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Re: Marriott Going to Point Syst

I'm very frustrated with Marriott and decided to explain our experience from earlier today. We have owned a 2br Canyon Villas EOY unit for 6 years now. It's been a great experience over the past 6 years. We've never stayed at the Canyon Villas although we plan to in the future (we've exchanged through II to Hawaii, Florida, and California). We paid about $9,000 for our Canyon Villas EOY 2br (Gold Season) and pay around $450/year in MFs. We are currently staying at Harbor Lake in Orlando and decided to meet with a Marriott sales rep for their presentation on the new point system. I have been doing research on this forum and others to prepare for the preso. First of all, our Marriott sales rep made a good first impression. She was extremely nice and friendly (of course). She started by showing us a bunch of Marriott press releases about their new point system and of course the articles talked about how great it was and how much more beneficial it is compared vs. the old system. She gave us our point amount for our Canyon Villas EOY which is 1,825 points every other year and then she showed several scenarios on how cheap weeks are in the new program (showed how we could get a week in Hawaii for 1900 and Hilton Head for 700). I then asked her to show me their booklet on their different properties and the point costs. It was pretty evident to me that there are actually very few weeks that we could buy for 1,825 points (our given amount). So, I made her show me how she came up with 1,900 points for a week in Hawaii. This is where I started to think I was on a used car lot. Sure you can go to Hawaii for a week if you switch properties 3 times that week and stay in studios (it was pitched that you would see 3 separate islands). Anyway, she essentially offered us an additional 1,000 points for $9,200 and we'd receive 1,100 extra points the first year (and they would waive our $595 induction fee). 1,000 points is the minium upgrade that you can buy and she claims that after this year 2,000 extra points will be the minimum (so this was our chance). We've enjoyed our Every other Year program because we go on vacations with friends or family (at there locations) every other year or so. So if you enjoy the EOY program you are out of luck in the new Marriott Point System. There is nothing for you or us :) So if we did spend $9,200 we'd get 1,000 per year and 1,825 EOY which is less than satisfactory not to mention that our annual costs would double to over $1,000 in fees (and we would not necessarilly get to stay where we wanted each year). This is extremely frustrating because we bought in at the minimum level in hopes of doing some trading to other Marriotts and that's what we've done over the last 6 years. That's all about to change for us. I doubt we are going to be able to trade for other Marriotts if we stay in the old program (interval) and we'll have to save up 3 years in points to afford to stay at the places we want in the points system. This is absolutely not what we signed up for 6years ago when our sales person "promised us the world". Okay so back to the fun part. Of course our sales lady left he room to let us discuss it. I'm pretty sure those rooms are bugged because it's like she heard what we were saying while she was out (which was basically that this sucks and we weren't doing it). She brought her manager back in with her and asked what we decided. I told her that we weren't going to spend the $9,200 and she replied "but you probably spend $100 a month on cable (that's the cost with their low low 9.9% financing)". I had to say no again and this time she said "then you'll just enroll in the new system with your low point level"? And I said, no we need to research it a bit more but we'll more than likely stick with the old program and exchange through Interval. I asked if there are any incentives to enroll now vs. having the rest of the year to decide (for the 800 bonus points before 12/31/10 like we already get) and told her if not then I was going to think about it but more than likely stick with Interval. This is where she got pissed. She said rather abruptly "What inventory are you going to exchange for? All the Marriotts will be taken out of Interval". I said then I guess we are going to exchange for non-Marriotts, which is not what we were sold 6 years ago. Funny how up until now they really sold the Interval exchange advantages and how much better II is than RCI. She then simply said that her manager would escort us out. He took us down the elevator and out without saying a single word. It was a very strange situation and my wife and I felt like we were dealing with your typical timeshare used car salesmen. It was pretty shady and I don't think we should have been treated that way as existing owners even if we did tell them "no". I thought about sending Marriott a letter letting them know that we didn't appreciate them talking down to us when we said "no". I even thought about putting a "liar" sticker on the forehead of Bill Marriott in his portrait in their lobby, but I did'nt:) Please someone convince me that this point system is a good thing. Their sales person sure thinks it is.