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Trying to Understand the Marriott System

cbyrne1174

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100% resale!!
I've been bored at home and have been learning the Marriott system the past couple weeks and I was wondering if someone experienced with it could evaluate if this is a good idea or not. I live near Orlando and I really like the pools at the World Center and JW Marriott next to Lakeshore Reserve. I have never been to Grande Vista but it looks just like Bonnet Creek.

If I were to join Marriott down the road, is owning both weeks and points a good idea? I was thinking of getting a 2 bedroom lock-off every other year week in the Platinum season at Grande Vista. I am thinking Grande Vista is the the best deed because it's only an hour away from me and the annual MF for an every other year deed is only $725ish. I am the type of person who would keep track of the exact date I can book Christmas or 4th of July week with that deed and split the lock off up and dump both units into II for the highest possible trading ability. There are 900 units at Grande Vista so my chances of getting those weeks are pretty good if I stay on top of it.

I would want to exchange into Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach in the summer time using my weeks. I mainly stay in 1 bedroom units, but am okay with studios and 2 bedrooms. I can also exchange last minute because I'm a teacher and my husband can work remote (he's a Network Administrator). If I get a EOY week with Marriott, I would also want to own 1,000 DC points to get a free II account for my weeks and be able to stay 1-2 nights in the Orlando locations for access to their amenities during a few mini staycations throughout the year. DC point members get a free II membership with their $205 club fee correct?

This purchase is a maybe for me because Wyndham stays are much cheaper than Marriott stays since the maintenance fees are considerably lower. On average, a stay at Bonnet Creek is 40% cheaper than a stay at Grande Vista even though the resorts are the same quality and location. I was just considering it for extra variety if my finances permit it.
 

rickandcindy23

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Wyndham Founder; Disney OKW & SSR; Marriott's Willow Ridge and Shadow Ridge,Grand Chateau; Val Chatelle; Hono Koa OF (3); SBR(LOTS), SDO a few; Grand Palms(selling); WKORV-OF ,Westin Desert Willow.
The II account is not really free, I don't think. It's not free with Vistana. You pay a fee every year on top of MF's that covers II. But I think Marriott points would be a nice thing to own, as long as you can get a good deal.

Wyndham is a great system. But you can trade into almost every Wyndham with RCI Points or RCI weeks. There is so much inventory in RCI for Wyndham properties.

As crazy as this advice sounds to me, and I have seen others post this advice, but you might want to consider renting Wyndham from owners, or buying something that is easy to trade into Wyndham.

Right now, Wyndham's inventory is very low ahead a few months because vacations have been cancelled. We will be forced to bank a lot of points into RCI that we already saved to this use year. That is not something I am happy doing. But there are some resorts that are actually cheaper through exchange, even with the exchange fees. For example, a prime week at Wyndham Shearwater is 400K points for lower level through Wyndham (we own Shearwater and converted it to Wyndham points for a bargain price 10 years ago), but with exchange through Wyndham, it's 205K points + exchange fee. That makes for a bargain vacation to a place we try to stay every year. I will do that over using 400K points for the exact same thing.

And with Wyndham, we get priority into some resorts through RCI exchange. I can easily get August dates at Dolphin's Cove, for example. That is in Anaheim, and the 3 bedrooms pop up a lot for August, but only through the Wyndham portal.
 

Swice

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Several notes to consider:
1. Something to consider-- how often do you plan to "use" or if plan to "trade." The answer is harder than you think. If you are planning to use the pools, gyms, etc, consider the facilities. Lakeshore is not built out (and who knows if it will ever be). It has a nice uncrowded pool and gym. Lakeshore owners can also use the pools at the next door J.W. Marriott ("most" of the time-- except during super crowded weeks like July 4th). In addition, Lakeshore owners can get a daypass and use the Lakeshore pool even if they are not staying there. Grande Vista has several pools but there is NO additional pool usage at a neighboring hotel. The World Center Marriott Hotel is next to Sabal, Imperial and Royal Palms timeshares. You CAN use the World Center pool if you are at one of those properties. In fact, the pools at the various palms timeshares are small and really not much of an attraction.
2. Even if you set your clock, you may not be able to reserve Christmas, July 4th, etc. I have yet to reserve my Lakeshore unit for either of the Christmas weeks since it opened (because I would rent those weeks-- hee hee You will not catch me dead at a theme park those weeks).
3. I typically split my Lakeshore into two one bedrooms for trading purposes. I usually seek trades down season at Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head and for the most part I've had good luck. But note, the Marriotts in South Carolina are all two bedroom units... so you would have to pay an "up" charge to trade a one bedroom into a two bedroom unit EVEN IF you are trading down season.
Trading a two bedroom Orlando for a two bedroom South Carolina during the summer is possible, but not guaranteed. There is a LOT of demand for South Carolina Marriotts in summer.
 

Steve Fatula

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Well, good idea is more up to you than anyone else. As far as owning the week and getting "free II account", that only applies if you get your week enrolled. If you don't buy from Marriott, you can't get the week enrolled very easily. A hybrid purchase with Marriott would allow you to get the points, and your week enrolled but won't be cheap. So, the key question I have is where were you planning to acquire the week? I am thinking you may have thought buying a cheap resale from a third party and 1000 points from Marriott would allow you to do use the corporate II account, it will not.

The points would definitely be useful for the short stays you are describing, and potentially to add more days to any week you might use for cheaper flights or just more than 7 day stays.
 

cbyrne1174

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I was going to get the week and DC points resale off Redweek or Ebay. I was thinking a week would cost $1500 and 1,000 points would cost $5,000. So I would have to pay the $99 II membership fee every year I traded my week?
 

Fasttr

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I was going to get the week and DC points resale off Redweek or Ebay. I was thinking a week would cost $1500 and 1,000 points would cost $5,000. So I would have to pay the $99 II membership fee every year I traded my week?
Once you pay the $3 per point to have your resale points recognized, you will get an II account. The issue is that you cannot put your resale week into that corporate provided II account....you would need a separate II account in order to trade that recently acquired resale week.
 

jmhpsu93

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Whatever is your choice, move quickly as it seems MVCI is not exercising ROFR for much of anything right now. You could easily pick up what you're looking for prices you mentioned, even with the enrollment fees. I just picked up 1,000 DC points for $0.76/point and it cleared ROFR so that's $3,760 all in. Also, you need at least 1,500 points to maintain a point account - it's called a "beneficial interest" in the program.

As for your trading plan, the Grande Vista units trade really well, especially if you're just looking to double-down your lockoff back into summer Orlando units. Grande Vista units are on II all the time, even for my gold season weeks. Not sure about Hilton Head as I mostly see things February/March and then October 1st on with my gold seasons - maybe platinum would fare better but as noted above summer HH weeks are very high demand.
 

Steve Fatula

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Once you pay the $3 per point to have your resale points recognized, you will get an II account. The issue is that you cannot put your resale week into that corporate provided II account....you would need a separate II account in order to trade that recently acquired resale week.

Yes, and you would have to pay all the exchange fees, lockoff fees. I just wanted to make sure the OP realized he won't have an enrolled week where he can use the corporate account since he said he wanted to. To get all that would cost a ton of money.
 

cbyrne1174

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Once you pay the $3 per point to have your resale points recognized, you will get an II account. The issue is that you cannot put your resale week into that corporate provided II account....you would need a separate II account in order to trade that recently acquired resale week.


Whatever is your choice, move quickly as it seems MVCI is not exercising ROFR for much of anything right now. You could easily pick up what you're looking for prices you mentioned, even with the enrollment fees. I just picked up 1,000 DC points for $0.76/point and it cleared ROFR so that's $3,760 all in. Also, you need at least 1,500 points to maintain a point account - it's called a "beneficial interest" in the program.

As for your trading plan, the Grande Vista units trade really well, especially if you're just looking to double-down your lockoff back into summer Orlando units. Grande Vista units are on II all the time, even for my gold season weeks. Not sure about Hilton Head as I mostly see things February/March and then October 1st on with my gold seasons - maybe platinum would fare better but as noted above summer HH weeks are very high demand.

Thanks! that's all I needed to know! If I go with Marriott, I will probably just get an EOY Grande Vista 2 bedroom lock-off platinum week deed for next to nothing and only maintain an II membership every other year. For short stays in Orlando, I can probably just get a Saratoga Springs resale contract. I noticed how expensive weekends are using DC points. They barely cost extra using DVC points. For example, Sun-Thurs is 10 points a night at Old Key West and 13 points a night Fri-sat (30% more expensive). A lakeshore Reserve deluxe studio is 425 DC points on Fri-Sat and only 175 DC points on a weekday (142% more expensive).
 

cbyrne1174

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Yes, and you would have to pay all the exchange fees, lockoff fees. I just wanted to make sure the OP realized he won't have an enrolled week where he can use the corporate account since he said he wanted to. To get all that would cost a ton of money.

Here is my math for owning an EOY Grande Vista lock-off and trading it in II to get two 2 bedroom units:

II membership fee: $99
Fee to split lock off: $90
Upgrade fee: $99 per bump
Exchange fee: $154
2020 Maintenance fee for 2 Bedroom lock-off at Grande Vista: $1450

So splitting my lock-off into 2 units, dumping them into II and trading up to two 2 bedroom units will cost $2244 every two years including an II membership every other year. I will never stay in a 3 bedroom, so that's my calculated maximum expense.
 

frank808

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Disney Vacation Club (Aulani,SSR,VGC,VGF) Hilton Grand Vacation Club(Bay Club, Kohala Suites, The District) Marriott Vacation Club (Aruba Surf Club, Grand Residence, Grand Chateau, Grand Vista,Harbour Lake, KoOlina,Willow Ridge & DC points)
I was going to get the week and DC points resale off Redweek or Ebay. I was thinking a week would cost $1500 and 1,000 points would cost $5,000. So I would have to pay the $99 II membership fee every year I traded my week?
You will have to pay the $99 membership fee every year even in the off years. Unless you deposit and trade within that one year membership. You can buy multiple years for cheaper. II has I think pay $396 for 5 year membership.

As Steve mentioned, the only way to get an outside (not bought directly from Marriott) resale week enrolled is to purchase points directly from MVC. I believe it was purchase 2500 points to enroll one week. That is around $30k to enroll the one week. Cheaper to just purchase your weeks and points resale. It will take you almost a CENTURY of paying lockoff, trade fees and membership fees to make it worthwhile buying 2500 points from MVC.

Lock off fee $90+trade feesx2 $308+II membership fee $99= $497 savings per year
Subtract annual DC member fee $205 and you save $292 per year annually. Divide $292 into the $25k (premium of direct vs resale) it would take 85+ years to break even. If you are buying an eoy it would take over a century in the direct vs resale argument.

Sent from my SM-T377P using Tapatalk
 

jont

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If you want to go to SC in the summer, I would buy a resale week there. The big 3 will be aa little expensive but you will at least be guaranteed a week. II exchanges are possible, but somewhat difficult. Your best bet using an II trade for a summer week on HH would be mid to late August. The good part about owing a TS in SC is the the summer weeks rent fairly well and you could easily recoup your MF plus. this would in theory enable you to go every other year for free. you also would not need an II account.
Just some food for thought
 

jmhpsu93

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Here is my math for owning an EOY Grande Vista lock-off and trading it in II to get two 2 bedroom units:

II membership fee: $99
Fee to split lock off: $90
Upgrade fee: $99 per bump
Exchange fee: $154
2020 Maintenance fee for 2 Bedroom lock-off at Grande Vista: $1450

So splitting my lock-off into 2 units, dumping them into II and trading up to two 2 bedroom units will cost $2244 every two years including an II membership every other year. I will never stay in a 3 bedroom, so that's my calculated maximum expense.
As noted above, the II membership fee is every year unless you want to go through the hassle of closing and reopening an account, and you'd have to be tricky with timing on that. Otherwise your math is good (though my Grande Vista lockoff is a little higher MF...like $1482 I think?).
 

dansimms

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Try to pick up a Grand Vista unit that is part of The Florida Club. Most, but not all are . An every other year with a matching number of Trust Points, bought from Marriott would probably be in the range of about $9 per point , blended average . Perhaps a total cost of about $27,000 and an annual maintenance fee of about $1600, yielding about 3000 Point potential each year.
 

cbyrne1174

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I bought my Wyndham membership for less than $1,000 and it's equivalent to about 10,000 DC points according to the timeshare comparison chart and my MF are $2,790 a year. It seems Marriott is significantly more expensive for what you get. If I do pick something up, it will probably be just an EOY lock off to trade for summer months in Florida.
 
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