New to the MVC DESTINATIONS Points Program

[Lydlady]

I know there's an annual fee of $200+ (sorry, can't remember the exact amount). I do a lot of trading through II. Do I still need to pay upgrade fees and also for ePlus exchanges?

 

[Quadmaniac]

If your weeks are enrolled in the DP program, they would be part of your DP II corporate account and you would not be paying for exchanges of those weeks. When did you buy your weeks and how did you enroll ?

 

[Dean]

I know there's an annual fee of $200+ (sorry, can't remember the exact amount). I do a lot of trading through II. Do I still need to pay upgrade fees and also for ePlus exchanges?

MVC to MVC exchanges and eplus are free int the corporate account and you II membership is included. You'd still pay upgrade fees and eplus/exchange fees to non MVC resorts. You also get free change cancelations for MVC (not II) and free lockoff fees. If you have non enrolled or non MVC units you'd still need to have a separate personal II account and all charges are applicable there even to other MVC resorts.

 

[Steve Fatula]

If the weeks are enrolled, then, you will get free retrades to MVCI resorts. So, as long as you intend to retrade into Marriott, you will not need to buy Eplus. You can take the corporate II account and add II Gold or Platinum also to lower those upgrade fees and other such things.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Eplus is not free on corporate accounts- it just might not be needed.
You don’t pay an exchange fee for Marriott to Marriott exchanges so there is no reason to buy eplus in those cases since you can cancel and rebook for no cost.
You still pay an exchange fee to trade to non Marriotts and in those cases you might want to buy the eplus.
You can also buy eplus no matter what brand you are exchanging to if you want to use it to extend your expiration date.
You still pay upsize fees and for guest certificates and basic prices for getaways. You can upgrade your account to gold or platinum to lower those fees and gain access to short stays and hotel exchange.

 

[Lydlady]

If your weeks are enrolled in the DP program, they would be part of your DP II corporate account and you would not be paying for exchanges of those weeks. When did you buy your weeks and how did you enroll ?

I bought my week in 2001 and just enrolled last week during a timeshare “presentation.”

 

[Lydlady]

Thank you all for the replies. It’s starting to make more sense now.

 

[davidvel]

I bought my week in 2001 and just enrolled last week during a timeshare “presentation.”

I'm hoping you enrolled for free, or can still rescind.

 

[Lydlady]

I'm hoping you enrolled for free, or can still rescind.

Yes I did.

 

[davidvel]

Yes I did.

Great. As others noted your week will now have it's own Marriott corporate account. Trading is the same, but no charge for annual II dues (you pay DC club annual fee), lock off, or trades to Marriott (including unlimited free retrades.)

You still pay for the upsize fee, and trading to non Marriott.

 

[CPNY]

I bought my week in 2001 and just enrolled last week during a timeshare “presentation.”

So you went 10 years without enrolling? Did you not know about it?

 

[Pamplemousse]

So you went 10 years without enrolling? Did you not know about it?

I can’t answer for lydlady of course but my experience was similar. In my opinion Marriott did a poor job of explaining the benefits of enrolling beyond touting the option to convert to points and I knew exchanging my lock off was a better value and working well for me.
It wasn’t until I read a thread on II community and understood the fee savings and then soon after was offered free enrollment that I enrolled.

 

[CPNY]

I can’t answer for lydlady of course but my experience was similar. In my opinion Marriott did a poor job of explaining the benefits of enrolling beyond touting the option to convert to points and I knew exchanging my lock off was a better value and working well for me.
It wasn’t until I read a thread on II community and understood the fee savings and then soon after was offered free enrollment that I enrolled.

Figures they didn’t explain it that well. Keep it vague was probably in their best interest lol. With an enrolled week you get the benefit of all three worlds right? Points if you want, your assigned week at home resort, or exchange one or both in interval? Can you deposit half and convert the other half to points? It’s all very similar to the vistana star options ownerships except the ability to book any resort at 13-12 months instead of 8.

 

[Lydlady]

So you went 10 years without enrolling? Did you not know about it?

Like Pamplemousse said, exchanging my lock-off and trading my weeks was working well for me, so I really hadn’t considered it. And we avoided the “presentations“ for the longest time. But glad that now we have the flexibility of shorter stays and reduced Interval fees.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Figures they didn’t explain it that well. Keep it vague was probably in their best interest lol. With an enrolled week you get the benefit of all three worlds right? Points if you want, your assigned week at home resort, or exchange one or both in interval? Can you deposit half and convert the other half to points? It’s all very similar to the vistana star options ownerships except the ability to book any resort at 13-12 months instead of 8.

You could say you get the benefit of all 3 worlds- stay your ownership, deposit into II or elect points.
But I knew about the skim- electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week- so I certainly wasn’t going to get the 2 weeks stay (often both in 2Br) that I was getting exchanging my lock off on II.

I don’t believe you can lock off before electing points and deposit half in II. Hopefully someone else can confirm. I know you can lock off and stay your ownership with half and deposit the other half into II.

When I was first approached about enrolling it was going to cost something like $700 to enroll and again all they could talk about was points- they are so wonderful I’ll never have to use interval again. That didn’t work for me.

 

[CPNY]

You could say you get the benefit of all 3 worlds- stay your ownership, deposit into II or elect points.
But I knew about the skim- electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week- so I certainly wasn’t going to get the 2 weeks stay (often both in 2Br) that I was getting exchanging my lock off on II.

I don’t believe you can lock off before electing points and deposit half in II. Hopefully someone else can confirm. I know you can lock off and stay your ownership with half and deposit the other half into II.

Good to know. I’d like to see how the new common currency program to be announced this year changes things on both sides. It will be extremely interesting. So many variables that come into play.

 

[Fasttr]

I don’t believe you can lock off before electing points and deposit half in II. Hopefully someone else can confirm. I know you can lock off and stay your ownership with half and deposit the other half into II.

Correct. Electing for DC points in any given year is a full unit decision. Can’t lockoff and only elect part of a unit for points.

 

[JIMinNC]

But I knew about the skim- electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week- so I certainly wasn’t going to get the 2 weeks stay (often both in 2Br) that I was getting exchanging my lock off on II.

Whenever this point is made - "electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week" - I scratch my head. Why does that even matter?

If you want to stay in your owned week, then stay in your owned week. Don't elect for points. You only elect for points if you want to go somewhere else. In that scenario, I look at the "skim" as simply MVC's "price" for offering me the added flexibility of booking a reservation in other places, being able to book that reservation for less than or more than a 7-day increment, and to do so without the hassle of the deposit/search/wait II game. As I've said on TUG many times, I don't really understand the angst that the "skim" causes.

My one enrolled week has about a 6% skim and the two unenrolled Hawaii weeks I have would have between 0% and 13% skim if they were enrolled, based on whether the points needed to book are the lower Hawaii season or higher season. But that never impacts me unless I elect for points, in which case the 6% skim on my one enrolled week represents about an $84 haircut based on my maintenance fee for that week. The Hawaii weeks would have a haircut of between $0 and $300, if they were enrolled, based on those maintenance fees. I don't do II exchanges, but what do they cost? Isn't it $200+ or so for an exchange? So, I look at the skim as my exchange fee.

 

[csalter2]

Whenever this point is made - "electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week" - I scratch my head. Why does that even matter?

If you want to stay in your owned week, then stay in your owned week. Don't elect for points. You only elect for points if you want to go somewhere else. In that scenario, I look at the "skim" as simply MVC's "price" for offering me the added flexibility of booking a reservation in other places, being able to book that reservation for less than or more than a 7-day increment, and to do so without the hassle of the deposit/search/wait II game. As I've said on TUG many times, I don't really understand the angst that the "skim" causes.

My one enrolled week has about a 6% skim and the two unenrolled Hawaii weeks I have would have between 0% and 13% skim if they were enrolled, based on whether the points needed to book are the lower Hawaii season or higher season. But that never impacts me unless I elect for points, in which case the 6% skim on my one enrolled week represents about an $84 haircut based on my maintenance fee for that week. The Hawaii weeks would have a haircut of between $0 and $300, if they were enrolled, based on those maintenance fees. I don't do II exchanges, but what do they cost? Isn't it $200+ or so for an exchange? So, I look at the skim as my exchange fee.

I never understand why it’s a big deal either and immediately was about to slam. However, I believe the thought here was the fact that he could lock off and get two full weeks in potentially 2 bedrooms for his studio and 1 bedroom. That is a good deal if it’s where you want to go and when you want to go.

 

[JIMinNC]

I never understand why it’s a big deal either and immediately was about to slam. However, I believe the thought here was the fact that he could lock off and get two full weeks in potentially 2 bedrooms for his studio and 1 bedroom. That is a good deal if it’s where you want to go and when you want to go.

True, but the skim doesn't impact him at all in that scenario either. Furthermore, to get those two weeks from the 1BR/studio he has to go through II, potentially pay II fees to do that, and deal with the waiting and uncertainty of the II process. My point was simply that for those of us who dislike the II process/game, the skim seems to be a reasonable price to pay for what is, for us, a much better, more modern booking process.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Whenever this point is made - "electing points doesn’t even give you enough to stay back in your owned week" - I scratch my head. Why does that even matter?

If you want to stay in your owned week, then stay in your owned week. Don't elect for points. You only elect for points if you want to go somewhere else. In that scenario, I look at the "skim" as simply MVC's "price" for offering me the added flexibility of booking a reservation in other places, being able to book that reservation for less than or more than a 7-day increment, and to do so without the hassle of the deposit/search/wait II game. As I've said on TUG many times, I don't really understand the angst that the "skim" causes.

My one enrolled week has about a 6% skim and the two unenrolled Hawaii weeks I have would have between 0% and 13% skim if they were enrolled, based on whether the points needed to book are the lower Hawaii season or higher season. But that never impacts me unless I elect for points, in which case the 6% skim on my one enrolled week represents about an $84 haircut based on my maintenance fee for that week. The Hawaii weeks would have a haircut of between $0 and $300, if they were enrolled, based on those maintenance fees. I don't do II exchanges, but what do they cost? Isn't it $200+ or so for an exchange? So, I look at the skim as my exchange fee.

CSalter had it right when he suggested the point I was making when I mentioned the skim was that I could exchange my gold season Orlando Marriott lock off for 2 weeks, often both in a 2Br by trading on II.
MVC was trying to convince me to give them $700 for the honor of electing points that wouldn‘t allow me to book even one week similar to my own - of course I wouldn’t elect points to stay in my home resort, I don’t even stay my ownership week- I lock off and exchange on II even back to my home resort.
This was not a good marketing technique for me. And that’s why I didn’t enroll for years.
Once the enrollment fee was removed and the II fee savings were explained (and not by an MVC salesperson) I did enroll and yes I even have elected points when that fits my needs. I agree that one doesn’t always need to maximize financial value and that sometimes convenience and opportunity are have more value.

 

[Dean]

So you went 10 years without enrolling? Did you not know about it?

Remember there is a cost to being enrolled and in many situations, a cost to enroll even if a qualifying week. I enrolled almost day 1 and paid the roughly $2K at the time but it made a lot of sense for our situation, it doesn't for everyone.

 

[JIMinNC]

CSalter had it right when he suggested the point I was making when I mentioned the skim was that I could exchange my gold season Orlando Marriott lock off for 2 weeks, often both in a 2Br by trading on II.
MVC was trying to convince me to give them $700 for the honor of electing points that wouldn‘t allow me to book even one week similar to my own - of course I wouldn’t elect points to stay in my home resort, I don’t even stay my ownership week- I lock off and exchange on II even back to my home resort.
This was not a good marketing technique for me. And that’s why I didn’t enroll for years.
Once the enrollment fee was removed and the II fee savings were explained (and not by an MVC salesperson) I did enroll and yes I even have elected points when that fits my needs. I agree that one doesn’t always need to maximize financial value and that sometimes convenience and opportunity are have more value.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but my point was the "skim" is basically irrelevant to the arguments you are making. Basically everything you said would also be 100% true even if the skim was zero - i.e. - as long as you are willing to deal with II, you can lock-off and exchange one week for two. You can't generally do that with points, even if there was no skim at all. (Except for specific situations where someone is electing high season points in an expensive location like Hawaii where they might get 6000 or even 7000 points for their week, and can then use those points to book multiple weeks in lower-point locations or seasons.) So, while II can often provide greater financial value than DC points, that's not because of the skim, it's because they are different booking/trading models with different ways of doing things.

 

[Pamplemousse]

I don't disagree with anything you said, but my point was the "skim" is basically irrelevant to the arguments you are making. Basically everything you said would also be 100% true even if the skim was zero - i.e. - as long as you are willing to deal with II, you can lock-off and exchange one week for two. You can't generally do that with points, even if there was no skim at all. (Except for specific situations where someone is electing high season points in an expensive location like Hawaii where they might get 6000 or even 7000 points for their week, and can then use those points to book multiple weeks in lower-point locations or seasons.) So, while II can often provide greater financial value than DC points, that's not because of the skim, it's because they are different booking/trading models with different ways of doing things.

I agree my point that Marriott didn’t do a good job marketing the DC to me stands without mention of the skim.
Sorry I seem to have caused your post to get off track lydlady.

 

[JIMinNC]

I agree my point that Marriott didn’t do a good job marketing the DC to me stands without mention of the skim.

I didn't mean to nitpick your post, and I apologize for going down the skim rabbit hole, but all the teeth gnashing about the skim that I read on the Marriott board has always seemed to me to be much ado about nothing...so I started chasing that shiny object when it was mentioned. I guess it's a hot button for me. Now back to other things...