Buying "combination" bundled deal from marriott vacation

[skalmadi]

I have been offered a bundled package where i get about 7,000 points (4,000 direct points and 3,000 for buying a week in their porperty which can be exchanged every year to points with a lower maintenance fee of about 0.50 cents per point per year ($ 3500 per year total) for a price of about 56,000 from marriott resales.

is this a good offer ?

 

[DEScottzz]

It's pretty good. I paid around that much for a similar bundle a couple years back. If you bought them resale, you might get them for $7 per points, but your maintenance fees would be higher.

 

[dansimms]

I have been offered a bundled package where i get about 7,000 points (4,000 direct points and 3,000 for buying a week in their porperty which can be exchanged every year to points with a lower maintenance fee of about 0.50 cents per point per year ($ 3500 per year total) for a price of about 56,000 from marriott resales.

is this a good offer ?

If you are excited about the location of the legacy week, I say it is a good deal. They might even give you a very similar price with the Trust Point total being only 3000 or so points to match the Legacy week. That would save you on maintenance, but may have you fall short of a membership tier. Keep in mind that you can easily rent extra points if ever needed.

 

[skalmadi]

If you are excited about the location of the legacy week, I say it is a good deal. They might even give you a very similar price with the Trust Point total being only 3000 or so points to match the Legacy week. That would save you on maintenance, but may have you fall short of a membership tier. Keep in mind that you can easily rent extra points if ever needed.

how much does it cost to rent points usually ?

 

[Fasttr]

how much does it cost to rent points usually ?

60 to 65 cents a point. www.vacationpointexchange.com or www.ownertrades.com

 

[skalmadi]

60 to 65 cents a point. www.vacationpointexchange.com or www.ownertrades.com

if you can rent marriott points at 60 to 65 cents a point, how does it make sense to buy the bundled points which needs 50-58 cents maintenance cost per year and a hefty buy in investment ( 7-8 dollars per point)

 

[skalmadi]

Has anybody bought marriott point ownership through ebay auction with a company called The timeshare group in florida ? seems to be selling at $ 1.80 per point ?

 

[Fasttr]

if you can rent marriott points at 60 to 65 cents a point, how does it make sense to buy the bundled points which needs 50-58 cents maintenance cost per year and a hefty buy in investment ( 7-8 dollars per point)

If you do not have a DC account (enrolled week and/or points), renting points means that the renter would have to make the ressie for you, add your name to it, and you hope it was not fraud up until the day you check in. Some are comfortable with that, others are not.

If you have a DC account, then renting points only has a very tight window of pucker factor (time between when you pay and when the points get transferred to your account), after which, the points are in your account and you can use them as if they were your own.

Rented points cannot be banked, borrowed or transferred, owned points can.

All that said, several of us have pointed out that owning a base interest (defined at 1500 points) and then just renting the rest is a fairly cost effective way to go (as far as points are concerned). That said, should MVC ever begin to restrict point transfers, that may make that strategy a bit more complicated.

 

[JIMinNC]

Keep in mind that you can easily rent extra points if ever needed.

if you can rent marriott points at 60 to 65 cents a point, how does it make sense to buy the bundled points which needs 50-58 cents maintenance cost per year and a hefty buy in investment ( 7-8 dollars per point)

Others may disagree, but I see rental points as a great way to supplement the points you own, not necessarily as a pure alternative to ownership. There are a few reasons:

1) To truly rent points, you still need a points account in which to have the rented points transferred. The only way to have an MVC points account is to have an enrolled legacy week or actually own a small amount of your own points (usually a 1500 point "Base Interest", the minimum ownership needed to get full benefits). Then the person you rent points from can simply transfer the points into your account and you can use them more or less like your own points (with some limitations outlined below). If you don't have a points account of your own, then the only thing you can do is have the points owner make a reservation in their name and add you as their guest. As Fasttr says, there is risk in that approach that many of us find uncomfortable, but others are fine with not controlling your own reservation.

2) Rented points do not count toward MVC ownership tiers, so if the enhanced booking benefits of the higher tiers are important to you (short stays at 13 months, expanded banking windows, etc), you must actually own enough points to qualify.

3) Rented points cannot be banked or borrowed, meaning they can only be used in their native use year. Therefore, you must accurately project your needs for each year and then hope you don't have to cancel a booking. If you cancel a booking with rented points, if you can't find an alternate use by the end of that use year, the points are lost.

4) Because of #3, you cannot take advantage of what, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful aspects of points - always putting yourself in a position of borrowing points rather than banking. Since borrowed points revert back to their original use year expiration date if the reservation is cancelled, always being in a position where you have used all of your current year points and are borrowing from future years for current year trips gives you the most flexibility if your plans change. For example, we have a stay booked for February 2020 at Marriott Maui Ocean Club. Many of the points used for that booking were actually 2021 points borrowed into 2020. So if we had to cancel that booking, we would have until 12/31/2021 to use the freed-up points (and they could even still be banked to 2022, giving us even longer to find a new use until 12/31/2022). For the 2020 points we used for that booking, the alternative usage window ends 12/31/2020, or 12/31/2021 with banking if canceled before the banking deadline. Rented 2020 points would absolutely expire on 12/31/2020. So, our strategy going forward is to try to be primarily a points borrower.

For all of these reasons, our approach is to own the number of points that we think we can be sure we're going to use every year, and then use rentals only in those years when we need a few more. If we find we are needing to rent points almost every year, then maybe it's time to buy more points.

 

[DannyTS]

Others may disagree, but I see rental points as a great way to supplement the points you own, not necessarily as a pure alternative to ownership. There are a few reasons:

1) To truly rent points, you still need a points account in which to have the rented points transferred. The only way to have an MVC points account is to actually own a small amount of your own points (usually a 1500 point "Base Interest", the minimum ownership needed to get full benefits). Then the person you rent points from can simply transfer the points into your account and you can use them more or less like your own points (with some limitations outlined below). If you don't have a points account of your own, then the only thing you can do is have the points owner make a reservation in their name and add you as their guest. As Fasttr says, there is risk in that approach that many of us find uncomfortable, but others are fine with not controlling your own reservation.

2) Rented points do not count toward MVC ownership tiers, so if the enhanced booking benefits of the higher tiers are important to you (short stays at 13 months, expanded banking windows, etc), you must actually own enough points to qualify.

3) Rented points cannot be banked or borrowed, meaning they can only be used in their native use year. Therefore, you must accurately project your needs for each year and then hope you don't have to cancel a booking. If you cancel a booking with rented points, if you can't find an alternate use by the end of that use year, the points are lost.

4) Because of #3, you cannot take advantage of what, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful aspects of points - always putting yourself in a position of borrowing points rather than banking. Since borrowed points revert back to their original use year expiration date if the reservation is cancelled, always being in a position where you have used all of your current year points and are borrowing from future years for current year trips gives you the most flexibility if your plans change. For example, we have a stay booked for February 2020 at Marriott Maui Ocean Club. Many of the points used for that booking were actually 2021 points borrowed into 2020. So if we had to cancel that booking, we would have until 12/31/2021 to use the freed-up points (and they could even still be banked to 2022, giving us even longer to find a new use until 12/31/2022). If we had used only 2020 points for that booking, the alternative usage window would have ended 12/31/2020, or 12/31/2021 with banking if canceled before the banking deadline. Rented 2020 points would absolutely expire on 12/31/2020.

For all of these reasons, our approach is to own the number of points that we think we can be sure we're going to use every year, and then use rentals only in those years when we need a few more. If we find we are needing to rent points almost every year, then maybe it's time to buy more points.

These are very valid points. But let's say that in addition to what he has, someone would use 3000 points every year. To buy those points, he would incur an upfront cost of say 30,000 USD. Now the question is, are all those benefits worth paying 30k in advance and being stuck with the MF when the travel needs diminish?

 

[JIMinNC]

These are very valid points. But let's say that in addition to what he has, someone would use 3000 points every year. To buy those points, he would incur an upfront cost of say 30,000 USD. Now the question is, are all those benefits worth paying 30k in advance and being stuck with the MF when the travel needs diminish?

That's a "value" question that will be different for every person/family. Some will opt to spend the money if the ease and convenience are important enough, while others will put more weight on being more cost effective. We tend to fall into the ease and convenience crowd, but even that is not absolute, and that up front cost is the singular reason why we are yet to add to our points ownership. So far we've been able to make do with our existing points, supplemented from time-to-time with a few rentals. We've made living within our existing points easier by buying an EOY-Odd legacy week on Maui and another EOY-Odd on Kauai for much less cost than points, since that is an at least EOY destination for us. By doing that, our points can be dedicated for Even Year trips (to Hawaii or elsewhere) and/or non Hawaii trips in Odd years. Since, at the same time, we're trying to check off some bucket list non-timeshare travel (Mediterranean Cruise in 2018, French Polynesia in 2019, Alaska in 2020, Greek Isles in 2021), so far we haven't needed more points. So, we'll keep our options open and will only add to our ownership if the right deal comes along and we're sure we can use what we buy.

 

[Fasttr]

These are very valid points. But let's say that in addition to what he has, someone would use 3000 points every year. To buy those points, he would incur an upfront cost of say 30,000 USD. Now the question is, are all those benefits worth paying 30k in advance and being stuck with the MF when the travel needs diminish?

Said in another way, one would have to lose 3000 rented points to cancelled ressie's that they cannot find a use for, for 13 years (assuming a 5% increase in point rental prices each year) to offset the initial $30K outlay you have estimated.

Not bagging on owning at all....I own Trust points, but just reiterating that renting does have its benefits due to lack up upfront costs as you have pointed out.

 

[kds4]

Has anybody bought marriott point ownership through ebay auction with a company called The timeshare group in florida ? seems to be selling at $ 1.80 per point ?

No, but understand that just because you can offer to buy them for $1.80 per point, doesn't mean you will be successful since Marriott has Right of First Refusal (ROFR) on all proposed resale points purchases and can step in to take your place and buy them from the seller. For $1.80 per point, they may do that.

 

[bazzap]

Others may disagree, but I see rental points as a great way to supplement the points you own, not necessarily as a pure alternative to ownership. There are a few reasons:

1) To truly rent points, you still need a points account in which to have the rented points transferred. The only way to have an MVC points account is to actually own a small amount of your own points (usually a 1500 point "Base Interest", the minimum ownership needed to get full benefits). Then the person you rent points from can simply transfer the points into your account and you can use them more or less like your own points (with some limitations outlined below). If you don't have a points account of your own, then the only thing you can do is have the points owner make a reservation in their name and add you as their guest. As Fasttr says, there is risk in that approach that many of us find uncomfortable, but others are fine with not controlling your own reservation.

Just to clarify re: your point 1)
Surely just having enrolled week(s) will give you the points account in which to have rented points transferred - you don’t need to actually own any amount of points?

 

[JIMinNC]

Just to clarify re: your point 1)
Surely just having enrolled week(s) will give you the points account in which to have rented points transferred - you don’t need to actually own any amount of points?

Correct. I will edit the post to clarify that. It sounded like the OP is not a current owner, so this point wouldn't be relevant in that situation, but it may be for others as you note.

 

[Steve Fatula]

No, but understand that just because you can offer to buy them for $1.80 per point, doesn't mean you will be successful since Marriott has Right of First Refusal (ROFR) on all proposed resale points purchases and can step in to take your place and buy them from the seller. For $1.80 per point, they may do that.

Yes, or, they may not. Depends on how soon you "need" them, and, are you willing to wait. I've said before, to drive JimInNC nuts, that I didn't care if it took me 10 attempts to get past ROFR. So, patience can = better deal. It's simply an unknown. So, you may say they might exercise ROFR, I might say they might not. If it were me, being the patient sort and never minding to spend more effort for a deal, I would make the offer on the $1.80. You simply don't know if it would pass until you try, and, ROFR does not always make sense as we know.

I am with Jim on owning though, I am not one to trust someone selling me points, renting a week, etc. It may go well 99% of the time, but, it's just something I am not comfortable with.

 

[Dean]

I have been offered a bundled package where i get about 7,000 points (4,000 direct points and 3,000 for buying a week in their porperty which can be exchanged every year to points with a lower maintenance fee of about 0.50 cents per point per year ($ 3500 per year total) for a price of about 56,000 from marriott resales.

is this a good offer ?

I'm going to vote no, I personally don't think it's a good deal, I think it's just OK. I think you can get more points and have lower (at least per point) dues). If I'm understanding correctly the dues on the legacy week would give come in at about 50¢ pp but when you add in the points, you're at around 55-56¢ pp overall current dues. If you talk to internet sales, St. Kitts or Aruba directly you can likely get a better overall deal long term. I'm assuming you do not own other Marriott weeks but I think the answer would be roughly the same either way. As a minimum I think you can get a better week for the legacy week.

 

[Fasttr]

I'm going to vote no, I personally don't think it's a good deal, I think it's just OK. I think you can get more points and have lower (at least per point) dues). If I'm understanding correctly the dues on the legacy week would give come in at about 50¢ pp but when you add in the points, you're at around 55-56¢ pp overall current dues. If you talk to internet sales, St. Kitts or Aruba directly you can likely get a better overall deal long term. I'm assuming you do not own other Marriott weeks but I think the answer would be roughly the same either way. As a minimum I think you can get a better week for the legacy week.

I took OP's post to mean that the OVERALL blended MF/pt would be 50 cents, as OP indicated $3500 MF's total on a points package of about 7000. That would put the MF's on the week at around 40 cents a point.

 

[Dean]

I took OP's post to mean that the OVERALL blended MF/pt would be 50 cents, as OP indicated $3500 MF's total on a points package of about 7000. That would put the MF's on the week at around 40 cents a point.

I read it the other way but maybe they can clarify. If you're correct it moves it from an OK deal to a pretty good deal in my book but the principles are still the same.

 

[m61376]

Hopefully you haven't purchased and if you did, please rescind while you have the chance. Clearly, since you're asking these questions you haven't had a chance to really learn about the system and make an informed decision, which is why I'm saying to rescind and take the time to learn.
Whether or not it's a good deal depends on your needs/vacation goals, as well as affordability, etc.. This site is a wonderful place to learn and ask questions. Don't by anything- whether direct or resale, until you really understand the product. Legacy weeks are great for some, but don't work as well for others. Points are great for some, but not for others. For example, if there's a single place you feel you're likely to go most years, you might be better off owning a week there. If you always want President's week or Christmas in Aruba, Hawaii or a ski week, then buy a Plat. Plus week at one of those locations, since availability with points will be very limited. If you have a lot of flexibility and don't want to travel in 7 day blocks then points might work better for you, but if you like a week's travel and have a lot of flexibility you might be fine trading in Interval; in fact, there can be a huge cost savings. If you always need school vacation weeks and a 2BR trading becomes more difficult. So there are a lot of variables and no one can really answer your question without knowing your needs and goals.
Good luck, and welcome to TUG

 

[csalter2]

I took OP's post to mean that the OVERALL blended MF/pt would be 50 cents, as OP indicated $3500 MF's total on a points package of about 7000. That would put the MF's on the week at around 40 cents a point.

$3500/7000 DC points is .50 per point. That’s not much savings.

 

[kds4]

Yes, or, they may not. Depends on how soon you "need" them, and, are you willing to wait. I've said before, to drive JimInNC nuts, that I didn't care if it took me 10 attempts to get past ROFR. So, patience can = better deal. It's simply an unknown. So, you may say they might exercise ROFR, I might say they might not. If it were me, being the patient sort and never minding to spend more effort for a deal, I would make the offer on the $1.80. You simply don't know if it would pass until you try, and, ROFR does not always make sense as we know.

I am with Jim on owning though, I am not one to trust someone selling me points, renting a week, etc. It may go well 99% of the time, but, it's just something I am not comfortable with.

My point was not to discourage the OP from pursuing a resale points purchase. It was only to clarify that just because resale points are offered at such a low price, doesn't mean the OP will be successful buying them at that price. I wanted to ensure the OP understands the ROFR process and how the resale points purchase process works (so they aren't surprised if MVC exercises ROFR on an offer to purchase that they make for resale points).

 

[csalter2]

I have been offered a bundled package where i get about 7,000 points (4,000 direct points and 3,000 for buying a week in their porperty which can be exchanged every year to points with a lower maintenance fee of about 0.50 cents per point per year ($ 3500 per year total) for a price of about 56,000 from marriott resales.

is this a good offer ?

Personally, I don’t like the deal. For that many points, there should be a lower price per point. Heck, I paid less than $56,000 with a package worth 2450 more points. I think the OP should try to buy more and pay less. $8 per point is not a bargain to me. I was offered $6 per point on a bundle last month.

In addition, the maintenance fees are still high at .50 per point. Plus, he has two separate maintenance fees to keep up with.

 

[jpa2825]

Just chiming in to add to the "ownership tier" discussion for owning. If your travel is flexible (or will soon be) and you're comfortable with the Puck trick, the 30% discount at 60 days for Presidential or 25% discount at 30 days for Executive can be pretty nice. We are taking 2 separate weekend trips to Las Vegas in OCT. 1 was booked inside 60 days so we got 30% discount the other was Pucked into the discount. Makes your points go along way.

An additional benefit to "ownership tier" not discussed is later deadline to Bank (10.31 for both Presidential and Chairman) and longer banking period (18 mos. for Pres and 24 mos. for Chair). Provides great flexibility if you're saving up for a big trip.

My advice, from lots of thankful reading on TUG, is to obtain points to whatever "ownership tier" you think works best for you and rent for needs above and beyond that. We did a hybrid to get to Presidential and are happy we did. Once I retire, I hope to empty out those 10k points on a regular basis and supplement them with rental points for trips where it makes sense.

 

[Fasttr]

An additional benefit to "ownership tier" not discussed is later deadline to Bank (10.31 for both Presidential and Chairman)

Is this correct? I know 10/31 is extended election deadline but I thought extended deadline to bank went from 6 months prior to end of Use Year to 4 months prior.