"Personal Friendshare Advisor". What?!

[bobmcgraw]

I received a phonecall (voicemail) from someone from Marriott identifying themselves as my "Personal Friendshare Advisor". Has anyone else had such a call?

Why in the world would I want to have one of these? It seems like Marriott is trying all kinds of new things to prop up lagging sales.

Seems like a better approach would be to address the value gap. Don't get me wrong. I love my Marriott properties and also like the new points program. It is working pretty well for me.

However, there is still lots of room for improvement and until Marriott fixes some things (like using Collette travel), I am not interested in referring anyone.

 

[DeniseM]

There is an excellent chance that the caller wasn't from Marriott at all - the telephone scammers frequently represent themselves as being affiliated with a large company.

 

[windje2000]

There is an excellent chance that the caller wasn't from Marriott at all - the telephone scammers frequently represent themselves as being affiliated with a large company.

This could have been a real one as we just got an email from MVCI regarding Friendshare

Welcome back from vacation XXXXXXXXXX Family!

We’re reaching out to you today about a fantastic Owner benefit. Many of our Owners have taken amazing vacations to places like Sydney, Hong Kong, Paris and Rome by participating in the FriendShare® program. We would like the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with you to show you how you can earn Marriott Rewards® points through the FriendShare program and take your dream vacation!

We can build your personalized dream vacation, complete with an itinerary. Since you use Marriott Rewards® points earned through the FriendShare program, these vacations are in addition to the great vacations you already enjoy as part of your ownership.

We can only work with a few Owners at a time so if you would like to speak with us directly, feel free to contact us at 888-220-2067, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET. You may also reply to this email if you would prefer to schedule a specific date and time for us to discuss how easy it is to earn rewards through the FriendShare program.

We look forward to speaking to you soon.

Your FriendShare Specialists
888-220-2067

 

[SueDonJ]

I think it's probably a legit Marriott employee, they've really ramped up the Friendshare stuff over the last few months. I got an email yesterday, something about, "Welcome back from vacation! Learn how you can earn MRP's through Friendshare to take more great trips! Schedule a meeting soon ..." We got calls before our trips this year, too, from both the resort "concierge" (read "sales staff liaison") and a Friendshare rep.

{eta} Yep, windje's email is the one we got.

 

[Numismatist]

I won't be replying, I prefer to keep my friends...:rofl:

 

[scrapngen]

Yep...I got both a call AND the email as soon as I returned from a 1 night stay at MOC. The phone call guy was pretty aggressive, I must say. But they are from Marriott.

 

[foreverloves]

Got the same phone call. It was misleading because they were calling IN ADVANCE of my end-of-March 2012 stay at Grande Vista. I only called back because I thought something was wrong.

Woman on the phone was somewhat pushy, wanted to know if we knew anyone that wanted to "travel with us" to MGV; of course, we said we didn't. She insisted on sending an email with information about the discounted accommodation pkgs they offer for people who are willing to sit thru a presentation. $250 for 5 days at MGV, $350 for 5 days in high season. This is for a hotel-room (lockoff side), no ability to upgrade to a full villa.

In the TINY print, it explains that in order to qualify, the person traveling with you must travel with their spouse and must have an income of at least 100K per year! WOW. Other T&Cs included things like a restriction on 3 packages purchased in the person's lifetime, and an offer of 50K MRPs if they became "owners like you!"

"Owners like me" bought their TS on ebay and have no interest in the DC. But I politely thanked her and hung up. Marriott must be really pushing "friendshare" as a means to boost DC sales.

 

[KathyPet]

Anytime you hear the word "Friendshare" in any communication from Marriott be aware that they are attempting to get you to provide the names and numbers of your friends so they can pitch them. No matter in what context they put it that is the end result. Avoid like the plague.

 

[dougp26364]

It's either been the last two or three Marriott vacations where they've called in advance offering discounted room rates for guests who might want to travel with us. It's been easy enough to shut them down when being told that the friends who are traveling with us are staying with us. Then it's a simple, "I'll let them decide when we get there." when they want to try to set up any sales interview.