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If you’re a Marriott Vacation Club Owner, and specifically one that has access to Vacation Club Points, keep an eye on August 1st, 2018. August 1st is when Marriott and SPG become a part of a single program and it may open up more opportunities for VCP redemption. I was just on the phone with a rep trying to lock down a hotel that for some reason wasn’t accessible, but ultimately lead to an interesting conversation, and one that’s potentially revealing.
Additionally, I’m finding that all of the point charts have been pulled for the Explorer Collection properties. While the redemption rates are still available when phoning in, I suspect that they’re in the process of loading new inventory during the Marriott/SPG transition.
Post August 1st…check back
As the conversation wound down, I inquired further about SPG hotels, or additional Marriott properties being folded into the Explorer Collection post August 1st. I was met with a slight pause and then “Yes, this is when negotiations are finalized for the following year’s properties.” I clarified, “Soooooo, I should check back on August 1st and more properties will be available?”
“Yes, check on August 1st and you more than likely you should see an updated list of properties”
Hopefully this means more options for redemption – personally I’m hoping for some nice SPG properties that are in line with higher end Marriott properties currently offered within the Explorer Collection . The Explorer Collection currently has access to many Ritz Carltons and represents the only method of using points for a Ritz Reserve: Mandapa. Fingers crossed this enriches the program with options for MVC Owners looking to redeem outside normal timeshares.
This development is something I’d hoped for, but considering MVC is operated as a completely separate company I wasn’t sure the integration would happen in line with the SPG/Marriott Integration. If so…this will open up more options for MVC owners.
What is the Explorer Collection?
If you’re unfamiliar with the Explorer Collection, it’s a group of hotels that are eligible for redemption using Marriott Vacation Club Points. If you’d like to learn more, I wrote an entire article detailing what I thought were some of the best strategies towards using Marriott Vacation Club points with the Explorer Collection being one of the most valuable.
Vacation Club Points can be converted in a 1:32 ratio to Marriott Rewards, but often a property can be booked with Vacation Club Points at a ratio far lower than utilizing the conversion to Marriott Rewards. For instance, the Mayflower hotel in DC would require 40k Marriott Rewards per night, but only 250-350 Vacation Club Points ( depending on the time of year.) – that’s just 8k to 11,200 if you were to have converted, a far better deal using Marriott Vacation Club points.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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