Susan - you make it sound like it's obvious that Legacy points need to trade inventory with trust points. Until a couple of days ago everyone here was convinced that points are points. Nobody envisioned that they were going to trade inventory with the trust or that retail points are different ("better") than legacy points. In fact, why would they make you buy 1000 more points if you can't access the same inventory with your legacy points...?
If the story now is that the system is built that legacy points are inferior (or let's say unequal) to trust points, people have the right to be upset about that. Nobody had a clue it would work that way until very recently. Why would a resale buyer pay $2K to go from one asterisk to another? Why would a retail owner pay just so they can become a second class point owner?
If this is how the system is built Mariott should be the one paying us to enroll...
I'm not sure why anybody would think "points are points" and not think the inventory needs to be accounted for somehow - that's certainly not an impression I had of anyone's position a few days ago. And I'm not trying to make it sound obvious at all that we should know how the inventory will be accessed by Trust Members or enrolled Exchange Members - I've said a number of times that there isn't enough substantiation in the docs for us to form a definitive answer without some kind of official statement from Marriott.
When the other thread and then this one really got rolling yesterday, my concern wasn't so much the issues of how inventory would be accounted for between the two groups of owners, but rather that some Marriott reps were quoted saying that enrolled Exchange Members would have NO access to Trust inventory, ever. I honestly don't know how we could expect that the two different ownership groups would be subject to the same rules and procedures - the one thing the docs do make clear is that there are provisions which apply to only one or the other. But no Trust access ever for exchanges by Enrolled Weeks owners? That made no sense then, and still doesn't.
The fact that a Wait List provision is included in the Exchange Procedures led me to believe that exchanges would not always be available instantly, which naturally leads to expectations of some kind of inventory allocation. I still don't know for certain how the inventory will be allocated but I suspect, as do others here, that Exchange Members will have access to Trust inventory whenever Trust Members exchange to non-Trust inventory or for Marriott Rewards Points or for other Destination Club options, etc... And I don't believe that the points inventory in the Trust that will be available to Exchange Members is going to be affixed to a certain interval prior to an exchange request being made - I think it will be (as someone else here said so much more clearly) on a points-in-points-out basis.
Of course I could be totally wrong in thinking that this workable model is the one that Marriott will employ, just as wrong as anybody's conjectures in this thread are. But there are some posts from others that back this set-up, and they're the ones I agree with. Like everyone else, though, I want Marriott to step up and do the right thing here and make an official statement to clarify this issue - they never should have allowed their reps to be so completely unprepared or ill-informed which caused the contradictions in this thread.
As far as buying more Points and how that would mesh (or not) with the points allotted for enrolled week(s), I haven't given that any thought at all because I have no intention to buy more points. My concern with it is only that, again, there have been two completely contradictory statements about it from several Marriott reps. That's just not acceptable.
What I DO still believe, (and you'll say again that I'm a Marriott apologist, I'm sure) is that enrolling my Weeks was a good decision, despite the confusion. For a relatively low cost I am gaining another usage option, however it ultimately works, while keeping access to all of the same usage options that are available to every un-enrolled Weeks owner. And that's what has always been most important to me - getting the best usage value out of my purchases.
along with reading a lot of the other stuff here over the past 3 weeks, I think you're interpretation of legaleze is right on the money!
