1000 Marriott Points for $15,180

[SteveinHNL]

We are visiting friends at the Westin Desert Willow. They attended an obligatory Marriott points presentation and are considering Marriott’s offer to buy 1,000 “deeded” points for a total cost of $15,180. They would get 2,000 bonus points as well as “gold for life,” which I assume is Bonvoy status? Their annual MF is $630 plus club fees of $230 for a total of $860 per year. They were also told that they will never have to pay Interval exchange fees because Marriott owns Interval. I don’t know whether Interval exchange fees are waived for Marriott Club Points owners.

My sense is that 1,000 points won’t buy them very much. May I hear some feedback from TUGgers as to how good or bad of a deal this is and some resale sites where I could show them what the same points would cost on the resale market? I can’t seem to find Marriott points on Redweek.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Fasttr]

Do they have other enrolled weeks, or would this be their only assets in the points program.

 

[SteveinHNL]

Do they have other enrolled weeks, or would this be their only assets in the points program.

Their first timeshare ever.

 

[vacationtime1]

1000 points is not enough to do anything. Here is a points chart: https://vacationpointexchange.com/pointschart/points_charts_2023.pdf

They are selling 1000 points to get a foot in the door. They are offering 2000 one-time "bonus" points so you don't immediately notice that you didn't buy enough to do anything. Then they will try to sell you more points.

You can buy points on the resale market for ~$4/point, and once you pay Marriott its $3/point "education fee", the resale points will work the same as the points they are trying to sell for $16/point.

 

[Fasttr]

Way too few points points to book more than a few midweek nights at desired resorts at peak times. Have them study the points chart above.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Buy resale, save thousands of dollars. Please advise your friends to walk away.

 

[DRH90277]

Considering - they have probably signed to buy and will have recission period of usually 10 days. They may need to rescind quickly.

* Slow down - Points sell for a list price of $16.40 per point right now and once bought, they are worth about $3 in the resale market. You could buy resale points for less than $3 per point and pay the $3 per point in junk fees (minimum of $3,000). You are buying enough to do this at the minimum. See "Buy resale" below as a better alternative.
* Interval fees - Right and wrong - they will not need to pay Interval for the membership. However, they will have to pay an annual Destinations fee based upon their level which includes coverage for Interval.
* 1,000 points - They should look at what they can do with 1,000 points - two weekday nights at Newport Coast prime summer season. The 2,000 VCP's they will be given at the outset will be gone and they will be left with not enough points to do much.
* Rental - They could use this same $15,000 to rent a prime summer week at Newport Coast each year for 5 years plus they would not pay any maintenance fees.
* Buy Resale - This $15,000 would be more than enough to buy a resale Newport Coast Platinum Week for about $10,000 with annual maintenance fees of $1,500. Rental is about twice the maintenance fees for a platinum good season week.
* Try it out - Buy the resale week and try out timeshare. If you don't like timeshare, you can sell it for the same $10,000 on Redweek - no loss. This week could be used, traded through Interval ($99 annual membership), rented out for about $2,800 per year, or resold to recover your cost.
* There are other Marriott timeshares like Newport - just buy a good one in a good season for better use, easy rental, etc. Newport Coast, OceanWatch, Hilton Head properties, Timber Lodge.......I'm only mentioning the ones I like best.

* Go to Redweek.com to explore rentals and sales in the resale market.

We bought a couple more OceanWatch units this year because there is no difference in vacation use - nobody cares. The flexibility of the points system "as a currency" is about the only difference - but we rent out our resales and rent back what we want.

 

[SteveinHNL]

1000 points is not enough to do anything. Here is a points chart: https://vacationpointexchange.com/pointschart/points_charts_2023.pdf

There are selling 1000 points to get a foot in the door. They are offering 2000 one-time "bonus" points so you don't immediately notice that you didn't buy enough to do anything. Then they will try to sell you more points.

You can buy points on the resale market for ~$4/point, and once you pay Marriott its $3/point "education fee", the resale points will work the same as the points they are trying to sell for $16/point.

What is the $3/point “education fee” For?

 

[JIMinNC]

What is the $3/point “education fee” For?

The $3/point fee is actually called an “activation fee” and is Marriott’s fee to authorize the points for full use in the system. Otherwise usage rights are very limited.

 

[SteveinHNL]

Considering - they have probably signed to buy and will have recission period of usually 10 days. They may need to rescind quickly.

They have not signed anything. I happened to call them during the actual presentation and told them “tell the salesperson I told you not to buy anything until you talk to me,” which gave them an out the salesperson didn’t enjoy (“what does he know?” She asked). I told him there’s no rush, the same deal will be available tomorrow, next week, and in 6 months.

 

[SteveinHNL]

Thanks for all your helpful replies. We are sitting at the breakfast table and you are sharing this info with them directly as they read them on my iPad.

 

[luv_maui]

Can resale points move you up levels (ie presidential to chairman) or must they be purchased from developer. What is market rental rate if one is short points for a trip?

 

[rthib]

Can resale points move you up levels (ie presidential to chairman) or must they be purchased from developer. What is market rental rate if one is short points for a trip?

Yes to move up. Once you pay the $3 education/junk fee they are treated like developer points. That is how I moved up level.
Rental rates vary but usually MF cost or less. Vacation Points exchange is a good place to look to get an idea of rental cost

Vacation Point Exchange

Maximizing your vacation experience

vacationpointexchange.com

 

[DRH90277]

The $3/point fee is actually called an “activation fee” and is Marriott’s fee to authorize the points for full use in the system. Otherwise usage rights are very limited.

Emphasize that the $3 fee per point is right with a minimum $3,000 fee.

 

[Al Savage]

One of the frustrating aspects of self-educating on timeshares is that people use so many different terms and acronyms, sometimes to using the same term to describe different things, that one gets confused when trying to make sense of what you're reading. For myself, it's been work to parse what people type and make sense of a framework that starts out complex and is made more complex by using alternate terms correctly and correct terms incorrectly.

from the Marriott Destination Club/Abound Points-System FAQ & Guide:

Marriott Abound Points System Information, FAQ & Guide

ADMIN NOTE: This first section has been updated on June 2025 by TUG member @Hindsite - Please be sure to thank them for their efforts in bringing this first section to modern times! This thread has been updated to reflect the changes relating to the implementation of the Abound By Marriott...

tugbbs.com

---
~~ Re-selling / Transferring Ownership of MVCD Trust Points and Enrolled Weeks ~~

DC Trust Points may be resold through any of the typical timeshare resales sites; Marriott is not currently buying back or brokering DC Points resales.

If stipulated fees are paid, full usage rights will transfer upon a resale to the buyer/new owner of DC Trust Points. Such fees include but may not be limited to:

• $750/BI (i.e. 250 Points) with a minimum $3,000.00 Initiation Fee;
• $300 Owner Education Fee;
• $95 ROFR Fee;
• $25/BI Transfer Fee; etc.

---
Veterans who can write clearly: please correct my mistakes below. Please excuse the multiple nested parentheticals; not my best writing.

After (during transfer) purchasing resale ("not retail", "not developer") DC ("Destination Club", "Marriott Vacation Club", "DP", "Destination Points", "VC", "Vacation Points", etc.) points, Marriott requires some flat-rate fees that include the "Education Fee" but also the ROFR ("Right of First Refusal": Marriott gets to buy the points if they want, instead of you) fee.

The BI (not defined in the FAQ above, but BI = "Beneficial Interest", shorthand for 250 point units) fees round out to about $3/point -- it used to be less, go figure! -- which is the number people quote as shorthand when advising to buy resale: $~4/point on average right now + $3/point "junk fees" ie non-flat-rate fees such as ROFR + BI Transfer fee.

I'm less certain about the various kinds of points, as well as the different status of points (Hold, banked, etc.) but since I don't use points and am not currently interested in them -- I only vacation in two places regularly -- I haven't had to come up to speed with the ins-and-outs of points.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

What is the $3/point “education fee” For?

Profit.........




.

 

[Al Savage]

If I understand the game correctly, it props up the floor of resale points' value to the price point where Marriott will sell them as part of a "hybrid bundle" when Marriott sells weeks, allowing new purchasers of old weeks to participate in the MVC DC program. I understand that Marriott sells these points near the $7/pt price point in that situation.

 

[chunkygal]

Does any one know about any other thread concerning the current sales presentation about buying "a Bundle"
Seems like a bad idea to me. They presented it as "don't pay any more maintenance fees" But to me if I have to book a week and VRBO it every year, that seems like more work than I want to do, especially with limited inventory lately even at 13 months out. And what about if I don't want the Orlando week "points generator" any more, will it still be enrolled?
Still seems like a better idea to buy resale points if I want to move up in level.

 

[TravelTime]

Does any one know about any other thread concerning the current sales presentation about buying "a Bundle"
Seems like a bad idea to me. They presented it as "don't pay any more maintenance fees" But to me if I have to book a week and VRBO it every year, that seems like more work than I want to do, especially with limited inventory lately even at 13 months out. And what about if I don't want the Orlando week "points generator" any more, will it still be enrolled?
Still seems like a better idea to buy resale points if I want to move up in level.

Buying resale points is better. These days, it might be better to buy a hybrid bundle if you can get it for a reasonable cost $7-$8 pp. Otherwise, I think you can get points for about $6-$7 pp as others have reported on TUG. Personally I would not buy resale points to “move up a level” by renting them out. I can‘t believe sales promotes points as rentals.

 

[dioxide45]

Does any one know about any other thread concerning the current sales presentation about buying "a Bundle"
Seems like a bad idea to me. They presented it as "don't pay any more maintenance fees" But to me if I have to book a week and VRBO it every year, that seems like more work than I want to do, especially with limited inventory lately even at 13 months out. And what about if I don't want the Orlando week "points generator" any more, will it still be enrolled?
Still seems like a better idea to buy resale points if I want to move up in level.

The problem with buying resale points is that the maintenance fee could be higher than the "bundled" maintenance fee on a bundle deal. Depending on the week you buy as part of the bundle, the week may have a low maintenance fee per point and when combined with the trust points MF, it averages out better than straight up points (resale or direct).

 

[burg1121]

they should just consider renting

 

[Quadmaniac]

Buying resale points is better. These days, it might be better to buy a hybrid bundle if you can get it for a reasonable cost $7-$8 pp. Otherwise, I think you can get points for about $6-$7 pp as others have reported on TUG. Personally I would not buy resale points to “move up a level” by renting them out. I can‘t believe sales promotes points as rentals.

Actually the best is renting points, as much as you want, whenever you want, for about the same as the maintenance fees, with no commitment. No matter how much you rent, you will never overcome the purchase price with the premium you pay for rental over MF.

 

[TravelTime]

Actually the best is renting points, as much as you want, whenever you want, for about the same as the maintenance fees, with no commitment. No matter how much you rent, you will never overcome the purchase price with the premium you pay for rental over MF.

I agree for some people this is a great idea. For me, it is great that some people rent points bc then I can rent points to them. My MF averages 50 cents pp so it is good that I have the option to rent my points in the rare circumstance I can’t use them. However, I would rarely, if ever, rent points from someone else. There is a commitment to Marriott in renting points from others since you must use them in the year rented. If you change your mind (like I do often) or you can’t use the points, you lose them. So, like renting weeks from others on Redweek, you better be 110% sure you will go on that trip or you lose 100% of your cost to rent.

 

[Quadmaniac]

I agree for some people this is a great idea. For me, it is great that some people rent points bc then I can rent points to them. My MF averages 50 cents pp so it is good that I have the option to rent my points in the rare circumstance I can’t use them. However, I would rarely, if ever, rent points from someone else. There is a commitment to Marriott in renting points from others since you must use them in the year rented. If you change your mind (like I do often) or you can’t use the points, you lose them. So, like renting weeks from others on Redweek, you better be 110% sure you will go on that trip or you lose 100% of your cost to rent.

Everyone changes their mind from time to time, but EVEN if you lost them, you would have to lose them 10x to overcome the price outlay of resale points or 20x buying from developer. Just looking at risk vs benefit of renting over buying.

 

[TravelTime]

Everyone changes their mind from time to time, but EVEN if you lost them, you would have to lose them 10x to overcome the price outlay of resale points or 20x buying from developer. Just looking at risk vs benefit of renting over buying.

I see your point. I guess the message is do not buy timeshares especially from the developer. From a risk perspective, the best option is to pay more per transaction but be able to get 100% of your money back with a reasonable cancellation policy. From this perspective, hotels and Airbnb are pretty safe because they often have generous cancellation policies. To me, renting from timeshare owners is the least flexible. Even if I did not own timeshares, I would not rent a week or points from a timeshare owner due to the inflexibility and poor cancellation policies. I would be guaranteed to lose the “20X” for sure!