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Just bought MVC, threatened to cancel offered me Resale thru them

S8Farm

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I went to my 5th MVC presentation and was finally sold. My parents have been in the program for years and love it. We have benefited greatly. I have a good job, am very flexible, and have disposable income. After doing more research I'm scaring myself out of it. I know I'm paying a premium for points but do like the convenience aspect. That said I emailed my salesman letting him know I'm thinking of canceling. I told him I've learned a lot about resales since and have a hard time paying more than double what they are going for on the secondary market I voiced other concerns with availability and things I have read on this site. First they said that if I buy secondary market points I will not have all the benefits that I am getting with them (concierge, extra incentive points etc.) but I also will only be able to book 60 days in advance (which makes it really tough). That kind of pisses me off because then I don't really "own" anything at all if I cant resale it to people with the same benefits.

Well now they are offering my the "hybrid". They say if I KEEP my original package I can buy a week thru them that I can convert to 1900 points for about $5500. They are going to waive the $2300 conversion fee (I'm sure ONLY because I'm within my 10 days of canceling). My question is, is that true? Do you have to already be a Marriott member to purchase resale? And are ALL of the benefits really the same if I purchase thru them.

So they really got me because I called to cancel but now they are potentially getting me to spend more money with them. I spoke with my dad and he seems to think its a good deal. But I hate that I'm paying $23000 for 2000 pts and then just another $5500 for another 1900 pts ...
 

kds4

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I went to my 5th MVC presentation and was finally sold. My parents have been in the program for years and love it. We have benefited greatly. I have a good job, am very flexible, and have disposable income. After doing more research I'm scaring myself out of it. I know I'm paying a premium for points but do like the convenience aspect. That said I emailed my salesman letting him know I'm thinking of canceling. I told him I've learned a lot about resales since and have a hard time paying more than double what they are going for on the secondary market I voiced other concerns with availability and things I have read on this site. First they said that if I buy secondary market points I will not have all the benefits that I am getting with them (concierge, extra incentive points etc.) but I also will only be able to book 60 days in advance (which makes it really tough). That kind of pisses me off because then I don't really "own" anything at all if I cant resale it to people with the same benefits.

Well now they are offering my the "hybrid". They say if I KEEP my original package I can buy a week thru them that I can convert to 1900 points for about $5500. They are going to waive the $2300 conversion fee (I'm sure ONLY because I'm within my 10 days of canceling). My question is, is that true? Do you have to already be a Marriott member to purchase resale? And are ALL of the benefits really the same if I purchase thru them.

So they really got me because I called to cancel but now they are potentially getting me to spend more money with them. I spoke with my dad and he seems to think its a good deal. But I hate that I'm paying $23000 for 2000 pts and then just another $5500 for another 1900 pts ...

There are many posts/threads on the benefit of owning weeks, points, and/or both. If I was as unsure as you appear to be from your post, I believe I would cancel, do more research, and then reapproach buying points from Marriott at a future date (if that is what I ultimately decided I wanted to do) or proceed with researching/buying a resale week.

There's no emergency to 'Buy from Marriott today or you'll regret it'. In reality you may find the complete opposite to be true if you proceed (and end up regretting your points purchase).

Just my opinion. Good luck. :cool:
 

jimf41

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Welcome to TUG.

Looks like what they offered you works out to $7.30 per point. Not cheap but better than the $12.92 they are going for retail from MVC. The resale value of the 2000 trust points is about $5 PP or $10,000 currently. The resale value of the week they are selling you is probably 50-60% of their selling price.

Whether you take the deal or not depends on so many factors it's hard to advise you. The basic TUG mantra is rescind and buy resale. Hard to argue with that because you could buy two Ocean Pointe OF 2b Plat weeks for that same $28,500 and have two deeds and two pretty good traders at one on the nicest MVC resorts. The resale value of those weeks would be pretty close to what you paid for them.

What you wouldn't be able to do is convert those weeks to DC points and use them in the DC exchange market. The DC exchange offers a lot of flexibility and better chance of getting a prime week IMO.

The concierge is joke. That's the person who calls you up and week before your stay and gets you to sign up for the show (sales presentation). The 60 day nonsense is absolute BS but I'll let one of the folks that actually bought resale points chime in and explain that.

Here's the bottom line. If you rescind, the same deal or better will be offered to you again. Unless you really want to do this deal right now I'd cancel and take my time doing a little research so you feel good about your decision. It seems to me you're a little hesitant to get your feet wet right now and that's a good thing.
 

S8Farm

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I have been thinking about becoming a member for quite some time. I might have joined a year ago but the sales lady was just so condescending and rude she could have offered it for 1/3 of the price and I wouldn't have bought from her. I never had any reservations till I started reading online. Like I said my parents have LOVED it and we have greatly benefited from it.

My biggest reservation on outside resales is I love the points system and I love Marriott. I know a lot of people don't (like the points) but the flexibility is really what gets me excited. One responder said that 2000 doesn't get you much but the way I travel I feel like it can get me a lot (I used my parents login to see what I can get), so adding another 1900 makes me feel like it's a ton. I'm 33, work from home, have 3 younger kids and my wife doesn't work. I have no problem waiting till Sept or just when the points go down to book a vacation. And if there are ever any good deals that pop up I can drop what I'm doing and go (as long as gma can watch em).

So that's a little more about my situation. What I would love to understand better is a few on here have said I can buy 3 prime weeks for $28k and just trade, thus getting me much better value so here are my questions. a) can I finance those (outside of doing a HELOC) b) how much work goes into trading ... points just seem so simple and my other hesitation is that we like going to new different places, owning at a single location doesn't appeal a ton to me so how easy is trading and c) can you trade these other timeshares for Marriott's or are those exclusive to others.

And lastly yes I would love to hear about this whole 60 day booking if I purchase outside of the program. Has anyone here bought Marriott points outside of Marriott and is it just as easy to book? I've now had 2 people from Marriott say the benefits are different and I'd only have 60 days to book.

Thanks for all the input!
 

BJRSanDiego

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...I would love to hear about this whole 60 day booking if I purchase outside of the program. ...

I believe from what I've read is there is no 60 day restriction on points bought on secondary market. I think that the sales people are telling you BS.

I know for a fact that there is no restriction on weeks bought on the secondary market (before or after the cutoff date of June 2010).
 

Fasttr

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And lastly yes I would love to hear about this whole 60 day booking if I purchase outside of the program. Has anyone here bought Marriott points outside of Marriott and is it just as easy to book? I've now had 2 people from Marriott say the benefits are different and I'd only have 60 days to book.

The 60 day booking restriction does apply if you do not pay MVC the junk fees to open up the resale points for unrestricted access. The junk fees currently amount to about $2 per point....so if you buy your points resale for $5 a point (assumed price to pass ROFR) you would also have to pay MVC $2 a point to be able to fully use them. As long as you pay the junk fees, you would be ok.

I encourage you to read the Points FAQ sticky to learn all there is to learn about the points system.
 

JIMinNC

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As Jimf41 pointed out, by adding the resale week, you drop the cost to $7.30/point for the total package. If you bought resale points, you could probably buy them for around $5/point, but would then have to pay Marriott $2 more per point to fully activate them in the system, so your total cost would also be around $7/point for resale points.

The sales rep is correct that if you just buy resale points at $5/point you will be restricted to reserving only 60 days out. But what he didn't tell you is that, as Fasttr points out, by paying the $2/point activation fee to Marriott, those points then become fully usable just like any other points - with the exception that Marriott has the right to not allow those points to be exchanged for Marriott Reward points and they also might be restricted from booking the Explorer Collection tour packages and such (but Rewards Points and Explorer Collection do not offer the best value per point anyway, so that may not be a big loss).

So, you could buy 3900 resale points for about $7/point (all in with the Marriott fees) or do the hybrid package at about $7.30. Of those two, I would recommend the hybrid because 1) the cost is about the same and you have the security of knowing that it was bought from Marriott and as a result will never be restricted in usage rights compared to other owners; and 2) You will also have a deeded week that you have the option to use as a deeded week in the traditional trading system. Something like having a piece in both games.

As far as points vs trading, you will get many different opinions on TUG on that question. Many on TUG are long time weeks owners, so they love the weeks-based system. You can definitely get more value per dollar with weeks trading than points, but for the reason outlined below, I prefer points, despite the higher cost.

With traditional trading, you put in a request for where you want to go and then wait for Interval International to come up with a match. Sometimes it happens soon (or there might even be inventory sitting there to book immediately if it's off season), other times you have to wait for months, and other times a match may never happen. It depends on the trading power of the week you are trading and the demand for the week you are searching for. Personally, I've never liked that process with the accompanying uncertainty and waiting, so I much prefer the points system.

With points, the process is a little more straight-forward in my opinion. You can go online and see availability just like booking a hotel room online. It's all still subject to availability, so if you want a high demand season/location, you better be online right when the inventory is released. I am a relatively new owner myself, having bought in summer 2014 with a hybrid package similar to what they pitched you. We've been very pleased with the location availability in the DC points system. Points also have the advantage of being able to book shorter stays, long weekends, or longer stays of 8, 9, 10, etc days, whereas with traditional weeks trading, it has to be done in seven-day increments.
 

gmarine

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Id pass on this purchase and take your time to do more research to see if you really want to spend $28K on a timeshare. One thing to add. It sounds to me like you want to finance this purchase. Financing $28K for a timeshare is not advisable. By the time you add the interest on top of your maintenance fees you could simply rent anywhere you want for less money and not be stuck with ever increasing maintenance fees.
 

S8Farm

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They offered an incentive that if we finance for 18 months they will give us another 2000 pts. Did the math and it seems like I get paid back my finance charges thru points if I pay it off or refi. After that I will just swallow it in my HELOC as my interest is so low I'd rather have the funds available than have it all in a timeshare. I'll just accelerate the payments and write off the interest. But you bring up a good point about renting. I've seen a little on that. How difficult is it to rent points or a timeshare. I'm assuming its not as flexible as the points but is it pretty easy to maneuver?
 

Fasttr

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They offered an incentive that if we finance for 18 months they will give us another 2000 pts. Did the math and it seems like I get paid back my finance charges thru points if I pay it off or refi.

Just want to make sure you realize those are 2000 single use points, meaning you only get them once. You can rent those for about $1000, so that is the real value of those.
 

JIMinNC

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They offered an incentive that if we finance for 18 months they will give us another 2000 pts. Did the math and it seems like I get paid back my finance charges thru points if I pay it off or refi. After that I will just swallow it in my HELOC as my interest is so low I'd rather have the funds available than have it all in a timeshare. I'll just accelerate the payments and write off the interest. But you bring up a good point about renting. I've seen a little on that. How difficult is it to rent points or a timeshare. I'm assuming its not as flexible as the points but is it pretty easy to maneuver?

You can rent Marriott Vacation Club timeshares on Marriott.com just like hotels, but not every room size or view is available. You can go online and shop and see what the rates are. You can rent by the night or as many nights as you want.

Many people also rent direct from owners through web sites like Redweek.com or VRBO. These owner-to-owner rentals are generally much cheaper than Marriott.com. Personally, I've never been comfortable with such rentals since it requires trusting someone you don't know based on an internet rental posting. Most such rentals require upfront payment and are non-refundable if your plans change. The reservation stays in that owners name in Marriott's system, but you as the renter are just listed as an "additional guest."

Once you are a points owner and have a DC Points account, you can "rent" additional points from web sites like http://vacationpointexchange.com in years when your travel needs require more points than you own. Through VPE you pay another owner who has excess points to transfer those single-use year points to your account. Once they are transferred they are your points to use that year just like any other points and any reservation you make is your reservation, in your name only. The going rate is around $0.50 per point, or about the same cost as the annual maintenance fees. I prefer this approach to regular owner rentals because the trust factor only lasts as long as it takes you to pay the owner through PayPal and for them to get the points into your account. Often that's just minutes. With a VRBO or Redweek rental, the trust has to last all the way to check-in.

Folks who are not DC Points owners can still have an existing points owner make a reservation for them, but that essentially has the same issues and risks as the Redweek or VRBO rentals.
 
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vacationhopeful

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Never call the salesman/woman to cancel a Timeshare purchase ... they will cut the price and throw MORE slop into the bucket so as to confuse you PAST the RESCIND WINDOW.

Certified Mail/Return Receipt with "I am exercising my option to cancel Such&Such contract (number) brought on 9/30/15."

The next sales presentation will be a better deal ... they will cancel the contract, but eventually, they will sweeten the deal.
 

davidvel

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Sounds to me you're really trying to justify the purchase for some reason. Have you honestly looked at what you can get for this purchase?

Aside from a few tricked out specialty (event weeks) that may be bookable through points, a retail purchase of points (especially financed) is almost always way more than just renting the rooms from Marriott.

Where are you most likely to go with your 2000 points for $23,000 + interest + $1000 per year MF (every year forever)? Until you figure this out, then figure what the nightly rate is for what you're getting compared to renting the rooms directly, you have no idea what you bought. Not knowing where you'd go most often, I choose Oceanwatch for an example:
Summer, 2 bedroom oceanview (not oceanside or oceanfront). You could get a weekend, if its available, (2 nights) for your 2000 points.You'd have a few points left for a midweek day in winter, worth about $140. Averaged over 20 years, that would be 23,000/20=$1,150 + $1000 MF = $2,150-$140=2,010 or $1,005 PER NIGHT. (Not counting interest ($2,000/yr?) if you borrow.)
At least you're flexible!

I'm not analyzing the hybrid route, and this is just one scenario. If you're honest about where you want to stay, you can do your own calculation, but it will always cost you at least $2,000/year given what you bought.
 
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Password is taco

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To the OP, I'm in a similar boat as you - same age, couple kids, and looking to get into the timeshare game. In my analysis, I just don't see the value in the points program. It's very expensive upfront which seems to completely wipe away any benefit to owning. Your main attraction to the points program seems to be flexibility, but the ultimate in flexibility is not buying a timeshare and paying as you go. You should try and calculate a break even on the points purchase and see how many years it will take to justify the purchase versus paying as you go. For me, if it was more than 10 years, I wasn't interested

For me, I've decided to buy a week at a resort that my family and I will go frequently. We can also afford to buy a week without financing, which as someone else mentioned, financing a timeshare further reduced the benefit of owning.
 

JIMinNC

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I agree with the advice to not finance or at the very least to pay it off with a HELOC as soon as you can. HELOC money is dirt cheap after tax these days. But I disagree that points are not economical, especially for someone your age with many years to spread the up front costs. Renting a timeshare resort is very expensive and I do not think rental compares well to points ownership.

With your hybrid purchase, you would be getting 3900 points instead of 2000. Using the same OceanWatch example, that would get you at least a week in any 2BR view category from August 14 through May 14.

In Dec, Jan, Feb: You could book three weeks in Ocean Front, plus enough points left over for five or six extra days; You could book Four+ weeks in Ocean Side; or Five+ weeks in Ocean View

In Mar, Sept, Oct, or Nov: In Ocean Front, you could book one full week, and by renting an extra 450 points at a cost of $225, you could book two full weeks. In Ocean Side, you would have just enough to book two full weeks with no additional point rental required.

In April, May, and late Aug through early Sep: Book a full week in any view category, with anywhere from 400 to 1,225 points left over for other trips.

In Summer - May 15 through August 13 - You could book OceanWatch Garden View or Ocean View and have points left over. If you wanted Ocean Side, you would need to rent 275 points ($138) or for Ocean Front you would need to rent 775 points ($388).

In lieu of renting points, you could bank or borrow from another year for free as long as in the years you pulled points from, you chose a vacation that didn't take as many points.

At your age, 33, you could easily spread your upfront purchase over 40 or 45 years of usage - so assuming you find a way to minimize or eliminate interest expense in the short run you cost would be about $2,000/yr for maintenance fees plus $600 to $700 per year amortizing the $28,000 upfront costs. So a total cost of $2,700 per year would yield the following costs per night:

$386/night for one week
$193/night for two weeks
$129/night for three weeks
$ 96/night for four weeks

Summer rates at OceanWatch on Marriott.com range from $669/night+taxes for Garden View to $749/night+ taxes for oceanfront. That's probably pushing $6,000 for an oceanfront week when taxes are added in. Even in the lowest January and February off season months, Gardenview rooms rent for $139/night +taxes.
 

S8Farm

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Sounds to me you're really trying to justify the purchase for some reason. Have you honestly looked at what you can get for this purchase?

Aside from a few tricked out specialty (event weeks) that may be bookable through points, a retail purchase of points (especially financed) is almost always way more than just renting the rooms from Marriott.

Where are you most likely to go with your 2000 points for $23,000 + interest + $1000 per year MF (every year forever)? Until you figure this out, then figure what the nightly rate is for what you're getting compared to renting the rooms directly, you have no idea what you bought. Not knowing where you'd go most often, I choose Oceanwatch for an example:

At least you're flexible!

I'm not analyzing the hybrid route, and this is just one scenario. If you're honest about where you want to stay, you can do your own calculation, but it will always cost you at least $2,000/year given what you bought.


I'm not trying to convince myself. Thru my research on here I've noticed that many of you aren't pro points. So as I talk to you I'm trying to be a critical thinker opposite of the popular view and as I talk to Marriott I'm using your arguments, I just want to do the right thing :) So here's my math that shows me its not a terrible deal:

With 3900 points I feel like (with the way we travel) I can get about 3-4 weeks if I'm smart with my points. I played around on my parents account for a few hours and if I do several 5 night stays and a few 2-3 night stays off peak then I'm good. I was surprised I could get Maui and Kuai at a studio for 5 nights (wouldn't bring the kids) for around 1500 points in Sept. Sept/Oct I can get Orlando and HH resorts for a week for about the same as well. My wifes family is from Northern Cali and Tahoe off peak is pretty cheap as well. Like I said I'm very flexible with travel dates so I don't need to go during peak. So with that said for just 3 weeks I would surely spend about $220 night at a decent resort. $220x21 days is $4620 (if I can get 4 weeks then its $6160). My payment for the first 18 months is about $300/month and my MFs would be $2k/year. So I'm paying about $466 month ($5592 year). But once that's paid for then my annual cost goes to $2k ( though I know those will rise). So I'm paying $2k a year to vacation from 2 weeks (if I splurge) to 4 weeks. And have the flexibility of points. So for me MF's are going to have to really skyrocket past wherever rental or hotel prices are for this to not seem worth it.

If I'm 60 years old then maybe the long term benefit is there but if I divide this ($28k + MF's) over the next 40-50 years then at $7 point I see some great benefits. Owning at a single place holds no appeal to me, I know I can trade but as some other commenters have mentioned I would rather not sweat that out.

I'm sure I'm annoying some of you and you just think I'm being stubborn but I am analyzing this thing to death. I have no problem walking away but I feel like I've squeezed as much as I can out of them and am ready to pull the trigger (well not cancel) if I can't talk myself out of it. (That's just how I do things).

So is my math crazy? what am I missing? I know we don't know where MF's will be in 20 years and that's the only thing I don't love about this program. Does my other math make sense considering my age and the fact that I'm getting about $7 a point?
 

gmarine

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One comment about financing using a HELOC. Yes, its cheaper interest. But if for some unforeseen reason you are unable to pay that loan you are effectively risking your home for the purchase of a timeshare.

Regarding renting, I would consider the private rental rates rather than the rack rates. You can pretty much rent anywhere, anytime for very close to or not that much more than maintenance fees.
 

S8Farm

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One comment about financing using a HELOC. Yes, its cheaper interest. But if for some unforeseen reason you are unable to pay that loan you are effectively risking your home for the purchase of a timeshare.

Regarding renting, I would consider the private rental rates rather than the rack rates. You can pretty much rent anywhere, anytime for very close to or not that much more than maintenance fees.

I have the money to pay it off. I just like the tax advantage and low interest rates. To me liquidity is more important than paying a few points in interest. Heaven knows that this ISN'T a real estate investment with any equity involved haha
 

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I agree with the advice to not finance or at the very least to pay it off with a HELOC as soon as you can. HELOC money is dirt cheap after tax these days. But I disagree that points are not economical, especially for someone your age with many years to spread the up front costs. Renting a timeshare resort is very expensive and I do not think rental compares well to points ownership.

With your hybrid purchase, you would be getting 3900 points instead of 2000. Using the same OceanWatch example, that would get you at least a week in any 2BR view category from August 14 through May 14.

In Dec, Jan, Feb: You could book three weeks in Ocean Front, plus enough points left over for five or six extra days; You could book Four+ weeks in Ocean Side; or Five+ weeks in Ocean View

In Mar, Sept, Oct, or Nov: In Ocean Front, you could book one full week, and by renting an extra 450 points at a cost of $225, you could book two full weeks. In Ocean Side, you would have just enough to book two full weeks with no additional point rental required.

In April, May, and late Aug through early Sep: Book a full week in any view category, with anywhere from 400 to 1,225 points left over for other trips.

In Summer - May 15 through August 13 - You could book OceanWatch Garden View or Ocean View and have points left over. If you wanted Ocean Side, you would need to rent 275 points ($138) or for Ocean Front you would need to rent 775 points ($388).

In lieu of renting points, you could bank or borrow from another year for free as long as in the years you pulled points from, you chose a vacation that didn't take as many points.

At your age, 33, you could easily spread your upfront purchase over 40 or 45 years of usage - so assuming you find a way to minimize or eliminate interest expense in the short run you cost would be about $2,000/yr for maintenance fees plus $600 to $700 per year amortizing the $28,000 upfront costs. So a total cost of $2,700 per year would yield the following costs per night:

$386/night for one week
$193/night for two weeks
$129/night for three weeks
$ 96/night for four weeks

Summer rates at OceanWatch on Marriott.com range from $669/night+taxes for Garden View to $749/night+ taxes for oceanfront. That's probably pushing $6,000 for an oceanfront week when taxes are added in. Even in the lowest January and February off season months, Gardenview rooms rent for $139/night +taxes.

To me $10,000 to $12,000 upfront and $1100 maintenance fee for a platinum week at a desireable location sounds a lot better than $28,000 upfront and a $2,000 maintenance fee that is also work one platinum week at a desireable location. If it's flexibility your after, it seems less flexible to buy into a program rather than pay as you go.
 

Fasttr

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My parents have been in the program for years and love it.

Are your parent's weeks enrolled in the points program? It sounds like they are since you are using their account to search availability. If so, why not just rent whatever points you need using their account. You pay to rent the points and just use their points account as a vehicle to receive the rental points and to book your ressies. By doing that, you get to book using the flexibility of the points program using their account, and be able to do all the things you would be able to do if you owned the points, but you get to avoid the upfront purchase costs. As others have pointed out, if you have a DC account, you can easily rent points (they are plentiful) for basically equal to the cost of the annual maintenance fees, so there are no extra costs on an ongoing basis.

That way, if down the road your lifestyle changes, and the timeshare life no longer suits you, you are out nothing...you just stop renting points.

Its worth a ponder.
 
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S8Farm

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To me $10,000 to $12,000 upfront and $1100 maintenance fee for a platinum week at a desireable location sounds a lot better than $28,000 upfront and a $2,000 maintenance fee that is also work one platinum week at a desireable location. If it's flexibility your after, it seems less flexible to buy into a program rather than pay as you go.

I'm so new to all of this that some things that you guys assume I might know I don't. In response to Taco. That sounds great but how does that work? If I don't want ONE location can I turn that one week into 3-4 weeks like with points? I agree its cheaper but I'm not just looking at what's cheapest, I want flexibility to be able to go to Hawaii for 5 nights, Boston for a few, NYC (hopefully what I heard is right and they are adding there) for a night or two, maybe Tahoe off peak and then a more fun destination for a week (Hawaii, St Thomas, Aruba etc). Like I said from what I'm seeing that's doable with points. And I realize I might not get ALL of that for 3900 points but just so you have an idea. My Mom really has the off peak, lower points thing figured out and works it pretty good for them.

What would be the process of doing that with a platinum week? If I trade a plat week for a lesser week do I get something left over? Or do I have to buy a few separate weeks and then trade each one individually to get the kind of flexibility I mentioned above?
 

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Are your parent's weeks enrolled in the points program? It sounds like they are since you are using their account to search availability. If so, why not just rent whatever points you need using their account. You pay to rent the points and just use their points account as a vehicle to receive the rental points and to book your ressies. By doing that, you get to book using the flexibility of the points program using their account, and be able to do all the things you would be able to do if you owned the points, but you get to avoid the upfront purchase costs. As others have pointed out, if you have a DC account, you can easily rent points (they are plentiful) for basically equal to the cost of the annual maintenance fees, so there are no extra costs on an ongoing basis.

That way, if down the road your lifestyle changes, and the timeshare life no longer suits you, you are out nothing...you just stop renting points.

Its worth a ponder.

I do like the idea of renting points possibly but my mom works for Delta seasonally. So she flies for free all year round and only works 4 months. They have close to 7000 points and they use every last one of them. Working for the airlines and this points system is a match made in heaven haha
 

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I agree with the advice to not finance or at the very least to pay it off with a HELOC as soon as you can. HELOC money is dirt cheap after tax these days. But I disagree that points are not economical, especially for someone your age with many years to spread the up front costs. Renting a timeshare resort is very expensive and I do not think rental compares well to points ownership.

With your hybrid purchase, you would be getting 3900 points instead of 2000. Using the same OceanWatch example, that would get you at least a week in any 2BR view category from August 14 through May 14.

In Dec, Jan, Feb: You could book three weeks in Ocean Front, plus enough points left over for five or six extra days; You could book Four+ weeks in Ocean Side; or Five+ weeks in Ocean View

In Mar, Sept, Oct, or Nov: In Ocean Front, you could book one full week, and by renting an extra 450 points at a cost of $225, you could book two full weeks. In Ocean Side, you would have just enough to book two full weeks with no additional point rental required.

In April, May, and late Aug through early Sep: Book a full week in any view category, with anywhere from 400 to 1,225 points left over for other trips.

In Summer - May 15 through August 13 - You could book OceanWatch Garden View or Ocean View and have points left over. If you wanted Ocean Side, you would need to rent 275 points ($138) or for Ocean Front you would need to rent 775 points ($388).

In lieu of renting points, you could bank or borrow from another year for free as long as in the years you pulled points from, you chose a vacation that didn't take as many points.

At your age, 33, you could easily spread your upfront purchase over 40 or 45 years of usage - so assuming you find a way to minimize or eliminate interest expense in the short run you cost would be about $2,000/yr for maintenance fees plus $600 to $700 per year amortizing the $28,000 upfront costs. So a total cost of $2,700 per year would yield the following costs per night:

$386/night for one week
$193/night for two weeks
$129/night for three weeks
$ 96/night for four weeks

Summer rates at OceanWatch on Marriott.com range from $669/night+taxes for Garden View to $749/night+ taxes for oceanfront. That's probably pushing $6,000 for an oceanfront week when taxes are added in. Even in the lowest January and February off season months, Gardenview rooms rent for $139/night +taxes.

JiminNC I must have missed this post. It would have saved me from doing my own math and I hate math :) Thanks for the input. This is along the lines of what I'm thinking. Unless I get an answer about the plat weeks and being able to trade them easily for more weeks.

I really appreciate all the responses I'm getting quite the education.
 

Fasttr

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I do like the idea of renting points possibly but my mom works for Delta seasonally. So she flies for free all year round and only works 4 months. They have close to 7000 points and they use every last one of them. Working for the airlines and this points system is a match made in heaven haha

You would not be renting them from your mother, you would be renting them from other owners and using your parents account as the vessel to get it done. Check out the rental thread link I posted above. For you and your needs, this is a no brainer.
 
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