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"NEW: Enhanced Search for Points Reservations" on owners.marriottvacationclub.com

SueDonJ

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Very nice new feature!

It's now possible to search Destination Club availability across multiple properties/date ranges. With 750 DC Points I put in a search for a single night during all of Jan '17 at Hilton Head Island. All 8 resorts are represented in the search results with a "Check Availability" button for each that shows available days at each resort. The results also break out the views and unit sizes for each night.

It appears to still be limited to only the number of DC Points that you have available in your account but that's minor compared to the former capability. There is a "View Tutorial" link but I'm only getting a blank screen for that, and I'm also not able to access the "Helpful Tools" page. Looks like they may still be updating.

MVW, this is very much appreciated. Thank you! :)
 
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StevenTing

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This is really cool. Playing with it right now. I think this will really help when trying to find something 13 months out as well as for those last minute reservations.

However, I also wish they retained the ability to find a specific resort rather than having to choose a destination. I mean, what if I can't remember the name or the locations we have resorts?
 

rickxylon

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It looks they still don't have the 2018 points charts loaded yet. Frustrating
 

StevenTing

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When playing with the search, I suggest not selecting an Activity. For instance, I was searching Hawaii and Beach activities first. Then I changed my Search Criteria to Las Vegas, but forgot to change the "Select Activity". It found nothing. By leaving it blank or changing it to Golf or Urban, it found the Grand Chateau.

I wonder if the intent is to be able to search by activity rather than location. However it doesn't allow me to select Activity only. I must choose a destination.
 

SueDonJ

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It looks they still don't have the 2018 points charts loaded yet. Frustrating

I'm expecting some changes in the "Helpful Tools" because of this new function. Hopefully the 2018 Points Chart will be among the tools when they're done (which is what I and many others, I'm guessing, have asked them to do.)
 

SueDonJ

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This is really cool. Playing with it right now. I think this will really help when trying to find something 13 months out as well as for those last minute reservations.

However, I also wish they retained the ability to find a specific resort rather than having to choose a destination. I mean, what if I can't remember the name or the locations we have resorts?

Do you mean you wish they retained a drop-down menu listing all of the resorts, in case you can't remember the resort name? I tried a few different key words in the "Enter Destination or Resort Name" field and am finding that single words trigger a related drop-down menu. For example, "Surf" triggers a menu where you can select the city Surfers Paradise or the resort names MVC at Surfers Paradise, Aruba Surf Club and SurfWatch. Try it with "Beach" and you should get a list of cities/resorts with 16 choices. If all else fails you can always search through the "Explore Destinations" link to get the resort's exact name.
 

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Definitely a step in the right direction. Thanks for the heads up!
 

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Spent a while checking out the new site. Searching entire areas (e.g. by state) is really nice. Plus you can use the 'instant' results to quickly check general availability over a whole month. For example - mess with the # of guests and it auto filters out rooms that are too small. You can check every Hawaii resort for any 2bd+ availability for a specific month in about 10 seconds.
I've been using the instant results to see when rare room types are available (Penthouse units, lofts in Tahoe, etc), which on the old site could take forever.
 

Big Matt

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I give it two thumbs up. They went from horrible to good. The only think I'd love to see is the list of how many nights in the search results. You still have to change it from 7 to 6 to 5, etc. I'll live with it.
 

SueDonJ

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StevenTing has suggested that another benefit of the new search capabilities of owners.marriottvacationclub.com is that it's now much easier to find and let other owners know when high-demand inventory is available. It's a great idea but these types of posts belong in the Sightings/Distressed private forum, not here in the public forum where they can be construed as ad-like.

I would title any posts in that forum as either, "Marriott DC Points SIGHTING: resort/date/unit size" or "Marriott DC Points REQUEST: resorts/dates/sizes" so as to make it clear that you're talking about DC Points inventory and not from any other exchange company. Doing so will also allow us to get an idea quickly of whether DC-related posts are being generated in high enough numbers to justify a DC Points-only private Sightings/Distressed forum.
 

StevenTing

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I give it two thumbs up. They went from horrible to good. The only think I'd love to see is the list of how many nights in the search results. You still have to change it from 7 to 6 to 5, etc. I'll live with it.

I make most of my searches a default of 7 days unless I'm looking for something specific. For instance, when I'm looking at Hawaii, most of the time it will be for at least 1 week. Plus, if It's available for 1 week, I also know it will be available for 3,4,5,6 days as well.
 

Fairwinds

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Can't say how pleased I am that they are finally improving the search features. And a Great Job! Now, I hope they will add region and an all choices in the location drop down box
 

Superchief

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Very nice new feature!

It's now possible to search Destination Club availability across multiple properties/date ranges. With 750 DC Points I put in a search for a single night during all of Jan '17 at Hilton Head Island. All 8 resorts are represented in the search results with a "Check Availability" button for each that shows available days at each resort. The results also break out the views and unit sizes for each night.

It appears to still be limited to only the number of DC Points that you have available in your account but that's minor compared to the former capability. There is a "View Tutorial" link but I'm only getting a blank screen for that, and I'm also not able to access the "Helpful Tools" page. Looks like they may still be updating.

MVW, this is very much appreciated. Thank you! :)
Thanks for this helpful information. I plan to do some searches tomorrow while I'm frozen in. Has anyone noticed whether you are now able to use banked points (to a future year) for the reservations? Recently, I was able to select the banked points, but the reservation couldn't be completed. Hopefully they have fixed this bug so I can use my oldest points first, including those banked for 2-3 years.
 

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Really happy with the update. Was just playing with it. I only have 255 points available, picked Oceanwatch in June for 1 night. The calendar show days available and an X for days not available. When I select a single day it tells me I don't have enough points. Well at this point I know what days are available and go figure out how many points would be needed from point chart. So much better!!
 

BocaBoy

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From what has been written here, it sounds like a major system improvement. The big thing they have not fixed, however, is the inability to search anything if you have no currently elected points. I have no elected and unused points at this time so I can not even see or play with the new options. For some weeks owners, the ability to do this is a necessary prerequisite for actually electing the points, since such an election cannot be undone.
 

adolfo2

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Really happy with the update. Was just playing with it. I only have 255 points available, picked Oceanwatch in June for 1 night. The calendar show days available and an X for days not available. When I select a single day it tells me I don't have enough points. Well at this point I know what days are available and go figure out how many points would be needed from point chart. So much better!!

Yes, the not enough points, "Big Brother" feature is an annoyance although a small one.
 

SueDonJ

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From what has been written here, it sounds like a major system improvement. The big thing they have not fixed, however, is the inability to search anything if you have no currently elected points. I have no elected and unused points at this time so I can not even see or play with the new options. For some weeks owners, the ability to do this is a necessary prerequisite for actually electing the points, since such an election cannot be undone.

It's similar to the Weeks system because you can't search Marriott inventory there either without an available Week. I'd love to see both search functions expanded to allow it but really don't have much hope that'll happen. I do have hope that the TUG Sightings/Distressed board will gradually see more activity from Marriott DC Members. :)
 

dioxide45

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It's similar to the Weeks system because you can't search Marriott inventory there either without an available Week. I'd love to see both search functions expanded to allow it but really don't have much hope that'll happen. I do have hope that the TUG Sightings/Distressed board will gradually see more activity from Marriott DC Members. :)
I think the difference is that with points, I have the points, they are just tied up in the week that isn't converted. Without a week, you really don't have anything at all to book, not weeks or points. If I have a convertible week, it would make sense that I should be able to search DC availability and elect that week for points if I want to confirm the points reservation.
 

bazzap

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I think the difference is that with points, I have the points, they are just tied up in the week that isn't converted. Without a week, you really don't have anything at all to book, not weeks or points. If I have a convertible week, it would make sense that I should be able to search DC availability and elect that week for points if I want to confirm the points reservation.
Yes, excellent logic that sadly MVC don't recognise yet.
 

SueDonJ

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I think the difference is that with points, I have the points, they are just tied up in the week that isn't converted. Without a week, you really don't have anything at all to book, not weeks or points. If I have a convertible week, it would make sense that I should be able to search DC availability and elect that week for points if I want to confirm the points reservation.

For years I read on TUG how it was a pain in the neck to have to call MVCI to re-book a Week, with Owners of Weeks which have seasons that span both early and late in the calendar year being particularly vocal about it. I don't blame them because simply waiting for a late-season window to open put their usage options at significant risk, not to mention that safeguarding them with an early-year reservation meant that they incurred extra costs in booking/cancelling/re-booking. And, since the DC inception many have adopted a similar argument in that using DC Points for a late-year stay is severely impacted by a deadline that requires enrolled Weeks to be converted to Points prior to window openings.

I agree with you that a booked Week is technically "less available" (for lack of a better term?) than an unbooked Week which can be converted to Points. But there've always been limitations in the search function that affect some owners more than others, and the history doesn't really bode well for MVW expanding the function even more to encompass all options. Hope springs eternal, though.
 

davidvel

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For years I read on TUG how it was a pain in the neck to have to call MVCI to re-book a Week, with Owners of Weeks which have seasons that span both early and late in the calendar year being particularly vocal about it. I don't blame them because simply waiting for a late-season window to open put their usage options at significant risk, not to mention that safeguarding them with an early-year reservation meant that they incurred extra costs in booking/cancelling/re-booking. And, since the DC inception many have adopted a similar argument in that using DC Points for a late-year stay is severely impacted by a deadline that requires enrolled Weeks to be converted to Points prior to window openings.

I agree with you that a booked Week is technically "less available" (for lack of a better term?) than an unbooked Week which can be converted to Points. But there've always been limitations in the search function that affect some owners more than others, and the history doesn't really bode well for MVW expanding the function even more to encompass all options. Hope springs eternal, though.
It would seem the cost savings to Marriott in allowing people to see availability and change their weeks reservation date online would be significant. It is expensive to employ all the agents that currently process these (as well as after the fact lock-off requests, that take a long time to process with an agent, and a supervisor most of the time.)
They probably would even add a service fee (despite them saving money)...:crash:
 

dioxide45

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It would seem the cost savings to Marriott in allowing people to see availability and change their weeks reservation date online would be significant. It is expensive to employ all the agents that currently process these (as well as after the fact lock-off requests, that take a long time to process with an agent, and a supervisor most of the time.)
They probably would even add a service fee (despite them saving money)...:crash:
There is already an Owner Services fee as a line item on all of our budgets. So we are paying for these services. They could offer 24/7 Owner Services telephone service, which would be great, but we would be paying more for it.
 

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I make most of my searches a default of 7 days unless I'm looking for something specific. For instance, when I'm looking at Hawaii, most of the time it will be for at least 1 week. Plus, if It's available for 1 week, I also know it will be available for 3,4,5,6 days as well.

This is not always true -- at least at one Vacation Club location.

I noticed a strange anomaly while trying to make a reservation at the New York City, Marriott Vacation Club Pulse. When I made a flexible search for a 1 night reservation in April, 2017, very few nights appeared as available, so I assumed that I would not be able to make an extended reservation for 6 nights; however, when I checked for a 6 night reservation in April, 2017, the entire month was available!

I played around with various searches and the entire month was available only for reservations of at least 4 nights. More dates were available for 2 nights than for one night, but most nights were still unavailable -- and when making a search for 3 nights, all but one week in April 2017 was available.

Has anyone noticed anything similar at other locations?
 

jeff76543

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I found a less dramatic example at the San Diego Pulse, making a flexible search in February. Here the entire month was available only with a search of at least 5 nights. A search for 4 nights showed one date as unavailable and a search for 1 night in February showed 4 nights as unavailable (3 of which did not correspond to the unavailable night searching for a 4 night reservation).

Perhaps this is a characteristic of the Pulse Vacation Clubs -- with the exception of the Custom House in Boston, where my limited flexible searches showed that the 1 night availability reflected the availability that would be found for longer reservations.
 

dioxide45

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Perhaps they are allocating inventory and only releasing certain nights as single, two or three night stays. Other inventory is reserved for longer duration stays?
 
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