Marriott Going to a Point System

has anything new transpired to allow us to convey our concerns to Marriott>

As I write, I am staying for the first time at the Maui Ocean Club (on an exchange basis through Interval International). This afternoon, I was stopped alongside the beach by a Marriott timeshare salesman and I quickly chimed in to say, I'm already an owner of 2 weeks and I love Marriott! He then told me about the new points system. As he spoke, I quickly grew angry. This amounts to bait and switch -- only worse, because after owning for 12 years and having become accustomed to the system that I bought, suddenly the product I own no longer exists. The salesman aggressively told me that I would no longer be able to come to Maui with the new system (hellova sales pitch!). I said I sense a lawsuit. He rudely said that since I am a "secondary market owner" I "would not have a leg to stand on." (Can anyone imagine a Marriott employee speaking to an owner like that??). I was incensed by his tone and responded, "On the contrary, Mr. Marriott will not have a leg to stand on." He said, "Good luck with that..." ...beyond shocking! I came home and googled to see if others felt the same as I, and I see mass discontent.

Marriott MUST KEEP the system that they sold us. Whether we are original owners or secondary-market owners is immaterial. Those of us who bought on the secondary market had to accept that we were not getting the benefit of points. Now, those that bought directly from Marriott are seeing their points become worth less or worthless. Marriott must pay US, the OWNERS if they want to buy away our rights and privileges. It is hubris and illegal not only to change the system after we bought, but additionally to tell us that we have to pay for it!

No, thank you. I just bought a 5-year contract with Interval and now I'm told I can just stay at my home resort!

Someone organize a class action lawsuit? Hell yes!! Unless Marriott backs down and acknowledges that they had the best system before changing it, count me in to join and fight this.

I've been reading the docs on the Marriott owners' site, seems like there's more info than back in the summer now. I still don't see what happens to the deed, presumably it gets transferred to some Marriott entity ? Is that what the enrollment fee is for, in part ?

I'm talking specifically about Maui Ocean Club (original building(s)).

Wow, did you get a name ? I've found those sales guys pretty good in general.

Just show me where to sign up for the lawsuit! I'm Ready!!!

If someone knows of a lawsuit please let us all know!

"The former Embassy Suites Vacation Club did a similar conversion to a points system, and the resulting horror stories are endless - including a number of nasty lawsuits."

That's an understatement. But a correct one.

Poipu Point & KBC (Embassy) owners have formed groups of owners to help oust the Diamond Resorts Board. It worked for Hanalei Bay and a few others. Diamond has an incredible amount of complaints listed on boards throughout the internet.

http://poipuowners.org & http://kbcowners.com These owners can use any help that is available. They consist of owners not Corporate greed.

KBC's 2011 Budget for Diamond Management is $3,515,525 and an additional administration cost for our resort of $3,904,808....UNBELIEVABLE!

I need a copy of Marriott Ocean Clubs 2011 Budget. Can someone email that to me? Thanks, Paulsen5257@comcast.net

I'm ready to join in the lawsuit, too. Where do I sign up?

Start here.... soon there will also be links to several Hawaii government agencies and officials

http://poipuowners.org & http://kbcowners.com

These owners can use any help that is available. They consist of owners not Corporate greed.

We attended a Destinations (Points) Program presentation yesterday. It helped us understand the system better, even though they tried to obscure the negative impacts and played up the flexibility. One of the big issues for us as MMOC owners, since we return to MMOC every year, is this will reduce the number of units available to select from because some units will be deposited in and reserved for the Destinations program. And, if we did participate in Destinations, not only would there be fewer units to choose from (because many owners will not deposit their units to make them available to Destinations), there will be a greater number of points owners competing for those units. It is a lose/lose proposition for owners that want to stay at MMOC. The winner is Marriott, because they will continue to sell points even though all of the MMOC units are sold.

We own Kauai Waiohai Ocean View. The points we are offered by Marriott would not allow us to return to our same unit in Waiohai. We woud have more flexibility to go elsewhere, I think, but the points offered are not equal to how many points are required to book at the same resort. This makes it ridiculous to purchase their point system! The price to buy into the point system is over $500. To pay for a getaway thru Interval International would cost less than this fee combined with our annual dues.

Furthermore, I have had a very difficult time finding Interval properties available when we want to travel now that Marriott has their own point system. We traded in our two bedroom for two 300 square foot hotel units in Palm Springs because that is all that was available at that location ~ and there were not many other location options!!! We also had to pay for two trade fees amounting to $300 because we had to request two "hotel rooms".

I am not happy at all with Marriott deciding this for us. Our hands are tied, and we do not have good options now.

Tina

KUDOS TO EVERYONE ON HERE FOR GETTING THIS OUT. I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MARRIOTT AND I AM KEEEPING MY DEEDED PROPERTY AND NOT CONVERTING TO POINTS. I THINK THIS IS A BIG SLAP IN THE FACE TO OWNERS. WE WERE GONNA PURCHASE ANOTHER MARRIOTT PROPERTY BUT NOT NOW!

We as a family owning multiple weeks of deeded Marriott are SO angry at this switch to points after being told points were so inferior to the Marriott deeded system! We do not wish to switch but the Marriott Corp is setting up for huge actions by deeded owners if ever we can get together!!! now that points owners can check in mid week it makes it very complex to get your requestednweeks when getting up 13 months ahead to book FIXED WEEKS that you should just have to tell Marriott what date you will arrive not beg to get them,nespecially consecutively. We were also told that we could trade/request the new units in Maui but amazingly nothing has been available for 2 years.......yet friends on the point system got in!!! There are so many things that have been changed after purchase it begs for fixing. Now Marriott has taken their hotels and divided them into a separate entity. What happened to there will always be a hotel on the property that u can book when extra family comes? Towels costing $80,ooo a year for replacement, points are NOW better than DEEDED........then being told "do u have that in writing"!!! It is offensive to ones intelligence! How do we get deeded owners together to fix/solve/resolve these changes?

Ok so everyone is mad It is time get a suit arranged so Marriott will give the Maui owners some respect The people with the floating weeks are the ones most affected as "point people " come in booking 2 or 3 days here and there and block out the weeks The owners not the " pointers " should have first dibs on booking the holidays they are using OUR units to make money for themselves

Just got home last night from a week at MMOC as guest of friends. We purchased Ocean Front 2b/3b week at MMOC about 10 years ago... before the pool was finished. It has always been our favorite destination. Due to bad economy, we had to sell our unit 2 years ago for $36,000. We were heart broken at the time...(now we would only get $24,000). We had a great time this trip, but things didn't seem quite the same. It's a slow time of year, but the main pool was completely packed. For first time ever, our friends were not able to get the Ocean Front section they always prefer... after booking 12 months ahead. There did not seem to be the same old "ownership commeraderie" at poolside that we used to enjoy... and owners coming from their annual "sales" meeting were mostly upset. Financially, we are in a position to repurchase a week at MMOC and have been looking at offerings on Redweek for some time. However, after this visit, I don't think I'm interested in being an owner any more. If we decide to go again, on short notice we can rent the same Ocean Front unit on Redweek for as low as $2,200. That's not much more than the annual assessment for owners. Good luck to all existing owners.

I agree let's get a suit started One of thepeople getting screwed over by Marriott must be a lawyer so let's get it doing now

I am glad to read about your angry response to the new system. I am a Marriott timeshare owner for 10 years. Although it can be frustrating working with the limits of the system, I have managed to have two vacation weeks a year using our one week, plus a bonus week through Interval. We went to an information meeting at our Lake Tahoe resort and were told that not only would it cost $595 to switch to points, but that we needed to buy 2,000 additional points for $20,000 and pay $865 additional fees each year to stay competitive. I am outraged. Are there other owners that feel the same? Where can we share our dissatisfaction?

There is a deed but not the same as owners have . The deed is with the trust not the state of Hawaii Completely different thing

Well, I gave our salesman an earfull here at Marriotts Tahoe Resort, but that's about all I've done. I told him I had talked with Interval which assured me there are many trades available and also spoke to a Timeshare Sales representative that stated that she believes Marriott is purposely changing to points so that we will not be able to sell our timeshares. At this time, this agency cannot sell "points" because they haven't figured out how to work with the "deed" etc.