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Re: Marriott Going to Point Syst

Silvia called, Destination Points are the new term now, I'm an "external" owner since I bought resale. Buying into this program gives me all the direct sale benefits in addition to the points reservation system. Enrolling would cost me $1,995 for 4,825 Destination Pts/yr or 120,000 Marriott Pts every other year based on my three units. I guess my two Palm Springs units are Silver rather than Gold. This would be bad for me since I can use a 1BR or even Studio to make last minute reservations thru II to get 2BR units. Sylvia said a Marriott Maui 2BR Lahaina Tower in August would be 4,500 Pts - my entire annual allotment when I managed to use a Studio to get mine last August. Marriott has a points discount for last minute discounts but she wasn't certain how the details worked. She said to call reservations at 800-845-4226. But even if the discount was 50%, I could only get two reservations whereas I've gotten five in 2010 thru II. She also said I could use my "week" rather than Destination Points to internally secure another "week". I'm not certain I'd pay $2k plus $199/yr to switch to an internal system but if I could be convinced it provided more unit availability then maybe it would be worth it. From what i've read from other owners though, the unit availability is fairly tight right now PLUS there is a stronger focus on "like for like" internal exchange. So this would affect me since I rarely stay in studios, and if "like for like" limited my Silver units to only securing Silver units I would be prevented from a number of reservations I have access to thru II.