Bellezza28

Hi,

We was just referred recently by someone who is an owner from Marriott Vacations. A Marriott representative called us and offered us a $750 deal for 5 nights 6 days at Marriott Maui Ocean Club with a Hertz rental car plus $50 gift certificate. I just got a confirmation number today for an Ocean View Master Suite.

I was just wondering what building I can expect to be in? Did anybody do this presentation deal and what kind of rooms did they get? I think it's a good deal but I don't want them to stick me in the back with the dumpsters! We are really thinking of buying and want to experience the resort so getting a good impression is important.

Would it be a good idea to email the GM 2 weeks or so before our stay to request a specific section/tower, or will this be considered pushy considering I am not an owner and going on a cheap deal?

Also, we had originally made a reservation thru Marriott.com for an ocean view 1 bedroom villa in the Lahaina tower for the whole duration. We will be staying in the villa for the first night (nov 2) then our 5 nights at $750 from nov 3-8. Since we are already in the Lahaina villas, do you think they will move us or can they let us stay for the other 5 nights? I am Marriott Rewards Gold member (if it makes any difference!)

Thanks.

Cholula

That’s one problem, IMO, with this property. We own two oceanfront units and one oceanview unit.

With the oceanfront units, there’s no doubt. You are oceanfront.

Same with garden view which we don’t own. You face the Maui mountains or some other non-ocean view. Pretty straight forward.

The oceanviews are a crap shoot. You can be one unit off from the ocean front or you can be a looooooong way to the rear and just barely be able to see the ocean.

I’m no longer a fan of the oceanviews for that reason and usually trade ours for points or for another resort.

You can try calling and requesting a better unit but again it’s a crapshoot and I’d assume the owners would have first choice for the better units. Or at least those who called 12 months in advance.

Regardless, we love the property and thoroughly enjoy our visits to Maui. The Ocean Club is far and way MCVI’s most requested location and you’ll never have an issue trading for another location should you desire.

Recreation

I doubt they'll let you stay in the Lahaina villas for the whole stay. Certainly you can ask. Remember they are trying to wine and dine you hoping that you'll buy a timeshare and they'll want to reserve the best rooms for those prospects. I don't know about Marriott, but Starwood gold doesn't mean anything at their timeshares, as there is a timeshare elite system which is independent of the hotel elite system. Even the late check-out benefit of SVN platinum doesn't apply to their timeshare locations.

I did a lot of research on Marriott when I was looking into buying our timeshare on Maui. I really liked the Marriott system overall and how many locations there were to choose from. What tipped the scale for me to SVN was that the older buildings at the Marriott didn't have full kitchens or washers/dryers in the units. If I'm going to pay for a timeshare I wanted it to offer more than a glorified hotel room. Their new towers, on the other hand, are built to be timeshares and offer a lot of amenities that the older units do not. However, be prepared for sticker shock. I think OF villas are going for $80+.

Secondly, I'd visit Tug2.com before going and do research. The best piece of advice I heard was to plan your sales presentation for late in your stay so that you can really think about it back home before the 7 day recision window passes. Even if you are determined not to buy, reason goes out the window when you're sipping a mai tai on your lanai. I'd recommend buying resale, and saving yourself 25-30% off prices from the developer but it's your deal. But don't go in blind.

Enjoy your stay!

hhoope01

My understanding is that owners almost never get upgraded. Marriott's philosophy is that the owners paid for a set room type and that is what they will get since that is what they own. So someone renting a room/suite or on a promotional package would probably be more likely to get upgraded than an owner.

I would guess that the OP's chances of upgrading are based on what Marriott would have in their inventory for that week. But don't hold your breath.

jerseyfinn

First off, a Marriott TS presentation (MVC) should be a pretty straight deal. MVC is looking for income-qualified individuals to do a preview stay and attend a 90 minute presentation. The discounted villa price is a genuine deal. The presentation should be low pressure and simply informative about the product ( Marriott goes to great lengths to keep sales folks from pressuring people and is mostly successful in this regard ).

As to where you will be assigned. Owners receive villa assignment priority at an MVC resort followed by other TS folks trading into the resort followed by Marriott.com guests and folks on a presentation. The key idea here is what sort of inventory is available at that particular time. The OP could "luck out" and be assigned to their one night stay Marriott.com villa for the entire stay if sufficient inventory is available to accomodate owners and other TS traders. Also keep in mind that Marriott itself has some inventory that it utilizes for Marriott.com and for MVC presentations. Where one can end up is a product of how many owners and traders are on property during a given week.

In any case, the OP has chosen a great destination and they will enjoy a great stay at the property while also receiving an insight in how Marriott TS works. Not a bad deal at all.

Barry

plum4457

Just curious if anyone could confirm that I can use a gift cheque (or cheques) to cover charges at the restaurant Longboards as well as the spa that is onsite.

I think the restaurant is safe, but not sure about the spa. Any info welcome!

jtp1947

Aloha, Last year we were able to use the Cheques for the Spa, just charge it to the room. We just got back from the there last week and also used the gift card to pay for Longboards.

Boraxo

My parents are currently staying here (they own elsewhere) and rave about the property. They own two units in Rancho Mirage and generally have been very happy with ability to reserve and trade for what they want.

That being said, purchase of a unit at the Maui property is a poor deal if you are looking to save money on accommodations, particularly if you buy from the developer. As noted in a February 2010 Vanguard piece:

A lot of people bought condominiums in Hawaii as investments, but Hawaii has experienced a big drop in tourism because two airlines that serviced the islands went out of business and there was a 25% drop in visitors.

The people who bought the condos still have to make their mortgages, so you can play "Let’s Make a Deal" with the owners. In Maui you can get a two-bedroom condo on the beach for $79 a night.

https://retirementplans.vanguard.com...BuildingWealth

Boraxo

I thought I would update this thread with the current MVCI preview offer that we just purchased (surprisingly similar to the original one posted 3 years ago):

$749 for 5 nights at Marriott Maui Ocean Club (probably Molokai tower not newer Lahaina tower). $100 resort credit, no car rental. no additional taxes or resort fees ^ Also compares favorably with priceline as the dates and even property are changeable.

Comparable rates for these dates with current MR elite M11 promo code are $1104+tax at Molokai and $1275+ at Lahaina. So you are essentially getting paid $500+ to give up 90 minutes of vacation time. I'll take that deal also as it allows me to save the 120k points I was going to spend for a room at the Wailea Marriott which gets mixed reviews.

WhiteSand

Does anyone know how I would purchase an MVCI preview offer with the 90 minute timeshare presentation for the Marriott Maui Ocean Club? Thanks!

hhoope01

It used to be that an existing MVCI owner could get you a "referral" for one of those. With the recent changes to MVCI, I'm not sure what Marriott offers any longer.

Maybe there is an owner here who can chime in and/or give you a referral.

Cholula

What's your time frame for a visit? I'll be in Maui the first week of December and will be meeting, as usual, with our MCVI rep for an owners update meeting. I can inquire as to what they are currently offering for new presentations.

If your timetable is earlier, pls advise and I can always e-mail or call my contact in Maui.

qlabdad

This is what I used to think as we did a Marriott TS presentation before but we recently had a high pressure TS presentation on Kauai! I hope this is an exception. We were in Kauai last month on vacation and Marriott was very agressivly recruiting people to see their new Kauai Lagoons property. We are always on the fence about the value of a time share for us since I travel a lot for work and stay on points. Since this may not always be the case and we wanted to learn about the new point system we accepted the offer. Had a nice tour and when we returnd to the office the pressure began. Not so much for the original sales person but her boss came in and really turned up the heat, reminded me of a car salesman. It was a complete turn off and he wouldn't take no for an answer and wouldn't let us go. 90 minutes was well over 2hrs. We tried to be polite then he got the hint when we got up and started towards the door. Then we had to do an exit interview where were another person tried again to sell us, followed by selling us on a pre-paid return trip to Kauai.

Quite a painful and discouraging expereince. I hope this is an exception and not the new rule for Marriott. We always thought that when the time was right we would buy Marriott but maybe not.

AMA

Not too surprising to me. When you consider the state of the economy, the timeshare biz has got to be in the tank these days. Not much else for sales types to do, other than crank up the pressure.

I had what turned out to be an unpleasant experience w/timeshares at the Maui Marriott several years ago, ended up taking several years to get out from under the timeshare I was ignorant enough to buy, so I can see them 'working you over' a bit.

If one -were- interested in a timeshare, I'd wonder just how much Marriott would be willing to deal; either directly with $$$ or side deals with points, goodies, etc.

I'd also be interested to know if Marriott(or others) are squeezing incremental $$$ by jacking up maintenance fees and other misc. stuff.

frankhi

You may know this, but I fairly sure a Master Suite is the lock-off portion, i.e. a single room hotel type accomodation