Current Purchase of Minimum DC Points to Join

[Cobra1950]

We are going through a Dog and Pony today at Grand Chateau. What is the current minimum purchase required to join DC or is there even a minimum to join??

 

[Steve A]

How many Marriott Reward Points are they giving you for attending?

 

[GregT]

We are going through a Dog and Pony today at Grand Chateau. What is the current minimum purchase required to join DC or is there even a minimum to join??

Do you mean minimum to enroll your legacy weeks or minimum number of points to purchase?

If minimum points to purchase, I believe they will tell you its 2,000 points, but it has been reported many times that they drop it to 1,500 or 1,000 to try and get you to bite.

If minimum dollars to enroll, if all of your weeks are developer purchases, then it will be $695 to enroll all your pre-June 2010 developer weeks. If some of those are resale weeks, it goes up to $1,995.

Good luck --

Greg

 

[Cobra1950]

10,000 and 2 local show tickets, good old days are gone.

 

[Ann in CA]

We are going through a Dog and Pony today at Grand Chateau. What is the current minimum purchase required to join DC or is there even a minimum to join??

Your title said "current purchase of minimum DC points to join", so if that is your main question, there are no points required to enroll in the DC. Just the enrollment fee for your weeks.
At Grand Chateau last December we were offered 20,000 by an advance caller (and the ticket combos instead).

 

[kds4]

Do you mean minimum to enroll your legacy weeks or minimum number of points to purchase?

If minimum points to purchase, I believe they will tell you its 2,000 points, but it has been reported many times that they drop it to 1,500 or 1,000 to try and get you to bite.

If minimum dollars to enroll, if all of your weeks are developer purchases, then it will be $695 to enroll all your pre-June 2010 developer weeks. If some of those are resale weeks, it goes up to $1,995.

Good luck --

Greg

They started our recent Owner Update at 2,500 points, dropped to 1,500, and finally bottomed out at 1,000 (which is what we bought).

 

[Cobra1950]

kds4,
Ended up same situation at 1000 points after doing the old car purchase negotiation thing. Hated to do it but I was getting the feeling with the decrease of inventory in II that we were getting boxed in and with the amount we had invested in Marriott timeshares already that we needed to do something.

 

[mjm1]

kds4,
Ended up same situation at 1000 points after doing the old car purchase negotiation thing. Hated to do it but I was getting the feeling with the decrease of inventory in II that we were getting boxed in and with the amount we had invested in Marriott timeshares already that we needed to do something.

It sounds like you took the plung. What price did they charge for 1,000 points? I assume they don't provide any incentives since this is the lowest level of points. At least that is what they used to say. Thanks for the update.

 

[Cobra1950]

mjm1
Same incentive as reported elsewhere here, 800 trust points for one year. We were on Encore presentation and previous pricing was held, something like $10.75 If we had not proceeded then we would have lost the money we put into the Encore, that covered our weeks' registration. That does not include the 4X increase in signup fees in June 12 for the DC points program Marriott is threatening.
Will be interesting to see how well it works out over next several years, at the least should unlock some value in our week 51 at Summittwatch but still let us ski later in season when warmer and conditions better (global warming seems to be screwing up Christmas skiing). We just got into Park City this evening and are caught in a blizzard, mountains here are supposed to get 12 to 24 inches in next 24 hours, and there is already 8" or so on the ground

 

[mjm1]

Thanks for the update. We already got 800 plus points for enrolling our week, so I imagine if we bought 1000 points we wouldn't receive any incentive. Not sure we would do it anyways, but I am glad we enrolled for the flexibility it provides.

Sounds like you will have plenty of fresh snow. Park City is beautiful. I have only been there during the summer and fall during recruiting trips to the Univ of Utah and BYU. We aren't skiers, so probably won't ever be there in the winter. I would like to take my DW up there to see Park City, The Homestead in Midway and Sundance.

Enjoy your time. Cheers.

 

[BocaBoy]

10,000 and 2 local show tickets, good old days are gone.

I think 10,000 points and 2 show tickets is one of the better values out there today. A lot of resorts only offer 10,000 points or $75.

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for the update. We already got 800 plus points for enrolling our week, so I imagine if we bought 1000 points we wouldn't receive any incentive. Not sure we would do it anyways, but I am glad we enrolled for the flexibility it provides.

I don't think there are any incentives to buy when picking up only 1000 trust points. You also pay the full price for those points. The more points you buy, the better the incentives get and the price per point also goes down.

 

[jimf41]

Went to the pitch last week at MFC. They offer 10,000 points but up it to 15,000 on Pres week. Offered 3500 trust points at $35,000 with 240,000 MRP's or $32,500 with no incentive. Rep talked a lot about new resorts but didn't offer any specifics. I wasn't buying so I didn't negotiate for lower amounts of points. Lasted 90 minutes, no real pressure to buy.

 

[Cobra1950]

Well overall I was satisfied that it was the best deal available, thanks to the input from TUG, and I referenced TUG during the discussion repeatedly, and it was certainly helpful to be able to do that:whoopie:
As we are getting older (62) we will be slowing down the skiing and doing more variety of travel, so as I mentioned it is a way to unlock some value out of a Platinum Plus week (Christmas in PC) but still maintain Fee Simple ownership (of everything we own our two grown "kids" joke only about which will inherit that week due to all the great PC memories they have growing up skiing and boarding in Utah powder):hysterical:

 

[Steve A]

Do you recall what shows they offered? What show did you go to?

 

[thinze3]

They started our recent Owner Update at 2,500 points, dropped to 1,500, and finally bottomed out at 1,000 (which is what we bought).

And did they still give you a credit for the enrollment fee?

 

[m61376]

Did you feel you'd need the extra 1000 points? Couldn't you have just joined and used the points from the Plat. Plus week to book Plat. weeks (since even with the skim you'd likely be ok with the Plat. Plus versus Plat. point differential?

I just wanted to make sure you realized you'd still have the options if you enrolled without buying more points. Keep in mind that, at this point anyway, you can't combine legacy and trust points for a single night's reservation, so with two pools of points there is the likelihood that you'll have a shortage or excess in both pools.

Of course, if the extra 1000 points lets you achieve your objectives, then congrats!

 

[Cobra1950]

m61
I thought about joining just the DC points alone but I was advised there was little use in that as I would not have access to the Marriott inventory that is not showing up on II now. I have a number of weeks deposited with II so I need to keep my membership there until I use them up, so no real fee savings at this point from just joining, needed to buy DC points.

 

[Cobra1950]

thinze
My enrollment fee was covered by what we had already paid for the Encore (the previously paid Encore also covered 4 nights at Grand Chateau and $100 gift card and 10,000 regular points, but I would have had to pay the $695 to join if I changed my mind and wanted to join later). Confusing for sure but close enough to deal. The Encore was purchased last year when we decline to join or buy trust points, seemed like cheap way to get back to Vegas.
Shows offered was Human Nature and one other, Human Nature ok, not the best but not the worst. Paid ourselves to see KA (Cirque de Solie), as our daughter in law wanted to see it but was, quite frankly, crap. Best show we ever saw in Vegas was Celine, last summer, really good.:whoopie:

 

[kds4]

It sounds like you took the plung. What price did they charge for 1,000 points? I assume they don't provide any incentives since this is the lowest level of points. At least that is what they used to say. Thanks for the update.

We paid $10.94 per point for the 1,000 we bought. No incentives for the purchase, but between the 20k MRPs for sitting through the 'Owner Update' and putting the purchase on our Marriott Card, we ended up with about 75k MRPs.

 

[kds4]

And did they still give you a credit for the enrollment fee?

They did. However, we had paid the $1,495 fee to enroll our external resale week last year. Our credit from Marriott was the amount for enrolling a developer week $595 for 1 or $695 for 2+. Still, $595 credit was better than nothing. Like another poster, we were of the opinion that with the direction Marriott may be heading, adding a points ownership option to our holdings (for the least amount of money invested) made sense. 1,000 points was our ticket to do that. Based on our usage patterns and the value of our enrolled unit, we see a niche for having a small number of points. When we need/want more, we'll hit the rental site (Shout out to Greg).

 

[dioxide45]

I suppose that it is better for Marriott to sell one hundred 1000 point packages instead of ten 5000 point ones. It is much easier to sell small packages for a low price and move the inventory. The whole reason that DC was developed.

 

[m61376]

What I find disturbing is that people are feeling almost coerced to buy points so that they will have access to inventory that they otherwise supposedly will not have. Buying points does not in any way change what is already owned. Legacy points will forever be just that- legacy points, and will have access to the exchange pool inventory whether or not trust points are owned. Buying trust points does not convert the legacy points, and I think that line is getting blurred.

Don't get me wrong- congrats for buying more points IF you really wanted them. But buying a small points package just to "have access to the Marriott inventory that is not showing up on II now" doesn't really make sense to me. Week inventory will still be accessible in the DC in the exchange pool to legacy owners using legacy points, and even if trust inventory is a little more available to trust point owners, keep in mind that you can only access it with the 1000 points you bought, which won't get you very far. You will still need for the inventory to be available in the exchange pool in order to book it using your legacy points, the same way it would be if you didn't own any trust points.

I think salespeople are creating an aura of new point purchases somehow super-charging legacy points, which just isn't the case, and people are buying out of fear. It bothers me that the salespeople are resorting more and more to misstating the facts; to me, that just underscores the weakness of the product they are trying to sell.

 

[dioxide45]

What I find disturbing is that people are feeling almost coerced to buy points so that they will have access to inventory that they otherwise supposedly will not have. Buying points does not in any way change what is already owned. Legacy points will forever be just that- legacy points, and will have access to the exchange pool inventory whether or not trust points are owned. Buying trust points does not convert the legacy points, and I think that line is getting blurred.

Don't get me wrong- congrats for buying more points IF you really wanted them. But buying a small points package just to "have access to the Marriott inventory that is not showing up on II now" doesn't really make sense to me. Week inventory will still be accessible in the DC in the exchange pool to legacy owners using legacy points, and even if trust inventory is a little more available to trust point owners, keep in mind that you can only access it with the 1000 points you bought, which won't get you very far. You will still need for the inventory to be available in the exchange pool in order to book it using your legacy points, the same way it would be if you didn't own any trust points.

I think salespeople are creating an aura of new point purchases somehow super-charging legacy points, which just isn't the case, and people are buying out of fear. It bothers me that the salespeople are resorting more and more to misstating the facts; to me, that just underscores the weakness of the product they are trying to sell.

I would tend to agree. One thing that I don't understand is why a 1000 point package? What can you really get with 1000 points in the system? It seems like a lot of money for what may equate to a couple days tacked on to the end of an existing stay. I guess one could get an off season 5 nighter (Mon through Fri) with those points or an off beach HHI. Anything prime though really isn't going to do much. I guess the 1000 points perhaps removed the skim factor, though the price is high for something that we should have gotten for free.

 

[jimf41]

I think the day will come when you have to buy trust points to get what you want. I predict it will happen around 2035 to 2040 or right about that time. I'll let my kids worry about it.