Ready to buy Mariott Destination points and would really appreciate everyones opinion. Thank you

[TheTimeTraveler]

Follow up question. So if I go the route of buying the 1K pts for 5K and then later decide to go for Presidential level membership I end up spending an extra 5K to "try it out" as I still have to go buy another week so I an convert two weeks to points. I guess I could just find a week that someone is giving away to reduce that cost. As I see it, that is the only downside to buying the 1K Marriot pts to try it out per se. Definitely worth it as not to risk 35K and find out afterward that the destinations program is not for me but I just wanted to make sure I wasnt missing something as far as the downsides to buying the 1K pts plan. Thanks again,

Steven

Keep in mind that unless your week was purchased prior to June of 2010 you can not buy a resale week and have it convert to points UNLESS you pay Marriott big bucks to bring that week into the point system.

Your best (and cheapest) way to play the points game is to RENT points for each year that you need additional points to achieve your vacations. After a few years you will have a better idea as to how many points that you may want to purchase (preferably on the resale market) and go from there.

Buying anything directly thru Marriott has a price premium so be prepared to pay for it.



.

 

[Fi2]

I just reread the first post, and don’t believe that the $9.80/pt you saw was for a minimum purchase of 1,000 dp, but a much larger buy. And the $11/pt price is not a preference (Marriott pricing is supposed to be uniform across its sales offices), but the price tied to a 3500 pt buy.

As mentioned earlier, my typed in dp price was frozen at a much higher rate, which would be discounted only if/as I bought larger increments of points.

 

[Fi2]

re.post #24: there’s no way you’re getting 1,000 dp direct from Marriott at $5k

 

[capjak]

re.post #24: there’s no way you’re getting 1,000 dp direct from Marriott at $5k

I believe the OP is saying "buying 1,000 RESALE at $5 per point" to see if the point system is good/bad.

 

[Fi2]

Thanks for the correction, capjak! I was too focused on not even believing the $9.80/dp would be honored.

In any case, a resale points purchase now won’t reduce the required direct dp points required to enroll a post-2010 week later, if/when the special comes around again. But it’s certainly a smaller outlay, if you’d like to try out the system.

 

[Dean]

Follow up question. So if I go the route of buying the 1K pts for 5K and then later decide to go for Presidential level membership I end up spending an extra 5K to "try it out" as I still have to go buy another week so I an convert two weeks to points. I guess I could just find a week that someone is giving away to reduce that cost. As I see it, that is the only downside to buying the 1K Marriot pts to try it out per se. Definitely worth it as not to risk 35K and find out afterward that the destinations program is not for me but I just wanted to make sure I wasnt missing something as far as the downsides to buying the 1K pts plan. Thanks again,

Steven

IF you buy points now to try it out then want to enroll something later, assume what you do now is mostly wasted and you're starting all over. I'd suggest you spend more time and get the best idea you can where you want to be 5-10 years down the road before you do anything. Then at least you reduce the risk you'll have to redo the process later at considerable additional cost.

 

[BigTimeOwner]

Hi TUG family,

I went to a Mariott sales seminar a few days ago and I think I am getting a good deal but wanted to ask the community their opinion.

I have been to a number of Mariott resorts and feel that they offer an outstanding product. Additionally, I am willing to pay a bit more for the sophistication and simplicity of the Mariott system of points. To begin, 3-4 years ago, I purchased a 3 bedroom (w lockout) aftermarket platinum Grand Vista week for 5K. I have been happy with its use and I am one of the lucky ones who is a member of the Florida club so even though I bought resale, I could trade in Mariott for a number of MVC within Florida without having to use II.

I went to a Marriott presentation at their Grand Chateau in Las Vegas and refused their offer of 9.80 cents per point as they could not convert my weeks to points. (Converting my weeks to points while buying more was the plan all along IF after buying the Grand Vista, I still liked the Mariott system). However, before leaving, they did offer me the ability to retain that 9.80 per point offer for 2 years for 1K and they threw in 100K Bonvoy points and 5 days/ 4 nights at the Grand Chateau which I did purchased for 100 down and 100/mo for 9 mos. I reached out to the Marriott rep two days later thanking him for is time and stating that if he could come up with a single deal for points AND convert my weeks to points then I was definitely interested. I also stated that I was interested in the Executive level membership and so my goal was >7K pts

I received an email within 4 days saying that they COULD do what I asked and to call for the details. So after calling them here is the deal....


I pay $11 per point for the 3500 pts to get me to 7250 pts that would begin 1/2022 totaling $38,640.


Even though the 1K contract promised me the 9.80 per point, they said that they prefer I pay $11 per point but to offset the added cost they would...

1. Waive the 2500 fee to convert the Grand Vista to points

2. Waive the 900 dollars that remained on the 1K deal and keep the benefits (100K Bonvoy pts/ 5 day& 4 night Grand Chateau)

3. Give me two 1 bedroom certificates to stay ANYWHERE in the Marriott system regardless of points any time I want. She would hold these aside until I want to use them so in essence, they have no expiration

4. Give me 7000 points effective April 2021


In my mind, this seems like a pretty good deal. If I went aftermarket for the pts, I am going to pay 5.50 per point (2.50 min to seller + 3.00 to Marriott) which comes up to 39,875 (7250 * 5.50) which is MORE than they are asking AND I get the four extra goodies noted above. I am thinking about asking them to upgrade the 1 bed 5 days at the Grand Chateau to a 3 bed for a full week to seal the deal but wanted to get everyones opinion on this.



Is this a good deal and would you ask for anything else?



Thanks everyone,



Steven Perry

NO it is not a good deal, if you ask the salesman how many points it would take to stay in your 3 bed unit in Florida it would be less than one week. Points are a joke to me. I own 2 units, one a 3 bed in Florida, and one a 2 bed in Williamsburg and both lock off Platinum weeks. To date not one offer to convert to points has met the same stay power. If you read much in Tug you will see that the points people are complaining that they cant get the time the want when using points. More than happy to discuss zangleone@gmail.com

 

[Pamplemousse]

.

 

[Dean]

NO it is not a good deal, if you ask the salesman how many points it would take to stay in your 3 bed unit in Florida it would be less than one week. Points are a joke to me. I own 2 units, one a 3 bed in Florida, and one a 2 bed in Williamsburg and both lock off Platinum weeks. To date not one offer to convert to points has met the same stay power. If you read much in Tug you will see that the points people are complaining that they cant get the time the want when using points. More than happy to discuss zangleone@gmail.com

I think the reality is that the points that those resort are assigned is a reflection of their underlying value and trade power. Thus you're not going to get enough points to use for the same # of days and unit size at a higher demand resort during a high demand time, say Aruba in the winter. You might be lucky to get 1 week in many resorts using the points from both of your weeks. Thus it is likely not a good choice to enroll in that situation. The skim is a different matter but it's the reality of moving from weeks to points which is inherently more inefficient and maintenance fee intensive than weeks.

 

[sdp1969]

Thank you all for your input!

I would like to clarify a very subtle point that I think until just now I didn’t quite get. If I have two weeks that I convert to points I think I just realized that I will continue to pay the maintenance fee required for the week and not the maintenance fee based on the points that the week provides. So not only does buying weeks and converting them to points save you on the cost of the points up front but buying a valuable week with lower maintenance fee will save you on the ongoing cost of ownership compared to owning just straight points. Am I correct in this understanding? So to extrapolate this further… If I was a 10,000 points member made up of 4000 destination points +2 mvc weeks totaling 6000 points then I would pay around $2400 maintenance for the destination points maintenance and then whatever the maintenance fees for the two weeks would add up to be. Therefore I wouldn’t automatically Pay $6000 per yr in MF for 10,000 points... I would pay something less than that based on the maintenance fees of the two properties. Again, is this correct? Honestly, I never considered that after submitting my weeks for the points system that I would continue to pay the maintenance fee for the weeks which is a fantastic advantage....if correct.

To take it one step further… If my conclusions above are correct then I could potentially go purchase a moderately expensive Hawaiian mvc vacation club week that converts to 7 to 8000 points and become chairman level member and pay significantly less than the 9000 maintenance fee dollars per year on the 15k pts that I would have to pay if all the points were destination points. Again, is this assertion correct?

thank you so much!

Steven

 

[Fasttr]

Thank you all for your input!

I would like to clarify a very subtle point that I think until just now I didn’t quite get. If I have two weeks that I convert to points I think I just realized that I will continue to pay the maintenance fee required for the week and not the maintenance fee based on the points that the week provides. So not only does buying weeks and converting them to points save you on the cost of the points up front but buying a valuable week with lower maintenance fee will save you on the ongoing cost of ownership compared to owning just straight points. Am I correct in this understanding? So to extrapolate this further… If I was a 10,000 points member made up of 4000 destination points +2 mvc weeks totaling 6000 points then I would pay around $2400 maintenance for the destination points maintenance and then whatever the maintenance fees for the two weeks would add up to be. Therefore I wouldn’t automatically Pay $6000 per yr in MF for 10,000 points... I would pay something less than that based on the maintenance fees of the two properties. Again, is this correct? Honestly, I never considered that after submitting my weeks for the points system that I would continue to pay the maintenance fee for the weeks which is a fantastic advantage....if correct.

To take it one step further… If my conclusions above are correct then I could potentially go purchase a moderately expensive Hawaiian mvc vacation club week that converts to 7 to 8000 points and become chairman level member and pay significantly less than the 9000 maintenance fee dollars per year on the 15k pts that I would have to pay if all the points were destination points. Again, is this assertion correct?

thank you so much!

Steven

You are correct on all counts. Use this spreadsheet to see which units have best MF to points conversion. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...0Oz68ewcUfH5pbQjVgNySGJPwY/edit#gid=359440804

There is a cost per point tab to make your life easy.

 

[Dean]

Thank you all for your input!

I would like to clarify a very subtle point that I think until just now I didn’t quite get. If I have two weeks that I convert to points I think I just realized that I will continue to pay the maintenance fee required for the week and not the maintenance fee based on the points that the week provides. So not only does buying weeks and converting them to points save you on the cost of the points up front but buying a valuable week with lower maintenance fee will save you on the ongoing cost of ownership compared to owning just straight points. Am I correct in this understanding? So to extrapolate this further… If I was a 10,000 points member made up of 4000 destination points +2 mvc weeks totaling 6000 points then I would pay around $2400 maintenance for the destination points maintenance and then whatever the maintenance fees for the two weeks would add up to be. Therefore I wouldn’t automatically Pay $6000 per yr in MF for 10,000 points... I would pay something less than that based on the maintenance fees of the two properties. Again, is this correct? Honestly, I never considered that after submitting my weeks for the points system that I would continue to pay the maintenance fee for the weeks which is a fantastic advantage....if correct.

To take it one step further… If my conclusions above are correct then I could potentially go purchase a moderately expensive Hawaiian mvc vacation club week that converts to 7 to 8000 points and become chairman level member and pay significantly less than the 9000 maintenance fee dollars per year on the 15k pts that I would have to pay if all the points were destination points. Again, is this assertion correct?

thank you so much!

Steven

This is exactly what I did last year. I converted 7.5 weeks by purchasing an Aruba 3 BR and saved well over $10K plus my fees will be about 25% cheaper than the points would have been on the required points. Plus it was a week I'll actually use part of the time. Now I did get 275 points less with the week than I would have by converting to points. In buying weeks to concert there are several factors including the cost of each week, the # of points they would get converted and the underlying fees. There are some other ancillary pieces of info like lock off option, FL Club option, rental possibilities, II exchange and personal usage. HI likely isn't a good example as the prices tend to be relatively high and the fees even higher. I think you'll find the best balance of all to be buying a fractional and then enrolling it but not everyone is in the market for that many points and that much up front commitment.

 

[rthib]

NO it is not a good deal, if you ask the salesman how many points it would take to stay in your 3 bed unit in Florida it would be less than one week. Points are a joke to me. I own 2 units, one a 3 bed in Florida, and one a 2 bed in Williamsburg and both lock off Platinum weeks. To date not one offer to convert to points has met the same stay power. If you read much in Tug you will see that the points people are complaining that they cant get the time the want when using points. More than happy to discuss zangleone@gmail.com

If you know how the work the system, points are great. I am doing a mix of weeks and points. Weeks and points at Ko Olina. Points for Ocean front 2 bedroom at Maui. And weeks for Kauai. Was able to use the discount for my status and upgrade from island view to ocean front. Was able to easily convert my COVID weeks into points and bank those points forward To 2021 for this stay. iIf you are cashing in points for a week stay then you are doing it wrong. But with points I was able to lock in my dates at 13 months out so I could take advantage of cheap airfare. I actually picked up a cheap resale week at one of my home resorts since it has a good point value so now I don’t have to be conflicted on to convert or deposit or stay.
I would never use points or weeks for either FL or Williamsburg. I have always gone there on cheap getaways.
If you are getting into it new, hybrid points are the way to go since they give you flexibility and cheaper MF. $7 would be my goal price per point.

 

[Dean]

If you know how the work the system, points are great. I am doing a mix of weeks and points. Weeks and points at Ko Olina. Points for Ocean front 2 bedroom at Maui. And weeks for Kauai. Was able to use the discount for my status and upgrade from island view to ocean front. Was able to easily convert my COVID weeks into points and bank those points forward To 2021 for this stay. iIf you are cashing in points for a week stay then you are doing it wrong. But with points I was able to lock in my dates at 13 months out so I could take advantage of cheap airfare. I actually picked up a cheap resale week at one of my home resorts since it has a good point value so now I don’t have to be conflicted on to convert or deposit or stay.
I would never use points or weeks for either FL or Williamsburg. I have always gone there on cheap getaways.
If you are getting into it new, hybrid points are the way to go since they give you flexibility and cheaper MF. $7 would be my goal price per point.

We use weeks, points, exchanges, even other timeshare systems to balance, reduce cost and give us more options.

Our 2018 3 week HI trip is a good example. 3 islands, 3 weeks, 16 people. Maui just the 2 of us, 16 at Ko Olina and 14 for Waiohai. Original reservations all on points and weeks locked in at 13 months or more out. Final reservations mostly exchanges, no owned weeks and 1 week on points at Waiohai. For Maui exchanged to a studio but retraded to a 1 BR. For Ko Olina went from three 2BR (one owned) + a studio rest on points to all exchanges with two 2 BR, a 1BR and 2 studios. For Kauai went from three 2BR on points to 2 exchanges, 1 on points. I was then able to redirect the points, reallocate where helpful and to take points on the Ko Olina week losing the skim but effectively extending the life on the points.

Last summer we had 14 units at Grande Ocean. We started with 9 owned and 5 points (actually had more but canceled a couple) and ended up with 9 owned, 4 exchanges and 1 on points. Without Covid likely would not have gotten any exchanges. This year the same trip and have not gotten an exchange as of yet and have no expectations we will.

Historically our Aruba trips have been the same as the HI, points reservations ultimately converted to exchanges. This coming Aruba trip to Surf Club we'll likely just keep all on points as there are 4 couples going and I don't want to make people move plus I want to control room location. Even though we own a 3 BR it's going to be better for this trip to take points for it as we've gotten everything we need fo Ocean Side which will guarantee the building location and prevent us having to move units for the other few days.

These are good examples of how we use our MVC and how the weeks, points and exchanges fit together for us to give us options and value. Volume certainly gives us options we wouldn't have otherwise, along with planning and understanding the systems (MVC & II).

IMO there are good resorts/seasons to own for usage, for exchanges and for points and there isn't a ton of overlap for the resorts in each group esp with the exchange group. I guess one could add a separate group for rentals as well. So to end up in the best situation possible one would be best served to decide where they want to end up in 5-10 years plus understanding their likely usage then the best choices become more clear.

 

[sdp1969]

As many of you advised, I found a 3 bed lockout MGC worth 4625 pts for 5K and I am in the process of negotiating with the seller. Adding that to my MGV will get me over 8K pts and if I proceed to buy the 4K needed to enroll them to the points system I will be over 12K pts and well into presidential level.

A few clarifying questions.....

Is there a specific name for that program where they reduce my pts purchase for up to 10% if I have an active reservation that totals at least that much?

Do you know how many points I would need to buy historically if I wanted to enroll 3 weeks into the points system?

As I understand it, I can gift my reservations to anyone whether MVC member or not right? In addition to my personal benefits from the club, being able to offer Marriott resorts to extended family/ friends (if they pays for the points), would be a nice gesture.

Its funny how life happens.... as I sat here to write this, the Mariott rep that offered me that deal I discribed in the initial post called me. I had already called her last week and left a message that I was going to stay with the weeks program. I figured I had nothing to lose so I told her that I still was leaning heavily towards staying in the weeks program but was considering all my options. I then asked her how many points it would take to enroll two weeks into the destinations program. Her answer was 7500! Hmmm....I then asked her about the program where if I made a reservation to a Mariott property, if I could deduct some of that from the purchase towards the points. She completely side stepped that question and said that the conversion from weeks to points was a very special exception she was able to get for me and it would prob not be available much longer. Conclusion.....She wanted to make a sale now and would say anything to keep me from putting it off. Thats odd because I even told her that I would likely buy even more pts to enroll 2 weeks.


Thank you all....I am definitely MUCH more knowledgeable, informed and confident than I was just one week ago.

Steven

 

[TXTortoise]

Thank you all....I am definitely MUCH more knowledgeable, informed and confident than I was just one week ago.

Steven

From approaches that others have taken for deals like this, it seems like working directly with Corporate Sales is your most productive approach. I'm sure GregT, Dean and others can offer up a name/contact. They seem to be more upfront and professional in making a deal work.

 

[Fasttr]

Do you know how many points I would need to buy historically if I wanted to enroll 3 weeks into the points system?

5500 points to enroll 3-7 weeks.

 

[Dean]

From approaches that others have taken for deals like this, it seems like working directly with Corporate Sales is your most productive approach. I'm sure GregT, Dean and others can offer up a name/contact. They seem to be more upfront and professional in making a deal work.

I do have a contact I'm confident offering. At least 3 others have bought through him based on referrals and at least one of those has referred him someone as well and they are working on options to enroll. If you can get a good week a St. Kitts or Aruba Platinum or above that qualifies, it would be likely be cheaper up front and generally less yearly on fees. They did a lot of one off's last year for enrollments, it is unknown if they will be as flexible this year. I know a lot more specifics for Aruba so I'll concentrate my thoughts theres but the principles should hold for St. Kitts. My guess is for a single unit to enroll and to not have to buy any points to supplement the deal, it'll take take an OV 2 BR Platinum at Ocean Club or higher (OF, plus week, etc). It's possible that an OV or OS 2 BR at Surf Club will get it done but I'm skeptical (4425 vs 4075 its respectively). Note the points on Steven's site for Platinum OV 2 BR is wrong, it's really 4425 for the 2 BR ov but I think the rest are correct. Looking at the points per unit type for St. Kitts, I'm guessing the cutoff will be the same as Aruba at OVER the 4025 points per unit to enroll as a single week purchase without a points supplemental purchase. Keep in mind though that if you have to buy a separate 250 or 500 its extra, that might still be best though you will have 2 closings if you go that route.

 

[frank808]

As many of you advised, I found a 3 bed lockout MGC worth 4625 pts for 5K and I am in the process of negotiating with the seller. Adding that to my MGV will get me over 8K pts and if I proceed to buy the 4K needed to enroll them to the points system I will be over 12K pts and well into presidential level.

A few clarifying questions.....

Is there a specific name for that program where they reduce my pts purchase for up to 10% if I have an active reservation that totals at least that much?

Do you know how many points I would need to buy historically if I wanted to enroll 3 weeks into the points system?

As I understand it, I can gift my reservations to anyone whether MVC member or not right? In addition to my personal benefits from the club, being able to offer Marriott resorts to extended family/ friends (if they pays for the points), would be a nice gesture.

Its funny how life happens.... as I sat here to write this, the Mariott rep that offered me that deal I discribed in the initial post called me. I had already called her last week and left a message that I was going to stay with the weeks program. I figured I had nothing to lose so I told her that I still was leaning heavily towards staying in the weeks program but was considering all my options. I then asked her how many points it would take to enroll two weeks into the destinations program. Her answer was 7500! Hmmm....I then asked her about the program where if I made a reservation to a Mariott property, if I could deduct some of that from the purchase towards the points. She completely side stepped that question and said that the conversion from weeks to points was a very special exception she was able to get for me and it would prob not be available much longer. Conclusion.....She wanted to make a sale now and would say anything to keep me from putting it off. Thats odd because I even told her that I would likely buy even more pts to enroll 2 weeks.


Thank you all....I am definitely MUCH more knowledgeable, informed and confident than I was just one week ago.

Steven

If you need a salesperson to contact at corporate sales in salt lake city, send me a PM. Was a weeks owner until a couple years ago. Have enrolled quiet a few weeks in the past few years.

Right now I do not know for sure if MVC is allowing enrollment of weeks with a purchase.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[rthib]

As many of you advised, I found a 3 bed lockout MGC worth 4625 pts for 5K and I am in the process of negotiating with the seller. Adding that to my MGV will get me over 8K pts and if I proceed to buy the 4K needed to enroll them to the points system I will be over 12K pts and well into presidential level.

Make sure you know what you are buying. Resale weeks can not be enrolled for points directly. Marriott will run specials allowing you to buy points to match but they are usually expensive. Might be cheaper to get hybrid deal from Marriott. I would make sure you know all costs before you pull the trigger.

 

[frank808]

I am one that has bought from Dean's contact. Thanks for the referral Dean !

I have also referred a few people to buy from his contact. Thought the people I referred were enrolling 7 to 13 weeks at once.

Also have referred a few that have bought from Salt Lake City corporate sales.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Dean]

If you need a salesperson to contact at corporate sales in salt lake city, send me a PM. Was a weeks owner until a couple years ago. Have enrolled quiet a few weeks in the past few years.

Right now I do not know for sure if MVC is allowing enrollment of weeks with a purchase.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Per my contact on Friday, they are waiting on this years program to see what it looks like.

 

[liongate88]

I have read through all of the thread and it sounds interesting with MVC DP. Do you need to buy/be an MVC DP member in order to rent points? There was a mention of point exchange, where do you usually rent MVC points? Thanks

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

I have read through all of the thread and it sounds interesting with MVC DP. Do you need to buy/be an MVC DP member in order to rent points? There was a mention of point exchange, where do you usually rent MVC points? Thanks

.

www.VacationPointExchange.com

.

You do need to be a member to rent points, however, you do not need to be a member to have someone use points to place a reservation into your name.


.

 

[liongate88]

.

www.VacationPointExchange.com

.

You do need to be a member to rent points, however, you do not need to be a member to have someone use points to place a reservation into your name.


.

I see.. The second option might be a good way to before buying anything . Thanks