- Joined
- Jun 26, 2013
- Messages
- 6,285
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- Location
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Marriott's Grande Ocean (Enrolled)
MVC Trust Points
Had one of the most uncompelling sales pitches ever at MGO last week. Her entire pitch was that I needed to build up my Bonvoy Points, so I would be set to cover hotel travel upon retirement without the need to shell out cash (hey, I've got a few good working years left).
I told her that my Bonvoy bank account appears low now because I purchased 3 travel packages prior to the last devaluation (and happily found uses for all of them). I told her I no longer see great value in chasing the Bonvoy points (thinking to myself, other than raking in the 45K Bonvoy points and $50 Marriott Experience Dollars they bribed me to attend her pitch) because of the constant devaluation.
Not a lot of listening going on, as she continued to hammer that I really needed to build up my Bonvoy balance. Her suggestion, that I should take my beloved MGO Gold week, and convert that to 100K Bonvoy points every other year. I replied... "But we really love coming to MGO every year, why would I want to not come every other year". This is where the weak pitch came in. She wanted me to purchase 2000 more Trust Points (that I could bank and borrow) to enable me to come to MGO in the fall on the off years (requires 4000 points to do so) using the new Trust points, freeing up the MGO week to convert to Bonvoy points. Shazzzam!!!!
Here's where it got fun. I told her that I value Bonvoy points at abut 1 cent a point. If I can't get that value, I pay cash, if I can get that value or more, I use the Bonvoy points. That said, in the past, I have traditionally saved them for 5 night travel packages, but the value there seemed to have diminished during the last devaluation. She agreed that 1 cent per Bonvoy point was a good benchmark.
So I asked her, setting aside the upfront costs, which need to be factored in, but for simplicity I will not.... why would I give up a MGO week who's MF's cost me approx. $1,500 in exchange for 100K Bonvoy points (at a cost of 1.5 cents per point) that we both agreed were worth about 1 cent per point or $1,000. Makes no sense. Hell, I can even purchase them from Marriott for 1.25 cents a point.
Or, if you look at the value of the pure Trust points when converted to Bonvoy points, you get 58 cents MF per Trust point divided by the 40 Bonvoy points you get per Trust point converted, so the cost doing it that way comes to 1.45 cents a point to get a Bonvoy point I value at 1 cent.
And to top it all off, I would be paying $2,320 (MF at 58 cents a Trust points on 2000 Trust points combined over 2 years so 4000 total) to get to MGO on points when now I can get there for my $1,500 MF's on my owned week. The virtual bad idea signs just kept popping up for me to hammer her over the head with.
In the end, she realized she was not going to make a sale that day, but she ended by saying that I really do need more Bonvoy points.
It was a classic!!!
I told her that my Bonvoy bank account appears low now because I purchased 3 travel packages prior to the last devaluation (and happily found uses for all of them). I told her I no longer see great value in chasing the Bonvoy points (thinking to myself, other than raking in the 45K Bonvoy points and $50 Marriott Experience Dollars they bribed me to attend her pitch) because of the constant devaluation.
Not a lot of listening going on, as she continued to hammer that I really needed to build up my Bonvoy balance. Her suggestion, that I should take my beloved MGO Gold week, and convert that to 100K Bonvoy points every other year. I replied... "But we really love coming to MGO every year, why would I want to not come every other year". This is where the weak pitch came in. She wanted me to purchase 2000 more Trust Points (that I could bank and borrow) to enable me to come to MGO in the fall on the off years (requires 4000 points to do so) using the new Trust points, freeing up the MGO week to convert to Bonvoy points. Shazzzam!!!!
Here's where it got fun. I told her that I value Bonvoy points at abut 1 cent a point. If I can't get that value, I pay cash, if I can get that value or more, I use the Bonvoy points. That said, in the past, I have traditionally saved them for 5 night travel packages, but the value there seemed to have diminished during the last devaluation. She agreed that 1 cent per Bonvoy point was a good benchmark.
So I asked her, setting aside the upfront costs, which need to be factored in, but for simplicity I will not.... why would I give up a MGO week who's MF's cost me approx. $1,500 in exchange for 100K Bonvoy points (at a cost of 1.5 cents per point) that we both agreed were worth about 1 cent per point or $1,000. Makes no sense. Hell, I can even purchase them from Marriott for 1.25 cents a point.
Or, if you look at the value of the pure Trust points when converted to Bonvoy points, you get 58 cents MF per Trust point divided by the 40 Bonvoy points you get per Trust point converted, so the cost doing it that way comes to 1.45 cents a point to get a Bonvoy point I value at 1 cent.
And to top it all off, I would be paying $2,320 (MF at 58 cents a Trust points on 2000 Trust points combined over 2 years so 4000 total) to get to MGO on points when now I can get there for my $1,500 MF's on my owned week. The virtual bad idea signs just kept popping up for me to hammer her over the head with.
In the end, she realized she was not going to make a sale that day, but she ended by saying that I really do need more Bonvoy points.
It was a classic!!!
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