New Marriott Timeshares

[Ron98GT]

FYI we just returned from Manor club and did a presentation there where the salesman mentioned MVCI would be breaking ground on (or buying? Not sure which) resorts in Atlanta, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin Dells ...

None of these made much sense to me beyond Puerto Rico, which I questioned, since Hyatt has a property there...He said the new Marriott property would not be too far from the Hyatt...

Got a strong pitch to buy enough DC points to get us to Premiere, but managed to resist (doing fine with what we have); saw this thread and thought I'd share what we heard though, for what it's worth...

I wish Marriott and/or Hilton would build a TS in Puerto Rico

 

[pwrshift]

Marriott lies about expansion...always has. When I bought the brand new Marriott Beachplace Towers there was only one building up but the sales pitch at the time was the 's' on Towers meant there would be another built once the first building was sold...so buy now as the prices for building 2 will be much higher. Never happened...it was all a sales pitch. At the time there was a parking lot right beside BP and right up to when it was announced Starwood would build a St. Regis there, the salespeople used the 'Towers' story to sell. Oddly, now the SR is a Ritz Carlton.

If Marriott's DC designation is true to the format set up by most destination clubs (most of which are now out of business) you could see Marriott buy prime time suites in already built resort areas. That way they don't have the up front building expense and time lag to the sold out position as thats some other developer's problem. This way, the places would not be managed entirely by Marriott but the roster of worldwide locations could easily and affordably expanded...and probably welcomed by DC members.

You'll be long retired before you see any new Marriott timeshare buildings go up IMO.

Brian

 

[EducatedConsumer]

Marriott lies about expansion...always has. When I bought the brand new Marriott Beachplace Towers there was only one building up but the sales pitch at the time was the 's' on Towers meant there would be another built once the first building was sold...so buy now as the prices for building 2 will be much higher. Never happened...it was all a sales pitch. At the time there was a parking lot right beside BP and right up to when it was announced Starwood would build a St. Regis there, the salespeople used the 'Towers' story to sell. Oddly, now the SR is a Ritz Carlton.

If Marriott's DC designation is true to the format set up by most destination clubs (most of which are now out of business) you could see Marriott buy prime time suites in already built resort areas. That way they don't have the up front building expense and time lag to the sold out position as thats some other developer's problem. This way, the places would not be managed entirely by Marriott but the roster of worldwide locations could easily and affordably expanded...and probably welcomed by DC members.

You'll be long retired before you see any new Marriott timeshare buildings go up IMO.

Brian

We said the same thing, but you did it with far fewer words than me.

I'll take a lesson from you..........

Rhetoric, absolute rhetoric..........

If "future destinations" are not officially announced by Marriott (or whoever this new company is), and reduced to writing by Marriott Headquarters, I'd not believe one inference made by a salesman. Real estate Developers deal with the smoke that some salespeople create by putting language in Purchase and Sales Agreements that say that the Developer is not responsible for any representations made by agents or associates of their company, other than those made in "this (written) contract."

And, if or when the time comes that this new company does decide to expand, I'd not be the least bit surprised if they depart from Marriott Vacation Club's old model of "building resorts (which take a lot of time and capital (and debt))" to a new model of acquiring a few condominiums/rooms at a particular location, and referring to the five or ten new condominiums that they acquired (? rented, ? purchased) as MVC's newest of locations. A strategy of this type, would allow MVC to demonstrate that they are making overtures to expand, would build the "sales enthusiasm" that Marriott Vacation Club (predecessor company to the new company) was famous for creating, it would put "pins on the map," to demonstrate "further vastness" of their network, and in particular, Marriott would not have to wait years to conceive and build-out a resort, nor would they incur the expense or debt in doing so.

There was a time when Marriott Vacation Club used to have maps in their sales centers with lights that light up of current and "future" locations. I've not seen any such representations by this new company, or since the economy and timeshare business tanked (which pre-dates the new company).

PS Time and time again Marriott salespeople have been reported here of making representations that are not known to or authorized by their Corporate Headquarters. If there is an Official List, that's great news for Marriott and their points owners (I wouldn't put it past Marriott to "lock out" their legacy product owners from new inventory, and for using "access to the new inventory" to force legacy owners to add points to their Marriott timeshare portfolio.

 

[Davidr]

Why would Marriott build anything for 10s of millions of $$ when they could acquire an equivalent number of points by buying a few thousand $ worth of resales from ebay and dumping them into the trust?

 

[normab]

During our presentation in December DH and I heard "New York CIty" and came away with the impression they wouldn't build new.

We also figure we will to wait and see. Since we are not buying points, we can't reserve any new places until Marriott mixes the buckets.

 

[slum808]

Why would Marriott build anything for 10s of millions of $$ when they could acquire an equivalent number of points by buying a few thousand $ worth of resales from ebay and dumping them into the trust?

It's about marketing. The question is, does Marriott have the right mix of locations to attract the buyers?

 

[Werner Weiss]

Couldn't any new buildings, yet to be built or have any units presold, be used exclusively for DC?

Any new buildings would be owned by the Trust.

Trust owners can book DC Trust inventory directly. They also have access to inventory in the DC exchange pool (including inventory from enrolled owners who have opted for points).

Enrolled owners can book weeks at their home resorts directly. They also have access to inventory in the DC exchange pool (including Trust inventory that's been transferred there to facilitate exchanges).

So while it's true that "any new buildings would be used exclusively for DC," that does not mean enrolled owners will never have access to them.

 

[Ron98GT]

Any new buildings would be owned by the Trust.

Trust owners can book DC Trust inventory directly. They also have access to inventory in the DC exchange pool (including inventory from enrolled owners who have opted for points).

Enrolled owners can book weeks at their home resorts directly. They also have access to inventory in the DC exchange pool (including Trust inventory that's been transferred there to facilitate exchanges).

So while it's true that "any new buildings would be used exclusively for DC," that does not mean enrolled owners will never have access to them.

I'm a new Marriott "Weeks" owner so excuse my stupitity. When you state "Trust", I assume points owners can only use trust points not weeks owners? From previous discussions, it sounds like trust points are Marriott points/weeks that only DC/Points owners could possibly use, but are not guaranteed?

Does "enrolled" owners include "weeks" owners, or are we still talking about points?

i wish Marriott would have used a points system similar to HGVC's.

 

[Werner Weiss]

I'm a new Marriott "Weeks" owner so excuse my stupitity. When you state "Trust", I assume points owners can only use trust points not weeks owners? From previous discussions, it sounds like trust points are Marriott points/weeks that only DC/Points owners could possibly use, but are not guaranteed?

Does "enrolled" owners include "weeks" owners, or are we still talking about points?

i wish Marriott would have used a points system similar to HGVC's.

If you're a new owner of a week at a Marriott timeshare resort, I assume that means you bought a floating week on the resale market. That means you can stay at your resort during your season. Or, if you join Interval International (II), you can exchange (for a fee) your booked week for a week at another II-affiliated resort (Marriott or non-Marriott), based on availability and II's unpublished metrics for a "comparable" week. Or you can do private exchanges or exchanges through smaller exchange companies. But you can't exchange through Marriott's Destinations Club (DC) exchange program.

Marriott allows "weeks" owners who bought from Marriott to enroll (for a fee) in the DC program. Also, for a limited time, Marriott allowed "resale weeks" owners to enroll (for a higher fee), but not any more. Enrolled owners can use their weeks the same way you can, but have the added option of opting for DC points in years when they choose to do so.

Technically, there are two kind of DC points (Trust points and exchange points), but Marriott seems to be trying hard to make the points work the same way.

When Marriott switched what they were selling from weeks to points, they faced the difficult challenge of building the points program on top of the weeks program. Companies that started on Day One as points programs (such as Disney Vacation Club) do not have to serve various kinds of owners who bought different products but still want access to the full portfolio of resorts from that brand.