Purchased sometime before 2000, have travelled the world, and am very happy. The ownership was purchased direct from Marriott, which of course is not necessarily the wisest thing to do, however, it has nevertheless worked out, probably somewhat lucky. The deal was actually an excellent deal (excellent defined as almost impossible to beat on a direct purchase). We ended up with 2 overseas paid trips at no cost to us and several other perks that really were useful. Desert Springs seems to trade very well, into numerous places that they keep telling us we can't trade into but do. Just takes some persistence. We did later buy a minimum points just to enroll the week. This then allowed us to recently add on to the points total via resale market at rock bottom prices (which ends up less rock bottom due to the transfer fee of course). The costs can actually be quite attractive, just depends how you travel and how you use the system. For example, we generally get to go to 2 "presentations" each year, which we *gladly* do. That earns us, by itself, 50,000 points per year, valued at around .9 cents each = $450 per year. Since we have owned for close to 20 years, they have given us around $9,000 just in rewards points. $450 per year for 2-3 hours of "work" isn't bad. So, just the rewards points have paid for our original ownership (not to mention the value of the other incentives which we use to our advantage), so, the only money we are out (other than yearly fees) is for the minimal points, plus now our add on that passed ROFR a few weeks back. The value of the incentives we got + the rewards points paid for our original ownership + the minimal points purchase. So, our only expense has been the yearly maintenance and II.
We priced out recent stays in Australia via online sites to see what they would cost to rent (not Marriott, the discount sites). We were ahead by $3,100 for the 3 weeks we stayed in villas. That is, $3,100 in maintenance fees under the cost of renting the same places. 2 of the 3 weeks were from our original purchase which was paid for long ago so there is no additional cost to add to that.
We like many saw very little value in the points. However, after having used it, and done some analysis, we can see where it could be good as a cheap addon. With our recent point purchase and the discounts that go with the new ownership level, I can see us getting 5-7 weeks per year out of it and our ownership. The lockoff has proven to be invaluable. The trade value of that detail has proven to be the most cost effective part of the program. We've traded into so many gold or elite level II resorts all around the world, from Hawaii to Chile, various islands, Australia as mentioned, etc. all for a lockoff.
This ownership has "forced" us to travel like we never would have. And we've enjoyed every minute. We just got back a few weeks ago from Australia, we spent 4 weeks there at 4 different locations (including the MVCI there). Airfare - 0, stays - 0, our only expense was food, entertainment, shopping. Since I am retiring at year end, we'll have plenty of time to enjoy those 5-7 weeks each year.
