Hi all! I am considering purchasing a family friend's Marriott timeshare and wanted to understand a few things first.
There are 2 separate timeshares in the account:
1) Is a week at Marriott’s Grande Vista in Orlando. 2 Bedroom + 2 Bath. Season: Platinum
It says “Enrolled” (I believe this means points)
2) Is points. It's unclear how many points. I was given the owner portal but because I see the week was enrolled, I don’t know how to tell how much of the timeshare is the straight points versus how much are the points from the enrolled week.
It shows for 2024 that there are 2,500 Banked Trust Points and 2,500 Trust Points and for 2023 there are 2,100 Banked Trust Points. I’m not sure if because travel was booked for 2023 and so points were used, or borrowed from, or banked from prior years, or how to tell what the amount of the paid annual points is.
The owner's loan balance is $15,000. I believe this is just for the points, not for the week at Grande Vista which they said is paid off.
Total MF for both timeshares appears to be approx. $2,800/year, but it’s split into 4 payments annually. So not sure which payment is for which timeshare. Looks like the Orlando week is ~$1400/year based on the charts provided by members here.
A few questions because even though I’ve been playing airline/hotel points games for years, I am a newbie at timeshares and you all seem to be absolute pros!!
1) For the week at Grande Vista, how do I find out if it is a fixed week or floating. And what season it is? All I see is Platinum. (When I see this posting, it seems that Platinum is high season, but how do I confirm this? I want to make sure it trades favorably at other Marriott resorts and on Interval International bc I have very little intention of going to Orlando annually. https://www.redweek.com/posting/R994702)
2) How do I confirm the number of points the Grande Vista 2 BR Platinum week converts to? Both for Marriott and for II? Is there a chart that shows this, or should I call Marriott? (I found this link in the FAQ, which seems to show 2BR Platinum as 2,775 points: http://historical.vacationpointexchange.com). Unfortunately, this does not seem to convert well when I see how many points are needed to book Waikoloa on Big Island, or for Mar Bella in Spain, as examples.
3) For the Grande Vista week, this page (https://owners.marriottvacationclub.com/timeshare/mvco/enroll) shows that there is a fee to enroll. "As an Owner, you have the option to enroll in the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program (the "Exchange Program"). You may enroll week(s) purchased from Marriott Vacation Club or its affiliates in the Exchange Program for only $595 for enrollment of one week and $695 for enrollment of more than one week." So does that mean that fee needs to be paid every year to enroll it in points, or was it done one-time? That seems like quite a cost to enroll every year…why would I want a week versus points if I keep needing to convert to points each year for a fee? For context, week was purchased by original owner in 2016.
4) I have read on here about 2 BR lock-offs being desirable because they can be split (somehow??) into two different booking weeks when exchanging. I’m not quite sure how to do that, but the first question would be how do I find out if this is a 2 bedroom lock off or not? And I guess if it is enrolled in points, maybe that becomes a moot point.
5) From a value perspective how do I assess the value of these two timeshares in order to purchase? My assumption at the moment is I could purchase them for the price of the outstanding balance because that’s why the current owner wants to sell — to get rid of all the payments — either take over the loan for $400/month or pay it off. (I would personally pay off the $15k and own them outright.) Part One of this question is — at $15k am I overpaying for these two timeshares? And Part Two is (because it’s a family friend and I want to be fair) am I compensating fairly if I take over both for the $15k?
5) Is there any benefit to keeping it in the original owner's name and me taking over payments of the MF versus deeding it in my name, e.g. are there any benefits that get stripped during a resale? (Reading the FAQ it seems that as a resale it is not eligible for points enrollment, but is it now permanently enrolled by the original owner and therefore eligible to new owner (me)? Or do I have to enroll it every year, and do I lose that right if I buy it resale? Week was purchased in 2016. https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/m...destination-points-timeshare-faq-guide.197346)
***
Side note for context: I am currently under contract for Westin Flex, purchased by the developer at West Desert Willows. Fortunately,
this is what brought me to TUGs! I am still within the 10 day rescind period, so am currently weighing my options, as advised.
I paid $18,000 including closing costs for 44,000 Westin Flex points (~ 1 bedroom 1 week) with $1,080 annual MF, and as incentives got 88,000 additional points to use by 2024, deferred the MF payments til 2024, and earned 200,000 Bonvoy points for using the Amex. Also got 6 of the "buy 330,000 Bonvoy points for ~$2,500” deals. Pretty standard probably.
I usually say no to timeshares at presentations, but the reasons I was sold on this one was:
The flexibility of the point system—I really don’t like having any sort of fixed week anywhere, I want to be able to tack on 3 days in a resort as part of a longer trip, 2 days here in a studio, etc. We are not the kind (yet?) who go to 1 place each year, we try to go to a new place every year.
The Marriott Bonvoy points, which we can use at regular hotels too. I tend to use points to string together travel across a country, and also for short getaways in Southern California.
The ability to exchange on Interval International. I can’t tell if it’s a scam or not but I see getaway prices for like $350 for the week, and since I tend to be able to travel with very flexible dates and will work around a deal, I like this. I can’t tell if those prices are real or not or they’re just an exchange booking fee and then I am responsible for that year’s MF for the other person’s timeshare. But if I can work the II system I really like this option for the rest of our travel outside our timeshare points.
I have been looking at booking travel after not traveling for a couple years, and wow prices have gone up. Also we now have a baby, and we used to do much more budget travel so would never pay these hotel prices anyway (if comparing ROI) but after a week in Westin Palm Desert Willows I am seeing the benefit of at least ONE week per year just being NICE, and EASY in a villa! lol. and seems like timeshare is a good way to just guarantee that we will do that every year ongoingly.
The sales pitch was that we were buying into the Marriott merger at Westin prices, and soon (in June 2022) we would have access to all of the Marriott resorts as well as Westin. That Marriott owners were coming over to Westin to stock up on points before the merger, at this soft launch (April 2022). I am also down for all the Westin locations, they seem great, but I want access to Marriott locations as well. I did go over to the Marriott Shadow Ridge the next day and confirm with the salesperson that 2,500 points (which was quoted vaguely by the salesperson to be “about a week in a 1 bedroom") started at $30,000. So $18,000 didn’t seem so bad...
I understand that the resale Vistana timeshares are restricted somehow in the kind of points I can use, though I don’t totally understand how. I like the threads where people buy Vistana resale, then go to developer and have them reinstated along with the new purchase. But looking through the forums I am slightly concerned about the 12 month / 8 month booking windows with the Westin Flex trust, what is and is not included, and if that will severely limit my access to Marriott properties. I feel these are things that I might get stuck with not being able to travel to the places I want to go. I’m also concerned that we bought one week of Westin but if I wanted to go to a Marriott Hawaii resort for example I might only get enough points to stay for like 5 days instead of 7 because of the exchange.
Once I own I know that I will play around with rental income, exchanges, etc, but I just don’t want to have started off on the wrong foot locking myself into Westin Flex if it’s not the best way to access the most possible points for exchanges.
All that to say that now this family friend opportunity to buy the Marriott timeshares presented itself, and so if I really want Marriott access through Westin, why not buy the Marriott resale instead? But I’m having a hard time figuring out the valuation and it seems I am comparing apples to oranges!
I hope that was enough info and context. Thanks in advance for the help and I am excited to become an owner soon and play the vacation game with you all!
There are 2 separate timeshares in the account:
1) Is a week at Marriott’s Grande Vista in Orlando. 2 Bedroom + 2 Bath. Season: Platinum
It says “Enrolled” (I believe this means points)
2) Is points. It's unclear how many points. I was given the owner portal but because I see the week was enrolled, I don’t know how to tell how much of the timeshare is the straight points versus how much are the points from the enrolled week.
It shows for 2024 that there are 2,500 Banked Trust Points and 2,500 Trust Points and for 2023 there are 2,100 Banked Trust Points. I’m not sure if because travel was booked for 2023 and so points were used, or borrowed from, or banked from prior years, or how to tell what the amount of the paid annual points is.
The owner's loan balance is $15,000. I believe this is just for the points, not for the week at Grande Vista which they said is paid off.
Total MF for both timeshares appears to be approx. $2,800/year, but it’s split into 4 payments annually. So not sure which payment is for which timeshare. Looks like the Orlando week is ~$1400/year based on the charts provided by members here.
A few questions because even though I’ve been playing airline/hotel points games for years, I am a newbie at timeshares and you all seem to be absolute pros!!
1) For the week at Grande Vista, how do I find out if it is a fixed week or floating. And what season it is? All I see is Platinum. (When I see this posting, it seems that Platinum is high season, but how do I confirm this? I want to make sure it trades favorably at other Marriott resorts and on Interval International bc I have very little intention of going to Orlando annually. https://www.redweek.com/posting/R994702)
2) How do I confirm the number of points the Grande Vista 2 BR Platinum week converts to? Both for Marriott and for II? Is there a chart that shows this, or should I call Marriott? (I found this link in the FAQ, which seems to show 2BR Platinum as 2,775 points: http://historical.vacationpointexchange.com). Unfortunately, this does not seem to convert well when I see how many points are needed to book Waikoloa on Big Island, or for Mar Bella in Spain, as examples.
3) For the Grande Vista week, this page (https://owners.marriottvacationclub.com/timeshare/mvco/enroll) shows that there is a fee to enroll. "As an Owner, you have the option to enroll in the Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Exchange Program (the "Exchange Program"). You may enroll week(s) purchased from Marriott Vacation Club or its affiliates in the Exchange Program for only $595 for enrollment of one week and $695 for enrollment of more than one week." So does that mean that fee needs to be paid every year to enroll it in points, or was it done one-time? That seems like quite a cost to enroll every year…why would I want a week versus points if I keep needing to convert to points each year for a fee? For context, week was purchased by original owner in 2016.
4) I have read on here about 2 BR lock-offs being desirable because they can be split (somehow??) into two different booking weeks when exchanging. I’m not quite sure how to do that, but the first question would be how do I find out if this is a 2 bedroom lock off or not? And I guess if it is enrolled in points, maybe that becomes a moot point.
5) From a value perspective how do I assess the value of these two timeshares in order to purchase? My assumption at the moment is I could purchase them for the price of the outstanding balance because that’s why the current owner wants to sell — to get rid of all the payments — either take over the loan for $400/month or pay it off. (I would personally pay off the $15k and own them outright.) Part One of this question is — at $15k am I overpaying for these two timeshares? And Part Two is (because it’s a family friend and I want to be fair) am I compensating fairly if I take over both for the $15k?
5) Is there any benefit to keeping it in the original owner's name and me taking over payments of the MF versus deeding it in my name, e.g. are there any benefits that get stripped during a resale? (Reading the FAQ it seems that as a resale it is not eligible for points enrollment, but is it now permanently enrolled by the original owner and therefore eligible to new owner (me)? Or do I have to enroll it every year, and do I lose that right if I buy it resale? Week was purchased in 2016. https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/m...destination-points-timeshare-faq-guide.197346)
***
Side note for context: I am currently under contract for Westin Flex, purchased by the developer at West Desert Willows. Fortunately,
this is what brought me to TUGs! I am still within the 10 day rescind period, so am currently weighing my options, as advised.
I paid $18,000 including closing costs for 44,000 Westin Flex points (~ 1 bedroom 1 week) with $1,080 annual MF, and as incentives got 88,000 additional points to use by 2024, deferred the MF payments til 2024, and earned 200,000 Bonvoy points for using the Amex. Also got 6 of the "buy 330,000 Bonvoy points for ~$2,500” deals. Pretty standard probably.
I usually say no to timeshares at presentations, but the reasons I was sold on this one was:
The flexibility of the point system—I really don’t like having any sort of fixed week anywhere, I want to be able to tack on 3 days in a resort as part of a longer trip, 2 days here in a studio, etc. We are not the kind (yet?) who go to 1 place each year, we try to go to a new place every year.
The Marriott Bonvoy points, which we can use at regular hotels too. I tend to use points to string together travel across a country, and also for short getaways in Southern California.
The ability to exchange on Interval International. I can’t tell if it’s a scam or not but I see getaway prices for like $350 for the week, and since I tend to be able to travel with very flexible dates and will work around a deal, I like this. I can’t tell if those prices are real or not or they’re just an exchange booking fee and then I am responsible for that year’s MF for the other person’s timeshare. But if I can work the II system I really like this option for the rest of our travel outside our timeshare points.
I have been looking at booking travel after not traveling for a couple years, and wow prices have gone up. Also we now have a baby, and we used to do much more budget travel so would never pay these hotel prices anyway (if comparing ROI) but after a week in Westin Palm Desert Willows I am seeing the benefit of at least ONE week per year just being NICE, and EASY in a villa! lol. and seems like timeshare is a good way to just guarantee that we will do that every year ongoingly.
The sales pitch was that we were buying into the Marriott merger at Westin prices, and soon (in June 2022) we would have access to all of the Marriott resorts as well as Westin. That Marriott owners were coming over to Westin to stock up on points before the merger, at this soft launch (April 2022). I am also down for all the Westin locations, they seem great, but I want access to Marriott locations as well. I did go over to the Marriott Shadow Ridge the next day and confirm with the salesperson that 2,500 points (which was quoted vaguely by the salesperson to be “about a week in a 1 bedroom") started at $30,000. So $18,000 didn’t seem so bad...
I understand that the resale Vistana timeshares are restricted somehow in the kind of points I can use, though I don’t totally understand how. I like the threads where people buy Vistana resale, then go to developer and have them reinstated along with the new purchase. But looking through the forums I am slightly concerned about the 12 month / 8 month booking windows with the Westin Flex trust, what is and is not included, and if that will severely limit my access to Marriott properties. I feel these are things that I might get stuck with not being able to travel to the places I want to go. I’m also concerned that we bought one week of Westin but if I wanted to go to a Marriott Hawaii resort for example I might only get enough points to stay for like 5 days instead of 7 because of the exchange.
Once I own I know that I will play around with rental income, exchanges, etc, but I just don’t want to have started off on the wrong foot locking myself into Westin Flex if it’s not the best way to access the most possible points for exchanges.
All that to say that now this family friend opportunity to buy the Marriott timeshares presented itself, and so if I really want Marriott access through Westin, why not buy the Marriott resale instead? But I’m having a hard time figuring out the valuation and it seems I am comparing apples to oranges!
I hope that was enough info and context. Thanks in advance for the help and I am excited to become an owner soon and play the vacation game with you all!
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