Latest blurbs from our update

[dougp26364]

Really just 3 things I have yet to confirm individually.

1. integration has begun with free exchanges between SVR resorts and Marriott resorts for DC members with the II exchange program.

2. Big announcement around January 1, but not expecting anything major in the points integration. No word on what’s going to be announced, just an announcement

3. This may not be new news: New Amex Bonvoy card with 6X points on Marriott Bonvoy Hotels, 3X points US restaurants and flights booked directly through the airline sites and 2x points on all other purchases. 75,000 points to sign up after spending $3,000 in 3 months and zero percent interest for 1 year. Steep yearly fee of $450 but you get a $300 statement credit on spending at Bonvoy hotels and a $100on property credit. Free enrollment in priority select lounges, refund global access or TSA Pre-check, 15 elite nights, Gold status, 1 free night yearly and a few other benefits that won’t get many TUGGERS attention. This I do have confirmed in that we signed up for it.

I’d like to confirm no exchange fees for members on exchanges between SVN properties and will work on that tomorrow.

Of course, they’re also hammering the price increase Jan. 1 to $20. This due to the price difference between what SVN owners pay per point and what MVC owners are paying. He forgot to mention the point value within systems, as in maybe it takes fewer SVN points to reserve similar size/quality within the MVC system. I haven’t taken time to learn SVN or their points system, so just guessing.

 

[frank808]

Pretty sure it would be a higher number of Staroptions than DC points. Marriott Hawaii 2br units are about 5000 dc points while Westin Kaanapali is 148000 star options.

I can't see them increasing the direct price of DC points by 75% on Jan 1. I am sure they would love to get that much for each DC point but to increase it from the current $12 per point to $20 per point would kill their direct sales.

Have had the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card for over a year. This tugger loves the perks the card provides. $125 a year for the 50k certificate is great value. Find this better than the $95 we pay for the SPG Amex card that gets you a 35k free night certificate annually. Also free Priority Pass is good if you do not have another card that provides it.

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[VacationForever]

I checked II, using the DC II corporate account, trades into Vistana resorts is still at $209 per trade. Nothing has changed.

 

[dougp26364]

I checked II, using the DC II corporate account, trades into Vistana resorts is still at $209 per trade. Nothing has changed.

I just checked using the weeks exchange option and can also confirm that II is asking for the $209 exchange fee. Maybe that's the announcement for January, but I'm not holding my breath on that one either.

 

[dougp26364]

Pretty sure it would be a higher number of Staroptions than DC points. Marriott Hawaii 2br units are about 5000 dc points while Westin Kaanapali is 148000 star options.

I can't see them increasing the direct price of DC points by 75% on Jan 1. I am sure they would love to get that much for each DC point but to increase it from the current $12 per point to $20 per point would kill their direct sales.

Have had the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card for over a year. This tugger loves the perks the card provides. $125 a year for the 50k certificate is great value. Find this better than the $95 we pay for the SPG Amex card that gets you a 35k free night certificate annually. Also free Priority Pass is good if you do not have another card that provides it.

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Then it's also difficult for me to believe that SVN owners are paying >$20 per point. That was his basis for MVC increasing the cost per point was that SVN owners were already paying that much. I suppose I could ask an SVN owner, but I'm not that interested nor did I believe much of what was said. After all, it's a sales presentation and salesmen of often the last to know what is real and the BS management is telling them

We were quoted $14.45/point, not $12. It's still a huge jump to $20 and I just don't see that happening. That's been something the sales staff has been saying for a while now and it hasn't happened. Over time the price will get there, but I'm a doubter it will be Jan, 2020

 

[frank808]

Then it's also difficult for me to believe that SVN owners are paying >$20 per point. That was his basis for MVC increasing the cost per point was that SVN owners were already paying that much. I suppose I could ask an SVN owner, but I'm not that interested nor did I believe much of what was said. After all, it's a sales presentation and salesmen of often the last to know what is real and the BS management is telling them

We were quoted $14.45/point, not $12. It's still a huge jump to $20 and I just don't see that happening. That's been something the sales staff has been saying for a while now and it hasn't happened. Over time the price will get there, but I'm a doubter it will be Jan, 2020

You know what they day when a timeshare salesperson lips are moving.

I didn't know that there was a price jump to $14.45 a point since Aug. I paid a little over $10 a point this past July. It started at $12 and some change and went down to a little over $10 when 5k or more was purchased.

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[jabberwocky]

My best guess is that if/when any conversion program is announced we will see a ratio of around 27.7 StarOptions per DC point.

I’m basing this off of the fact that for a $110 resort credit you can either use 325 DC points (MVC) or 9000 SO (Vistana).

9000/325 = 27.7

 

[dougp26364]

My best guess is that if/when any conversion program is announced we will see a ratio of around 27.7 StarOptions per DC point.

I’m basing this off of the fact that for a $110 resort credit you can either use 325 DC points (MVC) or 9000 SO (Vistana).

9000/325 = 27.7

I wonder if the sales staff is confusing the value of a DC point to StaroOption point for potential merger conversions? Instead of thinking it’s the point conversion ratio they think SVN owners are paying that much per point?
If so boy are they misinformed, which wouldn’t surprise any of us on TUG.

 

[dioxide45]

Of course, they’re also hammering the price increase Jan. 1 to $20. This due to the price difference between what SVN owners pay per point and what MVC owners are paying. He forgot to mention the point value within systems, as in maybe it takes fewer SVN points to reserve similar size/quality within the MVC system. I haven’t taken time to learn SVN or their points system, so just guessing.

Interesting. The Vistana sales rep at SVV told us they were having to increase the price of their Flex Home Options in Sheraton Flex to catch up with the price of Marriott DC points...

 

[dioxide45]

You know what they day when a timeshare salesperson lips are moving.

I didn't know that there was a price jump to $14.45 a point since Aug. I paid a little over $10 a point this past July. It started at $12 and some change and went down to a little over $10 when 5k or more was purchased.

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The $14.45 is a non-discounted price. Kind of like rack rate on a hotel, no one ever pays that price. There are always discounted and promos that bring the MSRP down quite a bit. The more you buy, the lower the price gets.

Here is the DC point price history.

https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...nt-price-increases.229958/page-4#post-2338958

 

[dougp26364]

Interesting. The Vistana sales rep at SVV told us they were having to increase the price of their Flex Home Options in Sheraton Flex to catch up with the price of Marriott DC points...

I’m pretty sure SVN isn’t paying $20 per point. I just didn’t have the figured handy to correct him. I DID have the figures handy when he told me trust point MF only go up 1%/year.

 

[dioxide45]

I’m pretty sure SVN isn’t paying $20 per point. I just didn’t have the figured handy to correct him. I DID have the figures handy when he told me trust point MF only go up 1%/year.

I believe Sheraton Flex is $0.59 per point. If we use the 27.7/1 ratio figured by @jabberwocky that is $16.34 per DC point. So it seems that the sales rep I spoke to was "fibbing".

 

[jabberwocky]

WFlex and SFlex are effectively being sold around $0.40-$0.45 after discounts etc. So that would put the “realized” hypothetical DC point at $11-12.50.

Where are you seeing $0.59? That seems really high and would be a 30%+ hike from the list price ($0.44) when I bought WFlex in August.

I believe Sheraton Flex is $0.59 per point. If we use the 27.7/1 ratio figured by @jabberwocky that is $16.34 per DC point. So it seems that the sales rep I spoke to was "fibbing".

 

[m61376]

Doug- for the Amex card- the $300 credit for spending at Marriott hotels- is that strictly a hoyel booking credit or cand it be used for room charges during timeshare stays? Any idea?

 

[frank808]

Doug- for the Amex card- the $300 credit for spending at Marriott hotels- is that strictly a hoyel booking credit or cand it be used for room charges during timeshare stays? Any idea?

Not Doug but my experience has been that it worked for anything at vacation club that were charged to room. Also credit was applied for paying MF.

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[dioxide45]

WFlex and SFlex are effectively being sold around $0.40-$0.45 after discounts etc. So that would put the “realized” hypothetical DC point at $11-12.50.

Where are you seeing $0.59? That seems really high and would be a 30%+ hike from the list price ($0.44) when I bought WFlex in August.

My numbers were based on on SVV presentation, but I may mis-quoting them or that is the non discounted rate. In order to compare the price between the two, you really need to look at the undiscounted "rack" rate since so many things can impact the discounted rates between the two products.

 

[m61376]

Not Doug but my experience has been that it worked for anything at vacation club that were charged to room. Also credit was applied for paying MF.

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So what's the difference between that and the $100 on property credit?
Thanks= that card sounds intereting

 

[frank808]

So what's the difference between that and the $100 on property credit?
Thanks= that card sounds intereting

The $300 is an annual benefit for paying anything marriott charged to your room including room rates.

The $100 credit is only valid at Ritz Carlton or St. Regis stays using the booking code for a minimum of 2 consecutive days. Also the price per night using the qualifying rate is usually higher than other cheaper rates (ie AAA, pay in full at time of booking, etc.).

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[pedro47]

How much will you have to spend to receive the $300 credit?

 

[dougp26364]

Honestly, I have t figured out the Amex cards benefits yet. It’s busy season at the hospital and I’ve been pulling so much overtime I really haven’t read the literature for the Amex card.

I did see the $100 room credit is for St Regis and Ritz, a benefit we’re not likely to ever use. The lounge access might be something we get a little benefit from but, the lounges are often in terminals we don’t fly in/out of, some have pretty limited benefits and we don’t always have a long enough layover that we’ll get enough benefit to make it worth it. The $300 credit we’ll likely make use of as it appears to be tied to any $ spent on hotel bookings, and even though we generally don’t book hotel rooms, we do have friends/family we visit sometimes and we do book the occasional hotel room. It just is t always a Marriott hotel, but with the credit, titanium elite level and suite nights, I’ll start looking harder at Marriott’s where the possibility to upgrade to a suite is a possibility.

The biggest benefit to us is the 6X points, even though we haven’t been Bonvoy point collectors in the past. I’m looking at the potential to collect enough points to earn the 5 night/100,000 FF mile certificates. The hotel cert. might not be of great value to us but we could use it for trips to locations without timeshares and we do collect FF miles to get us to Hawaii every year. The breakdown of value might not be there as it may be better to get the 1:1 value using an airline miles card. It will take having a little time off to work out the value.

 

[jabberwocky]

How much will you have to spend to receive the $300 credit?

$300

 

[frank808]

The biggest benefit to us is the 6X points, even though we haven’t been Bonvoy point collectors in the past. I’m looking at the potential to collect enough points to earn the 5 night/100,000 FF mile certificates. The hotel cert. might not be of great value to us but we could use it for trips to locations without timeshares and we do collect FF miles to get us to Hawaii every year. The breakdown of value might not be there as it may be better to get the 1:1 value using an airline miles card. It will take having a little time off to work out the value.

The 5 night travel packages are not really a good value as before. About twice a year, there has been a bonus to turn Bonvoy points for UAL FF miles. We just turned in 360k bonvoy points for 214500 UAL FF miles. Not bad, as we get about 5 round trip tickets from HNL to MCO (we usually pay $1200 each). I find Bonvoy Brilliant Amex better value than the 180k CSR UR points we would have earned paying Marriott MF (cash value of UR points $2700-$3600)

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[winger]

Hi Doug. Any word about Marriott resort properties being removed from II so that week-for-week exchanges into Marriotts will no longer possible starting mid to late 2020? Apparently, the only way to secure time at a Marriott resort will be using DC points. I was shown a new II book that no longer lists Marriott TS properties and this was the story I was given.

 

[jabberwocky]

Hi Doug. Any word about Marriott resort properties being removed from II so that week-for-week exchanges into Marriotts will no longer possible starting mid to late 2020? Apparently, the only way to secure time at a Marriott resort will be using DC points. I was shown a new II book that no longer lists Marriott TS properties and this was the story I was given.

Given that II is owned by VAC I find it highly unlikely. It would essentially destroy a large user base. They are preying on fear.

 

[winger]

Given that II is owned by VAC I find it highly unlikely. It would essentially destroy a large user base. They are preying on fear.

I took a few minutes looking thru the new II catalogue (forget if it's 2020 or 2021) and did not see any Marriott properties in there. That was what got me thinking there could be some truth to what the salesman was claiming. It also makes sense to go to points only if Marriott wants to force ppl to buy their product, this taking a gamble Marriott traditional week owners and non-Marriott II members won't be outraged