If you choose to pay the new Simplified Club Dues, you then have the option to use your points to stay at Marriott Vacation Club properties. The question is: Would you want to use your points as your trading currency or should you continue to trade weeks through Interval International?
The first step is to determine the number of points you will receive when you convert your ownership week to points (and yes, you have to convert the entire villa, not just a part of it if you have a lockoff). Sign on to www.my-vacationclub.com and choose Learn More about “New Points-Based Ownership Option.” Then click “What is my week worth?”. Once you have this information you can then play with the Marriott Vacation Club Point calculator to find out how many points it will take to stay at another resort (I found some errors in the calculator that hopefully have been fixed.) You will then quickly learn that Marriott is converting your week into a wholesale number of points but charging you retail to use them. Let me explain what I mean:
You own: Canyon Villas Platinum Season. You can convert your 2 bedroom villa into 2,950 points.
You want to stay during Feb-March at any of the following resorts in a 2 bedroom and you are willing to accept the lowest view category:
Grande Vista – Orlando – you need 3,175 points
Ocean Pointe – W. Palm Beach – you need 4,725 points
Summit Watch – Utah – you need 6,900 points
KoOlina – Hawaii – you need 4,575 points
Aruba Surf Club – Aruba – you need 3,900 points
As you can see, you can’t even get into Orlando for 1 week with your points—the location with the most availability!! With the weeks-based system, I can usually lock off a client’s Canyon Villas unit and trade them for 2 weeks of vacation time in Orlando including upgrades for the master and guest side! And I have been successful in trading in Canyon Villas for one week at all of the above resorts during prime time.
You might ask, “Why would Marriott do this?”. I believe the reason is so that they can sell more points. If you are short on points for your trades you will be motivated to purchase additional points at a cost of $10,000 per 1,000 points.
The other question that I have is regarding inventory. Even if I chose to convert my week to points, what assurance do I have that there will be availability at the properties that I want to go to, when I want to go. And the answer is none. Since the bulk of the inventory is still weeks-based and points-based inventory only becomes available as owners convert their weeks to points at sold out properties, it could take years for inventory to become available. And with the conversion factor being a disadvantage to existing owners, I don’t see a lot of points-based weeks becoming available until new clients buy in. But that is just my opinion. We would love to hear yours, so please comment below.
