Marriott Vacation Club "Destinations" - What I Like and What I've Done

chrisd59 wrote:

They might not be building because marriott has spun off that side of the company as they have all there ohter businesses, which means it was not a profitable business for them.

Actually, Marriott did a spin-off of Marriott Vacation Club last November and these shares trade under the VAC stock symbol. Judging from the way the stock has moved, the investing public has great hopes for the spin-off entity. The shares have ranged during the past year from $15.75 to a recent $39.35 per share.

There is some construction activity underway to build-out existing properties such as Grand Chateau in Las Vegas. Other properties slated for additional construction are in Palm Desert, Orlando, and Hawaii.

Myrtle Beach Ocean Watch - We are headed off the North Carolina next week and today I picked up a few days at nearby Ocean Watch. I had tried to do this a week ago without success. Today, I picked up a few days at a 20% discount in points. The idea that you can reserve a few days has been great for us.

Kevin,

I don't know why I'm just seeing this now ... We stayed at Surf Watch on Hilton Head this September before heading to Myrtle. I would pick another resort on HHI; Surf Watch is too sprawling and a good walk to the beach. I have spoken to owners and visitors to HHI, and the consensus is Barony, Monarch, Grand Ocean are great and ON the ocean. Hope this helps. You Will LOVE Ocean Watch. We are there in September too.

I'm so glad I found this site. There's been lots of discussion on aftermarket week sales both advantages and disadvantages. I haven't seen any discussion on aftermarket sales of Trust Points. Surely some Trust Points owners have had the need to dispose of their points. I have 4 weeks and have enrolled in the DP system that gives me 12,800 points. The sales folks tell me to get full benefit I really need to purchase at least 1000 trust points for $11,400. Would 1000 points bought from someone other than Marriott work just as good? It would be good for me to get over that 13000 point threshold to become a premium plus member. I feel that the DP system is going to be very positive overall and I hope it works close to what the sales reps tell us.

curte5 wrote:

I'm so glad I found this site. There's been lots of discussion on aftermarket week sales both advantages and disadvantages. I haven't seen any discussion on aftermarket sales of Trust Points. Surely some Trust Points owners have had the need to dispose of their points. I have 4 weeks and have enrolled in the DP system that gives me 12,800 points. The sales folks tell me to get full benefit I really need to purchase at least 1000 trust points for $11,400. Would 1000 points bought from someone other than Marriott work just as good? It would be good for me to get over that 13000 point threshold to become a premium plus member. I feel that the DP system is going to be very positive overall and I hope it works close to what the sales reps tell us.

I will tell you that if you can buy DC points resale, it would be cheaper but Marriott is using ROFR on them now. There have been very little sightings of resale DC points seen and when they have been Marriott has used ROFR. I would go to Timeshare Users Group (tug2.net) as their forums on Marriott timeshares has a plethora of information on DC points and sales.

curte5 wrote:

I'm so glad I found this site. There's been lots of discussion on aftermarket week sales both advantages and disadvantages. I haven't seen any discussion on aftermarket sales of Trust Points. Surely some Trust Points owners have had the need to dispose of their points. I have 4 weeks and have enrolled in the DP system that gives me 12,800 points. The sales folks tell me to get full benefit I really need to purchase at least 1000 trust points for $11,400. Would 1000 points bought from someone other than Marriott work just as good? It would be good for me to get over that 13000 point threshold to become a premium plus member. I feel that the DP system is going to be very positive overall and I hope it works close to what the sales reps tell us.

This information may help. I copied this from TUG so you can see what needs to happen for someone to buy and sell DC points. This is from Marriott as stated at the end of the post.

If an owner who has purchased points (beneficial Interests) wishes to sell their points they will need the following information:

We will need to send an owner requesting transfer of ownership of Beneficial interests a Transfer packet.

Advise them that the transfer fee will be $25 per B.I., but there will be no additional transfer fees charged by MVCI.

If the owner needs a contact to assist with the deep prep and transfer we can refer them to contact Cammy Smith at FATCO(First American Title Company)

The New owner will have to pay an education ($300 per owner) and initiation fee ($200 per BI with a $2000 minimum). And then they would have full access to the program.

What is "full access to the program?" A Points owner with no additional restrictions that can book from both buckets is what full access to the program means. What would happen if they didn't pay the fees? If the education fee is not paid, we would not be able to process the transfer. If the initiation fee is not paid, according to the use rules they can still be transferred but they would not have access to the Exchange Bucket of inventory. Because we can't support this currently in the system, the initiation fee would be required at the time of transfer FOR NOW (We'll let you know when that changes). Do we know who and how they will be notifying the owners of these fees? When they call to process the external transfer, owner mods Lakeland will advise and collect the fees Will those apply to BIs that are transferred as a Gift (parent to child or grand Child) or weeks that are transferred due to inheritance? It would not be considered an external transfer (unless the deed was an external transfer to begin with) What about owners that already own BIs and are purchasing more on the external market? If they are titling the exact same way, they would not be charged and education fee, if they title differently, they would owe the education fee. If they only have enrolled weeks and then purchase BI's on the external market, they would have to pay the education fee. Both types of owners would still owe the initiation fee which is "external first time BI owner to pay $200.00 per BI and a $2,000.00 minimum Initiation Fee is required." Which Fees apply to them? The education fee is a 1 time fee that would need to be paid $300. The initiation fee is $200 per BI with a $2000 minimum.

****** ****** Owner Relations Supervisor Marriott Vacation Club Owner Services Salt Lake City, UT 84115 Internal Ext. ****** Fax- (801) 468-****

I took the plunge and added 2500 pts to my deeded properties and read with interest the posts on this forum. Can anyone tell me if the have dealt with Collette Vacations, the travel agency with which Marriott has partnered? The reviews on them range from just horrible to so so. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and New Year. Thanks for your advice.

We have participated in Destinations since inception in 2010, first by enrolling our weeks and then by purchasing points. We are happy with our decisions and we are enjoying the enhancements to our vacation program.

I appreciate the comments made in these forums over the year and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and the best possible New Year! Enjoy spending time with your loved ones and build some great memories.

Dennis,

I'm a recent hire with the Marriott Vacation Club's new offices in Cancun. I found your forum looking for info to pass on to owners with questions and doubts much like what I've read in your posts.

My goal is to give the best service I can and of course as sell as much as possible giving people what is best for my clients. If possible, I'd like to ask you questions as they occur to me to get a client's perspective and opinions to pass that insight to clients previewing the programs, both owners of weeks and new clients to see what's best for them.

Cheers from Mexico,

Andy

dennish144 wrote:

Myrtle Beach Ocean Watch - We are headed off the North Carolina next week and today I picked up a few days at nearby Ocean Watch. I had tried to do this a week ago without success. Today, I picked up a few days at a 20% discount in points. The idea that you can reserve a few days has been great for us.

Hey Dennis!

Didn't you LOVE Ocean Watch?

Happy New Year! Jean

We do love Marriott's Ocean Watch and it is one of our family's favorites. Having said that, we have found each of the Marriott resorts to be in a great location with lots of fun things to do and see.

Tomorrow we are off to Kauai and Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club. We also have planned family events this year at the Custom House in Boston (8 of us), at Newport Coast Villas (27 if us), and at Marriott properties in Palm Desert and Arizona.

Our daughter and her family spent time in Palm Desert following Christmas and had a great time. Her words were that this was their best family vacation - no distractions, just great family time. Incidentally, this reservation was for 4 days and we used Vacation Club Points.

Best wishes for the New Year!

In the past three years we've really struggled to keep up our payments, but we will finally have it paid off this year. I haven't taken advantage of the points systems yet since I haven't had any "extra" (no such thing!) money. But I have been super pleased with Marriott-the service, the quality of the units, etc. We went to Spain about five years ago and they told us up front it was still under construction and offered us a three-bedroom unit instead of our two to make up for the noise. It was one of the best vacations we've had since we took two other couples with us. Our home resort is in New Jersey, about 60 minutes from my home, so we've taken the grand and goddaughter there often. Lots to do in the surrounding area and we love the beach about 20 minutes away. Another stay was in France-very nice resort and very helpful staff. Would love to go to Newport one day.

Thanks, everyone in this forum. I know it's hard to believe, but we just heard about the Destinations points program on our recent visit to Waiohai. We were a bit frustrated by our unit assignment, and when we complained, we were told that we should consider 'buying' a day or two in front of our usual 7 day stay (Fri, Sat, or Sun check-in) using 'points'. We're sure the blank stare on our faces prompted the courteous Concierge to recommend we attend the presentation they offered so we could learn about this program.

The shear volume of information and the plethora of data points was overwhelming. We were very confused, and initially very angry feeling that Marriott had significantly changed the game regarding our ownership rights. Some of these feelings have yet to be assuaged.

So, we turned to the blogs and forums to get real-time owner/user experiences. It took two days of constant reading to cover most of the comments, good and bad, including those on the owner-whiner den of dismay on another forum in Redweek. BTW, extensive blog research during your vacation is something you need to avoid. Not fun.

We like the positive tone of this forum along with all the positive comments from users who are making this new program work for them. Clearly, there is benefit to be found and one merely has to consider the trade-off.

Our conclusion for us, as much as we have enjoyed our stays at Waiohai, we are not timeshare people. We don't travel that much and don't see any more value in enrolling in the Destinations program, or in continued ownership in our Waiohai property. We have other alternatives that appear to suit us better.

So, thank you all. Your experiences, as positive as they are, helped us reach this very important decision. Please stay happy and healthy, and travel as much as you can. Good job on this forum, Dennis. Very helpful to us all.

For 2013 we had turned in one of our Cyprus Harbour weeks for Destinations Points in order to stay 4 nights at the Marriott River Center in San Antonio using the City Explorer option. We went to Houston first for my son's graduation and stayed 5 nights at a Courtyard (used Rewards points for 4 nights and got the 5th night free). We had a great time in both cities and we were glad that the Destination Points allowed us to go directly from Houston to enjoy San Antonio's River Walk for Memorial Day (Monday) through Friday.

For 2014, I was on the phone on opening day at the opening time of 0800 Central time to book my week at Cyprus Harbour. We have turned that in to Interval and are on a waiting list for Barony, Monarch, and Grand Ocean on Hilton Head Island.

At first I was worrying about the Destinations Club with the switch to the points system. But if I get into one of the resorts at Hilton Head for next year, I will be much more relaxed about everything!

This forum is the most helpful and positive one I've seen to date. I love vacationing at the collection of MVC properties and rarely regret giving Marriott so much of my money. There are so many intricate details one needs to stay on top of to properly manage your account and get the bookings you need...but I almost always get what I want and always love the experience at the properties! I own 13000 points and always try to book a summer beach vacation in South Carolina: booking this with trust points is my biggest hassle, but I've succeeded 3/4 times. Question: if I bought a traditional timeshare week on the secondary market, say for example in the platinum (summer) season, would getting a week at my favorite property in SC be more straight forward than trying to book with points? I'm thinking yes, but maybe I do not understand the inner workings of MVC like I think I do...any helpful replies would be greatly appreciated!

Dennis Super information on a topic I'm very interested in. I own 6500 trust points and a st kitts week that I always convert to points. I end up spending roughly 5000 pints every summer booking a beach vacation in SC but I'm starting to think the smart move is to buy a traditional week at a favorite property in platinum season on the secondary market...the $/point for this approach looks like a 50% savings or more...any pitfalls you are aware of to this approach?

Owning the property is better than owning points, in my opinion. By the way; what does a "point" look like. I know what my resort looks like and it cannot be manipulated like points.

To me a "point" looks like greater flexibility so that my family can take advantage of our weeks in ways we never could before. So, a "point" looks to my like amazing family vacations and irreplaceable memories. It always amazes me why people are so negative about the point system. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

To me a "point" is merely an enhancement to our vacation portfolio and offers flexibility beyond what we had before. I contend that the winners are those who own weeks and elected the option to enroll their weeks. The points are too expensive and while I bought some very early, I think the better deal is to buy aftermarket weeks.

robbinb5 wrote:

Dennis Super information on a topic I'm very interested in. I own 6500 trust points and a st kitts week that I always convert to points. I end up spending roughly 5000 pints every summer booking a beach vacation in SC but I'm starting to think the smart move is to buy a traditional week at a favorite property in platinum season on the secondary market...the $/point for this approach looks like a 50% savings or more...any pitfalls you are aware of to this approach?

I own 7 weeks and 2500 points. Two weeks were purchased in the aftermarket. I'm not disappointed that I bought some of the weeks from Marriott early on. However, I'm having my children buy Platinum weeks in the aftermarket at great locations. Great locations are those in high demand, some have a lock-off feature, and look for those that are easy to rent. High demand and easy to rent properties that I know of include anything Hawaii, Newport Coast, and Myrtle Beach. Grand Chateau in Las Vegas has a lock-off feature and is easily traded for two weeks. I'm sure others have additional suggestions.

I think you are on the right track to get the same vacation experience at a substantial discount.

Make sure you join Interval and learn how to us your membership to trade weeks. My most recent great deal was a one week Getaway in early October at Marriott Mountainside in Park City for $275. These are units that accommodate 8 people. Actually, you don't even need to own a timeshare to join Interval and get these deals.