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Scheduled Presentation 8/11/2019 - Grande Ocean

CPNY

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I should clarify that when I say all inclusive, I don’t mean that Lagunamar will be offering it. Just that Marriott Hotels is starting into it.



Encore program is where they offer you a package to go to a certain location for 3, 4, 5 nights for a certain fee. You usually get 50,000 points included with it and you attend another presentation when you get there. They lock in the purchase price for you when you go back to visit. If you end up purchasing points, they apply the Encore price toward your purchase.

So in this case, You so the $3299 package. IF you end up buying them you take $3299 off your price. If you don’t buy, you’re still coming out a little head as well. That’s what makes this offer fascinating to me.
Wow that’s a good deal for that amount of DC points and Bonvoy points.

I knew what you meant about AI. But if they decide to convert WLM to AI, the timeshares could as well.
 

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Hi Steve,

I wanted to know what their offer was to you to buy more points. Did they make a reasonable offer to go to the chairman level? Was that enticing to jump to that level?
 

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Wow that’s a good deal for that amount of DC points and Bonvoy points.

I knew what you meant about AI. But if they decide to convert WLM to AI, the timeshares could as well.
Remember Those are one time points, not annual points to add to your portfolio.
 
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CPNY

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Remember Thales are one time points, not annual points to add to your portfolio.

I figured that, imagine picking up 2300 DC points for that much? Sign me up!!
 

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Hi Steve,

I wanted to know what their offer was to you to buy more points. Did they make a reasonable offer to go to the chairman level? Was that enticing to jump to that level?

It was a hypothetical week from the bundle list. $6900 with MF for 1401 and would concert for like 2500 points. And then a points purchase of 2750 points at 14.26. He didn’t even bother offering the 25% discount and it came to an average of about $8 a point. MF’s averages out to about 0.575 per point.

It was not enticing enough.
 

csalter2

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It was a hypothetical week from the bundle list. $6900 with MF for 1401 and would concert for like 2500 points. And then a points purchase of 2750 points at 14.26. He didn’t even bother offering the 25% discount and it came to an average of about $8 a point. MF’s averages out to about 0.575 per point.

It was not enticing enough.

I’m not understanding, “$6900 with MF for 1401 and would concert for like 2500 points.”
 

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Sorry. The resale week was $6900 and would convert to 2500 points.

Got it. That’s not enticing at all. The must have thought you were an impossibility to sell something to.
 

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Just a quick question that a lot of us are concerning. Did SP ever mention anything about the cross booking between Vistana and Marriott?
 

CPNY

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Just a quick question that a lot of us are concerning. Did SP ever mention anything about the cross booking between Vistana and Marriott?
I think he asked about star options but no info was known about what that looks like at the moment. Which is better than many other speculative information given to others.
 

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Nothing specific. No commitment. However he did mention that many of the points programs created with the help of Interval. While they all have points, it would just be a matter of determining exchange rates because many of them are able to be deposited into Interval.

But no other insight offered other than that was something they’re trying to figure out.
 

CPNY

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Nothing specific. No commitment. However he did mention that many of the points programs created with the help of Interval. While they all have points, it would just be a matter of determining exchange rates because many of them are able to be deposited into Interval.

But no other insight offered other than that was something they’re trying to figure out.
Interesting. I always thought interval might play a big part in a joint situation. But I’m glad that they didn’t see you as someone they could easily lie to and sell you on buying more points now. Which may be happening often, on both sides.
 

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Don’t know much about DC, really only what I’ve kearned from everyone here. Which is a lot now but, what is the encore offering? That sounds like a good deal to me. With that amount of bonvoy points plus 2300 DC points, you could convert 2300 of your existing DC to bonvoy (assuming you can do that) then use the encore DC that year. Use all those bonvoy for at least a week in a great location, plus the 4 days/3 nights. I’m assuming that is a separate thing you can just buy?

I think in the Vistana program, you guys call these Explorer Packages"? Basically they are a bounce-back offer for folks who don't buy on tour, to get them to come back on another tour to reconsider.
 

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Nothing specific. No commitment. However he did mention that many of the points programs created with the help of Interval. While they all have points, it would just be a matter of determining exchange rates because many of them are able to be deposited into Interval.

But no other insight offered other than that was something they’re trying to figure out.

Are you considering chairman level based upon all of this promise of future benefit increases?
 

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I think in the Vistana program, you guys call these Explorer Packages"? Basically they are a bounce-back offer for folks who don't buy on tour, to get them to come back on another tour to reconsider.
Ha! Goes to show you how long I’ve been on a “tour” I don’t recall hearing about these packages lol. I’m not opposed to them though. If it’s a good one I’d consider buying it.
 

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However bundles are supposedly going away by the end of the year. Also, the “Amnesty” program is gone as of 7/31.

Sales has been saying for years that the bundles are going away soon, but so far they never have. Did he say anything else about reasons or rationale that might provide any insight as to whether this is a more likely possibility this time or just the same old tactic to create a call to action to "buy a bundle before they are gone forever."

Did you get any indication that the Amnesty programs might be gone for good, or maybe just the end of "this year's" promo.
 

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Sales has been saying for years that the bundles are going away soon, but so far they never have. Did he say anything else about reasons or rationale that might provide any insight as to whether this is a more likely possibility this time or just the same old tactic to create a call to action to "buy a bundle before they are gone forever."

Did you get any indication that the Amnesty programs might be gone for good, or maybe just the end of "this year's" promo.

Yeah, I have heard this quite a few times over the years. The bundles used as a sales tool seem to be effective. I would imagine many of those buying them in reality turn them into DC points, so, it's similar to absorbing the weeks into the points system. They can be sneaky too, taking low season weeks and not pointing out the MF, etc. I can't imagine why they would eliminate the bundles.
 

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Back to resale and the initiation fee, I asked why charge it. His answer was acceptable and makes sense.

With resale weeks, owners can use their week and that’s it. They can’t trade for points or any other thing. I don’t even know if you can split your week.
Resale weeks can lock-off, deposit or use each side, and trade just like a developer purchased week. Only limitation before enrollment is ability to trade for Bonvoy points.

I'm sure this thread will blow up, as IMO a lot you were told is typical sales BS (bountiful speculation), but I don't have time to address all those now.
 

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Resale weeks can lock-off, deposit or use each side, and trade just like a developer purchased week. Only limitation before enrollment is ability to trade for Bonvoy points.

I'm sure this thread will blow up, as IMO a lot you were told is typical sales BS (bountiful speculation), but I don't have time to address all those now.

What you’re stating is true and the obvious for many of us as it pertains to resale weeks compared to developer weeks before Marriott began the points system. Without a doubt buying a resale week on the secondary market is less expensive, but it’s limiting compared to points. However, if one wants to be able to participate in the Destinations Program and to take take advantage of its benefits, you must have an enrolled week that can elect points or Destination points. It depends on what’s important to you. If one owns multiple weeks, the saving of money on lock off fees, II membership and exchange fees for Marriott to Marriott exchanges are significant advantages over a resale week.

Those who buy strictly Destination points from a financial standpoint are at a loss because you get less for the dollar. However, enrolled owners have huge financial benefits. I know that you are a proponent of resale weeks. However, you don’t recognize benefits of participating in the Destinations Program with enrolled weeks. There’s a new game in town. You have to learn the new rules of engagement. You don’t want to end up like Sears and Toys R Us and not understand the impact of online sales. They are now yesterday’s news.

With all that being said, again, if you are happy going to the same resort each year and are comfortable with waiting for II for trades then buying a resale week is the most economical way to go because you don’t need the flexibility that the Destinations Program provides.
 

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Sales has been saying for years that the bundles are going away soon, but so far they never have. Did he say anything else about reasons or rationale that might provide any insight as to whether this is a more likely possibility this time or just the same old tactic to create a call to action to "buy a bundle before they are gone forever."

Did you get any indication that the Amnesty programs might be gone for good, or maybe just the end of "this year's" promo.

Amnesty could come back. No indication that it could not.

However with bundles I was told it would end at year end. I don’t remember the exact details but Was told that bundles are only offered to week owners. What I don’t remember is if they are offered only to legacy owners or if they are also offered to resale week owners. So here are some questions to be considered.

Have any resale week owners been offered a bundle?
Have pure trust point owners been offered a bundle?
Have pure resale point owners been offered a bundle?

They said the bundles will go away because they are only offered to Marriott owners. Because they can’t offer it to Vistana owners or Westin owners, it will go away. This is a plausible reason. I asked them why they couldn’t offer it to them. And the response is that they only offer it to Marriott owners. And because of that it wouldn’t be fair so they’re going to do away with the bundles. I received this same response back in Maui a couple months ago.
 

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What you’re stating is true and the obvious for many of us as it pertains to resale weeks compared to developer weeks before Marriott began the points system. Without a doubt buying a resale week on the secondary market is less expensive, but it’s limiting compared to points. However, if one wants to be able to participate in the Destinations Program and to take take advantage of its benefits, you must have an enrolled week that can elect points or Destination points. It depends on what’s important to you. If one owns multiple weeks, the saving of money on lock off fees, II membership and exchange fees for Marriott to Marriott exchanges are significant advantages over a resale week.

Those who buy strictly Destination points from a financial standpoint are at a loss because you get less for the dollar. However, enrolled owners have huge financial benefits. I know that you are a proponent of resale weeks. However, you don’t recognize benefits of participating in the Destinations Program with enrolled weeks. There’s a new game in town. You have to learn the new rules of engagement. You don’t want to end up like Sears and Toys R Us and not understand the impact of online sales. They are now yesterday’s news.

With all that being said, again, if you are happy going to the same resort each year and are comfortable with waiting for II for trades then buying a resale week is the most economical way to go because you don’t need the flexibility that the Destinations Program provides.
I was just reaponding to Steven's comment about the ability to lock off a resale week. As for the rest of your post, I own a resale week enrolled in the DC.
 

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Amnesty could come back. No indication that it could not.

However with bundles I was told it would end at year end. I don’t remember the exact details but Was told that bundles are only offered to week owners. What I don’t remember is if they are offered only to legacy owners or if they are also offered to resale week owners. So here are some questions to be considered.

Have any resale week owners been offered a bundle?
Have pure trust point owners been offered a bundle?
Have pure resale point owners been offered a bundle?

They said the bundles will go away because they are only offered to Marriott owners. Because they can’t offer it to Vistana owners or Westin owners, it will go away. This is a plausible reason. I asked them why they couldn’t offer it to them. And the response is that they only offer it to Marriott owners. And because of that it wouldn’t be fair so they’re going to do away with the bundles. I received this same response back in Maui a couple months ago.

This could be the sales rep engaging in some of @davidvel 's Bountiful Speculation. Our first purchase with MVC was a bundle back in 2014. So we were not owners at the time. We did specifically ask about it, so I'm not sure if we would have been offered it independent of that. But they were willing to sell a bundle to us even though we were not MVC owners at the time. On our last sales presentation back in April 2018 (and the only one we've done since we bought our bundle in July 2014), the only thing we were offered was a bundle. They didn't even try to pitch a pure points package.

A few months after our April 2018 presentation, when last summer's Amnesty promo was launched in May or June of 2018, they contacted us to offer that to us to enroll our EOY MOC week. Since they wouldn't cut the required point buy to 1500 points (since I was really only enrolling half a week), I wasn't willing to buy 3000 points just to enroll an EOY. I told them we would wait until we acquired a second EOY to consider it again. He then said if we pass, just recognize that that would probably be the last time they ever offered Amnesty to MVC weeks owners, because starting in 2019, they were going to be focusing on integrating the Westin/Sheraton owners and most promotions would be directed to them. Well they did offer it again this past spring until 7/31. (We now have a second EOY, but we didn't close in time to meet the 2/28 cutoff for the just-ended Amnesty.)

Even back in 2014 when we bought our bundle, I seem to recall the sales rep said something to the effect of, "We're not going to be offering this bundle option much longer, so you are smart to do this now." I also don't see why they couldn't sell a bundle to a Westin or Vistana owner. It would work just as well for them as it did for us back in 2014 as a way to enter the MVC system. Makes no sense to me why they would limit it in that way.

Who knows? Maybe this time the sky will actually fall, but the Chicken Little's in MVC Sales have been saying this stuff for quite a while.
 
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I don’t remember the exact details but Was told that bundles are only offered to week owners. What I don’t remember is if they are offered only to legacy owners or if they are also offered to resale week owners.

Our first purchase with MVC was a bundle back in 2014. So we were not owners at the time. We did specifically ask about it, so I'm not sure if we would have been offered it independent of that. But they were willing to sell a bundle to us even though we were not MVC owners at the time. On our last sales presentation back in April 2018 (and the only one we've done since we bought our bundle in July 2014), the only thing we were offered was a bundle. They didn't even try to pitch a pure points package.
Back when we only owned Trust points, they only pitched me Trust points, even though, through TUG, I was aware of the hybrid bundles. As soon as I purchased my resale Grande Ocean week, they started pitching me Hybrid bundles nearly exclusively. So there is likely some truth to what he was saying as to how, and with what, they target you, but as Jim said, if you know enough to ask, they will sell you the bundle.
 

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When I was at the NY Pulse a couple of weeks ago, they did not mention a bundle initially. It was a straight 2000 points they offered. When I mentioned resale, the hybrid deals came out. The salesman did tell me hybrids were going away.
 

Big Matt

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My take on the Encore package price. 200 bonvoy points gets you five days at a nice property so figure the equivalent of about $1500 without paying taxes. The three nights at GO are worth another $1000. 2300 VC points gets you a full week at a lot of places. I'd guess it is equivalent to about $2500 to you are getting a good deal.........however, do you need to pay $3299 to get $5000? It sure lures you in.
 
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