Marriott Vacation Club point system

We have been owners for years, mostly Newport Coast Villas - owners of both weeks and points. We have moved to North Carolina and now love OceanWatch in Myrtle Beach for our family reunions (rather than Newport Coast). We have enough enrolled weeks to get plenty of points.

The question, considering the flexibility we already have, does anyone see any downside to buying after market weeks at Myrtle Beach (rather than points)?

If you were going to a luxury hotel and the last minute they told you that the pool was closed, some rooms have noisy construction, the dining area is being renovated wouldn't you either cancel your stay or demand a room or suite not in harms way? Now with your Marriott timeshare you are stuck especially if you reservations are close to year's end. You are paying for a luxury accommodations and it is a vacation not a visit to a renovation project. it's time that timeshare owners receive the option to cancel and bank their weeks or points to the next year if the timeshare accommodations are not fully operational. You most likely have gone to the website many times just to get you ideal times, rooms and locations. If part of your accommodations are not available you should receive a refund in points or weeks or an allowance for a postponement until you accommodations are up to par.

I purchased EOY at Canyon Villas off the Marriott resale site many years ago and happy we did, especially for a fraction of the cost of a similar one purchased yrs prior. We now own (3) weeks at CV .. (1) EY, and (1) each in the odd and even yrs ... (weird, but it works for us) .. never use the point system as we’re successful depositing and trading .. especially the last few yrs to Ocean Watch in MB. .. love it there . and it fits our timeframe for when we like to go (mid-late May) .. however, in your case, if you’re successful with how you’re planning and ability to use points, why purchase another ? MFs continue to rise, points aren’t cheap, why add expenses. But then again, if you plan on using yr on yr, I would look into Marriott’s resale site or right here on Redweek .. Again, not a fan of points .. JB

where is Marriott's resale sight and how do we sell/rent points? can we just list points and then transfer on redweek?

Hi Jonathan -

I wonder what info you have learned about selling / transferring points on RedWeek. I/we are in a somewhat reverse situation. We just bought what I think was an overpriced package from Marriott directly - and would like to rescind that sale and try to find the points on the re-sale market.

Thus - I'm very interested to know what you have learned about those options - most of the post I have read on here were so much older than yours.

Thanks much.

Adam

With respect to purchasing points privately, please be aware that the buyer will pay a $3.00 per point transfer fee to Vacation Club in addition to the amounts paid to the seller. There are also education fees, closing costs, etc. When you tally this all up, there may not be much advantage over buying from Vacation Club.

We were about to buy some additional points at a recent presentation and decided to just buy another Marriott "platinum, prime location at resort, beach week" through an ad on Redweek. We can use the week, trade it, rent it easily, etc. Should we want out of the timeshare at some point, we will sell it at about what we paid for it.

dennish144 wrote:

With respect to purchasing points privately, please be aware that the buyer will pay a $3.00 per point transfer fee to Vacation Club in addition to the amounts paid to the seller. There are also education fees, closing costs, etc. When you tally this all up, there may not be much advantage over buying from Vacation Club.

We were about to buy some additional points at a recent presentation and decided to just buy another Marriott "platinum, prime location at resort, beach week" through an ad on Redweek. We can use the week, trade it, rent it easily, etc. Should we want out of the timeshare at some point, we will sell it at about what we paid for it.

I totally understand that. I thought I was not going to buy any more timeshare but ended up buying a platinum OV at Aruba and a platinum OF at Ocean Pointe. I paid more than I would resale on one of the properties but the properties combine for almost 9500 points. My price per point was $5.60. However, my maintenance fees are much less than I would have to pay if I had points. My maintenance fee would be .55 to .58 per point if I had points. With my weeks purchase from Marriott it is .39 per point.

If you book online, Marriott always put up notices if there are renovations so you can change your dates or call the property that you are going to a month before your arrival and request a room away from the construction area.

I just googled Marriott Timeshare Resale and it was an official Marriott site. I purchased for about 1/4 of the price I paid (12) yrs. prior .. well worth it .. JB

what was the website?

You know, can’t find any longer .. my apologies, I’ve tried locating and nothing. However will continue searching .. JB

marriottvacationclub.com or call tel:+1-800-845-4226 and ask for the resale department ...

Hi, looking for some advice whether to switch to destination points. We own a deeded week in Vegas which we bought ten years ago. We mostly use interval to exchange for European weeks as we live in the UK. Went to a presentation at MVCI yesterday and they were trying to sell us a whole bunch of destination points. Does it make sense to switch? And if so, can you just enrol without having to spend a fortune on more DP's?

First, why do you want to switch to the point system? Yes, you will have more options but those options will be far more expensive. They cost more in two ways. First, the annual maintenance fees for an equivalent amount of ownership are about 50% more as compared with a typical Platinum week. Second, their options beyond the ones you already enjoy (what they call the Explorer Collection) all are monetized through a third party at around 30 cents per point. Since your maintenance fee is twice that, you would be better off saving the maintenance fee and buying the cruise or guided tour or airfare or other vacation choice directly, thus also saving your initial investment. The one choice that is better with their point system is if you prefer short vacations at one of their resorts, and are sure that this will always be your choice. If so, then it might make sense to own points. Ask the salesman if he owns points. Ask the salesman if ANY salesman at the site owns points. You will find that many are enrolled weeks owners, but that none actually own points, because they too have done the maintenance fee math. Yes, you can enroll your week IF you buy a minimum number of points from the developer. You will find that your Las Vegas week is worth a lot as an enrolled week, for instance a 2 BR is worth 3,275 points, which would currently cost you more than $40,000, so if you would use it as points you will save the $40K. It will still cost you another $40K to buy the matching points, though. You would be better off buying the points resale even though that means you would be unable to enroll the week. There are fees of more than $2 per point, but you should be able to get them all in, including fees, at less than $5 per point. There are no restrictions on how those points can be used. Finally, you will find that their marketing people (the ones who call you on the phone to offer vacation planning help and end up booking you on a timeshare tour) will occasionally offer enrollment of your existing week as a tour premium. Not always but occasionally. If that is your goal, be patient because the opportunity will come up at some "point". This will be by far your lowest cost option. If you ask the salesman, he will deny that this is ever offered, but it definitely is. Bottom line, run the financials. Compare the cost of purchase, plus the cost of maintenance fees, plus the cost of their annual "club dues" plus the cost of interest on a loan, vs. the cost of simply renting the vacations and investing the down payment. The calculations that the salesman shows you will never include maintenance fees or interest because it would blow his value proposition. If he is including inflation in his calculations, remember to include maintenance fee inflation and club dues inflation in your calculations as well (they have actually increased faster than inflation). Be sure to consider the residual value of your "asset" on the resale market. It will shock you.

Thanks for the advice. The Points system feels like paying twice for something I already own and I guess even if interval dies under Marriott ownership I am better just using my week in Vegas each year.

Thanks again.

Some good comments.

I'd like to add and summarize: The points are terribly expensive (at purchase and ongoing maintenance fees); are a dedicated, single use currency for use through "only 1" vacation provider (very limited/over priced choices); Redweek rentals from owners are always the lowest cost and most flexible alternative; and both point and timeshare ownership purchases are for the rest of your life (maintenance fees continue and do not adjust for life changes including aging).

What happens to Interval now that it is owned? Will Interval survive or will Vacation Club force us to convert weeks to points? Has anyone else noticed how difficult it has become to get good weeks through Interval exchanges?

We have experienced all of this as Chairman's Club members.

Stepheng, good stuff. I think you may be a bit optimistic about resale DC points being able to pass ROFR at $5.00 all in. It’s difficult to be certain as to how much to offer, and there is no harm (other than the effort) in making a deal and seeing if it passes. I’m thinking it might take $4.50 to $5.00 before junk fees these days to get past ROFR. That would end up close to $7.00 all in. And, if you look carefully, you can find “bundles” from Marriott in that range, including all incentives (Plus Points, MR points, credit card points). Works pretty well if the enrolled week is somewhere you want to stay often as well. Also works well for a point generator at low MFs. For example, I have a Timber Lodge Week 51 which generates 6225 DC points when elected, and the MF is around $1300 iirc (plus a couple hundred in taxes which are paid separately in CA). YMMV! Cheers.

P.S. Here is a good source of data. Select Marriott and scroll down to Destination Points.

http://rofr.net

Point, Smoints! If I knew that 15 years ago I would prepay $1,600. for a week vacation on an island or a land location I would have thought twice. So you pay $20,000- $50,000 or higher plus $1,600 maintenance plus airfare for a seven day trip to a beautiful place which you hope all is open and there is no construction. Today with so many web sites available to create your own vacation and have that privilege to cancel it the last minute and not be in a use it or lose it position. So many Marriott Timeshare vacation properties can be rented for as little as $103.00 per day. I know as I did that for Breckenridge. Using my math for seven days that's less than half my maintenance for a one week"Villa"????l After 15 years finally I can say I am ahead of the game if I go to Aruba or Marco Island. Those per day prices are a ridiculous $300 per day and more. Add airfare to Aruba and maybe not that great as now starting cost are $1,600. maintenance and club fees plus $1,500. airfare or a start at $443. per day, Does anybody think about the math as I do.

Don't forget to add a "resort fee" of $50.00 (+) per day for the Caribbean .. JB

Actually for the Marriott Ocean Club Aruba so far it’s $11.88 per day for one bedroom. Aruba government sales taxes , airport fees easy add a few hundred dollars more per week.