Marriott Resale VS Points

pamelat108 wrote:

Hi, You posted about the point system some time ago and I am wondering if you still feel the same way. We own about an hour and half from our home and don't mind going there, though when we bought it we didn't think we would go. We've traded for a villa (Marriott always) in France, Spain, and a few other places in the states. We thought our kids would be able to join us, but they are still unable to afford airfare to exotic places, thus the Jersey Shore each year. People are telling me is going to get harder to get the weeks I want, but I thought since I had bought at this location, I could always vacation here. No? I appreciate feedback from anyone. Really don't want to put out more $$$.

Hi, our opinion is still the same. We personally feel that the point system is expensive and inequitable. In fact it probably has gotten stronger against the point system.

In your situation, our opinion and experience has shown that you can get where you own in the season you own, very consistently and don't think that will ever change.

I have been wrong many times in the past but since it is deeded, as long as the resort hasn't been booked completely by the time you make your reservation, you should be fine.

If you own one week and want to travel there each year, then the DC program is not for you. You can continue to use your villa the way you always. You can still use II and in most cases you will still be able to trade. The points system is advantageous if you want to really improve your chances of finding out if you can get into a resort in a high demand area earlier than II would let you know. This can be crucial if you are trying to make airline reservations. Also, if your resort does not provide you with ample points, then I would not join if I only had one week.

I only have one week, but since it's in Hawaii, I get quite a bit of points and can stay for a couple of weeks in 2 bedrooms depending on the resort. I also like the points system because I have the abiity to rent points from another Marriott owner. They rent anywhere from .40-.60 per point. This can be a tremendous deal in that I can use points to rent more or larger units and not have to worry about paying exhorbitant maintenance fees each year. On top of that I can buy only the amount of points that I need.

pamelat108 wrote:

Hi, You posted about the point system some time ago and I am wondering if you still feel the same way. We own about an hour and half from our home and don't mind going there, though when we bought it we didn't think we would go. We've traded for a villa (Marriott always) in France, Spain, and a few other places in the states. We thought our kids would be able to join us, but they are still unable to afford airfare to exotic places, thus the Jersey Shore each year. People are telling me is going to get harder to get the weeks I want, but I thought since I had bought at this location, I could always vacation here. No? I appreciate feedback from anyone. Really don't want to put out more $$$.

What is the process of "renting" points? How does that work?

The renting process is fairly simple with Marriott. A couple of members of Timeshare Users Group (TUG) has put together a website in which Marriott owners can transfer points from one another through Marriott. Go to vacationpointexchange.com and you will see the site. On the site there are various owners who are renting the points. You can contact via email though the site and you purchase via paypal. This is being taken advantage of by legacy owners and people seem to be very, very happy with it. I would suggest you go to TUG and search through TUG and you will see various comments about it from lots of people who have used it.

Because we only have an EOY property and only bought 1000 DC pts. we were concerned as to whether we could get what we want out of our Marriott experience. Fortunately, we have a ton of Marriott Rewards Pts. and other timeshares so we do quite well. When we get rid of a couple of our other timeshare we will buy another Marriott resale property through Marriott. Buy through Marriott so you still will get Marriott Reward Points. We resently endured another DC points presentation. The cost of points is foolish. I do like that you can get what you want through the DC pts., but your dearly pay for the convenience.

.

I suggest looking into buying a resale week directly from Marriott and enrolling in their Destinations Point program for a good value and potentially some savings on the yearly maintenance fees. I also discovered that even after you have selected to take the Destination Points, the Destinations desk can help you use those points to book weeks in Interval. The number of points required is tied to the demand index, not the caliber of the individual resort. In looking at the point redemption chart, it appears to represent a fair value, particularly if one of the Marriott caliber villas are available. This was good news because it allows you some flexibility, even after you have made a decision to convert your legacy usage toward Destination Points and preserve some of the points if you can use a lower demand season or smaller unit.

I hope the following chart flows well on this thread

For those not already in the Destination Program, a Legacy Week would commonly provide you between 2750 to 5000 of these points in a given year, depending the location, size and season you bought.

Travel Demand Index (TDI) Based Exchange Values Full-Week Exchange Values TDI Range Studio 1 Bed 2 Bed 3 Bed 2,250 3,000 4,500 6,000 140-150 Peak 1,750 2,750 4,000 5,000 115-135 High 1,500 2,250 3,000 4,000 90-110 Medium 1,000 1,500 2,250 3,000 50-85 Low

For any European Marriott Vacation Club member with less than 4 weeks timeshare then buy a resale and save up to 70% off the joining costs.

Destination Points for European inventory does not get you like for like more than 5 nights unless you go in a smaller apartment or travel in lower season.

Keep it simple and exchange with Interval International a week for a week and have a choice of 2800 worldwide resorts not just 52 with only 4 in Europe.

You can usually buy Getaways on Interval International in most the Marriott Vacation Club resorts outside of Europe at most times of year anyway for less than the maintenance fee.