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Re: Marriott System (by Kenneth K.):

Eric: I was not being a wise guy. I am friends with several Marriott Staff, and I know they might get in trouble when they post on a timeshare info & learning website, esp the tug site. ( As you are probably aware).

I think it would be a great help if you could continue posting here without pushing a sales or 'come up & see me sometime" approach. It makes me think there might be bias in you comments if you state that.

I hope you are able to help.....others have from Marriott, Hyatt, Fairfield/Wyndham and some other management companies only to disappear from the site, because they wanted to keep their jobs.

As for buyng a Developer priced unit from Marriott or most other T/S developers or Management companies, most of us here find it is hard to justify the difference in cost. It's hard for us to watch a Marriott Seaview week go for $2075 when the Developers cost to that owner was so much more... ( yes, a Gold week at that resort, Marriott makes sure no one realizes there are many yellow strength weeks in that Gold time period...its not all red)

No, its not just Marriott. I once thought it was great the Marriott protected its owners with the ROFR, but know I feel thats has nothing to do with owner protection......

And.. of course, it is not just Marriott. I remember TUG had a meeting with the sales staff at the FF Wyndham in Alexandria. What a great group when they were willing to give so much info and reasoning...when asked why Fairfield ( wasn't named Wyndham yet) didn't do a ROFR on the owners weeks or points? They were pushing for it, but most of the condo docs didn't have it as part of the contracts.......so we asked is that why resale points are one penny to just under 3 pennies (US) each? They felt that might be one of the reasons. (Recently a Wyndham Newport, RI unit (189,000 points) sold for 1/8 of a cent per point)

But I have to give the Wyndham group credit.....they do not deny the listing of their excess units to the RCI www.afvclub.com or IIs www.govarm.com for active military members weeks at $329 for leave time.

I once mentioned on tug I saw a few Marriott weeks ( Those that trade in RCI & II) on the listings, and thought that was a great thing to do, only to never see a Marriott again.

I also need to ask about one thing. Did I read one benefit from buying a Marriott at a developers cost was a vacation planner? I'm not sure, and of course, they can always change it, but I've read on different T/S forums that resale MAR owners seem to be able to get this bennie also. Maybe there was a mess up?

On the TUG & Forums BBS, they report the only difference is the availability of points....and many don't feel thats a good value ( Marriott was selling them last spring for a penny each?). They go down in value, while the maint fees & taxes go up? (Remember, you can give your week back, for points, but still have to pay that fee plus the weeks maint fees and taxes...around $1000 a week.

I know Marriott sales has some great buys. I saw a Bronze L/O via MAR for $1500...I forgot where (a mud week in Colorado??), but maybe the Mar Travel Reward points could not be traded back for these units. Thanks for posting here. We can use all the help to figure out how to get the best value possible form out units, and the yearly maint fees and taxes.