Is it worth it to buy into the Trust Points ?

[bdurstta]

Is it worth it to purchase land point trust points to be able to “see” more inventory?
Barbars

 

[Pamplemousse]

I don’t see different inventory with my trust points vs. my elected points.
You don’t choose which points you are searching with and I have both in my account and need to draw from both to book most stays.
It has been reported that this is something sales says to get you to buy.

 

[frank808]

I also do not see a difference between trust and elected points.

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[TravelTime]

No difference for me.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Is it worth it to purchase land point trust points to be able to “see” more inventory?
Barbars

Pay no attention to that salesperson behind the curtain.

Points are points.




.

 

[jme]

You can see inventory as clearly with enrolled points as he sees you exit the door.

 

[rthib]

No to see inventory. Maybe, if a small amount (1000-2000) will get you to another Benefit level.

 

[GregT]

No, it is not worth it to buy Trust Points.

The only discrepancy I have seen with Trust Points is that it enabled me to "see" inventory at Ritz Carlton STT. There were instances (years ago?) were I could only reserve a week with (partial use of) Trust Points, and not exclusively with Elected Points. I've never seen any difference in any of the "Marriott" properties but I did see the difference with that Ritz property. And to be more specific, it required that 44% of the reservation be with Trust Points. I queried the Customer Service Rep repeatedly on this point and also repeated this experience the following week, out of curiousity.

I'm guessing this was circa-2015 (and it's in the TUG threads somewhere) but I became convinced that Trust Points were necessary for Ritz STT -- at least for the highest demand weeks (this was Christmas and then New Years).

I have been able to book Ritz STT subsequently (2X) using just Elected Points so it is possible that this rule is now relaxed, but it was important then.

If I can get motivated, I will try to repeat the experiment and see if I can book high demand weeks with purely Elected Points.

Best,

Greg

 

[bdurstta]

OK..supposedly....if you HAVE both deeded & trust points you "automatically" see ALL inventory. With deeded week (converted to points) you only see deeded week deposits, not the inventory from "points weeks". Sounds logical, but.... I always trust Tuggers. 1000 point purchase (sold in 4 250 pt pkg...but with 1 maintenance fees) gets me to "Select level" rather than just a deeded week owner. Only have 3275 points per year.

 

[Red elephant]

Is it worth it to purchase land point trust points to be able to “see” more inventory?
Barbars

What is the difference?

 

[dougp26364]

We were originally deeded week enrolled owners only. We eventually purchased trust points as part of a bundle package, but we made the purchase to give us more vacation time, not to see “additional” inventory. You won’t see any additional or different inventory with pure trust points. That’s just simply a myth or flat out lie.

If you buy, do it because you need additional vacation time. Not on some idiotic promise or statement by a salesman

 

[dioxide45]

They tried this trick on us today at our sales presentation at Lakeshore Reserve. Clearly they didn't know who they were talking to...

 

[jme]

They tried this trick on us today at our sales presentation at Lakeshore Reserve. Clearly they didn't know who they were talking to...

Was he/she insistent to the end, or did they finally relent and admit that you were right when faced with the truth?
I'm always curious as to how the reaction goes.

On a second note, we did a presentation this past Saturday at Grande Ocean as part of an Encore Package requirement, and I'm happy to say
that the various sales people were straight up with the truth in the first presentation and during the Encore one.
We did have some higher-up reps because we're Chairman level, so perhaps they figured that into their interaction.
The two Encore packages (the one we visited on, and the NEW one I just purchased this past Saturday during the Encore)
were outstanding values. I couldn't believe what they were giving us........
In fact, they were both so attractive that I simply took them immediately, and I haven't done one previously in over a decade.

 

[dioxide45]

Was he/she insistent to the end, or did they finally relent and admit that you were right when faced with the truth?
I'm always curious as to how the reaction goes.

I kind of got the impression that they really don't understand the concept and inner workings of the program and the true differences between trust and elected points. It is just a talking point they are given and they go with it but have no real way to explain it. They asked several times "how do you know that". I am always careful not to show my hand too much. I also brought up Hilton and their new program HGV Max in comparing Marriott with them and how both are currently trying to sell a product that isn't fully rolled out. They asked if we owned Hilton (we don't), then wanted to know how I knew about HGV Max. I said, I just like to follow the timeshare industry. We were in and out in just a little over an hour.

 

[TravelTime]

They tried this trick on us today at our sales presentation at Lakeshore Reserve. Clearly they didn't know who they were talking to...

Ha, Ha. Clearly they did not know you are the timeshare king and make all the excellent videos. Did you tell them who you are in the end?

 

[TravelTime]

Was he/she insistent to the end, or did they finally relent and admit that you were right when faced with the truth?
I'm always curious as to how the reaction goes.

On a second note, we did a presentation this past Saturday at Grande Ocean as part of an Encore Package requirement, and I'm happy to say
that the various sales people were straight up with the truth in the first presentation and during the Encore one.
We did have some higher-up reps because we're Chairman level, so perhaps they figured that into their interaction.
The two Encore packages (the one we visited on, and the NEW one I just purchased this past Saturday during the Encore)
were outstanding values. I couldn't believe what they were giving us........
In fact, they were both so attractive that I simply took them immediately, and I haven't done one previously in over a decade.

Curious what kind of Encore packages they offered you? I keep getting offered Encore packages that seem useless to me. On the surface they look good but then when I look at where I can go and the limitations, I say no. So far, every sales presentation has offered me the exact same Encore packages and nothing is ever better than the last time. So I wonder if they have some better Encore packages that they only offer to Chairman’s level?

 

[ljmiii]

Curious what kind of Encore packages they offered you?... So I wonder if they have some better Encore packages that they only offer to Chairman’s level?

No, but some MVC resorts offer 'home resort' encore packages that are specific to their resort or area. At MOC we were offered a Hawaii specific package and in South Beach a Florida specific one. The Hawaii one looked particularly interesting...but we didn't intend to come back for another 24 months. That said, Encore room assignments are bottom of the barrel so don't choose to go somewhere with awful rooms.

I was basically 'given' a free generic Encore package at one point which we ended up using in Newport Coast in February. Nice enough.

 

[VacationForever]

Each time when an Encore package was offered to us, my back of a napkin calculation was that we could get into the same resort for cheaper using our ownership. The one time we agreed to it was in Kierland last year because it appeared to be a wash. Then we changed our minds because it would become an inconvenience in booking an encore package plus our star options and making sure that we did not need to move. We rescinded. So we are still at 0 in buying encore packages.

 

[SueDonJ]

I kind of got the impression that they really don't understand the concept and inner workings of the program and the true differences between trust and elected points. It is just a talking point they are given and they go with it but have no real way to explain it. ...

I think this explains the sales staff point of view perfectly! There IS a technical distinction between Trust (purchased) Points and Exchange (from enrolled/elected Weeks) Points, and there IS a technical distinction between inventory that's available via the Trust and via the Exchange Company. The missing link that the sales staff either aren't educated about or don't want to acknowledge, is that Marriott manipulates the inventory such that the overwhelming majority is made available through the Exchange Company.

If I were to go to a sales presentation and they tried this tactic on me, I'd tell them this simply but only once. If they fought it then I'd just say we're done. But this is why I don't do sales presentations - they're trained to focus on the technical distinctions that for all intents and purposes are meaningless, and it's usually a waste of time to try to explain that to them.

 

[frank808]

I believe we have bought one encore package about 11 years ago. It was not a bad deal to get 5 nights in 2br at Thanksgiving. I think we paid $799 or so.

Since then, nothing has been worth it at Marriott or Westin presentations.

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[dioxide45]

We were offered several Encore Packages at the end of our tour yesterday. All were for Orlando. Incentives are in parenthesis. These are from memory, so some numbers may be off a little;

Grande Vista 2BR - 7 Nights - $99+$1,695 (100,000 Bonvoy or 1500 DC points or $500)
Cypress Harbour 2BR - 7 Nights - $99+$1,395 (100,000 Bonvoy or 1500 DC points or $500)
Cypress Harbour 2BR - 4 Nights - $99+$695 (50,000 Bonvoy or 250 DC points or $250)
Not sure resort or unit size - 4 Nights - $99+$549 ($150) <<-- This was a last ditch effort to sell us something

At first they will almost always try to push the location specific packages to you based on where you tour. They want you to return to their sales office so they can get credit for the sale. If you balk and say you want to go somewhere else, they will offer a package that is good for many oher locations. These are most often more expensive and the incentives are cut in half.

We made the mistake of buying an Encore Package through Vistana in 2019 for $99+$895. We took the 100,000 Bonvoy. The Bonvoy points were the draw for us. However, we have learned that we can just buy a getaway cheaper and then take 25,000 to 30,000 incentive when they invite us to tour. They may be a good option for certain locations like HHI or Hawaii where getaway prices are expensive or not available. Given that, we simply won't buy another Encore Package.

 

[michael49]

We have purchased Encore packages on a number of occasions. When we do, we make sure that we use them as an add-on to a scheduled vacation, always making sure that we use our week or points and then the Encore, thus precluding a movement in mid-stay. And yes, the Encore vacations for Hawaii have worked well for us but usually they are only available when we are doing an Hawaii presentation. We have never purchased additional points when traveling on an Encore.

 

[dougp26364]

Having sat through a few presentations, I’ve come to the conclusion that the typical timeshare salesman either doesn’t own the product, or owns just enough to be able to say they own some. Those that do own, often are clueless as to how it really works or how to maximize what they own. Occasionally I come across one who is knowledgable, and those are often the most interesting conversations.

 

[dioxide45]

Having sat through a few presentations, I’ve come to the conclusion that the typical timeshare salesman either doesn’t own the product, or owns just enough to be able to say they own some. Those that do own, often are clueless as to how it really works or how to maximize what they own. Occasionally I come across one who is knowledgable, and those are often the most interesting conversations.

Our salesperson claimed he was Chairman's with MVC.

There is a scene in the Queen of Versaille where, during a Westgate sales staff meeting, David Siegel's son tells his staff they should all own at least one week of timeshare and if they don't they should lie and say they do.

 

[dougp26364]

Our salesperson claimed he was Chairman's with MVC.

There is a scene in the Queen of Versaille where, during a Westgate sales staff meeting, David Siegel's son tells his staff they should all own at least one week of timeshare and if they don't they should lie and say they do.

I suppose he might be Chairman’s level. Reading the FB groups I find a lot of owners at various elite levels, but they’re still clueless as to what they own and how it really works.

Of course, they don’t work directly with timeshare. I’d expect a timeshare salesman to actually know the product better if they own that many points. The last salesman we spoke with claimed the be presidential level and he was about to “level up” to Chairman’s. The problem I had with his claim was he only spoke about renting on Vacation Candy or converting to BonVoy points and upgrading his flights from economy to first class. He also claimed to use a spread sheet that helped him “get the most value for his points.”

Sure, converting to BonVoy points, then using those points to upgrade an airline seat is really money saving and a great use of DC points. We fly a fare amount and I search a LOT of flights and seat categories. I calculate out the cost of MF’s to BonVoy points and then convert to hotel rooms. Yes there are a few (very few) decent deals on conversion rates, but you really have to cherry pick those, and most of the time they don’t fit our vacation needs.

When they make claims but can’t back them up with actual knowledge, I have to call BS on them. I’m sure the average customer doesn’t know any better and the charade works well on the typical prospect sitting across from them.

So I suspect most lie about it with a few owning 1 low level, inexpensive week at best.