Should we join DC?????????????????????????

[ilene13]

I am sitting here very annoyed. We have not enrolled our weeks for the reasons I have expressed on various threads on this site. I almost feel that I am being forced into enrolling them because of what could happen in the future and with the price increase looming it would be prudent. If we enroll our weeks, my fees would be more than they currently are. I do not pay lock off fees and I rarely trade my Marriott weeks. I would have to have a second II account because I own non-Marriott weeks and I periodically trade them. Then I can not honestly figure out how and when I would use the 800 point gift. We are not within driving distance of any properties and we use full weeks. Any help is appreciated!!!

 

[dioxide45]

A lot depends on how you think you will use your weeks in the future and how you travel today. Are you a family that needs multiple bedrooms today but down the road may only need one bedroom and studio units?

You need to consider what your usage is today and what you think it will be in the future.

 

[ilene13]

A lot depends on how you think you will use your weeks in the future and how you travel today. Are you a family that needs multiple bedrooms today but down the road may only need one bedroom and studio units?

You need to consider what your usage is today and what you think it will be in the future.

Honestly our usage will not change. We have owned timeshares since 1980 and we have changed our ownership in the past 15 years to meet our needs.

 

[MOXJO7282]

IMHO from my vantage point any high-end owner who uses or rents their weeks is not the ideal points consumer.

If I owned lesser demand weeks I'd be enrolling because it would be nice to be able to let's say turn in Orlando and use points for higher destinations like Maui or Aruba. It would take more than one week's worth of points but still a nice option.

 

[billymach4]

I am sitting here very annoyed. We have not enrolled our weeks for the reasons I have expressed on various threads on this site. I almost feel that I am being forced into enrolling them because of what could happen in the future and with the price increase looming it would be prudent. If we enroll our weeks, my fees would be more than they currently are. I do not pay lock off fees and I rarely trade my Marriott weeks. I would have to have a second II account because I own non-Marriott weeks and I periodically trade them. Then I can not honestly figure out how and when I would use the 800 point gift. We are not within driving distance of any properties and we use full weeks. Any help is appreciated!!!

Sounds like you are fully educated in Timeshares more than most of us. For me there is nothing to gain. Not worth the enrollment fees, or the measly DC points they are willing to share with me. I too would need an additional II account.

If I can't get a Marriott at my destination, there is always another premier resort down the block.

My new tagline is "Marriott is not the only game in Town"

 

[dioxide45]

IMHO from my vantage point any high-end owner who uses or rents their weeks is not the ideal points consumer.

If I owned lesser demand weeks I'd be enrolling because it would be nice to be able to let's say turn in Orlando and use points for higher destinations like Maui or Aruba. It would take more than one week's worth of points but still a nice option.

For the single or even double week Orlando owner, it would be tough to go to Hawaii. Those Hawaii point requirements would require turning in multiple weeks from multiple years to get a single week in Hawaii.

One other thing to plan for is the unexpected. Down the road, points will probably be easier to rent to at least cover MFs. Renting points is probably going to be easier than renting weeks for the average renter. Especially at resorts that don't rent well.

 

[Former Cruiser]

We trade our MOV every year, but I don't plan on switching to points as I've already paid a high (developer) price for my week and if I switched to points I couldn't EVER get a platinum week at MOV for the points they'll give me. I'd have to spend even more money. If I had purchased a few resales before the points rolled out I may have considered it because of being able to combine the points.

We now plan on doing "Request First" to give Marriott an incentive to get us our trade.

 

[BocaBoy]

I am sitting here very annoyed. We have not enrolled our weeks for the reasons I have expressed on various threads on this site. I almost feel that I am being forced into enrolling them because of what could happen in the future and with the price increase looming it would be prudent. If we enroll our weeks, my fees would be more than they currently are. I do not pay lock off fees and I rarely trade my Marriott weeks. I would have to have a second II account because I own non-Marriott weeks and I periodically trade them. Then I can not honestly figure out how and when I would use the 800 point gift. We are not within driving distance of any properties and we use full weeks. Any help is appreciated!!!

If you don't think your future usage will change in a way that makes DC more valuable to you, then I don't see a problem for you in deciding. In your situation, if it didn't make sense before the price increase it probably still doesn't make sense now.

 

[dougp26364]

This is sort of a tuff one for me to take a side on. On the one hand, you wouldn't use the DC with your current vacation lifestyle. On the other hand, you have some Platinum weeks that would likely get you premier plus status, which might be a tie breaker for unit location, even when staying at your home resort (or it might not be).

Because you're not really talking about all that much money, if it were me, I'd probably join just to protect my future interests. I've found out the hard way that life can toss a road block or speed bump in your path without warning. Our vacation patterns were relatively set but, now all of the sudden, things have changed. Specifically the need to arrive and depart on non-traditional arrivel days. I had never planned on converting to points or using points, yet here I am with one week converted and possibly the need to convert another year to points next year, just to accomadate a greater need for flexability than I had anticipated just 18 months ago.

 

[m61376]

I've been wrestling with the same question, although in my case the costs are a bit higher, but I also have the additional reason of any questionable benefit there will be in the future for weeks bought resale being part of the family, so to speak.

There is an additional benefit which may or may not be worth considering- the ability to rent points to secure an additional unit if you need to for family or friends.

I do share the concern of whether non-DC members will at some point really be second class citizens. This may be pulled out of thin air, but "what if" Marriott decides to do all internal exchanges in house, including week to week exchanges? Could potentially week owners exchanging weeks have preference even in II if they are members of the DC? I don't know, and this may all be silly considerations, but I do wonder what will come down the road. As a resale owner I thought that the window of opportunity might close for enrollment; I didn't expect the price increase to be so dramatic for direct purchasers. Who knows what Marriott will do in the future, and it might be worth the cost of admission just to be in their bandwagon.

I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this too, since I've been on the fence about this as well, largely for the same reasons as you are.

 

[winger]

...

Because you're not really talking about all that much money, if it were me, I'd probably join just to protect my future interests.....

I joined when the DC program first started just to be sure I was eligible for all the benefits which comes with being enrolled, not because I had any immediate plans for using points. Also, as Doug mentions, the cost of approx $700 to enroll seemed relatively low (compared to the overall cost I have already sunk into this) to keep my future options 'open'.

 

[Steve A]

I too resent being forced into the DC program by the rise in the cost, but I'm planning on doing it when we go to Las Vegas the first week in April. Of the four weeks we own, we always trade two for sure and often one other or turn it in for Marriott Reward points. I am concerned about getting my money back on the four years remaining on our current II membership, but this has been addressed by others in a different thread.

 

[dmharris]

This may be pulled out of thin air, but "what if" Marriott decides to do all internal exchanges in house, including week to week exchanges? Could potentially week owners exchanging weeks have preference even in II if they are members of the DC? I don't know, and this may all be silly considerations, but I do wonder what will come down the road.

I can't see this happening as owners may not want to trade for a Marriott week so they would have to go outside of Marriott, e.g. we're headed to a Hyatt in March which would not have been available to us through Marriott.

 

[m61376]

I can't see this happening as owners may not want to trade for a Marriott week so they would have to go outside of Marriott, e.g. we're headed to a Hyatt in March which would not have been available to us through Marriott.

I was referring to a remote possibility that Marriott might, at some future point, do week to week Marriott to Marriott exchanges internally, so that DC legacy members opting to exchange in weeks for other Marriotts would also exchange internally rather than through II. Again, this is just a "what if" type of conjecture on my part, but even the remote possibility makes me wonder if I should be "in it" just to protect myself from future changes.