Post reply

Re: Marriott Going to Point Syst (by Mark D.):

I enrolled both my Desert Springs week and my Newport Coast weeks into the points program but after trying to "buy in" with the points to a week in Hawaii and realizing how truly expensive that is, I realize that I am better off splitting the Desert Springs week up into two (via the lockoff) and trading, via II, into Hawaii within 60 days of the time I want to vacation there. Doing that provided me a week at Ko Olina and a week at Maui Ocean Club (new towers) for this June and July. And I still have my Newport Coast weeks to trade later or to just use (which we generally do). I guess the only "gain" from having enrolled into the points program is that there was no additional cost to lockoff the Desert Springs property, and no fees to book the Hawaii properties. To me, the points could only be valuable when wanting to book much more in advance, but then I have to be prepared to give up a lot to get a little.