How can I use the 30% VC Points discount when I re-booked within 60 days of occupying

[JCBOSS76]

So here is the deal - I was convinced by the sales team that buying extra VC Points and a Grand Vista in Orlando resale (cheap) would be a great money maker and get a return on my investment in 6-8 years. (total of 4175 points value) This purchase put me up to the presidential level which, one of the perks, gives me a 30% points discount on anything acquired within 60 days of occupying. The plan was to reserve days or weeks at sites that had a really good $/point value with one extra day tacked on. These weeks would be rented out on VacationCandy or other sites like VRBO for whatever price would sell. Then 59 days before check-in I would change the reservation by knocking off 1 day and reap the return of the points for the extra day as well as 30% of the points I originally used.
With this extra 30% points and the great rental value they showed me on Vacation Candy, they convinced me that I could make enough to either recover the cost of the added stuff or make enough to pay all maintenance fees for my old points and properties as well as the maintenance fees on the new points and properties. I had 2000 points, 1 week at M Kauai Beach Club and 1 week at M Grand Vista in Orlando. I bought another 2000 points and another week at the Grand Vista.
Now I discover that there are many gotchas in what I was told.
1) VacationCandy's rental prices that show on their web site has $500 plus fees added onto what the owner will get. So that limits what I can ask for and still have someone rent it. (So much for great value).
2) There are very few locations and reservation dates that have as good of $/point values as I was led to believe;
3) the Points returned for the extra day and for the 30% discount are placed in a "holding" account and must be used by the end of the current year and can only be used for a reservation with a check in less than 60 days in the future! Oh, and can't be traded for Reward points either.
I had been led to believe that these were just points like any other that I could Bank and use for my own vacation or to acquire additional properties to rent out and make more $. They didn't specifically tell me incorrect things, they just neglected to tell me all the details.

So now I will have a bunch of points that I will get back by Oct 1, 2019 that have to be used by Dec 31st and only for near future rentals. I don't want or need to have another vacation at whatever time and place is available, and since I have already booked my vacation in the summer, I can't use them to tack on days if available.

Has anyone else had experience in using Vacation Club Points to acquire and rent a unit in a two month window? Can it be done? I hope these have some value.

Has any one else taken advantage of the discounted points for acquiring a unit within 60 day window? What did you use it for?

 

[VacationForever]

I am not sure if "knock off one day" works. If you book Day 1 to Day 8, and at 59 days out starting from Day 1, do you drop Day 8 and ask MVC to drop and recalculate? It is to my understanding that in order to get discounted rate, the agent will need to cancel and rebook which there is a chance that during that process, someone else may grab the reservation before it can be rebooked. You don't need to book an extra day for this process to work. You don't want to be in the position of having a rental agreement in place and you lose the reservation in the cancel and rebook process.

Buying from MVC with the plan to make money from rental using the 60-day discount rule is dicey. As you have realized, you need to be able to use the points in the Holding Account before end of the year. Resorts/seasons with availability at 60 days are usually in lower demand or shoulder season. I don't expect such bookings to turn any sort of profit, let alone good profit.

We are also at Presidential level and do take advantage of the 30% discount within 60 days but we do that for places that we want to visit rather than for rental.

 

[TravelTime]

I was aware of everything you described before I upgraded to Presidential Level. I thoroughly researched it on my own. It also helped that I was Executive Level first and had access to the website before I decided to buy more to get up to Presidential Level. I do not think there is a way to game the system to cancel a reservation and re-book within the 60 day window unless you will risk losing the reservation. If there is a way, let us know since. For our own personal use, I am sure many of us would be interested in saving 30% on points.

 

[JCBOSS76]

I am not sure if "knock off one day" works. If you book Day 1 to Day 8, and at 59 days out starting from Day 1, do you drop Day 8 and ask MVC to drop and recalculate? It is to my understanding that in order to get discounted rate, the agent will need to cancel and rebook which there is a chance that during that process, someone else may grab the reservation before it can be rebooked. You don't need to book an extra day for this process to work. You don't want to be in the position of having a rental agreement in place and you lose the reservation in the cancel and rebook process.

Buying from MVC with the plan to make money from rental using the 60-day discount rule is dicey. As you have realized, you need to be able to use the points in the Holding Account before end of the year. Resorts/seasons with availability at 60 days are usually in lower demand or shoulder season. I don't expect such bookings to turn any sort of profit, let alone good profit.

We are also at Presidential level and do take advantage of the 30% discount within 60 days but we do that for places that we want to visit rather than for rental.

Here again I have not yet rebooked within the 60 day window. I am going by what the sales guy and his manager said is common practice. They said that by booking the extra day, it became just a change to the booking and not a cancellation and rebook and is still eligible for the 30% rate reduction. They said often you could just ask the agent to cancel & rebook to get the 30% but was safer to make a minor change.
As I am saying this I realize that Marriott’s would certainly figure out a way to plug this leak and discourage anyone from doing this to get the 30% points back.

 

[JCBOSS76]

I was aware of everything you described before I upgraded to Presidential Level. I thoroughly researched it on my own. It also helped that I was Executive Level first and had access to the website before I decided to buy more to get up to Presidential Level. I do not think there is a way to game the system to cancel a reservation and re-book within the 60 day window unless you will risk losing the reservation. If there is a way, let us know since. For our own personal use, I am sure many of us would be interested in saving 30% on points.

See my previous reply above:
Yes I can see I was probably misled and if everyone started doing this, Marriott’s would have to figure out how to prevent it.
So it looks like I need to book the best $/point units I can and the most in demand sites/times and see if I can still make enough to justify the added points and property.
What made you decide to upgrade to the presidential level??

 

[TravelTime]

See my previous reply above:
Yes I can see I was probably misled and if everyone started doing this, Marriott’s would have to figure out how to prevent it.
So it looks like I need to book the best $/point units I can and the most in demand sites/times and see if I can still make enough to justify the added points and property.
What made you decide to upgrade to the presidential level??

I liked the extra benefits such as the 60 day window for the 30% discount (instead of 30 days), the 1.5 year banking window, the longer time to elect banking of points, and the better benefits in Marriott Rewards (which I have yet to receive!!!). There may be a few extra perks but those were the main things I liked.