Unit upgrade

[vail]

Am I in the minority--I would like to see the interiors of the Marriott units to be the same quality as the Ritz Carlton units.
When I go on vacation, I want something nicer than what I have been seeing lately.

The cost would not be that much more because it is spread over 52 owners for each unit over multiple year refurbishment reserves.
There are costs for design, shipping from the far east etc. which are already built in.
To upgrade the actual furniture would be not that significant a cost.

 

[sponger76]

Am I in the minority--I would like to see the interiors of the Marriott units to be the same quality as the Ritz Carlton units.
When I go on vacation, I want something nicer than what I have been seeing lately.

The cost would not be that much more because it is spread over 52 owners for each unit over multiple year refurbishment reserves.
There are costs for design, shipping from the far east etc. which are already built in.
To upgrade the actual furniture would be not that significant a cost.

I agree some of the Marriott properties could use upgrades, but I wouldn't expect a resort branded Marriott to have the same quality as a resort branded Ritz-Carlton. You don't see that in regular hotels, so why would you expect that at timeshares? It's market segmentation. If the Marriotts were just as nice, there'd be no selling point for the Ritz properties, other than you're being forced to buy more weeks at once and pay the MFs for those weeks even if you don't particularly want some of them.

 

[Dean]

Am I in the minority--I would like to see the interiors of the Marriott units to be the same quality as the Ritz Carlton units.
When I go on vacation, I want something nicer than what I have been seeing lately.

The cost would not be that much more because it is spread over 52 owners for each unit over multiple year refurbishment reserves.
There are costs for design, shipping from the far east etc. which are already built in.
To upgrade the actual furniture would be not that significant a cost.

I'm OK with better but I suspect the costs would be far more than you are thinking even if they only do so when the hard refurbishments are due. This makes me think of other systems (especially Bluegreen and Wyndham) where they have Presidential unit options which are generally larger and nicer with upgraded amenities. Far more important IMO would be upgraded options for studios and resorts with Limited Kitchens like in HI. Hopefully Maui will finally be able to get there with their upgraded electrical infrastructure. Maybe there are those with applicable info for the Horizon resort upgrades a number of years ago.

 

[claraj]

Maybe this is a good reason to never stay at a Ritz. I recently stayed at a Sheraton resort (Sheraton Mountain Vista) and commented that had I never stayed at the other Marriott ski resorts, this would be fine. But then I moved to Westin Riverfront and then I thought OK I see why people rave about this place and now I'm all about how do I book a few days to come back next season.

 

[ljmiii]

Am I in the minority--I would like to see the interiors of the Marriott units to be the same quality as the Ritz Carlton units....

I think this is an unrealistic expectation and honestly that it is unfair to those who don't care.

But what I *would* like to see is for MVW to leverage the brands it owns and expand its higher end offerings as HGV has done with its "Hilton Club" (aka bHC/aHC brand). It is my hope that the reason they are branding the City Collection locations in Charleston and Savannah as "Westin" and not "Marriott" is that those resorts will be a step above (or at least a 1/2 step above) the MVC City Collection.

And while I'm wishing, I would *love* to see them use the RCC brand to create more RCC resorts. HGV's new Liberty Place location in Charleston (a bHC property) is comparable in service and furnishings to the RCC in SF (no small praise). I've also read that HGV's new bHC at Elara in Vegas is quite nice.

Why can't we have nice things...;-)

 

[Hindsite]

One persons version of "Ritz" quality is another persons junk or waste of money.

Lets just take the humble microwave oven. Debate in one of the FB groups for my ownership for the replacement of the highly programmable version for one with just 2 dials was diverse and included some of the responses below. Lets just assume that quality and durability were matched, so its all about the user experience:
- Outrage at the dumbing down from those who cook extensively and expect the same level of complexity in the appliances as they have in their home. Its their "home away from home"
- relief at the intuitive simplicity from those who don't want to have to surf the internet for a manual on how to use the device to reheat last nights dinner.
- Confusion from those who claimed not to know there was a kitchen in the units as they don't go on vacation to cook!

There will have been more, but go through that process for every appliance, fixture, fitting and piece of furniture and you'll see why its not that simple.....

 

[vail]

It is simple.
The building itself is already built, so it is not going to look like a Ritz Carlton not have the spacious amount of square footage.
But the inside could certainly be upgraded to resemble a more upscale unit than the ones out there now.
In fact they used to be a lot nicer, when they were initially selling them.

 

[Bill4728]

Newport Coast underwent a significant remodel about 4 years ago. I'm sure they thought it was an upgrade BUT IMHO it wasn't. The table is now bolted to the wall. The wall it bolted to has a hidden fluorescent light which doesn't light up the area very much. Also the kitchen appliances are not really any better than before. I'm not sure I'd want MVC to try an "upgrade" to Ritz quality.

 

[dioxide45]

Have you looked at the maintenance fees for the RCC properties? Why would you not think Marriott MFs wouldn't be close to the same if you furnished them in the same way?

 

[vail]

Maintenance fees are more than nice furniture.
Taxes for the structure.
Insurance.
Door man.
Valet Parking.
Security.
Concierge.

 

[dioxide45]

Maintenance fees are more than nice furniture.
Taxes for the structure.
Insurance.
Door man.
Valet Parking.
Security.
Concierge.

So I guess then, what does the reserve line item of an RCC property look like when compared to MVC?

 

[vail]

So I guess then, what does the reserve line item of an RCC property look like when compared to MVC?

Not a fair comparison either as the RCC units are substantially larger and have more furniture as well.
A Marriott unit will never be mistaken for a RCC unit regardless how nice it is inside.
But they certainly need to and can be easily improved.

 

[Superchief]

I think the problem is that MVC designers do a poor job with their updates. I liked the furnishings a lot better at many MVC resorts 20 years ago than today. The same thing can be said about Marriott hotels where the rooms are looking more like college dorms than business hotels. The 'older' traditional furniture also seemed to hold up much better.

 

[Red elephant]

I think the problem is that MVC designers do a poor job with their updates. I liked the furnishings a lot better at many MVC resorts 20 years ago than today. The same thing can be said about Marriott hotels where the rooms are looking more like college dorms than business hotels. The 'older' traditional furniture also seemed to hold up much better.

Yeah like Lakeshore Reserve and the Mayflower my two recent updated experiences which were quite a disappointment.

 

[dioxide45]

I think the problem is that MVC designers do a poor job with their updates. I liked the furnishings a lot better at many MVC resorts 20 years ago than today. The same thing can be said about Marriott hotels where the rooms are looking more like college dorms than business hotels. The 'older' traditional furniture also seemed to hold up much better.

I think that may be true of furniture in general. Go into any showroom and the stuff they are selling is worse quality than the stuff they sold 20 years ago. The same as how stuff they sold 20 years ago was lower quality than what was sold 40 years ago.

 

[Dean]

I think that may be true of furniture in general. Go into any showroom and the stuff they are selling is worse quality than the stuff they sold 20 years ago. The same as how stuff they sold 20 years ago was lower quality than what was sold 40 years ago.

And timeshares in general. DVC has certainly seen some dramatic changes over the years, far more than MVC. Some good but overall more generic. That said, each BOD has the final say on any updates. There was a conflict a few years ago at Beachplace where the BOD wanted lower quality TV's than MVC, among other things. As I understand it there was quite the conflict with MVC threatening membership not unlike the Tahoe issue currently being discussed. And some of the changes I've seen have been quite good. I think durability has been one of the major considerations of recent times more so than in the past. And I like that many of the resorts do a test unit to check out planned changes.

 

[sponger76]

Maintenance fees are more than nice furniture.
Taxes for the structure.
Insurance.
Door man.
Valet Parking.
Security.
Concierge.

Sure, taxes and insurance might be a bit more due to overall property valuation. But do you really think payroll is that much more? I really think both the quality and frequency of unit refurbishment adds a lot more to the MF difference than you think.

 

[vail]

Maintenance fees for my 2BR unit are almost $2800 this year.
The Four Seasons at Aviara which provides daily housekeeping, a larger unit with more furniture
is not that much more, and if you eliminate the housekeeping, which we do not receive,
it is probably the same.
The services and units are hardly the same.
Marriott not only bills a hefty design fee, but there is a huge markup on furniture and appliances.

 

[ljmiii]

But do you really think payroll is that much more?...

I don't know for certain because I'm not in the hospitality industry. But I can tell you that for us what sets the RCC SF and St Thomas apart is the level of service. And I'm sure that the seeking out and retaining of really amazing staff, the level of training required, and the sheer numbers of people that have to be there so that someone is almost always available to assist can't be cheap.

 

[ljmiii]

I think that may be true of furniture in general...

Yes...but no. At least in the case of the MVC Mayflower we can see that when the entire hotel was given a hard refurb, the hotel side paid for a nice renovation and the MVC side did not. Instead, they chose to renovate their rooms to a much lower standard than rest of the hotel (which previously wasn't true).

 

[sponger76]

I don't know for certain because I'm not in the hospitality industry. But I can tell you that for us what sets the RCC SF and St Thomas apart is the level of service. And I'm sure that the seeking out and retaining of really amazing staff, the level of training required, and the sheer numbers of people that have to be there so that someone is almost always available to assist can't be cheap.

I don't know if it's so much the number of employees so much as what they are willing/encouraged to do to take care of you. Sure, they may pay more to attract/retain better people, but is it really THAT much more? Also, I stayed attge RCCVail recently, and while the service was exemplary, it certainly didn't look like they had a lot more employees than MVC resorts of similar size running around to provide that service

At any rate,in the travel industry high-end goods i a room tends to go hand-in-hand with high-end service and rooms/buildings. It's hard to find places where you can only spend mid-tier money to just get one without the other the others. So if the OP is so insistent on having high-end goods in the room, they may as well resign themselves to paying the higher Abound points to stay at (or costs to own at) RCC locations.

 

[vail]

Such negative comments.
Marriott standard is declining and no one seems to care.
Regardless of what is written above, the furniture is notches below what it was when the units were selling new initially.
If they looked like they do now, I wonder how many sales they would not have made?

 

[dioxide45]

Such negative comments.
Marriott standard is declining and no one seems to care.
Regardless of what is written above, the furniture is notches below what it was when the units were selling new initially.
If they looked like they do now, I wonder how many sales they would not have made?

Outside of the sofas, I really don't think I have seen considerable decline. Though we've only been owners since 2007.

I also find it odd that you are criticizing other people's opinions here while thinking yours is somehow morally superior. You really didn't give any information in your original post other than you wanted better quality with a very generalized assumption that it wouldn't cost that much more because the cost is spread over all the other owners. That sounds like you are happy to spend other people's money for your own enjoyment where the other people really aren't that concerned about it. Most just need a clean well furnished room which is consistent across the portfolio of resorts.

Marriott still seems to be selling lots of timeshare points even with how the units look today.

 

[vail]

I did not say my view was morally superior.
That is your take on it.
If you do not like what I write, that is your opinion, but what gives you the right to start judging me?

I just want to stay in a nice place when I go on vacation.
If you don't care, that is your right.

The fact that a lot of people still purchase points has no bearing on anything.
A lot of people eat garbage from some fast food franchise by the ton everyday.
That hardly makes it a nutritious meal.

I was just trying to see what people's opinions were.
I think the sample size is too small.

In any event I will stop posting on TUG.
I find it to be a bitter crowd, with too many complaints about non issues.

Happy New Year to all.

 

[sponger76]

I find it to be a bitter crowd, with too many complaints about non issues.

If that's not the pot calling the kettle black... You're the only one complaining that Marriott resorts don't have the same furnishings as Ritz-Carlton resorts...