My point about it being marked in the computer is that they already have a system in place to identify the "second class owners" who didn't purchase from Marriott, so they can easily and quickly implement new reservation rules if they decide to do so. I understand that many of the rumors discussed here might or might not ever actually become Marriott policy. The fact that so many salesman who work for Marriott keep saying that it is going to happen is reason enough to warrant concern. It is a possibility that you have to factor in to a Marriott purchase right now. If you buy resale now and the reservation window changes you will probably be grandfathered in and it probably won't affect your purchase. However if it does happen, it will drastically affect the value of what you own whether you bought retail or resale. Remember the old adage "Where there is smoke, there is usually fire".
Present owners may be grandfathered but what will happen if these grandfathered units sell again? I doubt if they will be grandfathered too and these exchanges will be taken out of the new internal exchange system which will especially hurt owners who bought from the Marriott direct for making an exchange as less inventory will be available for them. Will these exchanges go to II?
I understand that the fear is about exchanging through the new internal exchange system and not so much about making reservations for the unit itself for occupation or to do with what you want (exchanging or renting) as that will not change. They already have perks for the multiple week owners that one week owners lost when this perk became common knowledge so smart re-sale buyers took advantage of that and I don't blame them. I read now that the 13 months reservation perk may always have been there but most people didn't know that and nobody ever mentioned it to us when we bought direct from the Marriott in the early 90s. I am still looking for my paperwork as I no longer remember what year we bought and I would like to read all the documents too they gave us at that time.
The Marriott should hurry up and announce to us what they are going to do or stop all rumors cold and don't let their salesmen make these statements either to facilitate their sale. This uncertainty is hurting us all.
I already know that we have lost a big chunk of our purchase price but that is due to the economy cycle we are in and the expensive airline fares and not because of the Marriott greed or changes in the system. I posted earlier about the Marriott greed under a different
thread where it was mentioned that the MRPs program also is losing value because more points are needed to make that world trip we once got for giving up our week but since our week never gets more points than what was given at the time of sale, the value is no longer there and loopholes are tightened when they find out that we take advantage of them.
Buy for use mainly and at a resort you like to visit often and in driving distance too and you will be more content. We never thought that flying would become such an issue but it is today and you can't blame the Marriott for this either.
Now we wished we hadn't traded in our Palm Desert resort for Maui but we couldn't stand anymore making reservations at our resort and had to try week after week before we finally succeeded so I am very bitter towards the Marriott. They shafted us and good. JMHO. However, we love the new resort and will try to keep flying there year after year as long as our health lets us. We never thought of our age when we bought because both of us had never been sick and felt in good shape but after my husband's stroke in Maui, we realize now that we were too old to buy. Don't buy if you are too old and have no heirs as you will have to sell at a big loss unless you can own it for many years and inflation may get you the same dollar amount but isn't worth the same as everything is more expensive then.
However, once you have used the timeshare many years and have enjoyed it, you cannot complain because a timeshare is not real estate. This is what people should know right from the beginning and should be plastered all over the sales contract and legal documents too. In that case, the developers will do anything to keep the re-sale values high rather than trash them by differentiating between wholesale and retail buyers.
