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Rumor: Marriott Vacation Club Owners to get more redemption options August 1st

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If you’re a Marriott Vacation Club Owner, and specifically one that has access to Vacation Club Points, keep an eye on August 1st, 2018. August 1st is when Marriott and SPG become a part of a single program and it may open up more opportunities for VCP redemption. I was just on the phone with a rep trying to lock down a hotel that for some reason wasn’t accessible, but ultimately lead to an interesting conversation, and one that’s potentially revealing.

Additionally, I’m finding that all of the point charts have been pulled for the Explorer Collection properties. While the redemption rates are still available when phoning in, I suspect that they’re in the process of loading new inventory during the Marriott/SPG transition.

Post August 1st…check back

As the conversation wound down, I inquired further about SPG hotels, or additional Marriott properties being folded into the Explorer Collection post August 1st. I was met with a slight pause and then “Yes, this is when negotiations are finalized for the following year’s properties.” I clarified, “Soooooo, I should check back on August 1st and more properties will be available?”

“Yes, check on August 1st and you more than likely you should see an updated list of properties”

Hopefully this means more options for redemption – personally I’m hoping for some nice SPG properties that are in line with higher end Marriott properties currently offered within the Explorer Collection . The Explorer Collection currently has access to many Ritz Carltons and represents the only method of using points for a Ritz Reserve: Mandapa. Fingers crossed this enriches the program with options for MVC Owners looking to redeem outside normal timeshares.

This development is something I’d hoped for, but considering MVC is operated as a completely separate company I wasn’t sure the integration would happen in line with the SPG/Marriott Integration. If so…this will open up more options for MVC owners.

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What is the Explorer Collection?

If you’re unfamiliar with the Explorer Collection, it’s a group of hotels that are eligible for redemption using Marriott Vacation Club Points. If you’d like to learn more, I wrote an entire article detailing what I thought were some of the best strategies towards using Marriott Vacation Club points with the Explorer Collection being one of the most valuable.

Vacation Club Points can be converted in a 1:32 ratio to Marriott Rewards, but often a property can be booked with Vacation Club Points at a ratio far lower than utilizing the conversion to Marriott Rewards. For instance, the Mayflower hotel in DC would require 40k Marriott Rewards per night, but only 250-350 Vacation Club Points ( depending on the time of year.) – that’s just 8k to 11,200 if you were to have converted, a far better deal using Marriott Vacation Club points.

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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4 Comments

  • […] Rumor: Marriott Vacation Club Owners To Get More Redemption Options August 1st by Monkey Miles. […]

  • Judy Johnson July 6, 2018

    Subscribe me to posts

  • Gwen July 6, 2018

    Thank you for the information! Thanks to you, my husband and I spent 4 great night’s at the Ritz Carlton Reserve in Ubud using MVC points. It was the most spectacular resort we’ve ever stayed at!

    Really looking forward to the Marriott/SPG integration. I’ve got rewards points t scattered all over the place, so it’ll be nice to have points accumulating in one account.

    I’ll check back after August 1st. For more updates on the MVC site.

    Thanks again! I don’t always post, but do find your articles useful.

    • Miles July 6, 2018

      Gwen – awesome and happy to help! Fingers crossed some dope properties populate the list. Mandapa is next level, right?

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