How renting a Marriott week from an owner works

For families renting a Marriott Vacation Club villa from an owner for the first time: you pick your dates on one of our listings, we check availability with the owner, you sign a rental agreement and pay, and the reservation goes into Marriott’s system in your name. You receive the Marriott confirmation number once you have paid, and you can call the resort and check it yourself. No membership, no sales presentation, no security deposit.

I spent over a decade of my working life selling these weeks for Marriott, first in Orlando starting in February 1999 and then for over a decade at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club, and since 2012 I have run Travelscowt, which rents out the weeks and points that owners can’t use. So I know this process from both sides of the desk, and you should read what follows knowing that I am a former Marriott salesman who now makes his living renting these villas (and I still think they are the best family accommodations in the business).

So, what exactly are you renting?

Marriott’s vacation clubs are timeshare resorts, and Marriott manages their inventory much the same way it manages its hotels. An owner holds the right to a villa type, at most of our resorts a two-bedroom with a full kitchen, and not to a particular villa, so the front desk assigns the actual villa when you check in. I have written about this before (my Grande Ocean review has the front desk manager’s explanation of how the view categories came to be), and in my experience it is the most misunderstood fact in this business. You are welcome to ask for a building or a higher floor and we will pass the request along, but no owner and no rental company can promise you a floor or a view, and I would be wary of anyone who does.

Marriott’s Newport Coast VillasNewport Beach, California8 guests · 2 bedroomsFrom $331 a night

How does the booking actually go?

1: You send us your dates from a resort page on travelscowt.com, or you email your scowt. We check availability with the owner. Our inventory comes from owners, so it can differ from what Marriott’s own site shows for the same week.

2: If the dates are open, we send a detailed rate invoice with the price for the whole stay, followed by a rental agreement through Adobe Sign. You do not need an Adobe account; the link opens on any device, and the agreement expires after four days if nobody signs it.

3: You pay. For stays booked well in advance it is 50% at booking and the balance 120 days before check-in; inside that window it is the full amount. The dates are not held until the owner has been paid, so a signed agreement with no payment behind it is not a reservation yet.

4: We take the name, address, phone and email from your agreement and put the reservation in your name with Marriott, then send you the confirmation details. That is the moment you are booked, and not a moment before.

5: A week or two before check-in you hear from us again with the check-in instructions. At the front desk you show photo ID and a credit card for incidentals, and if the guest count on the reservation needs adjusting, they do it right there.

How do you know the reservation is real?

I get asked this politely and I get asked this impolitely, and I don’t blame anyone for asking, because the timeshare rental world has its share of characters. Here is what you can check for yourself: the reservation is made in your name on Marriott’s own system, it carries a Marriott confirmation number, and you can call the resort directly and have them read it back to you. We don’t ask anyone to take our word for it. On top of that, one of our team calls the resort about a week before every check-in to make sure the reservation is still current and correct (owners’ accounts do change now and then, and that call is how we catch it). Beyond that, we have been at this since 2012, we rent at more than 30 Marriott Vacation Club resorts, and ten minutes on Google will tell you more about us than I can in a paragraph.

What is in the price, and what isn’t?

The rate on our invoice is the total we charge: no booking fee, no service fee, no security or damage deposit, and no resort fee added by us. You can pay by check at no cost, or by card through PayPal, which tacks on 3.4% for a domestic card. What we don’t control are the resort’s own charges at the front desk. Parking is the usual one and it varies from resort to resort: Newport Coast gives owner guests two cars free, while Marriott’s Timber Lodge at Lake Tahoe has valet parking only, at $35 a day. Your rate invoice and the resort page spell out which applies to your stay, and our FAQ has the longer version.

Can you cancel or change the dates?

No. Once the agreement is signed and the owner has been paid, the booking is final and non-refundable, because the owner’s week or points have been committed to your dates and Marriott does not give them back. I recommend travel insurance on every stay, and the full policy is on our refunds and cancellations page.

Can you stay less than a week?

Often, yes. In the busiest weeks of the year the resorts run 7 nights, weekend to weekend, and that is all we can offer. Outside those weeks, and with enough notice, the minimum is 4 nights and the check-in day is flexible, because we book with points rather than a fixed week, which is something a week-owner renting his own unit cannot do for you. Tell your scowt the dates you want and we will check availability.

The pros and cons of renting from an owner

Pros:

• The price is the owner’s price, not the resort’s rack rate, and it covers the whole stay.
• The villa: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a washer and dryer at most of our resorts, which is a different animal from a hotel room with a minibar.
• No sales presentation, no membership, and one scowt who handles your booking from the first email to check-in.

Cons:

• Non-refundable. Buy the insurance.
• In peak weeks it is 7 nights, weekend to weekend, and nothing shorter.
• The villa is assigned at check-in, so nobody can promise you the view in the photos.
• Our inventory is thinner than Marriott’s own, so the week you want may not be open with us.

If you are ready to look, browse the resorts, start with a state such as Florida, or read how renting works for guests. And if a listing somewhere else promises you a specific villa or an ocean view in writing, I would ask a few more questions before sending anyone a dime.

Marriott’s Newport Coast VillasNewport Beach, California8 guests · 2 bedroomsFrom $331 a night