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Curious about encore package offer

S

Safti

TUG Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
449
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51
Location
Toronto, Ontario
At presentation just received an encore offer of 4 nights plus 75K MR points for $1195 during low season booking or $1895 during high season booking ( taxes in) . You have to travel within 18 months. You must attend another 90 minute presentation at your encore. Is this encore package really worth it?
 
Safti said:
At presentation just received an encore offer of 4 nights plus 75K MR points for $1195 during low season booking or $1895 during high season booking ( taxes in) . You have to travel within 18 months. You must attend another 90 minute presentation at your encore. Is this encore package really worth it?
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I have found them to be a rather poor deal. We always turn them down. Except the first one where we paid $700 for four or five nights at Grande Vista. It was expensive for 4 nights, but saved us bundles in the end.

I guess it all depends on if you will actually be able to use it or are you just going to end up planning an additional vacation and in the end it costs you more than you had ever planned?
 
good evening

remember, the reservation is subject to availability. It is a separate inventory pool from Marriott.com with a separate phone number to book. I did a trial run right in front of my sales rep and nothing good was open!!!

just saying...
 
Also remember, you won't get Elite night credit for those four nights either.
 
Encore

I did purchase an encore package last year that will expire in 2016. I bought it for the 100,000 MRP and guaranteed DC price freeze at last year's price. I'm still undecided whether to buy matching points so my resale weeks can be enrolled. The encore buys me the time to think and also save up. :)
 
TEA CIE said:
I'm still undecided whether to buy matching points so my resale weeks can be enrolled.
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Are you being offered the opportunity to enroll resale weeks that were deeded to you after June 20, 2010 if you buy DC points?
 
In our case, the encore package proved to be a cheap price for family peace - my husband was drinking the Kool-Aid, with the new pitch to us to "top up" our ownership so that when we pass on, all of our kids would be able to be Premium Plus, as it was called then...and I thought (knew) it was crazy! So we compromised and bought time to decide with the encore package. Three months later, DH conceded buying more points made no sense.
So we got an extra vacation, at slightly below market price, and because DH came to his senses, we saved a bundle, without any blood being shed!! :whoopie:
Not quite what Marriott intended, but it worked for us...:rofl:
 
Any thoughts on the price of this travel package? How much would 75K MRP cost if I wanted to purchase them? I did buy an encore package 3 years ago but only with the stipulation that they book it for me in advance to add three nights to my previously booked week. They did that for me because I was worried about being able to get the week I wanted.
 
I would say don't do it unless you know in advance (a) your travel dates are available and (b) you do not intend on buying into the program and just want an extra trip.
 
good morning...

general rule

each MRP = $0.01

$750 for 75K MRP's...
 
We were offered an encore package at BeachPlace Towers for 4 nights stay in a one bedroom, a 7 night cruise for 2 in an inside cabin (not including taxes and port charges), and 100,00 Marriott Reward points for $2100 or a 2 bedroom villa and same deal for $2300.

Does anyone have experience with booking a cruise in this way? It requires going to a particular (non-Marriott) website and entering a certificate number that is issued by Marriott.
 
michigander said:
We were offered an encore package at BeachPlace Towers for 4 nights stay in a one bedroom, a 7 night cruise for 2 in an inside cabin (not including taxes and port charges), and 100,00 Marriott Reward points for $2100 or a 2 bedroom villa and same deal for $2300.

Does anyone have experience with booking a cruise in this way? It requires going to a particular (non-Marriott) website and entering a certificate number that is issued by Marriott.
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We got the cruise certifcate as part of an encore we did last summer.

We haven't booked the cruise yet - we have until Oct 2015 to do a booking (can travel after that; that's just the deadline to book) - but have shopped the site extensively. The port charges/taxes on the promotion website appear to be a bit higher than what you pay for online cash cruise bookings, but there is still a savings. The biggest savings appear to be on Carnival cruises.

The "free" cabins are generally the lowest category inside cabins and are not available on every cruise. If you want an outside, balcony, or suite, or a cruise without "free" cabins available, you can also book those and the discount is applied to that higher price. I've seen shorter 3-5 day cruises where two people can get a balcony stateroom or mini-suite for almost "free" (plus taxes/port charges). The savings seem to vary considerably with date, cruise line, cruise type, etc. I did do a few experiments where I priced the cruise on the Marriott certificate website and then priced it again on an online cruise booking site to compare the price. As I recall, the savings using the Marriott certificate were generally around $1500 or so (searching mainly non-Carnival cruises). I may have seen one or two where the savings were higher ($2000 or so as I recall, and those may have been Carnival), but these were just spot checks and your mileage may vary.
 
Safti said:
Doesn't it cost $1200 to purchase 50K points per year?
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Are you referring to purchasing MR points from Marriott? I believe its $0.0125 per point ($12.50 per 1000 points) so it would be $625.
 
Fasttr said:
Are you referring to purchasing MR points from Marriott? I believe its $0.0125 per point ($12.50 per 1000 points) so it would be $625.
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Yes. That's what I thought so in terms of point purchase only, it's a poor deal. They keep telling me that it's easy to book a vacation but I disagree.
 
Whether your encore package is a good deal depends a lot on which resort it is. Did I miss it or did you not say the name of the resort? It of course is the best deal if you are seriously considering a points purchase, because the cost of the encore package will be deducted from what you owe for the points. We decline most encore packages, but we have taken at least one (a few years ago when they were still selling weeks) and were very happy with its value.
 
We purchased an encore package for 7 nights in Hilton Head. We also selected the option with 100,000 MRP. At $2400, charged in monthly installments on our MR Visa card, we thought it was a good deal. We have booked the week for early October at Barony Beach. We viewed it as getting an extra week in HH without using our DC points or an II week. After deducting the value of the 100,000 pts, worth about $1,000, we look at the cost of $1,400 for a week as a bit more than our MF for one of our owned weeks. When we go back for the tour/ presentation we will view the cost of buying add'l points less the $2,400 we paid for the encore package. If we feel it's a reasonable deal we might consider buying some more points. We are/ were Premier already but now with the new levels might consider adding points. Either way, it's another trip to one of our favorite places plus adding 100k poits to our rewards account.
 
Luvtoride said:
We are/ were Premier already but now with the new levels might consider adding points. Either way, it's another trip to one of our favorite places plus adding 100k poits to our rewards account.
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I wonder if they would let you apply the Encore cost to a Combo purchase. When you add up all of the incentives and cost it could well be a very good price per point. If you are already an owner you should get another 80k in MRPs and if you go with no incentives the DC points to match the Combo should go around $9.50 or so.
 
jimf41 said:
I wonder if they would let you apply the Encore cost to a Combo purchase. When you add up all of the incentives and cost it could well be a very good price per point. If you are already an owner you should get another 80k in MRPs and if you go with no incentives the DC points to match the Combo should go around $9.50 or so.
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Last summer they did apply the Encore cost against our combo week/points purchase. Resulted in a net cost/point of just under $7/pt. We did not get any MRP in the Encore, but did get a stay at Barony and a "Free" cruise certificate (basically a $1500 - $2000 discount on a cruise purchase which winds up making lower priced cruises/cabins "free').
 
JIMinNC said:
Last summer they did apply the Encore cost against our combo week/points purchase. Resulted in a net cost/point of just under $7/pt. We did not get any MRP in the Encore, but did get a stay at Barony and a "Free" cruise certificate (basically a $1500 - $2000 discount on a cruise purchase which winds up making lower priced cruises/cabins "free').
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I would think you would have received the 40k self referral MRP bonus for each part of the combo purchase. They don't really let you know about that but it has been my experience that when you ask for it they give it.
 
jimf41 said:
I would think you would have received the 40k self referral MRP bonus for each part of the combo purchase. They don't really let you know about that but it has been my experience that when you ask for it they give it.
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This was our first Marriott purchase, so my assumption is self-referral doesn't apply.
 
We recently bot the encore package at aurba surf for $2300, get 6 nights in a 1 bedroom villa(going back in mid Nov) and 100K MRP and we're paying the $200 installments on a Marriott VISA to get a few more points. We're spending the first 2 nights at the Radisson to make it an 8 night trip as we hold the Club Carlson VISA so the first night is 50K points and the second night is free. Our offer does include that the money paid for the encore package would go toward any points or combo package purchase when we return and do the presentation. We thought it was an OK deal as 100K MRP can get you a Business Class ticket to Europe or pretty close to it anyway if you redeem for a travel package. It also saves us an exchange this year so we may have an extra week that to use next year or we can redeem for another 100K MRP.
 
Thanks so much JIMinNC, for the details on the cruise certificate use. We are frequent cruisers and thought this sounded like a good deal. Since we are retired, and flexible on travel dates, it sounds like we should be able to work something out. We have not received the certificate in the mail yet, so are at the "dreaming" stage. It is good to know it just has to be booked within a year, not completed. We avoid Carnival, but are considering either a fall New England cruise or a winter Caribbean one. Our $2100 purchase including the cruise "credit", 100,000 points and 4 nights at BeachPlace sounds pretty good at this point.
 
michigander said:
Thanks so much JIMinNC, for the details on the cruise certificate use. We are frequent cruisers and thought this sounded like a good deal. Since we are retired, and flexible on travel dates, it sounds like we should be able to work something out. We have not received the certificate in the mail yet, so are at the "dreaming" stage. It is good to know it just has to be booked within a year, not completed. We avoid Carnival, but are considering either a fall New England cruise or a winter Caribbean one. Our $2100 purchase including the cruise "credit", 100,000 points and 4 nights at BeachPlace sounds pretty good at this point.
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You're welcome. One additional data point...I did a quick search this AM for a Disney Alaska cruise using the discount certificate site in response to another question on this topic and found the savings on that cruise was only about $500 vs cruise.com - so the discounts do vary greatly by cruise line/itinerary.
 
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