Best way to buy in to Marriot

[lidi66]

Kierland has a secondary preference for Marriott units (Vistana owners "see" Marriott deposits after Marriott owners but before everyone else). Kierland has a Vistana preference in Interval which is really useful for snagging Hawaii units.

That said, I either rent my Kierland units at a substantial profit or use them for StarOption reservations; there are cheaper ways of leveraging Vistana units for favorable Interval trades (SDO, SPB, etc.).

Thank you

 

[vacationtime1]

So I have had no problem so far doing this (several years now), and the weeks I usually book are after Valentines Day in Feb through mid-March (when Spring Training ends).

Yes, I am online at midnight when the 8 month window opens up, but I have been able to secure the 1bd premiums.

I just don't see actual WKV owners all exercising their points from 12months to 8 months. Maybe that will change especially as Marriott continues to f-around with the combined timeshares. I guess if that does happen, I will book all the 1bd premium weeks I can at the 12 month mark and use the aggregated 67k points from the smaller side and head to Kauai (or Maui). As long as I was somewhat flexible on dates, I have been able to book Princeville without a problem at the 8 month window.

Interesting. I was unable to reserve a 1bd Premium for a specific week for an ongoing renter last year. I was online at midnight; the system kept kicking me out, I would log back in, and by the time I was able to try to try to make the reservation, it showed no availability. Perhaps it was Marriott IT issues rather than availability issues.

My takeaway from your helpful post is that one must check back in downstream for cancellations or computer snafus.

 

[Maui7]

Hi all, new TUG member and new to timeshares in general, looking to buy into Marriot the most savy way so apreciate the site and the advice of members.

I'm in Hawaii this week on a presenation invite, we ended up buying 4.000 points but the deal didn't sit right with me so I eventually found TUG, did a lot of reading, and I've written up my rescission letter to go in the mail tomorrow. I like a lot about the program, I do want to travel evey year, and also like Bonvoy membership status aspects (i.e. Platinum). I just don't like the huge retail buy in after seeing resale prices so I'm thinking of going that route even if it takes longer to pass ROFR and become and owner.

Here was my offer for context:
Resort: Ko Olina Beach Club, Oahu
Points: 4,000, $68,800 full retail
Discount: 20% + $4000 additional (comp stay, plus Bonvoy member discount)
Final Price : ~51,000 and 13.76 per point offer for 2 years
Incentives: 550,000 Bonvoy points + 4,000 one time use club points based on financing deal (11.7% rate, yikes!)

After running numbers after the deal, here are my thoughts:
1. I valued the incentives to be about 10K based on cost to buy the Bonvoy points (~5K) with cash, and (~4.5K) if I rented at this location from another owner. 2. If I got the 4,000 points through resale, it would cost me about 21K assuming $2 per point, plus fees to Marriot, and closing
3. If I combine 1 and 2, total cost to do the same "deal" myself would be 31K vs. the 51K + financing costs for the 18 months I need to hold it for.

So doing this retail is costing me 20-25K more than it should, thus I'm planning to cancel the agreement.

Since I do want to own and based on advice I'm seeing here, this is my game plan, I'd appreciate any wisdom to adjust it:
1. Start by renting from other owners
2. In order to rent, I need to be an owner, so buy the 1,000 club points which matches the Marriot min $3,000 fee required on resale (cost: ~6K)
3. In time, consider buying weeks from resale to exchange for points with lower maintaince fees. Some risk I can't get them into Abound easily and it may involve buying points retail from Marriot when offered (ugh).

Alternative 1: See if the sales team will negotiate a bundle offer (resale weeks through them + points). Pro: weeks are enrollled in Abound. Con: likely be pricey vs. going it alone per above.

Alternative 2: just buy the 4,000 or 7,000 points to get the flexibility and status I want through resale, avoid the hassle to find "good weeks" and get them into Abound. Live with the higher maintenance fees that come with points.

Questions I could use help with:

1. Any input on my game plan or alternatives

2. If I own weeks, will I be at risk of getting special assessments (i.e. price to replace the resort's roof, etc)? If so, I assume points don't get this, it's worked into the maintenance fees all point owners pay, no big assessments. True?

3. If they give me a bundle offer (doubtful since I'm not an existing owner), I assume I will likely come out ahead if bought my own resale weeks vs. go with a bundle offer (even after paying the costs to later get those weeks enrolled). True?

Many thanks for the advice and community this is!

I agree with others, always go with the Platinum weeks to capture the highest demand periods. The Westin Ka'anapali timeshares give you premium demand/resale value and, it is a Mandatory ownership which means you get the Vistana STAR OPTION points, even if you purchase in the secondary market (VERY IMPORTANT). Westin Lagunamar in Cancun does not give you STAR OPTION points if you purchase aftermarket which means you can not book in Maui or St. Johns for example at the 8 month window for a different Westin Resort. I also don't believe you can swap your Cancun Star Option points for Marriott Club points, but you can with the Westin Ka'anapali resorts (I believe only one of the four ST. John Westin properties is also a Mandatory resort, so be very careful).
I ran the numbers using 2023 Maintenance Fees (divided my maintenance fees by the number of Marriott Club points) to see where I got the best bang for my conversion cost of Westin to Marriott Club Points. My Westin Ka'anapali North 2 bedroom lockout (Nanea does not have lockouts) has 148,100 Star Option/Vistana points and it converts to 6,200 Marriott Club Points MCP's). The conversion value (sort of like figuring out how many US dollars you get for a Mexican Peso, etc.) was .041864 Mariott Club Points per Westin Star Option Point. So, I give Marriott 100 Westin Point and they give me 4.1 MCP's in this example, even fewer for Cancun! My maintenance fee cost per Marriott Club point was $.52
Even though I purchased my Cancun ownerships on the Open Market, I was able to grandfather them into the Vistana Star Option Point system prior to Marriott's takeover for a hefty fee and a Cancun/Los Cabos direct purchase. The downside is that Marriott values these Westin properties much differently than Westin. My 148,000 Star Option Points are the same whether I trade (beginning 8 months out) for Hawaii, St. John's or any other Westin Vistana property. However, my 148,100 2 bedroom Cancun Vistana Points are only worth 4,950 Marriott Club Points!!! On the plus side, my cost per converting to MCP's is only $.36 for my 2 bedroom Platinum, $.34 for my one bedroom Suite with the full kitchen and $.49 for my Cancun/Los Cabos studio ownership.
Before you buy, also look at the Vistana Signature Network FLOAT PERIOD CALENDAR. For example, at Westin Ka'anapali North, the points cost are the same no matter what week you choose. However, the number of points required by day changes depending on the day of the week which only comes into play if you want to stay longer than 7 days for example. At St. Johns properties, the number of required points changes dramatically depending upon the time of year (supply and demand for Westin's smallest resort) you want to visit. We traded for Sunset Bay this summer, right on the beach or behind the pool (great free small sail Catamarans) but NOT Westin quality, it was like being in a 1960's concrete dorm room. I did tour Bay Vista and Virgin Grand Villas (this may be the one that is a Mandatory Vistana Point property) and they were both very nice, just further up the hill from the beach and pool. St. John's is beautiful, just don't stay at the Sunset Bay Villas. We also converted some Vistana Points to MCP's (keep in mind that once you convert, you can NOT move them back to Star Option Points) and we also stayed at the St. Thomas Mariott Ritz-Carlton timeshare and it was beautiful plus a great work out facility, upscale and large villa! The Safari busses cost $7 to $10 per person each way to go into town.

 

[byeloe]

However, my 148,100 2 bedroom Cancun Vistana Points are only worth 4,950 Marriott Club Points!!!

True but the MF at Lagunamar is significantly lower than Maui.

Also any mandatory resale purchase does not come with the ability to swap for Marriott Club points.

 

[tourproto]

Interesting. I was unable to reserve a 1bd Premium for a specific week for an ongoing renter last year. I was online at midnight; the system kept kicking me out, I would log back in, and by the time I was able to try to try to make the reservation, it showed no availability. Perhaps it was Marriott IT issues rather than availability issues.

My takeaway from your helpful post is that one must check back in downstream for cancellations or computer snafus.

So I have seen the "system kickouts" too. I saw this last year when using my WKV SO to book an oceanfront 1BR at WKORV for a friend celebrating their 10th anniversary. I told them I could not guarantee a particular "day" arrival but if they were flexible, I would probably be able to get it within a few days either way, and I was able to do it.

Sadly, the Maui fires happened several months before their arrival date, so we cancelled. Amazingly Princeville was available on the same dates, but the wife didn't want to go to Kauai (not enough stuff to do for her... sheesh) so they pivoted and wanted to do WKV instead, and again there was availability online.

Maybe I have just been lucky, but as long as I am not tied into a specific date of arrival. I have found stuff in Hawaii, Scottsdale, and Palm Springs, and in the premium rooms.