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Changed my mind about using DC Points

dougp26364

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Marriott Grand Chateau
Marriott Shadow Ridge
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Marriott Destination Club Points
Hilton Grand Vacation Club Las Vegas Blvd
Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
Having spent countless hours looking over options for using our Grand Chateau week(s) when we're slightly overloaded with timeshare weeks, I've come to the conclusion that the DC is just to expensive for us to use efficiently. I had considered using it to essentially "burn" a couple of weeks and maybe get a couple of tough to get exchanges but, in the final analysis, I just can't validate using points instead of weeks in the Marriott system.

As it stands, to get 1 two bedroom ocean front Jan. unit at Oceana Palm and 1 one bedroom unit either in January or Sept. at Maui Ocean Club, I'd need to give up 2 three bedroom Grand Chateau weeks. OUCH!

Of course I could give up the two Grand Chateau weeks and take a decent selection of slightly off season weeks at Canyon Villa's, Hilton Head, Branson, Newport Coast, Vail and/or Breckenridge but, I can get most of those weeks a lot cheaper with weeks than with points.

Marriott outsmarted themsleves with their points system. They took the opportunity to take away the seasons they originally sold and remake them to what they felt they should be now. They gave owners fewer points for their weeks than it takes to secure a like for like exchange. Now they're sales staff appears to be telling owners that, if they don't buy additional points, they ownerships will be worthless.

I really wanted to like the points program and I really wanted to try to use it. But after looking at it every different way imaginable, it's just to expensive of an option to use and leaves me feeling cold and used by Marriott. I believe I'll stick with Marriott's weeks based system and continue on as before.

Points should add flexability without taking so much in cost. Of the three points based exchange systems we have access to, Marriott's is by far the most expensive to use. I had high hopes for Marriott when they announced there'd be a points based system. After looking very hard at it with our situation, I'm walking away more dissapointed with Marriott than I've ever been before.
 

GregT

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Marriott: Maui Ocean Club Lahaina Villas (3BRx5), Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge II, Willow Ridge, Aruba Ocean Club, DC Points HGVC: Flamingo, Sea World, I-Drive, Starwood Bella (x4), SDO, TradeWinds, Worldmark
Having spent countless hours looking over options for using our Grand Chateau week(s) when we're slightly overloaded with timeshare weeks, I've come to the conclusion that the DC is just to expensive for us to use efficiently. I had considered using it to essentially "burn" a couple of weeks and maybe get a couple of tough to get exchanges but, in the final analysis, I just can't validate using points instead of weeks in the Marriott system.

As it stands, to get 1 two bedroom ocean front Jan. unit at Oceana Palm and 1 one bedroom unit either in January or Sept. at Maui Ocean Club, I'd need to give up 2 three bedroom Grand Chateau weeks. OUCH!

Of course I could give up the two Grand Chateau weeks and take a decent selection of slightly off season weeks at Canyon Villa's, Hilton Head, Branson, Newport Coast, Vail and/or Breckenridge but, I can get most of those weeks a lot cheaper with weeks than with points.

Marriott outsmarted themsleves with their points system. They took the opportunity to take away the seasons they originally sold and remake them to what they felt they should be now. They gave owners fewer points for their weeks than it takes to secure a like for like exchange. Now they're sales staff appears to be telling owners that, if they don't buy additional points, they ownerships will be worthless.

I really wanted to like the points program and I really wanted to try to use it. But after looking at it every different way imaginable, it's just to expensive of an option to use and leaves me feeling cold and used by Marriott. I believe I'll stick with Marriott's weeks based system and continue on as before.

Points should add flexability without taking so much in cost. Of the three points based exchange systems we have access to, Marriott's is by far the most expensive to use. I had high hopes for Marriott when they announced there'd be a points based system. After looking very hard at it with our situation, I'm walking away more dissapointed with Marriott than I've ever been before.

Doug,

I understand your comments, but I offer a slightly different perspective while reaching mostly the same conclusion.

Marriott DC points are very precious -- too precious for routine travel use, but invaluable to secure reservations that can't be obtained otherwise. And they are valuable to rent out and cover a chunk of MFs.

I also have spent quite a bit of time studying this system and have come to the conclusion that I will only use the points to make a reservation when there is no other way humanly possible to get the reservation that I want.

So before using DC points, I would have tried everything -- 1) trading in (if shoulder season) with Worldmark 2) booking an alternate site with HGVC or Starwood or 3) trying to coordinate a Direct Exchange. But I bet there are a lot of Marriott owners who don't mind letting Marriott do all that reservations work for them -- and don't mind the use of points to get it. I've talked to several that hated II and like that Marriott handles it for them.

I don't begrudge Marriott for putting out an expensive points chart. It actually mirrors Disney points chart alot (where the consensus is that use of points is expensive). I do still begrudge them for skimming but that may be just because I'm stubborn. I still don't think it's right to skim your loyal ownership just to be able to sell them points.

My use of DC points thus far has been to rent them out to cover MFs and to book Timber Lodge as part of a Direct Exchange (for a stay less than a week -- not possible without DC Points). And to book Timber Lodge, I did a Direct Exchange for HGVC Waikoloa with another Marriott owner to get their DC points, so I'm actually booking Timber Lodge with someone else's DC Points. When used unconventionally, DC opens up a lot of possibilities.

Good luck with your own analysis and considerations -- and I definitely understand your comments.

Best,

Greg
 

dougp26364

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Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
The problem is, we never purchased developer weeks to use for rentals. In fact, we just don't want the hassle of renting and we're not timeshare owners that uses timeshares for a personal cottage industry to make money. We purchased to use.

I suppose if I wanted to rent, I could find value in reserving the most difficult best views available, then renting them for profit. But that sort of defeats the purpose for those who purchased to use. In fact, I believe Marriott specifically prohibits this type of activity because those who do this can cherry pick the best of the best weeks since they don't have to make vacation plans to use them. It defeats the entire purpose of those who own to use.

Since we own to use, I'm finding little to no value in the DC points unless I want to pay a higher price to reserve a view. Since we purchased the views we wanted, I find this an exercise in futility. Essentially, I'm paying for the view all over again. I can see where someone who purchased a garden view but wants to upgrade to an ocean front without actually buying an ocean front unit might find this system helpful. Unfortunately, we're not in that catagory.

So, for now at least, we'll stick with weeks exchange system where we're finding better value. The DC points program will remain on indefinate hold with us until I see an opportunity to stretch some value out of it. Perhaps when we want to make a bunch of off season exchanges where the point values work out that we can get 5 weeks vacation, bump up to all two bedroom units or select better views than might be had exchanging in the weeks system.

Essentially, the only value I can see is where I'm wanting to trade down. At that point I'm might be able to stretch a few extra days out of our exchanges and maybe get a few extra nights in shoulder seasons at Breck or Branson.
 

NJMOM2

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What works for one person may not work for another. However here is an example where DC points can work for you.

For my gold Harbour Lake resort I receives 1950 DC points. There are basically two weeks seasons for Harbour Lake; spring (May 2 - June 2) and end of summer to just before Christmas (Aug 26 - Dec. 22). The DC points for my my weeks are split up in two groups. Group 1 is for spring and late fall (Apr. 27 - May 31 and Nov. 30 to Dec. 20) and group 2 is for last summer to fall (Aug 24 – Nov 29)

If I go to Harbour Lake during my season in group 1 and use DC points I will end up with a surplus of points. I have 1950 DC points and need only 1725 for a full week in a 2BR unit which leave me an extra 225 DC points. I happen to like Florida in the spring so one day soon when I don't have to worry about the school calendar this could work to my advantage. I also have a gold OceanWatch week, so combining the extra 225 points with my 2225 MOW DC points might help me get a trade with DC points where I just fall a little short. I could also trade into the Imperial Palms (1550 DC Points), Sabal Palms (1450 DC) or Royal Palms (1450 DC) for the same group 1 season for even less than 1725 DC points with 400 to 500 extra DC points. I never stayed in the Palms but I would only expect it to be equal to Harbour Lake minus the kiddy pool and water park. I wouldn't consider these trades to be trading down because they are in my season. Who knows - lots of playing with the numbers to consider.

On the other hand for 2012 I experimented for the first time with locking off and trading up each part for my Harbour Lake TS. I can see the advantages of both DC and weeks use. We will see how this all plays out as time passes and we learn how to take advantage of the system.
 

dougp26364

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Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
There are values out there but, for us it's almost always trading down. At some point in time the DC might be an option as we enjoy low point value resorts such as Harbor Club in the early spring, Moutain Valley Lodge in the early summer or fall and Branson in the sring, fall and Christmas season. I could potentially get two full weeks of vacations and get a few extra nights for a long weekend stay in either Branson or Breckenridge.

For now I'm more interested in the higher value resorts where we've been succesful with weeks exchanges in the past. It's just not an even trade as far as I've been able to see using DC points.

As a kicker, if I reserve and deposit our 2013 week, it's good until 2015. I can spread the usage out over a greater length of time. If I convert to points, I can save them only into 2014. It's a shorter window for usage and for us that can be a killer.
 

winger

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..If I convert to points, I can save them only into 2014. It's a shorter window for usage and for us that can be a killer.
Doug. This relatively short timeframe on using points (apparent inability to 'carry' points out more than one year) is also a handicap/limitation of this system I do not like. However, I do like the ability to purchase DC points from others (thanks to GregT for facilitating this through his website) when we are short of points to make a reservation happen - it almost always seem for every scenario we ran (though it might not be alot of scenarios), we seem to always be short 50 points, 175 points, something small like that.
 

Big Matt

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I did a lot of research before joining the DC and concluded that if you are willing to take 5 day stays or less and stay Sunday through Thursday you can get great value. The same is true if you can travel off or shoulder season.
 

dougp26364

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Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
I did a lot of research before joining the DC and concluded that if you are willing to take 5 day stays or less and stay Sunday through Thursday you can get great value. The same is true if you can travel off or shoulder season.

True, but I didn't pay developer prices for a full weeks vacation to now be shortchanged into taking only 5 night vacations and stay home on Fri. and Sat.
 

dougp26364

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Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
Doug. This relatively short timeframe on using points (apparent inability to 'carry' points out more than one year) is also a handicap/limitation of this system I do not like. However, I do like the ability to purchase DC points from others (thanks to GregT for facilitating this through his website) when we are short of points to make a reservation happen - it almost always seem for every scenario we ran (though it might not be alot of scenarios), we seem to always be short 50 points, 175 points, something small like that.

And thus a major issue for me, but probably because I know the HGVC and DRI systems so well. This is the first time using a points based reservation system in which I always came up short for nearly every scenario with nothing to do except to hope I can rent the leftover points.

I'll probably always go back to Marriott deciding to do away with the seasons they sold and revalue all the original legacy weeks. It seems the valued them more than what they thought they were originally worth. Unless, of course, you have an older resort. In those cases it appears Marriott has undervalued many of those weeks, which is where I'm seeing the opportunity for us.
 

m61376

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As a kicker, if I reserve and deposit our 2013 week, it's good until 2015. I can spread the usage out over a greater length of time. If I convert to points, I can save them only into 2014. It's a shorter window for usage and for us that can be a killer.
As you've unfortunately seen, stuff happens...it is nice to be able to extend a week as well. So, really, for an extra $169 you can even have a third year to use the week. Sometimes life intervenes and it is nice to have that option.

I've followed your posts with a lot of interest. Initially I was a little surprised that you felt that you'd be getting near par value with the DC exchanges, and am not surprised at your final conclusion. Kinda jives with my take on it all. Like you, I can see the benefit of off season weeks and maybe using points to trade into a 3BR Orlando week, for example when we eventually (hopefully) have grandkids to take to see the mouse. I can also see the value of renting points perhaps to supplement when we need another unit. Interestingly, due to the low point allocation relative to the high rental cost, it would cost about a third of the room rental rate to simply rent points from another and reserve a room when I need another room in Aruba, if I don't have a unit for trading.

So I'm still debating whether or not to join primarily for that usage, as well as preserving my options for the future. What is the November cut-off date for the current enrollment?
 

dougp26364

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Grand Colorado on Peak 8
Spinnaker French Quarter Resort Branson
As you've unfortunately seen, stuff happens...it is nice to be able to extend a week as well. So, really, for an extra $169 you can even have a third year to use the week. Sometimes life intervenes and it is nice to have that option.

I've followed your posts with a lot of interest. Initially I was a little surprised that you felt that you'd be getting near par value with the DC exchanges, and am not surprised at your final conclusion. Kinda jives with my take on it all. Like you, I can see the benefit of off season weeks and maybe using points to trade into a 3BR Orlando week, for example when we eventually (hopefully) have grandkids to take to see the mouse. I can also see the value of renting points perhaps to supplement when we need another unit. Interestingly, due to the low point allocation relative to the high rental cost, it would cost about a third of the room rental rate to simply rent points from another and reserve a room when I need another room in Aruba, if I don't have a unit for trading.

So I'm still debating whether or not to join primarily for that usage, as well as preserving my options for the future. What is the November cut-off date for the current enrollment?

At this point, joining still works for us because of the one membership fee vs ala carte fee's. If we owned only one week, and especially if that week was not a lock-off week, we wouldn't have spent the money to join the DC. Then it would only increase my costs and lord knows Marriott is costing me enough already (just got my MGC bill for 2012.......OUCH!)
 

Big Matt

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Well, I've been pretty fortunate to have close to a million Marriott Rewards points and am Platinum elite. My strategy is to use points for weekend stays somewhere near the timeshare and to string together two 5 day stays on either end.

This year it is Grande Ocean Sun-Thurs (July 15-19), two nights in the Renaissance in Charleston, and Sun-Thurs (July 22-26) at Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach. The whole thing took much less than my Manor Club and Grande Vista yielded plus 60,000 Rewards Points.

I can't say that I'll be able to do this time and again, but who knows.

My gut tells me that it's a lot easier to do this than to assume that you will match weeks in high demand areas via II.

True, but I didn't pay developer prices for a full weeks vacation to now be shortchanged into taking only 5 night vacations and stay home on Fri. and Sat.
 

dioxide45

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So I'm still debating whether or not to join primarily for that usage, as well as preserving my options for the future. What is the November cut-off date for the current enrollment?

Do an online chat with a representative through my-vacationclub.com. They will know the enrollment deadline for the current pricing and incentives. I think it is November 30th, but don't know for certain. I am also certain that they will extend the offer. They are not in a position to turn down money.
 
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