Recently purchased Ebay week added to DC program for no additional charge

[SueDonJ]

I thought it would be appropriate to respond to this thread since the absence of correct information may result in more confusion regarding the policy on the enrollment of resale weeks. Weeks purchased on the external market after June 20, 2010 are not eligible to be enrolled in the Destinations Points program. However, as this thread illustrates, several people have been able to enroll external purchases made after June 20, 2010. This is a system error which we were made aware of prior to this initial post, so the fact that it was posted here did not have any impact on Marriott Vacation Club's course of action. However, as many have speculated, because it is against the policy and inconsistent with the established enrollment process, external purchases after June 20, 2010 that have been enrolled in the Destinations Points program will be un-enrolled and if applicable, all fees refunded. If you have any additional questions regarding this policy, please contact us at customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com.
MVCI Customer Advocate

Whoa. Skeeeeeery!

But I will be thrilled to death, over the moon!, if this is an indication that Marriott is willing from this point forward to contribute to TUG in ways that they never have before. Even on a limited basis, every outreach is an improvement.

 

[Latravel]

Agreed. I think it's a positive step if Marriott participates in the TUG forum from time to time.

 

[windje2000]

Whoa. Skeeeeeery!

But I will be thrilled to death, over the moon!, if this is an indication that Marriott is willing from this point forward to contribute to TUG in ways that they never have before. Even on a limited basis, every outreach is an improvement.

MVCI Customer Advocate
Guest

BBS Reg. Date: Jun 21, 10
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 1

First post - registered one day after DClub DDay.

 

[Latravel]

Great to know. At least that means they were reading all the posts from people who were unsatisfied with the DC program. I'm happy they are at least trying to get feedback on how the new program was received by owners.

 

[Time2Buy]

I thought it would be appropriate to respond to this thread since the absence of correct information may result in more confusion regarding the policy on the enrollment of resale weeks. Weeks purchased on the external market after June 20, 2010 are not eligible to be enrolled in the Destinations Points program. However, as this thread illustrates, several people have been able to enroll external purchases made after June 20, 2010. This is a system error which we were made aware of prior to this initial post, so the fact that it was posted here did not have any impact on Marriott Vacation Club's course of action. However, as many have speculated, because it is against the policy and inconsistent with the established enrollment process, external purchases after June 20, 2010 that have been enrolled in the Destinations Points program will be un-enrolled and if applicable, all fees refunded. If you have any additional questions regarding this policy, please contact us at customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com.
MVCI Customer Advocate

Is this really a MVCI Customer Advocate or someone posing as a representative? Why is this is your first post? Can you provide a name and contact information other than a general email address?

 

[Fredm]

vacationclub.com is Marriott's domain.

 

[larryallen]

Great to know. At least that means they were reading all the posts from people who were unsatisfied with the DC program. I'm happy they are at least trying to get feedback on how the new program was received by owners.


+1

 

[KathyPet]

Bummer!

Well the Lord Marriott giveth and the Lord Marriott taketh away. I have not heard anything from them yet. I will wait until they contact me and let everyone know if and when they do. However, if they won't enroll my resale then they are not getting my two Marriott direct purchase weeks enrolled either.

By the way my DH is about the only one who will be really happy about this. When he came home last night I told him that I had managed to enroll our resale week and give Marriott $1995.00 he asked what we were getting for that money. I went through the explanation of what the points program was going to give us and he was underwhelmed to say the least. He thinks it was a complete "waste of money" as he put it.

He's such a nice guy that he didn't tell me to cancel the transaction although I could tell he thought I had taken leave of my senses.

 

[Ann in CA]

Whoa. Skeeeeeery!

But I will be thrilled to death, over the moon!, if this is an indication that Marriott is willing from this point forward to contribute to TUG in ways that they never have before. Even on a limited basis, every outreach is an improvement.

Hmmm, "Skeeeeeery" indeed. There was another thread, on another subject I won't identify, which could have warranted a response from Marriott, and didn't. Now are we going to hesitate to air concerns online, on questions we would rather not have answered officially from Marriott?

Sometimes you just want an opinion, not a potential ruling.

 

[wvacations]

Hundreds perhaps thousands of post on this site that are not to favorable to the DC program and Marriott in general. Suddenly Marriott pops up and makes a post. Or maybe someone doesn't want a rush on the enrollment of the post 6/20 weeks to trigger a "real" Marriott reaction. As of right now the online system still shows my weeks eligible. If Marriott knows about the problem, I think they could shut down online enrollment mighty quick. Just my opinion but I don't think that post from Marriott advocate is really from Marriott.

 

[Latravel]

Well the Lord Marriott giveth and the Lord Marriott taketh away. I have not heard anything from them yet. I will wait until they contact me and let everyone know if and when they do. However, if they won't enroll my resale then they are not getting my two Marriott direct purchase weeks enrolled either.

By the way my DH is about the only one who will be really happy about this. When he came home last night I told him that I had managed to enroll our resale week and give Marriott $1995.00 he asked what we were getting for that money. I went through the explanation of what the points program was going to give us and he was underwhelmed to say the least. He thinks it was a complete "waste of money" as he put it.

He's such a nice guy that he didn't tell me to cancel the transaction although I could tell he thought I had taken leave of my senses.

What if you immediately trade your unit (since it's currently enrolled) for DC points? What would happen? I know once you trade, you can't undo that transaction.

Hmmmm, i'm not so sure Marriott can so easily un-enroll units. What if people have taken action already, such as trading for DC points and making subsequent DC reservations?

 

[KathyPet]

How far in advance can you trade for points???? We already have booked a week for usage at the resale week resort for 2011.

 

[Latravel]

Once you get your confirmation email and you respond to it, you can trade your usage for DC points right away. I did it 3 days after I enrolled. I haven't made any reservations using DC points just because I don't know how I want to use those DC points yet. They are now banked.

If you did that, I'm not sure Marriott could reverse that transaction because someone else might have already reserved your unit you gave up. How would they undo that transaction?

 

[KathyPet]

The Welcome E Mail that I got yesterday had the following sentence in it:

"Upon completion of enrollment, the following Marriott Vacation Club weeks will be enrolled into Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program:"

I am not sure what is meant by that sentence. Is there anything more that needs to be done???? What does completion of enrollment mean????

 

[SueDonJ]

Hmmm, "Skeeeeeery" indeed. There was another thread, on another subject I won't identify, which could have warranted a response from Marriott, and didn't. Now are we going to hesitate to air concerns online, on questions we would rather not have answered officially from Marriott?

Sometimes you just want an opinion, not a potential ruling.

I like things cut-and-dried and consistent, which Marriott doesn't have a stellar reputation of providing, so I love the idea of getting official answers (whether I like them or not) from Marriott on TUG. But like you my second thought was, "hmmm, why this thread and not others ..."

About whether or not this MVCI CA is an official Marriott spokesperson? I'd bet my timeshares on it because of what Fred pointed out - vacationclub.com is Marriott's domain. Who here would be willing to take a chance on bringing Marriott's wrath down upon their head by using it in such a silly fashion, to play a foolish game or to try to make a point that most of us think Marriott will eventually get around to making anyway?

{edited to add} Now that I think of it, anybody can register on TUG to pretend to be something they're not, and including email links in posts is a relatively simple thing to do. But there is one way to verify that the TUG User Name is as legitimate as the Marriott email address contained in the post. Somebody could ask Brian to look into the registration and at least try to verify its authenticity ...

{edited again} I have no patience, just sent Brian a PM ...

 

[hotcoffee]

I know that people at Marriott read TUG because I have discussed TUG posts with a person at Marriott. This person reads TUG when he/she gets a chance (and did so prior to my references to it). However, I would not jump to any conclusions about the authenticity of the post in this thread until those resale weeks are actually un-enrolled from the program.

I think Marriott is making a mistake in not allowing resale weeks into the program. Sooner or later, many, if not most, weeks will be sold. They will eventually lose weeks from the DC program due to resales.

 

[saturn28]

How far in advance can you trade for points???? We already have booked a week for usage at the resale week resort for 2011.

If you enrolled a resale week that is not eligble and already opted for points and made a reservation, they will probably cancel your reservation. Or, maybe you can convince Marriott to charge you an exchange fee similar to II. But, from reading the Marriott Advocates post, I would say they will cancel the reservation and say it was your responsibility to read what was in the contract. In there it clearly states, any resale weeks that closed after June 20, 2010 are not eligble. And they would probably add you should have called them and informed them what happened. Then they could have confirmed that week was not eligble. Hopefully, you haven't purchased any airline tickets for this trip.

 

[windje2000]

If you enrolled a resale week that is not eligble and already opted for points and made a reservation, they will probably cancel your reservation. Or, maybe you can convince Marriott to charge you an exchange fee similar to II. But, from reading the Marriott Advocates post, I would say they will cancel the reservation and say it was your responsibility to read what was in the contract. In there it clearly states, any resale weeks that closed after June 20, 2010 are not eligble. And they would probably add you should have called them and informed them what happened. Then they could have confirmed that week was not eligble. Hopefully, you haven't purchased any airline tickets for this trip.

If they were smart and looking for goodwill from their owner base, they'd undo the enrollments, but let the reservations persist this one time and take credit for being customer friendly.

Remember that Southwest pilot who wouldn't take off without the grandfather who going to the funeral of the granddaughter and was 12 minutes late, thanks to TSA. Southwest got more favorable PR from that action than $10 million in ads.

Based on past performance, Marriott doing anything like Southwest ain't bloody likely. Although any organization has the ability to change. We'll see.

They sure aren't selling many points.

Tick off your best customers (existing owners) . . . and they'll just go away.

 

[VacationPro]

I thought it would be appropriate to respond to this thread since the absence of correct information may result in more confusion regarding the policy on the enrollment of resale weeks. Weeks purchased on the external market after June 20, 2010 are not eligible to be enrolled in the Destinations Points program. However, as this thread illustrates, several people have been able to enroll external purchases made after June 20, 2010. This is a system error which we were made aware of prior to this initial post, so the fact that it was posted here did not have any impact on Marriott Vacation Club's course of action. However, as many have speculated, because it is against the policy and inconsistent with the established enrollment process, external purchases after June 20, 2010 that have been enrolled in the Destinations Points program will be un-enrolled and if applicable, all fees refunded. If you have any additional questions regarding this policy, please contact us at customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com.
MVCI Customer Advocate

First, thank you for clarifying this issue.

Instead of finding weeks that were purchased after 6/20 that have been incorrectly enrolled (which seems like an arduous task which may not even be possible), I have an alternate proposal. Why don't you let all TUG members with resale weeks that are in the act of closing as of today's date (say ROFR waiver request submitted to Marriott prior to today or proof of committment to buy if the property doesn't use ROFR) enroll those weeks if they are so inclined. This probably only represents less than 20 owners that would be impacted, so it wouldn't materially impact Marriott's profitability, and it won't let people go out and game the system based on this information. Then, you truly are acting as a "Customer Advocate" without impacting point sales prospectively. Marriott gets to keep the enrollment fees this has generated and the additional weeks in the program (that Marriott obviously covets (as do those of us wanting to exchange), not to mention the goodwill of the members of this board.

If you must, charge them an additional enrollment fee. You get additional revenue for your good will.

 

[Latravel]

If they do that for people on TUG, what are they going to do with the thousands of other people who own resale weeks and wish they could enroll? They have to make an exception for everyone or no one.

 

[VacationPro]

If they do that for people on TUG, what are they going to do with the thousands of other people who own resale weeks and wish they could enroll? They have to make an exception for everyone or no one.

Why? Marriott didn't make an exception for everyone with the rollover nights, only those on Flier Talk (and here as it was linked) who actually asked.

 

[SueDonJ]

Why? Marriott didn't make an exception for everyone with the rollover nights, only those on Flier Talk (and here as it was linked) who actually asked.

On flyertalk.com some have theorized that the only Marriott Rewards members who would have expected to receive those rollover nights are the folks who read there that they could expect them. Marriott's incorrect statement that led to the expectation was posted there, not to the entire Marriott Rewards membership, and Marriott subsequently posted there that they intend to honor their written statement for any folks who read it there - who else would have the expectation?

With respect to post-6/20 enrollments for external resales, Marriott hasn't issued a false statement that those Weeks could be enrolled. They've been quite clear that those Weeks are not eligible for enrollment. To fix their error they are going to have to send out notifications to everyone who was able to exploit their system problem, whether that's folks who found out about it through TUG connections, folks whose VOA processed the incorrect enrollments, folks who deliberately tried to enroll the Weeks despite the restriction that they knew existed, and folks who just plain didn't know better and got lucky.

What you're asking is for Marriott to allow exceptions for only a subset of owners that will need to be notified of the system failure and its correction. That's different from Marriott allowing exceptions for every MR member who was mistakenly led to believe that their rollover nights would be counted.

{edited to add} There are exceptions I'd like to see Marriott make for those who were in the process of purchasing an external resale on 6/20/10. With no lead time of the announcement of the DC those people were, IMO, unfairly restricted. That would be a relatively simple exception to execute, even on a case-by-case basis, if they set the parameters to require proof by way of any purchase papers which were signed by the buyers on or before 6/20/10. But I won't be surprised if Marriott is consistent with what those people (such as KathyPet here) have been told thus far, that there will be no exceptions.

 

[SueDonJ]

...{edited to add} Now that I think of it, anybody can register on TUG to pretend to be something they're not, and including email links in posts is a relatively simple thing to do. But there is one way to verify that the TUG User Name is as legitimate as the Marriott email address contained in the post. Somebody could ask Brian to look into the registration and at least try to verify its authenticity ...

{edited again} I have no patience, just sent Brian a PM ...

Brian's response:

email is valid ... in order to register on the forums, you have to provide a valid email address as the forum sends you a verification email that you must open and click on in order to complete the registration.

 

[scpoidog]

Are you that petty and clueless?

Please read the initial thread (see below) and the immediate responds to them... (editing post, legal, etc.). If you put things/issues into the public, you have to try to resolve it and find constructive solutions.If the purpose of this thread is just to complain again about Marriott, not be constructive, edit PMs, etc.. we are all losing our time (and further devaluating the value of our deeds by badmouthing Marriott).

The key question is: are VOAs enrolling the famous weeks bought after 6/20 and is this an exemption to the rule (or not)? I personnaly think the one that started this thread can help all of us resolve it.

So Clemson Fan, please execute yourself and make a positive contribution to the forum.

Why does someone who brings a topic up "have to try to resolve it"? This seems like someone wanted to share his experience and enlightend the people on this board. If you want clarity - call Marriott yourself.

If you are mad at Clemson Fan for getting something that you want - quit whining about it and go try to get it done yourself. Pretty simple.

 

[KathyPet]

Please read the initial thread (see below) and the immediate responds to them... (editing post, legal, etc.). If you put things/issues into the public, you have to try to resolve it and find constructive solutions.

If the purpose of this thread is just to complain again about Marriott, not be constructive, edit PMs, etc.. we are all losing our time (and further devaluating the value of our deeds by badmouthing Marriott).

The key question is: are VOAs enrolling the famous weeks bought after 6/20 and is this an exemption to the rule (or not)? I personnaly think the one that started this thread can help all of us resolve it.

So Clemson Fan, please execute yourself and make a positive contribution to the forum.

Don't you think that requiring Clemson Fan to "execute himself" is just a tad too harsh????