Marriott points cost per today's sales presentation

[sfcolliejr]

We had an on-line meeting/sales presentation today, mostly for the owner's update. We own Vistana options, but the salesperson talked to us about buying Marriott points. We are executive level, so the discussion was how many points to get us to presidential level (we are less than 600 points from presidential level). Per the salesperson, the fewest points that the can sell is 3,000. To buy those, it would cost $53,580 or $17.86 per point. He also offered to sell us 6,000 points for around $93k. We did not opt to purchase. If we decide to purchase additional points in the future, it would be through the secondary market. The salesperson said that there will be many changes next year. He could not tell us what those changes would be at this time.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think my last offer was $14.17 per point? I am trying to remember. But I think they were selling us 4,000.

$15.50 for 6K? That sounds high.

Resale, $3-4 + $3 education fee PP sounds much better. Kinda.

 

[dioxide45]

We had an on-line meeting/sales presentation today, mostly for the owner's update. We own Vistana options, but the salesperson talked to us about buying Marriott points. We are executive level, so the discussion was how many points to get us to presidential level (we are less than 600 points from presidential level). Per the salesperson, the fewest points that the can sell is 3,000. To buy those, it would cost $53,580 or $17.86 per point. He also offered to sell us 6,000 points for around $93k. We did not opt to purchase. If we decide to purchase additional points in the future, it would be through the secondary market. The salesperson said that there will be many changes next year. He could not tell us what those changes would be at this time.

$17.86 is the full retail price. Purchasing 3,000 points should have got you a 20% discount. Not that the discount moves the needle on a full point purchase to make it worth buying.

 

[rthib]

If you want to get to presidential, you can easily buy 750 (or 1000) on resale market. After paying junk fee of $3000 the points are the same as those expensive points.
I tried for a long time to get Marriott to sell me just 1000 points so I could move up to executive. They never would and then I discovered resale points and got the 1000 I needed.

Junk fee is $3/point with a minimum of $3000 so same for 750 or 1000 points, reason most people buy minimum of 1000.

 

[davidvel]

If you want to get to presidential, you can easily buy 750 (or 1000) on resale market. After paying junk fee of $3000 the points are the same as those expensive points.
I tried for a long time to get Marriott to sell me just 1000 points so I could move up to executive. They never would and then I discovered resale points and got the 1000 I needed.

Junk fee is $3/point with a minimum of $3000 so same for 750 or 1000 points, reason most people buy minimum of 1000.

Exactly. Any posts about current retail price of Abound points are stupid. There is <0 reason to ever buy at retail price. It is like saying there is a program where you can pay 3X your local gas station gas price with no additional benefits. (Yes, there are lots of discounts and garbage side benefits, but they never make up for the additional cost.)

Frankly, there are very few usage scenarios where buying retail is worth it. Even resale points is an expensive way to timeshare.

 

[Hindsite]

Frankly, there are very few usage scenarios where buying resale is worth it.

Did you mean retail?

 

[vacationtime1]

Why do you want Executive level? What is in it for you; why is it worth spending thousands of dollars to have it? I think that one of the purposes of Marriott's status levels is to create targets for the sales staff to use. You haven't suggested why you need points or how you would use them.

Remember that 1000 - 2000 Abound points doesn't permit you to do much unless you also elect your Vistana units. But that many points will cost you $7K - $14K even if you buy resale and the MF's will be an additional $810 - $1,620/year. If you want more vacation time, couldn't you do better buying another Vistana mandatory unit or a Marriott trader such as Grand Chateau?

 

[davidvel]

Did you mean retail?

Yes, thanks.

 

[rthib]

Why do you want Executive level? What is in it for you; why is it worth spending thousands of dollars to have it? I think that one of the purposes of Marriott's status levels is to create targets for the sales staff to use. You haven't suggested why you need points or how you would use them.

If you use points, executive is the sweet spot with points because it allows you to book 1+ days at 13 months out. When I first started using points, I would book my week and then add a day or two on the end so I would get a full vacation of 8-10 days and cheaper air fare. Now I do lots of < 7 day trips. And Island Hopping in Hawaii.
Presidential is a little harder to justify, unless you really want Bonvoy Titanium and do lots of < 60 trips so you can take advantage of the 30% discount on trips.

 

[Jim Mc]

Purchase week(s) in Playa Andaluza. They are right to use (thirty years). They are 2450 in points and cost about $6 per point. Cheapest way to get points!

 

[Dean]

Purchase week(s) in Playa Andaluza. They are right to use (thirty years). They are 2450 in points and cost about $6 per point. Cheapest way to get points!

For Silver and Gold weeks and the fees aren't THAT bad on a per point basis. I think Spain in general is this way. I'ver seen as low as under $4 per point, this was for one Gold and one Silver. Platinum isn't any cheaper than anything else from what I've seen.

 

[rthib]

Purchase week(s) in Playa Andaluza. They are right to use (thirty years). They are 2450 in points and cost about $6 per point. Cheapest way to get points!

Do you have to buy in Spain or can any location sell. Also would they do a buy a week at Spain and bring in a resale week.
Thinking of Adding Spain to portfolio. I have one resale week not-enrolled along with 2 old pre-development weeks that are enrolled. Might be worth it get the other week enrolled for more options.

 

[Dean]

Do you have to buy in Spain or can any location sell. Also would they do a buy a week at Spain and bring in a resale week.
Thinking of Adding Spain to portfolio. I have one resale week not-enrolled along with 2 old pre-development weeks that are enrolled. Might be worth it get the other week enrolled for more options.

You have to buy from Spain but don't have to be physically present is what I'm told by 2 different sales people in Spain.

 

[rickandcindy23]

You have to buy from Spain but don't have to be physically present is what I'm told by 2 different sales people in Spain.

Why doesn't Marriott sell that vigorously? I would buy it.

 

[dioxide45]

Why doesn't Marriott sell that vigorously? I would buy it.

Because US sales offices can't sell it and why sell that when they can sell Trust Points that have a bigger margin.

 

[Dean]

Why doesn't Marriott sell that vigorously? I would buy it.

I can't speak for MVC. I'm not aware of any US resort that sell weeks. Aruba can sell Aruba and St. Kitts, not certain how that works in reverse. Internet sales cal sell Aruba & St. Kitts but I don't think they can sell Spain. I'm uncertain whether Internet sales can also sell Costa Rica but I suspect they can. As to the reasons, I suspect it's a combination of profit margin and regulations.

 

[Dean]

Why doesn't Marriott sell that vigorously? I would buy it.

Let me add. My personal experience looking at Spain put the price per points earlier this year in the $6-$7.50 PP range for Gold in Spain across multiple options and full price for Platinum. I did have the one offer that was under $4 PP that was one gold and one silver week. None were enough to get me to bite as my main goal was to enroll 2 weeks, one of which is exchange only and EOY and the other an annual exchange mostly but also reasonable for points and both L/O. I do have 2 additional weeks that are not enrolled but I use them yearly. Enrolling would have reduced my exchange fees, change fees, L/O fee and ultimately allowed me to close my personal II account after a couple of years. So $$$ wise it would have been a savings at most of maybe $600 a year on average. I could always use a few more points but none of the offers were enough to get me to jump.

 

[ljmiii]

Why doesn't Marriott sell that vigorously? I would buy it.

I'm not aware of any US resort that sell weeks….

I know @Dean knows this but to clarify for OP and others…

Many/most US MVCs sell enrolled weeks…in fact I was just offered a very nice OF week on HHI.

The problem is not only that they are quite expensive compared to their resale cost but that MVC makes you also purchase Abound Points equal to their enrollment value.

I would imagine that MVC would be more successful selling US enrolled weeks without that ‘hybrid’ purchase requirement…but they have not chosen to do so.

 

[sponger76]

I know @Dean knows this but to clarify for OP and others…

Many/most US MVCs sell enrolled weeks…in fact I was just offered a very nice OF week on HHI.

The problem is not only that they are quite expensive compared to their resale cost but that MVC makes you also purchase Abound Points equal to their enrollment value.

I would imagine that MVC would be more successful selling US enrolled weeks without that ‘hybrid’ purchase requirement…but they have not chosen to do so.

The reason they bundle those weeks with points is to enroll them, as technically the weeks they are selling are resales on behalf of the previous owners, not your traditional retail sale. As resale weeks, they aren't eligible to be enrolled without a qualifying retail points purchase. Yes, they are more expensive than resale weeks sold elsewhere, but typically still quite a bit cheaper than what they sold for retail back when US locations were still selling weeks before the points system was introduced. US locations aren't selling retail weeks owned by MVC and haven't for a long time.

 

[bazzap]

Do you have to buy in Spain or can any location sell. Also would they do a buy a week at Spain and bring in a resale week.
Thinking of Adding Spain to portfolio. I have one resale week not-enrolled along with 2 old pre-development weeks that are enrolled. Might be worth it get the other week enrolled for more options.

We recently bought a 1 Bed Marbella Beach Resort Gold week which included enrolment of a resale 3 Bed Club Son Antem week, which was a major factor in making it worth it for us.


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[iowaguy09]

The reason they bundle those weeks with points is to enroll them, as technically the weeks they are selling are resales on behalf of the previous owners, not your traditional retail sale. As resale weeks, they aren't eligible to be enrolled without a qualifying retail points purchase. Yes, they are more expensive than resale weeks sold elsewhere, but typically still quite a bit cheaper than what they sold for retail back when US locations were still selling weeks before the points system was introduced. US locations aren't selling retail weeks owned by MVC and haven't for a long time.

We had an offer like this at Custom House back in late June. It was two different weeks at Fairway (a lady from the Fairway office Zoom called in to make the offer). They were lower level weeks that had to be purchased with points also. I had mentioned to the salesperson if we ever did anything to purchase more it would be something resale, and that is what prompted their hybrid offers. There were two different prices offered and I don’t recall details, but they were in the $8-10 per point range, with one on the lower end and one on the upper end. We did not buy, but was interesting to see them offer this outright, and at that price level. Of course it would have included some of the usual other new purchase add on perks.

 

[sponger76]

We had an offer like this at Custom House back in late June. It was two different weeks at Fairway (a lady from the Fairway office Zoom called in to make the offer). They were lower level weeks that had to be purchased with points also. I had mentioned to the salesperson if we ever did anything to purchase more it would be something resale, and that is what prompted their hybrid offers. There were two different prices offered and I don’t recall details, but they were in the $8-10 per point range, with one on the lower end and one on the upper end. We did not buy, but was interesting to see them offer this outright, and at that price level. Of course it would have included some of the usual other new purchase add on perks.

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that MVC has a resale arm that acts as a broker for individual MVC owners looking to unload their deeds. They don't accept every single request to broker a resale, and there can be a waitlist for certain properties or seasons, etc.

The downside for the seller is that MVC takes a big cut of the proceeds. Also, because they are priced higher than resales found through other venues, it can be harder to get them sold. The upside is that because MVC prices them so high, even after the MVC cut the seller usually nets more than they would selling elsewhere.

Downside for the buyer is that they are paying more for the week than they would elsewhere. But the upside is that it is one single process to buy the hybrid bundle and get an enrolled week, as opposed to buying resale elsewhere, then waiting for MVC to open up the amnesty period to buy points in yet another transaction in order to enroll that resale. Of course this only makes sense to me if you actually really want to have that resale week enrolled AND it's hard to find that particular week on the resale market for a lot cheaper than MVC resales is offering it.

 

[sfcolliejr]

Why do you want Executive level? What is in it for you; why is it worth spending thousands of dollars to have it? I think that one of the purposes of Marriott's status levels is to create targets for the sales staff to use. You haven't suggested why you need points or how you would use them.

Remember that 1000 - 2000 Abound points doesn't permit you to do much unless you also elect your Vistana units. But that many points will cost you $7K - $14K even if you buy resale and the MF's will be an additional $810 - $1,620/year. If you want more vacation time, couldn't you do better buying another Vistana mandatory unit or a Marriott trader such as Grand Chateau?

Not so much that we "wanted it," more the recognition that we are less than 1,000 points away. Also, 13 month out booking, 1+ days are nice perks but we are not going to buy more. Yes, we could buy more Vistana and they pitched that option also.

 

[Lydlady]

We went to a presentation today and I’m trying to talk my husband out of going for it. Although it was a little tempting when they offered a bonus 6,000 destination club points (one-time use) if we buy 2,000.

 

[Pamplemousse]

We went to a presentation today and I’m trying to talk my husband out of going for it. Although it was a little tempting when they offered a bonus 6,000 destination club points (one-time use) if we buy 2,000.

You can buy 2000 points resale (redweek or such) for $14,000 or less ( generally $3-$4/ point passes ROFR plus then pay MVC $3/ point activation fee) which includes the activation fee that makes them the same as direct purchase, counts for benefits level, etc.

How much were they asking?