Destination Point Program - About to sign up, but have questions

[adelec]

I have been an owner at Fords Colony since 2001. I am in the process of looking over the paperwork to get into the Destination Point program. I was offered to join the program for $595. Then for an additional $404 I get 4 days, 3 nights and 1,000 destination points to go back and get the sales pitch to get into to full program which I assume affects my deed.

I have been reading some of the posts here and the documents I am suppose to agree to and return. My questions are:

1 - There seems to be different destination point memberships, which one am I signing up for (can you tell by what I have posted here)?

2 - As I understand it this membership does not affect my deed, but allows me to add another option to my plans and that is to turn over my week (when I choose to) and get destination points to go to other Marriott properties - correct?

3 - Do participants find that it IS easier to get into Marriott timeshares with these points, or is demand so high I really won't have any better luck than I would going through II?

From what I have read and the cost, I don't think it is a good choice to get into the full program for an additional $11,000. As I see it, the only benefit is getting an additional 1,000 points per year. I tend to use my home resort a lot, so why would I spend that kind of money when I already bought the deed.

 

[davidvel]

I have been an owner at Fords Colony since 2001. I am in the process of looking over the paperwork to get into the Destination Point program. I was offered to join the program for $595. Then for an additional $404 I get 4 days, 3 nights and 1,000 destination points to go back and get the sales pitch to get into to full program which I assume affects my deed.

I have been reading some of the posts here and the documents I am suppose to agree to and return. My questions are:

1 - There seems to be different destination point memberships, which one am I signing up for (can you tell by what I have posted here)?

2 - As I understand it this membership does not affect my deed, but allows me to add another option to my plans and that is to turn over my week (when I choose to) and get destination points to go to other Marriott properties - correct?

3 - Do participants find that it IS easier to get into Marriott timeshares with these points, or is demand so high I really won't have any better luck than I would going through II?

From what I have read and the cost, I don't think it is a good choice to get into the full program for an additional $11,000. As I see it, the only benefit is getting an additional 1,000 points per year. I tend to use my home resort a lot, so why would I spend that kind of money when I already bought the deed.

You are enrolling your week which allows you to trade it for DC points on an annual basis if you choose. Or you can keep using your week to occupy or trade as you have in the past. With enrollment ($195/annual cost), you get free Marriott to Marriott trades through II (except for up sizing which is additional fee), and no annual II dues for your Marriott property.

You can also rent DC points once enrolled, from other owners, for about the cost of the MF. You do not need to buy more points (I presume this is what you meant by $11,000).

 

[VacationForever]

If you use your home resort alot instead of exchanging, you do need to know that by joining the program, you will pay $195 in club dues every year regardless of using II to exchange (free) or electing points to book at another MVC resort (free). It should definitely be easier to book time within the internal MVC system. Please note that there is "skim", roughly 15% reduced points when your week is exchanged into points. In other words, you get awarded fewer points as compared to what it takes to book at your resort. With skim, you may find that the exchanged points may not be enough to get a full week at an equivalent size and comparable property as yours. But if you look at lower season or smaller unit, you may find that the exchange points get you longer than a week.

You do not need to buy more points to get into the "full" program. It is just a sales pitch. Obviously, if you own more, it costs more and you have more points to book with.

 

[Pamplemousse]

I have been an owner at Fords Colony since 2001. I am in the process of looking over the paperwork to get into the Destination Point program. I was offered to join the program for $595. Then for an additional $404 I get 4 days, 3 nights and 1,000 destination points to go back and get the sales pitch to get into to full program which I assume affects my deed.

I have been reading some of the posts here and the documents I am suppose to agree to and return. My questions are:

1 - There seems to be different destination point memberships, which one am I signing up for (can you tell by what I have posted here)?

2 - As I understand it this membership does not affect my deed, but allows me to add another option to my plans and that is to turn over my week (when I choose to) and get destination points to go to other Marriott properties - correct?

3 - Do participants find that it IS easier to get into Marriott timeshares with these points, or is demand so high I really won't have any better luck than I would going through II?

From what I have read and the cost, I don't think it is a good choice to get into the full program for an additional $11,000. As I see it, the only benefit is getting an additional 1,000 points per year. I tend to use my home resort a lot, so why would I spend that kind of money when I already bought the deed.

I enrolled my Orlando week about 2 years ago.

1- I am not sure what you mean by different destination point memberships. I’m guessing you mean membership levels (presidential, executive etc)? These are based on the number of points you own. There are benefits associated with each level but you can acquire more points at a later date.

2- Membership does not affect your deed. You still own your week. Each year you can stay at your home resort, exchange via interval international or elect points and book a points stay on the MVC website or my phone.

3- That’s the million dollar question right?

Have a look at how many destination club points your week is worth. Each resort week is worth a different number of points- they are not all equal. You will probably find it’s not enough to stay at your own resort during the season you purchased (people call this a “skim”).

Plus different resorts require different point amounts. My Orlando resort is not a high point value. I suspect your Williamsburg isn’t either. So to do a point stay you would need to either decrease the number of days of your stay, choice a lesser season, go down in room size, or get more points either from borrowing from the next year, renting points from someone else, or having purchased more points.

In my limited experience I will say that I did book a stay last spring at a resort (Marco island) that I had never been able to exchange to in more than 5 years of trying on II ( I am limited by school vacations so this has been something that makes trading on II more challenging for us and an influence on our deciding to enroll). To make our points stretch we booked 5 nights with DC points and 3 more nights on Marriott.com using our owner discount code. The weekend nights tend to require more DC points so we booked those on Marriott.com.
I liked that using the DC points I could book the size unit that I needed, the view that I wanted, the nights that I wanted. More and more I had been finding that II exchanges to Marriott’s were restricted to low level back of the property units. It was nice to pick what I wanted and be assured of getting it.

Even if you never elect DC points it may be beneficial to enroll. With your 195/year club dues you get a corporate Marriott account on II (note if you own other non Marriott TS you will need to have a separate II account for those). The corporate account gives you free lock off, free Marriott to Marriott exchanges and the ability to cancel and retrade to another Marriott for free (so no need to buy eplus, if fact you can’t buy eplus). For me this is a cost savings.

4) You mention paying 11k to get in the full program. I again am not sure what you mean by this. Once you enroll you are in the full program. You don’t have to purchase points to be in the program. Your sales person wants you buy points I’m sure, and as many points as they can sell you so they mention the “benefits” of the upper level memberships. But unless you have a lot of vacation time or plan big family reunions yearly etc. the advice from experienced owners seems to be just to rent points if you find you need them.

When I enrolled the offer I got was half price enrollment just for listening to their pitch, or free enrollment if we bought 2K points. We were offered an encore package (4 nights and comeback to get pitched again) but didn’t take it. Are you sure the 1000 points you have been offered are DC points and not Marriott rewards points?

Hope that helped. Again I am new at the DC program but wanted to share my experience so far.

 

[adelec]

I enrolled my Orlando week about 2 years ago.

Thank you for the information Pamplemousse. I will try to clarify some of my questions/comments.

1- I am not sure what you mean by different destination point memberships. I’m guessing you mean membership levels (presidential, executive etc)? These are based on the number of points you own. There are benefits associated with each level but you can acquire more points at a later date.

I see in the Exchange Procedures document it refers to "Direct Members" and "Exchange Members".

2- Membership does not affect your deed. You still own your week. Each year you can stay at your home resort, exchange via interval international or elect points and book a points stay on the MVC website or my phone.

3- That’s the million dollar question right?

Have a look at how many destination club points your week is worth. Each resort week is worth a different number of points- they are not all equal. You will probably find it’s not enough to stay at your own resort during the season you purchased (people call this a “skim”).

Plus different resorts require different point amounts. My Orlando resort is not a high point value. I suspect your Williamsburg isn’t either. So to do a point stay you would need to either decrease the number of days of your stay, choice a lesser season, go down in room size, or get more points either from borrowing from the next year, renting points from someone else, or having purchased more points.

My unit is currently worth 2,375.

In my limited experience I will say that I did book a stay last spring at a resort (Marco island) that I had never been able to exchange to in more than 5 years of trying on II ( I am limited by school vacations so this has been something that makes trading on II more challenging for us and an influence on our deciding to enroll). To make our points stretch we booked 5 nights with DC points and 3 more nights on Marriott.com using our owner discount code. The weekend nights tend to require more DC points so we booked those on Marriott.com.
I liked that using the DC points I could book the size unit that I needed, the view that I wanted, the nights that I wanted. More and more I had been finding that II exchanges to Marriott’s were restricted to low level back of the property units. It was nice to pick what I wanted and be assured of getting it.

Even if you never elect DC points it may be beneficial to enroll. With your 195/year club dues you get a corporate Marriott account on II (note if you own other non Marriott TS you will need to have a separate II account for those). The corporate account gives you free lock off, free Marriott to Marriott exchanges and the ability to cancel and retrade to another Marriott for free (so no need to buy eplus, if fact you can’t buy eplus). For me this is a cost savings.

4) You mention paying 11k to get in the full program. I again am not sure what you mean by this. Once you enroll you are in the full program. You don’t have to purchase points to be in the program. Your sales person wants you buy points I’m sure, and as many points as they can sell you so they mention the “benefits” of the upper level memberships. But unless you have a lot of vacation time or plan big family reunions yearly etc. the advice from experienced owners seems to be just to rent points if you find you need them.

I guess he was basically selling me an extra 1,000 per year every year for $11,000. I'm not interested in that. There is an extra $500 per year cost for that as well. Sounds very expensive.

When I enrolled the offer I got was half price enrollment just for listening to their pitch, or free enrollment if we bought 2K points. We were offered an encore package (4 nights and comeback to get pitched again) but didn’t take it. Are you sure the 1000 points you have been offered are DC points and not Marriott rewards points?

I have the choice of 1,000 Marriott points or 1,000 destination points.

Hope that helped. Again I am new at the DC program but wanted to share my experience so far.

Yes it does help, thank you.

 

[JIMinNC]

I have been an owner at Fords Colony since 2001. I am in the process of looking over the paperwork to get into the Destination Point program. I was offered to join the program for $595. Then for an additional $404 I get 4 days, 3 nights and 1,000 destination points to go back and get the sales pitch to get into to full program which I assume affects my deed.

If you buy more points from Marriott in the future it will not affect your existing deed in any way.

As others have noted, the package you were offered allows your existing week the option of being converted to Destination Club points, in addition to your existing usage options at your home resort or trading through II. The $195 annual fee for the Destination Club then covers your II membership fee and most of the other a-la-carte fees that II usually charges for Marriott to Marriott exchanges, lock offs, etc. as outlined by Pamplemousse. You are paying to add a usage option to your existing deed with the benefits others have described. You will have full usage of the Destination Points program in any year in which you elect for the Destination Points usage option, using the quantity of points that gets assigned to your week. So you will already be in "the full program" with the point value assigned to your week.

Should you ever decide you want or need more Destination Points than what your week is assigned - and that's what the return sales presentation will be pitching to you - you would simply buy more points, which are now sold by Marriott in the form of beneficial interests in the Destination Club Trust rather than deeded weeks. But even if you opt to do this at some point, that will never affect your existing deed. Unlike some points systems that require you to turn over your deed to the developer/manager, in the Marriott Destination Club, you retain your existing deed and all the rights you currently have. You just add to your ownership in the form of additional points from the Destination Trust.

 

[adelec]

Thank you all for the very helpful information.

Another question I have - will being in this program change anything with my II membership besides covering the Marriott to Marriott fees? I assume nothing changes if I want to trade into a non Marriott property?

 

[VacationForever]

Thank you all for the very helpful information.

Another question I have - will being in this program change anything with my II membership besides covering the Marriott to Marriott fees? I assume nothing changes if I want to trade into a non Marriott property?

You will get a new corporate II account, which is covered by the club dues.

Nothing changes otherwise. If you want to trade in II for that year, then you do not elect Exchange points.

 

[Dean]

Thank you all for the very helpful information.

Another question I have - will being in this program change anything with my II membership besides covering the Marriott to Marriott fees? I assume nothing changes if I want to trade into a non Marriott property?

You will get a new account that you can trade your enrolled weeks through. This is where you'll get free Marriott to Marriott fees. I don't believe you'll get the free ones in your old account including if you already have deposits there.

 

[tschwa2]

Your corporate II account will not let you add eplus for any exchanges including ones that you pay for to non Marriott properties. You will need to keep your old account as long as you have an upcoming exchange and/or deposit. You will also need to maintain your paid for II account if you have any non enrolled weeks (or non Marriott) weeks associated with the account.

 

[dioxide45]

Your corporate II account will not let you add eplus for any exchanges including ones that you pay for to non Marriott properties. You will need to keep your old account as long as you have an upcoming exchange and/or deposit. You will also need to maintain your paid for II account if you have any non enrolled weeks (or non Marriott) weeks associated with the account.

The good thing about the corporate account is that trades and even retrades are free. This is good if you are always trading in to non Marriott's. But the lack of ePlus is a huge issue when you want to trade or retrade in to non Marriotts. You have to pay the full exchange fee each time.

 

[VacationForever]

The good thing about the corporate account is that trades and even retrades are free. This is good if you are always trading in to non Marriott's. But the lack of ePlus is a huge issue when you want to trade or retrade in to non Marriotts. You have to pay the full exchange fee each time.

I am a little confused by the statement "This is good if you are always trading in to non Marriott's"...

I think this is how it works: When you use a Marriott week in this Corporate account to trade to another Marriott week, it is free. When you trade to a non-Marriott, you have to pay an exchange fee. The downside is that if you want to retrade to a non-Marriott because there is no ePlus, you have to pay the full amount for retrade. If you retrade to a Marriott week, it is free. Is my understanding correct?

 

[dioxide45]

I am a little confused by the statement "This is good if you are always trading in to non Marriott's"...

I think this is how it works: When you use a Marriott week in this Corporate account to trade to another Marriott week, it is free. When you trade to a non-Marriott, you have to pay an exchange fee. The downside is that if you want to retrade to a non-Marriott because there is no ePlus, you have to pay the full amount for retrade. If you retrade to a Marriott week, it is free. Is my understanding correct?

Sorry, I fixed my error.

 

[VacationForever]

Sorry, I fixed my error.

Thank you for the clarification. This is all new to me too (Marriott's corporate II account).

 

[Fairwinds]

Thank you all for the very helpful information.

Another question I have - will being in this program change anything with my II membership besides covering the Marriott to Marriott fees? I assume nothing changes if I want to trade into a non Marriott property?

Nothing changes for non Marriott trades but If you own sequal your DC dues also covers lockout fees

 

[glarscast]

I recently enrolled my two weeks for free after participating in a webinar on the subject. I've received my Enrolled Member packet, but I have a question for a TUGger more experienced than I:

Last year I completed a Marriott-to-Marriott trade through II and then purchased a Guest Certificate for my brother and his family. If I were to do that again in the future (2019) would I have to purchase a Guest Certificate if the trade is "Internal Marriott-to-Marriott" under my new II membership? Is that a covered fee? And if I were to elect points in 2019 and reserve a Marriott week in order to give it to my brother, I believe that I would just call the resort and tell them of the new guest's name (my brother). Is that right?

 

[kds4]

I recently enrolled my two weeks for free after participating in a webinar on the subject. I've received my Enrolled Member packet, but I have a question for a TUGger more experienced than I:

Last year I completed a Marriott-to-Marriott trade through II and then purchased a Guest Certificate for my brother and his family. If I were to do that again in the future (2019) would I have to purchase a Guest Certificate if the trade is "Internal Marriott-to-Marriott" under my new II membership? Is that a covered fee? And if I were to elect points in 2019 and reserve a Marriott week in order to give it to my brother, I believe that I would just call the resort and tell them of the new guest's name (my brother). Is that right?

I believe a guest certificate would be required if you are not traveling with them (but not if you had multiple units - you in one and them in another) and it would have to be paid separately to II. I believe the MVCI provided corporate II account covers only the basic exchange fee for Marriott to Marriott exchanges. Anything else you would still pay out of pocket.

 

[Dean]

I recently enrolled my two weeks for free after participating in a webinar on the subject. I've received my Enrolled Member packet, but I have a question for a TUGger more experienced than I:

Last year I completed a Marriott-to-Marriott trade through II and then purchased a Guest Certificate for my brother and his family. If I were to do that again in the future (2019) would I have to purchase a Guest Certificate if the trade is "Internal Marriott-to-Marriott" under my new II membership? Is that a covered fee? And if I were to elect points in 2019 and reserve a Marriott week in order to give it to my brother, I believe that I would just call the resort and tell them of the new guest's name (my brother). Is that right?

Technically yes, it would be required. I've often been able to add family when I wasn't traveling with them.

 

[glarscast]

Thanks kds4 and Dean. The second scenario is slightly different. I'd be interested in your thoughts about reserving a week with Destination Points for my brother. Since II would not be involved, I believe I could just call the Marriott resort and tell them that my brother would be taking the villa. Is that right?

 

[dioxide45]

II Guest Certificate fee is not included in the consolidated fee structure. Though if you sign up for II Platinum Membership, they are included in that at no additional cost.

 

[deniseh]

Thanks kds4 and Dean. The second scenario is slightly different. I'd be interested in your thoughts about reserving a week with Destination Points for my brother. Since II would not be involved, I believe I could just call the Marriott resort and tell them that my brother would be taking the villa. Is that right?

Yes, you would just call Marriott Vacation Club and add their name to the reservation as guests. People do that all the time when renting out their Marriott weeks. This would be when using DP directly through MVC and Interval is not involved at all. I believe your name would still be on the reservation as the owner.

 

[Dean]

Yes, you would just call Marriott Vacation Club and add their name to the reservation as guests. People do that all the time when renting out their Marriott weeks. This would be when using DP directly through MVC and Interval is not involved at all. I believe your name would still be on the reservation as the owner.

That's my understanding, and the rewards number as well.

 

[VacationForever]

That's my understanding, and the rewards number as well.

Are you saying that the owner always retains his/her MRP number? Can it be changed to the guest's? and so if you rent it out, do you have a written understanding as to who gets credit for MRPs and nights for the stay?

 

[dioxide45]

Are you saying that the owner always retains his/her MRP number? Can it be changed to the guest's? and so if you rent it out, do you have a written understanding as to who gets credit for MRPs and nights for the stay?

The guest can change the owners rewards number at checkin.

 

[VacationForever]

The guest can change the owners rewards number at checkin.

Thanks.