Above: Eye of Hurricane Ophelia travelling west towards North America and the southeastern coast of the United States as seen from space by NASA and posted on YouTube (1)
The Andrea Gail, a fishing vessel from the picturesque New England village of Gloucester, Massachusetts set out to catch swordfish, but encountered the eye of a no-name tropical storm in 1991 and never returned to port. This true story became fodder for Sebastian Unger's creative non-fiction book, The Perfect Storm published in 1997 and later adapted for the film by the same name by Wolfgang Peterson released three years later starring George Clooney.
Unlike it's sibling brands that shine and provide luster to the Marriott portfolio, Marriott Vacation Club, a separate division of Marriott International set out like a rogue storm in June 2010 towards a new destination with Destination Points. Without any prior warning, executives at Marriott Vacation Club headquartered in Orlando, Florida announced, "With the introduction of the new points-based ownership and exchange programs, as a general rule Marriott will discontinue selling weeks-based ownership at its Marriott Vacation Club resorts throughout North America and the Caribbean." (2) Given the number of resorts in North America and Caribbean shown in Tags and Hotels listed to the right of this post (6), the discontinuance of weeks-based ownership has elevated concern about the stability and value of vacation ownership with Marriott, and fueled discussion about competing factors that will handicap legacy owners if they do not opt to convert to Marriott's new point system.
As a form of real estate, timeshare is a highly regulated industry in the U.S. that is subject to federal, state and local statutes. According to ConsumerAffairs.com, "Timeshare resale complaints have recently surpassed mortgage-related complaints as the most commonly reported consumer complaint received by the office's Consumer Hotline." (3) Late last week, e-mails started arriving urging owners to write to the Office of the State Attorney General in Tallahassee, Florida, the state where Marriott Vacation Club is headquartered. (4)
As illustrated by a torrent of dissatisfied Marriott Vacation Club owners communicating directly with Bill Marriott at Marriott on the Move (5), several questions emerge, Who at Marriott will be accountable for responding to Marriott Vacation Club owners? Who at Marriott will take ownership for engaging MVC owners directly about Marriott's ongoing committments? Perhaps the larger question that merits asking, "Is A Perfect Storm Brewing @ Marriott?"
4 Office of the Attorney General
5 Marriott on the Move, Providing Our Timeshare Owners with More Flexibility
6 Marriott Vacation Club properties in North America | Caribbean