Tweet
Who can benefit from Marriott's new Destination Club
The way I see it at this point, there is a rather narrow group of current Marroitt owners who can benefit from the new DC.
1. Those who own multiple units strictly to exchange can benefit under the one fee price plan rather than ala carte pricing. Especially those who own lock-off units. A person who owns two lock-off units and makes 4 trades per year using those units can save $387/year under the new plan. That's $150 in lock-off fee's and $436 in exchange fee's less the $199 annual membership fee.
2. Empty nesters who don't need that large unit they bought for the whole family and would prefer smaller units and more frequent vacations.
3. Young couple who purchased a one bedroom when they didn't have children and now find themsleves needing two or three bedroom units. They can buy enough points to upgrade rather than buying another entire week.
4. Owners who have had to change jobs and have lost a lot of their vacation time. They may need to take more weekend trips rather than taking entire week long vacations.
5. Owners who simply want more flexability in their ownership.
6. Owners who want to take vacations other than timeshare vacations but, own to many timeshares to take both. For instance, we like to cruise but, we own so many timeshares I have to figure out what to do with one or two of them when we cruise. I have exchanged our Hilton points for cruises in years when something would end up getting wasted. Better to get some value than no value.
I know it's a list of 6 but, most of the owners I've talked to over the years own only one timeshare and haven't figured out how to really get maximum value out of their ownership. Many don't even have a clue how to exchange nor do they want to exchange. Spending $595 plus $169/year will seem like a waste of money to them. Those that rarely exchange won't see a lot of benefit. The obvious skim will also keep owners who might have liked a points based system from joining if they can't even get the week they bought at their home resort during the season they own.
Marriott hamstrung itself on this new program if they wanted to get current owners into the pool IMHO but, it is what it is. We barely fall into the catagory of seeing a benefit due to the fact we own two lock-out units but, we don't exchange all of our weeks. For us it's a risk joining in that it will take three years for us to break even. Will Marriott hold the annual membership fee at $199 or, will they increase that fee or, add other fee's along the way, making the program less attractive. Even owning two weeks with Marriott, this program is not a no-brainer for us to join.
1. Those who own multiple units strictly to exchange can benefit under the one fee price plan rather than ala carte pricing. Especially those who own lock-off units. A person who owns two lock-off units and makes 4 trades per year using those units can save $387/year under the new plan. That's $150 in lock-off fee's and $436 in exchange fee's less the $199 annual membership fee.
2. Empty nesters who don't need that large unit they bought for the whole family and would prefer smaller units and more frequent vacations.
3. Young couple who purchased a one bedroom when they didn't have children and now find themsleves needing two or three bedroom units. They can buy enough points to upgrade rather than buying another entire week.
4. Owners who have had to change jobs and have lost a lot of their vacation time. They may need to take more weekend trips rather than taking entire week long vacations.
5. Owners who simply want more flexability in their ownership.
6. Owners who want to take vacations other than timeshare vacations but, own to many timeshares to take both. For instance, we like to cruise but, we own so many timeshares I have to figure out what to do with one or two of them when we cruise. I have exchanged our Hilton points for cruises in years when something would end up getting wasted. Better to get some value than no value.
I know it's a list of 6 but, most of the owners I've talked to over the years own only one timeshare and haven't figured out how to really get maximum value out of their ownership. Many don't even have a clue how to exchange nor do they want to exchange. Spending $595 plus $169/year will seem like a waste of money to them. Those that rarely exchange won't see a lot of benefit. The obvious skim will also keep owners who might have liked a points based system from joining if they can't even get the week they bought at their home resort during the season they own.
Marriott hamstrung itself on this new program if they wanted to get current owners into the pool IMHO but, it is what it is. We barely fall into the catagory of seeing a benefit due to the fact we own two lock-out units but, we don't exchange all of our weeks. For us it's a risk joining in that it will take three years for us to break even. Will Marriott hold the annual membership fee at $199 or, will they increase that fee or, add other fee's along the way, making the program less attractive. Even owning two weeks with Marriott, this program is not a no-brainer for us to join.
Comment