Exiting a Marriott, Sheraton, Westin or Hyatt Timeshare

How do you exit a Marriott, Sheraton, Westin or Hyatt timeshare?

If your state’s cancellation period is still running, cancel in writing today; that route is free and refunds your money. After that, write to Marriott Vacations Worldwide’s Exit Specialists through your brand’s owner login, and find out what similar ownerships have actually sold for. Marriott keeps its exit rules, fees and timelines out of public view, so the written answer you get back is the starting point for every later step. When the ownership has no buyers and Marriott refuses, or wants more than you can pay, a free file review from an exit firm is worth considering.

Which company is behind these four brands?

The Marriott hotel chain and Marriott Vacations Worldwide (ticker VAC) are different companies. Marriott Vacations Worldwide was spun off as a standalone public company in 2011, bought ILG in 2018 (which brought the Vistana clubs, Sheraton and Westin, plus Hyatt Vacation Club and Interval International), added Welk Hospitality Group in 2021, and put the Hyatt Vacation Club name on all the former Welk resorts during 2023. Its 2025 annual report lists 120 resorts and about 700,000 owner families at year-end.

Hyatt Vacation Club’s site footer states that it “is not owned by or an affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation” and licenses the Hyatt name; the operators are HV Global Group and WHV Resort Group.

What you own matters. Most of what Marriott sells is points, which may run in perpetuity or for a fixed number of years and may be either real property or merely a right to use. Weeks sold in the U.S. and some Caribbean locations are usually sold as deeded real estate. Check your contract, because the product type may change what the exit team will offer.

Where does each brand’s owner start?

Brand	Where to begin	Exit phone (per ARDA’s directory)	Name used under license from
Marriott Vacation Club	Owner login at owners.marriottvacationclub.com, exit services page	800-226-9150	Marriott International
Sheraton Vacation Club	Owner login at vistana.com/exit	800-226-9150	Marriott International
Westin Vacation Club	Owner login at vistana.com/exit	800-226-9150	Marriott International
Hyatt Vacation Club (including former Welk resorts)	Owner login at thelounge.hyattvacationclub.com; the public exit page was returning “page not found” when we checked in October 2026	833-891-9412	An affiliate of Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Marriott’s exit hub also lists 888-204-0407 for owners. Call any of these, but follow up in writing so you have a record.

What does Marriott publish about its exit program?

Very little. The hub page is headed “Exit Safely with the Marriott Vacation Club Exit Specialists” and asks owners to pick their brand and log in. It acknowledges that money worries, fixed incomes and health problems can keep owners from traveling, and says the specialists can answer questions about exiting a Marriott, Sheraton or Westin Vacation Club timeshare. The responsibleexit.com listing, on a site run by ARDA’s owner-advocacy arm, offers owners guidance from a trusted brand and names no criteria.

No fee, eligibility test, disqualifier or timeline appears on any public page we found. We could not confirm whether Marriott requires a paid-off loan, current fees, a minimum ownership period, or a certain product type. Those terms live behind the login.

What should you ask the Exit Specialists, and what should you have ready?

For Marriott owners, the FTC’s first step, to “start by contacting your timeshare company directly,” runs through the login. Since the rules can’t be read in advance, prepare so the conversation produces something usable.

Have ready: your contract or points certificate, your deed if you own a week, your latest maintenance fee bill, and your latest loan statement. When you log in, screenshot or print any program terms shown.

Ask, and note the name and date:

1. Which exit options cover my ownership, and what are they named?
2. Would an open loan, or unpaid fees, rule me out?
3. Do points, a deeded week, and a Hyatt or former Welk product get treated differently?
4. What is the total cost, including transfer and recording charges?
5. How long will it take, and what document will confirm I’ve been released?
6. If I paid off my loan, would your answer change?

Ask for the answers to questions 2 and 6 in writing. A written no is the first thing an exit firm or a lawyer will ask to see.

Could you sell your Marriott ownership instead?

Find out at the same time as you contact the Exit Specialists, since it tells you whether a sale is realistic. Marriott’s annual report warns that resale buyers may not get some extras, such as full access to its internal exchange programs, and that limit can pull down what a buyer offers. The FTC cautions against assuming you’ll recover what you paid, and suggests a licensed appraiser if you want a value. Compare finished sales of comparable Marriott ownerships, not listings. Work only with licensed agents and brokers, the FTC says, and prefer a reseller paid after closing. Our resale guide has more.

What does a Marriott timeshare loan cost?

At the end of 2025, loans Marriott Vacations Worldwide had originated carried a weighted average stated rate of 12.9%, and individual rates spanned zero to 20.9%, according to its annual report. Loans acquired through its ILG and Welk deals averaged 14.1%, up to 21.9%. New loans made in 2025 averaged $30,900, a 12.8% rate and an 11-year term, with a $505 average monthly payment and a 740 average FICO score. Terms generally run 10 to 15 years, rates are fixed, and Marriott says it imposes no prepayment penalty.

A worked example

Loan	Monthly payment	Interest over the full term
$30,900 at 12.8% for 11 years	About $437	About $26,800
$30,900 at 12.8% paid off in 5 years	About $700	About $11,100

This is our arithmetic using Marriott’s reported averages for a standard fixed-rate loan. Marriott’s own reported average payment of $505 is higher because averages across many different loans don’t combine into one tidy loan. The point holds either way: over a typical term, interest can approach the amount borrowed.

A timeshare is weak collateral to any other lender because it has so little resale value. Still, a personal loan at a lower rate, if you qualify, can pay off the Marriott balance, and with no prepayment penalty that costs nothing extra on Marriott’s side. Ask Marriott in writing whether a zero balance would change its answer before you refinance for that reason. You owe the loan and the ownership separately, and our loan payoff guide shows how to weigh each.

What happens if a Marriott loan falls behind?

Marriott’s filing spells out its own rules. Loans in its legacy Marriott portfolio count as in default after 150 days past due, and legacy ILG and Welk loans after 120 days. Once a loan is in foreclosure, Marriott says it takes a payment only if it covers everything overdue and fully reinstates the note, and it writes the loan off when it gets title back through foreclosure or a deed in lieu.

At the end of 2025, $279 million of its $3.1 billion in owner notes was past due, about 9% by our calculation, including $156 million more than 120 days late, though Marriott said delinquency rates had fallen about one percentage point from a year earlier. Marriott projected that 13.51% of its timeshare loans, on average, would still default over their remaining life. In 2024 it had raised its reserves partly because it believed the maintenance fee increases of 2023 and 2024 were keeping delinquencies and defaults elevated. Our timeshare foreclosure guide covers what follows a default.

Why does Marriott keep offering more points?

Its existing owners are its main customers. The annual report says roughly 70% of 2025 contract sales went to them, and it describes how owners can apply some or all of their current ownership to the down payment on more, which it calls an equity upgrade. The pattern is industry-wide; in ARDA’s industry-commissioned 2026 study, 61% of 2025 sales volume came from people who already owned.

Expect an owner update meeting, or even the exit call itself, to produce an equity upgrade pitch. The ownership you came to shed becomes the down payment on a bigger one, with more points, a bigger yearly bill and possibly a new loan. Sign nothing, and treat an upgrade answer to “I want out” as a refusal. The upgrade trap explains how those meetings work.

Can you still cancel the purchase?

If your cancellation period hasn’t closed, yes, and no other route here refunds you. The FTC says state law or your contract may set how long you have, and suggests mailing the cancellation by certified mail with a return receipt. Follow your contract’s notice terms exactly; our rescission deadline tool and state-by-state table help pin down the date.

Have regulators acted against Marriott’s timeshare sales?

We found no enforcement action over its timeshare sales practices by the FTC, the CFPB or any state attorney general in the primary sources we checked. That doesn’t prove none exists. Its annual report does name “the influence of timeshare relief firms” as one source of default risk. If a salesperson misled you about what you bought, record what was said while you remember it, and see sales presentation misrepresentation.

Marriott said no. What now?

Ask for the refusal on paper, with the specific reason. A loan-based refusal sends you back to the loan sections above. A referral to a resale listing should come with its cost and typical time on market, since every annual bill remains yours until a sale closes.

Disclosure: Candid Timeshare works with Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

Vacation Ownership Consultants (VOC), a Scottsdale, Arizona exit firm, calls developer surrender programs voluntary and discretionary, not legal rights, and says being steered to a resale or listing company is not the same as surrender approval. Its own published process starts where this page does, with contacting your resort and checking the resale market.

If nobody will buy and Marriott has refused or asked too much, a free consultation and file review makes sense next. With VOC, billing statements, the purchase contract and any deed go in through an online eligibility form; VOC then works out which options might fit and goes over your file at no cost, and signing up, for a single flat fee, is a separate decision after that. VOC’s home page says it won’t “discuss billing until we’ve made sure you qualify,” and describes its consultations as “supported by seasoned industry partners and experienced timeshare attorneys.” Other firms set their own terms, so ask.

A legitimate firm studies your contract and payment record first and quotes afterward. When its approach requires one, it retains an attorney to handle Marriott for you and to check the sale for problems, a salesperson calling the timeshare an investment being one example. A lawyer’s letter, as we see it, draws more attention than a call-center ticket, yet nobody can guarantee Marriott’s reply.

The exit business has an enforcement record, so choose carefully. Washington’s attorney general sued Reed Hein, which did business as Timeshare Exit Team, in 2020, and according to the 2021 settlement release, over 2,800 residents paid it upfront from about $3,000 into the tens of thousands per exit, and it sometimes told clients to stop paying their resorts. Then in April 2026 the Justice Department announced a judgment of more than $140 million against Christopher Carroll over a timeshare exit scheme that ran through companies including Consumer Law Protection. Hold any firm to these tests:

• It insists you have Marriott’s written answer before signing or paying anything, because the program terms are hidden behind the login.
• It never advises skipping payments; once a Marriott loan reaches foreclosure, a partial catch-up is refused.
• It claims no tie to any of the four brands and names the attorney on your file, whom you can look up with the state bar.

The red flags page lists the rest. Stay current on every bill in the meantime.

In what order should a Marriott owner try these?

1. Still inside the cancellation period? Confirm the date with the rescission deadline tool and cancel in writing today.

2. Ask Marriott, and check resale prices. Log in, save whatever terms you see, ask the six questions above in writing, and look up closed sales of similar Marriott ownerships. An upgrade offer is a no, and nothing gets signed.

3. Carrying a loan? Ask whether payoff changes the answer, and price a lower-rate personal loan before refinancing.

4. Unsellable, and Marriott refused or set terms you can’t accept? Book a free consultation and file review with an exit firm that passes the tests above.

5. Other routes. Documents showing a salesperson misled you are worth taking to your own attorney. If your ownership is paid off, a resale through a licensed broker who is paid only at closing, as the FTC advises, is another option. The exit cost calculator shows what staying will cost.

Disclosure: Candid Timeshare works with Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants. We cite its published case data on this page where marked.

Treat this page as general information, not legal advice. Marriott can set and revise its exit terms out of public view, and what you can do turns on the contract, the loan, and the law where you live. Have a lawyer licensed in your state read the contract before signing a release, refinancing in order to get one, or halting a payment.