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Re: Marriott Going to Point Syst

Boy have you got that all wrong! No. Thye aren't "obligating" Marriott weeks owners to switch, but they are putting a lot of their inventory into the points system, and those who spend an additional $15,000 plus, will get first dibs on where they want to stay. They also can plan 13 months out instead of 12. This came directly from our sales rep. The third presentation we listened to regarding the new Destination points program. In addition, there will be very far fewer weeks dumped into Interval. We own two platinum weeks at Vegas (2 BR) and Palm Beach (3BR ocean front). I used to have no problem whatsoever trading through Interval. Now, you have to wait until very close to the check in date to trade. They dump weeks when they project how many they will have left over, and Interval gets the leftovers. Trading is MUCH more difficult through Interval than before. We joined the Destinations program to have access to the points system in some form, but didn't buy additional points. We were told that those who purchased points would have preference and first dibs ahead of us. Then, comes Marriott weeks owners, and Interval members in that order. The whole reason this occurred was not to make a better program for Marriott owners. It was to benefit Marriott after the housing market crash and following bad economy. Their sales for weeks dried up since the value of the weeks plummeted, and because there were far fewer people willing to let go of their hard earned money in a bad economy with no end in site. If you want to see how much money you have lost in value on your deed, look up what the same seasonal designation and property unit type is selling for on Redweek, Ebay, etc.. Marriott is no longer exercising their first right of refusal if you decide to sell. They don't want to buy back weeks they can't sell or make any money off of. There are plenty of reputable sellers on Ebay practically giving them away. I've spoken to several on the phone, and they never have a problem with Marriott intervening since they don't utilize FRR anymore. These are guys with great feedback doing it everyday. They buy forclosures, and from people needing to bail out fast. My weeks are worth one third of what we paid for them now based on data I collected from various resale sources. Sure. You'll be fine if you stay at your home property during your purchased season, but when they sold people on these weeks, they walked them through the room with all of the flat screens set up, and showed all of the places you could trade for worldwide. They never mentioned to people buying at less desirable locations on off seasons that they would have problems trading for those beautiful locations they were shown. I've seen this complaint from owners for years. We we're smart enough to buy in desirable locations during peak season, but others weren't savvy enough to see through the sales pitch, so they got less than they thought they were getting. Bottom line: Marriott is out to make as much money from you as possible, regardless of how much you have already spent as a loyal owner. If they wanted to honor their already loyal owners, they should have just converted them to the points system as an option instead of trying to bleed them dry, and make as much money as possible at their expense by requiring them to spend thousands more to buy points in order to get a decent trade. Off subject a bit, but this still makes my point. We stayed at Oceana Palms last May, and attended they Destinations presentation again. At they end, they always send in someone to sell you a deal on coming back. We had no interest in spending $1,500 to stay at Oceana Palms again since we were able to trade for it, and we own at Ocean Pointe. But, they offered a package at Marriott's Singer Island Resort and Spa. They arranged a tour of the property and units. It was fabulous, so we took the bait, and plunked down $1,500 to stay there this coming third week of May. We figured we would bank our points or rent out the unit at Ocean Pointe and stay there instead. I had a bad feeling I should call to verify our status. So, I called and was told they didn't have a contract with the resort this year, so we woud have to stay at Oceana Palms instead. I am LIVID! Now, I'm waiting on a call back from the sales management there to ask for our money back. How do you think that's going to go? I'm sure it will be an uphill battle, and we will probably be stuck. I'll update after I find out the result . But, this is just one more example of how screwed up Marriott had become, and how little they care about thier owners. Your misplaced faith in Marriott will eventually come back to bite you unless your willing to pay more a ton more for the privilege of trading for where you actually want to go. [Q=davidc637] They wont be obligating owners to switch. You can stay on the current "week for week" system, but they'll try to make some extra money by pitching the flexibility of points. Yea, dont worry, there will be a lot of owners that wont switch to points, but we'll have to keep using Interval for our exchanges.[/Q]