Information received first hand from Marriott Reps. either in person or by telephone

kedler · Jun 21, 2010

In the interest of trying to help people find the information (v. interpretation of information) that we are receiving either via telephone or on site presentations I started a new thread. I spent over an hour on the phone asking questions first of my regular advisor who knew precious little and then of a "Points Advisor" who seemed fairly knowledgeable, admitted when he didn't know and asked his supervisor, and did not try to "sell" me but only provided verbal information in a lengthy telephone conversation this morning which I complied below:

1. You are enrolling in Marriott’s Exchange Company instead of enrolling in II as in the past.

2. Nothing we are used to changes if we are using our weeks – flexchange still exists and you can uptrade during flexchange as you have done in the past based on inventory.

3. All excess Marriott inventory is going into the Land Trust and the Marriott inventory in II is going to be from week owners depositing their weeks.

4. As far as reservations are concerned there are 2 pools of weeks (he said this fact is in the documents but did not know where) – one for “weeks” and the other for “points”. Example if a resort has a total of 100 weeks and 50 elect to use their weeks as the always have and 50 others elect to use points you are completing against 50 people for the week you want NOT 100.

5. As far as exchanging he says that if you join Marriott’s Exchange Company you have the two options to exchange all for $165 per year for one week or $199 per year for multiple weeks (less than the current “nickel and dime” (to quote the rep) fees we now pay:

a. Reserve your week and Marriott deposits it and tries to get the exchange you requested. I’m told we don’t need to talk to II anymore Marriott will handle everything for us under the new II number that we will be assigned. You can trade one week the “old way” and elect to convert another to points obtain extra nights at the same resort;
OR
b. Elect to convert one or more weeks (you can make different elections with different weeks in the same year) and use them to directly reserve the resort you want to travel to when you want to travel (based again on availability). This method could result in an instant reservation and should be “faster” than the old exchange route. It was suggested to me that the only reason to use this method with a 7 night stay was if the place and week you were trading into cost the same or less points which might even allow you to reserve more nights if you wanted.

6. As for your existing II membership, which in my case goes through 2013 I will get 2 Bonus weeks (I’ve already made a trade for a 2011 week or I would have received 3) to compensate me for the prepaid II fees which are now covered under the annual fee for Marriott’s Exchange Company.

7. As far as your EOY week is concerned for determining Premier Status he told me that they split it in half for purposes of determining status but I can only use the points during my odd use year. He didn’t like this answer, which he got from his supervisor, any more than I did but the explanation is that we have the right to bank and borrow so technically there is a right to use them each year.

8. If you have an existing MVC reservation and you want to enroll and cancel it to use the points there is no $29 cancellation fee because its in the annual fee.

9. If you have deposited the week in II you cannot get it back and neither than Marriott though he did say that Marriott can pull back weeks it owns and deposits in II.

10. If you add points the enrollment fee is waived and your Plus points are doubled. I was told the lowest number of points available for purchase is 1000 and that it is 9.20 per point or $9,200. He said to me that he didn’t see that I needed to buy more based on how I use my weeks.

11. You can trade resale weeks for MR points on an annual basis with enrollment IF your resale week originally was granted the right to exchange for points. In my case I can now trade my bronze Barony Beach week for 50,000 MR points, but not my Harbour Point week #5 which never had that right.

12. To make hotel reservations (Marriott Collection I believe it is called) you will transfer your vacation points to MR points to make the reservation at a rate of 33:1 or approx. 303 points per 10,000 MR points. Additionally you can exchange one or more eligible weeks for MR points.

13. The way to maximize your use of points in the MVC properties is through the use of Sun-Thurs.

14. The Bonus “Plus Points” are only good for one year.

15. If you elect to use your week as a week you can still lock-off as we do now. If you are converting to points you are just using your points to maximize the number of nights you get out of the points.

So far there are more pluses than minuses for the way we use our weeks PROVIDED I can get #2-6 in writing in some form.

I’m going to call him back later today. He gave me his direct line so if anyone has any questions that I forgot to ask let me know and I’ll ask them.

pfrank4127 · Jun 21, 2010

kedler said:
In the interest of trying to help people find the information (v. interpretation of information) that we are receiving either via telephone or on site presentations I started a new thread. I spent over an hour on the phone asking questions first of my regular advisor who knew precious little and then of a "Points Advisor" who seemed fairly knowledgeable, admitted when he didn't know and asked his supervisor, and did not try to "sell" me but only provided verbal information in a lengthy telephone conversation this morning which I complied below:

1. You are enrolling in Marriott’s Exchange Company instead of enrolling in II as in the past.

2. Nothing we are used to changes if we are using our weeks – flexchange still exists and you can uptrade during flexchange as you have done in the past based on inventory.

3. All excess Marriott inventory is going into the Land Trust and the Marriott inventory in II is going to be from week owners depositing their weeks.

4. As far as reservations are concerned there are 2 pools of weeks (he said this fact is in the documents but did not know where) – one for “weeks” and the other for “points”. Example if a resort has a total of 100 weeks and 50 elect to use their weeks as the always have and 50 others elect to use points you are completing against 50 people for the week you want NOT 100.

5. As far as exchanging he says that if you join Marriott’s Exchange Company you have the two options to exchange all for $165 per year for one week or $199 per year for multiple weeks (less than the current “nickel and dime” (to quote the rep) fees we now pay:

a. Reserve your week and Marriott deposits it and tries to get the exchange you requested. I’m told we don’t need to talk to II anymore Marriott will handle everything for us under the new II number that we will be assigned. You can trade one week the “old way” and elect to convert another to points obtain extra nights at the same resort;
OR
b. Elect to convert one or more weeks (you can make different elections with different weeks in the same year) and use them to directly reserve the resort you want to travel to when you want to travel (based again on availability). This method could result in an instant reservation and should be “faster” than the old exchange route. It was suggested to me that the only reason to use this method with a 7 night stay was if the place and week you were trading into cost the same or less points which might even allow you to reserve more nights if you wanted.

6. As for your existing II membership, which in my case goes through 2013 I will get 2 Bonus weeks (I’ve already made a trade for a 2011 week or I would have received 3) to compensate me for the prepaid II fees which are now covered under the annual fee for Marriott’s Exchange Company.

7. As far as your EOY week is concerned for determining Premier Status he told me that they split it in half for purposes of determining status but I can only use the points during my odd use year. He didn’t like this answer, which he got from his supervisor, any more than I did but the explanation is that we have the right to bank and borrow so technically there is a right to use them each year.

8. If you have an existing MVC reservation and you want to enroll and cancel it to use the points there is no $29 cancellation fee because its in the annual fee.

9. If you have deposited the week in II you cannot get it back and neither than Marriott though he did say that Marriott can pull back weeks it owns and deposits in II.

10. If you add points the enrollment fee is waived and your Plus points are doubled. I was told the lowest number of points available for purchase is 1000 and that it is 9.20 per point or $9,200. He said to me that he didn’t see that I needed to buy more based on how I use my weeks.

11. You can trade resale weeks for MR points on an annual basis with enrollment IF your resale week originally was granted the right to exchange for points. In my case I can now trade my bronze Barony Beach week for 50,000 MR points, but not my Harbour Point week #5 which never had that right.

12. To make hotel reservations (Marriott Collection I believe it is called) you will transfer your vacation points to MR points to make the reservation at a rate of 33:1 or approx. 303 points per 10,000 MR points. Additionally you can exchange one or more eligible weeks for MR points.

13. The way to maximize your use of points in the MVC properties is through the use of Sun-Thurs.

14. The Bonus “Plus Points” are only good for one year.

15. If you elect to use your week as a week you can still lock-off as we do now. If you are converting to points you are just using your points to maximize the number of nights you get out of the points.

So far there are more pluses than minuses for the way we use our weeks PROVIDED I can get #2-6 in writing in some form.

I’m going to call him back later today. He gave me his direct line so if anyone has any questions that I forgot to ask let me know and I’ll ask them.

Thanks for the summary; it was very informative.

tombo · Jun 21, 2010

Ask him how many points you get when you deposit your week(s), then go to the chart and see how many points are required to reserve your week. Most here (including some with fixed weeks) are not allocated enough points to trade into their own unit the following year if they deposit the week for points in order to book 2 weeks together at the home resort for family and friends.

Sure you can book at your home resort each year using home resort priority, but if Marriott says your week costs 5000 points for someone to reserve, and yet they only give you 4500 points when you deposit it, you can't afford to stay at your own home resort using points and you sure can't stay at any other resort which is rated equally with regards to the amount of points needed to reserve. If you own a 5000 point week and you only get 4500 points for deposit, you can never afford to exchange for an equal resort which has a cost of 5000 points without borrowing from future points. That is a ripoff.

If you convert to points and need to sell, the buyer will owe Marriott at least $2000 to keep the week you are selling them in points killing your resale. At ANY time in the future and for ANY reason Marriott can change point values. You have enough points now to book a week you like each year and you join. next year Marriott devalues your resort or raise the points required at the one you like to exchange for and you no longer have access to it. Marriott builds new resorts and charges 7000 points to stay there in shoulder seasons, gives those owners 7000 points for buying direct where sales were slow and suddenly every one of the new points members can afford to reserve your home 5000 point week with points left over while you can't afford to bank your week and use the points Marriott allocates you to reserve your own home week.

Lots of bad, little actual good. Read a lot of posts and for goodness sake don't trust anything the salesman tells you unless it is in writing, and even the stuff in writing is subject to change at marriott's choosing because the writing spells it out that they can change the program whenever they want.

pefs65 · Jun 21, 2010

This is all so very helpful and thank you.

As a resale eoy owner also you answered my question about the ability to convert my week to MR points.
Since I never had that right to begin with I wont have it now.

Also are you saying that as EOY I have to use my points and vacation only during my odd yr use yr or that I could still bank and borrow for what up to 2 yrs and still potentially vacation during an even yr?

Thanks again

PaulN · Jun 21, 2010

Either I misunderstood, or the rep didn't know the answer correctly, but I was told I would have to make my "home resort" reservation through points program. Currently, one of our weeks is a Platinum Plus week which guarantees us school vacation week. If we signed up, she said that wouldn't be guaranteed any longer, "but it would be more flexible"??

Additionally she said, if/when we went to sell our week(s) we would be selling the points, not the unit at a site. I didn't like that either.

kedler · Jun 21, 2010

EOY and MR

i must have forgotten that part he told me that I could exchange my Aruba Surf Club for points in my use year which I haven't been able to do before but he said that I would now have that option.

You can use all of your points or use your week as usual in your use year; however, if you can borrow or bank from your EOY points so effectively you can use 1/2 the points in each year. In my case I'll only use all of the points to go someplace where my allotted 3075 points gets me into a trade I want - hopefully with a few points left over.

I'm an attorney so I need to see things in writing before signing on the dotted line.

The one thing that is clear is that Marriott (and II for that matter) have the right to change the rules of the game at all times and I would expect to see the points for usage change in the future but I'll address that question in my next call. If they change the points system to the point where I don't want to use it I will have the deeded option of exchanging as has been done to date.

Frankly I feel its all a game, which is why many Tuggers like it. After awhile we'll find the ways to work the system to our advantage.

I'm leaning towards converting but still need lots more information and to see the documentation that they will want us to sign to join this new Exchange Company.

LAX Mom · Jun 21, 2010

12. To make hotel reservations (Marriott Collection I believe it is called) you will transfer your vacation points to MR points to make the reservation at a rate of 33:1 or approx. 303 points per 10,000 MR points. Additionally you can exchange one or more eligible weeks for MR points.

Why would anyone convert Marriott timeshare (destination) points to Marriott reward points? 5 nights in a category 8 hotel will cost you 160,000. If you divide 160,000 by 33, you'll need 4,848.48 destination points. At $9.2 per point it would cost $44,606.06 to buy those points and you would pay almost $2000 per year in MF.

I don't think it makes sense to exchange your timeshare into destination points thinking you'll be able to use them for a stay in Marriott hotels. You're better off paying for MR points (50,000 per individual per year) or using cash for hotel stays.

smokies · Jun 21, 2010

tombo said:
Ask him how many points you get when you deposit your week(s), then go to the chart and see how many points are required to reserve your week. Most here (including some with fixed weeks) are not allocated enough points to trade into their own unit the following year if they deposit the week for points in order to book 2 weeks together at the home resort for family and friends.

Sure you can book at your home resort each year using home resort priority, but if Marriott says your week costs 5000 points for someone to reserve, and yet they only give you 4500 points when you deposit it, you can't afford to stay at your own home resort using points and you sure can't stay at any other resort which is rated equally with regards to the amount of points needed to reserve. If you own a 5000 point week and you only get 4500 points for deposit, you can never afford to exchange for an equal resort which has a cost of 5000 points without borrowing from future points. That is a ripoff.

If you convert to points and need to sell, the buyer will owe Marriott at least $2000 to keep the week you are selling them in points killing your resale. At ANY time in the future and for ANY reason Marriott can change point values. You have enough points now to book a week you like each year and you join. next year Marriott devalues your resort or raise the points required at the one you like to exchange for and you no longer have access to it. Marriott builds new resorts and charges 7000 points to stay there in shoulder seasons, gives those owners 7000 points for buying direct where sales were slow and suddenly every one of the new points members can afford to reserve your home 5000 point week with points left over while you can't afford to bank your week and use the points Marriott allocates you to reserve your own home week.

Lots of bad, little actual good. Read a lot of posts and for goodness sake don't trust anything the salesman tells you unless it is in writing, and even the stuff in writing is subject to change at marriott's choosing because the writing spells it out that they can change the program whenever they want.

It is interesting you are telling a lawyer what to look for. I'm sure he is very familiar with the hundreds of posts pointing out caveats. . I find it useful when someone starts a thread like this that includes some new things.

m61376 · Jun 21, 2010

A few additions from my call:
-inventory will be separate between non-converting week owners/converting owners using their owned week and people using points. People reserving their weeks will be competing with each other under the old reservation rules.
-Premiere owners using their week to reserve their owned week cannot book a single week at 13 months, as can point users
-deposits to II will be the same as now- owner chooses week to deposit BUT Marriott can choose to fulfill a reservation request (whether a week's owner request or a points request) with any week deposited. So- basically Marriott can raid the II deposit pool at whim- of course couched in the "for the benefit of its owners."
-Rep. could not answer how an OV and OS week can be assigned the same value, even though there is a several thousand dollar cost value. Insisted that this was not the case (I know at the Surf Club this is, in fact, the case).
-Acknowledged that Marriott can change point values at any time, at their discretion.
-No current point Flexchange option, although they may add that. Will need to use week deposits for Flexchange type trades (no fewer points option to reserve closer in).
-weeks must be used either as a week or as points; you can lock-off, but cannot trade part of a week as points and use part in your home resort or to trade via II.

DeniseM · Jun 21, 2010

Just a thought - I would not bet the farm based on what a Rep. tells you verbally. When Starwood went through this 10 mos. ago, we got all kinds of incorrect verbal info. from Reps. It will take the Reps. awhile to get up to speed.

californiagirl · Jun 21, 2010

DeniseM said:
It will take the Reps. awhile to get up to speed.

So true Denise! I just got off a call with a Marriott rep who had to put me on hold everytime I asked a question. Finally I ended the call. I have an appt. at 2:30 with a sales rep at Canyon Villas who I hope can answer the questions and show me in the contract where their answer is validated. I don't trust it until I see the black and white. (And yes I know they reserve the right to change the rules.)

IngridN · Jun 21, 2010

Couple of questions next time someone talks to Marriott:

1. If I join points but continue to use as is, which is what I will do, will I have online access to II or must I go through Marriott. During my call, first I was told I must go through Marriott if using the weeks option in the points program. When I told her that was a dealbreaker she checked and told me I would continue to have the same online access to II as now?

2. Can multi-week owners continue with the 13 month reservation option reserving concurrent or consecutive weeks?

3. I assume premier points member get the 13 month advantage without the current restrictions? Will I get that advantage using the weeks program to reserve?

Thanks.

Ingrid

KauaiMark · Jun 21, 2010

Back-out option?..

kedler said:
In the interest of trying to help people find the information

If I sign up, and after using it for a couple years later I decide it isn't working out for me, can discontinue my "club membership" and go back to what I originally bought.

Sort of a an opt-out after the "test drive".

Dave M · Jun 21, 2010

IngridN said:
2. Can multi-week owners continue with the 13 month reservation option reserving concurrent or consecutive weeks?

If you stay as a weeks owner, there is no change to your procedures. You can still book concurrent or consecutive weeks at 13 months.

3. I assume premier points member get the 13 month advantage without the current restrictions? Will I get that advantage using the weeks program to reserve?

If you remain as a weeks owner, you apparently would not be able to book a single week at 13 months. That's consistent with the no-change to your procedures. (Also see the second bullet in m61376's post above.

wsrobinson · Jun 21, 2010

New info?

I just got off the phone with a VOA and was told a few things among the most important...

1) You cannot exchange external weeks for MRP. You can exchange external weeks for the new vacation points and trade a varying percentage for MRP.

2) If you recently bought developer but haven't closed they are working on including you in the program

3) If you bought a week externally, you will have to sell your week externally (if you join the program or not). Marriott will not do that.

4) I was told the 800 point extra was only good thru the end of next week (but I don't believe this).

5) If you recently bought externally but didn't close before 6-20-10, you are SOL.

6) Additional points will only be sold in an initial increment of 1000 (at $9.20/pt) going up in increments of 250.

This is all I discovered.

NJMOM2 · Jun 21, 2010

I was told the additional points start at 1000 then you can increase at increments of 250. If you buy the 1000 points you do not have to pay the fee to join the program.

My OceanWatch that I bought resale is will be able to exchange for 100,000 Marriott Rewards Points every other year if I convert.

I will receive 2 bonus weeks since my interval membership is paid up until 2014.

I forgot to ask - I have a pending request in II for next summer. I already paid the $109 exchange fee. If I cancel my request - I will get a $109 credit back. Then if I join the program and make another request for next summer will I have to pay the $109 again? If I am right it's a savings of $109.

Does anyone have the answer?

PS. I also read in te FAQ or somewhere on the owner's web site that you can reserve with less than 6500 club points at 13 months mark if you use 20% more points.

https://www.my-vacationclub.com/common/vc/en-us/pdfs/OwnerRecognitionChart.pdf

wsrobinson · Jun 21, 2010

NJMOM2 said:
I was told the additional points start at 1000 then you can increase at increments of 250. If you buy the 1000 points you do not have to pay the fee to join the program.

My OceanWatch that I bought resale is will be able to exchange for 100,000 Marriott Rewards Points every other year if I convert.
I will receive 2 bonus weeks since my interval membership is paid up until 2014.

I forgot to ask - I have a pending request in II for next summer. I already paid the $109 exchange fee. If I cancel my request - I will get a $109 credit back. Then if I join the program and make another request for next summer will I have to pay the $109 again? If I am right it's a savings of $109.

Does anyone have the answer?

The VOA was adamant that external weeks would NOT be eligible for MRP. I'm not sure who has the correct info but she was firm and confident this was not a perk.

californiagirl · Jun 21, 2010

Okay, I'm back from meeting with a sales rep at Canyon Villas. Some of the info will confirm and some will conflict what has been posted before. I suspect part of this is that the Marriott employees are so new to this they are still learning as well. Here are the answers to my questions:

• Regardless of enrolling or not in the points program all weeks do not lose any benefit we have had such as the following

1. Reserve our week and use it.
2. Trade for Marriott Reward points (if that was an option attached to our week.) We trade the exact same way we always have. No need to convert to points first.
3. Trade through Interval by reserving our week and depositing into the general pool.
4. Renting or giving our week to someone else to use.

• The points program offers an additional option of trading our weeks for MVC Destinations points and using them as we see fit.

• He did not know why Marriott made the decision to give owners less points than what are needed to book back into their resort on points. I definitely got the feeling they wished this was not the case. (This is not always the case, I net more points with my MOC week.)

• We can rent/give the points to someone else and make the reservation in their name without an extra fee.

• We can transfer points to another MVCD member acct. without an extra fee. I specifically asked if we can charge for the points and he said absolutely. Very similar to DVC except there is no limitation on number of times we can do this transfer. I suspect this may change if the number of transactions is very large.

• There are a finite number of points in the MVCD “trust”. All the Marriott Vacation Club properties that Marriott owns are in this trust. When someone buys an interest in the trust they are buying a deeded interest not a “Right to Use”. They have the right to reallocate the points as they see fit. If they build another MVC property, then those points would be included and the number in the trust would go up. I asked specifically about reallocation. He confirmed that if the points for a day/week in one property went up, then the points at another property would have to go down. The problem I see with having all the properties in the trust and not selling by individual properties is that if point cost for one old, poor performing property keeps going down, then that gives Marriott the opportunity to raise the point cost at a more popular destination…like Maui. He confirmed that this could happen.

• There is no “home resort” advantage. (In DVC I can book my vacation at the 11 month mark at my home resort or 7 months if I own somewhere else.) All Destination point owners can compete for the same property. The only priority is the premier and premier plus status that has been discussed on the boards.

• I asked if as a premier owner I could book 7 days at the 13 month window and then call back and cancel 1-6 of those days. He took that question to his manager and the answer is that the reservation is cancelled if any changes in days are made. But as I have thought about it, I could then cancel at the 12 month point and immediately rebook the exact number of days I wanted. Thereby having priority for less than 7 days at 13 months without being a premier plus member. The only caveat being that I would need the number of points in my account to book the initial 7 days.

• He confirmed with his supervisor that we will be able to reserve our days online without being required to call Marriott. I will believe this when I see it! This is a sore spot for me with Disney. To make a reservation with DVC, you must call during their hours of operation. For west coasters that means before 2:00 in the afternoon. Very frustrating!! The first date to begin reserving using points is July 25 or 26th. (I can’t remember which day and I did not write it down.)

• Initial buy-in for a current Marriott owner is 1000 points, after that points can be purchased in 250 point increments.

• Initial buy-in for new owners is I believe 1500 points. (I forgot to write that down as it did not pertain to me. It could have been 1300 or 1400.)

• “Use year”. All “Legacy” (his term) owners, meaning those of us who already own Marriott weeks, who enroll in the points system will have a use year of January 1st. New owners will have a use year of the month when they joined. This is important because it applies to when points are entered into the account and when the deadline for banking is made.

• Banking and borrowing. This is exactly like Disney. You can bank for one year, those points must be used by the end of the next use year. (Example: bank my 2010 points into 2011. I can use those points from 1/1/11 until 12/31/11.) I can borrow from the following year into this year. (Example: borrow 2011 points into 2010. I have until 12/31/10 to use those points.) This can be very beneficial as I could have 3 years worth of point to use in a given year. (Example: bank 2010 points, borrow 2012 points and use 2011 points from 1/1/11 to 12/31/11. I have 3 years worth of points for a super vacation!) Points can not be rolled over and over from year to year. Once they are banked into the next year, they must be used within that year.

• I must trade my entire unit for points. I can not lock-off and use one side and trade one side for points.

• Interval deposits remain separate from points deposits. He said that Marriott can not go in and “raid” a prime week to fulfill a point request. His supervisor confirmed this. If I reserve July 4th week at MOC and deposit that week into Interval, then that is the week some other Interval member will get in exchange.

• As a points member if I want to traditionally deposit my week into Interval and request a non-Marriott week, I would pay the fee to trade just as I have always done. I do not need to purchase another membership in Interval.

• I can still sell my deeded weeks as deeded weeks and they have the ability to trade in the traditional Interval program.

After considering everything, I think we will drink the kool-aid and join the points program. The gravy train we all knew and loved has jumped the tracks…the exchange program as we knew it is gone whether or not we like it. I am actually pleased with the opportunities to trade for other types of vacations. I have played around on the website with trading points for cruises and package vacations and I like what I see. The point requirements are not out of line in my opinion. If the points don’t work out for us and the worst thing that happens to us is that we end up using our weeks at our home resorts, that is not so bad. We followed the advice on the boards and bought where we want to vacation.

BocaBum99 · Jun 21, 2010

californiagirl said:
Okay, I'm back from meeting with a sales rep at Canyon Villas. Some of the info will confirm and some will conflict what has been posted before. I suspect part of this is that the Marriott employees are so new to this they are still learning as well. Here are the answers to my questions:

• Regardless of enrolling or not in the points program all weeks do not lose any benefit we have had such as the following

1. Reserve our week and use it.
2. Trade for Marriott Reward points (if that was an option attached to our week.) We trade the exact same way we always have. No need to convert to points first.
3. Trade through Interval by reserving our week and depositing into the general pool.
4. Renting or giving our week to someone else to use.

• The points program offers an additional option of trading our weeks for MVC Destinations points and using them as we see fit.

• He did not know why Marriott made the decision to give owners less points than what are needed to book back into their resort on points. I definitely got the feeling they wished this was not the case. (This is not always the case, I net more points with my MOC week.)

• We can rent/give the points to someone else and make the reservation in their name without an extra fee.

• We can transfer points to another MVCD member acct. without an extra fee. I specifically asked if we can charge for the points and he said absolutely. Very similar to DVC except there is no limitation on number of times we can do this transfer. I suspect this may change if the number of transactions is very large.

• There are a finite number of points in the MVCD “trust”. All the Marriott Vacation Club properties that Marriott owns are in this trust. When someone buys an interest in the trust they are buying a deeded interest not a “Right to Use”. They have the right to reallocate the points as they see fit. If they build another MVC property, then those points would be included and the number in the trust would go up. I asked specifically about reallocation. He confirmed that if the points for a day/week in one property went up, then the points at another property would have to go down. The problem I see with having all the properties in the trust and not selling by individual properties is that if point cost for one old, poor performing property keeps going down, then that gives Marriott the opportunity to raise the point cost at a more popular destination…like Maui. He confirmed that this could happen.

• There is no “home resort” advantage. (In DVC I can book my vacation at the 11 month mark at my home resort or 7 months if I own somewhere else.) All Destination point owners can compete for the same property. The only priority is the premier and premier plus status that has been discussed on the boards.

• I asked if as a premier owner I could book 7 days at the 13 month window and then call back and cancel 1-6 of those days. He took that question to his manager and the answer is that the reservation is cancelled if any changes in days are made. But as I have thought about it, I could then cancel at the 12 month point and immediately rebook the exact number of days I wanted. Thereby having priority for less than 7 days at 13 months without being a premier plus member. The only caveat being that I would need the number of points in my account to book the initial 7 days.

• He confirmed with his supervisor that we will be able to reserve our days online without being required to call Marriott. I will believe this when I see it! This is a sore spot for me with Disney. To make a reservation with DVC, you must call during their hours of operation. For west coasters that means before 2:00 in the afternoon. Very frustrating!! The first date to begin reserving using points is July 25 or 26th. (I can’t remember which day and I did not write it down.)

• Initial buy-in for a current Marriott owner is 1000 points, after that points can be purchased in 250 point increments.

• Initial buy-in for new owners is I believe 1500 points. (I forgot to write that down as it did not pertain to me. It could have been 1300 or 1400.)

• “Use year”. All “Legacy” (his term) owners, meaning those of us who already own Marriott weeks, who enroll in the points system will have a use year of January 1st. New owners will have a use year of the month when they joined. This is important because it applies to when points are entered into the account and when the deadline for banking is made.

• Banking and borrowing. This is exactly like Disney. You can bank for one year, those points must be used by the end of the next use year. (Example: bank my 2010 points into 2011. I can use those points from 1/1/11 until 12/31/11.) I can borrow from the following year into this year. (Example: borrow 2011 points into 2010. I have until 12/31/10 to use those points.) This can be very beneficial as I could have 3 years worth of point to use in a given year. (Example: bank 2010 points, borrow 2012 points and use 2011 points from 1/1/11 to 12/31/11. I have 3 years worth of points for a super vacation!) Points can not be rolled over and over from year to year. Once they are banked into the next year, they must be used within that year.

• I must trade my entire unit for points. I can not lock-off and use one side and trade one side for points.

• Interval deposits remain separate from points deposits. He said that Marriott can not go in and “raid” a prime week to fulfill a point request. His supervisor confirmed this. If I reserve July 4th week at MOC and deposit that week into Interval, then that is the week some other Interval member will get in exchange.

• As a points member if I want to traditionally deposit my week into Interval and request a non-Marriott week, I would pay the fee to trade just as I have always done. I do not need to purchase another membership in Interval.

• I can still sell my deeded weeks as deeded weeks and they have the ability to trade in the traditional Interval program.

After considering everything, I think we will drink the kool-aid and join the points program. The gravy train we all knew and loved has jumped the tracks…the exchange program as we knew it is gone whether or not we like it. I am actually pleased with the opportunities to trade for other types of vacations. I have played around on the website with trading points for cruises and package vacations and I like what I see. The point requirements are not out of line in my opinion. If the points don’t work out for us and the worst thing that happens to us is that we end up using our weeks at our home resorts, that is not so bad. We followed the advice on the boards and bought where we want to vacation.

Lisa,

Just curious. What is the $MF/point you will be receiving in your conversion?

NJMOM2 · Jun 21, 2010

wsrobinson said:
The VOA was adamant that external weeks would NOT be eligible for MRP. I'm not sure who has the correct info but she was firm and confident this was not a perk.

The option to trade for Marriott Reward Point has to be available at the resort you own. It is my understanding that not all resorts have the ability to trade for MR points. OceanWatch allowed trading EVERY year. The rep I spoke to asked his supervisor about the every year thing and came back and told me I can only trade every other year. I also read the every other year thing in the documents found on line for resale owners if the resort allows trading for points He also told me the program is so great that I would not want to trade for MR points.

wsrobinson · Jun 21, 2010

NJMOM2 said:
The option to trade for Marriott Reward Point has to be available at the resort you own. It is my understanding that not all resorts have the ability to trade for MR points. OceanWatch allowed trading EVERY year. The rep I spoke to asked his supervisor about the every year thing and came back and told me I can only trade every other year. I also read the every other year thing in the documents found on line for resale owners if the resort allows trading for points He also told me the program is so great that I would not want to trade for MR points.

This one I would like to nail down. It effects me because I puchased Barony externally and would receive 90K points. I told the VOA that I thought I read it online in the docs and she informed me I was mistaken. I hope you are right but I wont join until I know.

NJMOM2 · Jun 21, 2010

wsrobinson said:
This one I would like to nail down. It effects me because I puchased Barony externally and would receive 90K points. I told the VOA that I thought I read it online in the docs and she informed me I was mistaken. I hope you are right but I wont join until I know.

Call back and try another rep. They are all learning the new system too. :ponder:

wsrobinson · Jun 21, 2010

NJMOM2 said:
Call back and try another rep. They are all learning the new system too.

Looks like it's been put to bed...

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124215&page=2

californiagirl · Jun 22, 2010

Boca, are you asking my cost of maintenance fee per Point? It varies with each resort. The most expensive is $.55/point. The least expensive is $.34/point.

The tipping point for me was that I was planning to go on the exact cruise that is offered for points on RCCL. If I use my most expensive property at $.55/point it is still $550.00 cheaper to book with points than if I paid out of pocket. (That is booking with a discount cruise agent.) Similar situation with the Tuscany package only more $$ savings. I am not factoring in the initial buy-in cost of the property. We own our properties and are not making payments on them, so for me that is money already spent. I feel like I have broken even with the initial investment because of the vacations already taken, bonus weeks and upgrades from efficiency to 2 bdrm etc. I realize this will not be the case with everyone and I understand their frustration. But for us it looks like an option with flexibility we will enjoy.

m61376 · Jun 22, 2010

californiagirl said:
• Interval deposits remain separate from points deposits. He said that Marriott can not go in and “raid” a prime week to fulfill a point request. His supervisor confirmed this. If I reserve July 4th week at MOC and deposit that week into Interval, then that is the week some other Interval member will get in exchange.

I hope we can get further verification of this. The rep I spoke with told me just the opposite- that Marriott could commandeer a weeks deposit to fulfill a request of a points owner on the waitlist.

I like your answer much better!

Information received first hand from Marriott Reps. either in person or by telephone

kedler

pfrank4127

tombo

Tug Review Crew: Rookie

pefs65

PaulN

kedler

LAX Mom

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

smokies

m61376

Tug Review Crew

DeniseM

californiagirl

IngridN

KauaiMark

Dave M

wsrobinson

NJMOM2

wsrobinson

californiagirl

BocaBum99

NJMOM2

wsrobinson

NJMOM2

wsrobinson

californiagirl

m61376

Tug Review Crew