New Owner

[elked12]

Well We went to Aruba last week and fell in love with the place, so much so that we bit the bullet and bought a week at the Surf Club from Marriot! I know it was expensive but I really wanted the option to stay their for a week (or two with the lock off) or convert to points. It will close end of april so won't get the bonus points unit mid to end of May they said.
Would someone be able to look to see if there is any availability at the Marco Island Resort for week of June 30 to July 7th for me? I know it's prime time but I'll have 3000 pts to use and and am very flexible for the dates. Thanks in advance and so excited to be part of this club.

 

[vol_90]

No availability at this time

 

[elked12]

Thought so but you never know. Thanks for checking.

 

[JIMinNC]

Generally for summer and other high demand times, most Marriott resorts must be booked 12 months or so in advance. Sometimes there will be availability at the last minute within 30-60 days due to cancellations and such, but that is sorta like pot luck if you are very flexible.

 

[Fasttr]

^^^ Agreed. Ability to preplan and reserve at least a year out makes for a happy timeshare owner, and that generally goes for points or weeks.

 

[brianfox]

Welcome to TUG!
You purchased directly from Marriott? Are you past the rescission period? Whatever you paid, it would have been a fraction on the resale market.

 

[elked12]

Thank you for the info. I will be able to do that going forward once I'm in the system but my wife just got that week off unexpectly so we are looking for a place to go. Would the II last minute specials (can't remember what its called) work do you think or is it hopeless for the July 4th week?

 

[csalter2]

Thank you for the info. I will be able to do that going forward once I'm in the system but my wife just got that week off unexpectly so we are looking for a place to go. Would the II last minute specials (can't remember what its called) work do you think or is it hopeless for the July 4th week?

They are called Getaways. They are hit or miss. There’s no predicting on them.

 

[elked12]

Welcome to TUG!
You purchased directly from Marriott? Are you past the rescission period? Whatever you paid, it would have been a fraction on the resale market.

Yes but then you don't have the option to convert to points.

 

[Fasttr]

Welcome to TUG!
You purchased directly from Marriott? Are you past the rescission period? Whatever you paid, it would have been a fraction on the resale market.

But it would have been unenrollable from the resale market.

 

[jme]

Yes but then you don't have the option to convert to points.

but you'll be able to buy TWO resale weeks for that price, maybe three, then rent one out, and RENT points if you want.

That scenario actually presents more options.

 

[brianfox]

Correct, buyer would not be able to convert to points. And this is the only perk one gets for spending 10x versus resale. With that money, the buyer could have purchased multiple weeks at the same resort.

Look, I certainly don't want to come across as coming down on someone who just joined TUG. Sincere apologies if it sounds that way. Bottom line is if you are happy with your purchase, great!

We have people joining every single day who just purchased and now have a feeling of doubt in their stomach. They come asking if they got a good deal, and we point out the reality of what they purchased. 100% of those people rescind if they can or kick themselves if they are past the point.

Many TUGgers purchased from developers initially many years ago. Then they joined TUG and learned about resale. The salespeople certainly won't tell you that you could save a ton buying resale. And if you ask them about it, they will instantly tell you all about the points you will lose by buying resale.

When you buy resale, you can still:

• Lock off your unit
• Exchange your unit, or two units if you locked off (trade through II)
• Rent your unit (often for far more than your maintenance fees)
• Get full use of your week every year**

** This is a dirty secret about points. Let's say you own a week and you can get 3000 points for it through Marriott. That is probably not enough to even book a week at that same resort. Meaning if you had instead purchased 3000 points with the idea of staying at that resort every summer, you wouldn't have purchased enough points. We call that skim. And it is often over 10%.

Example: Let's say you own 2BR IV Marriott Ko Olina, and have the option of taking points. The number of points you could get every year is 4025.
If you were a weeks owner, you could reserve that every summer
If you instead purchased 4025 points from Marriott, guess what? You couldn't stay there every year no matter the season.
Even the lowest season costs 4050 points.
Summer costs 4575.

So buying into the points program is not only hugely expensive, you are buying into a program that is inherently devalued vs weeks.

 

[Fasttr]

We have people joining every single day who just purchased and now have a feeling of doubt in their stomach. They come asking if they got a good deal, and we point out the reality of what they purchased. 100% of those people rescind if they can or kick themselves if they are past the point.

Didn't see any doubt in the OP's initial post. Sounded pretty exited to me....why throw water on them because they don't see things the same way you do.

 

[dgf15215]

Because it makes sense?

 

[brianfox]

Didn't see any doubt in the OP's initial post. Sounded pretty exited to me....why throw water on them because they don't see things the same way you do.

Look, I certainly don't want to come across as coming down on someone who just joined TUG. Sincere apologies if it sounds that way. Bottom line is if you are happy with your purchase, great!

 

[VacationForever]

Marriott is unique in that buying from Marriott directly can make sense if the purchase is for a hybrid package or to bring a resale week into their points system when they have a promo for the latter. Many of us go in with our eyes wide open and decide it works for us. This is unlike other systems where a rescind recommendation is usually correct.

 

[brianfox]

Marriott is unique in that buying from Marriott directly can make sense if the purchase is for a hybrid package or to bring a resale week into their points system when they have a promo for the latter. Many of us go in with our eyes wide open and decide it works for us. This is unlike other systems where a rescind recommendation is usually correct.

Absolutely agree that those instances could make sense. In this case, I made the assumption it was a person with no existing weeks in their possession.

 

[elked12]

Thank you for all the input everyone. I did research before buying and for Us the hybrid works because some years we'll want to stay in Aruba for one or two weeks and other years we will take 3 - 4 Sunday to Friday vacations throughout the year. Should I say the what it costs me and what bonuses I received or is that bad TUGG etiquette?

 

[Fasttr]

Thank you for all the input everyone. I did research before buying and for Us the hybrid works because some years we'll want to stay in Aruba for one or two weeks and other years we will take 3 - 4 Sunday to Friday vacations throughout the year. Should I say the what it costs me and what bonuses I received or is that bad TUGG etiquette?

You may....no etiquette violation. ;-)

 

[elked12]

Paid just under $10/pt for a 2 bedroom at the Aruba Surf Club Oceanside (2020 use year starting Jan. 1st). And received 6150 bonus points which I can use this year as soon as they get deposited after closing. Can convert to 3075 pts each year. Expensive I know but hopefully it'll work for Us.

 

[JIMinNC]

Thank you for all the input everyone. I did research before buying and for Us the hybrid works because some years we'll want to stay in Aruba for one or two weeks and other years we will take 3 - 4 Sunday to Friday vacations throughout the year. Should I say the what it costs me and what bonuses I received or is that bad TUGG etiquette?

Yes, since the Aruba weeks bought from Marriott come enrolled in the Points system, you have a big advantage over the typical TUG recommendation to rescind a developer purchase. Certainly you paid a lot more than buying a resale week, but your purchase comes with considerably more flexibility than those cheaper resale weeks that cannot be converted to points. Only you can know whether that flexibility is worth the extra cost. You will have the flexibility to use your week as a traditional week in Aruba, but then in those years when you don't go there, the points offer so many more options than a simple resale week. With the resale week, your only ways to go other places are to try to trade in Interval International (many TUGgers don't mind the Interval trading model, but we dislike the process), or to try to rent your week and use the cash to rent a reservation. We prefer the ease of use of points over these two options, and I predict you will also, as long as you can plan ahead and are flexible. Resale weeks are a great way to visit a specific resort on a regular basis inexpensively - and we own resale weeks for that specific purpose - but to sample other locations, we strongly prefer Points to trading weeks through Interval International.

Paid just under $10/pt for a 2 bedroom at the Aruba Surf Club Oceanside (2020 use year starting Jan. 1st). And received 6150 bonus points which I can use this year as soon as they get deposited after closing. Can convert to 3075 pts each year. Expensive I know but hopefully it'll work for Us.

If all you own is the Aruba week worth 3075 points, just remember as a "Standard" owner you can't book those shorter Sunday-Friday vacations until 10 months out (you can book a full week 12 months out). If you are flexible and don't need holiday weeks, you should still find stuff available, but by 10 months out, many high demand time periods may be booked.

 

[elked12]

Thank you for the heads up JIMinNC. We are very flexible so I don't see a problem. I may add resale weeks in the future and have a mixture.....is that a good idea or would purchasing or renting points be the better way to go?

 

[Fasttr]

Thank you for the heads up JIMinNC. We are very flexible so I don't see a problem. I may add resale weeks in the future and have a mixture.....is that a good idea or would purchasing or renting points be the better way to go?

Now that you are in the game, I would just rent what additional points you need in the years you need them. Easy peasy and a way to leverage your initial investment into virtually an unlimited amount of vacation nights with no additional upfront outlay, only pay to rent the points at a slight premium over what your maintenance fee would be if you owned more points or weeks, but without the lifetime commitment.

 

[csalter2]

Paid just under $10/pt for a 2 bedroom at the Aruba Surf Club Oceanside (2020 use year starting Jan. 1st). And received 6150 bonus points which I can use this year as soon as they get deposited after closing. Can convert to 3075 pts each year. Expensive I know but hopefully it'll work for Us.

I am not clear on what you bought from your posts. Did you buy just one gold week 2 bdrm week from Marriott at the Aruba Surf Club, or did you buy that week and an additional 3000 points which would would then be a hybrid.

If you bought just the one week, it’s not such a good deal. It is not a good deal, because with only 3075 per point, your weeks maintenance fees are higher per point at .60 while pure points are at .58 per point. So when you elect to use points, just understand that you are paying more for them by buying that week. If you owned a week worth more points at Aruba Surf Club worth 4075 then your maintenance fees would look better at .45 per point and if you needed to you could rent your points from anywhere from . 60 to .70 per point and come out ahead on your maintenance fees. Thus, looking at your purchase a resale week would have been more economical even without the points election because you’re paying more in maintenance fees each year than your would just buying pure points.

I write this not passing judgement on your purchase from Marriott. I bought two of them from Marriott last year so I don’t have a bias toward resale weeks. However, you have to look at apples to apples as much as possible to make the comparison.

You wrote that you received 6150 bonus points that’s an odd number of bonus points If you in fact bought a week and some Destination Points, that would be reasonable, but $10/pt for a hybrid expensive when most people get around $7-8 per point for their hybrid direct form Marriott.

I know it’s probably too late to rescind, but just wanted to review the numbers with you. You are going to have fun! Enjoy your purchase and the flexibility to you have. You only live once.

 

[elked12]

Sorry for the confusion. I purchased the 2 bedroom at Aruba Surf Club Oceanside which can be converted each year to 3075 points if we don't want to go to Aruba.
The Bonus points were a year's worth for this year to use and another year's worth to use in 2020 in addition to being able to use my 2 bedroom in Aruba (or convert that to points as well for 2020).