Unconfirmed Marriott Internal trade system

[billymach4]

For any salesman to hint that it is definately going to happen is just what most TS saleman will do, stretch the truth about a rumor they know is not solid fact.

That's exactly why I have stated from the beginning not to consider any opinions from the sales force. They will sell their first born to make a sale.

 

[Chemee]

It is intersting what different people hear. I attended an owners meeting at MMC this week - and the GM - Thomass something (Swedish) and his head sales guy - Jay said that there is NOT going to be an internal Marriott trading system and that if any sales person says there is they are out right Lieing. I mentioned what I heard at the MOW meeting just 3 weeks earlier and Jay mentioned the head sales rep at MOW by name and said "shame on him he knows better" and he then turned to Thomass and said to contact the MOW office and tell them to stop misleading people about this so called internal Marriott trading idea.

I would really like to know the truth that is for sure. At this point I am not sure I beleive any Marriott rep about anything.

On Tuesday a MOW salesperson mentioned an internal trading system to us so whatever contact MMC made didn't work. Furthermore, he said that Marriott was waiting until they had "enough" resorts in their system to implement such a system. He also said that there would be timeshares at some of the resorts Nickelodeon & Marriott plan to build jointly.

 

[Cobra1950]

I too have heard the rumor about an internal trading system at Marriott. Usually it pops up when I complain about Interval International. May/may not happen, not much point in worrying about it, Marriott is not stupid enough to mess up the good franchise they have.

 

[ann824]

We were recently at Maui and Waiohai and I brought up the Internal trading issue. They both acted like it was not something in the works. They really didn't seem interested in speculating. Our sales person at Waiohai did say they were trying to get them to form a Hawaii club like the Florida club for the Hawaii owners to exchange between resorts.

 

[dougp26364]

We were recently at Maui and Waiohai and I brought up the Internal trading issue. They both acted like it was not something in the works. They really didn't seem interested in speculating. Our sales person at Waiohai did say they were trying to get them to form a Hawaii club like the Florida club for the Hawaii owners to exchange between resorts.

This might not be a surprise. Back when DRI and Marriott formed a partnership over Grand Chateau (MGC was initially a DRI project), the sales reps for Polo Towers, who became Marriott employee's, were telling tours that Polo Towers was going to be branded a Marriott property. This went on for a some time before Marriott put the clamps on it and any salesmans caught mentioning Marriott and Polo Towers in the same breath was putting his job on the line. They could talk about it only if the prospect brought it up and then it was in very limited conversation with the emphasis being that Marriott would never consider branding Polo Towers under it's name.

If Marriott heard enough flack about salesman talking about an internal exchange program they were working on, true or not, I can see them putting a clamp on the sales staff's mouths.

I look at it this way. I'm happy enough with the way things are now. It's how I bought into Marriott and I can make it work for me. I especially like being able to trade a 1 bedroom unit into a resort that only has two bedroom units and essentially trade up in size.

If they were to to go some sort of points based internal trading system I'm certain I could make that work for us as well. Being mult. week owners maybe we'd qualify for some sort of elite status and gain a few more perks. Points can be a double edged sword but I find they can also be a more efficient use of my timeshare ownership if I have enough options on how to use them.

For me it would be a good thing if they went to some sort of internal system with a corporate account at I.I. like what HGVC does through RCI or what DRI/Sunterra does through I.I. If they were to do something like that I could save my personal yearly membership fee with I.I. and any savings to me is generally a good thing.

 

[Icarus]

They really didn't seem interested in speculating.

That's excellent!

-David

 

[CraigU]

I heard this same rumor; I would bet that it is true. If it were, I would think Marriott is waiting out their contractual obligations to I.I.