New member hello and some questions

YellowLab · May 28, 2015

Thanks to all of you for the great information that is posted on this site. We have been owners at Summit Watch since it was first sold. We have never stayed at Summit Watch but have traded for many wonderful vacations in Kauai, Aruba, Orlando and St. Kitts.

Summit Watch provides 4,425 destination points. In 2012 we purchased 1,500 trust points (during a presentation at Waiohai) to be able to use the new points system. Currently we have total annual points of 5,925.

During a recent stay at Orlando Grande Vista we attended a presentation and had a fairly high pressure sales pitch to purchase additional points to reach the 7,000 executive level. I believe we would need to purchase 1,250 additional trust points as the points are sold in minimum blocks of 250. If I recall the additional points would cost around $16,000+. When I mentioned that I may try and obtain additional points on the resale market the sales lady said that Marriott does not allow this and is currently buying up all of the available points on a ROFR and that if you did somehow purchase through resale the points are not treated the same by Marriott.

Supposing we wanted to bring our point level to the 7,000 executive level would resale points work and be treated the same? Are resale points also available only in 250 point increments? What would I expect to pay for these points through a resale? Any significant advantages to reaching the 7,000 executive level? Any other recommendations?

We will retire in three years and I'm thinking the additional points would be nice to have.

Thanks for the help and the great TUG site.

taterhed · May 28, 2015

Currently Marriott points on the resale market are selling somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 and yes they will pass ROFR if the price is sufficiently high. in order to buy them on the secondary market however you must also pay a $2 per point to enroll them so your net fee is around $7 per point. I'm not a hundred percent certain but I believe that all points once fully paid and enrolled count towards any limits for membership levels. I'm sure that someone else can address that for you. I will also note however Marriott has recently been bundling weeks and points together and the net on the points has been not too much above $7. The trick is finding the right combination to get you the points you need.

Can someone help out on the resale points plus developer points for the new membership levels?

from my cell...

taterhed · May 29, 2015

I'll quote a post from kds4 here: http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226633&highlight=resale+points

Yes. You can purchase resale trust points. We have successfully done so. There are many places you can check for available points, including eBay, Redweek, or a points resale market maintained by a TUG member. Things to consider:

1. Do you want points with a usage year that matches your weeks (1/1 to 12/31) or would you prefer a different usage year (7/1 to 6/30 for example).

2. Like buying a week resale, there is a minimum price per point at below which Marriott will exercise ROFR to prevent your purchase. $5 per point is a solid rule of thumb, although some purchases have made it past ROFR for less ($4.75).

3. Remember to factor in the 'hidden' costs of purchasing resale points. These are the 'junk' fees - like the activation fee, enrollment fee, education fee, 'fee' fee, etc. that Marriott adds on to any resale points purchase that they don't ROFR. These fees will add anywhere from $2.10 to $2.50 to the price of each point. You must pay these fees for your resale points to be 'unlocked' and have full functionality as points you purchase from Marriott would.

4. In determining how many points you wish to purchase resale, remember that in order to enroll your 2 owned weeks (assuming they are either purchased from Marriott or pre-6/2010 purchased resale weeks), there may be a requirement to make a minimum points purchase. For us to enroll our eligible week, we had to purchase 1,000 points from Marriott. If you want to reach Executive level, and you need 3,000 points total to do so, I would confirm what (if any) points I have to buy from Marriott to enroll my weeks before shopping for resale points.

Having been in your position of needing 3,000 points for Premier (now Executive), buying 1,000 from Marriott to enroll our weeks, and 2,000 on the resale market; I can confirm it can be done successfully. Our resale points look, feel, smell, and function no differently than our Marriott purchased points.

Hope those ideas are helpful.
__________________

So here's the summary (off the cell phone now)
$500/BI (i.e. 250 Points) with a minimum $3,000.00 Initiation Fee (increased as of 7/1/14 from $200/BI with a min $2,000) ;
$300 Owner Education Fee;
$95 ROFR Fee;
$25/BI Transfer Fee; etc.

So, you would need to buy 1500 points to meet the $3000 (min) Initiation fee. Points are currently around $5.00 to pass ROFR, so:
Points 1500*5= $7500
Initiation fee $500 per 250= $3000
Owner Ed fee (waived for owners)
ROFR fee $ 95
BI Transfer fee $ 25

total $10,620

This assumes $5 would pass ROFR. could be a little more if it goes to $5.25 or $5.50

Points are points.

An alternative strategy would be to shop a resale week from Marriott resales and buy matching points to requalify the week. This also nets points at around the $7.00 level. Not sure if you could find a week/points bundle that would net a very small amount of points (under 3k?) but they do use EOY weeks for bundles, so it's a descent way to get low-fee points.

In summary:
Marriott has not been exercising ROFR on all points sales up till now.
For nearly all intents and purposes, points are points.
You have to decide whether the new Executive Level is worth it for you--versus just renting points.
New levels summary pdf:

Good luck!

puckmanfl · May 29, 2015

Good Morning....

Yellow

MVCD just told you that they are trying to wipeout the resale market!!! Why would you purchase a product that they have just told you they are making it difficult to resell???/

mclyne · May 29, 2015

If this is true, is that legal?? Can they actually make it difficult for resale owners to sell their units?

Fasttr · May 29, 2015

puckmanfl said:
Good Morning....

Yellow

MVCD just told you that they are trying to wipeout the resale market!!! Why would you purchase a product that they have just told you they are making it difficult to resell???/

Don't get me wrong, I love my points, and the system, but that's exactly what I tell them at every pitch when they ask why I cannot see the value in adding more points. I simply say, well, it was bad enough for the resale points market when the Junk Fees were $250/BI, now that they are $500/BI with a $3K minimum, it is clear that Marriott is attempting to destroy the resale points market, so why would I buy more of a product that I cannot likely easily get rid of and where the ever increasing MF's (controlled by MVC) become an annuity into perpetuity for MVC. They usually bring in the encore package pitcher at that point.

m61376 · May 29, 2015

Just to clarify a point in Taterhead's quoted passage- weeks eligible for enrollment do not require a minimum point purchase to enroll them. Some people chose to purchase points because they were enticed with a waiver of the enrollment fee, but Marriott to date has not required any points purchase in order to enroll direct or pre 6/2010 purchased weeks.

New member hello and some questions

YellowLab

taterhed

taterhed

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