Marriott Vacation Club International
Reviews and Complaints

Unbelievable! We were at this same resort 3.5 years ago and had the same horrific experience with Tommy. The '90 min presentation' lasted nearly 4 hours, the last 1.5 hours of which we were basically held hostage in their sales suite (he physically stood in the doorway refusing to accept that we were not going to purchase).

I cannot believe he is still there - we made extremely strong formal complaints at the time and were assured that his behaviour would be addressed.

Clearly there are not only issues with the program itself, but with the entire attitude to customers at all.

EVERYONE! Write the President, your U.S. Congresspeople, and the Attorney General’s Office! LIFETIME CONTRACTS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED!

Sign the petition at

https://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-u-s-congress-u-s-attorney-general-allow-timeshare-owners-to-get-out-of-their-lifetime-contracts#

and post this to as many boards as you can!

I purchased a Silver time share on beautiful Singer Island back in 1996 for $9, 999. This was a pre construction price and I received 200, 000 points which enabled us to go to Hawaii! However, over the years the maintenance fee has gone up to almost $1300 yr. Since I cannot afford a vacation every year, I have contacted Marriott numerous times and have only been able to rent it once. Seems that since they have changed the way people can use their timeshare locations (points, owner can rent privately, non owner use, etc.) the owners are getting screwed! Every time I try to book a week there is barely any weeks left. They say no one is looking to rent a week but when you go there the pools are packed to the max that you cannot even find a place to sit. If you want to trade a week for points you have to pay, you have to pay to join interval, pay, pay, pay! I got so fed up with it that I asked to be put on the resale list. That was over 2 years ago! Marriott will buy back from you but you will end up with about $2, 600 and maybe a refund on your maintenance fee. They will resell it to another sucker for about 25K. But since no one is buying timeshares they make their $ by letting anyone in! I have decided to throw in the towel and get my $2600 and be done with Marriott! For what my maintenance fee is I can get a room at a nice resort somewhere else! Do Not even consider timeshare...chalk it up to a lesson learned!

Hello
wen you buy time share it is not bought to make money it is intended to save money. Didn't you use it for those 12 years? or go somewhere else? would that not cost you thousand of $$$ over 12 years? the maintenance fee's are to keep the property well maintained. isn't that how you maintain your home? and isn't the time share like a home away from home? You are not looking at this the right way, Most people leave these in a trust for there children, If you have kids why don't you give it t them and they can pay the maintenance fee and enjoy it, where else can you get vacations for the rest of your lives and children's lives for a fixed price 12 years ago?( for what a 1200 a year fee? come on now

Marriott Vacation Club is nothing but a pyramid scam. In 2009, we purchased a week in Marco Island and were told we would always be able to book during our season. For the past three years, it has been nothing but a nightmare trying to book during our season at our home resort. I have been trying to book at our home resort ruing our season for 2016. I call and go on line each Tuesday at 9:00am (the time I was told inventory is released) and there is never any availability. I was told be a rep to exchange my week for points, but if I do that I won't have enough points to book at my home resort. So I am essentially screwed. Since converting to the Destination Points Program, I believe Marriott has oversold at an aggregious level. I'm not sure who is actually able to stay at the resort and how they book. I am ready to file a complaint with the States of Utah and Florida.

visit /link removed/ type in "Marriott Vacation Club" in the search field box

I agree too, We too were on a holiday in Thailand, fell for this presentation and signed up. Now as we closing into our wedding, we thought we could use the timeshare as honeymoon, but its a rip off, nothing Guaranteed in terms of dates etc. We want to cancel it but they say its a binding contract and also concerned about defaulting credit. Can you inform us about anything you know about cancellign this contract? As this isnt the what was promised to us at the presentation. Thank you

I agree. My husband and I always stay at the Marriott. And since we had children, vacationing just made sense to do it at a vacation club. So after 3 years, we decided to purchase a timeshare via marriott vacation club. I regret that day! We bought in May and were not given the option to use our week during that year, but instead were given points instead. So, we had to split our week and use the lockoff and save the 1 bedroom for a later date. Now a year later, I am planning and. They booking my spring break, like i do every January and i was informed today that i was supposed to check in 2 days ago to our home place. I dont book vacations a year in advance. So we lost our week. I never recieved any confirmation or anything. I do however, recieve plenty of other emails almost daily...somehow a reservation has fallen through the cracks. DO NOT BUY MARRIOTT. i used to love Marriott, now they hold you hostage and you can do anyting about it. It is what they say.

I think you are wrong, you have never been able to get a point for point trade for airline miles. A bigger problem is it is getting harder and harder to obtain the low mileage point seats, so you need more airline points and more Marriott points. I have never seen where it makes sense to turn your Marriott points into airline points. A resort hotel room costs $250 - $300 a night, one bed room resorts in Hawaii sell for $2, 000 and up a week. Two flights to Hawaii cost $700 each from the East Coast. Just does not make sense.

Marriott Vacation Club is NOT Marriott! Don't expect the same experience because of the name>

Yes I agree 100%. I have been a member since 1992 and for the most part have been extremely happy.
Up til a few years ago. It seems harder and harder to even get a week at our home property at Grande Ocean in Hilton Head.
This past summer we could never get a week so we had to wait until they told us what week we could have.
It was no good to us...so we sold the week on ebay.
I can't understand how owners can't get together on this and boot the management company. I love having the Marriott name...
but is no good to me if I can't book my owned/deeded vacation.
I found it most interesting that I could go out 1 yr in advance and book a vacation to my property if I was willing to pay but to be able to use my property and make a reservation based on my ownership...
all I got was sorry...nothing available.
Didn't the owners build the property?
Time for a major change.
Time to band together and call an attorney.
Any ideas how to join forces?

Similar to your complaint against Marriot timshares -- there is a class action against RCI that is about to settle where timeshare customers accussed RCI of using their timeshares for its own promotions and even allowing their own employees to benefit from the customers' timeshares. As a result, RCI's actions diminished the quality and quantity of vacation time available to paying timeshare members.

https://www.milberg.com/contact/contact.aspx

You're totally right. There are many, many misleading aspects of timeshare ownership.

Agreed - the whole concept sounds great until you get hit with year after year of ridiculous "maintenance" fee increases. Keeps on going up. Don't by their bull - pay for your vacation year by year, go where you want to go.

How do I get out if Marriott vacation club

Marriott Vacation Club is in my opinion based on FRUAD and DECEPTION.
It is unlikely that I could of wasted greater than $38, 000 for a platinum week at Marriott's St. Kitts more efficaciously other than flushing down the toilet. Based on other resort management's statements, Marriott Vacation Club has "[censor]ized" the industry
C.M, MD.

These timeshares are a scam. Please read the below article before you buy
https://barsamin.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/you-are-going-to-wish-you-never-bought-it/

I owned my timeshare with Marriott for approximately 10 year Unfortunately I lost my job and could not pay my maintenance fees first several months I called Marriott in January and explain My problem .I called them back in October to make payment they informed me that my timeshare had been foreclosed.
My Timeshare was paid off I had no mortgage on it Marriott never contacted about the foreclosure They will not give me a phone number or an email address to the Foreclosure Department nobody is contacting me I've called several attorneys they only deal with getting out of timeshares.
If anybody could give me some advice of 4 to go or what to do it would be appreciated thank you

We have owned the Marriott Arubs Surf Club for over 10 years. the only real complaint we have had were the outrageous maintenance fees. We are now paying over $1800 a year. How ridiculous. We recently converted our weeks to the destination points program. We were sold it as if it was an "upgrade" to what we already had. We converted and bought an extra 2000 points under the assumption and the sales people that this was an upgrade. We just got a letter in the mail saying our maintenance fees were past due. What? They arent due until January. In over 3 hours spent in their sales center on VACATION, they reluctantly didnt tell us that the points will also come with an outrageous maintenance fee! No way. I need to know what my options are. Never once did they mention this. They zip through the 8000 pages of contract and never once said anything about the maint fees. I am sick to my stomach. Done with Marriott. I need to know what my options are. We put over $6000 down on the points and want this canceled due to absolute misrepresentation.
I will make it my number one effort in life to put these criminals out of business.

Bought 2 weeks Beach Front Platinum Marriott Timeshare in 2000 but have never been able to stay at my home resort when I wanted to. If fact I have never had a stay in my home resort, the only time I was ever in it was when the Marriott Sales person showed me around! The weeks cost me $80000 if this was not bad enough all the maintenance fees were on top of this every year.

Paid for peak time of year and could get any availability even when booking 13 months in advance. There have been years where I have paid the maintenance fee and not been able to stay anywhere at all. I ended up only being able to trade with II for off peak resorts in places that I would not want to visit like Spanish beach resort in November. I could have had a fabulous 5 star vacation anywhere in the world, and at the time I wanted with this amount of money. I have tried to sell for $2000 per week and no one wants to buy. Thinking it would help when the new points system was introduced I paid to have the option to convert my weeks to Marriott Destination Points which also turned out to be useless too.

Have asked Marriott several times and they will not buy them back but have finally said they will take the weeks back but not give us any money for them i.e. we surrender the deeds and walk away with nothing, but the nightmare will end. the 2 weeks which has cost me £80000 they get it for nothing and then can resell it again for another high profit .

When we bought we were told we could stay anywhere in the world either at a Marriott Timeshare or trade with Interval International. Or trade each week for Marriott Reward points. We were also told "It's a great investment Timeshare goes up in price not down your weeks are real estate Beach front property doubles in value every few years " Marriott reward points are based on the price of the hotel rooms and the 110000 points I can get for each week would now only pay for 2 nights in a 5star hotel, and then they put you in the worst room in the hotel.

The whole experience has cost us numerous sleepless nights, and we have lost well over $130000 as we have nothing to show for it except lots of hard work to pay for the nightmare lots of withdrawals from our Bank and lots of credit card charges for the maintenance charges each year. Which is now $5629.14 for 2017. Which I have to pay whether I like it or not, I can't believe I was such a fool to sign up to pay a maintenance fee which goes up in price every year for perpetuity, even when I am dead my children are expected to continue paying.

My advice, I have and am suffering constant worry due to the lies I was told. I am paying the equivalent of a brand new car every year just for the maintenance fees and get nothing for it. So if you buy timeshare be prepared to lose 100% of your "Investment"

Tried to get out of Marriott many times. Even applied to pay Marriott's exorbitant charges, they take 40% and sell at 40% of original cost. After many years and reams of paperwork I am still paying through the nose. You have to sign 14 pages and have it notarized for Marriott's protection. Not interested in dealing with even one more possible scan. These are terrible 'investments'. Marriott makes a fortune renting unused timeshare and screwing owners out of money.

Marriot Timeshare sales are very misleading.

Marriott is a sham.

Quit making the phone calls, just put in a request 3 - 6 months out, avoid the high travel periods unless you have no choice and wait. More than likely your request will be filled. Your request will be placed in que and when an opening comes you will get your request. Smaller resorts are harder to book. Now I mainly go to Hawaii; I know Vegas and Florida are easy (but who wants to go to either one in the summer.

I have owned for 10 years and find exactly the same problem every time. Polite but can never sort anything out. Next problem will be selling as I am fed up of the situation.

They have that policy for a reason to make sure they have that inventory available for all the owners who haved booked at the same time as you on Sunday. If you just canceled lets say 10 days before your check in you would throw off the system and cause problems for the resort. Now a unit is left open with nobody staying there and Newport Coast has lost money because they cant rent it. If companies like Marriott dont follow their rules and make exceptions for one person they have to make exceptions for everyone.
Owner Services employees also make you aware of the policy everytime you book your week. Another thing is Travel Protection. If something unexpected comes up and you are within the 60 days of checking in the Travel Insurance will reimburse you your yearly maintence fees back. I understand your frustration but Marriott gives you fair warning ahead of time also the opportunity to buy Protection.

thanks for your time to write this i even went last night 9 -Aug -2011 to the sales man but really dont know why they pushing us to buy and they said this is nothing we pay they said we only pay 29 000 $ for 1 week share and we can even resell after 4 or 5 years, i ask him i need all policy and contract and he refuse ! to give me any thing they said i will get after i pay why ? if it is clear they should give and show in advance this is our rights to practice before making any agreement, again thanks for all to gave us some tips to avoid this type of programs !

We just had a similiar occurrance with Marriott Vacation Club in Hilton Head, SC. My wife worked with the phone salesperson and we were told that we would stay at the property. Because we had not received our confirmation, my wife followed up and was lied to and told that she should not cancel the reservation eventhough we would be outside of the cancellation period awaiting confirmation that they would 'waive' the cancellation fee. All a lie!
As a 'Platinum' Marriott Rewards member and frequent traveler, I was surprise at Marriott's actions toward my wife.
Based on this experience, it would be difficult to recommend Marriott Vacation Club. These actions are reflective of an operation that is under some type of business model having difficulties.

The word "DEPOSIT" is NOT correct, but they don't tell you that. I have family coming to a timeshare and I called to book it. DEPOSIT means FORFEIT! My family have airline tickets already and when I didn't get a confirmation, I called Marriott. They said I gave it away! So it cost me $109 to request 9/2 - 9/7 in January, 2011. They still haven't found that week for me. It makes no sense to deposit a week you are not going to use. The terminology should be "FORFEIT" so that you know you are giving the week away. If anyone has that week they want to give up, please call Interval and tell them so that my family doesn't waste their airline tickets! Thank you in advance. P.S. If you don't already know this, once you own a timeshare, it is 'in perpetuity' meaning forever down to your children upon your death, grandchildren upon their parents death, etc. etc.

Have 4 weeks in Marriott Aruba Ocean Club.
Usually we rent through Marriott one week to help pay for about 2 week's maintainance.
Rules have changed and our Thanksgiving week can not be rented. Even if it could we would only get enough for 1 week's worth.
We bought multiple weeks because our salesman told us that the benefits are that we can book 13 months ahead instead of 12 and the rental can offset the maintanace of at least 2 weeks.
When Marriott contracted to build the structure an inferior roof and windows were placed. The roof leaks and had to be replaced once. The windows leak and have to be replaced.Hopefully no mold is growing there.
Marriott does not stand behind their liability of having chosen those contractors and expects the owners to pay the bulk of the costs of their replacements.So much for standing behind their good name.
No one expected to pay for this.
If we exchange our week for points we get 90.000, not enough to use for a place of equal value.
If we try to use points it is very difficult to get prime locations.
We recently placed our week for rent with redweek.com
and found out that we can rent a week at about the cost of a week's maintanance.
WOW why did we buy? We feel like total idiots.
If we are lucky enough to sell through Marriott they get 40%
If they rent for us we get about $900 they can get around $2, 000/
Owners can not win with Marriott.
We know it's not an investment but never realized it was a loss.

Unfortunately customer services and "satisfaction guaranteed" are not criteria.
You know why? Because they could not find stupid people like us very easy! They have to have us responsible and will never allow you to change your mind.
One thinks that buying an American brand comes with all the protection a customer gets, well, not in this program. Marriott failed a big time.

Anybody who read this and buy a timeshare with Marriott is defiantly an abnormal person. I could not resell my week and I regret this blood sucking program.

I have never gone to this extent before, nor have I ever had this sort of treatment as a customer before. I have loved Marriott's for a long time and up until this year Knew we would one day own a Marriott. We went to see a 90 minute (supposed to be non pressure) timeshare sphill. We were actually there over 4 hours and were promised 15, 000 points to sit through this experience. You have 5 days to back out of the deal no questions asked. We decided that this was not the best time for us and backed out of the deal (No problem ) we had really waisted over four hours but we learned a lot and was reconfirmed that we would own some day and we would get our 15, 000 for our trouble (WRONG). This was in January of 08 and I have called montly at least - would call more often if we were not promised by three different Marriott Associates that they would take care of it. But give them several weeks. To date all we have had are empty promises. I am so disgusted that I have begun complaining and have leard that others just at this person above have had horrible experiences and seemingly no way out. Buyer Beware not all that glitters is gold