That is part of the reason that I push buying high value weeks instead of points even if one elects to do an enrollment though boy have those economics changed this year. I think the same has long been true about lower demand seasons or fixed weeks for MVC as well. Bronze and Silver weeks have always been this way and many, if not most, Gold weeks are questionable also. And for some resorts, Gold is likely not reasonable even if 100% free other than some very specific situations where one is using the owned week specifically usually even then only for specialty units like a 3BR or better views. Off season weeks probably should have lower fees to compensate somewhat which a pure points system will generally provide though the resorts still need upkeep so it's be difficult to adjust fees only based on demand. The reality is that for those that are well informed will make out well on the backs of those that make poor choices, don't plan sufficiently, and are not well informed. This is true from a purchase and usage standpoint.
I would underscore how resorts that will all "high value" (i.e. Hawaii) with weeks that are "even higher values (i.e. Christmas and New Years) affects the point system. I am a long time owner of holiday weeks at Waiohai, I purchased prior to the inception of the point system.
I bought into the sales pitch of the last beach resort in Hawaii, no messing with II as I only had to choose between F, S, Su check-in and after capital investment only on onging MF and the differential between Hotel nights vs. MF paid for my capital investment after 10 years, and I could always exchange my holiday week for Maui via II. Most of the sales pitch was accurate and I have no regrets but one aspect that was not true was the ability to trade into Maui. I tried unsuccessfully for two years to trade into Maui during holiday weeks prior to MCVI inception.
I enrolled into points thinking that it would be easier to accomplish reserving Maui- it is not. Why? Many reasons- the differential in points- when trading in II it was an even exchange but Maui has higher point value and then you have to contend with the skimming of points by Marriott. However, the biggest issue is the most of these holiday weeks were never deposited into II or exchanged for points because of the high rental value of these weeks! When you can rent a week for 8-12K why would you deposit it for points? Most obvious are owners who don't recognize the rental value or don't want to be bothered with trying to rent the units- this is a smaller and smaller pool of owners each year. Waiohai has the lowest MF of any of the Hawaii resorts and the differential between MF and what the weeks rent for is ~ 3 to 6 times the MFs.
I simply rent Hawaii weeks and they never go into available pool of units for points. The only real way that I can see for MCVI to correct this is to buy and retain these high value weeks within the trust- but they currently do not have enough of this type of inventory, making it difficult to fulfill the point requests.
Savy customers learn fast to purchase the weeks on the resale market and even more inventory dissappears from the pool- these are post 2010 owners who don't have the opotion to trade for points but most likely don't care! Weeks are taken out of the system by either being owned by post 2010 owners who cannot exhange for points or owners who rent because of the high rental value. This activity diminishes the pool of inventory available to the trust. High value weeks (Holidays, Summer, Special Event) are problematic for the trust at resorts that were predominately sold out prior to the inception of the trust. All owners are competing for these reservations for either use or rental. Anyone owning points is at the mercy of owners exchanging thier weeks for points and fewer in demand weeks are traded for points- they are used or rented. Thus, the problem with getting point reservations where and when you want to go and the disparity between ownership levels.
I understand from many friends and family who own points that it is beyond difficult to book Hawaii Holiday weeks even at Chairmans level. I think that it is going to increasingly more difficult.
Add into the equation that MCVI is not creating new high end resorts but rather investing into "Pulse" options with high maintence costs and in many cases less demand vs. resorts there is a mismatch between reservations point owners want (high demand resort weeks) and inventory and the trust has a beast of a MF proposition on it's hands. This is one of the reasons I never bought points- I rent them from relatives who have excess points that they can't find reservations where they want to go. Win, Win for me as I pay my dues ever year for flexability without committing to the point MF.
MF at resorts with high ownership and owner occupancy will have an easier time of controlling costs. The trust with it's potpurri of properties and management is only an escalating MF proposition.
Thus for me, any additions to my vacation ownership portfolio will be legacy weeks. I know how to use them and they have value greater than the MF- the same cannot be said of trust points. I have found Bonvoy points much more valuable than trust points.