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Ripoff - Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Program - New Point System (by Charles S.):

jennyf47 wrote:

henryg96 wrote:

It’s a scam and that “owner” using all the right terminology and making the case for Marriott is 100% Marritott them selves. I am a former vacation advisor and I had to quit because of how I felt I was helping Marriott rip people off

I agree with you completely, Henry. I was told many lies and have felt completely ripped off by the Marriott sales people. When I called one out at a meeting, they’d bring in another trying to convince me all would be well. No one explained how it really worked against me sending one after the other to try. The final one said I was right about what had been happening but too bad I needed to buy more points and use a Marriott credit card and all would be right with the world. Even told me I could get the property I wanted and was promised when I first purchased, at the time I wanted. After refusing to buy more points they told me I could go ahead and get the time and place if I paid monthly for a year. But, when I had paid over half the payments, suddenly the property was not available and the money was non refundable.!!!! The last straw was using points to rent where we wanted for 4 days. When we got there they gave us the worst villa in the whole place for half my yearly points. When I asked to stay the rest of the week, I was told there were no villas available for points, only for renters and I could rent for 800$ more a night. In other words, you get the worst property if you’re a points person and even though there is property available, they prefer to rent for the money instead of taking points. They have available villas but u must pay. I do not trust a single sales person at that company. No different from a slick used car dealer. There really needs to be investigations into their practices. Shame on them for treating people like they do. Henry, you may be the whistleblower we need to expose their shenanigans for sure. One more thing. I was told I could not sell my points unless Marriott approved the sale and they would not let me just sell it back to them. Also, my children would indeed inherit the same problems. I had no recourse. And in the beginning I was told I could come to the property as an owner since I lived an hour away, and I could use the locker room and pool because again I was an owner. But, when I took my granddaughter to use the pool for a day, you guessed it, that policy was changed. Couldn’t do it. One lie after another. Numerous times I asked to speak to the original salesperson and she was still working but never available and never returned my call. But when I gave her my thousands of dollars, she promised to talk anytime I needed to. Lies, lies, and more lies. My husband wants to hold up a sign at the entrance that says Beware! I agree.

Jenny F.,

I wish I could explain why the salespeople stretch the truth or outright lie. It used to be that Marriott was one of the few that did not have the high power sales pitches. Unfortunately, now they are as bad as any other timeshare company. If they were to let the product sell for itself, they’d be surprised. I guess the pressure for commissions and meeting quotas wins out over their integrity. This does not make one enthusiastic about buying from someone like that.

That being said, I wanted to help you understand a couple of points you brought up. You must remember that if you make a reservation and are able to book that is fine. You are entitled to that week. However, you must also understand that Marriott owns all of the timeshare weeks that it has yet to sell. Those weeks belong to Marriott. Just like you can rent or exchange your week through interval international, so can they. So when you are saying that Marriott is charging and cannot give you the room. They also pay maintenance for all of the unsold suites. That’s why they rent them out.

Secondly, your children do not have to inherit your timeshare. They can refuse it.

Lastly, Marriott does have the right of first refusal on your points or weeks in most cases. I you are going to sell your points for a dollar, they can buy it for the dollar first. In either case it does not negatively affect you because you get to sell it either way based upon the sale you agreed upon with the original seller.

I would highly recommend that you get onto one of the Marriott Facebook groups and learn more about the points program and how it really works.