It's nice to have options

[SueDonJ]

I also heard that you can use even bonus points to pay for insurance. ...

Good point, Emmy. If you go through your myvacationclub.com account you'll be directed to this link for the CSA Travel Insurance website, with the particulars about coverages and the different cash/DC Points prices.

 

[m61376]

Doug- Glad it's all working out and, most importantly, that your wife's health will allow you to enjoy all those vacations!

Having just been to Phoenix, your plan to split the week between Phoenix and Sedona might be ideal if you can get the reservations. As much as we loved Canyon Villas, we both felt that splitting the week between the two locales would have been ideal, since Sedona really got short shrifted during our trip.

While my overall opinion of the DC program has been pretty similar to yours, it is nice to see that despite the added costs from skimming, etc., that it gives added flexibility that sometimes unforeseen circumstances necessitate.

I must say- it takes an impressive amount of expertise to completely utilize the points without an excess or a shortfall.

 

[dougp26364]

Doug- Glad it's all working out and, most importantly, that your wife's health will allow you to enjoy all those vacations!

Having just been to Phoenix, your plan to split the week between Phoenix and Sedona might be ideal if you can get the reservations. As much as we loved Canyon Villas, we both felt that splitting the week between the two locales would have been ideal, since Sedona really got short shrifted during our trip.

While my overall opinion of the DC program has been pretty similar to yours, it is nice to see that despite the added costs from skimming, etc., that it gives added flexibility that sometimes unforeseen circumstances necessitate.

I must say- it takes an impressive amount of expertise to completely utilize the points without an excess or a shortfall.

The thing is, all points programs have some sort of skim built in. Marriott has just taken a unique approach to it that doesn't really work well for me.

HGVC charges a membership fee and ala carte fee's

DRI charges an extra 10% in points for short stays or non-traditional check in days and, they also have a few ala carte fee's and a larger membership fee.

Marriott doesn't give you the same amount of points to reserve the week your relinquished but, they don't charge a premium for short stays and they don't charge ala carte fee's. Marriott's membership fee is lower than DRI but higher than HGVC.

I bet if you laid them all out and added up the extra fee's or manipulation of points, you'd find they are all charging/skimming the same amount of value, they just all get their fee's/charges for slightly different sources.

Each system has it's strengths and weaknesses. The trick is always to find the system that works best for you and learn how to work any system you're in. I did not buy into the DC as a new buyer. It was an add on purchase. It was not something we thought about when we made our original purchase and was not how we envisioned using this product. But, like all other timeshare systems, Marriott has evolved and we're having to learn to managed those changes to get the most out of what we own. You either change with the systems or sell out and move on. It's frustrating but, if Marriott hadn't added the points option they'd have become an obsolete system in time.

 

[dioxide45]

I bet if you laid them all out and added up the extra fee's or manipulation of points, you'd find they are all charging/skimming the same amount of value, they just all get their fee's/charges for slightly different sources.

Marriott indicated that customer feedback was that people didn't like the nickel and dimming of the al a carte fees. So this is likely why they opted to skim the points. I still don't know how they monetize those skimmed points, because in the past those al a carte fees (lockoff, split week, etc) went to the HOAs. I wonder if HOAs are still receiving reimbursement equal to those lost fees?

 

[winger]

Part of this process is also turning loose of traditional ideas, embracing new ideas and learning to deal with the compilcations that come with the flexiblity of points...

What's really crumbling my cookie is the thought that I can take broken week/nightly vacations in the same locations spread between two companies. For instance, the thought occured to me I can use Marriott DC points combined with DRI THE Club points for a 7 night stay broken up into a few nights in Scottsdale and a few nights in Sedona. ...

Doug, we've been doing this split between Marriott and DRI since we added Marriott to our 'portfolio' which IIRC was about the same time DRI was formed with the Sunterror buyout. We've done like Newport Coast Villas - Carlsbad (DRI-affilliate), Timberlodge - Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort, Maui Ocean Club - Kaanapali Beach Club, Manor Club - Powahattan. Coming up this year, we will do a July split of Newport Beach - Lake Tahoe VR (with a day at home to unpack beachwear for mountainwear), then in Thanksgiving, Kauai Beach Club - Point@Poipu.

The power of having two complimentary systems canNOT be underestimated - and IF both are points-based, the more 'juice' you have. Now, having all this at the palm of your hand can be like being on steroids - and at times your brain can feel like it needs a vacation from planning a vacation . Last year, we decided to take a 'break' from it all and just do several Newport Beach/southern California trips and purchased a set of annual Disneyland tickets for the family. LOL, EVEN THAT turned out to be exhausting, in a physical way (chasing the characters and going nuts on beating the lines for rides can do that do you).

Just one consideration about your comment of 4 nights here and 3 nights there. Frequent packing-and-unpacking with only a few days in between...some people are not made for this (we sure aren't).

I am glad you have a good first year converting to DC points. When/IF the time comes when we do the same, I hope all works out as well on our front.

But, the end, it's all good Plus, don't forget, you have your TUG family here for moral support !

We love our TIMESHARES and vacations, don't we ?!?

 

[m61376]

Doug- Interesting perspective on the "skim." And you're probably right- Marriott needed to switch to a points based system to keep pace with its competition. I guess the modern work environment demands flexibility, since the old 9-5 Mon.-Fri. work model is obsolete today.

Although I can understand the decision not to nickel and dime customers, and perhaps in a sense that's what some of the other systems do with their a la carte fees, charging people for the flexibility they use makes more sense to me then not giving people the full value of what they are putting in to start with, irregardless of how many options they choose to use. Aside from the questionable allocation of points of one resort versus another (a whole other topic), Marriott's unique approach of taking value off the top devalues the product, imho. Since it was always a weeks based system, if Marriott had given owners enough points to book a week where they own and use those points to book a week elsewhere, with possibly adding actual fees for breakage costs when customers choose shorter stays, I think overall they would have had a better product.

It was a herculean undertaking to create a points based system with the foundation of a weeks based system, and they had the opportunity to truly have a system with the best of both worlds. It is a shame they came up with the system they did, but it is what it is, and you are right that we either have to learn how best to manipulate the new system to suit our needs or look elsewhere.

Again, glad that the added flexibility unexpectedly made your trip planning more suited to your needs.

 

[dougp26364]

Doug- Interesting perspective on the "skim." And you're probably right- Marriott needed to switch to a points based system to keep pace with its competition. I guess the modern work environment demands flexibility, since the old 9-5 Mon.-Fri. work model is obsolete today.

Although I can understand the decision not to nickel and dime customers, and perhaps in a sense that's what some of the other systems do with their a la carte fees, charging people for the flexibility they use makes more sense to me then not giving people the full value of what they are putting in to start with, irregardless of how many options they choose to use. Aside from the questionable allocation of points of one resort versus another (a whole other topic), Marriott's unique approach of taking value off the top devalues the product, imho. Since it was always a weeks based system, if Marriott had given owners enough points to book a week where they own and use those points to book a week elsewhere, with possibly adding actual fees for breakage costs when customers choose shorter stays, I think overall they would have had a better product.

It was a herculean undertaking to create a points based system with the foundation of a weeks based system, and they had the opportunity to truly have a system with the best of both worlds. It is a shame they came up with the system they did, but it is what it is, and you are right that we either have to learn how best to manipulate the new system to suit our needs or look elsewhere.

Again, glad that the added flexibility unexpectedly made your trip planning more suited to your needs.

I agree with you completely and for those reasons I don't anticipate using points based reservations every year as with do with HGVC (actaully no choice there) and DRI. While I didn't like Marriott's ala carte fee's I understand that those who use those services pay for those services. Under the new structure of the DC, if you go to points, EVERYONE pays those fee's whether they use the service or not, which is what makes joining unattractive to so many owners with single or lower value weeks.

I also do not like the Marriott took this opporunity to "re-season" their resorts. Ask gold week owners at Ocean Pointe how they feel about their points allocation copmpared to silver week owners. I have always said this was one resort where Marriott undervalued a lot of their weeks by labeling them silver season and, when they built Oceana Palms one mile north and released that resorts seasons, they proved my point. The siver season weeks we reserve at Ocean Pointe are often platinum season weeks at Oceana Palms. Oceana Palms doesn't even have a silver season at all.

So, not only did Marriott get creative with how they charge for their breakage so that everyone who plays pays, they also took the opportunity to give more/less to resort owners by redoing the seasons with various points allocations/charges. I will never be happy about that but, I'll learn to live with it and will manage my ownership weeks accordingly.

In the end it's worked out well that we joined and, I'm finding that by utilizing Thursday check in/out days, I can cut costs at home by not using as much paid-time-off and perhaps cut a little off the cost of airfare as well. It's going to take us more effort to find the value but over time we'll work it out or, we'll continue to deal in mostly weeks exchanges.

 

[m61376]

Doug-
I know what you mean- I was actually thinking about the re-seasoning when I wrote my post last night. It seems to me that they tried to "fix" what wasn't perfect, but not necessarily broken, and changes after the fact tend to be more resented than maintaining the status quo. Anytime you create winners and losers you tend to have a lot of unhappy campers.

The only other comment I'd make is that the airfare savings on Thursday-Thursday trips isn't always what you would think it would be, possibly because there are fewer flights. I know I've found sticking to the traditional Sat. route is better for us for Aruba, since there are more non-stop flights on Sat. and more competition results in lower prices. So depending on the itinerary, the flights may be better even on hte busier days.

 

[BocaBoy]

Marriott sucks. I dumped all my Marriotts units. If I want to stay at one, I'll just rent it.

I hope no one gets the two of us confused. Too bad we share Boca as part of our screen names.

 

[winger]

I hope no one gets the two of us confused. Too bad we share Boca as part of our screen names.

Lol are you two like brothers from the movie "Twins" ?
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0096320/

 

[Big Matt]

All of them have check ins every day of the week for Marriott.com rentals and points reservations. The weeks reservations are the only ones with limits on check in day.

Remember that some of the timeshares have Thursday checkin. I know that Desert Springs Villas II and Ocean Pointe do. There must be others.

 

[csalter2]

Combo plan does have benefits

Hi Doug,

I have often used Marriott stays in conjunction with DRI stays. The results have always been great especially when I go to Hawaii. The DRI points stays are great because they give you flexibility with flights. I usually like to go for a couple of weeks when I go to Hawaii. I always like staying at Ko Olina last because there seems to be more flights out of Honolulu and it's usually cheaper to fly into there from California. I like using DRI points so that I have the flexibility of staying until I get the best airfares.

While I get over 4000 DC points for my Ko Olina unit, I don't care about the skim because I really lose nothing the way I see it. With no kids at home, I don't need a two bedroom so I can get two or three weeks in a year depending on when and where I stay. If you take that and make reservations under 60 days being an elite DRI member can give one plenty of vacation time when they are retired. I look forward to that.

I think that big part for me would be evaluating the least expensive way to travel using Marriott weeks or DC points or the DRI points. I can get 15,000 extra DRI points using my Ko Olina unit with DRI's Club Select. If I were traveling to Europe, that might be a good deal as DRI has lots of resorts in Europe. Imagine have 75,000 DRI points and can travel any season. I am looking forward to doing this.