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.

mamajo

There are two timeshare BBS's out there that will be of more help to you than this BBS. Check out:
TUG (TimeShare Users Group) @ www.tugbbs.com/forums
And
Timeshare Forums @:
www.timeshareforums.com

The people on both boards are timeshare owners and have great knowledge in the 'ins and outs' of timesharing, buying, exchanging, and using points.

uconn1990

If you bought the timeshare for the points, you may have made a HUGE mistake. My understanding is that you can trade your week annually for 150,000 points. The points within the Marriott system, if you use it to book a full week, is worth anywhere from $0.01-$0.02/point. As a reference, I just used 100,000 points to book a 5 nights 1 BR villa in Maui that goes for over $400/night in the summer. In other words, I gained over $2000 in value for 100,000 points (>$0.02/point)

If you exchange your 150,000 points, I believe you will get 50-60K miles, barely enough for two coach tickets within the U.S., with a value of maybe $600-$750 ($0.005/point). Most airlines now charge double miles for anything worth much more than that. Those same 150,000 points could be used to get you 7 days at a category 7 Marriott, which would normally run $200-$400/night.

I have been considering Marriott timeshares, but the general consensus is that they are overpriced buying directly through Marriott. Would you mind providing more details? Which timeshare? How much did it cost? Type of room/villa? Thanks.

dolciani

You cannot trade your timeshare for points every year (with a few exceptions)- they usually limit you to every other year. You can also use your points to stay in the other timeshares - sometimes they have disounted specials for a lower number of points. The best way to experiment is to go to www.marriott.com and explore the hotels and click on the small link (it will be in the upper left-hand corner) "stay using marriott points" - it will tell you how many points you need in order to stay at that hotel for however many days you require. Also, you can go to www.vacationclub.com to check out the marriott timeshare resorts in detail. We own 2 marriott timeshares and have travelled extensively using both our trades and points. We found that it has "encouraged" us to travel to places that we might never have thought of - Spain, St. Kitts, Costa Rica, Aruba, etc.

iceeu2

Definitely go to timeshareforums.com and ask the experts there. They have an entire forum just for Marriott timeshare owners to ask for advice. And, there are lots of Marriott owners (super nice) that frequent that website.

luvtotravel

The timeshare is at Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert, CA, 2-bedroom villa, platinum season, every-other year. I can exchange for 110K Marriott points every other year. I also stay at Marriotts occasionally, so would add to the pot. For 250K points I could exchange for air/lodging package of 7 nights lodging and 120K at some of the major airlines. That's enough for a business class or first class ticket from California (where I live) to Europe. For some properties, it could cost less than 250K, but I tend to want the category 6 or category 7 hotels.

The cost for all this is around $16,500 plus around $600 a year for fees.

If I finance with them, I get an additional 25K per quarter, every other year. So, even with an every-other year plan, I would average 105K points a year.

I've had the good fortune to have enough air/hotel points to fly in business and first class to Europe and Asia a lot. I'm now out of points with few opportunities to earn other than credit card purchases. This seemed a good way to earn points for air. And, at some point, there must be a resale value -- even if it's years away.

I'm still within my seven days to recind. Is my thinking totally off base?

I've used the Marriott points air/hotel packages in the past to London, Athens, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam, but back then it was only available for coach seats. Now it's a program where you move the points over to your airline program and can fly in a class based on points spent. A much better option.

Betsy

Carefully compare interest rates and terms elsewhere with those offered you through Marriott. You may pay dearly in an exhorbitant interest rate for those additional miles.

uconn1990

It's easy enough to do a financial calculation to see if it's worthwhile to buy in to the timeshare.


I just think that you lose a lot of value by exchanging the points for miles. According to the Marriott site, 150,000 points can be exchanged for 50,000 miles. It is not a 1-for-1 points to miles conversion.

150,000 points = 7 nights in a category 7 hotel, which is worth somewhere between $1500-$2500.

50,000 miles = 2 coach tickets, which is worth about $700.

DebitNM

You cannot easily finance these with bank. We looked into doing this while at Marriott in HI.

You would have to get a home equity loan to finance it with a bank. They will not mortgage these.

Do not plan on this being an investment and that you can get back your purchase price by selling it in future, there is huge supply and little demand.

We walked away and were very glad we did.


Read this --

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34889520

Hope this helps...
Debi

wow

I own 2 Marriott Platinum weeks. But, I did not buy them for points. The general consensus among Marriott Owners seems to be that if your goal is "Point Banking" you may be disappointed in your ROI. ( See www.tug2.net for a discussion)
One thing that you must always keep in mind is that the MF's increase. So, your MF may be $600 today but if your property suffers a setback ( ours was hit by hurricanes) then it is the Owners who have to pony up. The added cost will be reflected in your annual MF. I think that buyng a TS is good if you want to use the ppty or if you want to exchange through II or RCI. I wld never do it for points.

xrae

Why don't you buy a "used" timeshare from someone who can't make their payments? It beats the heck out of buying directly from the company.

If you're within your time period to rescind, I would. In fact, my husband and I own a timeshare (not Marriott) and financially, it has been one of the worst decisions we've ever made. I doubt you'll find many people who say buying a timeshare was a great decision. But if you think you'll love it, then buy on the secondary market for sure.

And I am in agreement with the previous poster who said their yearly maintenance fees go up -- they can and do, without warning.

wow

Xrae makes a great point! Buy resale if you want to buy a TS. It is so much less than buying from Marriott. But, then you forego the points...which brings us back to square one. Really, you shd take a good look @ TUG. Then make your decision.

hilda

Marriott has a good program. We formerly owned at Hilton Head, we had the point trade in option and traded for hotel rooms and airline tickets. Hotel rooms were not difficult to get but airline tickets are restricted just like frequent flier programs. Its a great deal if you can plan well in advance and use the packages of air, hotel and car. It gives you more choices, some people think its not the best value to buy from Marriott.

sceneisle

I agree with wow. We own four weeks with Marriott; two at the Maui Ocean Club and two in Palm Desert, CA. We ALWAYS use our Maui weeks and usually trade our CA weeks for time in Mexico. While it's true that maintenance fees go up; they arent' going up as fast as room rates.

wow

Sceneisle(Love your name!): This is off topic & I do not want to hijack luv's post but...where do you stay in Mexico? We are thinking of trading through II but I have no clue what to ask for! Looking for a gorgeous beach for mid-February 2008. Any suggestions??

sceneisle

Wow: We are particularily fond of the Yucatan (Cozumel, Cancun & Riviera Maya area) and Los Cabos, for different reasons. Have also vacationed in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa & Loreto. If you're looking for gorgeous beaches, you can't, IMO, beat Cancun or Riviera Maya (Playa Del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum). Our best exchange through I.I. was at the Royal Mayan in the heart of Cancun's hotel zone. We traded our one bedroom villa for the R.M. and because all the units there are at least two-bedrooms, we got the free upgrade. The Royal Resorts have (or had at the time) four other properties, including the Royal Islander, Royal Caribbean (I believe these are the two that are next to the R.M.) and the Royal Sands. Royal Resorts enjoy an excellent reputation within the timeshare industry.

If you look at a map of the Cancun hotel zone, it forms the shape of a "7". The beaches at the top of the "7" are not nearly as nice, IMO, as those on the side of the "7".

smarhoffer

I have a 3 bedroom Marriott platinum tme share in Marbella, Spain. I have found it almost impossible to trade. The last trade I did was in Cannes, France and it was a total dump. I did trade last week for a very nice resort in Cancun but have otherwise had no luck in trading in banked weeks.

wow

smarhoffer: Have you ever gone to www.tug2.net? Seems to me that people are always looking for Marbella & Playa Andaluca. There's a current post about Marbella on the Marriott Resort System forum. Maybe if you post @ TUG Classifieds/Exchange you may have better luck.