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So I am about to join the ranks...

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sugar apple

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of Marriott owners. I received the fall special which gives you 200,000 points if you finance through Marriott in addition to the trade in points if I do not use my villa. I was originally buying at Frenchman's cove but thanks to Tug, I found out that they were doing the EOY there. Why aren't they advertising that heavily?

Anyhoos, I did the EOY at Aruba (gold) and FC (platinum) with Aruba starting in '08. Now, I was initially buing FC with usage starting in 2009. I think I got a good deal. Oh, financing did not work (I am working on my credit) but they gave me the 200,000 points anyway because I tried. Any thoughts on my deal? Should I still be beaming with excitement?

:p
 

sugar apple

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hmmmm aruba was not available for eoy, so I took Las Vegas. Thought please?????
 

Dave M

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I can't say I'm impressed.

I own at Grand Chateau because I'll use it, but it's not a great trader compared to many (most?) other Marriotts. No 2008 GC weeks qualify for an AC. Worse, you're paying developer prices and there are some nicely priced units on the resale market.

If you really, really want to go St. Thomas every other year, that's great. Otherwise, you have spent a lot more money than you needed to for great Marriott vacations - and the points don't make up for the difference in price.

If you really want those St. Thomas vacations, consider keeping it. Otherwise, you should consider rescinding.

For full disclosure, I have purchased three timeshares from Marriott and I think there are some good reasons and times to do so. Is this one of those times? Only you can make that decision.
 

sugar apple

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after my PM,

:( sounds like I was excited for nothing. Thanks for the insight Dave. I received a PM basically telling me the same thing. Needless to say, I am looking for resales now.

Dave, if you want to point me in the direction of the resales that are pretty good deals, I am all eyes.

Thanks again!!!
 

davemy

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MGC did get a AC

My mgc did get a AC for 2008, I deposited my 1 bedroom portion in late Sept or early Oct. Most important it is still has the lock off feature.
 

m61376

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I assume you realize this, but...if you signed a contract you must rescind immediately, following the directions in your paperwork. Make sure to send a certified/return receipt letter and it must be postmarked by the rescind date.

Good luck, and welcome to Tug. BTW- you did the right thing to change your mind. Read the stickies at the top of the Buying/selling/renting forum for info. on buying resale, including a list of popular sites. Feel free to ask questions here along the way.
:wave:
 

sugar apple

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I need guidance....

i really want aruba surf club. I would take annual if I could afford it. I really want the gold season. I got that offer from Marriott and after all my months of research, this was the one time share that I said I would get from the developer. I like the program but I do not think this is the best deal but everything else is super expensive.

The sales rep called back and said he found a EOY Aruba so MGC is out the question. I would get 90K points for trade for Aruba and 110K for St. Thomas. I picked St. Thomas because I like that Island and hubby loves Aruba so I figure every other year we can alternate or trade the St. Thomas platinum week for an Aruba unit if we need to visit again the following year. With all of this, I still get the 200K for financing. I know I could get annual Aruba for around 20K but can I get both for cheaper than what Marriott is selling them for-34K?

Please let me know your thoughts folks. I see people do alot with the points.
 

jimf41

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Do you realize that financing through Marriott is going to cost you 5k a year? Marriott will sell you 200k points for $2700. As far as the sales rep telling you you can still have the 200k points just for trying, please send me his name I want to buy from him next time. As far as the EOY thing goes it's a bad deal. Pick one resort go annually and trade for the other EOY. Aruba is your best bet to buy resale as there aren't many in St Thomas on the market yet and those that are listed are asking very high for resale. I own in FC and I've been to Aruba. They are totally different resorts and totally different folks go to them. In St Thomas they pretty much roll up the streets after 10 Pm, in Aruba there is much more of a nightlife atmosphere. I'm surprised you would want to go EOY to both of them.

Jim Freeman
 

sugar apple

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Jim,

I am not financing through Marriott, the incentive to do so was 200K but that fell through so I will get the 200K anyway. I am more laid back (st. thomas) and hubby is more hmmmm "arubaish". That's why this sounded like a good deal. I thought EOY deals were good.
 

m61376

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If you buy Gold Aruba it will cost you less than the 20K you are figuring on. Depending upon the view and the deal you get, you are talking more mid teens. You can do a little better on the SC during Gold season than Platinum; units can be found at around 40% off.

You mention wanting SC Gold and FC Platinum. Are these the time periods you want to travel in? If you are tied to the school holidays then Plat. FC may not be your best bet...of course, if you're not tied to a schedule, then that's great.

I'd pick my preferred location and buy it resale, save lots of $$'s and try to trade EOY. If you do it far enough in advance and are flexible with dates, you should be successful; do request first if you want to make sure that you keep your original unit. On the other hand, if you deposit a good summer Aruba week, for ex., II will give you an AC, so you can get an additional week out of the deal. Soemthing to at least consider.

Good luck and welcome to TUG :wave:
 

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As far as the EOY thing goes it's a bad deal. Pick one resort go annually and trade for the other EOY.

Jim,
I do not agree with you here. I love the 2 EOY concept. It costs additional money to buy an annual unit to trade it every other year (you have II membership fees and trade fees). If they know they want to travel to each location EOY, then this would work perfect for them. Although, I do not know if I would purchase from the developer again unless they gave us some bookoo points, and 200K is just not enough for the price difference. However, right now I think you can only purchase EOY St Thomas from the developer because they just released those weeks. Something to consider.

The other nice thing about buy 2 EOY weeks, is you can buy them for the same use year and then get the 13 month priority. This is great when considering locations like Hawaii. I know for us the only way we are making it back to Hawaii is to go for 2 weeks. Not so useful for us for the Caribbean though.

Good luck with your decision, sugar apple. I do believe you can get an annual Aruba for a lot cheaper than the developer price though, St Thomas is not the case at this time. Check out dioxides ROFR page to get an idea of what is passing ROFR. Here's the site : http://dioxide45.tripod.com/rofr.html
 

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Michelle
The 13 month priority only works if you book two weeks concurrently or simultaneously. In sugar apple's case buying a gold Surf Club and a plat FC the only weeks that match up on the two calendars are 17-18 and 44-50. If she bought one annual at SC her lockout would pull in a 2bdrm at Aruba, FC and St Kitts during weeks 44-50. II's and Marriott's fee's for that transaction would be around $250. FC doesn't have lockout's so it's not a consideration there. As far as pricing it's 60% of the annual to buy EOY from Marriott. Buying two resorts at the same time would mean paying 60% of the annual cost at each resort or a 20% premium. Sugar Apple didn't say what the price of both of these EOY units is from Marriott but I would guess it's over 40k. It sure seems to me that an annual resale at SC for 20k is a better deal than two EOY's through Marriott.

Jim Freeman
 

potchak

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Michelle
The 13 month priority only works if you book two weeks concurrently or simultaneously. In sugar apple's case buying a gold Surf Club and a plat FC the only weeks that match up on the two calendars are 17-18 and 44-50. If she bought one annual at SC her lockout would pull in a 2bdrm at Aruba, FC and St Kitts during weeks 44-50. II's and Marriott's fee's for that transaction would be around $250. FC doesn't have lockout's so it's not a consideration there. As far as pricing it's 60% of the annual to buy EOY from Marriott. Buying two resorts at the same time would mean paying 60% of the annual cost at each resort or a 20% premium. Sugar Apple didn't say what the price of both of these EOY units is from Marriott but I would guess it's over 40k. It sure seems to me that an annual resale at SC for 20k is a better deal than two EOY's through Marriott.

Jim Freeman

I was merely making a point that 2 EOY's in the same year are great for places like Hawaii where you would want to go for 2 weeks and getting 13 mo priority, not suggesting Sugar apple purchase them for the same year. I got the impression they wanted them for every other year usage anyway to alternate their vacations.

Also, if you buy 2-EOY at the same time from Marriott, it is NOT the 60% price, but 50% of the EY price. That is the nice selling feature that they have right now. Therefore there is no additional premium (other than normal developer pricing) to buying 2 EOY. I bought my Waiohai and Timberlodge this way.
 

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Buying two resorts at the same time would mean paying 60% of the annual cost at each resort or a 20% premium.
For the most part, that's not accurate. Buying one EOY from Marriott costs 60% of an EY timeshare price, as you stated. However, Marriott will usually sell two EOY weeks - at the same or different resorts - for 50% (each) of the normal EY price.
 

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Thanks for all the insight guys as I really need it. The price from Marriott for the EOY deal is about 32K.

Dave, I know you replied before but what would Dave do? I just thought the EOY deal was a good plan to get two vacations for the price of one. Maybe I should try to add another location to the EOY with FC and buy Aruba one day on the resale. :shrug:
 

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....what would Dave do?
I wouldn't buy. But that's because those two resorts aren't on my personal "have to own" list. :)

Seriously, you have identified one of the few key situations where I believe it can make sense to purchase from the developer. There are no FC EOY weeks available on the resale market and there likely won't be for a year or more. Thus, your choice is to buy now at a higher cost or wait a year or more, renting at FC if you want to stay there in the meantime.

All of us could easily say, "You're paying too much! Wait for resale." My guess is that there are very few of us who make all financial decisions based solely on economics. I don't. I have purchased three times directly from Marriott. In each case, like yours, sales at the resort had just commenced, there were no resales available and my materialistic side wanted those timeshares now! I haven't been sorry once.

If you don't want to wait, go for it.
 

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I would agree with Dave. If EOY in St Thomas and EOY aruba is what you want, this is the only way you will get it, in the near future anyway. EOY aruba are very hard if not impossible to find resale, and EOY St Thomas is not available in resale, only developer. Personally I like the decision if you are willing to spend the money.

Keep in mind though that Aruba is a right to use, and not a deed. Although not a typical one from I have heard. If the Aruban govt decides to not renew the lease, the current owners will get a certain amount based on the improvements made. Just something to think about.
 

sugar apple

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I ended up going through with the deal. I am excited about it and I would like to thank all of you for your input. I love it here. :clap:
 

m61376

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I ended up going through with the deal. I am excited about it and I would like to thank all of you for your input. I love it here. :clap:

Congrats and welcome to Tug!
 

potchak

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Congrats! We have been so happy with our first purchase, we made two more within a year! Hopefully we are out of the timeshare buying business. :)

I am certain you will love your Marriotts!
 
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