2023 points

[ffxjack]

Have rarely used the point system during my decade plus of membership in a trust resort--I'm confused by all the intricacies which I'm learning along the way the past 2 months. I converted my 2023 week to points and wasn't sure what to do as a lowly Select level member. It seems by the time my plans are set, nothing is available for those dates.

Anyways, long story short, I ended up banking about half of my points to 2024 and used half of 2023 to hold a few days in NYC but would like to book 2 nights (12/31 and 1/1) during my vacation if it were to become available. I'm currently on the wait list but my wife says that it's a pipe dream for those 2 dates.

Is there a way for someone else with those points to reserve on my behalf and then I transfer my points/pay them the balance?
If I rent 2024 points from an owner, can I borrow them just to search/book and then just use them in 2024 if nothing works in 2023? Anything that I can't do online (such as cancelling a reservation) has taken several hours for Marriott to call me back. Even if something is available, I doubt it'll stay that way if I need to talk to an agent.

Assuming, nothing comes up for my 1100 points tied up on the wait list, what is the best usage of them and what's the deadline?

Thanks for any advice and I apologize if these are very basic questions. I'm thinking the point system is not for me based on my experiences this year.

 

[kozykritter]

You can't borrow points transferred to you. They are only good in their use year and can't be banked meaning any reservation you made with them would have to have a check in date in 2024.

Your waitlist would typically expire 61 days out from check in as a default unless you told them something different when you created it...this is to prevent them from being returned to you as restricted (holding) points. Receiving 2023 points back on October 30th means you'll only have a short time to utilize them before they expire on Dec 31st but as long as they aren't holding points, many use options are available. See the attached chart.

The point system favors more those that book way far in advance or those that are free to travel very last minute, at least when it comes to popular destinations and times of year. That said, if you are flexible in when or where you can go, there are many opportunities for vacations that you can book between those two extremes.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Have rarely used the point system during my decade plus of membership in a trust resort--I'm confused by all the intricacies which I'm learning along the way the past 2 months. I converted my 2023 week to points and wasn't sure what to do as a lowly Select level member. It seems by the time my plans are set, nothing is available for those dates.

Anyways, long story short, I ended up banking about half of my points to 2024 and used half of 2023 to hold a few days in NYC but would like to book 2 nights (12/31 and 1/1) during my vacation if it were to become available. I'm currently on the wait list but my wife says that it's a pipe dream for those 2 dates.

Is there a way for someone else with those points to reserve on my behalf and then I transfer my points/pay them the balance?
If I rent 2024 points from an owner, can I borrow them just to search/book and then just use them in 2024 if nothing works in 2023? Anything that I can't do online (such as cancelling a reservation) has taken several hours for Marriott to call me back. Even if something is available, I doubt it'll stay that way if I need to talk to an agent.

Assuming, nothing comes up for my 1100 points tied up on the wait list, what is the best usage of them and what's the deadline?

Thanks for any advice and I apologize if these are very basic questions. I'm thinking the point system is not for me based on my experiences this year.

Kozykritter answered your question but I just want to add that being a “lowly select” owner really isn’t your problem- it’s just learning to use the system.
Sales talk about the “flexibility” of points but I find you still need to plan ahead (like 12 months to book at release) or be flexible to go when something pops up or just get lucky (I just hit a lucky booking an oceanfront week at crystal shores 75 days from travel).

So you have a waitlist for 12/31 & 1/1 using 1100 2023 points?
You were allowed to waitlist 1/1/24 with the 2023 points? (Edit- see fasttr‘s post below)

Your best bet if the waitlist doesn’t come through and you aren’t planning to stay at another abound resort before the points expire on 12/31/23 might be to make a deposit into II.
You can call MVC and have them convert the points into a week and deposit that into II.
You choose how many points you want to use based on the units size and season you want to deposit.
You can see the chart on the owners site under use points and then interval international.
1000 is the minimum which deposits a low season studio.
You can combine points from different years if you want to deposit something larger.
This is a week exchange so it is possible to exchange into a different season or larger unit (for a fee) based on availability.
Deposit is good for 2 years.
You can’t exchange into abound resorts.

How to use Expiring, Holding Account, PlusPoints and More - Abound Club Points

I promise, this isn't a duplicate question of the recent few that have popped up in the forum the last few days, but rather a place to consolidate the information. With the help of @kozykritter and @Pamplemousse I have put together the attached chart. It shows the different types of points you...

tugbbs.com

 

[Fasttr]

So you have a waitlist for 12/31 & 1/1 using 1100 2023 points?
You were allowed to waitlist 1/1/24 with the 2023 points?

This sounds right as long as both dates were on the same ressy request. It's the check in date that determines which Use Year points apply. As an example, a 10 night ressy checking in on 12/31/23 could be booked with 2023 Use Year points.

 

[Pamplemousse]

This sounds right as long as both dates were on the same ressy request. It's the check in date that determines which Use Year points apply. As an example, a 10 night ressy checking in on 12/31/23 could be booked with 2023 Use Year points.

Thanks I wasn’t sure so that is good to know.

 

[ffxjack]

Thanks for all the replies. I never thought/knew about the II option (was planning as last resort to convert to frequent flyer miles).

At one time, I actually had a 2 bedroom one night reservation for 12/31 and a separate 1/1/2024 reservation for a 2 bdrm at the same resort with the hope they would simply connect them for me. I did this online before being told it's the first night that counts for usage year. I wish I had enough points to search or even cancel my existing November reservation to use but looks like that's impossible and I don't really want to rent points which would possibly leave me stuck with even more points and probably losing out on my November trip on top of it.

I enrolled my trust week years ago on one of those deals (which was apparently good enough that the sales managers didn't believe it at the last presentation a few years ago) but this was my time converting to points.

As an aside, I got talked into an encore presentation about 18months ago with the promise that getting one of the two Salt Lake City resorts in ski season would be no problem given their separate availability, etc, etc. Sure enough, not true. I'm so angry that I'm going to attend the 90min presentation at the other resort and let them know they have 90min as contractually obligated but I'll never spend another penny even if they offered me a 90% off once in a lifetime deal for more points.

 

[ffxjack]

We actually got our one bedroom for NYE/New Year's day off the wait list!

I'm somewhat amazed and relieved that this worked and am thinking the points system may actually be pretty good, particularly with some planning and probably a little luck.

Now to learn the process of renting points.

 

[Fasttr]

We actually got our one bedroom for NYE/New Year's day off the wait list!

I'm somewhat amazed and relieved that this worked and am thinking the points system may actually be pretty good, particularly with some planning and probably a little luck.

Now to learn the process of renting points.

Congrats!!!

I’ve always had good luck with the waitlist when desired dates not originally available.

 

[ffxjack]

That's encouraging to hear.
I'm thinking about renting some points for 2024 and doubling down with another wait list request. I figure renting a few hundred points is a minimal investment.