It is very interesting for me to read so many comments/opinions of various people. Some are accurate and some aren’t. A new timeshare owner is bound to be confused. If we can stick to what we know as fact and let make clear what we feel is either opinion or conjecture, that would make it easier for those following the thread.
First, there is a difference between Destination Points for timeshares and Bonvoy Points for hotels. Destination Points CANNOT BE DEVALUED by Marriott. The points are tied to real estate weeks. So if it takes 4000 points to stay in a 2 bedroom ocean view in Hawaii today, it will cost you the same 4000 points to stay in that unit 20 years from now. There will be no going up in points needed. I have been with my timeshare with Diamond Resorts and was with three previous developers before Diamond bought them and the points needed to reserve never increased. Where you get increases in Destination Points is in the maintenance fees. So that’s where they get there money, not changing the amount of points needed to reserve the unit.
As for the Bonvoy Points, those are for the hotels only and they can do whatever they wish and devalue them as they desire. What people seem to forget is that Bonvoy Points/Marriott Rewards Points are FREEBIES. You have not paid a dime/penny/nickel/dollar for them. They were GIVEN to you. Many of people get them not because money even came out of their pockets. Their jobs paid for the room and they get employee staying at the hotel gets the FREEIE. It’s interesting how people forget this. Some of these people even get indignant if the simplest of errors are made by the hotel like not saying they are Titanium and they have not used one red dime of theirs to attain that status. Those of us who are MVC owners are just as bad because we too forget that we bought a timeshare and the Bonvoy points are an EXTRA PERK not a part of our contract that we paid for. It is a nice to have FREEBIE that Marriott gave.
Marriott makes it very, very clear that they can change or even terminate the Bonvoy program. I personally have not spent and dime for my Bonvoy Points. I get them through updates, hotel stays that I not my company pays for but I don’t use hotels but maybe 5 or 6 nights out of a year. I buy everything I would normally buy and put it on the credit card. I need to pay my electric bill, I need to buy food and clothing. I put my needs on that card and pay it off. I was going to spend anyway. So my Bonvoy points are all FREEBIES and I recognize it as such.
So I don’t worry about Marriott devaluing THEIR points. Heck, I appreciate having free breakfasts and room nights on them. I have not paid one red cent to earn those points except using their brand. I believe there are many on this site who forget this very basic premise. We help Marriott rich, and they throw us some good bennies that we DO NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR. If we remember that and leave our entitlement mentality behind we can be happier.
If you don’t like Marriott, be like my wife and become a Diamond member with Hilton. She is definitely an entitled one, a downright Hilton snob!.