Need advice on Marriott rewards points and resale (maybe)

[CATBinCO]

We own a timeshare at Grand Timber Lodge in Breckenridge, so at least I'm familiar with trades, lockoffs, etc. We traded part of our unit (it has a lockoff) to stay the Marriott Newport Coast Villas in Newport Beach, just got back after a week's stay. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. Of course, I knew it would be - I am a former L.A. girl, never traveled to the O.C. - what a nice change!

We did the NCV preview tour, found out about all the points, etc. Ultimately we did not buy because frankly, why buy if I can trade into it via Interval?

But the points program intrigues me. As does the Marriott Rewards Visa card, which I plan to get in the next few months, and begin charging my household expenses onto it, and then funneling cash from my checking account to pay it off every month (FOR POINTS!)

In about 9 years I'd like to take the entire family of 4 on an international trip, either Europe or Australia, as my daughter will be graduating from HS and I thought it would be a good trip as a present for all of us.

In the next few years I'd like to possibly purchase a resale from Marriott so I can trade the week for points - location doesn't really matter - as my ultimate goal is to take the 4 of us on a NICE international package reward tour. Even if we don't get 1st class tix, I don't mind flying coach. I would likely deposit the unit and trade for points at least a couple times.

I need advice from you seasoned TUGGERS about my plan and if this is a good way to go about getting that nice trip in about 9 years! Points junkies - please give me tips and tricks! I've read the FAQ's, and they were quite helpful. I think it's 600,000 pts for 2 first class tix and 14 nights hotel, so I'd need double that to bring along the 2 kids too, right? By then they will be 18 and 10 yrs old.

Amery

 

[Dave M]

I believe that's not a good plan, for several reasons.

First, there is really no such thing as purchasing a resale from Marriott. If you purchase from Marriott, you'll pay the same price as if you were buying a never-before-used timeshare (if there is such a thing) at the same resort. Thus, you won't save a dime. But you could likely buy almost any Marriott timeshare for about half of what Marriott asks by buying on the true resale market, even though you would not be eligible to trade for points.

Second, most experts (e.g., at FlyerTalk.com) recommend that you avoid hoarding mega numbers of points for many years because of the guaranteed devaluing of those points that are sure to happen. See the "Devaluation Example" in post #2 in this thread for the reasons why you can count on future devaluations.

Third, if you do go through with your plans and have enough points for that marvelous trip nine years from now, using those points may well be a challenge. See this current thread for some of the frustrations that come from trying to effectively use the Marriott Rewards points for frequent flyer miles to obtain first class airline tickets. It’s often just as difficult or more difficult to get economy class tickets. And there are other threads about difficulty in reserving at some of the top hotels, particularly in Europe during the summer. Where will all of that be in nine years and what will frequent flyer and frequent stay programs look like then? In this tough economy, forecasting nine years out is a fool's game!

Thus, if you want to own a Marriott, you'll join some very happy owners, including most of us who post on this forum. If you buy wisely on the resale market, you'll save a ton of money versus buying from Marriott. It can be right to buy from Marriott (as I have done three times), but I don't see your situation as being "right".

Lastly, if you really want to build Marriott Rewards points, you and your spouse together can buy 100,000 points per year (50,000 each) for $1,250. That’s not much more than the annual Newport Coast fees and the points-trading fee, which currently total almost $900. And you can accumulate those points without spending the big bucks to buy from Marriott!

 

[CATBinCO]

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming please. Those threads have good info in them. I'm wondering if I should just buy points and use the Rewards visa card instead. For the big trip in 9 years maybe we'll just try and trade our timeshare via Interval and hope for the best. I know some places are hard to trade into. Who knows, maybe we will buy Newport Coast resale at some point too. Our Breck TS is EOY, I wouldn't mind a Newport Coast one EOY too.

In case anyone is wondering, the preview tour we took last week:
Every year: $33K
EOY: $20K

And of course, the points were phenomenal, can't remember exactly.

 

[Dave M]

That $33K is for a Platinum week. You can buy a Platinum Newport week on the resale market today for about $16,000, probably somewhat less with patience. For example, there are a number listed on Redweek.com for $16,900-$17,000 and those are merely asking prices!

So the points value has to be at least equal to that $17,000 difference ($33K-$16K) to make buying from Marriott worthwhile. My guess is that you weren't offered more than 200,000 points as a purchase incentive. (Yes, the total might have been higher, but that total almost certainly included financing at a very high 13.99% and/or giving up the use of your week for the first year or two at a cost for maintenance fees and trading fee of roughly $900 per year.) But what's the value of a point? Since you can buy them (see my post above) for 1 1/4 cents each, it's pretty tough to value them any higher than that. At 1 1/4 cents each, those 200,000 points would be worth $2,500. Spending an extra $17,000 to get something that's worth $2,500 doesn't meet my smell test!

The result for an EOY week is about the same. With careful shopping and negotiation, you can probably buy one on the resale market for around $8,000. And any purchase incentive points Marriott would offer would be much fewer than 200,000.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against buying from Marriott. As I said, I have done it three times and I don't regret any of those purchases. But I believe the situation has to be right for a buyer to do it.

 

[CATBinCO]

You're right, above prices were for platinum season (June-December). I didn't even look at gold because we have little ones and prefer to do summer vacations (hubby is also a teacher).

As for the points incentive, if we bought the every year, platinum, it ended up being something like 600,000 points only after we did a bunch of stuff. The things you mention above sound familiar, plus needing to deposit a week in one of the coming years to get extra points, charging the purchase to the rewards Visa (which we don't even have yet) , etc etc.

I would consider EOY resale for NCV only because I have family in So Cal and all my close friends are in So Cal. I guess that's something to save up for! Although the $8000 price tag for EOY sounds appealing.

 

[Zac495]

Marriott airlines

You're right, above prices were for platinum season (June-December). I didn't even look at gold because we have little ones and prefer to do summer vacations (hubby is also a teacher).

As for the points incentive, if we bought the every year, platinum, it ended up being something like 600,000 points only after we did a bunch of stuff. The things you mention above sound familiar, plus needing to deposit a week in one of the coming years to get extra points, charging the purchase to the rewards Visa (which we don't even have yet) , etc etc.

I would consider EOY resale for NCV only because I have family in So Cal and all my close friends are in So Cal. I guess that's something to save up for! Although the $8000 price tag for EOY sounds appealing.

Buy resale. Buy points if you want points - the travel packages are wonderful IF you can get tickets.

I think Marriott should open an airline. 1/3 of the plane should be first class, 1/3 business, 1/3 coach. The tickets are available for points for Marriott owners who bought from Marriott for the first 6 months. After 6 months, they open up to anyone who wants to buy seats.

Then it would make sense to buy Marriott from the developer because you'd know you could get an airline seat.