It would be good to compare. HGVC does nickel and dime, however my impression is that the MVC fees are not nickels and dimes; an MVC day skimmed off of an annual MF is hundreds of dollars ($343 if your MF is $2400 vs. $89 HGVC reservation fee. HGVC $109 to save your points to next year but borrowing points and housekeeping is free. $120 for all you can eat reservations and changes for NYC owners.
Does MVC charge any other fees to enroll your points? Is it thousands to enroll? I thought there was also a MF associated with it? Perhaps I am confusing this with the DC points system.
Destination Club Trust Points can be purchased direct from MVW or via external-resale, in which case there are added fees that TUGgers call "junk fees" which must be paid to get the same benefits that direct DC Points get. After paying the purchase price and any associated fees, you annually pay MF's based on the Trust's Operating Budget as well as a Club Dues fee (sliding scale based on ownership status, which is based on how many Points you own) that covers administration fees. There is no "skim" associated with using DC Trust Points; the Points Chart indicates how many Points are required for specific reservations based on the resort, the size and view of the desired unit, and the days and dates of the desired reservation. If a desired interval is available and you have the required amount of Points it can be booked within the designated Reservation Windows, which vary according to ownership status and number of days of the desired reservation.
The overwhelming majority of MVW Weeks have been priced and sold based on the individual resorts' seasonal calendars and varying unit sizes. Some Weeks are fixed week/unit, some fixed week but not unit, but the overwhelming majority are floating. Some are dedicated unit size, some are lock-outs. If you own deeded Weeks with MVW - whether direct-purchase or external resale - you pay annual MF's based on the individual resorts' Operating Budgets and the owned unit size. (Only the Florida and California resorts differentiate the MF's property tax component according to the season or purchase price of owned Weeks.)
Any US/Caribbean Weeks purchased prior to 2010 are eligible for enrollment in the Destination Club for a fee. They've run periodic specials where if you purchase DC Trust Points, or sit through a sales presentation, or sit through a webinar, etc, the enrollment fee may be waived. (Since the DC inception in 2010 they have increased the basic enrollment fee so there's no reason to think they can't change it at any time.) MVW has its own internal Resales Operations unit and any Weeks purchased through them are eligible for enrollment if a specified number of DC Trust Points is purchased within one year of the Week purchase. The Euro and Asia-Pacific Weeks have been integrated in the DC in varying fashion; owners of those particular Weeks can speak to that much better than I can.
Enrollment of an eligible Week is NOT a surrender of that ownership to MVW; it's simply an overlay on the existing deeded ownership/benefits/usage that remains with the owner. Enrollment doesn't affect the Weeks annual MF's - owners of same enrolled and unenrolled Weeks pay the same MF's - except that owners of enrolled Weeks must in addition pay the same Club Dues fee assessed to DC Trust Members. In the case of enrolled Weeks this fee covers many, but not all, of the administration costs for traditional Weeks usage via both MVW and II.
Each of the hundreds of various resort/unit size and view/season eligible Weeks is allotted a specified number of DC Exchange Points upon enrollment, which an owner can then elect each year to use those Points in the Destination Club Exchange Company according to the Points Chart referenced above (rather than the traditional usage of the Week.) "Skim" comes into play here because for the overwhelming majority of Weeks, but with some notable exceptions, more DC Points than those allotted are required to book the same type of interval as the enrolled Week. I share the opinion of many other TUGgers that this is practically inconsequential because an enrolled Week can still be booked as owned simply by the owner not electing to exchange it for DC Points in any year, and I don't begrudge MVW the opportunity to recoup some value from intervals which will go unused due to the inevitable breakage caused by DC Points reservations. Others disagree, and I wouldn't presume to say that they're wrong - we just think differently.
That's the basics. (Whew!) Anybody who wants to delve into more detail about the Destination Club should take a look at the
sticky FAQ, which was compiled with the help of many, many Marriott owners who've taken painstaking review of the governing docs and shared their experiences while using the DC since its introduction.
