Secondary Market points restrictions?

[ChrisSteele]

I recently (April 2019) sat through a presentation at a MVC with some family who already owns a few weeks and some points through. I am interested but as an outsider to timeshares and a skeptic I had a lot of questions, particularly about purchase of points off the secondary market.

The sales rep stated that if you purchase points off the secondary market you are not eligible to book 12 months in advance, regardless of the number of points you have. You were restricted to booking no more than 30 days out which, in my situation, makes those points basically worthless.

I am only hearing that from this one sales rep and I can't locate that information in anywhere in my research so I figured I'd turn to the experts.

Can anyone confirm that information?

Thank you

 

[GregT]

Hello Chris,

When you purchase points on the secondary market, they are not restricted. You will be able to utilize them 12 months out. There are other restrictions (like the length of stay) but they are not impacted by a Direct purchase or a Resale purchase. If you do buy resale points, make sure you have enough to be able to effectively use the system (or that you are comfortable renting what is needed from a third party).

Good luck!

Best,

Greg

 

[Fasttr]

They would be restricted to only making reservations within 60 days of check in if you did not pay MVC the $3 per point to remove the restriction.

 

[JIMinNC]

The sales reps use this "the points are restricted to 30/60 days" as a way to counter the "buy resale" argument. And they are technically correct, in that the program Terms and Conditions do specifically state this fact. However, what they don't tell you is what the next sentence/phrase in the Terms and Conditions says - that the usage restriction can be removed by paying Marriott Vacation Club a $3/point "activation fee". Paying the fee removes the restriction and everyone who owns resale points on TUG seems to have found the points function then like any other points. So, as an example, if you strike a deal for 4000 resale points at $4/point, you pay the Seller $16,000. As part of closing, you then pay Marriott and additional $12,000. So your total cost is $28,000 ($7/point), but that is still much below the price Marriott charges.

 

[alchook]

You were restricted to booking no more than 30 days out which, in my situation, makes those points basically worthless.
Thank you

It would have been interesting to hear what the rep said if you were to have asked, "So why would I buy points from you if they're basically worthless on the resale market?"

 

[jeepie]

The sales reps use this "the points are restricted to 30/60 days" as a way to counter the "buy resale" argument. And they are technically correct, in that the program Terms and Conditions do specifically state this fact. However, what they don't tell you is what the next sentence/phrase in the Terms and Conditions says - that the usage restriction can be removed by paying Marriott Vacation Club a $3/point "activation fee". Paying the fee removes the restriction and everyone who owns resale points on TUG seems to have found the points function then like any other points. So, as an example, if you strike a deal for 4000 resale points at $4/point, you pay the Seller $16,000. As part of closing, you then pay Marriott and additional $12,000. So your total cost is $28,000 ($7/point), but that is still much below the price Marriott charges.

Well stated, JIMinNC. Prospective buyers may want to compare and contrast that with buying a “bundle” of a week through Marriott, which they will allow to be enrolled with the purchase of a certain number of points. It is possible to bring the cost down to about the same price per point, especially when one considers the extra perks of earning MR (ahem, BonVoy) bonus points, PlusPoints, and Marriott or Sapphire Reserve credit card earnings. Ymmv. Cheers.

 

[ChrisSteele]

The sales reps use this "the points are restricted to 30/60 days" as a way to counter the "buy resale" argument. And they are technically correct, in that the program Terms and Conditions do specifically state this fact. However, what they don't tell you is what the next sentence/phrase in the Terms and Conditions says - that the usage restriction can be removed by paying Marriott Vacation Club a $3/point "activation fee". Paying the fee removes the restriction and everyone who owns resale points on TUG seems to have found the points function then like any other points. So, as an example, if you strike a deal for 4000 resale points at $4/point, you pay the Seller $16,000. As part of closing, you then pay Marriott and additional $12,000. So your total cost is $28,000 ($7/point), but that is still much below the price Marriott charges.

Awesome. Thank you for the info.

The “deal” the rep was pushing involved mixing a legacy week and points.

Total can out to just shy of $8/point.

 

[ChrisSteele]

It would have been interesting to hear what the rep said if you were to have asked, "So why would I buy points from you if they're basically worthless on the resale market?"

He got a bit defensive when I brought up the secondary market option and the tone of the pitch definitely changed. Not a bad guy but a salesman, for sure.

Still on the fence about moving forward with the purchase.

 

[JIMinNC]

Awesome. Thank you for the info.

The “deal” the rep was pushing involved mixing a legacy week and points.

Total can out to just shy of $8/point.

As jeepie said above, these deals that mix a legacy week with matching points are about the best deals going for direct Marriott purchases. Often the blended price per point comes out to not all that much more than what you would pay with a pure resale points purchase. The advantage is you get a usable week, plus some points, plus the option to convert the week to points. If the week is something you might want to use at least part if the time, a hybrid deal like that can be the best path of entry into the MVC Points system. That was the kind of deal we used for our initial buy-in to Marriott Vacation Club in 2014. Back then, our net cost was around $7/point, but that was when the base, non-discounted MVC point price was about $12/point. Now that non-discounted price is over $14/point, so it will be hard to net out in the $7 range like was possible 5 years ago.

 

[jeepie]

As jeepie said above, these deals that mix a legacy week with matching points are about the best deals going for direct Marriott purchases. Often the blended price per point comes out to not all that much more than what you would pay with a pure resale points purchase. The advantage is you get a usable week, plus some points, plus the option to convert the week to points. If the week is something you might want to use at least part if the time, a hybrid deal like that can be the best path of entry into the MVC Points system. That was the kind of deal we used for our initial buy-in to Marriott Vacation Club in 2014. Back then, our net cost was around $7/point, but that was when the base, non-discounted MVC point price was about $12/point. Now that non-discounted price is over $14/point, so it will be hard to net out in the $7 range like was possible 5 years ago.

Hard but doable...
Oh, forgot to mention that the MFs can be quite a bit lower. On one of the bundles I have purchased, the overall MFs work out to be in the low 40 cent range iirc. This was a week 51 at Timber Lodge, MFs around $1300 for over 6200 pts. Cheers.