Marriott’s OceanWatch Villas at Grande Dunes Timeshare

I am a Lifetime Platinum Rewards member, a Chairman’s Club member of Marriott’s Vacation Club timeshare program, and an owner at Ocean Watch. I booked a paid stay (paying cash) at the villas and arrived the morning of January 3 ahead of schedule in order to avoid getting trapped on the road in the “Bomb Cyclone” Grayson. When I arrived at check-in (to a facility that was clearly undersold – not a lot going on in Myrtle Beach in the path of a snowstorm), I was told that early check-in was not available. I mentioned that I was Platinum/Chairman’s and an OceanWatch owner and was told: “check-in is at 4:00 pm.” I said that I was not looking forward to sitting in an icy lobby for eight hours waiting to check in and was told by the desk clerk “well… if I check you in for last night and add a night to your stay, I can get you in a room now.” This makes me furious – an open and cleaned room was clearly available but was being withheld until 4 PM unless I retroactively checked in for the night prior to my arrival. Clearly, this is consistent with Marriott’s policy, but it’s a pretty crappy way to treat a weary traveller who arrived early to avoid a crippling storm. It also tells me that there is really no advantage to loyalty to the Marriott family of brands – neither “Lifetime Platinum” or “Chairman’s Club” meant a thing to the clerk at the desk. I was treated just like any other bloke on the street. I am very unhappy about OceanWatch’s decision to be relatively indifferent about the storm situation and the perceived value of my loyalty.

They sent email asking if we had any requests which we filled out asking for upper floor.

A week out a very nice woman called asking if we had any other preferences. We asked if we could have something where we could see the ocean. When we arrived the girl at the front desk was downright nasty.

We were put in the “Woodsy Villas”. On the 6th floor ( out of 18 floors). With an up-close view of a large tree in front of the balcony. If you lean to the far left, you can see the water of the ocean over the air conditions on the roof of a lower building. Not the waves of course, just the greyish flat water in the distance. If we want to hear the ocean, we can always play an “Ocean Waves” app on our iPhones.

The girl at the desk said we were placed there because we ” made the reservation through Interval, not Marriott. Marriott owners get preference”. We own at Marriott Cypress Harbor ( which is wonderful). This is, without a doubt, the worst Marriott experience we have ever had.

Hurricane Matthew was early October, here it is a month later and we were just notified our reservation was just cancelled, 6 days away from our arrival. They had a whole month to prepare and notify people of reservation issues, it would have been understandable AT THAT POINT. People have taken time off from work, bought tickets for shows and now we are stuck with nothing. Good thing we didn’t buy into the Marriott program, definitely won’t be now.

Have been a loyal happy Marriott Oceanwatch owner since it practically opened. We own 2 weeks here and just purchased destination points last year. We also got friends that also joined last week for the first time and purchased 4000 destination points. Treated really good when handing out money.

We had the week at Oceanwatch starting 10/9/16. We left NJ to wait out the storm in NC. Called the hotline on Saturday and they said the resort was hoping to open Monday.

Made reservations at a Fairfield Inn in Myrtle Beach. Called the hotline on Monday and they said they had damage and were hoping for Wednesday opening now. OK extended our hotel stay. They wanted us to come in for another presentation since we were in Myrtle Beach for Wednesday which we did and as of that day they were hoping for a Friday opening at the resort. We decided to stay at the Fairfield to try to get in at least 2 days at Oceanwatch.

Final hotline reported it was not opening till Oct 21st. OK more damage than they thought. Purchased an Encore package from the presentation and Encore supervisor John said 3 times and promised he would definitely get back to us that night about finding out any compensation for the storm.

WELL, you know once we signed the Encore package that we of course did not hear from him. Sent an email to Him and MVC headquarters in Orlando and Orlando called back saying should have had insurance.

REALLY? By the way John has yet to call or email back. A billion dollar corporation that is forgetting about their loyal owners?? Very upset. Have been always happy with Marriott and always bragged how wonderful our timeshare was to everyone. I am not expecting a complete compensation but just something to show that we don’t have a complete loss or some respect? We paid out a large maintenance fee for the year and have nothing to show for it!!