Post reply

Re: Marriott Vacation Club point system (by Steve F.):

Yep, and all of that considered, got in way under $7 per point total (see below), about half that. And for maintenance fee folks, those who compare to ownership, that includes II, lockoff fees, internal exchanges, etc. So, the points can be very competitive maint fee wise. Where they are not competitive unless you find the right seller or get beat by ROFR, is purchase price. I could argue given a decent membership level that points maint fees are lower overall. But price is vastly higher in general which is the more important metric and in general makes it not worth it for sure unless you just have more money than you want. Certainly it is almost always cheaper to buy a resale ownership though not as flexible but if you really like a place. They were going for $1 a few years back in the downtime.

Actually, the timeshare resale folks had never got one past Marriott ROFR below $5 per point + closing and re-enrollment, which is $2 per pt = $7 which is expensive (to me). But we found a way. There's a website out there I used where you enter your potential purchase and whether or not Marriott exercised ROFR. Mostly, they do on points, they are propping up the price and the real reason, is they make money of course. If someone is trying to sell for $2 per point (and they are), Marriott buys it for $2. Not bad when they sell for 5+ times that. That makes them more money than just letting the sale go and getting the enrollment fee.

You'd be surprised on what is available on points within a 30 day window (which I intend to use given 30% discount). I have a spreadsheet where I have been tracking this (min 7 days in a row, I don't want to go for less than a week). On August 1 for example, I could get into the deserts (no thanks), Lake Tahoe (love the place and have a friend in Reno, perfect time of year), Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Panama City, Riviera Beach, all Hawaii islands, Branson (love it), Vegas, Utah, Thailand, Australia (though it's "winter"), Aruba Ocean club, St Kitts, Frenchmans Cove. All of these had at least a week available for points use. That makes, for example, Kauai 1,631 points. Orlando just over 1000, Utah (good summer spot) 881. Granted many people especially younger folks can't make plans that quickly, we can. So, once I get a year of data, I can plan out a year as far as what is cheapest time of year for a destination, and, does it generally have availability within 30 days. Other summer months had Spain and some others available within 30 day window.