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Re: Marriott Vacation Club point system (by Stephen G.):

First, why do you want to switch to the point system? Yes, you will have more options but those options will be far more expensive. They cost more in two ways. First, the annual maintenance fees for an equivalent amount of ownership are about 50% more as compared with a typical Platinum week. Second, their options beyond the ones you already enjoy (what they call the Explorer Collection) all are monetized through a third party at around 30 cents per point. Since your maintenance fee is twice that, you would be better off saving the maintenance fee and buying the cruise or guided tour or airfare or other vacation choice directly, thus also saving your initial investment. The one choice that is better with their point system is if you prefer short vacations at one of their resorts, and are sure that this will always be your choice. If so, then it might make sense to own points. Ask the salesman if he owns points. Ask the salesman if ANY salesman at the site owns points. You will find that many are enrolled weeks owners, but that none actually own points, because they too have done the maintenance fee math. Yes, you can enroll your week IF you buy a minimum number of points from the developer. You will find that your Las Vegas week is worth a lot as an enrolled week, for instance a 2 BR is worth 3,275 points, which would currently cost you more than $40,000, so if you would use it as points you will save the $40K. It will still cost you another $40K to buy the matching points, though. You would be better off buying the points resale even though that means you would be unable to enroll the week. There are fees of more than $2 per point, but you should be able to get them all in, including fees, at less than $5 per point. There are no restrictions on how those points can be used. Finally, you will find that their marketing people (the ones who call you on the phone to offer vacation planning help and end up booking you on a timeshare tour) will occasionally offer enrollment of your existing week as a tour premium. Not always but occasionally. If that is your goal, be patient because the opportunity will come up at some "point". This will be by far your lowest cost option. If you ask the salesman, he will deny that this is ever offered, but it definitely is. Bottom line, run the financials. Compare the cost of purchase, plus the cost of maintenance fees, plus the cost of their annual "club dues" plus the cost of interest on a loan, vs. the cost of simply renting the vacations and investing the down payment. The calculations that the salesman shows you will never include maintenance fees or interest because it would blow his value proposition. If he is including inflation in his calculations, remember to include maintenance fee inflation and club dues inflation in your calculations as well (they have actually increased faster than inflation). Be sure to consider the residual value of your "asset" on the resale market. It will shock you.