Another Marriott Email with Points Special

Perhaps this is their version of FlexChange? Just got this email, same concept as before:



Special Offer for Marriott Vacation Club® Points Owners:
From November 1st until December 15th Save 50% off the Vacation Club Points needed when you stay 3 nights or more at participating Marriott Vacation Club Collection* resorts!
But hurry! You must complete your travel before December 15, 2010.

To take advantage of this limited-time Vacation Club Points offer, call your Vacation Ownership Advisor team at 888-MVCI-VOA (888-682-4862).

Black-out dates apply - Offer not valid for overnight stays on these dates:
November 24th through and including November 27th

Participating Resorts
Marriott's Fairway Villas
Galloway, New Jersey

Marriott's Crystal Shores
Marco Island, Florida

Marriott's Monarch
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Marriott's Ocean Pointe
Palm Beach Shores, Florida
Marriott's Oceana Palms
Riviera Beach, Florida
Marriott's Sabal Palms
Orlando, Florida
Marriott's Royal Palms
Orlando, Florida


Owners must be current on maintenance fees and club dues to participate in this offer. Holding points can not be used with this offer. Vacation Club Points owners who have purchased points must have a closed contract in order to make a reservation using those points. Offer is subject to availability. Travel must be completed by December 15, 2010. Offer is subject to change and may be discontinued at any time without notice.

*The Marriott Vacation Club Collection is comprised of timeshare interests owned by the MVC Trust and available for usage through the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations™ timeshare plan and timeshare interests available for usage through the MVC Exchange Company; please see the applicable Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program documents for more information. Resorts with property that comprise the MVC Trust are described in the documents provided at the time of sale, and more particularly on the exhibit entitled Component Site Chart, which may be revised from time to time. Request for occupancy at resorts with small amounts of property in the MVC Trust, as set forth in the Component Site Chart, will be fulfilled primarily through the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program. As of 6/20/2010, there are currently timeshare interests located at 11 resorts owned by the MVC Trust and those resorts are designated with the symbol . As of 6/20/2010, there are currently 53 resorts, including the aforementioned 11 resorts, with timeshare interests available for exchange through the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program, and those resorts are designated with the symbol . Marriott's Fairway Villas , Marriott's Crystal Shores , Marriott's Monarch , Marriott's Ocean Pointe , Marriott's Oceana Palms , Marriott's Sabal Palms , Marriott's Royal Palms . Please see the applicable Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program documents for more information.

Thanks - I did not receive this offer yet.

Maria

This was emailed to me.

donna

Also got this offer. This second one has an expiration/travel date of 12/15 and comes just before the first one's 10/31 expiration. I like that they're giving us a flexchange-type benefit but would like to see it tweaked a bit to extend the offer windows beyond a 6-week period. (Not surprising at all to see the Thanksgiving holiday blocked out, that's something I wouldn't expect to be changed at all.)

Mine only said 30% discount

NJMOM2 said:

Mine only said 30% discount

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Same thing happened with the other offer, too - some got 50% and some got 30% but we weren't able to figure out why the difference. Hmmmm.

I'm not in the DC program. This offer makes me believe that they are trying to get people to use points so they will not have them to use for next year. Which also makes me believe they are having trouble or complaints fulfilling the desired requests from people who are trying to book for next year. The discount is to entice you now, but the upside for them is they will have less complaints that the new program is not working.

This is totally opinion, not based on any facts.

SueDonJ said:

Same thing happened with the other offer, too - some got 50% and some got 30% but we weren't able to figure out why the difference. Hmmmm.

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Just a thought: could it be the offer difference is based on point value?
i.e. those w/premier plus or premier status get the 50% off, and those with less value get the 30% off?

LUVourMarriotts said:

I'm not in the DC program. This offer makes me believe that they are trying to get people to use points so they will not have them to use for next year. Which also makes me believe they are having trouble or complaints fulfilling the desired requests from people who are trying to book for next year. The discount is to entice you now, but the upside for them is they will have less complaints that the new program is not working.

This is totally opinion, not based on any facts.

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I think it's possible that they're simply trying to offer DC/Exchange Members the flexchange-type positive benefits of II, in the same way that they changed access to the new II accounts after the rollout because folks clamored for it. Plus getting folks into the resorts during the offseasons is a positive for both Marriott and Owners, isn't it?

All the reports on TUG are that most of the DC enrollees have been able to make satisfactory 2011 reservations for themselves, some immediately and some through the Waitlist. What have you heard that's formed your opinion that Marriott is "having trouble or complaints fulfilling the desired requests from people who are trying to book for next year," or that they don't want folks to carry over DC Points to next year? If you're looking for Marriott to be taking advantage of DC enrollees, wouldn't it make more sense for them to NOT make these discount offers so that everybody's excess Points will expire from non-use next year?

scrapngen said:

Just a thought: could it be the offer difference is based on point value?
i.e. those w/premier plus or premier status get the 50% off, and those with less value get the 30% off?

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Could be - we tried to figure it out in that linked thread but never came to a conclusion. Eventually we'll get it with help from all the thinkers here.

mpizza said:

Thanks - I did not receive this offer yet.

Maria

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I did not receive this offer. I also did not receive the September offer. I just called Marriott to check on this and was told that the E-mail was sent to all owners who had points in their accounts available to be used. I have my 800 Plus Points and should have received these offers. The VOA I spoke to said I should have received the offer and is sending me a copy of the E-Mail.

Since I am a Premier Plus owner I should receive the 50% discount offer. If I do not, I will call again to find out who gets which offer.

SueDonJ said:

Could be - we tried to figure it out in that linked thread but never came to a conclusion. Eventually we'll get it with help from all the thinkers here.

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I got two emails for exact same locations. One is for 50% discount and the other is for 30% discount. Same thing happened last time.

good morning...

my account is tapped out for 2011, yet I received the offer!!!!!

it looks like some nice opportunities available at some nice Florida places!!!

I don't believe this is part of a greaater "conspiracy" theory!!! It is pretty accepted business practice to offer excess time sensitive inventory at discount prices!!1

Take advantage and enjoy!!!

I received the offer at 50%. We're at Ocean Pointe now and we toured Oceana Palms today. We liked it so I took advantage and booked an OV room for 2100 DC points and extended our stay a week. That's three successful reservations under the DC system so far for me.

The tour was pleasant. Sales rep knew going in I probably wasn't going to buy any DC points to add to what I have in legacy weeks. He did stress that trust points were in a separate pool. I told him I didn't think there was much of a difference as I accessed the trust pool with my legacy points at 12.5 months out. His answer was that if I had trust points I would have been able to do it at 13 months out. He quoted some stats. He said 25% of owners are enrolling and that 64% of them are buying more DC points. I asked about non-owners and he said sales are up 8% from this time last year. He tried weakly to sell me more points but I showed no interest so we never got to the whiteboard stuff. Tour took 1 hour 15 minutes. One of the more pleasant ones I've had. We took the 15k MRP.

The resort looks very nice and it is definitely a high end property. Looking forward to my stay in 10 days. One last note. They have free lounge chairs but if you want an umbrella you still have to rent from oceanside at $30 per day for two chairs and an umbrella.

puckmanfl said:

I don't believe this is part of a greaater "conspiracy" theory!!! It is pretty accepted business practice to offer excess time sensitive inventory at discount prices!!1

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I agree that this is not a conspiracy but rather a way to fill up empty rooms during slow seasons. Starwood does this as well.

BocaBoy said:

I did not receive this offer. I also did not receive the September offer. I just called Marriott to check on this and was told that the E-mail was sent to all owners who had points in their accounts available to be used. I have my 800 Plus Points and should have received these offers. The VOA I spoke to said I should have received the offer and is sending me a copy of the E-Mail.

Since I am a Premier Plus owner I should receive the 50% discount offer. If I do not, I will call again to find out who gets which offer.

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I got the 30% offer, so I called and asked about it. The VOA said I should have received the 50% offer because I was Premier Plus. He said if I call to use the offer that I would be given the 50% offer automatically because of my status. I did not ask which offer the Premier level is supposed to get.

So I guess the bottom line is that everyone with points to spend can call and get the discount, even if you did not receive an E-Mail. It is 50% for Premier Plus and 30% for non-elites. Don't know about the % for Premiers.

Interesting there is no II inventory but there is points inventory !

I think it is very interesting there is an offer to use 50% of the points to book in Nov - Dec at Ocean Pointe... yet there is no inventory in II during this time period. Ocean Pointe is not a trust resort ... and now Ocean Pointe is only available to points users and not II exchangers!

Any other thoughts...

I have a friend that's been on the waitlist for months...

SueDonJ said:

All the reports on TUG are that most of the DC enrollees have been able to make satisfactory 2011 reservations for themselves, some immediately and some through the Waitlist. What have you heard that's formed your opinion that Marriott is "having trouble or complaints fulfilling the desired requests from people who are trying to book for next year," or that they don't want folks to carry over DC Points to next year?

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Inventory is everything. I have a friend (isn't it always a friend) that traded his Waiohai for points and is trying to get a 2 bedroom in Maui. Guess what, no room at the inn! He's a bit ticked off because he was promised that he could use any of the Marriott resorts anytime.

It appears Marriott doesn't own many of the rooms at Maui, so they can't fill the request. They didn't tell him it would be a problem until after he gave up his Waiohai. Let's just say he's not a happy camper.

I basically enrolled and then backed out. The reason simply put, came down to the fact that I got conflicting statements from the Sales Reps and then when I enrolled on line the contract was emailed to me and numerous statements were different from what I had been told. My guard went up and I backed out.

I feel Marriott is playing games with inventory as the II offerings in Orlando are very poor for the month of January. This has never been the case and frankly given the economy I doubt all those rooms are occupied. In a perfect world we would all get our trades with the point system but this is not a perfect world.

Maybe it's too soon to tell but what does anyone think the chances are of Marriott continuing these reduced-Points offers at the same clip they've rolled out the first two? IOW, would you expect another offer immediately on the heels of this one's 12/15 expiration?

(We're thinking about early January - offseason - for Hilton Head and don't know whether to purchase an II Getaway or wait around for a possible 50% Points offer.)

(Note this is without getting into which would make the most financial sense; we have Points to spare - without borrowing - and wouldn't mind using them.)

Another question I just thought of, that probably can't be answered now but it will be interesting to see the answer when the situation arises. I wonder if you make a Points reservation and then a reduced offer is made after - do you think you'll be able to call the VOA and apply the offer to the existing reservation? If things work the way marriott.com reservations work then I'd guess yes because we've been able to change a rack rate to a discount rate.

(Following on the heels of my last post, I suppose I could make a January Points reservation now and then try to apply the reduced offer when/if it comes out ... Hmmm, what to do what to do ...)

jimf41 said:

He said 25% of owners are enrolling and that 64% of them are buying more DC points. .

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We toured Surf Watch HHI this week and were told 93% of owners are enrolling. Are they making these up as they go along?

Mr. Vker said:

We toured Surf Watch HHI this week and were told 93% of owners are enrolling. Are they making these up as they go along?

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I think it has something to do with context and what's left unsaid - it's possible that each rep is speaking individually of the owners to whom they'd given a presentation, as opposed to the overall ownership. SurfWatch is a newer resort and the Points allotted for Weeks are a pretty good value compared to other resorts - it wouldn't surprise me if 93% of the owners who are doing presentations decide to enroll their Weeks. (Don't know if it's true for all SW reps but ours has told us that she is concentrating her efforts/presentations on the owners of Gold/Plat seasons, especially 3BR units, because those are the folks who will get good Points value.)

The comment I made earlier, "trouble or complaints fulfilling the desired requests", was not based on any facts, as I noted in my post. The reason I made it was because I have read several posts mentioning that they are on a waitlist for a DC exchange. The people haven't been happy. Like rpw posted, people seem pretty mad based on all the hype of availability that Marriott has pushed (including to me at a sales presentation). I've also read posts about people who have traded. I have not counted both sides. It just seems there are more waitlisters than successful exchangers.

My e-mail offer said 50%. I'm Premier. Have no 2011 points left. Cannot think of any basis for the differences of the offers.