KoOlina Presentation

[Tucsonadventurer]

We are Hyatt and Vistanna owners at KoOkina currently on a II trade. We are very impressed and having a great time.
We were hoping to learn about Marriott by attending a presentation but came to find that they do not offer presentations for non=Marriott owners. We can go do a tour but no time limit and no incentives. Is this a new trend. We are staying in maui at the Hyatt and Westin for 2 weeks so am thinking of waiting til then but am wondering if this is a new trend for Marriott or if it is just a KoOlina thing? I am not wanting to sit through a presentation with no incentives. This is one of the largest resorts we have visited, our first time t a Marriott so maybe it is related to the size? Or maybe the word is out somehow that we buy resale. A little disappointed

 

[bazzap]

We are Hyatt and Vistanna owners at KoOkina currently on a II trade. We are very impressed and having a great time.
We were hoping to learn about Marriott by attending a presentation but came to find that they do not offer presentations for non=Marriott owners. We can go do a tour but no time limit and no incentives. Is this a new trend. We are staying in maui at the Hyatt and Westin for 2 weeks so am thinking of waiting til then but am wondering if this is a new trend for Marriott or if it is just a KoOlina thing? I am not wanting to sit through a presentation with no incentives. This is one of the largest resorts we have visited, our first time t a Marriott so maybe it is related to the size? Or maybe the word is out somehow that we buy resale. A little disappointed

This is a new one on me.
Normally the challenge is avoiding the push for you to attend and/or convincing them that you really don’t need or want to even with the “wonderful” incentives they have on offer.

 

[VacationForever]

That is definitely a new one. Maybe they ran out of marketing $ for the year?!

 

[jlp879]

Maybe you'll have better luck (bad fortune?) on Maui. Walk up to the Marriott sales kiosk along the Ka'anapali Beach Walk and tell them you don't know a thing about timeshares.

When I took friends to Ko Olina last year, Marriott definitely tried to get them into a presentation. I kept them too busy sightseeing to attend.

 

[MabelP]

Go down to the cabana rental at Ko Olina. There is a sign offering points or gifts to attend a presentation.

 

[VacationForever]

When was the last time you attended a Marriott presentation?

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

When was the last time you attended a Marriott presentation?

Last summer in Maui we attended so 6 mos. ago. We did tell them then that we bought resale so maybe we are on a list lol. Another couple in the hot tub we met are Disney owners as well as Vistana, and Wyndham. They also were not asked and were surprised.

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

Go down to the cabana rental at Ko Olina. There is a sign offering points or gifts to attend a presentation.

We tried, gifts are only for Marriott owners.

 

[bazzap]

We tried, gifts are only for Marriott owners.

Amazing.
We were all non Marriott owners once upon a time.
This has never seemed to stop them offering incentives before.
They would certainly be closing off a very large target market with this strange approach.

 

[VacationForever]

Last summer in Maui we attended so 6 mos. ago. We did tell them then that we bought resale so maybe we are on a list lol. Another couple in the hot tub we met are Disney owners as well as Vistana, and Wyndham. They also were not asked and were surprised.

Marriott has a really detailed tracking system for people who have gone through a presentation. They use it to profile how likely is someone to buy from them in the future. I was very surprised. About 7+ years ago, we attended a presentation at Newport Coast and another one in Lake Tahoe. Then several years after, the concierge was rattling off where and when we attended. I think when you attended the one in Maui 6 months ago, it must have flagged "Don't waste your time and money on this one"... or something to that effect.

 

[bazzap]

Marriott has a really detailed tracking system for people who have gone through a presentation. They use it to profile how likely is someone to buy from them in the future. I was very surprised. About 7+ years ago, we attended a presentation at Newport Coast and another one in Lake Tahoe. Then several years after, the concierge was rattling off where and when we attended. I think when you attended the one in Maui 6 months ago, it must have flagged "Don't waste your time and money on this one"... or something to that effect.

No doubt it varies between resorts, but at some of ours the MVC welcome desk staff are incentivised to get you to attend, whether you have already recently attended one, clearly state that you have all the weeks/points/information you need, have no time or desire to attend or...whatever.

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

What is ironic is that we actually want to learn more about Marriott. Guess we will use TUG.

 

[jlp879]

What is ironic is that we actually want to learn more about Marriott. Guess we will use TUG.

Well, that is certainly the cheaper route! It will save you a bundle.

 

[catharsis]

I was told in Maui in September that even if you had attended a presentation the same week on another island they had 'waived' all of the rules and incentives would be available and so on. I presume that the various 'rules' are basically intended to try to even out the flow of (victims) potential customers and that they add or waive rules as required to hit the target volumes.

 

[dioxide45]

What is ironic is that we actually want to learn more about Marriott. Guess we will use TUG.

You won't learn much more at the presentation now than you did at the one six months ago.

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

You won't learn much more at the presentation now than you did at the one six months ago.

We actually did a mini presentation here with no incentives and learned more simply because last time we attended a Marriott presentation we had zero interest. I didn't want to attend a presentation at all when we were in Maui and my husband wanted hotel points so I reluctantly
gave in. It was very evident we had no interest. After this week at KoOlina I have to say I am extremely impressed by the resort, the staff, Marriott, and all the little details that have made our stay fantastic. I am in my Hawaii high right now as we pack to leave. We did the mini presentation mainly to see what a non studio room looks like and we got a chance to ask a few questions. We studied and asked questions about Vistana for probably 6 months before we bought. Marriott owners we have met seem very happy. There will be a lot of changes when Marriott takes over Interval so we will probably wait and see what evolves as we learn more. The sales rep. advised us to wait to see what happens with the change over first before getting involved with Hyatt's new program ,( of which we have zero interest.) That makes me hopeful that they will have a better plan.

 

[Jayco29D]

We were at Marriott Ko Olina in the late summer. I called in advance to make a TS presentation appointment but they told me they do not make appointments and just to show up. There are no incentives and the sales rep did not try to sell us anything. She just showed us a 2 bedroom and that's it. We said we were just looking so she didn't even bother with a sales presentation. I thought Marriott Ko Olina was really nice and the views, even of the island and mountains, were great. So we bought a Marriott Ko Olina 2 bedroom lock off with ocean view through an agent. We have not stayed there yet but looking forward to our first trip next summer.

 

[dioxide45]

We were at Marriott Ko Olina in the late summer. I called in advance to make a TS presentation appointment but they told me they do not make appointments and just to show up. There are no incentives and the sales rep did not try to sell us anything. She just showed us a 2 bedroom and that's it. We said we were just looking so she didn't even bother with a sales presentation. I thought Marriott Ko Olina was really nice and the views, even of the island and mountains, were great. So we bought a Marriott Ko Olina 2 bedroom lock off with ocean view through an agent. We have not stayed there yet but looking forward to our first trip next summer.

Did you buy an actual 2BR unit, or just enough points to stay in a 2BR unit? Marriott isn't selling weeks in Hawaii any more except, as far as I know, to the Japanese market. Or perhaps you bought through a resale agent?

 

[dioxide45]

We did a presentation this morning at Ko'Olina for 15,000 MRPs. It was not offered when we went to pick up the lousy discount garbage (really is useless as the discount card isn't even accepted at the onsite marketplace). We enquirer and they said we could do a presentation for 15,000, among other things. We had a great sales rep this morning who was absolutely no pressure, we only talked about the system for a short period of time and the rest was about the area and surfing. Best presentation ever

 

[bazzap]

We did a presentation this morning at Ko'Olina for 15,000 MRPs. It was not offered when we went to pick up the lousy discount garbage (really is useless as the discount card isn't even accepted at the onsite marketplace). We enquirer and they said we could do a presentation for 15,000, among other things. We had a great sales rep this morning who was absolutely no pressure, we only talked about the system for a short period of time and the rest was about the area and surfing. Best presentation ever

Your experience there sounds great, but seems strange on several levels.
- I wonder how the sales reps earn a living there if not by trying as hard as they possibly can to sell?
- I am surprised they are selling weeks there at all, especially to the Japanese or any Asian folk who
will probably have been more familiar with and more likely to purchase points than others?

 

[VacationForever]

There will be a lot of changes when Marriott takes over Interval so we will probably wait and see what evolves as we learn more.

Did the salesperson make the statement or was it from you? "when" as opposed to "if"?

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

Did the salesperson make the statement or was it from you? "when" as opposed to "if"?

He said when.

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

We did a presentation this morning at Ko'Olina for 15,000 MRPs. It was not offered when we went to pick up the lousy discount garbage (really is useless as the discount card isn't even accepted at the onsite marketplace). We enquirer and they said we could do a presentation for 15,000, among other things. We had a great sales rep this morning who was absolutely no pressure, we only talked about the system for a short period of time and the rest was about the area and surfing. Best presentation ever

That's great you were offered 15,000. Their sign for Marriott owners says 10000.

 

[dioxide45]

The reps are really in no position to be making any public statements about a VAC/ILG transaction. They are only referring to the rumors, the same rumor reported here. There is nothing official and it may never happen.

 

[dioxide45]

Your experience there sounds great, but seems strange on several levels.
- I wonder how the sales reps earn a living there if not by trying as hard as they possibly can to sell?
- I am surprised they are selling weeks there at all, especially to the Japanese or any Asian folk who
will probably have been more familiar with and more likely to purchase points than others?

I think Saturday's are slow tour days. The preview center was not a busy place by any means. The TUG tshirt I was wearing may have made a difference, but the rep made no reference to it.

I recall that they still market weeks to the Japanese market because they need/want the assurance of Ko'Olina reservations. Something they can't guaranty with points.