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Exclusive Ritz Carlton Reserve properties can’t be booked with points, right? Wrong.
There are 3 Ritz Carlton Reserve properties in the World: Phulay Bay, Bali, and Puerto Rico. These are THE MOST EXCLUSIVE PROPERTIES that Marriott has in the world. Bar. None. You CAN’T EARN POINTS by staying at them and you CAN’T REDEEM POINTS to stay at them. Wait, that’s what Marriott says, but they’re WRONG! Marriott Timeshare Owners CAN REDEEM POINTS to stay at MANDAPA: A Ritz Carlton Reserve property located in Ubud, Bali. As luck would have it…I stayed there in 2017.
I have tons of pictures that will make you want to fly to Bali for $50 in Cathay Pacific First Class and order a cake, BUT – here’s the bad part: As luck wouldn’t have it…my family didn’t use points and WE COULD HAVE. DOH!
I updated this article for 2019, after the merger between Marriott and Starwood. Luckily, Mandapa is still a part of the Vacation Club Portfolio that can be booked with their timeshare currency of points. We give you details below.
Mandapa is Breathtaking. Here’s a few pics. I understand why Ritz Carlton Reserve properties are in a league of their own.
Mandapa even kindly reminds you that they don’t participate in Marriott Bonvoy. FYI – the Reserve Suite is entry level. All 1076 sq ft of it. After taxes + fees that comes out to about $610/night. Points would sure be nice.
Reserve properties are the ELITE OF THE ELITE. The staff to guest ratio is high. The services are UBER LUX. The rooms are ENORMOUS – I mean…1076 sq ft for entry level?!
Ritz is aiming at Peninsula, Aman, Belmond, etc with these Reserve Properties. Thus…no Points – or so they thought.
Marriott Vacation Club Owners can use their points for “Explorer Collection” Properties.
This collection consists of luxury properties all over the world and often time provide a great way of getting luxury hotels for well under the equivalent value of Marriott Rewards.
Marriott Vacation Club Owners CAN USE THEIR VACATION CLUB POINTS for MANDAPA via the Explorer Collection!
Vacation Club Points can be VERY Valuable. My folks took an ALL EXPENSES PAID LUXURY IRISH TOUR last year using NOTHING but Vacation Club Points.
In 2017, I was poking around and discovered that Marriott has added new redemption options to their Vacation Club Points portfolio. Lo and Behold…Mandapa, A Ritz Carlton Reserve. 
Unfamiliar with Vacation Club Points? They are worth 32 Marriott Rewards per point.
Vacation Club Owners have the ability to convert a portion of their points every year, or every other year ( depending on your contract ) from VCP to Marriott Rewards ( Bonvoy now )
This is merely an option you can perform if you’re a Marriott Vacation Club Owner if you’d wish to use them for a property not in the Explorer Collection, and I’m only bringing it up to provide a basis for value.
In practice, when you redeem for Mandapa you’ll actually be utilizing Vacation Club Points redeemed directly via Marriott Vacation Club. You won’t convert to Bonvoy.
1500 points, the minimum price for Mandapa, would equal 48k Bonvoy. That would put Mandapa at roughly a Bonvoy Category 6 Redemption. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Incredible value.
How do you book?
Currently, the only way you can book is to call into Marriott Vacation Club. The Marriott site won’t provide a link, nor does the member portal for Marriott Vacation Club. You’ll need to call: 855-682-4847
You’d use the chart above, repeated below, to find the number of points you’d need during the year and then call in book. If there is availability, you’re just a call away from redemption
How do cancellations work?
Depending on your status, you’ll told the period of time you have to use the points towards another redemption. However, the big caveat is that once those points are designated to be used in the Explorer Collection, you’ll need to use them within that program. Could be St Ermin’s in London, JW Marriott Chicago, etc.
You just couldn’t use them for another timeshare property, tour, etc.
Don’t worry…we’re always looking for more ways to get you More Lux for Less Bucks!
In fact…you can also use Vacation Club Points to stay at several Ritz Carlton and Marriott properties around the world.
Hi –
Thanks for this post! Do you know what the earnings to points ratio is? Are the points simply calculated from how much you pay on your mortgage? Is other spend at the properties (buying snacks or souvenirs, for instance) counted? Is there any other way to earn points?
Thanks!
Tom – Earnings to points ratio? I’m not entirely sure I understand the question, but I’ll try to answer what I think you’re asking. The only way to earn Vacation Club Points is buy purchasing a timeshare unit or converting your existing unit to have Vacation Club Point flexibility. Anything that you purchase while on premises would earn you Marriott Rewards ( and you should charge everything to your room), but not MVC points. You’d earn Marriott Rewards based on the status that you hold within the chain.
Several years ago Marriott introduced a new format for their vacation club sales: they called it Vacation Club Points or Trust Points. Instead of owning a specific week in a specific unit you would buy points equivalent to the value of your unit based on location and time of year. You could then use your points to go anytime you wanted, convert to Marriott Rewards, etc. Owners who had purchased weeks prior to this new format have/had the opportunity to convert into this style. The price goes up every year for conversion, but IMO it provides enormous flexibility and options and eventually those without VCP will be 2nd class owners.
You mentioned your parents received 25k MVC points just for sitting in on one of their presentations? Did I read that right? At 1,500 MVC points per night, that translates to 16 free nights just for enduring a presentation. There’s gotta be a catch, right?
Aaron – sorry for the confusion and I updated the post, but it’s 25k Marriott Rewards for sitting through a sales presentation
Disagree completely on converting legacy timeshare weeks to VCP points. The amount of VCP points they give you (even when the system premiered) was only enough to get 5-6 nights at the resort and you were turning in a full week. They also can’t guarantee availability at the nice timeshare location you originally bought. The new system benefits Marriott, so legacy owners should very carefully weigh whether the flexibility Marriott touts is worth the price.
Sajer Guy – It depends largely on your original deed terms. My parents timeshares are deeded in a way that some of their units are guaranteed time, location, and specific unit while others are just the class and week, i.e. Ocean View, Platinum week, etc. If they elect to use those units they are guaranteed availability dependent on those original deed terms. The conversion to VCP doesn’t alter or forfeit those legacy terms.
They’ve also had the ability to convert their timeshare to Marriott Rewards for years, but that conversion never has yielded enough Marriott Rewards to stay at any property/resort within the Marriott network for a full week. The terms of their original deed supercede the VCP terms as well. Some of their units get Marriott Rewards every year regardless of the VCP conversion limitation
In terms of getting week for week no matter where in the world or program…You can still elect to try and trade your week through Interval and work with the Marriott desk. Once you elect that conversion you’re dependent on space opening up at the resort you want, but the VCP play no bearing on you landing that resort – Only the priority of your status within Marriott and value of your week compared to the week you’re electing.
The biggest devaluation and I agree it has happened to Marriott’s benefit was the valuation of each timeshare receives in regards to VCP, and that new owners aren’t given specific units and weeks, just the broad VCP account. But if you negotiate and can keep some legacy terms and increase your flexibility through VCP, and position yourself well for the growth of VCP…I think it’s a long term win.
Not all resorts are created equal and if you want a guaranteed stay then you may not get the same number of days as your home resort. However, if you have a really valuable one, you may get more. If you purchased an Ocean Front in Hawaii over Christmas when legacy terms were deeded you’re going to get more than a week at almost any other resort in the world…so it works both ways. Those incredibly difficult resorts to trade into hardly ever came up for trade, and at least now if you’re willing to use VCP you can have a better chance to stay at them guaranteed.
From the sales teams I’ve spoken to it seems that everything is going to eventually be converted to VCP and every year the price of conversion goes up…For us – it made sense to do it now and enjoy the benefits of having a higher tiered status and utilize increased flexibility of stays.
Thanks for reading and your feedback
As a legacy owner, I think their new points program is amazing! The flexibility of the program allows me to do so much more than when I only had my deeded properties. And the best part is that I can continue to use my original deed weeks as originally designed if I want to.
Marriott is in the business of making money (what business isn’t?), so i’m sure the points system benefits them, but it’ a mistake to think it doesn’t benefit the owners as well.
Thank you so much for this article! My husband and I are going to Bali in April with another couple and had decided to upgrade our trip with the two of us staying at the reserve for 2 nights. I had read that they didn’t accept Marriott points, but thought I’d check one more time before i secured our reservation. Thanks to finding this article today, I contacted Marriott Vacation Club (we’re MVC owners who can convert weeks to points), and used my vacation points to secure 3 vs 2 nights.
We’re over the moon that our stay will not cost us any cash out of pocket. Thank you again for the insight! I’ll make sure to save this page to read through additional articles.
Gwen – so happy it helped!
Are you sure this deal is still active (using vacation rewards points)? When I just checked it says “We’re sorry. This property is not taking redemption bookings at this time. You can either book a cash reservation or search for another property.” It also shows no point values when you click on rate retails as you showed in your screen shots.
V91 – The deal is still going, an updated post will publish later today, but you need to book via Vacation Club and call in, the Marriott site won’t be of any help. Good luck and lemme know!