Notes from Recent Sales Presentation

[NYFLTRAVELER]

Destinations Program owner...... Recently had a presentation. The following “statements” were made which I wanted to share with the Marriott group.

-Changes soon to ownership tiers and minimum number of points to become Select will be 6000 (from 4000), Executive will be 9000 (from 7000) Presidential will be 12,000 (from 10,000) Chairman’s will be 17,000 (from 15,000) . However you will be grandfathered in at your level now if you do not add points to your portfolio. Their point was upgrade to the next level now before you will need at least 2000 more points beyond what it will take today.

-in connection with the above, Once the ILG transaction is complete and the systems (Westin, Vistana, etc) are integrated into MVCI, only Presidential and Chairman’s level DC owners will have access to that inventory.

Other than that, nothing much of note was said during the meeting, and after approximately one hour, we exchanged pleasantries, collected our “gift” and went about our day. No pressure whatsoever to purchase.

I cannot confirm whether any of the above is true, but wanted to share this with you folks.

Happy Holidays.

 

[pedro47]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

Do you mind sharing how many points you have in your account now? I'm wondering if that could have something to do with their pitch tactic. It MAY be real, but I think we've heard the same story for the last year or more. As an example, if you have 8100 points right now, and they were trying to get you to purchase 2000 points (getting you to 10100, Presidential today), that would "save you" from the impending new requirements they mentioned.

 

[Swice]

I have 6600 and was Executive before the last increase... so I was "grandfathered" at the last increase. During November presentation they told me I needed 4,000 to get Presidential so I would be "grandfathered" in before the next increase. I doubt any benefits they offer me will entice me to spend the roughly $30,000 they wanted. If true-- the ability to trade into Westin/Sheraton would be a minor benefit, but certainly not worth $30,000. (Of course if I'm restricted from trading into, then I could restrict in return. ...the Westin/Sheraton owners would not be able to trade into my high demand OceanWatch if I don't give up my unit.)

Rather than spending extra dollars adding timeshare points, I'm using that money for locations where there are no Marriotts, cruises (cash better value) and group travel with Tauck and Trafalgar.

 

[Big Matt]

I’d like to know if there will be reciprocity in regard to the Marriott inventory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NYFLTRAVELER]

I have 7500 points (some of which come from the election of points from a week I purchased as part of a bundle solely for the purposes of electing for points)

 

[StevenTing]

These thresholds seem reasonable and likely possible. I think they should have just created a 25,000 point level with no grandfather and call it the One Percent.

 

[alohakevin]

Destinations Program owner...... Recently had a presentation. The following “statements” were made which I wanted to share with the Marriott group.

-Changes soon to ownership tiers and minimum number of points to become Select will be 6000 (from 4000), Executive will be 9000 (from 7000) Presidential will be 12,000 (from 10,000) Chairman’s will be 17,000 (from 15,000) . However you will be grandfathered in at your level now if you do not add points to your portfolio. Their point was upgrade to the next level now before you will need at least 2000 more points beyond what it will take today.

-in connection with the above, Once the ILG transaction is complete and the systems (Westin, Vistana, etc) are integrated into MVCI, only Presidential and Chairman’s level DC owners will have access to that inventory.

Other than that, nothing much of note was said during the meeting, and after approximately one hour, we exchanged pleasantries, collected our “gift” and went about our day. No pressure whatsoever to purchase.

I cannot confirm whether any of the above is true, but wanted to share this with you folks.

Happy Holidays.

Curious how they will handle elite owners with Vistana and tier level owners with MVC. Will they look at the total owned across both programs to determine status? I doubt it but curious how this will work.

 

[JIMinNC]

Curious how they will handle elite owners with Vistana and tier level owners with MVC. Will they look at the total owned across both programs to determine status? I doubt it but curious how this will work.

Executive management has told the investment community that they will be introducing a “common points currency” across both legacy MVC and legacy Vistana in mid-to-late 2020. I would expect any revised tiers to be based on that new “currency”, whatever it winds up being.

 

[dougp26364]

I think the one consistent thing being said across the board is that the points required for each benefit level are increasing. It will be interesting to see who they target heavily for presentations if they restrict dual access to presidential and chairman level owners. I could see the sales floors feeling anything lower than presidential as the big targets to move up based on that perk. Maybe those owners will see better offers to attend presentations, or maybe they’ll feel the benefit of dual affiliation enough enticement on its own.

at any rate, if they’re going to restrict access, I would almost bet they’ll change the tier levels first, then announce the dual affiliation program and that access is restricted to upper levels. Doing it in that order might be viewed as an easy way to boost sales by 20% (2,000 more points than before for presidential level)

 

[NYFLTRAVELER]

I would never spend another $25k (or even $15k at a deep discount) to get the 2500 points I need to get to Presidential. For that $25k, if I really wanted to stay at one of the “Vistana” properties, I would pay cash.

 

[Nonnie Capurro]

I think the one consistent thing being said across the board is that the points required for each benefit level are increasing. It will be interesting to see who they target heavily for presentations if they restrict dual access to presidential and chairman level owners. I could see the sales floors feeling anything lower than presidential as the big targets to move up based on that perk. Maybe those owners will see better offers to attend presentations, or maybe they’ll feel the benefit of dual affiliation enough enticement on its own.

at any rate, if they’re going to restrict access, I would almost bet they’ll change the tier levels first, then announce the dual affiliation program and that access is restricted to upper levels. Doing it in that order might be viewed as an easy way to boost sales by 20% (2,000 more points than before for presidential level)

When they raised Chairman's level of points to 15,000 I was grandfathered in with my 13,000 points. Yesterday I was told the level is most likely going up again and you can only be grandfathered in once. I haven't consulted an attorney yet but it doesn't seem legal. Has anyone else been told they might lose their Chairman's level?


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Fasttr]

When they raised Chairman's level of points to 15,000 I was grandfathered in with my 13,000 points. Yesterday I was told the level is most likely going up again and you can only be grandfathered in once. I haven't consulted an attorney yet but it doesn't seem legal. Has anyone else been told they might lose their Chairman's level?

Salesperson BS.

 

[mjm1]

I agree. We have never been told that either.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[BigDawgTUG]

When they raised Chairman's level of points to 15,000 I was grandfathered in with my 13,000 points. Yesterday I was told the level is most likely going up again and you can only be grandfathered in once. I haven't consulted an attorney yet but it doesn't seem legal. Has anyone else been told they might lose their Chairman's level?


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

From the FAQ: "Please note that the Vacation Club Point levels required to qualify for the benefit levels are subject to change without prior notice." Although MVC has, in the past, chosen to grandfather people when they have changed ownership levels, given the disclosure in the FAQ, it is likely more of a PR decision than a legal one.

 

[Dean]

When they raised Chairman's level of points to 15,000 I was grandfathered in with my 13,000 points. Yesterday I was told the level is most likely going up again and you can only be grandfathered in once. I haven't consulted an attorney yet but it doesn't seem legal. Has anyone else been told they might lose their Chairman's level?


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Likely BS, I assume this was from a sales person. But as for the legal angle, they have no obligation to grandfather even the first time. They could even scrap the system and you'd have to legal standing as this is not a contractual component.

 

[Steve A]

I was told about the increase in status levels but nothing about limiting access to Vistana and Westin resorts. I was at the Grande Vista this week and met with the sales people on Monday, 2.24.

 

[del2327]

I also attended a presentation at Grande Vista on 2/24. We were told we should purchase enough points to move to Chairman's so we could be grandfathered at that level "forever". Somehow there was no mention about us being grandfathered at our existing level . When we declined, we are asked why we bother going to presentations if we don't purchase at them or do we just go for the incentive. When I said it was the incentive and the desire to learn more about what's changed (after all isn't that what they say the presentation is going to be about to induce us to come), we were told we could learn what's new simply by looking on the website. Funny thing is we purchased our initial ownership week at a presentation and even purchased some points at another presentation. When her supervisor joined us, he told us that Marriott had spent $4 billion on the purchase, that Marriott intended to make that money back somehow. He also claimed that we should buy more points because Marriott was offering their best deals to existing owners who had been loyal to Marriott before the program opened up to another 250,000 owners who had not purchased from Marriott and that were part of a special promotion simply by pointing to our information page which had been stamped "VIP CAMPAIGN". He also claimed that to make back the $4 billion Marriott spent, the price increases for future points purchases would be larger than past price increases. I didn't bother trying to challenge any of the statements as we had no desire to extend the length of our presentation. While I know the salesperson was annoyed because we weren't purchasing and, as a result, she viewed us as wasting her time, I was offended by the attitude and by being told that if I wanted to learn what's new, I should just look on the website. If that's how Marriott feels, stop offering me $300 for 75 minutes and we'll stop coming.

 

[CPNY]

I also attended a presentation at Grande Vista on 2/24. We were told we should purchase enough points to move to Chairman's so we could be grandfathered at that level "forever". Somehow there was no mention about us being grandfathered at our existing level . When we declined, we are asked why we bother going to presentations if we don't purchase at them or do we just go for the incentive. When I said it was the incentive and the desire to learn more about what's changed (after all isn't that what they say the presentation is going to be about to induce us to come), we were told we could learn what's new simply by looking on the website. Funny thing is we purchased our initial ownership week at a presentation and even purchased some points at another presentation. When her supervisor joined us, he told us that Marriott had spent $4 billion on the purchase, that Marriott intended to make that money back somehow. He also claimed that we should buy more points because Marriott was offering their best deals to existing owners who had been loyal to Marriott before the program opened up to another 250,000 owners who had not purchased from Marriott and that were part of a special promotion simply by pointing to our information page which had been stamped "VIP CAMPAIGN". He also claimed that to make back the $4 billion Marriott spent, the price increases for future points purchases would be larger than past price increases. I didn't bother trying to challenge any of the statements as we had no desire to extend the length of our presentation. While I know the salesperson was annoyed because we weren't purchasing and, as a result, she viewed us as wasting her time, I was offended by the attitude and by being told that if I wanted to learn what's new, I should just look on the website. If that's how Marriott feels, stop offering me $300 for 75 minutes and we'll stop coming.

I loved on the vistana side when they call them “owners updates”.. ok update me on what’s new lol. Nothing new? K bye!

 

[Woj]

I also attended a presentation at Grande Vista on 2/24. We were told we should purchase enough points to move to Chairman's so we could be grandfathered at that level "forever". Somehow there was no mention about us being grandfathered at our existing level . When we declined, we are asked why we bother going to presentations if we don't purchase at them or do we just go for the incentive. When I said it was the incentive and the desire to learn more about what's changed (after all isn't that what they say the presentation is going to be about to induce us to come), we were told we could learn what's new simply by looking on the website. Funny thing is we purchased our initial ownership week at a presentation and even purchased some points at another presentation. When her supervisor joined us, he told us that Marriott had spent $4 billion on the purchase, that Marriott intended to make that money back somehow. He also claimed that we should buy more points because Marriott was offering their best deals to existing owners who had been loyal to Marriott before the program opened up to another 250,000 owners who had not purchased from Marriott and that were part of a special promotion simply by pointing to our information page which had been stamped "VIP CAMPAIGN". He also claimed that to make back the $4 billion Marriott spent, the price increases for future points purchases would be larger than past price increases. I didn't bother trying to challenge any of the statements as we had no desire to extend the length of our presentation. While I know the salesperson was annoyed because we weren't purchasing and, as a result, she viewed us as wasting her time, I was offended by the attitude and by being told that if I wanted to learn what's new, I should just look on the website. If that's how Marriott feels, stop offering me $300 for 75 minutes and we'll stop coming.

My wife and I attend the presentation everytime we visit Cypress and feel for you as that is exactly what happens to us! When we check in at Cypress the concierge greets us and makes the offer to attend and we always tell them that we have attended numerous times and we are not going to make any purchases. We are told that is not a problem and here are your American Express gift cards. We then go out and purchase lobster tails and steaks for our stay. When we walk in the sales gallery some heads snap as it is not long before some of the sales personnel remember us. We usually get the 8am slot for the presentation and the sales person usually shows up at 8:10 to 8:15 which is VERY poorif you are in a sales job! We state that we are not purchasing anything and just want to hear if there is anything new. We are Legacy owners and have been owners since 1995 while owning 3 Cypress weeks and one Custom House week which we are going to deed back this year.

 

[controller1]

My wife and I attend the presentation everytime we visit Cypress and feel for you as that is exactly what happens to us! When we check in at Cypress the concierge greets us and makes the offer to attend and we always tell them that we have attended numerous times and we are not going to make any purchases. We are told that is not a problem and here are your American Express gift cards. We then go out and purchase lobster tails and steaks for our stay. When we walk in the sales gallery some heads snap as it is not long before some of the sales personnel remember us. We usually get the 8am slot for the presentation and the sales person usually shows up at 8:10 to 8:15 which is VERY poorif you are in a sales job! We state that we are not purchasing anything and just want to hear if there is anything new. We are Legacy owners and have been owners since 1995 while owning 3 Cypress weeks and one Custom House week which we are going to deed back this year.

The concierge has no incentive to not sign you up for the presentation. Concierges get a certain amount per referral and that amount does not change if a person purchases or not.

 

[Fairwinds]

I would never spend another $25k (or even $15k at a deep discount) to get the 2500 points I need to get to Presidential. For that $25k, if I really wanted to stay at one of the “Vistana” properties, I would pay cash.

And with limited MVC points exchanging into the new brands that leaves more on the bone for us II trading fans!

 

[Woj]

The concierge has no incentive to not sign you up for the presentation. Concierges get a certain amount per referral and that amount does not change if a person purchases or not.

That is exactly correct as we talked to the concierge for awhile and he stated that they are given compensation for the numbers that they turn in.

 

[rthib]

That is exactly correct as we talked to the concierge for awhile and he stated that they are given compensation for the numbers that they turn in.

And they only give the Glengarry leads to closers.

 

[CaliSunshine]

I read an article a few years back before I found TUG where they talk about the psychology of timeshare salespeople.

Basically, they said, NOBODY goes into these presentations intending to buy. Everyone is just there for the free gift. And yet, through hook and crook, the timeshare sales people are able to convert enough people to more than cover their costs of all those gifts and their salaries.

So I wouldn't feel bad at all about saying no to the salesperson. The fact is that they are able to give such expensive "gifts" (more properly called bribes) because they sell a product that has very high margins and quite frankly is very hazardous to the average buyer's financial health. And they already know ALL, not just a few, of the people coming in the door have no intention of purchasing. And they still manage to sell enough units to make themselves and their management and shareholders a good chunk of money.