Original Message:
Re: Marriott Vacation Club "Destinations" - What I Like and What I've Done (by Charles S.):
michaelf666 wrote:Dennis, You make my "point". You are paying for an abstract commodity without any true substance. This commodity can (and I believe is) manipulated by Marriott. If you have to pay thousands of dollars for family memories I feel sorry for you. As you may, or may not know, the airline tickets and cruises are definitely a "rip off" under the point system. You can do much better on your own. I brought this up at my last presentation in June. After laying it all out to our sales person-he agreed with me. I went over several other aspects of the point system (as I have researched it extensively) and I had him agreeing with me that points are not a good value and you can do considerably better on your own. My uncle & aunt (who sat in along with my wife) were impressed by the dollar and cents presentation I gave as it relates to doing business in the point system. Enjoy your points-oh, by the way; I added to my October week in Maui this year by renting an oceanfront 2 bed/2 bath condo for 4 extra days (located near Marriott). Total cost (w/ taxes, cleaning etc.)-$825.00. If I used points, the cost would have been over 10K plus maintenance fees, parking fee etc. - remember, people that use points at the Hawaii resorts currently pay $25/day to park while owners, such as myself, do not pay. All I can say is-do the math and enjoy your points.
Michaeld, I would undoubtedly agree with you that buying points is more expensive. However, my point that I dispute with you is that for those of us who are owners of weeks prior to June 2010 and decided to join the points program, is a good deal for us. There are lot of advantages and we have not given up anything but aquired some additional flexibility. We have lost nothing but in my opinion gained. Nothing is ALL bad.