luvtotravel

I just purchased a Marriott timeshare, platinum level. They boast lots of property options around the world, both in their vacation clubs and through a book of other properties that are not Marriotts.

My plan is to bank the points instead of trading and pick the hotels where I want to stay occasionally, using a lot of the points for airline ff miles -- probably business class tickets. Has anyone had experience with Marriott timeshares they would like to share? Thanks.

artlover

We've stayed at the Marriott Marbella Beach Club in Spain twice and love it. If you want to use Marriott points in Europe, I suggest you check out tug2.net for some great pointers. Also, don't know if you can deposit and trade into Interval International, but that might be helpful for you as well. This is what we usually do and sometimes we've gotten some great trades--like in Mougins in Southern France and in La Manga in Spain.

We've also stayed at the Marriott Champs Elysees in Paris and this place is a gem--incredible location.

I hope you bought a resale.

nwbniteowl

We bought a Marriott timeshare (platinum) years ago. It has worked out pretty well. If you want to trade, the key is doing it as early as possible. The main problem is we want to travel during the most popular times--summer and school vacations--so it often hard to get what we want. We can only trade it in for points every other year, which we do. We have used the points to stay in Residence Inns, which we love for a family. We haven't travelled outside the US with the timeshare yet--the availability, esp. for a 2-bedroom unit, is very limited. Now that our children are just out of high school, we hope to be able to use it more during off peak times.
Good luck.

keepmoving

We have had a Marriott timeshare since 2000 and love it. We also belong to Interval. You can only trade for points every other year. We used a bucket load of points to stay a week in a fabulous Marriott in London. We had to use "any time points" or whatever they were called, which basically is a huge number of points were required but well worth it.

Between using points for the Marriott brand of hotels that you can go to and the exchanges you can make through Interval you have a huge number of choices all over the world.

We are still happy we have the timeshare despite the high maintenance fee. Well worth the great places we've stayed at. Enjoy it!

SDtravelers

We have been owners of Marriott Vacation Club since 2000, own in Maui/Ko'Olina and two weeks in St Thomas. We just love it. Our first trip was a week to Bali - gift week from II. 4 days on Orient Express thru Malaysia - used Marriott points, 3 days in Singapore and 2 days in Bancock - hotels with points. Only thing we paid for was air fare II got us a great price.

Next year we are going on a two week African safari with OAT and then staying a week at Marriott Marbella afterwards to relax. Used a Marriott hotel/air package for First class flight all the way and hotel stay in Spain. It works out wonderful for us. The Marriott points really don't start to pay until you buy a second property. This last year they did change the point system slightly so it cost a little more to travel but still cheeper than paying $$$. Yes the key is to plan a year in advance.

Tug2net and Redweek.com are both great websites for info on any timeshare. Remember when you buy Marriott outside of the company you will not get points. But is a good deal to buy another property at a reasonable price for trade value.