We're considering adding Marriott Vacation Club points membership. Pros and cons?

Hi, Redweek folks!

My wife and I have (and have seen solid value) from 2 Disney Vacation Club and a Hilton Grand Vacation Club memberships.

We're considering adding a Marriott Point membership (~1500 - 2000 points) to get more vacation destination options beyond those two.

Our question is: What are the pros and cons of the Marriott program and what you might recommend... and why.

Thank you for your kind input.

We are also owners of both DVC and Marriott. We love them both for different reasons but there are some things you should know. With DVC you have a home resort priority (11 month booking window). With MVC points, you don't have a home resort. Booking windows are determined by your level of ownership. Low level point owners book 12 months in advance and higher level owners (6,000 +) get 13 months. Higher level point owners also have additional options not available to lower level owners. With DVC if you want to stay at BC during wine festival, you need to own there. With MVC if you want to go to the Caribbean in the winter, you need to own more than 6,000 points. MVC has far more options than DVC, so you'll never get completely shut out but know that there will be limitations if you only get 2,000 points.

MVC maintenance fees are high (+/- $1,600 per week owned annually). DVC isn't cheap either. With DVC you have more room size options because all resorts offer studio, 1 bdrm, 2 bdrm and 3 bdrm. Some MVC resorts only offer 2 -3 bedroom units (Hilton Head and Orlando plus others), so you need more points to book them. MVC realizes they messed up on this and are now adding studio and 1 bdrm units to existing properties. Both require more points for Fri/Sat nights.

One big plus is that if you can convert your points or weeks to Marriott Rewards points, which never expire.

Like DVC did recently, MVC now limits access if you buy weeks through the secondary market. You are limited to the week you buy but can still exchange through Interval International. DVC goes through RCI. We don't ever do either because there is enough offered within each program to give you plenty of options. MVC has far more options though than DVC.

Hope this helps. Any more questions - let me know

We love both programs and have been in them since the mid 90's.

Not sure if you’ve made a decision on purchasing MVC or not; but thought I would share my thoughts from my husband and myself. We purchased a MVC points membership in October of 2016, purchased enough points to have a 7day stay in Hawaii every year.....or so we were told. We returned to Hawaii in 2017 and had to “borrow points” in order to have a vacation. Because we did NOT buy more points at the presentation you’re required to attend each vacation, we were coerced into buying an “Encore Visit” for $2500. Purchasing more points for an additional week would have been $24k. We thought it made sense at the time. Flash forward to the present, 12/17/18; there is no availability at our Hawaii resort until May or June because they are refurbishing a Marriott condo property next door of 500 units, and these people get first dibs on any Marriott property throughout the islands. My husband teaches professional courses for individuals seeking financial security licensing, so he works basically every week, except the week before and after Christmas. We’ve now been told that the likelihood that we would ever get a vacation back to Hawaii during the time my husband has available are slim to none, unless we want to book 3 years out. I understand Hawaii is popular, but availability is not. Our maintenance fees are higher than what a timeshare would be. Looking back, the main reason we bought the MVC points is because with my husband’s travel, we have 500-600k Marriott hotel points. We should have taken more time to think. We are still paying our MVC point program monthly, the annual maintenance fees, and have no vacation!!! My advice would be to look at your cash flow, time schedules and availability for flexibility, before making this commitment. Best of Luck !!

kennethe95 wrote:

Hi, Redweek folks!

My wife and I have (and have seen solid value) from 2 Disney Vacation Club and a Hilton Grand Vacation Club memberships.

We're considering adding a Marriott Point membership (~1500 - 2000 points) to get more vacation destination options beyond those two.

Our question is: What are the pros and cons of the Marriott program and what you might recommend... and why.

Thank you for your kind input.

Both of the above posts contain so much wrong information it's pointless to refute it all. I suggest you go to TUG (timeshare users group) if you want correct information.

MVC is over sold. Nearly impossible to book dates at desirable locations, even 2-3 years out. Hang onto your $$.

Ref Carrie F. input. That comment stating nearly impossible to book desirable ....., even 2-3 years out is grossly wrong. Availability of units/villas etc. doesn't even come on line until max of 13 months prior to desired check-in date. So where does the reference to 2-3 years out come from?

I just bought MVC. Can someone outline the positives? Like is it really true I cannot find any resorts availability. I only bought 2500 points. I don’t necessarily have to stay in Hawaii but anywhere is fine. I WFH so I can combine vacation and work.

Using MVC points I just booked Maui for a friend. Two weeks in July for a 2bdm. I booked them about 11.5 weeks out. Every other year I book two weeks in St Thomas in February without a problem but you have to do it the first day they are available. So as far as the point system itself it's great. The problem is the cost. To buy enough points to go to STT in Feb you'll have to buy about 3700 points for 7 days. That's over $50,000 plus a $2400 annual MF. Cheaper to rent. My wife is unable to travel now so I'm renting my weeks at Ocean Pointe and St Thomas. I'm renting them easily but not asking much more than the MF.

The pro of buying points is that when they sold weeks you had to buy a whole week. With your 2500 points you can't go to St Thomas in Feb for 7 days. You can go for 4 or five though.They idea with buying points is buy what you can afford and gradually add to it.

Thanks for the info. Based on the feedback and after more investigation, we decided against adding MVC. We did decide buy more HGV points, however.

Geeezz I think your missing the point of the question. What are the impacts to owners who purchased thru the resale market vs the developers.

Reread the original question. I don't see any reference to resale vis developer purchase, just the pros and cons of points in general.