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Looking into possible purchase.

RookWDW

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Is the benefit of a hybrid package that since you have points and a week you can convert an annual week into points and use via the point system? But, you need to have an enrolled week to so, thus for a new buyer like me the only way to get that is direct from MVC since they don't allow current resale weeks to be enrolled? There are a lot of rules and tricks compared to the DVC system.
 

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The advantage of hybrid is if you are purchasing a large amount of points to get to status. The MF for hybrid may be less than just the straight points MF. And also gives you a little more flexibility since you have the option of week or points. They actually made a pretty attractive offer for me to pick up another week at the resort I own (and like) and points to get me to Chairman level. Didn't do it but price was around $7/point and I would end up with another week and someplace I liked.
 

RookWDW

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I'm trying to understand the difference in buying a week vs points. Let me know where I'm off base or missing something.

Buying a week looks less costly upfront. However, you can only use your week at that location and in that time period (platinum, gold, etc). Unless you trade your week into the II system. No borrowing/banking weeks.

Buying points means you can use those points at any MVC resort and any time so long as you have enough points, including borrowing/banking.

Both weeks or points can book 12 months out. Do they book from the same pool of availability? Meaning if I have a Frenchman platinum week, could I miss out if all the points owners book up the open weeks during my platinum time period? Or, as a week owner are there enough weeks during the platinum time period that you are virtually guaranteed to get a week, just maybe not the desired week?

Thus, it appears the value to a week is lower cost, and the value to points is more flexibility, but otherwise they work the same?
 

Dean

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I'm trying to understand the difference in buying a week vs points. Let me know where I'm off base or missing something.

Buying a week looks less costly upfront. However, you can only use your week at that location and in that time period (platinum, gold, etc). Unless you trade your week into the II system. No borrowing/banking weeks.

Buying points means you can use those points at any MVC resort and any time so long as you have enough points, including borrowing/banking.

Both weeks or points can book 12 months out. Do they book from the same pool of availability? Meaning if I have a Frenchman platinum week, could I miss out if all the points owners book up the open weeks during my platinum time period? Or, as a week owner are there enough weeks during the platinum time period that you are virtually guaranteed to get a week, just maybe not the desired week?

Thus, it appears the value to a week is lower cost, and the value to points is more flexibility, but otherwise they work the same?
That's true for a resale week vs points (either retail or resale). It is not absolute however as there are sometimes ways to get resale weeks enrolled with an additional retail purchase. They do not book the same inventory. For a given resort you've got points inventory and weeks inventory unless the resort were sold only under points (like some of the newest resorts). But there is crossover from both directions as weeks owners that are enrolled elect for points or points owners reserve from the weeks that have been elected from points. The only prohibition is that weeks owners cannot ever reserve from the points inventory (or the enrolled inventory where points have been elected).

Both have areas of value and for many, the weeks is a better choice even if they were the same cost. Remember you're only competing with others who own the same season and resort on the weeks side but you're competing with every points owner and every weeks owner who has elected for points. Plus resorts routinely prioritize unit assignments to those that actually own weeks at a given resort and are using their actual week. They really are different animals and for many, myself included, they can complement each other as can exchanges within II.
 

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If you deposit your reserved week into II it is available to exchange to any resort that comes up available to you for 2 years so that’s similar to “banking”.
If your week is not enrolled you do need to pay for your II membership and pay an exchange fee (reduced to Marriott properties).

If you buy points you pay DC club dues which include an II membership to but you can only use II to exchange to non MVC properties.
 

RookWDW

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Thanks. I'm looking at various weeks for rent and sale to get some ideas. I found a Frenchman's Cove week that is listed as EOY - Even week. But, Frenchman is not on the list of properties that offers EOY. Scam, or is an owner able to bifurcate their week that way?

Also, reached out to a couple rentals to see if I can get the week I want to rent.
 

rthib

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I'm trying to understand the difference in buying a week vs points. Let me know where I'm off base or missing something.

Buying a week looks less costly upfront. However, you can only use your week at that location and in that time period (platinum, gold, etc). Unless you trade your week into the II system. No borrowing/banking weeks.
Some would consider II as banking and/or borrowing since you can deposit at 2022 week to book for 2021 and also be able to trade until 2024

Buying points means you can use those points at any MVC resort and any time so long as you have enough points, including borrowing/banking.
Big if, is if their is availability. Popular weeks at popular locations are also hard to get with points. And points cost are more during popular times.



Both weeks or points can book 12 months out. Do they book from the same pool of availability? Meaning if I have a Frenchman platinum week, could I miss out if all the points owners book up the open weeks during my platinum time period? Or, as a week owner are there enough weeks during the platinum time period that you are virtually guaranteed to get a week, just maybe not the desired week?

Thus, it appears the value to a week is lower cost, and the value to points is more flexibility, but otherwise they work the same?
Different pools, but if an enrolled week owner converts to points than that week belongs to MVCI to use however, points, rent etc...
Yes you will get a week during your time period. Some small times no such as you wait too long and nothing is still available - E.g. You season is Jan-May 2021 and you wait until today to book. There may be no weeks left but a Jan week was available you just missed it. Reason you can book in advance.
And 12 months is true for single week owner and lower status, remember multi week owners can book 13months out, same for higher status point owners.


Thus, it appears the value to a week is lower cost, and the value to points is more flexibility, but otherwise they work the same?
True, other big difference on points is you can book an number of nights 1,2,3,5,7,10... That's where value is. Booking a Sun-TH saves points.
Also the destination escapes can be a big point saver too.

A Week is always a week.
 

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I would also look out for hybrids in which Marriott will allow you to buy one week from a non trust eligible week from resorts in Europe and the Caribbean along with another week in the system in which you could buy resale. The maintenance fees for the two weeks would be at the weeks prices and not the per.point maintenance fee rate which is usually higher.

This works well if you want a high number of points. I was able to purchase two weeks valued at about 9500 points for what would be $2:50 on Redweek, then add Marriott’s $3 per point for a total of $5.50 per point. The two weeks were enrolled weeks. This to me was a good purchase because I have the flexibility of using points or weeks. I believe that ENROLLED weeks have some distinct advantages that cannot be overlooked. This purchase with Marriott also came with several money saving benefits that you cannot get with resale purchases.

The hybrid purchase using two high point valued platinum weeks can be a very good deal. I would inquire about such hybrids if at all possible if you want a higher number of points but not too high. If you want a crazy number of points, I would recommend you buying a quarter share.at on of the Marriott Residences. This would be a lot more expensive, but you would be paying a much lower cost per point but the upfront cost would be very high.
 

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Yeah, the trick is low cost MF/point when buying from Marriott. It can be very nice, despite the higher cost if one likes the points system. I love enrolled weeks as well. At this stage, I wouldn't want non enrolled weeks but it's a different stage of life too.
 

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I would also look out for hybrids in which Marriott will allow you to buy one week from a non trust eligible week from resorts in Europe and the Caribbean along with another week in the system in which you could buy resale. The maintenance fees for the two weeks would be at the weeks prices and not the per.point maintenance fee rate which is usually higher.

This works well if you want a high number of points. I was able to purchase two weeks valued at about 9500 points for what would be $2:50 on Redweek, then add Marriott’s $3 per point for a total of $5.50 per point. The two weeks were enrolled weeks. This to me was a good purchase because I have the flexibility of using points or weeks. I believe that ENROLLED weeks have some distinct advantages that cannot be overlooked. This purchase with Marriott also came with several money saving benefits that you cannot get with resale purchases.

The hybrid purchase using two high point valued platinum weeks can be a very good deal. I would inquire about such hybrids if at all possible if you want a higher number of points but not too high. If you want a crazy number of points, I would recommend you buying a quarter share.at on of the Marriott Residences. This would be a lot more expensive, but you would be paying a much lower cost per point but the upfront cost would be very high.

So you bought two enrolled weeks from Redweek? I'm not sure I'm following. I thought you cannot buy enrolled weeks as the enrolled status does not follow the resale. Or, did you buy weeks direct from Marriott? 9500 points at $5.50 is $52,250. That's more than we would start with. I was looking at some decent platinum weeks resale on St Thomas with asking prices at about $4,000-$5000 and MF of around $2,000. At that price if it ends up not being used as much as I think, it's not much of a loss so it's pretty minimal risk. Although I'm confident we will use it as we use our DVC points and otherwise travel using the Chase UR points. My uncertainty is where to get a week and I'm trying to find a rental for next year in St Thomas or Aruba.
 

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So you bought two enrolled weeks from Redweek? I'm not sure I'm following. I thought you cannot buy enrolled weeks as the enrolled status does not follow the resale. Or, did you buy weeks direct from Marriott? 9500 points at $5.50 is $52,250. That's more than we would start with. I was looking at some decent platinum weeks resale on St Thomas with asking prices at about $4,000-$5000 and MF of around $2,000. At that price if it ends up not being used as much as I think, it's not much of a loss so it's pretty minimal risk. Although I'm confident we will use it as we use our DVC points and otherwise travel using the Chase UR points. My uncertainty is where to get a week and I'm trying to find a rental for next year in St Thomas or Aruba.

I bought the weeks directly from Marriott which was why both weeks were enrolled. Resale weeks bought on sites like Redweek are most definitely the most economical way to go.
 

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EDIT: I have no idea what we will do when one is in HS and one in college as they will definitely be on different weeks.

While every family will be different, we experienced this transition with two kids spaced four years apart, just like yours are. I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but it may be helpful to see how MVC points have allowed us to adapt as our lives have evolved.

We bought our first timeshare - a non-Marriott property on Maui - in 1999 when our son was four and our daughter was an infant. We used that to go to Hawaii every other year or so, and in the years that we didn't go to Hawaii, we traded through RCI into the Orlando Hilton Grand Vacations properties (an easy trade). While trading Hawaii for Orlando was a poor value, it met our needs and was offset by the significant value we received in the years we did go to Hawaii. Our kids grew up sort of thinking going to Hawaii every couple of years was what everyone did. Without our timeshare, that would have never happened.

Our last family Hawaii trip using that first timeshare was in the summer of 2011. Once our son graduated from high school in 2013 and moved on to out-of-state college at Georgia Tech, family vacations began changing. His spring break changed from Easter to early-mid March, making a whole family spring trip impossible, since our daughter still had an Easter break. Every summer of his college years, he either did a paid internship or summer classes, which eliminated summer vacations for him. Our daughter was in high school by then, and she began wanting summer jobs for the extra spending money. She also reached the age where traveling with Mom and Dad was "boring" and wanted her friends to go along. Drive-to beach trips where her friends could come along were now the best option. We had grown frustrated trying to navigate RCI trading to beach locations, and we were generally unimpressed with the quality of most RCI resorts.

So, we decided to sell our Maui timeshare and buy something closer to our Charlotte home in a quality timeshare system. We knew Marriott owned the timesharing market on Hilton Head Island, with eight properties, so we did one of their $299 promo packages in the fall of 2013. We declined to buy then but returned to HHI on an Encore package at Barony Beach Club with our daughter and one of her friends in Spring 2014. By that time, I had devoured the info available here on the TUG Marriott board, and knew we wanted a Hybrid package of an enrolled week in HHI, plus Trust points for maximum flexibility. That's when we became Marriott owners. We then listed our old Maui property with Timeshare Resales Hawaii and sold it within a couple months.

Having the option to use Points has transformed the way we use timeshares and travel. Our first use year was 2015, so we initially booked a trip to Hawaii in the summer, but wound up canceling it and banking the points to 2016 because our daughter couldn't take a friend along. So, in our first couple years of ownership, here is how we used our new Marriott points:
  • My wife and a friend of hers spent four nights at Grand Chateau in Las Vegas for a "girls’ trip" in 2016
  • Also in 2016, our daughter did a three-week summer program for high school students in Washington, DC and she and my wife spent three nights at MVC Pulse at the Mayflower right before her program started to visit a couple of DC area colleges she was considering applying to.
  • A three-night Labor Day weekend trip with all four of us to Barony Beach Club in Hilton Head in fall 2016
  • Seven nights at Barony for spring break 2017 with our then high school senior daughter and two of her friends
Once our daughter headed off to University of Florida in fall 2017, empty nest fall/winter/spring vacations for my wife and I became an option for us once again.
  • A three-night trip to Las Vegas with my wife to see Elton John's Million Dollar Piano show at Caesars in October 2017.
  • A spring 2018 week at HHI Grande Ocean, where our son and daughter joined us at the end for a long weekend.
  • A fall week for my wife and I in 2018 at MVC Desert Springs in Palm Desert.
We missed going to Hawaii, so in 2018, we purchased a resale Every-Other-Year Odd 2BR Ocean View week at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club. We bought that to use 100% of the time in odd years in Maui. We also bought a resale Orlando week in the Hilton Grand Vacations Club system, which converts to 7000 HGVC points and could be used to book the Big Island.
  • In 2019, we used our new Maui week, used MVC Points to book a second week at Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai, and used our HGVC points for a week on the Big Island. We scheduled the Maui week to coincide with our daughter’s spring break from college, and our son was by then working as a software engineer in Atlanta, so both were able to fly out and spend a week with us on Maui.
  • In fall of 2019, my wife and I returned to Desert Springs in Palm Desert.
  • In February 2020, my wife and I used HGVC points and MVC Points to book a week on the Big Island and a week on Maui (it was an even year, so we had to use points since our weeks are only odd years). Less than a month after we returned, well, the world went crazy...
  • In November 2020, my wife and I spent a week using our MVC Points at Marco Island, Florida.
Since our initial 2014 Hybrid package purchase with Marriott resulted in us only having 3375 points every year (total of our Trust points and the point value of the week), we had to use point rentals from www.vacationpointexchange.com to supplement what we owned to make some of these trips happen.

When the COVID pandemic forced us to cancel our planned odd-year Hawaii trip in January/February 2021, because our Maui and Kauai weeks were purchased resale and not enrolled in the point system, we couldn’t roll them over to 2022, so rebooking Maui and Kauai for October 2021 was our only option other than depositing in II, which we try to avoid. That highlighted for us again, the inflexibility of unenrolled weeks when plans have to change. As a result, while at Marco Island in November, we elected to buy 3000 more points from MVC so as to enroll our Maui and Kauai EOY weeks. That also elevated us to Presidential level in MVC. Now we have another usage option for the two Hawaii weeks – convert them to MVC Points – should that be needed in the future.
  • We recently used our new Presidential 30% points discount inside 60 days to book an early March week at MVC Ocean Pointe in Palm Beach Shores in a great Ocean Front Studio unit for less than 1,900 total points. We added an eighth night at MVC Pulse South Beach in Miami to eat at a favorite seafood restaurant I hadn’t been to in 30 years or so (Joe’s Stone Crab). That trip seemed like a tremendous value to us.
  • Our daughter will be graduating from University of Florida in about three weeks and asked to go to Epcot on the Saturday after graduation to celebrate with her family and a couple friends. So, a few days ago, I was able to book two units at MVC Grande Vista (a studio and a two bedroom to accommodate our party of six) for one night for less than 500 total points, thanks to the last minute 30% discount.
Ironically, while Hilton Head Island was the initial attraction of the Marriott Vacation Club system for us, we became such a fan of Hilton Head that we bought a whole condo on the island about 18 months ago, so no longer need our Marriott ownership for HHI. We now use our HHI condo many weeks every year and use our Marriott ownership for Hawaii and elsewhere in the MVC system.

Again, sorry for the length of this, but I thought some specific examples of how we’ve been able to adapt and use our ownership over the years as our family situation has evolved would be helpful for you in your current situation.
 
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RookWDW

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Jim

don’t apologiz, that is tremendously helpful. I’ll have to digress that one a few times. It’s interesting to see how you adapted as life changed.
 

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For many people, resale Marriott weeks (rather than points) are the way to go because, as an MVCI owner, if you need extra days or a week with tight II inventory, you can usually rent at a discount from Marriott resorts by calling the front desk. The discount is often 35 percent off of the rack rate.
Marriott frequently contacts its weeks owners to attempt to convince them to join the points program: MVCI really does not have enough rooms inventory in the points trust, and they keep selling more points. The vast majority of weeks owners do not convert because even average Marriott weeks trade better than would be expected in Interval International and typically come with one or more II bonus weeks.

Separately, the key to buying from eBay is to check the resort estoppel letter carefully and confirm any matters that raise questions with the resort or corporate office directly. The process takes a few months, but the Marriott corporate office staff are often a font of good information about matters like lock-off usage (if you are interested in this feature). I used Timeshare Trade-Ins/Resort Closing Services of Missouri for a Marriott resale week purchase, using the TUG online guidance, in recent years, and the resale company staff were organized and efficient.
 

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If you need extra days or a week with tight II inventory, you can usually rent at a discount from Marriott resorts by calling the front desk. The discount is often 35 percent off of the rack rate.
No need to call, you can book and search yourself. In the weeks FAQ
Owners' discount on cash stays - Weeks Owners who are not Destination Club Members* are eligible for a 25% discount at Marriott timeshares and, frequently, at non-US Marriott hotels/resorts. The discount is capacity-controlled and based on availability.

Cash discount stays can be booked through marriott.com; in the "Find A Hotel" box click on "Special Rates" and then input the "7VC" code in the box that comes up when you click the "Corporate/Promotional Code" button.
 

skimeup

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I'm sure it is here but I can't find it. Can anyone point me to a listing of Marriott points requirements for various vacation clubs and times of year?
 

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Did a presentation with MVC reps. A bit of a hard sell but they backed down pretty quickly when I said I wasn't ready. They really pushed the idea of points vs weeks and claimed that they cannot sell any weeks except for a hybrid package which would be more expensive and more than I likely wanted to spend or needed, but they didn't give an estimate. Points were offered at $11.94pp (discounted allegedly from $14.94pp). Also offered some one time use points as a bonus.

They also mentioned that MVC purchased Starwoods and all Starwoods vacation properties would be usable with MVC points on the same basis as Marriotts; specifically mentioning the Westin St John as I asked about St Thomas or Aruba.

They didn't talk me into buying direct, but I am more considering buying used points vs a week.
 

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Did a presentation with MVC reps. A bit of a hard sell but they backed down pretty quickly when I said I wasn't ready. They really pushed the idea of points vs weeks and claimed that they cannot sell any weeks except for a hybrid package which would be more expensive and more than I likely wanted to spend or needed, but they didn't give an estimate. Points were offered at $11.94pp (discounted allegedly from $14.94pp). Also offered some one time use points as a bonus.

They also mentioned that MVC purchased Starwoods and all Starwoods vacation properties would be usable with MVC points on the same basis as Marriotts; specifically mentioning the Westin St John as I asked about St Thomas or Aruba.

They didn't talk me into buying direct, but I am more considering buying used points vs a week.
As I understand it, the resort sales staff can't sell anything but points or a hybrid with points. However, the sales staff at the locations that can't do points (like Aruba & St. Kitt's) plus the main sales office can as well as I understand it. Since a week will be the same price as the comparable points purchase (and possibly cheaper), the only real variable is the fees. As long as the fees are cheaper, it's a win win retail. Even comparing resale points to a retail weeks purchase, you can often make up the difference over time on dues alone if you get a week with a low dues to points ration like an OF or event week in Aruba. Also, you can create your own hybrid by buying a resale week then a retail purchase likely ending up with a cheaper price and a better underlying week. You can also do a hybrid (either theirs or the one we just made up) with a qualifying weeks purchase as well.

Based on your previously stated plans of alternating Spring Break in the islands and possibly HHI summer, I'd estimate you'd need an absolute minimum of 5000 points but more realistically a minimum of 5500. To me for this situation I'd get at least 6000 points. Since Executive with MVC is 7000 points, I'd likely just get to that level if I was going to buy at all. You'd have a ton more options and flexibility doing so. Otherwise I'd look at non MVC options or just buy a small points package resale and rent points for the rest. Buying a resale HHI week that you can use and enrolling with a St. Kitt's or Aruba resale purchase that fits that need might be ideal or just buying both weeks resale and not worrying about points right now since you have fairly specific plans for usage anyway.

It might be worth investigating an overseas purchase like Spain. I'm not overly familiar with that option so others, like Barry, could give you more information about your options. The fees can be very good for those weeks.
 

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So you bought two enrolled weeks from Redweek? I'm not sure I'm following. I thought you cannot buy enrolled weeks as the enrolled status does not follow the resale. Or, did you buy weeks direct from Marriott? 9500 points at $5.50 is $52,250. That's more than we would start with. I was looking at some decent platinum weeks resale on St Thomas with asking prices at about $4,000-$5000 and MF of around $2,000. At that price if it ends up not being used as much as I think, it's not much of a loss so it's pretty minimal risk. Although I'm confident we will use it as we use our DVC points and otherwise travel using the Chase UR points. My uncertainty is where to get a week and I'm trying to find a rental for next year in St Thomas or Aruba.
MVW will sell you Aruba weeks that come enrolled. You will have the benefit of a deeded week in Marriott surf club or you can elect to use them as points. It’s extremely expensive but you get the best of both. Personally, I’d save the money and buy a true resale from an owner. Weeks are a great way to own but you have to be invested in planning. Points seem to be much more flexible and easier to book multiple trips (if you own enough points)
 

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I’m going to add my own personal experience using points right now and for what’s it worth.
Im having trouble booking a full week, same view, 8-9 months out. I’m wondering if some of that famous flexibility is working against me? I can get three or four days in the same view, but then there is a day missing or a switch to different view.
I find searching for points stays very cumbersome- which they would just show what is available anywhere like an II search. I also don’t find the waitlist to be very helpful- you need to be too specific and you can’t just place it yourself.
I find my week exchanging through II to be easier to handle and a better value for me.
 

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Marriott Grande Ocean
Marriott Grande Chateau
Thanks for the replies. It's very helpful. A lot of different ways to go. I'm still leaning to a resale week as I can get one at a great resort for a couple/few thousand. At that price it isn't a big loss if we can use it as effectively as we want. At $35-45,000, I'd be a bit more displeased if it didn't work as we wanted.

EDIT to add: My wife is more in favor of points I think. She likes the idea of going somewhere different each time.
 
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Dean

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Thanks for the replies. It's very helpful. A lot of different ways to go. I'm still leaning to a resale week as I can get one at a great resort for a couple/few thousand. At that price it isn't a big loss if we can use it as effectively as we want. At $35-45,000, I'd be a bit more displeased if it didn't work as we wanted.

EDIT to add: My wife is more in favor of points I think. She likes the idea of going somewhere different each time.
It's not a forever decision but you want to make the one that puts you the closest to where you think you need to be now and in the future. Buying a week (or two) resale puts you closest to where you want to be for the cheapest price based on your stated goals of Beach in Summer like HHI and Spring Break in the islands. It also gives you options such as enrolling later. Realize though that either with weeks that float in a season or points, you'll always have potential reservation issues so you need to be proactive.

Also, it's not either or. You can buy a week for your main trips and look at other options for flexibility including II exchanges, II Getaways, private rentals and other options such as buying 1000 points resale and renting points when needed. Regardless planning more than a year out and paying attention to the reservation windows are key components of any of the plans that seem to fit in. Otherwise you could just buy a trade and try for a number of options each time but that likely won't get you to a specific week in the islands Spring Break of HHI late June to July, at least not consistently.

Let us know how it goes.
 
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