Points deadline extended to Jan 9

[Garry]

From the MVC website:

"The Trade for Points deadline for 2009 usage has been extended to January 9, 2009. The extension is available by phone only.

Eligible Owners wishing to trade 2009 usage for Marriott Rewards points, please call 888-220-2066 or click here for international phone numbers."

If you missed the Dec 31 deadline, you have a rare second opportunity.

 

[dougp26364]

I find that interesting since the hotel industry was suppose to be hurting from the recession. You wouldn't think Marriott would want to take on any more rental inventory than necessary. I wonder if Marriott knows something the rest of us don't know?

 

[thinze3]

I find that interesting since the hotel industry was suppose to be hurting from the recession. You wouldn't think Marriott would want to take on any more rental inventory than necessary. I wonder if Marriott knows something the rest of us don't know?

Or it is just another way for Marriott to obtain much needed credit. They will essentially be borrowing from you by issueing you points and renting your week for cash.


Terry

 

[davidvel]

I wonder if Marriott knows something the rest of us don't know?

Yes, they get $100+ from you and can rent the rooms at a much higher amount than the value of the points they give you. (But I thought people did know this.)

Or it is just another way for Marriott to obtain much needed credit. They will essentially be borrowing from you by issueing you points and renting your week for cash.
Terry

Correct, and in their mind (see above) they pay you back with something less valuable than they got from you without any interest!

 

[dougp26364]

I guess it all depends on where people use those points. In our case, if we use them it's usually at a European hotel and, depending upon the exchange rate, it doesn't always work out so well for Marriott.

I suspect most people will burn their points on domestic hotels or, worse yet, buy something out of the Marriott catalog. I had thought about using some of my points to buy a digital SLR camera until I figured the cost in points would be double what I could pick it up for at the store.

It's easy to forget that the majority of people out there don't belong to TUG and make some dreadful decisions. The value of rewards points has gone so low that I doubt I exchange any of my weeks for points in the future. Yet I know others that will still consider buying another week, just to exchange it for rewards points.

Not that buying for points is a bad thing to do but, you have to be smart about what resort you buy into and how you use those points to make it work out in the long run. I'm sure most people don't put a lot of thought into it. Much like witholding more from their paycheck just to get a bigger tax return.

 

[Latravel]

This is great news for anyone wanting to travel with Points and purchase the travel packages before Jan. 15.

 

[gogogo]

Too bad those points won't hit your account until AFTER the 1/15 deadline. If you don't have enough for a package without the trade-in, you're out of luck.