Marriott Vacation Club point system

What are MVC Premium Points? How do they differ from regular Destinations Points?

There are no premium points. Points are points. The salespeople try to make it seem like trust points are more valuable, because that’s all the can sell and that’s how they make their commission. Those who own weeks that elect to use points are made to feel as if their points have less value. This is not the case. When reservations are made, the reservationists are only checking to make sure you have enough points and not if they are trust points or elected points from a week.

Don’t fall for the salesperson’s dribble. There are no premium points.

Thanks for your reply but there must be something called Premium Points. I currently have two reservations for stays at Marriott resorts. In the cancellation terms they both state that for cancellations 60 days or less prior to the arrival date if the reservation was made using Premium Points then the points will be forfeited. If the reservation is with regular points then the points go into a holding account. I believe a holding account is one from which points can only be used to make reservations no more than 60 days in advance but I'm not sure what the Premium Points are.

I've always wondered why my Maui week is worth 3,900 points and my Newport Coast week is worth 3,500 when I convert them but to use a week in Maui, it can be about 4,300 points. Newport Coast is about 4,000 points in peak season. My weeks are platinum for both resorts but the inventory for trust owners has dwindled.

Premium Points question - My best guess is that Premium Vacation Club points are received as a reward for a presentation or as some inducement associated with a sales presentation. Having said that, if they work like regular vacation club points it may not matter.

alanr168 wrote:

Thanks for your reply but there must be something called Premium Points. I currently have two reservations for stays at Marriott resorts. In the cancellation terms they both state that for cancellations 60 days or less prior to the arrival date if the reservation was made using Premium Points then the points will be forfeited. If the reservation is with regular points then the points go into a holding account. I believe a holding account is one from which points can only be used to make reservations no more than 60 days in advance but I'm not sure what the Premium Points are.

I remember now. Premium points are the additional points that owners with fewer than 4000 Destination points (called Owner level) pay when they want to make a reservation for 7 or more nights at 13 months out. Premium points are the additional points (sort of like a tax) to get the 13 month reservation. Those at higher Marriott benefit loyalty tier levels can make the same reservation and not have the premium point penalty.

Sorry I did not realize what you were initially asking. Once you wrote reservations, it immediately clicked.

Thanks Charles S. that answers my question.

An observation - We own at Marriott's Newport Coast which is very large (700 villas) and in high demand. Redweek has a feature which allows one to see new rentals as they come on the market for specific properties. I now see the new rentals and I'm surprised at the number of rental postings as they come on as well as those already posted.

My thought is that every villa that comes up for rental is one less exchanged for points and one less available for a point exchange. So, many owners are opting for cash rather than points. Why is this and what are the consequences for the point program?

Later - I thought about this a bit more and realized that with 700 villas there are over 36,000 available weeks. The number rented has to be a very small percentage.

What you refer to as premium points are the points premium (20% points surcharge) that you pay for a reservation in the 13 month reservation window if you don't have a high enough owner status. If you cancel that reservation after the 13 month window has closed, you get your points premium back as restricted points that can only be used in the 60 day reservation window. Convoluted? More like mind bending.

My husband and I are considering buying additional destination points on Redweek. I realize these would have to pass ROFR from Marriott, but what are the fees these days to add to our existing “portfolio” of destination points? I had read that there is a minimum fee to Marriott to add these points, but cannot find it anywhere! Also do these additional points when added allow us to move from Executive to the next level within MVC? Thank you!

I think your deeded week is cheaper than the yearly cost for points. I feel that the points are a bad deal when you see the cost to buy and then watch the cost to use them each year. I would be glad to sell my last 1000 points.

richs245 wrote:

Hi, looking for some advice whether to switch to destination points. We own a deeded week in Vegas which we bought ten years ago. We mostly use interval to exchange for European weeks as we live in the UK. Went to a presentation at MVCI yesterday and they were trying to sell us a whole bunch of destination points. Does it make sense to switch? And if so, can you just enroll without having to spend a fortune on more DP's?

$3 per point plus some additional fees for closing. Still much cheaper than buying directly from MVC if you can get passed ROFR. From what I’ve heard once the points are in your account they’re just like points purchased from MVC.

Sorry, must be doing something wrong, was trying to answer a specific question about resale MVC points fees.

I am contemplating selling about 10,000 MVCI destination' points either on Redweek or directly to Marriott. I would appreciate any feedback from any one with experience with either. I was told at a recent presentation at Marco Island that, generally, around March or April Marriott will offer to buy back points at a 50% discount to current price!? That would put the price at about $8 per point. I would sell my points at that price if it were true!

So I'm looking at potential purchasing some points on Redweek. The maintenance fees seem pretty high, for example around $5-6K/yr for 7500 points. I have no idea what I can get for 7500 points. I know it varies widely depending on time and place, but I would love to see some examples of places I can book with X number of points. Any way thats possible?

I've never owned any timeshare properties so trying to be cautious.

Yes and when we converted to points we initially could stay any week except Christmas and New Year...yet the conversion points provided are not sufficient to stay in the 50 weeks we had previously.

In addition we were told by multiple sales people that we could book any Marriott resort after placing our points into Interval. NOT TRUE.

terryl246 wrote:

As a legacy weeks owner with Marriott, we've been on a several previews now for the Marriott Vacation Club point system. In all of these presentations, they make several misrepresentations and omissions. First, they say for one annual fee (which includes your Interval membership), all of your other costs go away. However, this is only if you stay within Marriott; if you use Interval you still have to pay all the Interval exchange fees. They also said that the fee was $169 but then we have found out that the fee has already been raised to $175 for 2013. Second, they say that your costs for your resort accommodations are now fixed at the current level forever. This is FALSE!! They can raise the per point maintenance fee any time they want. The MVCI website still says points are $.40 per point per year; whew, that's $1600 if you own 4000 points. But it has already been raised to $.43 for 2013. Plus, Marriott can change the number of points required for any given accommodation any time they want. I also think the cost of purchasing these points is outrageous. You would be a fool to buy them given what's on the market these days. We might still elect to convert, but we have already sold one week back to Marriott (for less than a third of what we paid) this year and will sell the other if we get the chance. It used to be a great deal; the Marriott properties and the staff are always wonderful, but the maintenance fees and exchange fees have ballooned to the point where we think its not a good value anymore. It's also getting more and more difficult to exchange thru Interval into another Marriott property since most of their excess inventory is now being reserved for point owners. All Marriott sells now is the point system because it's a win, win, win for them, and a lose, lose, lose for you.

Yes and prior to converting our weeks into points we could stay any week except Christmas and New Year...yet the conversion points provided are not sufficient to stay in the 50 weeks we had previously. Very disappointed 😞 In addition we were told by multiple sales people that we could book any Marriott resort after placing our points into Interval. NOT TRUE. They promised to train their sales team yet we continue to be misinformed.

terryl246 wrote:

As a legacy weeks owner with Marriott, we've been on a several previews now for the Marriott Vacation Club point system. In all of these presentations, they make several misrepresentations and omissions. First, they say for one annual fee (which includes your Interval membership), all of your other costs go away. However, this is only if you stay within Marriott; if you use Interval you still have to pay all the Interval exchange fees. They also said that the fee was $169 but then we have found out that the fee has already been raised to $175 for 2013. Second, they say that your costs for your resort accommodations are now fixed at the current level forever. This is FALSE!! They can raise the per point maintenance fee any time they want. The MVCI website still says points are $.40 per point per year; whew, that's $1600 if you own 4000 points. But it has already been raised to $.43 for 2013. Plus, Marriott can change the number of points required for any given accommodation any time they want. I also think the cost of purchasing these points is outrageous. You would be a fool to buy them given what's on the market these days. We might still elect to convert, but we have already sold one week back to Marriott (for less than a third of what we paid) this year and will sell the other if we get the chance. It used to be a great deal; the Marriott properties and the staff are always wonderful, but the maintenance fees and exchange fees have ballooned to the point where we think its not a good value anymore. It's also getting more and more difficult to exchange thru Interval into another Marriott property since most of their excess inventory is now being reserved for point owners. All Marriott sells now is the point system because it's a win, win, win for them, and a lose, lose, lose for you.

I just went to another Marriott Vacation Club sales meeting. They are selling points. He first showed me a chart indicating a cost of over $100,000 for 4,000 points. This was a reverse bait and switch since further on they were offering points as low as 1,000 for $17,000. Now to me who would spend $100,000 over 10 years to spend two weeks at a Marriott timeshare or perhaps one week if you choose Aruba or Marco Island and ,of course, add the combined maintenance fees and club dues for 4,000 points which comes to $14,000 per year. We were also told that the”new” points system gives us a better chance of reserving online as now more villas in the same location are available. I asked how can his be true since without notification to the owners something was taken away. I smelled lawsuits on this alleged statement. At one point I must have gotten the sales agent so confused he offered to take my two Marriott timeshares and charge me $800. Total not to use them and without paying maintenance. I took out my credit card and said here’s $4,000 to cover the next five years and I can go home with no more booking headaches. No, he said , I meant 1,000 points more for $17,000. Plus and additional $800 maintenance. Marriott will not buy back my timeshares at any price. I must continue to spend my retirement looking for any opening in Aruba or Marco Island. All other locations I can rent for less than my per day maintenance costs.

Just came came back from Sales presentation at one of the Marriott Vacation Club. Me & I wife would have to be extremely dumb and gullible to give even a dime of our hard earned money for this "Time share ownership" or "Destination Club Points" ponzi schemes. They offered us $17K initial cash down ( with all sorts of finance and credit card options LOL) for 1000 points and 81c per point maintenance ( ie $800/year) uncapped, meaning, maintenance can keep going up year after year. With Timeshare week ownership, they atleast provided some "smoke and mirror of ownership" for "one week" at a fixed/float property with a scam deed. With Destination points, you own nothing! They now have 700,000 suckers into this scheme/scam and keep adding at the breakneck speed. Good luck finding any room anywhere to book in two years with points. Stay 100 feet away from these scammers. Use the BonVoy points and be done or even cash to book. IT IS NOT WORTH all the hassles to book in advance, resale your week at half price, add more points, pay fees to vacation somewhere for a week. I am sure 50%+ people are not using this scam as promised.

TimeShare is best legal Ponzi scheme to take out all of the initial costs to develop any property and then unload on to unsuspecting people and then stick extremely high maintenance fees as profits for life.