Exchanging for MR points vs. Renting

[Quilter]

This came up in post #30 of this thread: http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169047&page=2

In recent years I have concluded that once a maintenance fee goes over $1K it is no longer reasonable to turn in my week in exchange for Marriott Rewards Points.

I've been on the biking Hilton Head today and am too pooped to add, subtract, multiply and divide quickly.

A new Tugger, tjkahn (from Jan. of this year) would like some discussion on this. Anyone want to jump in and prove me wrong or help me defend my point? I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[m61376]

I agree. Marriott prices reward points at 1.25 cents each, and each person can buy 50,000 a year if they want to (and a couple can merge their accounts to purchase a reward certificate, so effectively a couple can buy up to 100,000 points per year).

Over 1K your MF's alone approximate the cost of buying points, without giving up use of an underlying week, which in many cases you paid big bucks for. As long as it is a week that can be rented even if not use for more than the MF's, trading for points isn't necessarily cost effective, and the more MF's go up and/or the higher rental rate a property commands, the less attractive trading for points becomes. After all, what was the point of outlaying thousands of dollars f not to use/enjoy the timeshare week?

 

[tjkahn]

Thanks Quilter. I've reproduced my post here to make it easier. As we discussed "inside", I'm not sure why how much your maintenance fee is would factor into a decision to rent, use, or trade for points...your maintenance fee is the sunk part of the equation.

The other issue I have is in response to a post on that thread that said trading for points is foolish economically when compared to renting. I thnk that would be true if individual owners were able to obtain market (i.e. something close to what you would pay on Marriott.com) rents, but in my admittedly limited experience, it's tough to get a fair price, I suspect in large part because the large majority of prospective vacationers looking for hotel rooms don't think to look anwhere other than travel websites to look for lodging. My very limited experience (described below) attempting to rent a week on TUG indicates to me that any price one would possibly obtain here would pale in comparison to the value one could get for their unit in MR points. At least on ebay in years' past I got offers. There seem to be a glut of things to rent here and they stay posted for a long time, which also points to the value out there...I would have happily paid $1,000 for the two bedroom villa I had at Ocean Watch, and I'm sure anyone who did pay Marriott for the same unit paid 2.5X that.

BTW, it's nice out here at the pool
_____________________________
Originally Posted by EKniager
"....Since trading weeks for MR points makes zero economic sense (versus renting) there has never been a difference to us."

I’m trying to understand the statement made by this member – and I’m sure a lot of my confusion resides in my not optimizing my rentals – primarily because I’ve viewed I own a 2BR lock-off platinum ski week at Timber Lodge in Lake Tahoe. I’ve rented each portion a couple of times over the last 10 years of ownership…at best, it’s a break-even proposition in terms of being able to cover my maintenance fee of roughly $1,100 a year.

If I trade the week for MR points, I’m able to book 5 nights in Hawaii with MR points in hotel rooms that would cost, conservatively speaking, $300 plus tax, and in all likelihood would cost $400 or more. Let’s just call it $400, tax included. That means to take the same trip and get the same room, I’d need $2,000 for my unit for the week. I’ve never come close to that. I would also imagine, while I’ve never tried, that trading into Hawaii is difficult to do. So MR points come in very handy for places in high demand.

A few months ago I found TUG, and I noticed the for rent section. I had a flexchange week I had for my studio unit, and was able to trade into a 2BR at Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach the last week in March, my kids’ spring break week. My family was undecided as to whether to use the week in Myrtle Beach, or to spend the week locally skiing in the Midwest. So I thought I’d leave it to fate, and listed the week for rental here on TUG at $1,000. It was a colossal waste of time – I didn’t get one offer. Granted, it’s not the highest of high seasons in MB, but the resort was 100% occupied, rooms when they were available through Marriott were $279-$379 (the price went up the second weekend), but by the time March arrived, there were no rooms left. Still not even one low-ball offer. As luck would have it, it really turned out great because the heat wave in the Midwest melted all of the snow, and we went to Ocean Watch and had an absolute blast at a terrific resort.

But the question I have remains – how are people finding renting to be a good option, especially when put up against banking a week or trading for MR points? I don’t anticipate needing to rent a lot, but the couple of times I did want to rent, when my kids were infants a few years ago, I listed on ebay. I did ok, but really just covered my maintenance fee in one case when I rented the 1 BR, and fell short on the other, when I just rented the studio. Meanwhile, Marriott is renting the units for anywhere from $150/night for a studio to $300 a night or more for the 2BR. Obviously I don’t have the luxury of being able to list my unit on Marriott.com, but given my small sample size of what I’ve been able to achieve (I have not listed on redweek, craigslist…just ebay), renting has been a much less worthwhile economic venture than trading for points. I’ve already been to Hawaii once on Marriott points and have enough banked for 2 more weeks.

For what it’s worth, I do plan on enrolling in DC, if anything it’s probably a wash for me in a few years because I do lock off a lot, and also trade. Thanks in advance for the input.

 

[tjkahn]

I agree. Marriott prices reward points at 1.25 cents each, and each person can buy 50,000 a year if they want to (and a couple can merge their accounts to purchase a reward certificate, so effectively a couple can buy up to 100,000 points per year).

Over 1K your MF's alone approximate the cost of buying points, without giving up use of an underlying week, which in many cases you paid big bucks for. As long as it is a week that can be rented even if not use for more than the MF's, trading for points isn't necessarily cost effective, and the more MF's go up and/or the higher rental rate a property commands, the less attractive trading for points becomes. After all, what was the point of outlaying thousands of dollars f not to use/enjoy the timeshare week?

Sorry, this post appeared as I was typing. I think I'm getting your point now...if you want points, buy them and take whatever you get renting. This also assumes you will use or rent your week in the current year or at some point in the future.

I'll see if I can be more clear...you owe $1,000 in maintenance fees, regardless of what you do. You cannot use your week, or you don't need it because you have a banked week. If you want to trade for MR points (110,000 in my case), the decision is rent out the unit and buy points (100,000for $1,250), or just trade for points (let's ignore fees for doing that, which are waived under DC anyway). In both cases, your maintenance fee is sunk. In option 1 (rent your week and buy points), you need to rent for $1,250 to cover the points you buy...and I'm still 10,000 MR points short. In option 2, you have no money to outlay, and you/I get 10K more points.

My point is, if I could get market value (i.e. Marriott.com pricing) for my 2 BR (and I'd have to get it prior to Dec. 31, to boot), then I agree it would be foolish to trade your unit in for points and leave that money on the table - just buy 100K points and pocket the rest or put it towards a paid night. So maybe my question is how the heck do you get enough in rental fees to make it worthwhile to buy points? In my experience renting is great for the rentee, not so good for the renter - but again my experience is limited.

 

[Quilter]

I'm still not all here from the bike ride but I've scanned the additions to this thread. A couple points I may have missed but didn't see factored in are:

1) when you exchange for Marriott Rewards points you not only pay your maintenance fee but you pay a fee of $104. Add that to the maintenance fee.

2)when you buy points with a Marriott Visa you gain even more points from the purchase.

 

[dioxide45]

I'm still not all here from the bike ride but I've scanned the additions to this thread. A couple points I may have missed but didn't see factored in are:

1) when you exchange for Marriott Rewards points you not only pay your maintenance fee but you pay a fee of $104. Add that to the maintenance fee.

True, but for enrolled DC members, this is included in the $165/$199 annual DC fee.

 

[Quilter]

Thanks dioxide. On the walk to and from the Marketplace I was wondering about that. I found some spaghetti and sauce and should be good as new in no time.

tj, are you enrolled in the DC?

 

[Quilter]

tj,

here's something I caught from your first post that, IMO, you are selling yourself short on: your exchange power in II.

I don't know anything about Timber Lodge but I would suspect a ski week would get you a week in Hawaii.

What do others think about that?

And have you heard about ownertrades.com? You could see if a Hawaii owner is looking for a ski week.

And that rental amount--you live in Oak Park, IL. Don't you have a bulletin board at work you can post your week for rent and get a better rental rate than $1,100? Phoenix is Chicago Central during Spring Training. Do you have any pals who want to see the Cubs and get a tan? Try for an exchange to Canyon Villas or the Westin and have them pay your maintenance fee (or maintenance fee and finder's fee). Not to be confused with a rental.

 

[pwrshift]

Renting is not always the solution. The prices asked for rentals on eBay, Redweek, and TUG classifieds are mostly out of sight...you see them appear again and again without bids.

When I rented my studio at BeachPlace for Presidents week i set the reserve on eBay for $650 and it rented within a week. Same for the Spring Break studio at $700. I used the 1 bdrm portions...but suspect they would have rented for about $1300 each. So if rented all the splits, that's about $2000 before eBay and Marriott lockoff fees...compared to $1100 MF. I've lost the use of my week and the opportunity cost of my investment...so nothing much to write home about. Those trying to rent for more didn't rent them.

With most years I've turned in 2 of my 6 weeks for points...and when MF fees were $500 it was a good deal. Times have changed. However if you play the points game properly you can really get good value with them if you save enough points to fly business class to Europe and stay 5-7 nights in top rated hotels it can become a great value compared to cash...even at todays MF.

It's a much faster way of getting sufficient points to take such a trip if you turn in 2 weeks a year for 220,000 points and annually buy 100,000 points. In 2-3 years, with Visa earnings too, you'll have enough for a $15,000 2nd honeymoon (leave the kids at home).

One added point...if you die your points are grabbed back by Marriott or your spouse inherits them...no exceptions. Read the rules.

Regarding II if you split lockoffs and deposit both parts you'll probably get an AC and can trade both parts for 2bdrm suites in Hilton Head if you have flexibility.
Brian

 

[NWL]

I view turning a unit in for points as a last resort but am glad I have the option. Best use is if you have reserved the week you want during a not so popular time and then find out you can't use the week. Better to turn in for points than take pennies on the dollar for a rental (if you are lucky to rent it).

 

[dioxide45]

We own two Orlando weeks, neither will rent for more than MFs, but we can turn each in for 90,000 MRPs. While we would never have bought from Marriott to just get the trade for MRPs option, having now enrolled in DC, this option is available to us.

I agree that from a financial standpoint buying a developer week in recent years (late 2000's) to get the option to trade for MPRs wasn't a great deal. However, with the DC announcement we got the "gift of a lifetime" and can now trade for points at a price point that makes it much more worth while. Sure we can buy 100,000 points for $1,250 between the wife and I, but turning in a week that we bought cheap on resale and paid $1,995 to enroll that has a MF at a little over $900 is a pretty good option. An option that we are considering to use for one of our 2013 weeks.

If we wanted to we could buy the 100,000 points and turn a week in for MRPs and really build up our reward points account quickly. We can't build that kind of point balance with hotel stays and credit card use. I know some perhaps can (business use of credit card), but we surely can't.

 

[tjkahn]

tj,

here's something I caught from your first post that, IMO, you are selling yourself short on: your exchange power in II.

I don't know anything about Timber Lodge but I would suspect a ski week would get you a week in Hawaii.

What do others think about that?

And have you heard about ownertrades.com? You could see if a Hawaii owner is looking for a ski week.

And that rental amount--you live in Oak Park, IL. Don't you have a bulletin board at work you can post your week for rent and get a better rental rate than $1,100? Phoenix is Chicago Central during Spring Training. Do you have any pals who want to see the Cubs and get a tan? Try for an exchange to Canyon Villas or the Westin and have them pay your maintenance fee (or maintenance fee and finder's fee). Not to be confused with a rental.

Hey Quilter...sorry to have fallen off the grid for a bit on this thread - hope you are having a great vacation. You asked some questions and made some points, and I'll try to address.

I have not yet enrolled in DC but I plan to. I almost always lock off, and as discussed I have traded for points as well. Over time I'll save enough on fees, and the 800 bonus points will be put to use somehow. So I look at the cost as a wash over time. Plus my unit seemed to do ok on point allocation - 4,325 points. With young kids and a desire to take long car trips, I envision a lot of Orlando/South Carolina in my future, and if I used points I could get multiple years of use.

You're probably right about my trading power, although I've never tried Hawaii...and the other issue I would have is airfare. I've racked up a lot of miles I'd like to use, and if I were to look for a trade in Hawaii that didn't get confirmed early enough, I'd lose out on the free tickets. Just for giggles I did a search for a 10 night trip to Hawaii next winter. I could have immediately confirmed using MR points and FF miles. The cost of the flights for my family of 4 would have been $3,700. The hotel would have been over $4,000 plus tax. With MR points I could have confirmed the whole trip right away...I suppose I could have cancelled the points reservation if I got a confirmed exchange.

My point about trading for points remains though...as I stated at the end of the other thread this conversation started on, I'd have to pay $1,375 for the 110,000 MR points my unit trades for, and I couldn't even do that all in one year. IMHO, in order for the statement "trading for points is always bad economically vs. renting" to be true, I would have to get $1,500 for my unit - I'm factoring in the effort I'd make to list, and any possible listing or selling fees. Despite the popularity of my resort during my season, and the money Marriott is able to collect, I've not found success at that level, although to be fair, I have never rented the entire unit - just the 1BR and studios separately, in separate years. I believe the best I got was $1,000 for the 1BR. You would probably make the point that getting $1,000 for the 1BR and having the studio to use or trade means that I'm making out better with the rental, and you might be right...but I don't know that you can boil this down to right or wrong. There is something to be said for the "lazy man's" approach of depositing for more points than you can buy in a year and having access to 2,000 hotels, without any risk that you'll get hosed on the rental. I think we'd both agree that as long as an owner is using an enjoying his week in some fashion, he/she is doing ok.

Your suggestions about bulliten boards and local listings are well taken - although the company I work for is a small division of a big corporation - so they frown upon personal advertisements and the audience isn't that big. But there are other local options available, and in the future if I do decide to rent I will have to look into your suggestions.

Thanks for engaging in the dialogue.

 

[Quilter]

It is a GREAT vacation. The weather is wonderful. I'm catching a little computer in between biking and swimming. Do you ever get to Hilton Head Island as well as Myrtle Beach? This year's weather has made the azaleas bloom early so now it's the jasmine and privets. Delightful.

Yes, the point-to-m/f ratio should be good for your TimberLodge. Better than my OP and I consider that one decent. Sounds like the DC simplicity will work for you.

Brian's (pwrshift) post on trading in for MR points and adding bought points gave me new thought to building points for travel packages. You should reread that one to get a full grasp of what he was saying since you seem to like MR travel.

Since you don't mind staying in hotels why not set up a MR reservation as a back up and also have an ongoing request with II?

Ask your friends if their business have an internal BBS. My husband's firm has one that welcomes things like my ads.

 

[EKniager]

Since tj is mostly taking issue with me, I probably should step in here.

First of all my view is based on our ownership which is Aruba Surf Club, a high rental property. The math has been explained in another thread with tj acknowledging that profitability.

Secondly, tj admits to limited rental experience which has been focused on renting on TUG. Let's talk about that. TUG'ers use TUG. TUG'ers are a small percentage of the universe. If you don't own timeshares or are not interested in researching timeshares you most likely have never heard of TUG. Rent it where people who rent go to. Try VRBO or some other vacation rental site.

Thirdly, not all MVC locations offer good financials to justify the purchase. The math changes a little if you bought resale versus developer, but you have to amortize the buy-in cost over... let's say 25 years. (For a lot of owners that equates to an additional $1,000 per week in ownership costs, nevermind the lost interest on the $25K over that period.) Our analysis says that if you are not using your location most of the time and you cannot rent the unit for at least 2X the annual MFs or drive there or split it into two weeks via the lockoff function, IMHO, it makes no sense to own the week.

My original point was we never considered the trade-for-points as a benefit that we would ever use based on the math. It was nice window dressing for a TS sales rep but not a valid reason to buy a TS or "a gift of a lifetime."

 

[tjkahn]

Since tj is mostly taking issue with me, I probably should step in here.

First of all my view is based on our ownership which is Aruba Surf Club, a high rental property. The math has been explained in another thread with tj acknowledging that profitability.

Secondly, tj admits to limited rental experience which has been focused on renting on TUG. Let's talk about that. TUG'ers use TUG. TUG'ers are a small percentage of the universe. If you don't own timeshares or are not interested in researching timeshares you most likely have never heard of TUG. Rent it where people who rent go to. Try VRBO or some other vacation rental site.

Thirdly, not all MVC locations offer good financials to justify the purchase. The math changes a little if you bought resale versus developer, but you have to amortize the buy-in cost over... let's say 25 years. (For a lot of owners that equates to an additional $1,000 per week in ownership costs, nevermind the lost interest on the $25K over that period.) Our analysis says that if you are not using your location most of the time and you cannot rent the unit for at least 2X the annual MFs or drive there or split it into two weeks via the lockoff function, IMHO, it makes no sense to own the week.

My original point was we never considered the trade-for-points as a benefit that we would ever use based on the math. It was nice window dressing for a TS sales rep but not a valid reason to buy a TS or "a gift of a lifetime."

I don't think I'm "taking issue" with you...just having what I think has been a very thoughtful and informative discussion. I take issue with your football team, but that's a topic for another day.

You make a lot of great points. Namely, that I'm far from an educated renter - part of my motivation in questioning your assumption to begin with was to educate myself on the intracies of renting.

Your purchase rationale is also spot on. Full disclosure, if I had to do it again, I would not have bought a developer week for 30K. My wife and I were young, somewhat naive on the timeshare industry, and didn't have kids yet...i.e., we were a couple having a great vacation with disposable income. A real catch for a timeshare salesman...not to say that we were misled or uneducated.

I'd also say that despite the fact that I would not do it again, that does not mean I am not happy. We bought a week at a place we love, and the key selling point for us was the lock-off capability. That has come in quite handy. Having two young kids (5 and 6) and being able to trade my studio for a 2BR in Orlando very easily has been great. We also love to ski, and Tahoe is one of the best places I've ever been. Since we bought, the entire area has been built up and everything is upscale. So while my unit doesn't meet your other criteria - we can't drive there, we probably can't rent for 2x our MF, although as a 1-property owner I've never been willing to give up my entire 2BR, so who knows; and as of now, we don't use our unit most of the time, primarily because the age of our kids makes teaching them to ski a fortune out west. Once the kids are more seasoned (learning in Wisconsin is A LOT cheaper) and we can avoid $350/day in lessons, we'll be taking lots of family ski trips to Tahoe, and hopefully elswhere in the Marriott system.

I have a finance background and clearly the financials do not justify the $30K I spent. However, that cost has sunk and there are other, nonmonetary condiserations (this is probably why I'm not rich ). It does "force" you to take family vacations...and good ones. With Marriott you know you're getting a good place if you make an internal exchange. The lockout function (and accomodation certificates) have enhanced things - we gave an AC to friends of ours and they really appreciated the 7 nights in Orlando for $299 - they paid that much for their 8th night. And while perhaps it hasn't maximized my economics, my MR points have gotten me (so far) an amazing week in Hawaii and I've got points banked for two more. Overall my vacation experiences have been good, and that's what it's all about.

Back to the original issue - I do see your point on trading for points, and certainly concede in your situation it probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Might not be the greatest economic decision for me either, but as I pointed out earlier it is a great "lazy man's" approach to using your week - there's no effort, little cost (which is going away), and no fear of rejection . I won't be thinking about the economics when I'm sipping Mai Tai's in Maui.

 

[tjkahn]

It is a GREAT vacation. The weather is wonderful. I'm catching a little computer in between biking and swimming. Do you ever get to Hilton Head Island as well as Myrtle Beach? This year's weather has made the azaleas bloom early so now it's the jasmine and privets. Delightful.

Yes, the point-to-m/f ratio should be good for your TimberLodge. Better than my OP and I consider that one decent. Sounds like the DC simplicity will work for you.

Brian's (pwrshift) post on trading in for MR points and adding bought points gave me new thought to building points for travel packages. You should reread that one to get a full grasp of what he was saying since you seem to like MR travel.

Since you don't mind staying in hotels why not set up a MR reservation as a back up and also have an ongoing request with II?

Ask your friends if their business have an internal BBS. My husband's firm has one that welcomes things like my ads.

I had the option of trading into HH on this last trip. Mytle Beach seemed to be a little more "kid friendly" as an area, so that's why we chose it over HH, although we'd have been safer weather-wise in HH as the avg. temps were 8-10 degrees higher. Fortunately we lucked out and had a week in the mid to high 70's, except for 1 day that was in the 60's. Lots of blooming azaleas. Plus Marriott must spend a fortune heating their pools. Overall a great resort - at some point I will get to HH.

I'm making note of your other suggestions...all great points.

Enjoy the rest of your stay!

 

[EKniager]

TJ - You bought a L/O unit and you like your resort. Sounds to me like you are ahead of the game.

 

[Quilter]

I'm sitting by the Dolphin Grill at Grande Ocean waiting for my lunch. Kids in the pool behind me. They're everywhere Just steps away from biking on the beach. On the way out to the grill my eye was drawn to a couple cutie bicycles chained in the rack with the others. Oh the dream of being a kid on vacation at this resort.

Went to the book review group up in the Crow's Nest this morning. Afterwards I had a nice discussion with another owner that ended up with our comparison views to OceanWatch. Both of us concluded that it's a beautiful resort but Grande Ocean has so much more to do right in the adjacent vicinity without having to drive. She was also a biker like we are.

We had 2 weeks at OceanWatch last year. Beautiful place. The woodsie pool and playground is a dream come true for any kid. It was the larger picture of walking and riding bikes to other areas/restaurants/attractions I found limited.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[tjkahn]

I'm sitting by the Dolphin Grill at Grande Ocean waiting for my lunch. Kids in the pool behind me. They're everywhere Just steps away from biking on the beach. On the way out to the grill my eye was drawn to a couple cutie bicycles chained in the rack with the others. Oh the dream of being a kid on vacation at this resort.

Went to the book review group up in the Crow's Nest this morning. Afterwards I had a nice discussion with another owner that ended up with our comparison views to OceanWatch. Both of us concluded that it's a beautiful resort but Grande Ocean has so much more to do right in the adjacent vicinity without having to drive. She was also a biker like we are.

We had 2 weeks at OceanWatch last year. Beautiful place. The woodsie pool and playground is a dream come true for any kid. It was the larger picture of walking and riding bikes to other areas/restaurants/attractions I found limited.

But that's just my opinion.

You're assessment is correct, of course - MB is not very walkable. We drove from Chicago and knew we'd have a car.

Any MVC I've been to has lots of stuff for kids to do. I'm sure, especially considering that 6 of 7 days were spend at the beach or in the pool, HH would have been just as enjoyable. MB had a couple of theme parks that tipped the scales slightly, and OceanWatch had pretty impressive scores on Interval and Trip Advisor. My kids loved the NASCAR park and had a blast driving the go carts around the tracks.

When you're not working, you can't go wrong!

 

[kds4]

Hey Quilter...sorry to have fallen off the grid for a bit on this thread - hope you are having a great vacation. You asked some questions and made some points, and I'll try to address.

I have not yet enrolled in DC but I plan to. I almost always lock off, and as discussed I have traded for points as well. Over time I'll save enough on fees, and the 800 bonus points will be put to use somehow. So I look at the cost as a wash over time. Plus my unit seemed to do ok on point allocation - 4,325 points. With young kids and a desire to take long car trips, I envision a lot of Orlando/South Carolina in my future, and if I used points I could get multiple years of use.

You're probably right about my trading power, although I've never tried Hawaii...and the other issue I would have is airfare. I've racked up a lot of miles I'd like to use, and if I were to look for a trade in Hawaii that didn't get confirmed early enough, I'd lose out on the free tickets. Just for giggles I did a search for a 10 night trip to Hawaii next winter. I could have immediately confirmed using MR points and FF miles. The cost of the flights for my family of 4 would have been $3,700. The hotel would have been over $4,000 plus tax. With MR points I could have confirmed the whole trip right away...I suppose I could have cancelled the points reservation if I got a confirmed exchange.

My point about trading for points remains though...as I stated at the end of the other thread this conversation started on, I'd have to pay $1,375 for the 110,000 MR points my unit trades for, and I couldn't even do that all in one year. IMHO, in order for the statement "trading for points is always bad economically vs. renting" to be true, I would have to get $1,500 for my unit - I'm factoring in the effort I'd make to list, and any possible listing or selling fees. Despite the popularity of my resort during my season, and the money Marriott is able to collect, I've not found success at that level, although to be fair, I have never rented the entire unit - just the 1BR and studios separately, in separate years. I believe the best I got was $1,000 for the 1BR. You would probably make the point that getting $1,000 for the 1BR and having the studio to use or trade means that I'm making out better with the rental, and you might be right...but I don't know that you can boil this down to right or wrong. There is something to be said for the "lazy man's" approach of depositing for more points than you can buy in a year and having access to 2,000 hotels, without any risk that you'll get hosed on the rental. I think we'd both agree that as long as an owner is using an enjoying his week in some fashion, he/she is doing ok.

Your suggestions about bulliten boards and local listings are well taken - although the company I work for is a small division of a big corporation - so they frown upon personal advertisements and the audience isn't that big. But there are other local options available, and in the future if I do decide to rent I will have to look into your suggestions.

Thanks for engaging in the dialogue.

Lots of good points by several OPs noted, but I haven't seen the following yet - which describes our situation:

We own (non-developer) resale weeks. As such, we were precluded from the every other year MR points exchange option (125k for each of ours). We actually joined DC largely to obtain the option to exchange for MR points. Why would we do that, you ask? I am a 20+ year Marriott Rewards member and actively pursuing Lifetime status which requires a combination of years of program membership, quantity of nights stayed, and cumulative balance of MR points accrued.

The 125k every other year is a nice bump toward achieving that seven figure points requirements with Marriott Rewards. While others have noted the ability to buy points instead of foregoing the use of a week, we have enough banked weeks and lock-off ability that for us it makes better sense to exchange for points based on what we have already spent in MFs, than spend additional money to buy MR points.

 

[tjkahn]

Lots of good points by several OPs noted, but I haven't seen the following yet - which describes our situation:

We own (non-developer) resale weeks. As such, we were precluded from the every other year MR points exchange option (125k for each of ours). We actually joined DC largely to obtain the option to exchange for MR points. Why would we do that, you ask? I am a 20+ year Marriott Rewards member and actively pursuing Lifetime status which requires a combination of years of program membership, quantity of nights stayed, and cumulative balance of MR points accrued.

The 125k every other year is a nice bump toward achieving that seven figure points requirements with Marriott Rewards. While others have noted the ability to buy points instead of foregoing the use of a week, we have enough banked weeks and lock-off ability that for us it makes better sense to exchange for points based on what we have already spent in MFs, than spend additional money to buy MR points.

Interesting. What does lifetime status get you? Do you get your own portrait of the Marriott's for your house?

What is the combination required?

 

[kds4]

Interesting. What does lifetime status get you? Do you get your own portrait of the Marriott's for your house?

What is the combination required?

No portrait, but you receive the benefits of the level you qualify for - Silver/Gold/Platinum - for life as opposed to having to requalify annually by ensuring you stay a minimum number of nights. With lifetime status, I can stay 1 night in a year or 75 nights in a year, but still receive Concierge Lounge/Free Breakfast, a 50% bonus on my MR points each stay I do make, an arrival gift or 500 Bonus points at each check-in, etc.

The MR program benefits are discussed in detail at https://www.marriott.com/rewards/member-benefits.mi

Lifetime Elite Status is not openly discussed on the Marriott Website, making it like Fight Club I suppose. However, it is very real. The nights and points required to achieve lifetime Elite levels seem to vary by who you ask, so not really sure the final tally required but for Platinum it ranges between 1.6M and 2.0M points. I'm closing in on the low end with next year's conversion to MR points of one of my weeks.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Interesting. What does lifetime status get you? Do you get your own portrait of the Marriott's for your house?

What is the combination required?

I am not sure as to the amount of years, and the cumulative points you need, however, you need to have a 1,000 nights of stays.

Maybe someone else can chime up for the amount of years and cumulative points needed for lifetime Platinum.




.

 

[kds4]

I am not sure as to the amount of years, and the cumulative points you need, however, you need to have a 1,000 nights of stays.

Maybe someone else can chime up for the amount of years and cumulative points needed for lifetime Platinum.




.

The nights are tiered, just as the MR points required. For Lifetime Platinum Elite, the numbers I have heard range from 1,000 to 1,200 nights. I'm only at 800 now but renewing platinum (75 night min.) per year as I have means I am about 3 years away.

 

[kds4]

Interesting. What does lifetime status get you? Do you get your own portrait of the Marriott's for your house?

What is the combination required?

Another factor to remember is that all nights spent at MVCI properties count toward this lifetime requirement. While you don't get MR points on timeshare stays as there are no room monies collected like in a regular Marriott hotel, you do get points for money spent on property and/or the 500 points MR Platinum Bonus at check-in.

I would say that if you own a Marriott Timeshare, you should be a Marriott Rewards member. If not, you are short-changing yourself.