Original Message:
Re: Ripoff - Marriott Vacation Club Destinations Program - New Point System (by Richard E.):
Just our $0.02 based on our experience. We are 20+ year owners of two even year floating weeks of 1 bedroom at Maui Ocean Club. We’ve always gone to that resort. Due to Covid we deposited 2020 into Interval and ended up in Tahoe for a week in lesser accommodations. We agreed to an Owners presentation because we were interested in possibly divesting of one of our weeks since we are now retired and do not need an “escape”. First the blatant lie: As part of the spiel on the Destinations program we were told we needed to buy points to be eligible to participate in the exchange. We didn’t discover this misrepresentation for two years and when we contacted Marriott they were unsympathetic that fraud had been perpetrated. We bought into the program not to be able to go other places but to have the flexibility to upgrade to a larger unit with full kitchen to accommodate family. If you are unsure of what you want to do as you approach the deadline for depositing your enrolled weeks, it is only after doing that that you learn that the points you get won’t buy back your deposited week. So the promoted flexibility isn’t so flexible. Once you try to reserve you learn that you no longer have any advantages reserving at your home resort. You’re just another among the many points owners worldwide, trying to reserve at one of the most popular destinations. In over 20 years we never had any problem getting our desired week(s) 13 months out. This year, reserving for 2024, I spent literally hours calling, holding, and speaking with reps, some of whom were clearly not native English speakers because they were hard to understand. Being lied to by the sales person along with Marriott’s dismissal of the lie really soured us on the company. The representation of flexibility and nothing-to-lose was also exaggerated. Unless you already own weeks at a less desirable resort and you intend to frequently travel elsewhere, I see little justification for spending the $ on the Destinations program. Going forward we will probably rent out one week through Redweek to recoup as much of our maintenance fees as possible and continue going to Maui for one week every other year. The points we bought may buy us an additional night or two which we would not want if it weren’t a matter of use-em-or-lose-em. In conclusion we would not recommend timeshare ownership to anyone. Using Redweek to rent, although we’ve never done that, seems like a smart way to go. We liked being “forced” into a nice vacation every other year, which is why we bought weeks to begin with, but otherwise timeshare ownership is not an investment, it’s a big expense. Weeks ownership is more of a liability than an asset, so just consider your investment into weeks or points to be a sunk cost and think of its value to you in those terms.