Newest level above Chairman

[Dean]

Thirteen months and just one day would be beneficial.

It would be beneficial for many if they qualified but I'm thinking there are too many legal hurdles to add that option. I think a points reduction would be far more workable and would be something they could legally institute.

 

[vacationtime1]

The question for Marriott is what kind of inexpensive-to-supply benefits will most appeal to their target audience. I suspect this target audience includes two groups -- owners who stay multiple weeks at one resort and owners who reserve multiple units at a resort for a week or longer (presumably for friends/family groups).

VIP lounges and private meeting rooms (for the large family groups) might work but could present problems because it would expropriate portions of the common areas for a limited group. But it would provide a superior experience for certain guests which Marriott can try to sell.

The multiple week guests would like late checkouts/early check-ins, or better, a guarantee of getting their 21, 28, or however many days in a single unit. There is no cost to Marriott for providing this benefit (any inconveniences will fall on other owners). Variations of that may exist already, but guarantees sell to some people.

Actually, I find the entire status level discussion rather amusing -- after Executive level the additional benefits are tiny when compared to the tens of thousands of dollars necessary to acquire them. I will watch for what crumbs Marriott will throw off to induce people to buy even more.

 

[Dean]

The question for Marriott is what kind of inexpensive-to-supply benefits will most appeal to their target audience. I suspect this target audience includes two groups -- owners who stay multiple weeks at one resort and owners who reserve multiple units at a resort for a week or longer (presumably for friends/family groups).

VIP lounges and private meeting rooms (for the large family groups) might work but could present problems because it would expropriate portions of the common areas for a limited group. But it would provide a superior experience for certain guests which Marriott can try to sell.

The multiple week guests would like late checkouts/early check-ins, or better, a guarantee of getting their 21, 28, or however many days in a single unit. There is no cost to Marriott for providing this benefit (any inconveniences will fall on other owners). Variations of that may exist already, but guarantees sell to some people.

Actually, I find the entire status level discussion rather amusing -- after Executive level the additional benefits are tiny when compared to the tens of thousands of dollars necessary to acquire them. I will watch for what crumbs Marriott will throw off to induce people to buy even more.

I find the incremental benefits even between Presidential and Chairman's helpful but not sufficient to pay retail for. I'm glad I'm chairman's now and not starting over to try to get there. Same can be said for every system I own though, esp DVC & Bluegreen.

 

[dougp26364]

If they accompanied a 14 month booking window with increased availability at the resorts that aren't in the trust (and ideally overriding the Vistana docs that prohibit reservations before 12 months at resorts like Los Cabos and the WSJ) I would buy up into a higher tier tomorrow. Resale of course...but MVC would still get their $3/point.

There will be people that cannot resist a new ownership level. For whatever reason, a reason I cannot explain, my brain just loves that we are both titanium with Marriott hotels. My titanium is from Bonvoy Brilliant Amex + nights via timeshare stays. Rick's is automatic for our accidental Chairman's status, something I didn't expect but kind of love (for whatever reason) from our WKORV resale purchases. It was quite a surprise.

So a limited market, but I wouldn’t think a large market.

I still don’t think an extra months booking window would be worth the $24,000 it would cost to buy resale and pay junk fees, not to mention the extra $3,200 MF’s per year.

Funny thing about titanium with BonVoy. I’m titanium because of our MVV ownership. My wife is platinum because of her Brilliant BonVoy AmEx. She gets better upgrades when we book under her account than when we book under my account. I’m not certain status matters very much, at least with BonVoy.

 

[Dean]

So a limited market, but I wouldn’t think a large market.

I still don’t think an extra months booking window would be worth the $24,000 it would cost to buy resale and pay junk fees, not to mention the extra $3,200 MF’s per year.

Every sales target is a somewhat limited market. From MVC's point of view it isn't about whether it makes sense for the buyer but whether they can spin it to get sufficient sales to deal with the costs and issues involved. Historically there have been very few situations where buying retail made sense financially. Even systems with essentially no resale value and that are available for free on the open market are still able to sell. It might be interesting to look at Carnival's revamped rewards program, I'd sure hate to see Bonvoy or Abound get gutted like that.

 

[daviator]

If they accompanied a 14 month booking window with increased availability at the resorts that aren't in the trust (and ideally overriding the Vistana docs that prohibit reservations before 12 months at resorts like Los Cabos and the WSJ) I would buy up into a higher tier tomorrow. Resale of course...but MVC would still get their $3/point.

I don’t think they could override the Vistana limit of 12 month booking. It’s literally in the underlying deed restrictions for those properties.

 

[Norcal5]

I was surprised how much I've enjoyed that my Hyatt unit which is my owned fixed week is ready quite a bit earlier than other units which include internal trades. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if HVC prioritizes cleaning of fixed deeded owner occupied units on the busy Saturday turnover day. But yes, I'd shell out more to know that this would happen regularly. Late checkout is not as exciting for me. I'm ready to go by then and usually leave earlier than 10, unless I'm in Hawaii with a late flight, then I add an extra day so I'm not homeless for an afternoon.
This doesn't cost Hyatt anything, I'd think Marriott may be thinking of this.

 

[Eric B]

I don’t think they could override the Vistana limit of 12 month booking. It’s literally in the underlying deed restrictions for those properties.

Fixed week, fixed unit ownerships are typically booked at 18 months. That would include a number of weeks that are developer owned at WSJ. There are without a doubt exceptions that make loopholes they could take advantage of.

they are adding 3rd Home

They just added ThirdHome to Hyatt and it already exists for Ritz-Carlton Destination Club. There are also a fair number of people owning Marriott weeks that have established their own independent accounts with ThirdHome to exchange their usage rights to the weeks. This doesn't seem insurmountable for them to set up an affiliation agreement, though I'm not sure how it would work out for points owners. Frankly, I use less expensive TSs to exchange with them; I don't get enough ThirdHome keys for my MF $ to use my Vistana or MVC ownerships there. Might be worth it if they negotiate some decent benefits, though.

One other rumor I heard last year was giving Ambassador status instead of Titanium. The differential benefit cost for Bonvoy status doesn't seem like it should amount to much, but I have no insight into what the status would actually cost to license.

 

[jabberwocky]

One other rumor I heard last year was giving Ambassador status instead of Titanium. The differential benefit cost for Bonvoy status doesn't seem like it should amount to much, but I have no insight into what the status would actually cost to license.

I don’t think Bonvoy would license Ambassador status this way and give up the $23k spend requirement. The 100 nights is pretty easy to meet if you have a credit card, pick up stays during a 2-1 elite night bonus promotion or have a bunch of timeshare stays.

There are only two published benefits that Ambassador provides over Titanium - the 24/7 concierge-style service and the Your24. Both of these are relatively expensive, since you do need staff to be available to take calls and provide the service levels expected with the Ambassador service. Your24 effectively can make a property lose an extra nights revenue by allowing variable check in times.

Personally I would love the Your24 as I often have flights that arrive quite late and I end up paying for a full day at the beginning of a trip. Your24 would effectively allow me to pay for 3 nights on some of the trips where I’ve been booking four nights. The 4 pm checkout is helpful for late flights out, but not always available or useful.

 

[dioxide45]

Fixed week, fixed unit ownerships are typically booked at 18 months. That would include a number of weeks that are developer owned at WSJ. There are without a doubt exceptions that make loopholes they could take advantage of.

Yeah, it would seem with some resorts, even Sheraton Broadway which can reserve at 24 months they could get inventory in earlier. Perhaps something to do with VSN affiliation with Abound causes the restriction? Does the VGV at WSJ have 18 month booking?

 

[Eric B]

Yeah, it would seem with some resorts, even Sheraton Broadway which can reserve at 24 months they could get inventory in earlier. Perhaps something to do with VSN affiliation with Abound causes the restriction? Does the VGV at WSJ have 18 month booking?

VGV at WSJ has the 18-month booking for home weeks. Owners are supposed to be able to shift their home weeks to others in the season, subject to availability, from 8 to 10 months but MVC has pretty much broken that in the IT implementation and the poor training of phone representatives.

In the other phases, the 18-month booking occurs for ownerships with deeded fixed weeks.

 

[goodbadugly]

I don’t think Bonvoy would license Ambassador status this way and give up the $23k spend requirement. The 100 nights is pretty easy to meet if you have a credit card, pick up stays during a 2-1 elite night bonus promotion or have a bunch of timeshare stays.

There are only two published benefits that Ambassador provides over Titanium - the 24/7 concierge-style service and the Your24. Both of these are relatively expensive, since you do need staff to be available to take calls and provide the service levels expected with the Ambassador service. Your24 effectively can make a property lose an extra nights revenue by allowing variable check in times.

Personally I would love the Your24 as I often have flights that arrive quite late and I end up paying for a full day at the beginning of a trip. Your24 would effectively allow me to pay for 3 nights on some of the trips where I’ve been booking four nights. The 4 pm checkout is helpful for late flights out, but not always available or useful.

The benefits you receive from Abound Titanium are not always the same as Bonvoy.

 

[Eric B]

The benefits you receive from Abound Titanium are not always the same as Bonvoy.

Not really sure what you mean by this. As someone with an owner benefit level of Chairman's Club in Abound, I get Titanium status in Bonvoy. I also get 75+ nights a year from credit cards and stays in hotels and MVC/Vistana TSs, but Titanium is Titanium. There are without a doubt other bits of information they have about me in their customer relations software; after all, all Titanium members are equal but some are more equal than others based on the scuttlebutt in the loyalty program media. That is to say, having Bonvoy Titanium status merely as a result of Abound ownership might not be enough to rank me higher on the list of Bonvoy Titanium members eligible to get an upgrade when they are deciding who gets it, but I was still eligible under the Bonvoy terms and conditions.

 

[dioxide45]

The benefits you receive from Abound Titanium are not always the same as Bonvoy.

There is no such thing as Abound Titanium. You have Abound Presidential and Chairman's Club which gets you Titanium status in Bonvoy.

 

[goodbadugly]

There is no such thing as Abound Titanium. You have Abound Presidential and Chairman's Club which gets you Titanium status in Bonvoy.

Sorry to disagree. The hotels know and on many occasions I am treated differently. Especially if you are a life timer!

 

[roni973]

Sorry to disagree. The hotels know and on many occasions I am treated differently. Especially if you are a life timer!

This is a distinction I've wondered about.

So are you saying that people who reach Titanium thru their employer's dime get better treatment than those of us who've spent our own hard earned money to reach Presidential/Chairman's club level?

How do the hotel properties "see" this?

And why does it impact a hotels decision to dismiss a Presidential/Chairman level Titanium in favor of a corporate Titanium? (I am truly curious!)

 

[daviator]

This is a distinction I've wondered about.

So are you saying that people who reach Titanium thru their employer's dime get better treatment than those of us who've spent our own hard earned money to reach Presidential/Chairman's club level?

How do the hotel properties "see" this?

And why does it impact a hotels decision to dismiss a Presidential/Chairman level Titanium in favor of a corporate Titanium? (I am truly curious!)

Some have suggested that hotels can see your Marriott spend for the year in addition to your status, and that they prioritize upgrades, etc. based on annual spend and not just status. But I don't know if that's true. Certainly it's true that Marriott does TRACK annual spend (as part of Ambassador qualification) and you earn Bonvoy points based on your "spend" on each stay. I think it would not be a good idea for them to let hotels know your total spend for the year, but that doesn't mean they don't do it.

Of course, what you spend on maintenance fees with MVC isn't considered "Marriott spend" and wouldn't impact anything on the hotel side.

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry to disagree. The hotels know and on many occasions I am treated differently. Especially if you are a life timer!

How do you know you are treated differently? It is possible that properties can see your spend in addition to your status, and as a timeshare owner your spend with Marriott (the hotel company) isn't all that high. It is also possible that someone who is lifetime is treated differently than someone who gets to the status based on nights each year, but any such reports are going to be anecdotal.

 

[Dean]

Sorry to disagree. The hotels know and on many occasions I am treated differently. Especially if you are a life timer!

The hotels could care less if you're a MVC member. Remember that MVC is no longer integrally connected to Marriott International. I wouldn't be surprised if the status option were to evaporate completely at some point. I wonder when the current agreement expires.