Update at MVC Pulse NYC

[markbernstein]

We spent last week at the Pulse in Manhattan. It was a smallish hotel room, but the location of the Pulse is perfect for exploring Manhattan, especially midtown.

Mostly, though, I wanted to offer an update on our update. About a week before arrival, I got the usual call, this time from Carlos, a manager with MVC. The incentives offered for attending a presentation were a choice of:

300 one-time MVC points
35,000 Bonvoy points
$150 gift card
$225 in vouchers good at a dozen different Manhattan restaurants.

I checked out TripAdvisor reviews on the restaurants and found that some of them were very highly rated, so we opted for the vouchers. They mostly paid for two good dinners, one at Patsy's Italian, and one at the Sea Fire Grill. (They can't be used for tips.)

The presentation hit all the usual points. It did include a couple of things that were new to me. First, I hadn't been paying attention to the Marriott program for renting homes, and it seems there are some good Bonvoy points values there. I'll look more closely at that in the future. Second, the one I hadn't been aware of, is that there are now 165 hotels that you can book directly with MVC points. Not all are good deals, but some of them might be.

The total time spent was about an hour and three quarters. I told them up front that we weren't going to buy anything, and stuck to that. The presenter (sorry, I'm bad at retaining names) was pleasant and enthusiastic, and only had to be told no a couple of times. Sure, there was a little pressure, but nothing I haven't dealt with before. Overall, I felt the incentive was worth the time.

 

[DRH90277]

MVC point use for hotels - Has anyone done this and is it a fair exchange? I haven't been very impressed with the points exchanges for outsourced uses like tours, insurance, cruises, etc. Has anyone done the hotel exchange?

I keep expecting MVC to announce that one can buy appliances with Club points.

 

[ljmiii]

MVC point use for hotels - Has anyone done this and is it a fair exchange? I haven't been very impressed with the points exchanges for outsourced uses like tours, insurance, cruises, etc. Has anyone done the hotel exchange?

I've found it to be about as fair as the other 'cash equivalent for points' uses - about 30-40 cents per point. But unlike buying airline miles, you *can* use holding points to book hotels in the explorer collection once the reservation is within 60 days. I happily did this for a stay at the JW Chicago...and SNA'd my way into a suite.

 

[BigDawgTUG]

Here at the Pulse this week on an II exchange. Curiously, I had a different update offer:

400 one-time MVC points
40,000 Bonvoy points
No gift card offer
$300 in restaurant vouchers

 

[jeff76543]

Here at the Pulse this week on an II exchange. Curiously, I had a different update offer:

400 one-time MVC points
40,000 Bonvoy points
No gift card offer
$300 in restaurant vouchers

I've had different incentive offers (during the same stay) at Pulse NYC, depending on the hour of the update. If I remember correctly, the early morning update (the first time slot in the morning) had a higher incentive.

 

[jwalk03]

I've had different incentive offers (during the same stay) at Pulse NYC, depending on the hour of the update. If I remember correctly, the early morning update (the first time slot in the morning) had a higher incentive.

It also depends on the person too. If they think you are a really good prospect and more likely to buy the incentive will likely be higher than someone who is very unlikely to buy. Not exactly sure what all goes into their profile to rank that likelihood.

 

[BigDawgTUG]

Yes, that makes sense. We were offered that rate for a 9:00 am presentation