, I do believe there are other factors. I believe the membership as a whole has gotten more aggressive in reserving. This also may be an indirect effect of points though.

I would tend to agree except, while I can’t book what I want using my week, I CAN book what I want using points. The problem is the cost in points exceeds the points given if I elect my week. There is definitely a bias towards points reservations at some resorts and especially with the more popular weeks.

 

[dougp26364]

If they kill the re-qualified weeks as a pathway to higher benefit levels, it will be interesting to see how this affects sales. I can see an argument that re-qualifying resale weeks drove sales of unnecessary points purchases, just to qualify for higher benefit levels. Without that carrot would these purchase have been made?

I just don’t see someone purchasing 10,000 points to move up a level. That a $172,400 purchase, most likely financed at double digit interest rates. I like status as much as the next person but there is a limit. There is absolutely no way I’d be taking a bite out of that apple.

As an aside, how easy is it to even use 30,000 or 50,000 points? The more expensive weeks are in the 5,000 point range…..if you can get those high demand weeks. At 50,000 points that’s 10 weeks of vacation and at 30,000 that 6 weeks. We’re ahead of everyone we know in that we take 5 vacations/year. No one else I know in our circle of acquaintances takes more than 2 or 3.

 

[Dean]

I would tend to agree except, while I can’t book what I want using my week, I CAN book what I want using points. The problem is the cost in points exceeds the points given if I elect my week. There is definitely a bias towards points reservations at some resorts and especially with the more popular weeks.

I think there are 4 issues at play here. How the weeks are partitioned, how access is determined, redistribution of demand and the acknowledgment that there are losses in a points system not accounted for in weeks. I've never believed that the "skim" was nefarious but rather an acknowledgement of the losses in points system and redistribution of demand albeit an overreaction. As I've said before, I believe MCV should have linked the underlying week to points usage rather than opening it up across the season but I suspect that might have been difficult given seasonality of the system.

 

[DanCali]

I can tell you that reserving my full 3 bedroom ocean front unit at Ocean Pointe has become nearly impossible at 12 months out.

I can't get my preferred checkin day 14 months in advance... On one hand they say I have many weeks, on the other hand, when I can't get the checkin day I want, they say that I don't own enough weeks and other multiple week owners beat me to it. Maybe I'd buy that latter explanation if they told us what and how the Abound trust is holding in inventory that's made available at 13 months out.

 

[Dean]

If they kill the re-qualified weeks as a pathway to higher benefit levels, it will be interesting to see how this affects sales. I can see an argument that re-qualifying resale weeks drove sales of unnecessary points purchases, just to qualify for higher benefit levels. Without that carrot would these purchase have been made?

They've already killed the enrollment pathway IMO. This is just them doubling down on that issue. For me and most of us, the carrot is simply too far away to even consider. I thought they might require a minimum purchase to "re-qualify" like Bluegreen did for their new level.