New Marriott Program

[Rekenna]

Hey everyone,
I'm interested in feedback regarding the new Marriott Destination Points program. I have been discussing it with Allan Cohen (ex Marriott Board Chairman) and none of us (current owners) are happy about it. It seems to be great for new people coming in, who can just purchase points rather than properties and then use them for anything, anywhere, for any length of stay. Our issues are: who has first choice (will all the new people create an even higher demand for popular properties already difficult to book - like Aruba); what if these new owners only use 3 or 4 days, does that leave half weeks everywhere; it seems to be costing them much less than the exorbitant mortgages we took out to buy our properties; will they be paying maintenance fees? I spent a good half hour on the phone with a rep last week and by the time I got off the phone, I was even more confused. We had decided, however, that if someone owned a really nice villa and view (for example, 2-bedroom, ocean front in Aruba), then the program would not work for them as they would be paying for many, many points for this type of villa. It gets very frustrating that they keep changing the system. Enrollment is very expensive and there are annual fees, although this fee will supposedly eliminate the need for Interval fees, exchange fees, and lock-off fees. The thing that bothers me most is that they will not send us any disclosure documents or by-laws until we actually purchase the program. ??? How does this make sense? We need to opt in and then have a 5 day rescission period to opt out if we don't like it. Hmmm . . . Any comments would be appreciated.