Original Message:
Re: Ripoff - Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Program - New Point System (by G333 S.):
Hey there Katherynm! I get your frustration and I agree that not all reps have the correct info or may not be presenting the info clearly and accurately.
Depending on how your sales rep explains enrollment will dictate a lot of the misunderstanding.
For example, enrollment which cost $595 for one week or $695 for multiple weeks (unless it was a resale purchased before 6/20/2010 in which case enrollment is $1495 for one week and $1995 for multiple weeks. No resale purchased after 6/20/2010 will ever be eligible to enroll) does not give OWNERSHIP of the destination points. To have ownership requires a deed, and enrollment does not change what is on our deed, therefore we still own legacy weeks, not points with enrollment only. Enrollment does provide the legacy owner with the ability to elect destination points as a usage option, but to be clear, usage is not the same as ownership. That is why they are called Exchange points, because all the legacy owners who have elected points for their 2012 week can now exchange with each other much the same way we used to exchange our week with one another. The only difference is that we no longer have to go through Interval to do it, and we have move flexibility in terms of any day check in, any length of stay, any size villa and so on. Enrollment also means that Marriott will now pay for our Interval membership, as well as eliminate internal exchange fees, lock off fees, cxl fees, and even the fees associated with converting our week into Marriott reward points.
So enrollment gives FLEXIBILITY and cuts down on fees. As for ACCESS to Trust inventory; an owner will need a deed that entitles them ownership in the Trust.
This is mainly because the Trust is not an exchange based system, therefore our exchange points alone will not get us in. The Trust is a reservation system designed so that owners need not depend on using a peer's ownership in order to go where they want and when they want. It is a reservation system because a Trust owner literally owns a small part of every resort in the Trust. All they need to do is let Marriott know which of their home resorts they want to use.
As for premiere status, there are other benefits that have nothing to do with the Trust inventory. Such as being able to book 13 months out with no points premium charge to do so. You get 20% off any points reservation you make as long as it's within 7 days of booking, if you have the Marriott visa, you can get 40% off rentals, or 30% off if you don't have the visa. And there are certain cruises and epic trips that are only available to owners in that level.
It's true that only premiere and premiere plus owners will have access to the Ritz resorts, however those resorts will be only Trust resorts and even though you have the status, without being a trust owner, you don't have access to them.
If a trust owner has enough points to book a week at the Ritz but is not a premier owner, they will also not have access. Therefore to get into the ritz (resorts not talking about the hotels) you must have both the status as well as a trust deed.
I hope this cleared up the difference between what enrollment does for an owner and what purchasing Trust points does.
One last food for thought....it's true that we had access to exchange inventory before because all Marriott owners exchanged with interval. But every enrolled owner who chose to elect destination exchange points for their 2012 usage just decreased the available inventory in Interval for 2012 since they didn't deposit their week into I.I. And from my VOA, there were so many owners calling on the deadline day to elect exchange points, that Marriott extended the deadline for a week to accommodate the owners who couldn't get through. If you had not enrolled, you wouldn't have access to all the weeks that are now in the Marriott Exchange company instead of Interval. I predict that any owners who have not enrolled will be slightly upset when the realize just how many owners are no longer giving interval their weeks.