FREE USAGE of Marriott Timeshares From Owners

[SueDonJ]

As the expiration date of special COVID-affected Holding Account Abound Points was nearing, @TUGBrian allowed a thread in this forum where owners could voluntarily offer their expiring points for free to TUGgers. At that time we talked about the possibility of a permanent thread in the forum. With the success of that thread and Brian's okay, this thread is intended to be permanent and apply to all types of Marriott ownership, as long as the below rules are followed and nothing transpires that effectively violates TUG Rules pertaining to ads.

*********** THREAD RULES ***********

- OWNERS/MEMBERS may list here any Marriott timeshare usage that they have directly reserved through their vacationclub.com accounts using either Weeks or Abound Club Points. This free usage is for responders' PERSONAL USE only.

- Abound Members may list here any amount of Club Points, whether as transferrable to other Abound Members or to be used by the Owner to book specific intervals as requested by responders.

- Absolutely NO reservations booked using cash or booked through BONVOY, Interval International, private rental or other third-party entities are allowed.

- NO COMPENSATION of any kind can be requested, nor should it be offered.

- ALL discussion about offers posted here should take place in private messages.

- NO Wanted Ads allowed.

- Any posts that violate this thread's rules or the TUG Rules will be immediately deleted with no notice.

************************************

A few notes:

- Marriott allows direct transfers of Abound Points among Abound Members at no cost. If you're responding to any offers listed here for Abounds Points transfers, you will need to provide contact info including your Member Number so the transfer can be processed.

- Marriott allows Owners/Members to gift usage of Weeks and Points reservations to others at no cost, but it requires notice of a Guest's Name and contact information to Owner Services. This may take place in various ways through a phone call or sign-in to owner accounts. Recently they've started a process using a special form, but it's not yet widespread and it's unknown whether this will eventually be the only method by which Guest's info may be submitted. If you're responding to any offers listed here for reservations, you should be prepared to release all of the requested contact info to the Owner/Member. After the Guest's info is submitted, Owner Services will issue an email confirmation that includes the guest's name. (*I'll add a link here to the form as soon as I can find a working link.)

- @StevenTing hosts the Abound Points Charts on his website. Link here to figure out what you can get with a certain number of Points.

- This thread will be shut down as a failed experiment if either the thread rules above or TUG Rules are violated and/or if it causes undue headaches and excessive monitoring by TUG Admin/Moderators. This is a thread that can only exist using the honor system. As much as it may hurt the collective, TUG Admin/Mods would appreciate being notified if known instances of rules violations are taking place behind the scenes.

 

[jmhpsu93]

@SueDonJ ... why the restriction on Interval exchanges / getaways? I've had a couple of these I had to eat as our travel plans changed and would have loved to give the usage away.

Thanks for putting together the thread and explanation.

 

[m61376]

@SueDonJ ... why the restriction on Interval exchanges / getaways? I've had a couple of these I had to eat as our travel plans changed and would have loved to give the usage away.

Thanks for putting together the thread and explanation.

Actually, that makes sense. since II allows you to book for yourself or others, as long as you are not charging but gifting them. While posting them in the last minute/distressed forum is questionable, posting them here should be reconsidered because it's actually within II's policies.
Such a great idea, btw. Several years ago a very generous Tugger couldn't use a II exchange to Aruba and he asked me if I wanted it (and the only money that exchanged hands was for the II guest certificate fee). It coincided with my week, and I had already invited a close friend who always wanted to go to Aruba who, at the time, was battling cancer. Anyway, his generosity enabled me to invite other mutual friends and it was truly a memorable trip, and a time we will always treasure as our friend lost her battle the following year. Just had to share when I saw this thread and post. Sometimes a simple act of kindness really impacts others.

 

[jwalk03]

@SueDonJ ... why the restriction on Interval exchanges / getaways? I've had a couple of these I had to eat as our travel plans changed and would have loved to give the usage away.

Thanks for putting together the thread and explanation.

You can post exchanges as distressed in the Sightings Forum (which is restricted to TUG members only) which I believe helps limit the exposure of "advertising" an excahnge week.

 

[SueDonJ]

It's simple, really. This thread exists in this forum because of @TUGBrian's concern that it will be only for reservations issued from Owner Services for Marriott timeshares, that no fees are involved, and that what's being done here doesn't violate any TUG or Marriott rules. They're what I know and what I think I can knowledgeably recognize, which should result in very little moderation being necessary to keep this thread up and running. What I'm expecting is that the majority of offers will consist of small amounts of Abound Points nearing their expiration dates, but we'll see how it progresses.

As for II exchanges and Getaways, renting those is a discussion that takes place on TUG every so often without consensus. My reading of the II Buyers' Guide (#s 16 and 17 on Page 8) is that gifting is expressly allowed but there is a Guest Cert fee involved, and there's a strict rule that the GC can't be sold or bartered. We all know that in practice II isn't known for widespread policing of their own rules, but I have no interest in moderating gifting activity by others that I wouldn't be doing myself.

 

[jmhpsu93]

It's simple, really. This thread exists in this forum because of @TUGBrian's concern that it will be only for reservations issued from Owner Services for Marriott timeshares, that no fees are involved, and that what's being done here doesn't violate any TUG or Marriott rules. They're what I know and what I think I can knowledgeably recognize, which should result in very little moderation being necessary to keep this thread up and running. What I'm expecting is that the majority of offers will consist of small amounts of Abound Points nearing their expiration dates, but we'll see how it progresses.

As for II exchanges and Getaways, renting those is a discussion that takes place on TUG every so often without consensus. My reading of the II Buyers' Guide (#s 16 and 17 on Page 8) is that gifting is expressly allowed but there is a Guest Cert fee involved, and there's a strict rule that the GC can't be sold or bartered. We all know that in practice II isn't known for widespread policing of their own rules, but I have no interest in moderating gifting activity by others that I wouldn't be doing myself.

Fair enough.