So I would pay the fees every year whether I enrolled my week or not? I see that as an increase over what I am paying now by $195 worse case to $50 best case. Also no one has commented on whether I would be still get 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom as I have through II. It seems like by what they were showing me I would be lucky to get one week and probably not prime time.
Every year you would pay $185 for your Destination Club dues (I'm not sure where the $195 quoted earlier came from. As dioxide45 said above, the 2016 fee is $185) - but that would be in lieu of all other II fees for your Marriott week - no trade fees, lockoff fees, etc. Even if you traded your week through II as you always have, you would not pay for those transactions. Remember enrollment in the points program does not commit you to using the points product every year - it just gives you the OPTION to use points if you so choose. You can still trade through II as you always have, just with no transaction by transaction fees. Marriott will give you a special corporate account with II for your Marriott week.
You will also need to maintain your separate II account for your non-Marriott weeks, so you will still pay $89/year for that as well. Total cost per year will be $274 ($185 + $89) with no additional fees for your Marriott trades or points transactions.
You said you would get 3000+ points whenever you elect for points, so no, there are very few places where you could get two, 2BR weeks with that amount except primarily in off season in some locations (in Hilton Head for example, 3000 points can get up to four weeks in the winter at the big oceanfront resorts and multiple weeks in the spring/summer/fall at some on the off-ocean resorts in Hilton Head.)
Your ability to lock-off and trade will generally get you more lodging nights than you can get with points, but you have to trade through II to do that. The advantages of points are in benefits other than maximizing the number of prime weeks you can "squeeze" out of the system. I think points work best for folks who:
1.) Often want to go somewhere for three or four nights rather than always seven nights;
2.) Don't like the waiting and uncertainty of weeks trading and just want to go online and book something;
3.) Want to add a few nights onto a week-long reservation;
4.) Want to travel on Sunday-Thursday nights when point requirements are much less, allowing points to be really stretched.
5.) You want to travel to some of the off-season locations where you can get three or more weeks for your points total
6.) You want to have a points account available so you can rent points on websites like vacationpointexchange.com to take extra vacations or add nights onto existing reservations
If those situations have no value to you - and you don't think they will ever be of benefit to you - then enrolling in points may not be for you. We happen to love the flexibility of points and much prefer points to weeks trading, but everyone has different needs/wants.
