Marriott Vacation Club - BIG SCAM !!

[Fasttr]

If i understand this correctly

Lets assume I booked a vacation for Dec 15th 2025 with 3500 points , and for some reason have to change plan and need to cancel this booking . What will happen here is I don't completely loose my 3500 points, but those points would be added back to my account after 60 days of cancellations . Is my understanding correct ?

The 60 day limit relates to days before check in. If you cancel 60 days or closer to check in, those points go into a Holding Account.

 

[claraj]

but those points would be added back to my account after 60 days of cancellations

Not exactly correct. You get your points back immediately but they are kept in a separate account and you will only be able to book a stay where the check in date is within the next 60 days.

For example, you cancel your trip on October 31, which is within 60 days of your December 15 trip. You can use your 3500 immediately for a trip where the check-in date is within the next 60 days, or before December 30, 2025 and before your points expire.

 

[akimp23]

Not exactly correct. You get your points back immediately but they are kept in a separate account and you will only be able to book a stay where the check in date is within the next 60 days.

For example, you cancel your trip on October 31, which is within 60 days of your December 15 trip. You can use your 3500 immediately for a trip where the check-in date is within the next 60 days, or before December 30, 2025 and before your points expire.

Not sure I understood, but seems like you loose your points , and can't be rolled to next year.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Not sure I understood, but seems like you loose your points , and can't be rolled to next year.

2025 points can’t be rolled into the next year after the deadline which is based on your ownership level-I’m owner level so it’s June.

So the trick is if you are booking a trip late in 2025 bank the 2025 points and then book your late 2025 trip with 2026 points- that way if you cancel more than 60 days from check in the points go back to 2026 unrestricted and if you cancel less than 60 days from check in the points still go back to 2026 but in a holding account that restricts you to booking them 60 days or less from travel.
There are a few other uses for the points too if you are in danger of losing them.

Leaned that trick right here after I had an unfortunate experience few years ago with a hurricane.
Lots of tips to be had on tug!

 

[dioxide45]

Correct 2025 points can’t be rolled into the next year after the deadline which is based on your ownership level(I’m owner level,so it’s June).

So the trick is if you are booking a trip late in 2025 book it with 2026 points- that way if you cancel more than 60 days from check in the points go back to 2026 unrestricted and if you cancel less than 60 days from check in the points still go back to 2026 but in a holding account that restricts you to booking them 60 days or less from travel.

Leaned that trick right here after I had an unfortunate experience few years ago with a hurricane.
Lots of tips to be had on tug!

Best to always travel on borrowed time (points)...

 

[akimp23]

Do not call a lawyer. I cannot believe any TUG member would post lawyers' phone numbers. That's not good advice.

Use what you bought. You liked what the salesperson said about the product, and unless there was a misrepresentation that made you sign on the dotted line, you really have no reason to feel scammed. You must have felt at the time that you could afford what you bought.

You can always buy more points later via resale and game the system a bit. I chose to buy resale Marriott weeks over 16 years ago for the first ones. I am happy with that decision. Most anything I want or need is available to me via exchange, plus we love the locations we bought, and they were extremely cheap to buy. Any time you can buy a deeded 2 bedroom Marriott Platinum week for $2-4K, with fees of around $2,000 per week that locks off into two deposits into II, those are some pretty cheap vacations. $164 exchange fees in II, Marriott-Marriott.

One thing I know about timeshare is that it's constantly changing. Some day in the future, perhaps Marriott will allow me to enroll my Shadow Ridge weeks into Abound for a few hundred bucks, but would I want to do that? I don't know. The weeks are worth 4,000 points each (I think I remember correctly) and it requires a big purchase to enroll the weeks (we own 3). I wouldn't enroll Willow Ridge because those would not be worth many points. The fees are very high on those. Shadow Ridge MF's are about the same as what you bought.

Where can you buy/sell these deeds, can you share some trusted website . Also if you purchase one deed from Marriott and second deed from open market , can both deed's points work in tandem , I mean if i am short of points can I able to transfer from one account to another . When you say game the same , i am not very clear . what i understand is you bought from resale market to being with .. but what exactly you mean by -"with fees of around $2,000 per week that locks off into two deposits into II, those are some pretty cheap vacations. $164 exchange fees in II, Marriott-Marriott"

 

[Pamplemousse]

Where can you buy/sell these deeds, can you share some trusted website . Also if you purchase one deed from Marriott and second deed from open market , can both deed's points work in tandem , I mean if i am short of points can I able to transfer from one account to another . When you say game the same , i am not very clear . what i understand is you bought from resale market to being with .. but what exactly you mean by -"with fees of around $2,000 per week that locks off into two deposits into II, those are some pretty cheap vacations. $164 exchange fees in II, Marriott-Marriott"

All points no matter where you purchase them (or rent them) go into the same account.

Your resale purchase must pass MVC ROFR and you also must pay MVC $3 per point to activate them.
Currently this can be accomplished for about $7/point.
After you pay that the resale points are that same as your direct purchase.

The other bit refers to purchasing resale weeks.
Resale weeks can NOT be elected/ converted to points.
You need to exchange those on interval or stay your ownership.
You need a personal II membership and need to pay an exchange fee for each exchange, the resale weeks can’t go into the II account that comes with your abound dues.
If you buy a 2 br lock off and split it into a 1br and studio you can get 2 exchanges and so 2 week long vacations for one maintenance fee- plus the II fees. II offers larger units when available for $99 per step so for $300 you could get both weeks in 2Br.
You can find weeks to buy on redweek, eBay, here on tug- they also must pass MVC ROFR.

 

[ljmiii]

Not sure I understood, but seems like you loose your points , and can't be rolled to next year.

At this point you’re definitely into the advanced degree, but experienced owners don’t have this problem. Banked points are for reservations that you’re 100% sure you will use, current year points depend on when in the year the reservation falls, and speculative reservations should be made with borrowed points.

Thankfully, if you’re at least 61 days away from check in you can call MVC and the customer service representative can help you more points around to maximize your useage.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Its been over a month now since I made a purchase of Marriott Vacation Owner tier . It didn't took much time to figure out that these points are worthless and I got scammed .
Is there any legal way to come out of it ? Please let me know , also does the timeshare exit companies are of any help . I found one over the internet LinxLegal INC , company which claims to have helped many . but not sure even if this is legit .

I am delighted to read that you are asking a lot of questions (18 so far as of Saturday night 3/29/25). Unfortunately every one of the questions you have asked should likely have been asked prior to purchasing but it is what it is. At least you are now examining how you can best utilize your ownership.

I would be surprised if any insurance policy would cover poor judgment but I hope that works for you (and dealing with a Lawyer will simply drain your assets). Assuming you are over 21 and of sound mind then I would think you are now an owner (like it or not).

As I am sure you now realize, buying points from the developer is the most expensive way to go. These same points you purchased for at least $15 per point can be easily purchased on the resale market for $3 per point plus activation fees (which would have saved you some big bucks overall). However, the best bang for the buck are resale weeks which generally have lower overall operating costs (i.e. maintenance fees) if you can live with weekly usage (instead of nightly use).

Keep asking your questions and best of luck with your Marriott ownership use. Plan ahead and enjoy.











.

 

[JIMinNC]

I see you have lined up your vacations for 2 years . is this confirmed bookings . What if you have plans change ? my understanding is cancellation window is 60 days is that correct

Everything listed in my signature is a confirmed booking, except for the Big Island in early 2026 (that’s why it is still notated as TBD). We will be using our Hilton ownership for that and they have a 9 month club booking window, so we can’t make that reservation until late April/early May. Maui Ocean Club is a confirmed MVC booking made 12 months out back in late January.

The other three trips are Azamara cruises booked with cash, but we also book those way out. Our upcoming June 2025 cruise was booked back in the late fall of 2023 if I recall correctly, and the two 2026 cruises were booked in September 2024 when we were onboard a Greek Isles cruise on Azamara. We book those really early because the Azamara ships only have four cabins in our preferred category, and those can book fast due to the limited number.

Cancellation in MVC is easy. As others have said, we can cancel outside of 60 days and get our points 100% refunded. If we ever had to cancel we can still bank the points easily to the following year as long as we make the call by August 31. The cruises are more restrictive, as those have cancellation forfeitures that start inside 120 days before sailing, and get larger as sail date approaches.

Having said that, the only MVC reservations I can ever recall having to cancel were in early 2021 due to Covid travel restrictions to Hawaii. Those were deeded week reservations, so we just cancelled our January 2021 booking in October 2020 and immediately rebooked the weeks for October 2021. We generally don’t book unless we know we want to go. The only thing that would generally necessitate cancellation would generally be illness or some other emergency.

 

[pedro47]

Everything listed in my signature is a confirmed booking, except for the Big Island in early 2026 (that’s why it is still notated as TBD). We will be using our Hilton ownership for that and they have a 9 month club booking window, so we can’t make that reservation until late April/early May. Maui Ocean Club is a confirmed MVC booking made 12 months out back in late January.

The other three trips are Azamara cruises booked with cash, but we also book those way out. Our upcoming June 2025 cruise was booked back in the late fall of 2023 if I recall correctly, and the two 2026 cruises were booked in September 2024 when we were onboard a Greek Isles cruise on Azamara. We book those really early because the Azamara ships only have four cabins in our preferred category, and those can book fast due to the limited number.

Cancellation in MVC is easy. As others have said, we can cancel outside of 60 days and get our points 100% refunded. If we ever had to cancel we can still bank the points easily to the following year as long as we make the call by August 31. The cruises are more restrictive, as those have cancellation forfeitures that start inside 120 days before sailing, and get larger as sail date approaches.

Having said that, the only MVC reservations I can ever recall having to cancel were in early 2021 due to Covid travel restrictions to Hawaii. Those were deeded week reservations, so we just cancelled our January 2021 booking in October 2020 and immediately rebooked the weeks for October 2021. We generally don’t book unless we know we want to go. The only thing that would generally necessitate cancellation would generally be illness or some other emergency.

To this OP, I see you have book an Azamara cruise. Have you heard or read anything about Explora Journey 1 or 2 all suites cabins by MSC.?

We are seriously looking at this new cruise in the future.

 

[dougp26364]

Opps

 

[dougp26364]

If i understand this correctly

Lets assume I booked a vacation for Dec 15th 2025 with 3500 points , and for some reason have to change plan and need to cancel this booking . What will happen here is I don't completely loose my 3500 points, but those points would be added back to my account after 60 days of cancellations . Is my understanding correct ?

Points from a cancellation go back into your account instantly. If the cancellation is >60 days before check in, it goes back into the usage year from which them came. If you cancel <60 days prior to check in, they go into a holding account that can only be used for short notice reservations.

Where can you buy/sell these deeds, can you share some trusted website . Also if you purchase one deed from Marriott and second deed from open market , can both deed's points work in tandem , I mean if i am short of points can I able to transfer from one account to another . When you say game the same , i am not very clear . what i understand is you bought from resale market to being with .. but what exactly you mean by -"with fees of around $2,000 per week that locks off into two deposits into II, those are some pretty cheap vacations. $164 exchange fees in II, Marriott-Marriott"

Points are points. We have 4 deeds which can be converted to points and three trust points accounts. When I go to reserve a week, all accounts come up and the system will automatically default to the points expiring first. If I don’t want to use those points, I can change where the points are pulled from and select the “point bucket” I want the points pulled from. Because we often have a mixture of “saved” points and current points, the system default doesn’t usually work for us. It takes a little while but you’ll get the hang of how to save/borrow points to maximize your value for your usage needs.

Be aware that there is a difference between “deeded’ weeks and trust points. If you purchase a resale “deeded” week, you won’t be able to convert it to trust points. Since you’ve started with trust points I’d recommend only buying trust points to keep it simple. At least until you have a firm grasp on what you own. If I were you, I’d wait until I get the hang of how to use what you have before plunging into the deep end. 4,000 points is a very good start and enough points to accomplish most goals. Remember, you can save/borrow points as needed to get the dream vacation you wish.

As an example, let’s say you want to book a vacation that will cost 5,000 points for 2026 and you have 4,000 points for 2025 plus 4,000 points for 2026. You only need to “save” 1000 of your 2025 points into 2026, then you’ll have 4,000 points for 2026 + 1,000 saved 2025 points or the 5,000 points needed for the vacation your planning. You’ll also have 3,000 points to save for 2025.

Now this is a simplified version. There are cut off dates for “saving” points. After that date passes you are now longer allowed to save points. Then it becomes a use it or lose it situation. For that reason I keep a calendar marked to remind me to save any unused points 30 days prior to the cut off date. Saved points can’t be “borrowed back”, so that complicates things a little.

There is a TON of information on this site. I’d suggest going through a bunch of the old threads. On YouTube Destination Timeshare and Timeshare Traveler have some tutorial videos for a fee. You might find these to be of value to you. Destination Timeshare has a tutorial class specifically for MVC owners.

 

[JIMinNC]

To this OP, I see you have book an Azamara cruise. Have you heard or read anything about Explora Journey 1 or 2 all suites cabins by MSC.?

We are seriously looking at this new cruise in the future.

We know nothing about MSC. We have only cruised with Azamara. We prefer their smaller 700-800 passenger ships. My impression is MSC are all pretty big ships.

 

[pedro47]

EJ 1 and 2 are all suite Cabins with a maximum passengers size of 996 passengers. There are no inside cabins.

EJ 1&2 are in the same class as Azamara Cruise Lines.

When you have a chance, please checkout Explora’s Journey YouTube videos and EJ Journey Website.

It may surprise you, as it surprised my spouse and me.

 

[JIMinNC]

EJ 1 and 2 are all suite Cabins with a maximum passengers size of 996 passengers. There are no inside cabins.

EJ 1&2 are in the same class as Azamara Cruise Lines.

When you have a chance, please checkout Explora’s Journey YouTube videos and EJ Journey Website.

It may surprise you, as it surprised my spouse and me.

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know MSC had ships in that size class.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@akimp23 Sorry to hear about your situation. You have been given a number of options. Here are several more ideas that might prevent foreclosure and a ding on your credit or reduce your financial pain. I will defer to the gurus here on whether these are allowed by MVC:

1) Rent out all or some of your points to pay for the maintenance fees. Not sure if this will pay down your debt because points rentals tend to go for the cost of MF, but will free up money you can spend to speed up your loan payments until you pay off the loan and can sell.

2) Find a week at a popular resort during high season for a profit and rent that out to pay for Maintenance and Mortgage every year. Once it is paid off you can sell your points and get out.

3) Pay off the loan for $45,000 now using another debt instrument. Then sell your points to a resale buyer. I believe the going rate is $2.50 to $3 so you could net up to $12,000 to go against the $50k leaving you with $38000 in debt but no future maintenance fee obligations and no credit ding. Not a great option but it gets you out of this.

 

[Pamplemousse]

@akimp23 Sorry to hear about your situation. You have been given a number of options. Here are several more ideas that might prevent foreclosure and a ding on your credit or reduce your financial pain. I will defer to the gurus here on whether these are allowed by MVC:

1) Rent out all or some of your points to pay for the maintenance fees. Not sure if this will pay down your debt because points rentals tend to go for the cost of MF, but will free up money you can spend to speed up your loan payments until you pay off the loan and can sell.

2) Find a week at a popular resort during high season for a profit and rent that out to pay for Maintenance and Mortgage every year. Once it is paid off you can sell your points and get out.

3) Pay off the loan for $45,000 now using another debt instrument. Then sell your points to a resale buyer. I believe the going rate is $2.50 to $3 so you could net up to $12,000 to go against the $50k leaving you with $38000 in debt but no future maintenance fee obligations and no credit ding. Not a great option but it gets you out of this.

But bear in mind that there are 300 plus listings on redweek alone of people trying to sell their points- not a quick easy solution.

Thanks to Dioxide who pointed out the market glut to me in another thread.
I often see the suggestion to sell points but apparently it’s not that simple.
Many of the listings on redweek advertise for less than $3/point.
There is a recent sale of 3000 points for $1000- seems likely that didn’t pass ROFR and so MVC paid the seller 33 cents per point.

 

[akimp23]

@akimp23 Sorry to hear about your situation. You have been given a number of options. Here are several more ideas that might prevent foreclosure and a ding on your credit or reduce your financial pain. I will defer to the gurus here on whether these are allowed by MVC:

1) Rent out all or some of your points to pay for the maintenance fees. Not sure if this will pay down your debt because points rentals tend to go for the cost of MF, but will free up money you can spend to speed up your loan payments until you pay off the loan and can sell.

2) Find a week at a popular resort during high season for a profit and rent that out to pay for Maintenance and Mortgage every year. Once it is paid off you can sell your points and get out.

3) Pay off the loan for $45,000 now using another debt instrument. Then sell your points to a resale buyer. I believe the going rate is $2.50 to $3 so you could net up to $12,000 to go against the $50k leaving you with $38000 in debt but no future maintenance fee obligations and no credit ding. Not a great option but it gets you out of this.

This is the closest suggestion that I was thinking to do , only thing I am not sure how to safely rent my points and where do i do that . If i get some inputs on that .. i would pursue this path .. considering Florida is always busy , atleast 8 months of the year , so i could rent more often with so many resorts choices there.

 

[Fasttr]

This is the closest suggestion that I was thinking to do , only thing I am not sure how to safely rent my points and where do i do that . If i get some inputs on that .. i would pursue this path .. considering Florida is always busy , atleast 8 months of the year , so i could rent more often with so many resorts choices there.

Rent points directly…www.vacationpointexchange.com

Renting weeks reserved with points…
www.redweek.com