I POSTED THIS MESSAGE THE OTHER DAY AND IT RATHER SURPRISINGLY DIDN'T APPEAR TO GENERATE MUCH INTEREST. HOWEVER I FEAR THAT IT JUST MIGHT HAVE BEEN LOST BY THE VOLUME OF MAIL THAT FOLLOWED IT. IF I MAY JUST RE-PRINT IT, AND ASK THE QUESTION, " IS THERE ANY ACCOUNTANT OR TIMESHARE SALESPERSON/ TIMESHARE DIVISION ASSOCIATE WHO WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON MY FIGURES?
Original posted on Jan 13, 2010 8:19 PM
TJC, Thanks for that. I have seen a copy of those awards previously. Please let me explain further - I know that you will already know this - but it might be of interest to other readers. A travel package at 310,000 points will give a member 7 nights in a cat 6 hotel for 210,000 points NO EXTRA BONUS NIGHT) and 100,000 points to purchase two seats for a transatlantic journey or similar. That award used to be 200,000 points, and before that 140,000 points So what is the value of that award today? Two flights will cost before tax - a member has to pay cash for the tax on the flight ..............£700 7 nights in an hotel. Say the World Centre in Orlando. Feb 12 2010 £1165 TOTAL VALUE £1865 Now how much does all that cost? Three weeks of timeshare traded at 110,000 per week = 330,000 points The administration charge for this exchange is £213. The rental value of timeshare, Cypress on Feb 12 at £1127 x 3 weeks £3381 Total £ 4081 So a value of £1865 is gained at a cost of £4081 That is why I no longer exchange my timeshare for points. In my opinion Marriott should inflation proof the points given for timeshare exchange by a figure of 2.85 - the same rate used for the increase in the maintenace fee. I believe with this situation being allowed to rise Marriott has gouged a lot of it's owners. It should now do the right thing for owners and increase the points. However Rewards was never part of the timeshare contract so Marriot could if they wished quite legally withdraw the points connexion. However this would most likely 1. Start a big exodus sale. 2. Ensure that 400,000 members never made a paid stay at a Marriott hotel for the rest of their lives. 3 It would see MVCI quickly failing, and 4. It would invite a bad press. So all I can say to fellow MVCI owners is look very carefully at the value that you are obtaining when you exchange your time for reward points. Leslie P |