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As more vacation owners trade the reliable thump of the surf for the

flash of neon and the electric pulse of a living, breathing city, Marriott

Vacation Club is among a cadre of timeshare companies welcoming them

into the heart of the action. Front and center in five U.S. cities — Boston,

Miami, New York City, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. — Marriott

Vacation Club Pulse

properties add a fresh dimension to the timeshare

experience, inviting vacationers to discover a city’s secrets and feel like an

insider rather than a tourist.

The Pulse Plus

“When people come to one of these properties, they’re getting the insider,

part-of-the-community look at where to go and what to do and where to

dine,” says Ed Kinney, global vice president of corporate affairs and com-

munications for Marriott Vacations Worldwide. “We’re going to know the

cool little places that aren’t on their radar.”

Marriott Vacation Club members have been using their points to stay

at Marriott International’s urban hotels for years, but within the timeshare

component, the city-centric experiences that members were asking for

were scarce. “People’s travel tendencies have shifted,” Kinney says.

“They like the shorter stays. They like urban environments. It’s a great

opportunity for us to expand our portfolio and have things that are more

relevant to a wider audience of people.”

Kinney says urban vacations appeal to Marriott Vacation Club mem-

bers across the board. People living on the East Coast love being able to

take their kids to see the sights in D.C. and Boston. Empty nesters book

off-peak explorations, and younger couples like short stays. “Suffice

to say that if you take a cross-section of our owners, the predominant

number are going to want to have an urban experience at some point or

another,” he says.

Location, Location, Location

Given that, location is key, Kinney says. All Pulse properties are within

walking distance of shops, restaurants, museums, and nightlife. In some

cases, they are city landmarks themselves.

Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

at Custom House, Boston, is housed

in the historic Custom House and Clock Tower, part of the city’s skyline

since 1847. It towers above the Boston Harbor, close to the city’s many

historic and cultural sites.

At Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

at The Mayflower, Washington,

D.C., guests are invited into the chandelier-lined hallways on the seventh

floor of The Mayflower Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic

Places. The property offers easy access to the White House, Lincoln

Memorial, and Smithsonian museums.

The chic Strand Hotel, in the midst of New York City’s Fashion District,

is home to the Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

New York City. It is an easy walk to Times Square

and the Theater District.

In Miami Beach, Florida, Marriott Vacation

Club Pulse

, South Beach, is across the street

from the beach and close to the boutiques and

nightclubs of Collins and Washington avenues,

and the restaurants, shops, and cafes along

Lincoln Road.

The newest Pulse property, Marriott Vacation

Club Pulse

, San Diego, is an easy stroll to res-

taurants, rooftop bars, live theater, and shops in

the historic Gaslamp Quarter.

Personality Pulse

But location is only part of the Pulse panache.

Each property is one-of-a-kind, handpicked for its architectural style and

designed to capture the unique character and soul of its home city.

Being in the center of the actionmeans that Pulse units can be smaller

than the usual two-bedroom villa, for example, and range from hotel

rooms to one-bedroom suites with kitchenettes and foldout sofa beds.

With so many attractions nearby, fewer on-site amenities are necessary.

Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

, San Diego, which opened in July 2016, is

the only one with an indoor pool, whirlpool, and children’s activity center.

“Obviously, you’re not going to have traditional amenities like pool

features, tennis courts, or some of the other things that are mainstays with

the resort environment,” says Kinney.

The Prototype for Pulse

Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

at CustomHouse, Boston, provided a pro-

totype for the Pulse personality, Kinney says. “It fit the formula of what we

regard as a Pulse property: close to everything, surrounded by a lot of

different points of interest. So we pulled it into the Pulse system.”

From there, Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

built its signature portfolio

one property at a time as the right opportunities arose. The Mayflower

Hotel was part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection. And in

New York City, “We had always looked at having something there and

could never quite find the right opportunity, until we found The Strand.”

Miami presented a very different opportunity. The 1936Mediterranean

Revival structure that is home to the Marriott Vacation Club Pulse

South Beach, is an architectural gem in the Art Deco district. Still, at 49

units, Kinney admits the South Beach Pulse property would have been

too small to fit the Marriott International formula.

“As a business, we probably could not have done it if we were still

under the halo of Marriott International,” Kinney admits. “When we spun

off nearly five years ago, it gave us a lot of independence and latitude to

look at things from a different perspective.” Quality standards and opera-

tional issues are still top of mind when evaluating prospective properties,

especially those needing to be refurbished. But the sum total — charac-

ter, architecture, and location — has to be exactly right for its market. In

South Beach, “We knew it would be a cool new element to what the Pulse

properties should be and we could figure it out,” Kinney says.

Options and Flexibility Rule

Marriott Vacation Club’s urban brand extension has been a great addition

to the many flexible options more than 400,000 members already enjoy

using their points, Kinney says.

“When you own with Marriott Vacation Club, there are so many differ-

ent options for how you can use your timeshare ownership, whether you

stay at your home resort, exchange within our other properties, or through

the Interval International collection, cruises, and

more. All these choices really will cater to almost

every type of leisure travel that we could imagine

somebody wanting to do. It’s just widening the

portfolio to make it more attractive for the folks

who are looking for vacation ownership.”

Marriott VacationClubPulse

also has its own

website with a cosmopolitan feel fitting its persona.

Kinney expects that Marriott Vacation Club

Pulse

will continue to look at adding other prop-

erties in more cities. “We are going to continue to

evolve this brand extension as we get more feed-

back from the customers experiencing it.”

Joyce Hadley Copeland, based in Tucson, Arizona, con-

tributes regularly to travel and hospitality publications and

websites.

fast

facts

Marriott Vacation

Club Pulse

Developer:

Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Corporation

Location:

Orlando, Florida

Product:

Points-based vacation ownership

and deeded points-based fractional ownership

Units:

Hotel rooms, studios, and one-bedroom

suites

Website:

marriottvacationclub.com/mvcpulse

Social Media:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

Pinterest, YouTube, Google+