Enrolling your week in the Destinations Club

[Gorks]

During our stay at Surfwatch on Hilton Head, we were encouraged to attend a 1.5 hour pitch on the Destination Points program but we cancelled. We then got a call urging us to do it because we could “enroll our week” for free until the end of the month. I remember at an earlier visit we had been told we would have to convert to the points program and buy points to get the same week we already have at our home resort, so of course we didn’t do it, as the additional flexibility of the points program for cruises and hotels didn’t interest us. But the salesman said the beauty of “enrolling” our week was that we could still use it as a trade within the Marriott system instead of using Interval, and pay no exchange fees. We could also continue to deposit our week, with our lock off studio unit deposited separately with Interval if we wanted to stay at something other than a Marriott. He said only other Marriott owners could have access to these enrolled weeks if we trade within the Marriott “enrolled” system, so our chances of trading for the Marriott location we want would be much higher, since 82% of week’s owners have “enrolled” their weeks. Having had trouble trading through Interval sometimes and not being able to get a trade, for example, in Marco Island, this had some appeal, as well as saving the Interval trading costs. I said Inwould think about the offer and Indid some research online and on this site. Then I called Interval and they soon pointed out that enrolling our week would mean converting it to points for that trade, which would only get us 5 days at our home resort with 2750 points, and completely eliminate the possibility of locking off our studio unit and trading that for a second week! We have done that successfully every year for ten years. Can anyone find any errors in this summary? I would love to know if I am missing something.

 

[Fasttr]

By enrolling for free, you are not giving up any usage options you currently have, you just add a few additional options for usage, at a small cost of your annual dues fee ($195) which likely will be at least somewhat offset by savings in II fees that you currently pay which would, if enrolled, be included in your $195 annual dues fee.

 

[kds4]

It is true that without buying/renting more points, you are unlikely to be able to go anywhere in peak season for 5 nights or more on 2750 points. However, you can get plenty of places during off-peak season with that amount of points. For example, we have stayed in a 2BR unit at the beach for New Year's week for under 1500 points on multiple occasions. If you enroll, you will pay a recurring annual dues (regardless of whether you ever convert to points). That will be an added cost to your ownership. However, it will cover your basic II fees for Marriott to Marriott exchanges. Exchanges to Non-Marriott properties you will still have to pay an exchange fee. The annual dues also will not cover other II fees like Guest Certificates or Uptrade Fees (that occur outside the Flexchange window where you trade up to a larger unit than the one you deposited).

If you own a lock-off that trades well, you may not find enough benefit to your travel patterns to make enrollment worthwhile. If you do enroll, at least the annual dues will pay the membership cost of your II account and Marriott to Marriott exchanges. That should offset at least part of the annual dues fee. Good luck.

 

[Gorks]

By enrolling for free, you are not giving up any usage options you currently have, you just add a few additional options for usage, at a small cost of your annual dues fee ($195) which likely will be at least somewhat offset by savings in II fees that you currently pay which would, if enrolled, be included in your $195 annual dues fee.

Thanks for that comment. Since the points we would get for our unit would not be enough to trade for a week of comparable value at another resort, I can’t see why we would do it. Furthermore, even though we are allowed to lock off our studio part of the two bedroom unit, since the trading value of the combined unit isn’t enough to get another week of the same value, we would never get the second week we get now. Am I right about that?

 

[Gorks]

It is true that without buying/renting more points, you are unlikely to be able to go anywhere in peak season for 5 nights or more on 2750 points. However, you can get plenty of places during off-peak season with that amount of points. For example, we have stayed in a 2BR unit at the beach for New Year's week for under 1500 points on multiple occasions. If you enroll, you will pay a recurring annual dues (regardless of whether you ever convert to points). That will be an added cost to your ownership. However, it will cover your basic II fees for Marriott to Marriott exchanges. Exchanges to Non-Marriott properties you will still have to pay an exchange fee. The annual dues also will not cover other II fees like Guest Certificates or Uptrade Fees (that occur outside the Flexchange window where you trade up to a larger unit than the one you deposited).

If you own a lock-off that trades well, you may not find enough benefit to your travel patterns to make enrollment worthwhile. If you do enroll, at least the annual dues will pay the membership cost of your II account and Marriott to Marriott exchanges. That should offset at least part of the annual dues fee. Good luck.

We have a platinum week at Canyon Villas in Phoenix for a two bedroom with a lockoff studio.

 

[kds4]

Thanks for that comment. Since the points we would get for our unit would not be enough to trade for a week of comparable value at another resort, I can’t see why we would do it. Furthermore, even though we are allowed to lock off our studio part of the two bedroom unit, since the trading value of the combined unit isn’t enough to get another week of the same value, we would never get the second week we get now. Am I right about that?

I would agree with that analysis. Being able to lock-off and make 2 deposits (with a potential to uptrade both deposits to a larger unit in II) compared to a relatively small points value if you were to enroll and convert the week ... The difference would be if you owned a high points value dedicated unit (non lock-off) such as Hawaii. Then enrolling could potentially get you more usage out of your ownership than just depositing into II.

 

[Gorks]

I would agree with that analysis. Being able to lock-off and make 2 deposits (with a potential to uptrade both deposits to a larger unit in II) compared to a relatively small points value if you were to enroll and convert the week ... The difference would be if you owned a high points value dedicated unit (non lock-off) such as Hawaii. Then enrolling could potentially get you more usage out of your ownership than just depositing into II.

That makes sense. Thanks for your response!

 

[Fasttr]

Do you use more than 2 weeks now? Just curious, because if enrolled, it makes renting points from other owners very easy, allowing you to control the points once they are placed into your account, allowing you virtually unlimited (based on desired cash outlay) reservation capability (and also based on availability of course). That benefit can be extended to your kids, etc (if you have any at vacation-on-their-own age). Ability to rent additional points from others is one of the big upsides to being enrolled in the DC in my opinion.

 

[TXTortoise]

What Fasttr said...as a proud owner of a week that only converts to 550 DC points, the real benefit of enrolling was the ability to now rent points as needed...generally in the .60/point range at the moment.

 

[tschwa2]

If you currently lock off your unit ($80) and exchange at least one or both halves through interval ($159-$318) and you are paying for your interval account for just that week (say average $70 per year with multi year discounted membership) - you don't own other non Marriott or non eligible weeks that you also exchange with that interval account than you probably will still save money enrolling and paying the annual fee. You may not ever want to convert to points once enrolled but you have that option if using your week or exchanging through interval doesn't work one year and if you do convert to points that year you have the option of suplimenting your points with rented points from other owners.

Now if you typically don't lock off your unit. Use what you own or usually exchange into non Marriott's and have to pay for the interval account because you use it for other timeshares you own or don't even have an interval account than it will probably cost you more for the annual membership fee than what you currently pay to use your week.

 

[davidvel]

If you currently lock off your unit ($80) and exchange at least one or both halves through interval ($159-$318) and you are paying for your interval account for just that week (say average $70 per year with multi year discounted membership) - you don't own other non Marriott or non eligible weeks that you also exchange with that interval account than you probably will still save money enrolling and paying the annual fee. You may not ever want to convert to points once enrolled but you have that option if using your week or exchanging through interval doesn't work one year and if you do convert to points that year you have the option of suplimenting your points with rented points from other owners.

Now if you typically don't lock off your unit. Use what you own or usually exchange into non Marriott's and have to pay for the interval account because you use it for other timeshares you own or don't even have an interval account than it will probably cost you more for the annual membership fee than what you currently pay to use your week.

Yes, this is the value of enrolling. If you only trade for Marriott, for just under $200, you get your II fee, lockoff fee and 2 exchanges, which normally costs over $450. Also you get free unlimited retrades.

 

[taterhed]

AND.........

With the upcoming changes with Marriott and ILG, I would absolutely, positively want to be enrolled in points PRIOR to the official announcement of program changes.

Why? Because you might, MIGHT, find yourself able to book a vastly different portfolio enrolled vs unenrolled (or rent points/SO's etc...)

Right now, for you, it sounds very much like a break-even deal. But, in the future, that could be a huge deal.

Just hypothesizing...

 

[dioxide45]

Lets just hope that the ability to transfer DC points remains. Lets hope the minds over at Vistana, where they don't allow SOs to be transferred, don't somehow convince those at MVC that it is better to not let points to be transferred.

 

[vacationtime1]

Lets just hope that the ability to transfer DC points remains. Lets hope the minds over at Vistana, where they don't allow SOs to be transferred, don't somehow convince those at MVC that it is better to not let points to be transferred.

+1

Let's also hope that the minds over at Vistana -- the ones who gave us the mishmash of mandatory resorts, voluntary resorts, Florida Club, StarOptions, HomeOptions, and FlexOptions -- don't muck up Marriott's much simpler and user friendly system.

I'm not concerned that Marriott will completely prevent transferring DC points; it would be a hard sell to get people to pay $14/DC point (or even $7 on a hybrid package) if the "asset" is not transferrable. My concern is that they will raise the junk fees such that the DC points have little or no resale value.

 

[MikeM132]

I have 3 enrolled weeks (did it when this first started). I am not anywhere near as enthusiastic about the ins-and-outs of timeshare dealing as I once was. Much more relaxed anymore. I, personally, am not aware of any internal Marriott trading system for weeks that does not involve Interval. Points, yes, weeks, no. I believe Marriott TS sales is under pressure to get legacy weeks owners to deposit for points, exchange for MR points, and enroll their weeks because they need the actual inventory of properties available in order to sell more points. What you CAN do if you enroll is pay a couple hundred a year to belong to the Dest program and save II dues (included) and Marriott to Marriott exchanges in US (also included). This has worked out ok for me, so far. Some smaller, sold-out properties (like some on Hilton Head, etc) I don't see availability with points. I see more with an II week. Properties where there is a ton of inventory are easy to get in either system. My Grande Vista is available to anyone with a Big and Tall store card. KoOlina is available to anyone who shows up. Maui not so much.

 

[Fasttr]

I believe Marriott TS sales is under pressure to get legacy weeks owners to deposit for points, exchange for MR points, and enroll their weeks because they need the actual inventory of properties available in order to sell more points.

I'm confused....are you suggesting that you believe when you deposit your week into the DC points system, exchange it for MR points, or enroll a week, that MVC can then sell the underlying points. If so, that is not correct.

Or are you saying that without the enrolled weeks, there would not be enough inventory to make the system work efficiently?

 

[Pamplemousse]

During our stay at Surfwatch on Hilton Head, we were encouraged to attend a 1.5 hour pitch on the Destination Points program but we cancelled. We then got a call urging us to do it because we could “enroll our week” for free until the end of the month. I remember at an earlier visit we had been told we would have to convert to the points program and buy points to get the same week we already have at our home resort, so of course we didn’t do it, as the additional flexibility of the points program for cruises and hotels didn’t interest us. But the salesman said the beauty of “enrolling” our week was that we could still use it as a trade within the Marriott system instead of using Interval, and pay no exchange fees. We could also continue to deposit our week, with our lock off studio unit deposited separately with Interval if we wanted to stay at something other than a Marriott. He said only other Marriott owners could have access to these enrolled weeks if we trade within the Marriott “enrolled” system, so our chances of trading for the Marriott location we want would be much higher, since 82% of week’s owners have “enrolled” their weeks. Having had trouble trading through Interval sometimes and not being able to get a trade, for example, in Marco Island, this had some appeal, as well as saving the Interval trading costs. I said Inwould think about the offer and Indid some research online and on this site. Then I called Interval and they soon pointed out that enrolling our week would mean converting it to points for that trade, which would only get us 5 days at our home resort with 2750 points, and completely eliminate the possibility of locking off our studio unit and trading that for a second week! We have done that successfully every year for ten years. Can anyone find any errors in this summary? I would love to know if I am missing something.

We attended a similar meeting while staying at Grande ocean last year.
You choose each year to elect points, stay at your home resort, or deposit into II.
Even if you never elect points enrolling saves on II fees.
The destination club dues covers the II membership, lock off fee, II exchange fee to Marriott resorts- and this is unlimited so you can cancel and retrade (which in a way is an “insurance policy” if plans change).
Seemed like a no brained for us to enroll.

 

[davidvel]

Enroll= Add rights to your week to participate in the DC, paying annual dues (in addition to your normal MF), and which gives you a (mostly) fee free II account, and the right to get points for your week.

Elect = When you decide, on an annual basis, to give your full week to DC in exchange for the points. (You don't ever have to do this.)

Both of the following statements are utter nonsense (not that they told you this, but what they said):

- He said only other Marriott owners could have access to these enrolled weeks if we trade within the Marriott “enrolled” system, so our chances of trading for the Marriott location we want would be much higher, since 82% of week’s owners have “enrolled” their weeks.

Many people have this false perception, but there is NO INTERNAL TRADING SYSTEM WITH MARRIOTT. Some people consider electing points to then use as (devalued) currency in the point system as an "internal trading program," but this only confuses the issue (apples and oranges.)

If we are talking about trading your week for another week, II works exactly the same if your week is enrolled as if it was not (minus most fees.)

- Then I called Interval and they soon pointed out that enrolling our week would mean converting it to points for that trade, which would only get us 5 days at our home resort with 2750 points, and completely eliminate the possibility of locking off our studio unit and trading that for a second week! (sort of true, but not really, see below.)

The II rep was clearly talking about electing your enrolled week for points, which only allows you to use those points in the Marriott DC. Yes, you won't have enough to reserve your own resort for a week (this is called "Skim" search for it), but is only if you in fact elect to get points for that year. (When you elect for points, you have to give them the full 2BR, or what you own.)

 

[taffy19]

That is so true.