Hello, my name is Syed Sarmad and I’m the Principal Broker for Advantage Vacation. Advantage Vacation is a licensed real estate company specializing in timeshare resales of name brand timeshares of Westin, Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton resales all across the United States. Our offices are located in the Lahaina Cannery Mall in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.
The Marriott Vacation Club program has two types of vacation ownership programs. One is called the Legacy Weeks which is where people purchase one week intervals and the second is called the Destination Club Points Program.
Today I would like to talk about the Destination Club Points Program that started June 20, 2010 which provides greater flexibility than the weeks based or Legacy Weeks program. The Destination Club Points program is a Florida based land trust where Marriott conveys weeks that are not owned by Marriott Vacation Club owners as well as weeks from some of the Ritz Carlton properties and Grand Residence Club.
Interests are conveyed in 250,000 point increments and each 250,000 points is called one beneficial interest. The benefits that the Destination Club owner gets is they can use their points at any Marriott Vacation Club property, they can use them in Marriott Hotels, they can use it through Interval International or use it through the Explorer Collection where they can use it for group tours, airline tickets, etc.
Any owner, Developer or resale purchased in the United States or the Caribbean until June 20, 2010 is entitled to enroll in the Destination Club Points Program. Some of the European resorts where sales took place until June 28, 2012 can also enroll in the Destination Club Points Program, as well as Developer sales in the Caribbean until December 27, 2012 can enroll into the Destination Club Points Program.
Any person who purchases a timeshare Legacy Week through Marriott resale operations has the option of enrolling into the Destination Club Points Program or purchasing those points equal to the point value of the week they purchased through the Marriott resale operations.
Legacy Week owners who have purchased and enrolled Destination Club Points Program must opt to bank their week or convert it into points by September 30 of the preceding year into the Destination Club Points Program. The Legacy Week owners do not forfeit their ownership, they have the option of depositing their weeks at their choice but they must do it by September 30 of the prior year.
There are three levels of membership in the Destination Club Points Program. Standard members are owners that have less than 6,500 points, Premier members 6,500 points to 12,999 points and Premier Plus members have 13,000 or more points.
All Destination Club Points members can make reservations 13 months in advance. Premier Plus members can make reservations for one night or more 13 months in advance, Premier Plus can make reservations seven nights, Standard members can make reservations for seven nights but they pay a 20 point premium when they make these reservations 13 months in advance.
12 months in advance Standard members can make reservations for seven nights without paying the points premium and all members can waitlist for seven nights 12 months in advance.
10 months in advance Premier and Standard Members can book one night or more and all members can waitlist for less than seven nights.
Cancellations that take place – any cancellation that takes place 61 days or more in advance they get all their points without any restrictions, but if cancellation of your reservation is made 60 days or less there will be restricted useage.
A points based member can bank their points 6 months prior to the expiration date – so if their use period is from January 1st through December 31st they have to bank their unused points by June 30th of that year.
You can also borrow your points 25 months in advance. So if your use period, for example, starts January 1st of 2015 you can actually borrow those points by December 1st of 2014 so you can use those points for the beginning of the use period beginning January 1st, 2016.
You can also convert your weeks or use your weeks through Interval International.
If you convert your Destination Club Points Program into Reward Points – one Destination Club Points Program point equals thirty-two Marriott Reward Points Program.
Standard Members pay an annual membership fee of $175, Premier Members pay $215 and Premier Plus Members also pay $215 per year, in addition to the annual maintenance fees.
If someone purchases a resale of Destination Club Points Program there are some transaction costs in addition to the purchase of the points so that the Destination Club Points Program resale purchaser gets the full benefits as if they purchased from the Developer. The cost is $500 per beneficial interest with a minimum of $3,000, there’s a $300 education fee if you are not already an existing Marriott points based owner, there is a $95 Right of First Refusal fee and a $25 transfer fee.
Once again, any person who purchases Destination Club Points Program is entitled to the same benefits as if they purchased from the Developer.
Thank you and I hope this information has been beneficial to you.
You may also watch the video:
Be sure to check out our blog articles for additional information:
Marriott Right of First Refusal 2014 Update
Syed Sarmad, Principal Broker for Advantage Vacation
