Bundle Purchase - Think we want to rescind

[csalter2]

Ju

Just got off the phone with Central sales. Aruba Surf Club platinum week was offered to me for 45K worth 4,070 points enrolled.

I tried getting her to give me info on any new program but she said no one knows as of now and they are all waiting. She admitted they had no idea and they all assume there will be something like no fee exchange possible in the near future but they expect/hope for something within the year, Since synergy is what MVC has said they wanted. Then she mentioned how the DC program was rolled out and how it affected resale weeks back then and who knows if that would apply to a new program for vistana weeks. She didn’t sell me on “buying now” to be in the program before prices go up like we’ve heard from sales reps at resorts, but she did sell me on buying now because of the large point incentive they are offering. A large incentive they have never offered before.

She said a hybrid week comes with two maint fees and the best way in was the Aruba enrolled week since it had a maint fee of around 1800 for 4k enrolled points. Keep in mind that’s what i led with, so it’s easy to sell someone on what they asked for. However, We are looking at other options. She did say that if I bought the Aruba week who knows about the future, but the current ownership i have now with VSE could bring me over the executive level if there is enrollment of resale weeks.

Then she hit me with the villas of Distinction which kind of has me hooked. What are we looking at with VOD? Anyone have success with that?

I purchased the same week last week for $10,000 less. I bought it for the 4070 DC points to which it elects. Plus, the maintenance fee to points price is lower than pure DC points.

 

[CPNY]

I purchased the same week last week for $10,000 less. I bought it for the 4070 DC points to which it elects. Plus, the maintenance fee to points price is lower than pure DC points.

Did you negotiate or was that the first price they threw out at you? I can guarantee I will not be spending 45K on it. I’d rather put that down on a lake house and own a place i can use all year round and continue with my existing ownerships. I’ll hang on to see if they offer an enrollment like that did with resale weeks when DC was rolled out

 

[csalter2]

Well as she said, MVC does not negotiate on price, but if I buy two weeks they will try to get a discount. 45k is too high, I’ll stick it out and hope they allow me to enroll current weeks I own (hopefully a developer week isn’t needed since I sold mine). she mentioned they are working things out to make it “fair for all”. Let’s just hope Orlando properties aren’t worthless if enrolled.

I used central sales they will negotiate prices with a large purchase. That’s was the case for me. They knew my bottom line and worked toward it.

 

[CPNY]

I used central sales they will negotiate prices with a large purchase. That’s was the case for me. They knew my bottom line and worked toward it.

That’s who I’m speaking with. I guess I’ll push harder. I was in listen mode and throwing out hypothetical situations. At first I was like meh, until she started talking about villas of distinction. Now I’m all about 7K points at least lol. Ever book those villas?

 

[csalter2]

Did you negotiate or was that the first price they threw out at you? I can guarantee I will not be spending 45K on it. I’d rather put that down on a lake house and own a place i can use all year round and continue with my existing ownerships. I’ll hang on to see if they offer an enrollment like that did with resale weeks when DC was rolled out

Initially, they offered me too buy both St. Kitts and Aruba week’s. Aruba was significantly more expensive. During the three months of negotiations over the summer their offers got better and better. However, I did not like St. Kitts but they knew I preferred Aruba. My salesman got his boss who told me some new discounted pricing “might” be taking place. She emailed me with a lower price on the Aruba week that was now within what I was willing to spend.

 

[csalter2]

That’s who I’m speaking with. I guess I’ll push harder. I was in listen mode and throwing out hypothetical situations. At first I was like meh, until she started talking about villas of distinction. Now I’m all about 7K points at least lol. Ever book those villas?

I have never booked them, but they are very expensive points wise.

 

[CPNY]

Initially, they offered me too buy both St. Kitts and Aruba week’s. Aruba was significantly more expensive. During the three months of negotiations over the summer their offers got better and better. However, I did not like St. Kitts but they knew I preferred Aruba. My salesman got his boss who told me some new discounted pricing “might” be taking place. She emailed me with a lower price on the Aruba week that was now within what I was willing to spend.

Yeah I think I’ll string them along and see where the road takes me. In the end i have 3 ownerships with vistana so I’m ok. I’d need to jump into DC with at least. 4K points.

 

[CPNY]

I have never booked them, but they are very expensive points wise.

I figured they would be expensive. My lord, I was on the website drooling. That’s the kind of system I want to buy into.

 

[csalter2]

Yeah I think I’ll string them along and see where the road takes me. In the end i have 3 ownerships with vistana so I’m ok. I’d need to jump into DC with at least. 4K points.

I’m not sure why you’re being so quick to buy the points before seeing what points you Vistana weeks will bring once enrolled.

 

[csalter2]

I figured they would be expensive. My lord, I was on the website drooling. That’s the kind of system I want to buy into.

They are nice!

 

[CPNY]

I’m not sure why you’re being so quick to buy the points before seeing what points you Vistana weeks will bring once enrolled.

Well I sold harborside I would think that would bring decent value. I still have my mothers i can take over if need be. The others are Orlando, I wouldn’t expect them to be assigned a large amount of points. But I guess you have a point, I can always add on. IF that’s even what will happen

 

[cp73]

Why don't you rescind and just rent the additional points you need each year since your already enrolled. It would be a lot less expensive. You can rent all the points you ever will need.

 

[kds4]

Yeah I think I’ll string them along and see where the road takes me. In the end i have 3 ownerships with vistana so I’m ok. I’d need to jump into DC with at least. 4K points.

Just curious, but what is the significance of needing a minimum of 4k points?

 

[Dean]

$45,640 was the offer, the discount on the week isn’t a big difference she said and I’ll save on the maint fee which was 1800. It was an ocean-view and the incentive was “gigantic”. Because of the 35th anniversary they are giving an incentive of 9K total points plus the financing incentive for an additional 4K points.

In March the 3BR OV Platinum was $47100

That’s who I’m speaking with. I guess I’ll push harder. I was in listen mode and throwing out hypothetical situations. At first I was like meh, until she started talking about villas of distinction. Now I’m all about 7K points at least lol. Ever book those villas?

Cash type options, like cruise or other exchanges, are never going to be a good return. Too much inefficiency in the process. About the best you can hope for is to get your dues back on the points. I've look at cruises and they tend to be around 34¢ pp and Collette travel which tends to be around 44¢ pp. Why don't you just wait and see what happens with the consolidation?

 

[CPNY]

In March the 3BR OV Platinum was $47100

Cash type options, like cruise or other exchanges, are never going to be a good return. Too much inefficiency in the process. About the best you can hope for is to get your dues back on the points. I've look at cruises and they tend to be around 34¢ pp and Collette travel which tends to be around 44¢ pp. Why don't you just wait and see what happens with the consolidation?

I prob wouldn’t do any tours, that’s not my style and as far as cruises I wouldn’t do those either. I think waiting and seeing is probably the best bet

 

[CPNY]

Just curious, but what is the significance of needing a minimum of 4k points?

After looking at the points chart, most of the places I’d want to go in the accommodation I need would be around 4K points. Plus might as well get into it as a select owner at the very least

 

[Fasttr]

After looking at the points chart, most of the places I’d want to go in the accommodation I need would be around 4K points. Plus might as well get into it as a select owner at the very least

I think you need 7K points to get at the Villas of Distinction. I say that as you seemed to have an interest in those. https://www.marriottvacationsworldwide.com/common/cms/mvc/pdfs/owners/Owner-Benefit-Level.pdf

 

[CPNY]

I think you need 7K points to get at the Villas of Distinction. I say that as you seemed to have an interest in those. https://www.marriottvacationsworldwide.com/common/cms/mvc/pdfs/owners/Owner-Benefit-Level.pdf

Yeah I saw that too. 7K point buy in, off the bat isn’t going to happen right now. However, as many have pointed out, might as well wait to see if they allow an enrollment with my current Vistana ownership at some point. All of this is a nice to have, not a need to have. I grew up without airbnb but have definitely been bitten by the airbnb bug a long time ago. It’s my preferred way of travel these days. Villas of distinction is the type of way I’d love to use my ownership in many destinations. In the Caribbean I still prefer a resort.

 

[JIMinNC]

Why don't you rescind and just rent the additional points you need each year since your already enrolled. It would be a lot less expensive. You can rent all the points you ever will need.

I can't speak for the OP or Carlito, but we also want to add to our points over the next year or so. Point rentals are a great tool to supplement your owned points in specific situations where you need more than you own, but I don't personally see them as a replacement for owning points. You can't bank or borrow rented points, so you have to be very careful in how many points you rent for each year. Also, if you have to cancel a reservation, you risk losing the rented points since they can't be banked. We are trying to always be in a position where we are borrowing points for current year reservations, that way if we have to cancel, we have the option to use the freed-up points all the way to their original expiration date. You do not have that flexibility with rented points.

Yes, renting allows someone to avoid the up-front cost, but at a significant loss in flexibility. Our philosophy is to own the amount that we are confident we can use each year, and then rent to supplement that for years when we need more. Right now, we don't have enough points to do what we want to do in the coming years. We're going to need to either add resale points, buy an enrolled Aruba week from Marriott, or take advantage of a future post-2010 "amnesty" promo to enroll our two EOY Hawaii weeks. We weren't able to take advantage of the recent summer enrollment promo since our Waiohai week didn't close soon enough to meet the 2/28/2019 cut-off date.

While there are better deals than what the OP was sold, as Carlito’s example shows and as was discussed in the other thread, rescinding is not always the right answer. The OP should probably rescind and look for a better deal, but point rentals may not be the answer, depending on how they value the benefits of owning.

 

[csalter2]

I can't speak for the OP or Carlito, but we also want to add to our points over the next year or so. Point rentals are a great tool to supplement your owned points in specific situations where you need more than you own, but I don't personally see them as a replacement for owning points. You can't bank or borrow rented points, so you have to be very careful in how many points you rent for each year. Also, if you have to cancel a reservation, you risk losing the rented points since they can't be banked. We are trying to always be in a position where we are borrowing points for current year reservations, that way if we have to cancel, we have the option to use the freed-up points all the way to their original expiration date. You do not have that flexibility with rented points.

Yes, renting allows someone to avoid the up-front cost, but at a significant loss in flexibility. Our philosophy is to own the amount that we are confident we can use each year, and then rent to supplement that for years when we need more. Right now, we don't have enough points to do what we want to do in the coming years. We're going to need to either add resale points, buy an enrolled Aruba week from Marriott, or take advantage of a future post-2010 "amnesty" promo to enroll our two EOY Hawaii weeks. We weren't able to take advantage of the recent summer enrollment promo since our Waiohai week didn't close soon enough to meet the 2/28/2019 cut-off date.

While there are better deals than what the OP was sold, as Carlito’s example shows and as was discussed in the other thread, rescinding is not always the right answer. The OP should probably rescind and look for a better deal, but point rentals may not be the answer, depending on how they value the benefits of owning.

I was faced with the same decision last year trying to decide if I wanted to actually buy more time or rent more time. For the very reasons you stated, I bought more time. However the difference to me was that I was already an owner and had a pretty good understanding of the Marriott system after 15 years of ownership with Marriott. CPNY is not in the system yet and does not know what his weeks will be worth once they are brought into the DC system. I think he should wait to see what his point election is and learn the system prior to buying more points. Renting is a good option initially.

 

[Dean]

I prob wouldn’t do any tours, that’s not my style and as far as cruises I wouldn’t do those either. I think waiting and seeing is probably the best bet

But the point was that ALL cash type options where they have to convert points to cash are not a good value whether events, Villas of Distinction, Resort credits, cruises or tours. It's nice to have options if you get stuck but I'd look carefully at the return per point when doing so and I wouldn't count these as value when buying.

 

[CPNY]

But the point was that ALL cash type options where they have to convert points to cash are not a good value whether events, Villas of Distinction, Resort credits, cruises or tours. It's nice to have options if you get stuck but I'd look carefully at the return per point when doing so and I wouldn't count these as value when buying.

That makes sense. I guess I had blinders on just looking at those villas online. I guess it’s a good alternative as you said if you have to use points somehow or a once in a while thing rather than take a complete loss. Thanks!

 

[JIMinNC]

That makes sense. I guess I had blinders on just looking at those villas online. I guess it’s a good alternative as you said if you have to use points somehow or a once in a while thing rather than take a complete loss. Thanks!

I agree with Dean. The things like Explorer Collection, Villas of Distinction, etc. are good values for people who already own a lot of points - maybe people who owned multiple weeks prior to June 2010 when the DC started and were able to enroll these weeks for cheap. Some of these people are now Chairmans level with a bunch of enrolled points, sometimes with fairly low maintenance fee costs per point if their weeks were Platinum in good locations. For those folks, the cost in points might compare well to cash costs, and certainly it might make sense if they wanted to do something like that one year in lieu of regular resort vacations. But I think a cost comparison would probably show that actually buying points just to access these benefits might not model out very well.

 

[Steve Fatula]

But the point was that ALL cash type options where they have to convert points to cash are not a good value whether events, Villas of Distinction, Resort credits, cruises or tours. It's nice to have options if you get stuck but I'd look carefully at the return per point when doing so and I wouldn't count these as value when buying.

I disagree with this, have you reviewed all the options for all of those? I suspect not.

I have found some very good deals on ThirdHome.

 

[Dean]

I disagree with this, have you reviewed all the options for all of those? I suspect not.

I have found some very good deals on ThirdHome.

I've looked at a lot of them and evaluated a number of them on a pp basis. But it may be you'll find an outlier that gives a reasonable return, that's why I said to evaluate the return to see.