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Marriott Premier Program - points

Omken

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I am a new to timeshares and need some advice.....please! We are interested in purchasing into Marriott's new point program, at the Premier level. There is a promo right now offering both a discount rate $9.84 per point as well as Marriott Reward Points.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of buying direct from Marriott or buying from an existing owner on the open market, other than of course price. I need to better understand what limitations we would have not buying directly from Marriott in regards to booking vacations, point transfers, etc.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

Stefa

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You cannot buy the points on the resale market at this time. This also means that, should you decide to sell, you will not be able to sell on the resale market. For that reason, I do not suggest buying into the points system.

There are a lot of folks who know much more about this than I do. You will get a lot of good information here.
 

Omken

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Thanks! Marriott claims that these can be sold on the open market but they have first right of refusal. Also, they claim that private sales limit the option to ever transfer Vacation points to Reward points to use at Marriott hotel properties.

Very confusing and little information available to confirm exactly how the program works on private sales.

Thanks for the reply!

Ken
 

Stefa

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Hopefully a mod will move this thread to the Marriott forum. You will get many more helpful responses there.

They can be sold, but the restrictions make them almost worthless so there isn't any market for resale points.

Marriott will also tell you that they will buy back points if/when you want to sell, but what they will do is put you on a waitlist and only buy back your points if they don't have any other inventory.
 

scrapngen

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Hopefully a mod will move this thread to the Marriott forum. You will get many more helpful responses there.

They can be sold, but the restrictions make them almost worthless so there isn't any market for resale points.

Marriott will also tell you that they will buy back points if/when you want to sell, but what they will do is put you on a waitlist and only buy back your points if they don't have any other inventory.

...and they have LOTS of inventory!!

You're better off buying a resale week - but you need to do more research in the Marriott forums before deciding what to do.

That's a lot of money to get to Premiere status in points..plus the Maintenance Fees will be very high... again, you'd be better off buying a few weeks at a place you want to stay - your MF's will be much lower, your initial cost will be much lower, and you'll still be able to trade for other properties and enjoy Marriott TS's.

do take the time to do more research - you'll be glad you did. The salemen are great at making things sound wonderful, but when reality sets in - you need to be sure you've got what you want.
 

pwrshift

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
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Marriott Manor Club - 3 weeks platinum, 2 weeks at Marriott Beachplace Towers, and 1 week at Marriott Canyon Villas
I always thought the biggest scam was Marriott selling timeshares direct for far more than what they would ever be worth if you wanted to sell them later. The bigger scam is Marriott selling DC points that are worth less than nothing in the resale market. If they are successful in this new scam there will be a lot of buyers with nothing to sell for nothing. Don't buy DC points. If you MUST have a TS buy off eBay at a place you'd be happy going all the time without trading...and that is probably a beach location to which you can drive.
 

m61376

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Marriott Aruba Surf Club 2 & 3BRs
Let me try by beginning to give you a very brief summary:
-you can buy a resale week and use that week to vacation, or trade that week via II for other properties. As of right now, Marriott will not allow resale weeks bought after June of 2010 into their DC points program
-you can buy points directly from Marriott at developer prices These points can be used to book weeks at any of the properties, subject to availability. Unlike owning a deeded week, you are not guaranteed a reservation at any specific property.
-As posted above, Marriott has the right to severely limit the reservation ability of any resale points, making them virtually worthless on the resale market. It is undetermined how they will actually treat resale points purchasers, but until that issue is resolved I wouldn't buy resale points. Furthermore, you have to realize and be able to accept that unless things change you won't be able to resell any points you buy should you need to.
-Resale weeks cannot be traded in for Marriott Reward points. HOWEVER, given the ever increasing maintenance fees, the value of trading in weeks for MR points has diminished over time, and imho does not justify paying thousands and thousands of dollars extra.

My personal recommendation- if there is a place or places that you'd like to go at least half the time, buy a resale week(s) and save yourself A LOT of money. Another option which I'd recommend considering before going out and just buying points is a more recent offer- jut this past week, Marriott started extending the offer that if you buy a resale week through Marriott (now offered at a discount, although still significantly higher than on the resale market) and then buy a certain number of points, Marriott will allow that resale week to join the DC program. Effectively, it would lower your per point cost and give you a deeded week to a location you might enjoy frequenting. Depending on what week you buy, it may significantly lower your maintenance fees as well rather than paying the $.41 per point per year in MF's.

If you give us more information on where you are looking to go and when you can travel, we might be able to give you more appropriate advice.

Good luck, and welcome to Tug! :hi:
 

kjd

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It is disturbing to see Marriott either unable or unwilling to address the resale of trust points issue. After over six months of uncertainty there is still not a definitive resale points program. New owners were promised an announcement shortly after the trust program was started.

If you think about it someone who purchased points cannot sell the points to another buyer without full participation in the new program. Why would anyone want to buy them with restrictions? Otherwise, resale points aren't worth much. From Marriott's perspective if an owner can't resell the points to someone they don't have to create any new inventory until there is a significant increase in the net number of owners. The old points end up as dead money.

In other words when an owner leaves, Marriott can resell their points to someone else because there is the capacity to do so. If a trust points owner can't sell the points to someone else it would seem their only way out is to default on the maintenance fees and/or the financing. If that happens then Marriott wins again.

Since points are in reality an idea rather than a physical asset they can be whatever Marriott says they are. They can be valued without the necessity of considering the costs of construction. Marriott can buy the points back either through ROFR or by directly buying them for little or nothing.

There doesn't have to be any new resort construction if people just walk away because no one will buy resale points. One would think that a lack of a definitive resale market would impact Marriott's sales to prospective customers. That's why the lack of Marriott creating an clear resale policy is puzzling.
 
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