Maybe I am more cynical than you, but I am not at all pleased with the idea of Pulse. My wife and I do own one traditional timeshare week from Marriott. We did not buy into any points in their newer Destination Club, so we are called legacy owners.

The reason we bought the timeshare (way back in 2004) is that it offered a very different vacation experience than a hotel. The timeshare units are spacious, more like an apartment than a hotel room. We have a kitchen, so if my wife wants to have a leisurely morning and drink her coffee slowly, we don't have to dress and go out in search of breakfast. The properties are nicely landscaped, and we can go for a long, relaxing walk. Yes we do take vacations where we run around to see all the tourist sights, but our timeshare weeks are different.

I have not stayed at a Pulse location yet. But to me, these look like warmed over hotels. They just don't tempt me. And if I want to go to these cities, there are plenty of other hotels to choose from. Personally, I am disappointed that MVC has not built any new traditional timeshare properties.

Here is my spin on what is happening with MVC: the company wants to keep selling Destination Club points. But in order to sell points, they need enough room inventory to cover those sales. It must be cheaper for them to buy an existing hotel and rebrand it as a Pulse property than to build a new traditional timeshare property from the ground up. I have also noticed that some of the traditional timeshare properties have room for expansion, but again I suspect that new construction would be more costly than purchasing an existing hotel.

I know that timeshares get criticized, but for those of us who do make use of them and enjoy them, I think this Pulse program is a disappointing development.