Marriott Offer of Free Enrollment in Destination Points program

[valuemkt]

We are legacy owners at marriott Oceanwatch.. Just went through a grueling 2 hour plus presentation, with the free enrollment as the carrot to listen to the pitch .. Of course, there was an attempt to sell us points .. at $ 13.84 / point. The current maintenance fee is 57.5 cents per point, which we would start paying if we enrolled in the program. There was not a requirement to purchase new points, but it was made clear that while we would be part of the destination points program, we would have ZERO TRUST points .. ie those points we would obtain through purchase .. and since we would have under 5000 destination points, several of the options we heard about would not be available ..

If we bought points on the resale market, in addition to the costs of obtaining those, Marriott would assess an "education fee" of $ 500 per 250 points purchased .. meaning a "fee" of $ 2 / point for buying a resale point ..

They assured us that enrolling would not involve any change to our deed ownership in Oceanwatch, and that every Sept 30 we would choose whether we would use "points" or whether we would choose our home resort , or whether we wanted to "trade" like we have in the past, or reserve via points usage ..

The membership in destination means we would no longer have all the interval International transfer fees, and would still be able to use things like reserve our home property and then test the market for availability of other properties ..

at the end, we were going to sign up for nothing .. then was shuffled off to the front desk to sign a paper.. That paper was an addendum to the enrollment agreement (which we have never seen) .. with a statement that "owner's rights hereunder are not transferable to any person.

My first reading .. with a headache from the two plus hours, was to just sign it .. but the second was to question .. which owners rights am I waiving .. is this the right to be part of destination points .. or is it the right somehow to sell my week to anyone i want to?

Has anyone taken "advantage" of this offer ? Or have any experience regarding any changes to your current legacy ownership ??

 

[Fasttr]

It's just your enrollment rights that cannot transfer. Same as if you had previously paid for the privilege of enrollment. You are not waiving any rights to usage/sale, etc of your normal week.

Also to clarify, you indicated the MF for the Trust points. That rate only applies to Trust points you would potentially purchase. Just want to make sure you are clear that your MF's on your deeded week would remain based on your resorts fees assigned to your week just as they would if you did not enroll your week.

 

[vacationtime1]

First of all, it wasn't "free"; you went through a 2 hours plus presentation. You gave up vacation time.

But is enrollment worth it? We did what you did (sit through a presentation) to have our units enrolled. It's all about flexibility; you get the upside of being in the new program (Destination Club) with no downside at all and no real commitment (except the annual dues, a portion of which is offset by not having to pay Interval dues). In the year we have been enrolled, we have taken advantage of the internal trading available (by electing points) and we have banked points to be used the following year at no additional cost.

Is free enrollment worth it? I say "yes".

But would I buy Destination Points? No way.

 

[valuemkt]

It's just your enrollment rights that cannot transfer. Same as if you had previously paid for the privilege of enrollment. You are not waiving any rights to usage/sale, etc of your normal week.

Also to clarify, you indicated the MF for the Trust points. That rate only applies to Trust points you would potentially purchase. Just want to make sure you are clear that your MF's on your deeded week would remain based on your resorts fees assigned to your week just as they would if you did not enroll your week.

Thanks .. i probably misinterpreted the MF .. thought he said it would change to the 57.5 cents . either way the difference would be nominal .. Appreciate the clarification

 

[valuemkt]

First of all, it wasn't "free"; you went through a 2 hours plus presentation. You gave up vacation time.

But is enrollment worth it? We did what you did (sit through a presentation) to have our units enrolled. It's all about flexibility; you get the upside of being in the new program (Destination Club) with no downside at all and no real commitment (except the annual dues, a portion of which is offset by not having to pay Interval dues). In the year we have been enrolled, we have taken advantage of the internal trading available (by electing points) and we have banked points to be used the following year at no additional cost.

Is free enrollment worth it? I say "yes".

But would I buy Destination Points? No way.

Thanks.. yes, i know we lost 2.5 hours of vacation opportunity .. plus 4 ibuprofen.. but the above is very helpful

 

[Gemini Chica]

If I could enroll without a fee, I would, I only see added benefits, and you still own your week.

 

[ERCK]

Beware that some early reservations and additional benefits only come at the "executive level" of club points. I think this is around 7000...?

Other exec members get to place reservations to luxury property 13+months ahead (not 6) and use delayed benefit selection, banking options and point trades that others may not.

I think you must have 6500+points yearly or buy up to 7000 to be exec status...

 

[ERCK]

Found docs

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

We are legacy owners at marriott Oceanwatch.. Just went through a grueling 2 hour plus presentation, with the free enrollment as the carrot to listen to the pitch .. Of course, there was an attempt to sell us points .. at $ 13.84 / point. The current maintenance fee is 57.5 cents per point, which we would start paying if we enrolled in the program. There was not a requirement to purchase new points, but it was made clear that while we would be part of the destination points program, we would have ZERO TRUST points .. ie those points we would obtain through purchase .. and since we would have under 5000 destination points, several of the options we heard about would not be available ..

If we bought points on the resale market, in addition to the costs of obtaining those, Marriott would assess an "education fee" of $ 500 per 250 points purchased .. meaning a "fee" of $ 2 / point for buying a resale point ..

They assured us that enrolling would not involve any change to our deed ownership in Oceanwatch, and that every Sept 30 we would choose whether we would use "points" or whether we would choose our home resort , or whether we wanted to "trade" like we have in the past, or reserve via points usage ..

The membership in destination means we would no longer have all the interval International transfer fees, and would still be able to use things like reserve our home property and then test the market for availability of other properties ..

at the end, we were going to sign up for nothing .. then was shuffled off to the front desk to sign a paper.. That paper was an addendum to the enrollment agreement (which we have never seen) .. with a statement that "owner's rights hereunder are not transferable to any person.

My first reading .. with a headache from the two plus hours, was to just sign it .. but the second was to question .. which owners rights am I waiving .. is this the right to be part of destination points .. or is it the right somehow to sell my week to anyone i want to?

Has anyone taken "advantage" of this offer ? Or have any experience regarding any changes to your current legacy ownership ??

If it's free enrollment then by all means you should do it!

Now, once you're enrolled you are provided with a Vacation Club Account #. Once you have that number you can go ahead and "rent' any additional points you may need to make any reservations where you may be short of points.




.

 

[aka Julie]

Wow, they're now offering free enrollment without buying an Encore package. Guess they're pulling out the stops to get more Legacy weeks owners to enroll. Not that they'll turn in their weeks for points, but they'll be able to tout that xx% of weeks owners belong to the DC.

We finally enrolled our weeks last year for free but had to buy the Encore package. Never turned our weeks in for points yet, but the savings on II fees, lock off fee and ability to re-exchange have been good.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Curious what date you did the presentation for the free enrollment.

There was a previous thread that said this was a special offer for August. We are also legacy owners who never enrolled in Destinations Club. We have a stay coming up later this week. I figured that we would be out of luck if it was an August promo only. But if the free enrollment offer is continuing in September I may have to grit my teeth, pack some extra Ibuprofen, and see if they try to get us to attend.

 

[valuemkt]

Today .. Labor Day

Curious what date you did the presentation for the free enrollment.

There was a previous thread that said this was a special offer for August. We are also legacy owners who never enrolled in Destinations Club. We have a stay coming up later this week. I figured that we would be out of luck if it was an August promo only. But if the free enrollment offer is continuing in September I may have to grit my teeth, pack some extra Ibuprofen, and see if they try to get us to attend.

 

[jme]

Make no mistake, it's one heck of a deal to enroll in the Destinations Program for free just for attending a presentation.
(BTW, it's not available for those of us already enrolled, to add enrollment for resale weeks bought later, UNLESS we buy
additional points at an insane cost.)

Personally I don't see how attending a presentation can be so "grueling", and I hear this quite often. It's all in the attendee's mind, nowhere else, and I promise you there's no way a sales representative could ever exert enough "pressure" to make me sweat even a little bit.
Just know you're in there to receive a gift (THEIR offer), smile a lot, nod a lot, then kindly say "no, thanks" and accept the gift.
Know that the sales reps are working your emotions only, not your financial acumen, so don't allow them the pleasure.

Make your mind up before going in (after educating yourself of course), and then it's just like watching a TV show for 2 hours, with zero emotional commitment. You should already know that acceptance to buy points by signing a contract is the worst thing you could do, and quite foolish financially, so why should that weigh so heavily on you? It's not even a toss-up, as buying more points (in addition to your new "enrolled for free" position) would be a bad decision.

"Time Traveler" in POST # 9 above makes the very best point here-----enroll , then rent points thereafter WITHOUT the exorbitant upfront purchase price, WITHOUT the "points" maintenance fees, WITHOUT ownership of an inadequate amount of points to do much anyway,
BUT STILL WITH the ability to use points (up to any amount) at will for anything, and at a reasonable cost.
What's better than that? You have just exited with significantly more power than you went in with, and hopefully with a big smile.

Congratulations on your new status, and enjoy the heck out of the points program.

 

[jimf41]

Others have explained the ramifications of enrollment very clearly so I won't comment. However I disagree with your post presentation remedy. Ibuprofen is for muscular discomfort. You suffer from brain fatigue. The best cure I've found for that is copious amounts of rum mixed with some sugar water, mint leaves slightly crushed and a little lime juice. Pour this into an iced glass and drink one per hour until the pain subsides. Do not exceed more that 6 glasses in a four hour period. May be repeated daily until symptoms recede. Never take before a presentation, this is only a post curative procedure.

 

[jme]

Others have explained the ramifications of enrollment very clearly so I won't comment. However I disagree with your post presentation remedy. Ibuprofen is for muscular discomfort. You suffer from brain fatigue. The best cure I've found for that is copious amounts of rum mixed with some sugar water, mint leaves slightly crushed and a little lime juice. Pour this into an iced glass and drink one per hour until the pain subsides. Do not exceed more that 6 glasses in a four hour period. May be repeated daily until symptoms recede. Never take before a presentation, this is only a post curative procedure.

Thank you, Dr. Jim..........perfect diagnosis and exceptional treatment modality.

 

[dioxide45]

at the end, we were going to sign up for nothing .. then was shuffled off to the front desk to sign a paper.. That paper was an addendum to the enrollment agreement (which we have never seen) .. with a statement that "owner's rights hereunder are not transferable to any person.

My first reading .. with a headache from the two plus hours, was to just sign it .. but the second was to question .. which owners rights am I waiving .. is this the right to be part of destination points .. or is it the right somehow to sell my week to anyone i want to?

Ocean Watch has its own enrollment agreement. Perhaps that was the document they were wanting you to sign?

https://www.marriottvacationclub.co...713.1779534498.1504567850-60523120.1496068111

 

[Fasttr]

Personally I don't see how attending a presentation can be so "grueling", and I hear this quite often. It's all in the attendee's mind, nowhere else, and I promise you there's no way a sales representative could ever exert enough "pressure" to make me sweat even a little bit. Just know you're in there to receive a gift (THEIR offer), smile a lot, nod a lot, then kindly say "no, thanks" and accept the gift. Know that the sales reps are working your emotions only, not your financial acumen, so don't allow them the pleasure.

I totally agree. Any pressure perceived on a Marriott presentation is self imposed, they merely don't have any leverage to be able to apply pressure. Its merely uncomfortable for most people to tell another person "no" to their face a few times in a row, but that's really all it takes to walk away smiling with your gift in hand.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Here's the thread from August 2017 that discussed the free enrollment offer:

http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/marriott-legacy-priority.260627/

 

[VacationForever]

I received an email in late August to attend a presentation via webcast in Sep and at the end of the webcast I would be able to enroll my "eligible" weeks. The issue is that my weeks are bought post June 2010. Has anyone else received such an email? I am not hopeful that I will be able to enroll but why did they even send the email to me?

 

[Bucky]

I totally agree. Any pressure perceived on a Marriott presentation is self imposed, they merely don't have any leverage to be able to apply pressure. Its merely uncomfortable for most people to tell another person "no" to their face a few times in a row, but that's really all it takes to walk away smiling with your gift in hand.

It's even easier to not return their bogus pre arrival phone call saying there is something important they need to discuss before your arrival. We here their voicemail and just ignore it. It's always about a presentation. They might have called our room while we were there but I don't know since we never answer of check messages while traveling. All the people that are important to us have our cell numbers.

Since we use our two weeks every year there is no advantage for us to get in destination program at all.

 

[hangloose]

I always learn something from the MVC timeshare presentations, or at least like listening. While, my wife has tired of attending. As such, we've also been ignoring those calls and presentations recently. I may attend one after our 3 MVC resale purchases finalize...and see if that changes their pitch at all.

As a side note, I do think it is work the 2 hr presentation if they will enroll your post DC Pts program legacy weeks for free. Most of us paid to enroll our legacy weeks. Although, the OP and others should realize...while enrollment is free...there is still an annual fee associated to joining the DC pts program. This can obviously be offset if one is paying fees for an II membership, MVC lock-off, etc. But if you are just using your legacy week annually for standard occupancy, you may not see value in enrolling.

 

[valuemkt]

Thank you, Dr. Jim..........perfect diagnosis and exceptional treatment modality.

Haha ..i forgot to mention i take the ibuprofen with jack Daniels rocks... I'll try your remedy next

 

[valuemkt]

Make no mistake, it's one heck of a deal to enroll in the Destinations Program for free just for attending a presentation.
(BTW, it's not available for those of us already enrolled, to add enrollment for resale weeks bought later, UNLESS we buy
additional points at an insane cost.)

Personally I don't see how attending a presentation can be so "grueling", and I hear this quite often. It's all in the attendee's mind, nowhere else, and I promise you there's no way a sales representative could ever exert enough "pressure" to make me sweat even a little bit.
Just know you're in there to receive a gift (THEIR offer), smile a lot, nod a lot, then kindly say "no, thanks" and accept the gift.
Know that the sales reps are working your emotions only, not your financial acumen, so don't allow them the pleasure.

Make your mind up before going in (after educating yourself of course), and then it's just like watching a TV show for 2 hours, with zero emotional commitment. You should already know that acceptance to buy points by signing a contract is the worst thing you could do, and quite foolish financially, so why should that weigh so heavily on you? It's not even a toss-up, as buying more points (in addition to your new "enrolled for free" position) would be a bad decision.

"Time Traveler" in POST # 9 above makes the very best point here-----enroll , then rent points thereafter WITHOUT the exorbitant upfront purchase price, WITHOUT the "points" maintenance fees, WITHOUT ownership of an inadequate amount of points to do much anyway,
BUT STILL WITH the ability to use points (up to any amount) at will for anything, and at a reasonable cost.
What's better than that? You have just exited with significantly more power than you went in with, and hopefully with a big smile.

Congratulations on your new status, and enjoy the heck out of the points program.

You actually answered another question in your reply.. that is.. if i bought a "trader" week on the resale market if i would be able to move that into points.. sounds like they have that blocked similar to their "education charge" for bringing points thatwere bought resale

 

[tschwa2]

You actually answered another question in your reply.. that is.. if i bought a "trader" week on the resale market if i would be able to move that into points.. sounds like they have that blocked similar to their "education charge" for bringing points thatwere bought resale

Compared to bringing in resale points to use, the process to bring post 2010 weeks into the points program is quite a bit more costly requiring not just a fee but a retail points purchase and even then this is not always offered.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Today I received the pre-arrival email for our stay beginning later this week. There was an offer to attend a presentation, but the potential "bribes" for attending did not include no-cost DC enrollment. So I phoned the resort and yes, that is an option even though it was not initially listed. At my request, the resort sent me a second email confirming that.