The New Marriott Points System

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Does anyone have any idea about this?

1) When will it start
2) How will points value be determined
3) Can you use the current system instead?
4) How do points work? Never had a resort that did this.

Any and all information welcome.

Thanks!

HLIW

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

There is a HUGE thread on TUG concerning the speculation about this change.

The strongest information seems to be:

1. sales will close down for two weeks mid June for retraining
2. it will be some sort of internal exchange program based on points
3. there will be an enrollement fee which will be considerably lower for those that purchased from Marriott

Exactly what this program will be like, no one knows for certain. Salesmen have done a great job for the last two years with rumor about a new program that will make resale buyers sorry they didn't buy direct from Marriott. You know how salesman are. They'll use any trick to scare a person away from buying something for 40% of their price.

I'm at a Marriott resort right now and they deny any knowledge of any new program or closing sales down for two weeks. But then again I only used this as a way to get the conceirge to understand I wasn't taking the sales tour until Marriott made their decision on which way they were going.

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Thanks, Doug.

[Ireland's Call Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ireland's Call]

New Mariott system next week or soon

Extensive postings on the subject "over there" ..over a thousand and tens of thousands of hits.
But it's all speculation .
Marriott have managed to keep the sales people quiet .
Anyway the best advice I got from these boards was " to buy where you are most likely to want to revisit ..never for trading ".
As a resale owner in Marbella and with only 4 locations in Europe I am unlikley to buy into a points system.
We have all saved ourselves endless time reading and posting over the last 12 months now ....let's wait til Mr Marriott speaks.....
G

[short Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close short]

My fault.

I think this is my fault because I have been telling every sales person on tour and every survey I fill out that if Marriott had as flexible and convenient a points system as HGVC that I would consider purchasing. I am not interested in paying big bucks for one week every year at one resort that must be planned one year in advance.

The devils in the details however. If it is cheaper or the same price to rent the unit at Marriotts website then why would I consider owning.

Will there be better availablility, better pricing, better flexibility, better owner benefits like bonus time pricing for last minute bookings?

I'm guessing Marriott will overprice their product but time will tell.

We are going down to Newport Coast Villas on Wed so maybe I can find out about this.

Short

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

While it's interesting to speculate and, in those speculations, incorporate what is known about other points based exchange systems, it's dangerous to get worked up, nervous or in any way scared of any change that might happen. Change is inevitable. Since 1998 when we purchased our first timeshare there have been many changes which have impacted how we use our timeshare. This will be just another in the long list of changes.

The biggest changes I've seen over the years.

1. Floating weeks replacing fixed week/fixed unit ownership.

2. Internal exchange systems that keep owners exchanging within those systems and make it tougher on non-owners to get those exchanges.

3. Trust based ownership where you don't own a deeded week at all but own a piece of an exchange trust.

4. RCI points

5. Mult. independant exhcange companies as options to the big two.

No matter what changes have come our way, the only thing that has not been impacted is what we received in writing concerning the right to use our vacations week. Everthing else, all that wasn't in writing but told to us by excited sales reps, has typically come to pass and morphed into something else new and exciting. Buy a timeshare you like and one where you want to go or, buy with short sighted vision and a plan of usage for just a few years, then turn the portfolio over to meet the demands of the world as it changes and becomes something new.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Extensive postings on the subject "over there" ..over a thousand and tens of thousands of hits.
But it's all speculation .
Marriott have managed to keep the sales people quiet .
Anyway the best advice I got from these boards was " to buy where you are most likely to want to revisit ..never for trading ".
As a resale owner in Marbella and with only 4 locations in Europe I am unlikley to buy into a points system.
We have all saved ourselves endless time reading and posting over the last 12 months now ....let's wait til Mr Marriott speaks.....
G

I don't believe that it is all speculation. We heard about it in March and they told us that the sales office will be closed down on June 17 for three days. We heard this from the sales lady, who gave us the update, as well as from another department that no more deeded weeks will be sold after that but they didn't know much detail yet. If they are just rumors, than Marriott should have stopped them a long time ago because people are worried or there wouldn't be so many posts about it.

I see this whole industry changing and not for the benefit of the owners. The boards will be controlled by the brand name developers mainly rather than by the owners and you can bet that the fees will sky rocket too. I wonder too what it will do to the re-sale value of the name brand timeshares? I am glad that we only own one of them and that is too much!

When I read all these posts then I realize how much I appreciate our independent little resorts where the board is run by the owners for the owners! There is no conflict of interest in that case.

[Ireland's Call Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ireland's Call]

Well here we are a week to go and "over there " in excess of 70,000 have viewed ...and sorry ..many have speculated (nearly 2k) , but not one (am open to correction ) has posted what's going to happen.
Best kept secret...although I guess if nothing was happening M would have snuffed out the discussion before now by making a statement.
So let's see ...wont we have fun in 7/20 days time !
G

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

Has Marriott ever once made a statement on any public TS forum regarding internal plans?

I really don't recall if ever? I do believe Marriott has a rep on FT regarding MRP's. That is a larger overall audience.

I for one have been downplaying this as a rumor for quite some time now. But lately I have fallen victim to the belief that changes are indeed in the making. Iconnections your contacts within Marriott also help connect the dots as well.

I will have the last laugh if at the end of June absolutely nothing at all happens. Something tells me that will not be the case.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

I agree that this is so strange. Why does Marriott allow all these rumors to go around for several years? I read that they became strict the last few weeks and even fired a salesman because he was still pitching the rumored change. I don't know what to believe but I will feel a lot better when they come out with an announcement one way or the other. I haven't even stayed up to date the last two days.

[Ireland's Call Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ireland's Call]

[QUOTE=billymach4;390300]Has Marriott ever once made a statement on any public TS forum regarding internal plans?

I really don't recall if ever? I do believe Marriott has a rep on FT regarding MRP's. That is a larger overall audience.

I for one have been downplaying this as a rumor for quite some time now. But lately I have fallen victim to the belief that changes are indeed in the making. Iconnections your contacts within Marriott also help connect the dots as well.

I will have the last laugh if at the end of June absolutely nothing at all happens. Something tells me that will not be the case.

Agree ,,,would be so funny if nothing happens ...! For me ...don't care as long as I can book my home resort, which is great.( can I ?)
G

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

My feeling is that if something is eventually rolled out.. Points / internal / Trust system whatever you want to call it. There are so many owners out there already, it will take years before you see any affect on trading.

Personally I don't go after the Primo Platinum weeks anyway. I don't like crowds, I prefer to travel when the little ones are in school, and I just can't see spending a fortune for a prime holiday week.

So long as I can trade around those peak times I am a happy camper. Also I have never been to Hawaii either. I would love to go, but I just don't have the time at this point in my lifestyle. So I stick the the North American Continent and the Caribbean for now.

I have not yet even made it across the pond to Europe either. Would like to but I need more vacation time.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

For me ...don't care as long as I can book my home resort, which is great.( can I ?)
G

I believe you can. It has something to do with the 60 days' home booking advantage. It seems to be the law and even with a Trust.

I am trying to digest it all myself because there are so many different type of systems out there. I like what we have at the Marriott and that is a fixed week and unit. They can't fool with that but, if we don't convert, we may never qualify again for a platinum week exchange, if II doesn't get them.

All re-sales will be affected too if Marriott is going to have a cast system and treat the direct buyers different from the re-sale buyers. I have read enough to know that this is true with Starwood with their mandatory and non-mandatory resorts.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

I am waiting, own two Marriott weeks, both at Monarch and they are ocean front and not prime time for most folks. We have use one week every year and the other week most of the time. We can always use the other week all the time, if needed.

[ejommen Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ejommen]

I just returned from Orlando. The salesperson on my sales tour confirmed that the points program was coming and that he'd be trained in June. No other details.
I did get the impression (right or wrong) that the points program may involve redemptions for partial weeks.
He also mentioned that Marriott is getting away from lock-offs and EOY deeds.