The New Marriott Points System

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

One thing to keep your eye on are provisions pertaining to rentals.

In the Diamond system, when you join your week to the Club you also pretty much surrender your right to rent the week. Technically, you can still rent, as long as the rental is not "commercial use", but "commercial use" is explicitly defined to include any advertising that you have a unit for rent. So posting a rental ad here or OY is commercial activity that is against DRI Club rules. The stated rationale is that the Club is for the personal use of members and renting units removes units from usage by members.

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So I would suggest that anyone who joins Marriott's club be sure that all of the rights of usage that you are accustomed to having be spelled out explicitly in your contract. Don't rely on references to club rules, because those can be changed. If it's important to you, make it a condition of your affiliation agreement. If they won't put it into the contract, then you'll have to decide how important it is to you and how much you trust them.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

It's absolutely breathtaking how many rentals for NCV there are on Redweek right now - 168 to be exact

I noted that Redweek has a placeholder for 'points/credits for sale' on NCV now and presume for other MVCI resorts as well.

This is going to be interesting to watch and get feedback from members who convert to points and search internal inventory. Oddly, right now, when I go to MVCI to reserve in Platinum season, all June 2011 check-in days still show up. Even with the traditional 'June Gloom' at NCV, those weeks usually get reserved pretty fast. When I reconcile that with the lack of II exchange inventory, I just go

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

One scenario:
My week - Dec 3-10 at NCV - I've decided to convert my gold week to points and want to reserve a week in 'off season' platinum which, incidentally, is the same points 'value' to reserve as gold season.

It is as if Marriott is trying to correct the errors they made in season assignment after the fact and at the expense of owners,

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Here is my situation....

My ownerships at this point. All Platinum

Aruba Surf garden view
Marriott gives me 3475 -
to reserve when I normally go in March - 3900

Grande Vista (Orlando)
Marriott gives me 2775 -
to reserve in plat time 3900,
to reserve in late Feb thru early April 4225,
to reserve my usual Presidents week resie 4775

Willow Ridge (Branson)
Marriott gives me 1850 -
to reserve May thru Sept 1 - 2400

The points difference at Grande Vista is CRAZY!

I am very, very disappointed

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

My ownerships at this point. All Platinum

Aruba Surf garden view
Marriott gives me 3475 -
to reserve when I normally go in March - 3900

Grande Vista (Orlando)
Marriott gives me 2775 -
to reserve in plat time 3900,
to reserve in late Feb thru early April 4225,
to reserve my usual Presidents week resie 4775

Willow Ridge (Branson)
Marriott gives me 1850 -
to reserve May thru Sept 1 - 2400

The points difference at Grande Vista is CRAZY!

I am very, very disappointed

So this is what's confusing me a bit. My understanding is that this system works similar to RCI points. You're allocated X number of points (an approx average) but the year is broken out into weeks/time frames which require higher or lower points. If you reserve your use week during the prioroity period, you will get that week, regardless of how many points is supposed to be required according to the grid. After the priority period (when everyone can book - e.g. 10 months in RCI points), then you are charged the # of points shown in the grid.

Isn't the above the same as how this new Marriott points system is supposed to work? My take is that if you reserve during the priority period (12 mths prior to your desired check-in), you're fine. If you reserve during open time (say 10 mths) or if you want a different resort than your own, then you're screwed and need to buy additional points.

I haven't seen anyone else talk about it in these terms and think that most Marriott owners are not RCI points owners. I've seen reference to DRI points system and don't know if that's the same.

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Giving less than you get

Similarly, to use the week I usually book with my platinum time, oceanside view will cost about 1000 more points than they give me. So WHY would I choose this system?????? I purchased a season and a view and expect to be able to access that season and view. Would someone please explain this to me????

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Pat, does anything keep us from booking time like we always have to get the seasono and view we purchased rather than use devalued points?

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Newspapers love negative stories- perhaps they'll look further into this!

Marriott changes its time-share system, shifts from weeks to points - OrlandoSentinel.com


Perhaps you can ask this reporter to get the answer to your question. Her contact information is posted at the bottom.

I loved the last line of the article..

".............. Current owners of Marriott time shares will maintain their full rights and privileges, Marriott said, but will also have the option to enroll in the new program."

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

My understanding is that the converted point allotment is based on the inventoried week for deeding, not simply the season..

What we are seeing is that, much like rci points where they are shades of red- there are also shades of platinum!

The really scary part is to look at the point differential between a resort like Grande Vista and a resort such as Ko Olina.. Ouch!

I think this may be a very exciting time for smaller exchange companies! If owners are scared that interval will simply "rent" the best weeks right back to Marriott rather than give them back to owners for weeks exchanges- they will deposit more often info companies such as SFX (which doesn't have the same ties to Marriott!)..

There will be ways through this quagmire, we'll just have to figure out what those are and then spread the word.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

My understanding is that the converted point allotment is based on the inventoried week for deeding, not simply the season..

IIUC, what you're saying is that my deeded week 25 NCV platinum has been allocated a certain number of points, 4375, based on that particular deeded week, rather than just a blanket number for platinum season. If so, this is where networking with other members at the same resort/season will be helpful in understanding. So far, I haven't seen different numbers for NCV owners, but the sample is exceedingly small and I have no idea what their deeded weeks are.

My main concern will continue to be the strong enticement of this points scheme for Marriott to arbitrarily skew the unit/days in their unsold inventory into the highest demand part of the NCV calendar, July and August, and dumping those unit/days into points, locking out owners from reserving in this popular part of the season. In the past, it was always hard to exchange into those months, even as an owner, so that tells me Marriott gave up little unsold inventory to II, preferring to hold it for owners or rent it. I tracked availabilty through MARSHA and, more often than not, over the last seven years, there was little to no rental availability either. These are areas I'm watching carefully for changes. If, all of a sudden, we're reading reports of points members getting summer NCV weeks where I can't reserve one for my ownership, then that dynamic will bear more scrutiny.

Points systems leave a lot of room for abuse and fraud, so I know the Cali DRE will be interested in what's going on. Marriott might have a lot of MBA's and lawyers, but, as we've seen, their rollout has been a bit amateurish and they've already made some gross errors. We're watching

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

Points systems leave a lot of room for abuse and fraud, ...

So that's why every Tom, Dick, and Marriott is jumping on the points bandwagon.

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

I'll never forget the points debacle at Marriott's corporate-owned hotel in Sydney on our 'dream vacation' to Australia, using points (MRP's) I received from our developer purchases at NCV. It opened my eyes both to points and to Marriott's evolving culture. Sad to say.

If this program had come out smooth, clean and professional, I'd have another instinct. Somehow, what I'm reading reminds me of the front desk at Circular Quay on that fateful check-in day. Hope my instinct is premature

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Just talked to a new Marriott buyer... Such a shame!

I just talked to a new Marriott "points" buyer.. Purchased 1500 points for over $13,000! He had no idea what he was getting for that amount of money.. When I showed him the point charts he was furious!

Said the salesperson had thrown so much at them they'd gotten confused and thought they were actually getting enough points for a 2br villa..

It's a family of six that comes to Orlando almost every year.. That point total won't even get them a full week in a studio villa for some of the year (and with six they can't stay in a studio anyway!)

They were also told by the sales weasel that if they didn't buy points, they wouldn't be able to exchange in the future... They also got the same old story about Marriott buying back all the resale contracts, and that resale buyers often can't get clean title and find they owe thousands in back maintenance fees..

It's just sad.......

And to think the resale industry is the one with a bad reputation right now in the press....

[camachinist Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close camachinist]

Maybe some DRE employees should attend a 'new' Marriott sales presentation

A decade of experience with the MRP system at Marriott has taught me plenty. It's all electrons ...

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Additional Points Clarification from Marriott Sales via personal email See below

Dear Heather - Fear not. You can continue to use your weeks as you always have. There are two different buckets. Keep using them as weeks or elect each year to to turn them into Destination points. You won't lose your 13-month privilege. We can talk on the phone and it will become clear. The program is fabulous and they have added an Explorer collection that is phenomenal. You would never turn your regular weeks into Destination points to use at your home resort. You are a LEGACY owner. You have the best possible position. It is the new person that would use Destination points to come to Myrtle Beach. If you decide to enroll, your points can get you three or four weeks in other locations. We definitely need to talk. Right now if you buy additional points - and all the LEGACY owners are lined up out the door - you can buy a minimum of 1,000 points and a max of 10,000. The Introductory Special is $9.20 per point. If you just enroll they give you 800 points to "play" with as an incentive. If you buy additional points, the incentives are fabulous. Basically, you can buy what would have been silver or bronze and add it to what you have, and upgrade to oceanfront, or spend one or two nights additional, take a week in Orlando, or go the Great Wall of China on an Explorer trip. I'm loving it, and I think you will, too. You were on my list of people to speak to. I know once we speak, you'll get it.

Let's talk before you enroll and before you come down - I don't want you to miss out on any perks.
You are going to be all over this program, - this will give your husband
what he's always wanted - golf in the off season - you will have
Explorer packages and you can still have Myrtle Beach - you probably
will want to buy more Destination Points - the new bucket. But
basically for the price of what a Bronze week used to cost, you can
augment what you already own.