Sheraton Vacation Club Presentation Offers-What would you take?

[Mrfixit]

Just curious,
we are at the Sheraton Vistana Villages for a 5 day, 4 night preview promotion. We were offered either a $250 Visa card or 43,000 Marriott bonvoy points for attending the presentation. Which would you take?

 

[n42]

Personally I would take the Visa card without hesitation. 43,000 is not a lot of Marriott points. I have almost 100 nights at Marriott hotels last year.

 

[iftravel]

take the points and don't buy anything

 

[rickandcindy23]

Points. I wish I could get an offer like that next time we go to Orlando.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Rule of thumb is about 85 cents per thousand bonvoy points, which would put the bonvoy points at about $365 in purchasing power. If you will definitely use them, then the points are probably the better deal.

 

[Mrfixit]

Just curious,
we are at the Sheraton Vistana Villages for a 5 day, 4 night preview promotion. We were offered either a $250 Visa card or 43,000 Marriott bonvoy points for attending the presentation. Which would you take?

Thanks for responses. I stand corrected. The offer was 45,000 points, not 43,000 points. We ended up taking the $250 Visa card. The man who was assigned to us for the sales meeting, stated that the 45,000 points are worth about a one night hotel stay and he would take the Visa card offer. So we did. Per your responses, maybe 45,000 points was the better deal. No worries, it’s all good.

 

[bizaro86]

Rule of thumb is about 85 cents per thousand bonvoy points, which would put the bonvoy points at about $365 in purchasing power. If you will definitely use them, then the points are probably the better deal.

TPG values Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, considerably below that number. And TPG is a for-profit business whose sole purpose is to get referral payments for people signing up for travel credit cards - they have no incentive to underestimate the value of points and every incentive to overestimate it.

Marriott devaluation: TPG analyzes the impact of Marriott's recent award pricing changes - The Points Guy

It's not just you; Marriott stays now cost more points. TPG's analysis will cover how much value Marriott points have lost and where you can still get the most value from your redemptions.

thepointsguy.com

The equivalency in their offer would be at 0.55 cents per point, which is probably about what they're actually worth, with the bonus of being much less flexible than cash.

Someone will be along shortly to tell you that they always get 1 cent per point, and if you would only ever stay in a marriott hotel even when its more expensive than comparable options and would never book a discounted rate then that might be reasonable to value them that way.

 

[n42]

45,000 points will get you 1 night at a mid-tier hotel valued at $200-250, but with less flexibility than a Visa gift card.

20,000 point rooms are generally around $100/night in my experience.

I won't attend a timeshare presentation unless they are paying me hundreds of dollars on a Visa gift card. Then I'll gladly give them my full attention for a couple of hours.

 

[dioxide45]

45,000 points on their own may not have a lot of utility. THe power of getting points from presentations is with multiple presentations and using all the points for a larger hotel/resort stay. The cash for us is of little value as Visa gift cards can also be a PIA to use. Especially for gas and restaurants.

 

[bnoble]

Which would you take?

Neither. I'd prefer to take a nice stroll and pay cash for a lovely dinner far far away from the sales machine's maw.

 

[DeniseM]

Nothing - Why waste your time in a miserable high-pressure sales meeting?

 

[GerryWA]

Nothing - Why waste your time in a miserable high-pressure sales meeting?

I went to one this past April after I got rid of my properties. Recieved $300 and salesperson could not get us out of there more faster. Final interview to get debit cards resulted in offer for 4 nights and another $300 card for $795. Looked at wife, she loves a Palm desert excursion, so I grabbed it. By the way the Palm Springs/Desert Zoo is worth the whole trip. Go early, 9am.