Every time I reserve a villa with my MVC points, I am very careful to check and double-check how Marriott “defaults” when allocating which points they use from my account. And I would say at LEAST 80% of the time, I tweak how they recommend spending my points. Some of the time, it doesn’t necessarily affect my value, but twice in the past week in scheduling some quick getaways coming up in the next 60 days, it would have been a real bummer. If I hadn’t checked, it would have cost me a lot. Let me teach you what I am talking about.
When you have found the reservation you want to make, you select the villa size you want and when you then “Continue” you go to a screen similar to this:
In this example, I needed 365 points to stay two nights in July. Notice how Marriott allocated my points. They are going to use 115 points from my Trust Points in Holding Account, which is okay. But then they applied the remaining 250 MVC needed by taking them from my TRUST points, instead of the Trust Points in 120 Day Holding Account. Granted, the 170 points in my 120 Holding Points would not cover the entire 250 points needed. But if I change the amount applied to the 120 day Holding Points for 170 points, that leaves only 80 points taken from my Trust points. My Trust points are “full value” points that if not used can be banked and used next year with no holds or time requirement to reserve. Considering my holding points expire in 2021, that would have really made an unwanted outcome if I didn’t change it myself.
This situation happens over and over again in my experience. If you are reserving something within your holding point window, MAKE SURE they apply the needed points from your Holding Account! They seem to use your Trust points when Holding Points are available to use. Watch for that and be aware.