update on points program while we were vacationing

JIMinNC said:

That's helpful because it says there are 700,000 total weeks in the system which I assume includes unsold weeks. It says 70,000 are in the Trust, so since 233,000 more have been enrolled by owners, that's 303,000 weeks out of 700,000 which are either in the Trust or enrolled. That's 43% of all weeks - a bit higher than the 32% of all owners - but still way below the 90% figure the OP's sales rep was trying to portray.

And obviously, since we don't know what percentage of the 233,000 enrolled weeks get elected for points in a typical year, we don't really know what % are really available for points reservations. The 43% would be the theoretical maximum available for points reservations, but the true percentage is certainly significantly less than that.

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Yes this gets a lot closer to what I was looking for. As you note, even these numbers don't tell the whole picture as: many people who enroll never convert to points; we don't know how many people deposit their weeks to II, etc. But of course the bottom line is: the sales pitch is utter BS scare tactics (but it often works well!!).

While the sales reps obviously misrepresent and sometimes flat-out lie about things, it is true and worth noting that the II inventory of Weeks is NOT kept separate according to whether or not a deposited Week is enrolled and/or converted to DC Points. Marriott IS able to pull inventory from II to fulfill DC Members' requests for Points reservations. From the FAQ on my-vacationclub.com:

Where will the inventory come from to fulfill vacation reservations within the Marriott Vacation Club Collection?
Inventory throughout the Marriott Vacation Club Collection will be available for reservations for Enrolled Owners via other Marriott Vacation Club Owners who enroll their weeks and elect Vacation Club Points, and non-enrolled Owners who trade their usage for Marriott Rewards points or exchange their week through membership in Interval International.

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I'm not saying that the sales reps are correct in what they're saying now, because they're obviously getting the numbers completely incorrect, but theoretically there could come a day when more exchanges using DC Points are requested than using Weeks. As the number of Points users grow I would expect II inventory for Weeks users to be depleted to a greater extent than what's happening now. But the level of severe effect that the sales reps say is happening now or will happen soon, is a long time away I'd guess, which means that for now the sales reps should be called out for using it as a scare tactic with no basis in current reality.

We attended a 60-minute presentation earlier this week at Lakeshore. Ours was oriented a little differently since we are enrolled owners, but we were offered a 1000 DC points deal with credit for our enrollment fee ($695). Did not bite, since we are happy with what we can do without spending any more money. As has been the case for many other attendees, our presenter completely discounted II as a worthwhile option; we disagree, given our continued success rate in getting what we want via II, but we didn't argue...no point. We are also happy with what our lowly enrolled points have gotten us.

We did get another list of the upcoming MVC resorts. New construction locations include Cancun, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and Bali. Locations where existing properties will be modified/renovated are Australia and NYC (which would be 1bdrms only, like Custom House). Of course, as mere enrolled owners, we will not be able to get into these properties...

Lastly, our salesperson mentioned the development of a "resignation" program, MVCs buy back program. Owners who no longer want/need their points will be able to sell them back to MVC, netting 60% of the whatever the current price is per point. We were told they are "finalizing" the program now. When we asked how soon would the program be in place, there was a bit of hedging, then a response of 1-2 years, maybe. Not to worry, however, because the program is already being referenced in current settlement/deed documentation, so it WILL be there should we need it!

The presentation was followed up with an encore offer of a 4-night stay at one of 20 different resorts, plus 50k MRPs, for $1199. They were going to offer a cruise cert, but we said it wasn't likely we'd take one in the next two years. We declined on this offer also. Took our $150 AMEX cards and left.

Overall, not a bad experience this time!

hawk5 said:

I would love to know how many resale weeks that were purchased after the June 2010 date are out there. I know I have 2. All those weeks may never be enroll-able and will all be potential II traders. It would be great to come back to a sales person with that #!

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I keep coming back to this myself. Even many/all of the enroll weeks have been or someday will be sold on the resale market removing them from the DC. It seems that at some point they will have to allow them back into the DC.

SMB1 said:

I keep coming back to this myself. Even many/all of the enroll weeks have been or someday will be sold on the resale market removing them from the DC. It seems that at some point they will have to allow them back into the DC.

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Or, when they hit the resale market Marriott can pick them up through ROFR and convey them to the Trust, which would supply a constant stream of conveyances to correlate to sold DC Points.