Was thinking I had this sorted out in my head, but am I correct in noting that if you buy a Marriott Resale week and do what is necessary to enroll and convert it to points, the MF for that year is greater than if just using it and paying the home resort MF?
For example:
Maui 2BR/OF/EY -
5825 Points Conversion = appx. $3087 annually if converted to points (@ .53/pt)
Weeks MF - $2188
I guess this in the FAQ is what got my attention, just when I thought I had Trust and Exchange sorted out. Note Exchange Mbrs "must also pay".
- DC Trust Members must also pay annual Maintenance Fees on a per-BI basis (which, as in the MVC Weeks system, correlate to an Operating Budget and are subject to annual adjustments.) The 2016 MF's are $125.62 per Beneficial Interest (250 Points @ $0.50248 per point.)
- DC Exchange Members must also pay annual Maintenance Fees for the underlying Week(s) which have been enrolled.
There are two types of Destination Club Points -
Trust Points and Enrolled or Elected Points - for simplicity, I'll call that later group
Exchange Points.
Trust Points are points that are backed by weeks owned by the MVC Trust. That is what Marriott has been selling since the inception of the points system. You buy them from Marriott at an upfront cost of between $11-$13 per point (or less if you buy resale Trust points) and you pay an annual maintenance fee of about $0.53 per point (for 2017). So, if you buy 3000 Trust points, you will pay about $1,590 a year in maintenance fees on those points. In this case, you own only Points, and own no traditional timeshare weeks. You own a beneficial interest in the MVC Trust, not weeks.
Exchange Points are points that are generated by converting an enrolled Marriott Vacation Club week to Destination Club Points. Using your example of a Maui Ocean Club 2BR OF EY week, that week converts to 6450 points (the number you quoted in your post - 5825 - was for a 2BR OV EY). When trying to book reservations with DC Points, those points function virtually identical to Trust points. You have 6450 points with which to book reservations in the DC Points system. But, you
DO NOT pay the $0.53 per point Trust maintenance fee on these points. The only maintenance fee you will ever pay on the week is the regular $2188 weeks maintenance fee (so, these points wind up only costing you $0.34 per point in maintenance fees). Also note that when you own an enrolled week, you make the decision to convert to points each year. You can still use it as a traditional week if you want to. For example, you could elect to convert your 2017 week to points, but then elect to retain your 2018 week and use that to book a week in Maui. In 2019, you might opt to retain your week and deposit it to Interval International for trade.
So, lets say you own an enrolled Maui 2BR OF EY week, plus you buy an additional 3000 Trust Points. Here is what you would pay annually:
Annual maintenance fee for the Maui week (worth 6450 points): $2188
Annual maintenance fee on 3000 Trust points: $1590
Annual Club Dues (Your total points of 9450 makes you Executive Level): $225
Your total annual costs are: $4003
But please note, the only resale weeks purchased after June 2010 that can be enrolled are those purchased from Marriott Resales. But even to enroll those weeks, you have to buy a bundle of Trust points equal to or greater than the point value of that resale week. So for that 2BR Maui OF week, that would mean a purchase of 6500 Trust points from Marriott (Trust points have to be purchased in 250 point increments). So at $0.53 per point, those Trust points would cost you $3445 annually. I think I have read that Marriott may allow high point value weeks like Maui to be enrolled by purchasing less than a complete match (In other words, there may be a cap on the required matching point buy that would mean you don't have to buy the full 6500 Trust points. I do not know what that cap is, if it exists.) But assuming you did need to purchase the full match, then this is what the numbers would look like:
Annual maintenance fee for the Maui week (worth 6450 points): $2188
Annual maintenance fee on 6500 Trust points: $3445
Annual Club Dues (Your total points of 12950 makes you Presidential Level): $225
Your total annual costs are: $5858
