MVC Realistic Booking Timing and Availability?

[ccbry]

Hi everyone, I recently attended one of the MVC presentations during an Orlando stay and am seriously considering buying a small points package. I've done my own analysis following the presentation and have come to the conclusion with strategic booking practices (right resort location at the right time of year) you can actually save quite a bit through MVC vs. traditional booking methods or resellers. The Interval International membership also appears to be a huge perk when paying outright for properties in the portfolio.

So right now I'm sold that with strategic booking practices MVC can give you the opportunity to cost effectively travel to different parts of the country and world. My biggest and probably last outlying concern though is general availability. The salesperson said this is not an issue, but obviously they're not a reliable source for this topic.

I would appreciate any knowlege, key points that anyone has on this topic. Looking at the pure MVC resort listing, right off the bat there are at least 30 to 40 properties I'd be very satisfied to book in any given year. My fear now is that I'll sign up with MVC only to realize after the fact that there is truly only availability, even with 6 to 12 month advance booking, at a handful of locations. Then you become stuck visiting the same resort locations over and over, whereby some of them are not even a cost effective use of points. Does anyone have details on:

A) Do the majority of resorts in the MVC portfolio have availabilty with 6 to 12 month planning?

B) Is there a top tier of resorts that is very difficult to impossible to book without the 13 month advance booking window? And for resorts that are not in that top tier, can those generally be booked year round?

Thank you!

 

[claraj]

@ccbry Hi! Welcome to timesharing! I only know MVC and am a recent joiner (2023). With points, your best bet is to try and book as early as you can (12 months right when reservation opens at 9am or midnight, I can't remember) unless you are flexible with your travel and can book during off season. If you don't book at 12 months out, you can use the waitlist option. The next bet is as the 60 day before check-in window approaches, others will start releasing their reservations if they decide they can't go and want to avoid having their points in holding. I've had luck booking Costa Rica with points that way but it also meant checking multiple times during the day to see if anyone had released. The CAVEAT to all this is that the properties that are not in the US will be even more difficult to book with points. The reason is, in order for a property to be available to book with points is that the weeks are placed in a trust, which is not possible for non-US properties (Aruba, Mexico, Bahamas, Europe, etc.) These properties appear available for points booking only when an owner elects their week for MVC points. So yes, most US properties are available 12 months out. To answer your question to B), that would be non-US properties and there are other exceptions like Ritz Carlton properties unless you are a higher tier member will be difficult to book with points.

So my suggestion (and others will have their own take) is depending on where you want to go, first buy resale! You will save a lot of money. If you want to travel to non-US properties, buy a resale week and exchange in II. Also buy where you want to travel to often. I have a week in Costa Rica because I will be going there a lot and there's only 24 villas there. Even trading will not be so easy.

 

[Fasttr]

I would not even consider it unless you can consistently plan and be ready to book when the 12 month booking window opens. The further delayed your planning is past that 12 month point, the less availability, and less happiness you will find with timeshares in general. As for the 13 month points window, that can be hit or miss based on the resort. Per the controlling docs, MVC only releases "up to half" of the inventory at 13 months, and the rest at 12 months.....but I often see nothing released at 13 months at some resorts during some booking widows.

 

[rthib]

Also a good time to mention that the point package they offered, you can purchase points for resale at around $7/point (including paying the "junk fee")
So if you do decide that it will work for you, I would suggest looking at resale for your purchase.
After paying all the fees they are the same as points directly purchased from Marriott.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Others will chime in that if you buy points from Marriott you'll pay something between $15 and $18 per point. But if you buy on the secondary market you can buy the same points for around $7 per point (all in) and have the same privilege's and costs.

Me? I own "weeks" and it works out very well for me. I trade through Interval Intl. and trade primarily into other Marriott family resorts. My initial cost was very low and my cost per week of stay is much lower than if I had owned points. But perhaps my approach isn't what suites your needs.

 

[jp10558]

I'd suggest going to the new to timesharing forum and copying the questions from

"What to Buy" Questions for New Timeshare Owners

Here are some questions you can answer to focus your timeshare wants/needs. Suggestion - copy the questions below, and start a new thread entitled "My Survey" or "What should I buy?," or something similar, and answer the questions in a NEW thread. 1) Is there a vacation destination you wish...

tugbbs.com

into a new post there as first, MVC may or may not be the best fit for you and second points may or may not be that great an idea for you. It really depends.

It also helps to answer there somewhat about how you feel about cost vs quality vs availability. We tend to assume underlying a question like yours that you want the biggest cost differential in your favor while still getting a decent 2BR say . . .

 

[davidvel]

Hi everyone, I recently attended one of the MVC presentations during an Orlando stay and am seriously considering buying a small points package. I've done my own analysis following the presentation and have come to the conclusion with strategic booking practices (right resort location at the right time of year) you can actually save quite a bit through MVC vs. traditional booking methods or resellers. The Interval International membership also appears to be a huge perk when paying outright for properties in the portfolio.

So right now I'm sold that with strategic booking practices MVC can give you the opportunity to cost effectively travel to different parts of the country and world. My biggest and probably last outlying concern though is general availability. The salesperson said this is not an issue, but obviously they're not a reliable source for this topic.

I would appreciate any knowlege, key points that anyone has on this topic. Looking at the pure MVC resort listing, right off the bat there are at least 30 to 40 properties I'd be very satisfied to book in any given year. My fear now is that I'll sign up with MVC only to realize after the fact that there is truly only availability, even with 6 to 12 month advance booking, at a handful of locations. Then you become stuck visiting the same resort locations over and over, whereby some of them are not even a cost effective use of points. Does anyone have details on:

A) Do the majority of resorts in the MVC portfolio have availabilty with 6 to 12 month planning?

B) Is there a top tier of resorts that is very difficult to impossible to book without the 13 month advance booking window? And for resorts that are not in that top tier, can those generally be booked year round?

Thank you!

Since you have done your own analysis, give us some examples of your results that compare your intended travel between buying Abound points vs. other rental methods.

For example, what are specific trips you analyzed (dates/length, days of week, room size/view?) What is the point cost for that trip? What is the dollar cost over 20 years if you buy points to book that trip? What are other methods of getting the same trip (marriott.com/redweek/ TUGBBS, etc.) and the cost?

Unless your analysis included the above, you really have no idea if "you can actually save quite a bit through MVC vs. traditional booking methods or resellers." Also, only with specific examples can anyone answer whether it is easy or impossible to book such trips using points at various times.

 

[Fallenone]

I was in your position about 5 years ago and thinking about the same things. Over the years I found that it mostly worked out well for me when I bought at $9/point. But you really need to plan ahead. The most valuable properties ("right resort location at the right time of year") are hard to book once your check-in is within 12 months unless you are Executive or above ("small point package" doesn't sound like something that will be at least 7000 points) due to the booking system. You could still get OK value (getting your maintenance fee back and a little more compared to cash price for same property or hotels nearby of similar specs) for the rest of their portfolio and in my experience they are quite available even around 6 months out.

 

[Dean]

I'll pile on to say that if you can't plan AT LEAST 12 months in advance I wouldn't consider owning MVC (weeks or points). There are resorts and times that are almost certainly going to be nearly impossible to book. They're not hard two figure out though. One needs flexibility and I find that when most non timeshare people say they're flexible, they really aren't. To many flexible means this week or that in one or 2 resorts and that is not flexible enough to make it work IMO.

I love timesharing and find it works well for me but I'm flexible, proactive, realistic and plan up to 2 years out. IMO buying weeks is far better than points because of the costs and options available. Just spend time learning. You'll be able to figure out if it's a good choice for you and what the best options are. Also, don't forget there are other systems and one of those might be a better choice for many people.

 

[jp10558]

I love timesharing and find it works well for me but I'm flexible, proactive, realistic and plan up to 2 years out. IMO buying weeks is far better than points because of the costs and options available. Just spend time learning. You'll be able to figure out if it's a good choice for you and what the best options are. Also, don't forget there are other systems and one of those might be a better choice for many people.

The best way I've found to most easily enjoy TS is to go about booking "backwards" from how most people manage. I think I've said this before, and maybe in one of my videos too, but if you consider the various systems to be a "menu" you choose from then it works really well. You look at what's currently available and then book it. Easy Peasy, and usually cheap. The other thing you do like you say is have a list of places "you might want to go" with "months you'd be OK going there" and then each week/month look if one of those hits, and if it does, book it.

Finally, the most realistic method I've found is I just book stuff and then offer the second (and sometimes third) room to a list of people I'd like to travel with, and people either take it or leave it.

 

[Dean]

The best way I've found to most easily enjoy TS is to go about booking "backwards" from how most people manage. I think I've said this before, and maybe in one of my videos too, but if you consider the various systems to be a "menu" you choose from then it works really well. You look at what's currently available and then book it. Easy Peasy, and usually cheap. The other thing you do like you say is have a list of places "you might want to go" with "months you'd be OK going there" and then each week/month look if one of those hits, and if it does, book it.

Finally, the most realistic method I've found is I just book stuff and then offer the second (and sometimes third) room to a list of people I'd like to travel with, and people either take it or leave it.

II exchanges and points can work if you're VERY flexible but I do not feel it's an approach that justifies buying in for anyone new to timesharing. This approach means you're booking last minute or to lessor options for II and for mid level demand or less options in Abound. Mid level might be lower demand location during peak or higher demand locations in shoulder season.

 

[SkyBornDancer]

Personally, I've found the MVC Destination points system extremely annoying. Even booking ahead of time it is difficult to book longer stays because it's hard to book and combine shorter stays in the same room type. Also many properties only have certain room sizes. I much prefer to own week deeds where I want to stay and book those as soon as the window opens. The Trust has very limited elections and accountability and I suspect the maintenance and prices will increase due to MVC conflicts of interest and mismanagement.

 

[Dean]

Personally, I've found the MVC Destination points system extremely annoying. Even booking ahead of time it is difficult to book longer stays because it's hard to book and combine shorter stays in the same room type. Also many properties only have certain room sizes. I much prefer to own week deeds where I want to stay and book those as soon as the window opens. The Trust has very limited elections and accountability and I suspect the maintenance and prices will increase due to MVC conflicts of interest and mismanagement.

I find that weeks, points and exchanges complement each other. Each have their strength's and weaknesses. For me I use them each to their advantage like a jigsaw puzzle. I might book on points or a week then request an exchange for the same option as a substitute and kick the can down the road on the points or rent/take points on the week that the exchange replaced. I also use the points for volume for our family trip.