LovetoTravel83

I was literally just about to hit confirm reservation on a stay in Spain. I found this lovely apartment in the south of Spain but after reading the comments here, I'm actually thinking twice now.

CALMSP

you'll be fine. it was a little rough right when it was introduced, but I've used it a number of times and checking into a house next week for 10 days.

sallyerd

I, too, have had a horrible experience with Marriott homes and villas. The website claims the properties are "curated." In May 2022, we had 3-night stay booked in the Shenandoah, VA area. You can check my years with FlyerTalk. I have never complained this stridently about a property. There was blood / feces on seat cushion in the master bedroom. Missing screen from windows; only two window a/c units for a 4-bedroom property; multiple ripped screens. Upon entry, we counted (4) four fly-encrusted bug strips hanging in various rooms. The property company (Vacay Away) stuffed Saran wrap into the crevices around our window a/c unit in an effort to keep out the crawling stink bugs over the master bed. The hot tub had dirt/sand all along the button and smelled rank. Even during the day, cockroaches scurried around the kitchen counters. Due to Covid, We were required to make the beds upon arrival. We were grateful for this requirement, so we could see and protect ourselves against the bare, filthy mattresses damaged with massive blood stains. Menstrual or a crime scene? Honestly we could not discern with certainty. I sent photos to the property manager upon our arrival. No shame, no remorse. They would only communicate by text. Vacay Away would not call us and instead arrived to clean the hot tub without prior notice (while we were gone) on the day before our departure.

The most important takeaway: Marriott Homes & Villas website has NO provisions for comments or reviews. Therefore ALL their properties can operate with impunity. I have been unable to reliably find any reviews on tripadvisor for Vacay Away, either. I will never again book from this website and will never again stay somewhere I cannot pre-screen for reviews. Mea culpa. I wish I had consulted this thread on FlyerTalk beforehand. My bad.

LovetoTravel83

Honestly it isn't. I went ahead with a booking this past July and we couldn't get in the apartment due to the keys being outdated.

Given that this was a night on a weekend, we had no place to ago and just booked a hotel and stayed there for a week. We returned the keys the next morning and they issued a full refund (even though they were not honest enough a the beginning).

Never going for Homes and Villas or anything similar, stick to hotels and have a peace of mind.

CALMSP

I'm sure everyone has their problems, but I've used it multiple times in Europe and the US and have had zero problems.

mileshound

This was asked but I did not see a clear answer. What is this billed as for credit card credit/category purposes. In other words, is it a Marriott and I should use the Marriott card or is it generic "travel" and another card may be better?

mfirst

I am sure this has been discussed at length - but I cant find anything obvious, so maybe restart.....
I am a few stays away from Ambassador for the year and looking for a brief vacation..... these look like reasonable options, but I have heard mixed things
...I dont have any experience with AirBnB
but with my status and probably also my Bonvoy CC - what are the thoughts about a few days in a nice villa somewhere (probably in the US)?

-m

pinniped

Seems like the value prop is if you have 8-10 people and want a house. At least in my initial searches, Marriott doesn't have nearly the inventory that Airbnb and Booking.com have for 1- or 2-bedroom apartments. (It's possible I'm not looking at the right cities I guess...)

The houses I've seen look fantastic. Certainly not the most cost-effective way to simply top off a status run, but if you have a few people and want to do a stay somewhere that's much more memorable than booking a bunch of hotel rooms, I'd say go for it.

When we do family trips these days (total of up to 10 people), booking a house is definitely my preferred way to go. One of these days I'll do it through Marriott. I've added it to my search list. Hope it has traction and attracts more properties.

mfirst

looking for a small house - dont need nor want to stay in another hotel
... not using this as a topoff, but rather mention that I have Titanium status and unclear if that means anything - other than some return on points
(I wonder if this counts towards the new 2k/4k promo that they are running?)

just wondering how this compares to services like AirBnB, etc

the 14d cancelation policy is an issue

I have compared some prices for similar places and about the same... give or take.

thebackcourse

Homes and Villas is a separate entity from Marriott. The people that work the homes and villas emails are Marriott employees but a call center associate cannot transfer you to them or even open a case on a homes and villas issue. All homes and villas issues must be dealt with via the homes and villas email and the property management company. People think because it's Marriott branded that they can call up the elite line and throw their weight around.... those associates cannot do squat about homes and villas issues period. Full stop.

mfirst

thebackcourse - so, basically like every other Marriott property.....corporate tries to disconnect as much as possible from the actual product/service that they put their names on and generate revenue from?

-m

canolakid

One consideration for using MHV: eligible for credit card cancellation insurance

AMEX (at least in Canada) 'sees' a booking via the MHV portal as eligible for cancellation etc coverage; AirBnB VRBO etc are not covered. This vendor relationship via Marriott was new for them so they ran it as a dummy booking to see what coding showed up and confirmed we had coverage. On the statement, the payment shows up as made to Home Villa by Marriott...

This is a key feature for us esp in light of the nonrefundable nature of some of the bookings we were about to make; and IMO worth the small premium vs booking with the AirBnB etc. side note: I find the ticky tack additional fees from AirBnB etc to be frustratingly opaque compared to the MHV dashboard.

thebackcourse

lol pretty much. Like when people call "marriott" thinking they're calling "corporate" and that the issues reported are being seen by someone in HQ, not at all. Associates are basically an extension of the property. Cases not able to be resolved witg their empowerment goes to the property. Not some entity that can force a property to right your wrong.

I am sure that corp. runs audits to see what properties are generating frequent complaints and use that data to trigger inspections or other actions. But there's not anyone you can get on the phone that has any authority to call and "dress down" a property. In fact they'll get talked to if they press a GM or the like too hard and they complain.

mfirst

I signed up to rent a property in New Mexico in mid-November
Put it on my Bonvoy credit card - and while I dont expect between that and my Titanium status that it will impact anything....
while not cheap, not a huge loss if things go sideways - but seemed like a better option than messing around with an AirBnB

although, I was taken back a little by the horrible cancelation options - basically non-fundable inside of 14 days.......

yorkboy24

For each night that is stayed with Homes & Villas by Marriott International, guests will earn 1 elite night toward their account based on the same criteria as Marriott’s long stay hotel brands.

• Promotional nights count toward annual elite status
• Promotional nights do not count toward lifetime status
• Homes & Villas by Marriott International earned nights are posted as Bonus Nights/Promotional, on the Marriott Bonvoy account.

As per the above, I was looking into MHV and it seems you get one elite night credit for each night but that they don’t count towards lifetime nights, only annual elite qualification. This is something to consider.

Also, for the places I was looking at located in small UK towns, they have 3-month cancellation policies!