There are certainly variables as to what options to own and how to use them. And there has to be a balance of $$$ value and usage. I’m about as averse to wasting points or value as anyone, more than most, but if one is going to be miserable every time they don’t trade a studio for a Maui 2 BR, timeshares will drive them crazy so there has to be a balance, otherwise you only use points in Bronze Season for week days.I hear you all. But as an enrolled owner on only 1 of my weeks I have yet to see the value for our travel needs. We don’t travel for 5 days. Shutter the thought personally. Minimum 1 week but our preference is 2 weeks at a time.
Maybe living in California is the problem. There are only 3 MVC properties in driving distance from us. Which I imagine might make a 5 day stay an option. But NCV is 20 minutes from my house so although I have heard wonderful things about it I will never stay there.
I get 2 weeks in II or a measly 2300(approximately) points. So maybe I could turn those points into 2, 5 day stays in off season. Still not the same value to me.
Not trying to hijack the thread. The advice on how to use a small amount of points was good for the OP and interesting and informative for me.
Specific to the points usage, one shouldn’t buy points planning to use for the exchange options whether it be II or cash type exchanges though there may be limited exceptions where it truly does make sense. And one should be able to plan in advance to stay out of the situation routinely as being discussed and if they can’t plan accordingly, they shouldn’t participate. But it is nice to have options if one gets caught for some reason through no fault of their own and sometimes life happens even when buying and usage was perfect when one made the decision to buy in. That comes around to a point I’ve made in other threads, risk management (debt, medical, job loss, etc), that can help avoid much of this even when changes happen on the home front.