GrizShel

Now this is a little frustrating. I used to get offers in the mail frequently but was not interested. But I've seen some comments that Marriott presentations are low pressure, and that there can be opportunities for timeshare owners to get a significant amount of Marriott Rewards points annually, depending on the kind of deal they get set up. I really hope to get such a deal because I am gunning for lifetime Gold and hopefully lifetime Platinum eventually. And I like almost anything by Marriott, because they have treated me so well!

We don't want to purchase immediately, but do want to start visiting some of the Marriott properties. For example, Hilton, Head, Myrtle Beach, Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club, Marco Island. In fact, we are going to Hawaii this winter and would like to visit Ko Olina for 2 or 3 nights, and hopefully stay in one of the timeshare units and get a presentation. Will we get better treatment if we find an owner "sponsor" for our preview trip?

AMA

i'd suggest you pass on this. If i recall, you can get a small(<=15k) points for the entire speil. Big points come with a purchase(150k on some of the properties). Deceptive, tho...

Buying a timeshare is a lousy way to get points. Even if you trade your 'week' away for points every year, it's a terrible $$$ deal. Plus, you'd better verify that the points you get will in fact qualify towards lifetime status.

I'm in the process of finally getting out of a Hawaiian timeshare i bought a few yrs ago, and it was one of the worst financial deals I've ever made.

Buy the points from Marriott if you want 'em, but don't buy the damn timeshare, unless you really want IT, and know the consequences. And, even then, check timeshare reseller sites for a hell of a lot better deal.

Anthemflyer

We did the time share tour at Ko'Olina last summer and it took over six months of rangling to get the 15K posted to our account. I would say its not worth the agro, IMHO.

hhoope01

If you want to purchase a "package" that includes some discounted nights close to a timeshare, then try MVCI Package Deals. There is no requirement to buy an actual timeshare. Some of the packages may be upgradeable for a cost of course, into the actual MVCI property you would be touring. Another option is to ask a current MVCI owner to "refer" you. Marriott will probably offer you a "stay package at most any property that they have in active sales. There are owners that post here, so you could ask here or check out the Marriott forum at the Timeshare Users Group.

If you don't want the whole stay package, but are close to an MVCI property, most have a hotel close by and that hotel will probably have an MVCI "office" there where they normally offer the 15K points, free dinner, cash, etc offers for taking a 90 minute tour.

I have done a few of the stay packages, though it has been a few years back. They are fine and can easily be worth the money. The kicker is that they no longer put you up in the MVCI property. They now put you up in a close by hotel instead, though as mentioned above, you can sometimes upgrade into a suite in the MVCI property. I have done somewhere between 10 and 20 90 minute tours. Everytime I stay at a hotel that offers one, I take it. I like to see what the suites look like and find out about the property so why not get some points while doing so. ^ One can usually get out of the tours in about an hour if you really want to. Just be quiet, don't ask questions, be quick with the tours, answer every question with a yes/no and it will go pretty quick. I haven't had any issues with the points posting from my tours, but who knows, maybe I have just been lucky. (And one of those tours was at the Ko'Olina property as well.)

ArtM

As an MVCI owner, I've done any number of the tours. I agree that they are low key, and that the vast majority of sales personnel are well mannered professionals who will not beat up someone who says no.

On the economic side of acquiring points through ownership, besides the preview points, at current maintenance fees, giving up one's week in exchange for points equates to a cost around a cent per point. And that doesn't consider the cost of having $20K or more tied up in the timeshare itself. BTW, I don't think I have ever heard anything about those points cutting towards lifetime status.

On the ownership side, MVCI owners tend to be very pleased with their weeks, whether purchased resale or from the developer. Finding out if timeshare ownership is the right thing for you is a great idea; finding out if it is a good way to generate points is not a great idea.

Art

frisbeeace

I have to strongly disagree on this. I have travelled all around the world on points since 1992 thanks to my timeshare. If you´re smart using your points, it´s a terrific deal specially now with hotel rates skyrocketing.

This is my next trip.

2 weeks @ 110,000 = 220,000 points. Expenses + trading cost = $2,000.

Spent on:

1 week at Whistler Residence Inn in January (ski season) for 130,000 points. Cost = $5,144 plus 1 round trip ticket business class on American Airlines Argentina/Canada for 90,000 points whose cost is $7,000.

Then, my cost of $2,000 turned into a $12,000 vacation. How bad does it look to you?

AMA

I don't follow your explanation & math, pls elaborate(for us slow types).

* TWO weeks? Does this mean you own two weeks worth of timeshare?

* $2000? What's this? Yearly maintenance fee + mortgage(or tied up $$, if you paid off the timeshare) add up to a lot more than $2000.

$5144 + $7000 for hotel/air at ski resort is probably way over what one could purchase this for with a little shopping around...

$2000 into 12,000 looks impossible to me...

Also, as an alternative, check out timeshare rental/reseller sites on the web, as many offer good $$$ deals on renting someone else's timeshare for a week. No hassles of ownership, just rent it when you want it.

Recreation

Allow me to translate. If I understand correctly:

Frisbeeace owns 2 weeks at a timeshare that she converted to 220k MRs. Her maintenance fees + other fees cost her $2k out of of pocket.

She used the 220k MRs in the following way:

She booked 1 week at Whistler Residence Inn in January (ski season) for 130k. She also booked 1 RT busines class ticket on American Airlines Argentina/Canada for 90,000 points.

Retail value of the hotel was $5k/week. (A Residence Inn charges $700/ night?!) Retail value of the airfare was $7k. So for an out of pocket expense of $2k, she got a vacation worth $12k.

Since he/she purchased in '92, whatever they paid for it has already been forgotten. (It's easy to do this in timesharing, but in this case I'd say 15 years is a reasonable amount of time to "forget" about the initial investment.)

****
To the OPer, we just got a call from Marriott to book a 5 night preview at one of their timeshares in southern California in between San Diego and LA. I forget the name. Anyway, we had just completed an award stay at the Marriott Del Mar, so this triggered the call.

GrizShel

This discussion is very helpful to me, keep it up!

Just a couple of things to add. I don't know how this will all play out for me personally, but I'll say that individual factors are important in a choice.
For a long time I would never have considered buying a timeshare at retail. And at the time, I had very good reason for thinking that. But my situation is different now:

I've experienced a tremendous amount of value from having higher tier elite status with Marriott and I do not expect to be able to maintain that with nights stayed each year forever. I do, however, see a decent chance of making lifetime Gold status, and if there's a little boost from a Marriott timeshare lifetime platinum is within reach in a reasonable period of time. And I indeed may decide that, if the deal is good enough, this lifetime status may be worth (to me) the significant cost of a timeshare purchased from Marriott (assuming that I could, if I wanted, at least sell it down the road for say 50% of what I bought it for). Of course, I want to get some vacation value out of the timeshare as well. I've also heard that Marriott sometimes will offer annual bonus points to seal a timeshare deal with a buyer (that's aside from the trading in your week points when you decide to do that some years) - don't know how common this is?

aaupgrade

According to marriot.com and aa.com values would be as follows:

Hotel including taxes: $4016.95
Business class airfare SCL-YVR including taxes and fees: $4703.30
Total woudl be $8720.25 not $12000

My personal opinion is that time shares are good for families that intend on going to a particular property on a regular basis as the cost is then compared to paying for 2 hotels rooms; and then I would buy it in the secondary market as they are much less expensive. I have done extensive analysis of both direct and secondary purchase and for myself, being single, it is not a good option no matter how you slice it. You have the maintenance fees, RCI or other programs fees, banking fees, etc.

Starbucks

So as you are seeing a decent change to make it to LTG without the MVCI purchase we are talking about an additional 1.000.000 Marriott Points needed to qualify for LTP.

These days the "bribe" (they call it "First Day Benefit") for buying direct with Marriott usually ranges anywhere between 120.000 - 250.000 Points. The days one was able to buy direct for a reasonable price and got up to 600.000 points are temporarely gone. As Marriott hates to lower MVCI sales prices we might see point incentives if timeshare sales take a serious hit in the near or midterm future. I am into Marriott Timeshares only since 5 years so my experience might be limited but i have never heard about anyone who got additional annual points just to "seal the deal". Exchanging a timeshare week into Reward Points could make sense if you own a location with low maintenance fees. Trading in a Hawai Week for points doesnt make sense due to high maintenance fees and lost rental income. I do think that it is possible to sell a decent Marriott Timeshare Week after at few years for 50% face value. However, the premium paid ($$$$) to Marriott to acquire the week through them instead through the resale market, the annual point exchange fee, the maintenance fees and finally lost interest on the initial investment does give me quite a few $$$ annually to have great paid vacations and generate points. There are quite a lot of Marriott Timeshares out there where one could reserve a week in a timeshare unit via marriott.com for less than the Maintenance fee paid by the actual owner. To make it worse, owners do not earn stay credits while the marriott renter get points and stay credits on top. Owning MVCI is great if you know how to use the system and use your week for vacationing but buying it mostly to earn points for LTP qualification, guess that goal could be accomplished cheaper.

frisbeeace

Recreation explained my point pretty clear (although I'm a he not a she!!). Thanks.

AAupgrade. For check in on Jan 23rd, the best available rate at the hotel is $5,144 and business class on AA EZE-YVR is $5,200 (cheaper than usual). Total: $10,300. I still think that a 1:5 ratio is great.

Most people who think that trading for point is a lousy decision do not know exactly how to take advantage of the program. There are a few golden rules:

1. Buy from Marriott at a cheaper resort with low maintenance fees no matter where it is located (I occupied mine once in 15 years).
2. Get at least 150,000 incentive points plus 40,000 referral points if you are already an owner
3. Trade points for travel packages whenever you can. Secondly use them for hotel stays. Forget about the rest of the catalogue.

ArtM

One of the new ugly wrinkles on the First Day Incentive Points awards is that MVCI has been tying them to financing the purchase through MVCI at 13 or 14 APR. Talk about high cost points.

Art

Copilot23

From the outset I'll say I'm not a Marriott Timeshare Owner but we do own two units in a Mexico resort town. (I stay in enough Marriotts for work, a different resort means its more like a vacation ) I would not go to a timeshare presentation unless I was interested. We went through three (Orlando, Branson, and Williamsburg) before we were ready to buy. All three were extremely high pressure and I perfected the art of saying no. (Although I would have probably bought the Orlando one in the future if the stupid salesman would have given me contact information, we ended up ticking each other off in the end.) But we knew when we were (in our minds, not the timeshare sharks) financially ready we bought with an eye toward buying a property that was easy to trade and easy to sell if we needed. At this point, I'm not interested in selling and we've fallen in love so much with our home resort we have not traded in the 8 years we have owned. Timeshares are not for everyone, but I can say its benefitted us. It forces me to schedule a family vacation which has been great for our family. Its largely prepaid, so just getting there and incidentals is all I need to worry about in advance. We've been able to host friends and spend quality time, and we've gotten great rates through the exchange companies on last minute getways (Like $302 7 day two bedroom in Williamsburg- nice new condo for a week.)

frisbeeace

you can take the financing and the incentive points and pay off after 3 months