I emailed a Marriott Vacation Club Points Specialist with whom I have been working and he says this is not the case. Here is the correspondence:
From me to him:
Hi. As I have previously mentioned, I look at a bulletin board on timeshares fairly frequently. There is a discussion thread over there that is claiming that weeks owners that enroll into the points program do not have full access to resorts in the trust, but only into resorts where other weeks owners have also enrolled and traded their weeks for points. Here is a link to the discussion thread:
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126203
Is this correct? I have to say that if it is I am not happy and it would appear to contradict our previous conversations before I enrolled my weeks at Ko Olina.
His reply to me:
Good afternoon,
I've been reading through the post and it does look like there is a lot of confusion circulating out there. I keep up on TUG myself just to be aware of any issues that might arise so I'm prepared to answer owners questions.
I can assure you that those who enroll in the points program have access to all unsold inventory, any weeks in default, and, most importantly, all inventory provided by owners who Trade for Marriott Reward Points.
To give you the specific numbers:
27% of Inventory each year is kept by owners staying in their home club. This is the ONLY inventory you do not have access to.
43% of Inventory will be those who exchange into Interval or elect points for the year. As an enrolled owner, you have access to both of these pools - exchanged II weeks from owners who don't enroll and Elected Weeks.
21% of Inventory will come from owners who trade for Marriott Rewards Points
9% of Inventory will be all unsold weeks (and delinquent weeks).
This comes to 2,657,000 Nights that will be available in 2011. A total of 73% of the Inventory in the Marriott system is available to points members.
I hope these numbers help. Again, I am happy you chose to come to me with your concerns.
My reply to him:
People are saying that within the points there is a division between those owners like me who have enrolled their deeded weeks and owners under the new system who purchase points. They are saying that there will be two pools of rooms within the points program and that the only rooms that I will be eligible to trade into using points (including the 800 bonus points for enrolling) will be from other deeded owners like myself who enrolled their weeks and then traded for destination points.
Are they correct or do I have the same access to rooms available in the points system as everyone else in the points system, regardless of how they got there (whether through enrolling their deeded weeks or purchasing points under the new system)?
Thanks
The agent's final reply:
Good afternoon again,
In the most simple terms, you have access to the same rooms as anyone else. The unsold inventory comes to 9% of all inventory in the points program. Those who elect points with their current week have the same rights to it as brand new owners.