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current Marriott Weeks owner, should i switch to points

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Hi,

My husband and I are current Marriott lakeshore reserve platinum owners (bought in 2009). We bought this property not to stay there but trade with II to other Marriott destinations. Shortly after purchasing, Marriott switched to the points based system. We kept our original deeded week.

We have not had great luck in trading with II. We like to stay in the Marriott properties and have placed several requests that have not come thru over the last few years. We are considering adding on the minimum amount of points and switching to the points system (we are currently visiting a property, so time is an issue). I have read many posts about the points systems and I am really confused. It seems like if we want to stay in the Marriott properties, we need to switch to the new system because II is not working for us currently and seems like it will only be harder as there is less inventory! Thoughts? and thank you in advance!:)
 

cp73

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Hi,

(we are currently visiting a property, so time is an issue).

There is no rush....take your time. Whatever they offer today will be there next week or the following. Read what others have posted. There is no guarantee points will be any easier on getting what you want.
 

Fasttr

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If you purchased in 2009, you can enroll your week without buying any points. If you want to play in the points system, that is likely your most cost effective approach. Then you have the ability in each year to use your week as you have in the past OR you could swap it out for points in any year to use in the points system....the best of both worlds.

It will cost you a couple thousand dollars to enroll, but that's far cheaper than what it would cost you to even buy a minimum chunk of 1000 points.
 

Big Matt

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Marriott owners are a strange group when looked at broadly. There are way more people than I ever would have expected that have/had four or more weeks and 10,000-20,000 points. They have a huge advantage in both weeks based and points based models. I think that if you spend a lot of time with knowing the rules of both II and the points system you can still get great trades and vacations. It takes time though.

If I were you, I'd ask how much time you want to spend given you have only one week and not many points. The whole thing may be more than you want to deal with.
 

bazzap

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Definitely, if you bought direct from Marriott in 2009 enrol your week in DC Points program for $2495 (if the current price) and choose annually whether to use as weeks or elect your weeks as points.
This will give you most flexibility for minimum cost.
Interval can still work well for exchanging weeks (it does for us), but you do need to book the highest possible demand home weeks and submit your exchange requests as early as possible.
Elected points can also work well, we have done a mix of both with our weeks.
You don't give up your weeks permanently.
 

Saintsfanfl

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As stated keep in mind that you don't actually switch to a points ownership. That is not unless you mean selling the week and then buying points, which would not be advised.

What you do is buy the right to turn in your week each year for points. You could do this every year, some years, or none at all. If you sell your deeded week the right to this exchange for points option will not transfer.

Based on your experience I would absolutely enroll your week to have the ability to convert. This is worlds better than buying points outright. If you need more points in a given year rent them from another owner rather than buying more. It's cheaper with no commitment.
 

capjak

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I would enroll your week, they may also include some incentive for the enrollment (i.e. bonus points) which can be used to try the system. They may also try to get you to buy points and waive the enrollment fee.

I have been very happy with using my enrolled points, seems to be instant availability at several resorts, better than using II.
 

Fairwinds

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Enrollment comes with some features other than joining the points system, annual club dues includes lock-off fees and Marriott to Marriott trades as well as MR point trades. Once enrolled you could rent additional points if needed as a trial run to help you decide if you wanted to buy some of your own.
 
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Thank you so much for all your replys! You have been helpful and given me a lot to think about. Particularly, I'm interested in the renting or even buying of the points from other owners. I know that if you did not buy thru Marriott originally there were restrictions. Is that the same for the points system or does that even matter if I enroll my week and just pay the 2495 fee. Thx again!
 

MALC9990

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Thank you so much for all your replys! You have been helpful and given me a lot to think about. Particularly, I'm interested in the renting or even buying of the points from other owners. I know that if you did not buy thru Marriott originally there were restrictions. Is that the same for the points system or does that even matter if I enroll my week and just pay the 2495 fee. Thx again!

This is my personal view. With only one week, enrolling is not worth the cost as you will have too few points to make it worth the cost. You need at lest 3 elligible weeks to make enrollment worth the cost. Just carry on as before.
 

rpw

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I'm not sure points guarantee anything

Trading is still at the mercy of other owners (sometimes Marriott itself) giving up weeks to fulfill your request. Interval has still worked well for us, but you do need to plan ahead.

Converting to points needs to be made far in advance, before you will find out if the points you now have will even get you what you want.

And, of course, there is the skim. You loose a certain amount of "value" when you convert your week to points. Don't expect your Lakeside points to give you a weeks worth of points in Maui. That trade IS possible in II.

YMMV
 

Fasttr

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Converting to points needs to be made far in advance, before you will find out if the points you now have will even get you what you want.

Is this necessarily true? Don't you have until Sept 30 annually to convert your upcoming use year week. That means that you have the ability to book in the 12 month DC booking window for 9 of the 12 available reservation months by the time you have to make a decision to use your week or swap it for points.
 

Wally3433

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Consider why you have not had luck in trading with II. Are your requests too specific? Are you searching inventory everyday, all day?

I have personally not had any issues with II. I have never used our owned week - have always turned our one week 2 bedroom unit into three weeks in a 2 bedroom unit by using the split/trade/AC method.

I would never give that up, and certainly wouldn't PAY Marriott to give that up.
 

SueDonJ

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... Converting to points needs to be made far in advance, before you will find out if the points you now have will even get you what you want. ...

Is this necessarily true? Don't you have until Sept 30 annually to convert your upcoming use year week. That means that you have the ability to book in the 12 month DC booking window for 9 of the 12 available reservation months by the time you have to make a decision to use your week or swap it for points.

True, and note that when the upcoming status changes happen on Apr 30 then the top two tiers will have an additional month through Oct 31 to convert Weeks to Points.

Plus, you can call Owner Services anytime to ask them to search availability before confirming that you want to convert Weeks to Points, and if it's available you can do the conversion and reservation transactions during that same call. If it's not available you keep your Week and try, try again any number of times up until the conversion deadline.
 

radmoo

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We own a single Canyon Villa platinum week. I have take to reserving a March spring break week and then renting it out. We use the rental proceeds towards an additional week in Mexico, no need to join II and pay trade fees. We previously traded EOY for Maarriott Rewqrd points. The goal was to get enough miles to get us biz class to Asia last year. That was well worth it. Used 5 day cert in Bwngkok and used miles on EVA/Thai air!
 
E

EducatedConsumer

At MFC one of the current incentives for the tour is $595 to enroll if you haven't already.

That's the first (maybe) valuable Sales Presentation incentive that I've ever heard of. Granted there's got to be something in it for Marriott, but nice to see there's something in it (maybe) for the MVCI Owner.
 

bobpark56

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Changing to points with just one ownership week is not a winner

I opined, and the Marriott sales rep agreed, that it does not pay to convert to points if you have only one ownership week. It takes a minimum of 2 ownership weeks to reach the break even point.

Can anyone make a case that this is incorrect?
 

dioxide45

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I opined, and the Marriott sales rep agreed, that it does not pay to convert to points if you have only one ownership week. It takes a minimum of 2 ownership weeks to reach the break even point.

Can anyone make a case that this is incorrect?

Do you mean converting an enrolled week to points or enrolling a week. I do think it would be hard to make the math work for enrolling only a single week. Especially at the current enrollment pricing. I did the math years ago when we enrolled and figured it would take 4 years to break even on the $1,995 resale multi-week enrollment price. We actually did much better than that with all the retrading we started to do once trades and retrades had no additional cost beyond the DC Annual Fee.
 

tschwa2

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A few in S and VA, a single resort in NC, MD, PA, and UT, plus Jamaica and the Bahamas
Especially if you are flexible enough to take advantage of free xyz's
 

AlmostRetired

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I opined, and the Marriott sales rep agreed, that it does not pay to convert to points if you have only one ownership week. It takes a minimum of 2 ownership weeks to reach the break even point.

Can anyone make a case that this is incorrect?

I Have to make a few assumptions...

I did not see if you own a 1 or 2 br. I am using a 2 br. The cost ito enroll now is 2495. When I enrolled they gave points that needed to be used within 1 year. I will assume they are not giving it now. If they are it helps the case. It looks like an enrolled week can get you about 3500 points.

According to "for rent" on redweek, you can rent the 2 br for an average of 2500 during peak time. If you rent your unit, you can then rent DC points at about 50 cents a point. The 2500 you get from rent gets you 5000 rental DC points. You are getting 1500 points for free each year by paying the 2495. Rental costs for points might go up as might what you get for renting your unit.

You might know the real numbers for renting your unit so plug it in.
 

25yrMarriott

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I'm not sure why the weeks to points issue is such a mystery to people. It's not rocket science. If you use your week at your home resort.... don't change a thing. If you want to go to other resorts without having to enter the Interval circus, switch your week to points. Pretty simple. The inventory is completely different than that of weeks owners. And for the most part, most points owners are traveling on other things like tours and cruises from what I have read. Splitting weeks is a great thing for some... but I have no interest in staying someplace two weeks, and having to move into a lockoff. With points, I just book it. Simple. As it relates to my ownership, I have been using it extensively for 2-3 night stays, and go when I want. Couldn't do that with the old system.
 

puckmanfl

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good morning

25yr...

Just curious about your usage patterns...

you state you go on 2-3 night stays on DC points. your location is listed as New York, which could be NYC or upstate. Only resort within reasonable driving distance is Boston Custom House. Are you using your DC points for hotel stays or traveling long distance for just 2-3 night stays...

Personally, I love the 5 day Sun-Friday deal with a real discount for the midweek... Just finished the annual ski trip where Ihad 5 concurrent units in Summit Watch 2/22-2/27...

just helped a friend book 4/27-5/1 at Frenchman's cove using the 30% PP discount within 60 days....

keep on posting, find your posts conversation starters...

welcome to TUG
 

DeniseM

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you state you go on 2-3 night stays on DC points. your location is listed as New York, which could be NYC or upstate. Only resort within reasonable driving distance is Boston Custom House. Are you using your DC points for hotel stays or traveling long distance for just 2-3 night stays...

25yrMarriott may be "from" New York - but he is "posting from" a Western State in an area with a lot of timeshares. My guess is that he is a Marriott Sales Person.

Wouldn't his employer be thrilled to see how he is representing? Especially his first post...
 
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SueDonJ

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25yrMarriott may be "from" New York - but he is "posting from" a Western State in an area with a lot of timeshares. My guess is that he is a Marriott Sales Person.

Wouldn't his employer be thrilled to see how he is representing? Especially his first post...

:) His first post is gone - it wasn't worth saving after all the offensive stuff was edited.

I agree, it appears he's a Marriott sales rep. His employer will find him out soon enough - they always do.
 
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