Have I made a huge mistake?

[thinze3]

Thanks for that, it did need some clarification, but to book the Marriott resort in Aruba I thought I wouldn't need to use points, and would rather trade my weeks?

Damn, I seem to be going backwards in terms of understanding how this works..........

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you. You DO NOT need points to go to Aruba. You can simply trade in. Imagine three weeks on the beach in Aruba when the kids are back in school.

Terry

 

[JOHNNY99]

Parthiban,
My portfolio is a mix of direct purchases from Marriott and resale.

I then supplement my Marriott points by purchasing 100,000 points per year from marriott for £630.No initial capital outlay.

Do points translate into true travel experiences-have just returned from holiday in USA.

Resale weeks were exchanged for two weeks at Cypress harbour, Orlando

Points were exchanged (using Marriott travel packages) into BA miles to obtain 3 return Club class tickets direct to Orlando.Points also used for 4 night stay at Renaissance Times square, New York .Best rate available was £220 per night.

Have previously used points to obtain BA miles for Club class tickets to Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Points have been used for stays in JW Marriott's in Hong Kong and Dubai.

Cheers


P.s Anyone teased you with "Accomodation certificates / bonus weeks that are sometimes available if /when you deposit one of your week's with interval international?

 

[KathyPet]

The OP has already stated that the the primary reason he bought was to get the Marriott reward point option so why is everyone telling him to rescind and buy resale when he wants those points. Do not be swayed by those who are absolutely convinced that resale is always the way to go. There are plenty of us who love our MR points and use them to great advantage.

 

[Latravel]

Kathy, I was going to write exactly, almost word for word, what you wrote! Why bother him with rescind comments when he already specifically stated he wanted the points?

 

[CatLovers]

... so why is everyone telling him to rescind and buy resale when he wants those points. ... There are plenty of us who love our MR points and use them to great advantage.

Because economically, the OP can achieve his goals with the money he saves from buying resale, while still having the flexiblity and options that come with using cash instead of points.

Just because people love their MR points and use them well (good for you that you found a way to get the greatest value out of your purchase; I have loads of MR points and I like using them too!) does not mean that you can't achieve those same objectives by using good ol' cash. I think people are trying to do for the OP what the folks here at TUG do well - offer a perspective that perhaps someone did/could not consider in the heat of the sales spiel.

 

[LAX Mom]

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid thing to ask, but does anyone have any examples of trips they've done with points?

I'd love to hear about what is actually achievable to help make a decision

I purchased my Marriott timeshares resale, but I have a Marriott VISA and also earn points by Marriott hotel stays. I also purchased about 200,000 points from Marriott a few years ago. Currently Marriott allows each individual to purchase 50,000 points per year for $625 (.0125 per point).

I have used points for stays when I couldn't get a hotel at a resonable cost. For instance, parent's weekend at my son's college. Everything was very expensive and we stay a few nights on points at a Residence Inn.

My oldest son was married in June and I used a travel package for his honeymoon to Phuket. The cheapest airfare I could find was at least $2,000 each, so I booked them on United using my Marriott points. For 235,000 points I got 120,000 miles on United (exact cost for their round trip tickets in coach) and a category 5 certificate. I was going to have them stay at the JW Marriott for 5 nights using the certificate and then at the Marriott Phuket Beach Club on an II exchange. However I was able to get 2 weeks from II, so I still have the certificate.

Marriott has told me that I can upgrade this certificate to a category 7 for an additional 35,000 points (the difference in the travel package price, 270,000 instead of the 235,000 I paid). I think I'll do that and use it for a week in Rome this spring. I have a reservation that I made a couple of months ago for Rome. You have to book these 10-12 months in advance in order to use points on a travel package/ standard reward stay.

I love Marriott points!!

 

[LAX Mom]

One additional thought.......

What about just purchasing one unit from Marriott right now instead of three? You could try out the timeshares, Marriott hotel stays and points program without the committment of owning three units. If you really like it and the points program works for you, you can always purchase from Marriott in the future.

 

[Icarus]

As I've been stressing a bit over this, I just went on to the Marriott site, picked Aruba at random and checked how much it would cost to book for 3 weeks in Feb. Came to $800 per night, which roughly works out to £8.5k. Taking management fees into account of £2k, I would have saved £6.5k

This is what I mean about comparing apples to apples.

Now you should go search for Aruba condo/timeshare/house rentals and see what you can find for much less than $800 per night. I searched quickly and found a beautiful beachfront 5 br home for $650 per night during the high season, which includes February. I'm sure you can find cheaper homes for rent there. I found that one without even trying very hard.

$800 per night is $5,600 per week. You can get a heck of a rental for that price and far less than that price.

You really have to take a step back when using the salespersons methods of showing you that it makes economic sense. Are you really going to pay $800 per night for a week or more in Aruba if you don't own a timeshare?

Also, I wonder how easy it is to trade a gold season week in Spain for a platinum season week in Aruba?

-David

 

[KathyPet]

Here is the issue with saving thousands and buying resale. First of all I don't want to use or trade my timeshares every year. That's why we are selling our Barony Beach week. Too many weeks and no desire to use them all since we have now discovered other ways to travel like cruises. I currently have two weeks banked with II and we will be trading for points for 2009. If I couldn't trade for points every other year heaven's knows how many weeks we would have banked. Not interested in renting since Marriott changed the rental program and no I am not interested in the hassle of trying to rent directly. Yes, in theory you can save money and use the money you saved to take the trips you want but in reality would you? I know we would probably not. I would have to think long and very, very hard before I spend the $ out of pocket for a two week trip to France using business class air. Believe me I am not cheap but taking that kind of money out of savings would cause me great angst. BUT I don't have to think about it because I have my Marriott reward points and I am not paying "out of pocket" for that two week vacation in France because I can get my airfare and hotels for points so while my vacation is still not free when you add in meals and sightseeing it sure is a lot easier on the pocketbook and thus something we are more willing to do.
I often wonder how many of the posters who insist that resale is the only way to go actually took the money they saved by buying resale and spent it on a trip. I bet very few have. It is easier by far to take those expensive trips when you have your MR points to cover your two major expenses which are hotel and airfare.
I am no longer interested in staying every year at some resort location. You cannot use a timeshare in London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Vienna. check it out yourself. There are no timeshares or maybe one in these cities. If you are not interested in going outside the US or Caribbean then buy your timeshare resale because you are going to have to use it in these locations every year but if you really want to travel and see the world you better have those MR points. As far as buying them you can only get 100,000 a year and that is going to take you three years before you can get a decent reward package. I'm not waiting three years apart to take my trips. By the way travel plans for 2009 include a week at Ocean Pointe in January (traded my MMC for it), a 12 day Alaska cruise in June and a week in Paris in October using reward points. current business class air from Dulles to Paris is $3150 per person and the Marriott is Paris is 539 Euro's per night. That is $10,000 that I will not be paying out of pocket.

 

[cwtkm3]

Well said Kathy!

I totally agree - we've only had our timeshares since 2002 but have already generated two travel packages. One to Australia and one to LAX next summer, 2 flights in biz in BA (kids in economy paid cash for!). The BA mileage was supposed to be 200,000 return for the two of us but they only took 178,000 miles from our account. Not sure why.

I know for a fact that our 2005 trip back to Oz (where we used to live and hadn't "afforded" to return to for 11 years!) would have cost us thousands of pounds more withour the MRPs. Plus we wouldn't have had one leg in business class which eased the pain of all those hours in the air. The cost of two rooms at the Sydney Harbour alone amounted to many £££.

Okay - we could argue that if we hadn't bought the Marriott weeks then we'd have had the money - maybe in savings! But in reality I know we would have looked at the true cost and thought no way can we do this in the style we want! Plus like Kathy says I don't think our savings would be spent on luxury holidays.

Yesterday I showed a friend my log of all our holidays since getting into this game. She couldn't believe the things we've done. She's just returned from a 14 night cruise on the new P&O Ventura for over £11,000. That's more than the cost of one of my timeshares and not something we could afford to do for our family at this stage of our lives.

It's each to their own with the Marriott resale vs direct purchase debate but as the OP wants the opportunity to trade for points if need be then he/she should buy from Marriott at a resort he/she will use for the majority of the time and in the season desired.

Buying in Europe is a lot different to buying in the USA. Most people buy direct - there isn't a huge resale market.

 

[thinze3]

I agree greatly with the concept, but am now starting to wory about the availability of flights in the future. Example: I thought I would be waiting by the computer to book "saver" flights to Hawaii next summer. No can do so easily.

Continental has decided not to release and "saver" seats in coach and NO seats at all in first class. I have been watching since day one. Now I am trying to book through United, but also hit a glitch with them yesterday and will try again today.

Just a thought.

Terry

 

[KathyPet]

One more story if I may. This past Feb I celebrated a big birthday (the big 60). I wanted to do something special so I decided a week in St. Kitts sounded good. I requested a trade using my platinum MMC week. Just to cover myself I also got a Marriott rewards travel package. Made reservations at the St. Kitts Marriott and got seats on American using FF miles from the package. I figured I could cancel the hotel reservation and use that part of the package later if the trade came through. Well the trade never happened. if i had not had my points to use I would have had to cough up the cash or sit at home twiddling my thumbs for that birthday. We went and had a wonderful week. I spent my 60th birthday on a catamaran sailing to Nevis drinking rum punches!

 

[iamnotshopgirl]

OK...I understand the value of MR points. I have read the many pro & cons of using them on many threads. Not going to get into another debate about pts. You can get some great deals with pts by using packages (hotel & flight). But for exhanging a t/s for pts just does not sit well with me. Aruba Surf Club gold weeks receive 90,000 pts when exchanging.

90,000 pts X .0125=$1125

The exchange just about meets last years MF's. I rented out my 2BR OS unit for $2800 and probably could have got a little bit more. No big deal to writing up a rental ad and placing it on Ebay, Redweek or Tug. If I need points I will just buy them

Since Marriott devalued points and changed the rental system it has me wondering if they will make changes again in the near future to both systems including buying packages. Marriott owes me nothing and is in the business of making a profit for its shareholders. As it was pointed out to me in a prior thread. I'm OK with that. I don't like it...but I understand the position. But for value I just can not see giving a unit worth $2800+ for a pt value of $1125 in exchanging for pts.

bob

 

[thinze3]

High rent timeshares and high MF timeshares usually go hand in hand. Those typically are NOT the ones to buy merely for a points option.

As stated before, if you just don't want to bother with renting, don't need more weeks in the bank, and want the added flexibility of points, it may still work for you, regardless of the MF's.


Terry

 

[susiequeve]

We own 1 Marriott timeshare (Cypress Harbour) in Orlando. We have been to Kauai & Maui using our MRPs. We probably would have never vacationed in Hawaii if not for our points. The airfare is just too expensive from the east coast. Actually, we just got back from Maui and I had no issues with the booking process. It's a bit of work, don't get me wrong, but well worth it having the air and hotel were totally paid for. JMHO.

 

[Icarus]

Yes, the number of points you get for trading your timeshare is fixed at the time of purchase.

The number of points required for hotel stays and travel packages is not fixed over time. Over time, the number of points required for hotel stays and travel packages will increase. And the travel package is for a standard hotel room, not a 2 bedroom timeshare unit. In fact, as I recall, you can't trade points you received for trading in your unit for a timeshare unit at all. They have to be used for hotel rooms or travel packages that include a hotel room.

As emotional as some of these arguments are, 41k pounds is a lot of money. Well, it would be to me. At the end of the day, any discretionary purchase really should be an economic decision, IMHO.

-David

 

[parthiban]

Ok, so we've been thinking about this long and hard over the last few days and decided to have a word to our salesman before making a final decision. Offered a few alternatives (Vegas as the main one, which seems to be being pushed whoever you speak to at Marriott) but wasn't really happy with any of them.

As far as a "deal" goes, I think we got the best one going at the moment, so if we're going to stick with it, it would have to be with what we've got. However, although it does still appear to be a great product, I'm not sure it's going to work too well for us.

Although we tend to take pretty expensive holidays, they're all pretty last minute so that would have to change, the appeal of this was that it seemed we could make our money go much further than normal but it's now becoming apparent that this is at the cost of having to work much harder yourself! (which is important to think about as none of us have that much time on our hands)

The final thing is as Icarus pointed out, simply the immense cost of it. £41,000 is a lot of money (almost $80,000 which I was pretty surprised to find can buy a well specced Mercedes SL in the states, not in the UK though ) and when you think about it, if you leave it in the bank at 5% interest, it'll earn £2,000 a year, plus the extra £2,000 that would have been management fees, and you've got £4,000 of holiday money. Invest it more wisely and you could have much more, and also the option of not spending it on holidays if you want!

I'm not knocking any of you guys that make this work, in fact I'm a bit jealous as you'll probably have better holidays than me (or they'll be the same but you'll spend far less on them) but I'm really starting to think this isn't the right fit for us.

I'm not 100% yet, but have pretty much decided to cancel and leave it at that.............may possibly dabble by buying a really cheap resale week just to try and understand the system though.........

I just want to thank everyone on here for being so amazingly helpful, one of the nicest forums I've been on and it was so refreshing to get such a balanced view of the whole situation. I'll let you know what I decide in the end, but I can't see anything convincing me to go the other way right now

 

[m61376]

One of the best options for you, posted by someone else earlier, might be to buy a single week, resale. That way, you haven't invested 80K, you can see how the whole thing works and, if you really want the points, can always buy a developer week later.

We are relatively new to timesharing, and went on our first timeshare vacation really by fluke- we won an auction at a fundraiser at my daughter's law school. It happened to be to Ko'Olina. Truthfully, my perception about timeshares before hand was that they were ok accommodations, sort of like woodside cabins; boy were we wrong! I never expected to feel like I was at a resort and, after one or two days, my hubbie said, "why would you want to vacation any other way?"

Truthfully, we traveled for many years as our daughters were growing up all over as three generations; until recently I was lucky to have both parents able to travel with us. We rented 2 or 3 hotel rooms, the kids sharing with us when possible to save money. And- don't get me wrong, our vacations, both land and cruises, were memorable. But, there is an ease to a timeshare vacation. Everyone doesn't have to get going at the same time in the morning to first go somewhere for breakfast. Relaxing on the beach at beach resorts is just that- relaxing. Personally, here-to-fore all our vacations were constantly on the go type trips. Probably because of the space and the facilities, I find timeshare trips conducive to more relaxing vacations. They also make it easier for more extended family trips- there is room for friends (both yours and /or the kids) and then for the kids/spouses as they get older and very conducive for little ones (both yours and, even better- the grandkids ). Especially when traveling with older kids and/or multiple generations, it really does affect the quality of the vacation.

So, you might want to consider an option in between diving in head first and buying 3 weeks from Marriott and doing nothing. And, yes, it is true with some planning and searching you might be able to rent for a price such that buying may not make sense, consider 2 things- that will require work and a bit of luck and every year you'll be reconsidering whether or not you want to spend the money. Just something else to consider....

 

[LAX Mom]

parthiban-

It sounds like you've given it a great deal of thought and considered how Marriott timeshares would work for you. I think your instinct is good, cancel while you can and possibly try out a cheap resale week.

My husband and I almost purchased a Marriott many years ago. It was very tempting, but for many reasons we decided it didn't work with our travel plans. We tend to make plans last minute and the idea of planning vacations a year in advance scared me.

About 10 years later I learned a bit more and decided to try a cheap resale week. So we bought a silver season Marriott for $3,500, locked it off and started using it for Flexchange exchanges. Pretty soon I could see I'd need more than one week. I'm very happy with Marriott timeshares, II exchanges and MR points!

Everyone has different committments, schedules and preferences when it comes to vacations. What works for me, might be impossible for you. So a cheap resale week gives you a change to try out this system without paying $80,000.

Good luck!

 

[Karen G]

I'm not 100% yet, but have pretty much decided to cancel and leave it at that.............may possibly dabble by buying a really cheap resale week just to try and understand the system though.........

I think you are making a wise decision--you have just this one opportunity to rescind, but there will be many, many opportunities to buy when you find what's right for you.