How much do you spend on Marriott Maintenance Fees?

[brianfox]

I think your numbers here are a bit optimistic. I've traveled to different islands three times over the last several summers and never paid over $600, sometimes even getting it under $500. If you're going to compare the super-cheap point rate you should compare it to the lowest available cash fare to be consistent.

Also, from June to August I see only 4 days (all in August) where there is availability for LAX-HNL at the lowest AA miles rate, which is apparently the only one eligible for the 12.5k BA rate. I don't know what the overall availability is when planning ahead but it looks pretty limited based on my brief research.

It is interesting to know about the BA trick so thank you for that. I'll go out on a limb and assume they will change their rules in the near future to mirror what other airlines have done where the miles requirement changes along with the cash rate.

I agree with you, and I am using the fare that corresponds to the low points. I've been personally tracking this for our last 5 trips to Hawaii in summer. It's been pretty consistent. What has NOT been consistent is the availability of the seats. Used to be that you could reserve that 12.5K seat in January for a July trip. Nowadays that deal may appear for just a single day here and there up until June. Then in mid-June, the seats become plentiful. British Airways releases 7 seats at a time.

One tool I have found invaluable is ExpertFlyer. It's a subscription service, but you can set up a search for, say, 4 super-saver seats on AA. They will check every day and Email when they are available. Then you grab them. But this year I got zero notifications even up until now, so seats are definitely getting harder to find. It will be interesting to see how the Volcano affects HI travel this year.

 

[SMB1]

"Commercial activity" restrictions, lottery systems for reservations of high-demand intervals, restricting consecutive-year reservations for high-demand intervals, etc ... there are a number of items that MVW could choose to implement in order to more fairly distribute the high-demand floating intervals among all eligible owners. I think I'm remembering like you are that the 2010 update mentioned a few specifically but many have been written into the governing docs from the inception of each resort. It appears that the later a resort opened, the more of these restrictions are in the docs - for example, SurfWatch's has all the things I mentioned plus more.

I would hate to see some of these restrictions. Those of us who work the system, call and are on the website the exact moment reservations open up for a desired week or check several times a day until a desired reservation is available, would be limited to lower demand weeks and others who may not be so aggressive in planning and reserving weeks might get those weeks. Just because of a lottery? Or because I worked hard last year too? Seems like reverse discrimination.

I like that owners have the right to privately rent out their ownerships and I've taken advantage of that right - nowhere near the extent that you could call what I do a commercial venture, but for several years recently I've done rentals that covered-plus my MF's via an established broker.* I wouldn't want to see that ability go away but I definitely think something needs to be done about the mega-renters who monopolize high-demand intervals, especially when you consider that owner rentals are becoming much more commonplace via social media. When it gets to the point that owners aren't able to book floating intervals similarly to the established pattern they'd previously enjoyed, it's a problem.

This I agree with.

 

[TravelTime]

We fly from SFO to all islands in Hawaii for approx $500 round trip. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

 

[pedro47]

TravelTime, H E L P!!!

What airlines do you use? Please name all. Thanks for your assistance on this subject. We liked to travel from late March to the end of May and also from October to mid December.

We want to vacation two (2) consecutive weeks in Hawaii.

Sounds liked we need to fly from the east coast and stay a couple days/nights in San Francisco before and after visiting Hawaii.

 

[TravelTime]

TravelTime, H E L P!!!

What airlines do you use? Please name all. Thanks for your assistance on this subject. We liked to travel from late March to the end of May and also from October to mid December.

We want to vacation two (2) consecutive weeks in Hawaii.

Sounds liked we need to fly from the east coast and stay a couple days/nights in San Francisco before and after visiting Hawaii.

We have traveled from SFO and SJC to all the islands of Hawaii on United, American, Alaska Air and Hawaii Air. United or Alaska Air tend to be our preferred airlines from SFO and SJC. I just look for the best deal. I rarely use points for flying to Hawaii bc we save our points for Business First Class for long distance nonstop flights. With Hawaii, you need to book at least 6 months in advance to get prices at or under $500 RT. We last flew to Oahu in Hawaiian Air for under $500 pp round trip but we did not like the airplane bc it did not have wifi and the plane seemed old.

 

[pedro47]

To TravelTime Thanks for the information.

 

[StevenTing]

Getting back to the original topic, up to this point, we have 141 people that have participated in the poll. Using $1000 for the lowest tier and the minimum amount for the others, Tuggers that participated in the poll pay at least $740,000 in maintenance fees per year to Marriott.

 

[TravelTime]

Getting back to the original topic, up to this point, we have 141 people that have participated in the poll. Using $1000 for the lowest tier and the minimum amount for the others, Tuggers that participated in the poll pay at least $740,000 in maintenance fees per year to Marriott.

And this does not include MFs paid to Vistana or Hyatt which are now part of the MVC family.

 

[dioxide45]

And this does not include MFs paid to Vistana or Hyatt which are now part of the MVC family.

Not officially part of it yet.

 

[TravelTime]

Not officially part of it yet.

Yes, I know. I just meant that if Steve included Vistana and Hyatt MFs in his calculations, it would probably double his minimum calculation. If the point is to show how TUG members support MVC, then once they officially merge, Steve could make an even more powerful statement!

 

[frank808]

To add some humor to Steve that started this poll.

We pay too much in mf every December as my checking account hurts . Well actually Jan as I charge it then have to pay for it in Jan.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Fasttr]

Getting back to the original topic, up to this point, we have 141 people that have participated in the poll. Using $1000 for the lowest tier and the minimum amount for the others, Tuggers that participated in the poll pay at least $740,000 in maintenance fees per year to Marriott.

And to put that into perspective.... that equates to the annual electricity expense line item at Grande Ocean resort. So 1 expense line item at 1 resort. Shows how small of a sample our little corner of the world here at TUG really is.

 

[Mroze]

I know that many of us are savvy in the ways of Marriott and have many weeks/points in the system. I've added up all of my maintenance fees and I'm paying about $11,000 per year. I wanted to get a feel of how invested people are with Marriott.

The poll should be anonymous.

TOTAL: $14262.32 [Marriott + Vistana]
Marriott: $7305.83 [5500-DCP] + [1 x MKO-2BR-EY] + [1 x MRD-2BR-EY]
Westin: $6956.49 [3 x WLR-2BR-EOY] + [3 x WKV-2BR-EY]
All of the above weeks are Platinum/Platinum+ Peak-Season.

In addition we spend between $2K - $3K in Interval-Fees [Exchange + E-Plus + Size-Upgrade]

The above gets us about 15-Weeks [after locking-off] of vacation every year.​