If you have been paying your annual maintenance fees with a credit card to rack up points or cash back, a coming change could shift your math. Starting with the 2027 billing cycle, several Marriott Vacations ownership programs will add a surcharge for card payments. Here is what owners need to know and how a little planning now could save you money later.
What Is Changing and When
Marriott Vacation Club Trust (Abound Club Points), Sheraton Flex, and Westin Flex owners have received notices about a new payment policy. Owners who choose to pay maintenance fees or club dues by credit card will be charged a convenience fee of up to 3%, except where local laws prohibit it. The change takes effect with the 2027 billing cycle.
The stated reason is cost control. Right now, credit card processing costs sit inside each Association’s annual budget, which means every owner helps cover them regardless of how they personally pay. The new approach moves that expense directly onto the owners who use a card.
If you prefer to skip the surcharge entirely, you still have options. Payments made through ACH electronic check, debit card, or prepaid card will remain free of the extra fee.
How You Might Avoid the Fee by Paying Early
Prepaying Ahead of the 2027 Assessment For Marriott Owners
If your 2027 billing statement has not officially generated yet, you may not need to wait to take action. Marriott Vacations permits owners to apply advance prepayments toward upcoming maintenance fee balances before formal invoices post.
This strategy is particularly useful for Marriott Vacation Club Trust and Sheraton Flex owners awaiting their statements. By submitting a prepayment now, while the existing payment system remains active, you can fund your 2027 balance with a credit card before the third-party portal and convenience fee go live. Once the official assessment is finalized later in the season, you simply clear any remaining difference.
Paying Your 2027 Maintenance Fee Assessments As Early as Possible for Vistana Owners
Some owners have already received their 2027 maintenance fee assessments. Early reports from owners who have made their 2027 payments suggest that the surcharge is not yet being added to online transactions.
If your 2027 assessment is already showing in your account, paying now with a credit card could let you skip the fee. That said, this window could close at any time. Before you submit a payment, check the final total carefully and confirm that no surcharge has been added. Do not assume that paying early will always work, because Vistana could turn on the surcharge whenever it chooses.
How Much Could the Fee Cost You
To get a sense of scale, look at the 2026 Sheraton Flex budget. It lists roughly $1,617,474 in credit card fees against about $110.3 million in owner assessments. That works out to around 1.47% of assessments spent on card processing under the current shared model.
Board meeting minutes add more context. They note that about 85% of owners pay by credit card, and that the budget assumed a 2.4% processing rate. The gap between the 1.47% budget figure and the 2.4% processing rate simply reflects two different measurements. One looks at total assessments, while the other looks only at transactions actually paid by card.
Maintenance Fee Example
Here is a simple example using a $5,000 maintenance fee. Under the current system, roughly $73.50 of that bill represents your share of the Association’s credit card expense. A 3% surcharge on the same $5,000 payment would cost $150. If the existing expense were fully removed from your assessment and you then paid the surcharge, you would end up paying about $76.50 more than before.
Are Credit Card Rewards Still Worth It
For many owners, paying by card is about the rewards, not just convenience. A large maintenance fee can generate a meaningful pile of cash back, airline miles, or hotel points. Marriott Bonvoy cards from Chase and American Express can earn as many as 6 points per dollar on qualifying Marriott purchases.
Assume that a $5,000 Flex payment still earns 6 points per dollar. That comes to 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. The 3% surcharge would cost $150. So the question becomes whether 30,000 points are worth more than $150 to you.
| Value per point | Value of 30,000 points | 3% fee on $5,000 | Net result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 cents | $120 | $150 | -$30 |
| 0.5 cents | $150 | $150 | $0 |
| 0.7 cents | $210 | $150 | +$60 |
| 1.0 cent | $300 | $150 | +$150 |
The break-even point lands at about 0.5 cents per point. If you value Bonvoy points above that, paying the surcharge could still leave you ahead. If you value them below that, the fee costs more than the points you earn.
Owners using cash-back or airline cards should run the same math. A card earning 1% or 2% back will often lose to a surcharge of up to 3%, so the rewards may not justify the fee.
Why the Third-Party Processor Deserves Attention
Owners paying by card will be redirected to a third-party provider’s secure website to complete the transaction. That raises a practical question about rewards.
Credit card issuers do not decide your rewards rate based only on what you think you bought. They also look at the merchant details and transaction coding sent to them. If a payment that once appeared as a Marriott-related charge instead shows up under an unfamiliar processor name, there is a chance the transaction may not earn the bonus multiplier you expect.
We do not yet know how the new system will code these payments, so there is no reason to assume owners will lose points. Still, there is a relevant precedent worth knowing about.
The Hyatt Vacation Club Precedent
When Hyatt Vacation Club changed its payment processing a few years ago, some owners reported that maintenance fee payments made with the World of Hyatt Credit Card stopped earning the expected 4 points per dollar. On owner forums, people reported transactions appearing under names like WHV Hospitality Management and Welk Resorts Platinum, with some receiving only the base earning rate.
A number of those owners contacted Chase and received manual point adjustments. By March 2024, owners began reporting that Chase confirmed Hyatt Vacation Club fees would earn 4 bonus points per dollar going forward.
This does not guarantee Marriott owners will run into the same issue. It does explain why anyone focused on rewards should watch the transition closely. When your 2027 bill arrives, verify the surcharge amount and then check your card statement to confirm the payment earned the rate you expected.
Is Shifting the Cost Fair
There is a reasonable case behind Marriott’s decision. Under the current model, owners who pay by ACH are effectively subsidizing the processing costs generated by card users. Moving that cost directly onto card users removes much of that subsidy.
On the other hand, the Board minutes indicate about 85% of owners pay by credit card. When such a large majority uses one method, processing those payments could be viewed as an ordinary cost of collecting fees rather than a special expense.
There is also a difference between shifting a cost and reducing one. The 2026 Sheraton Flex budget includes about $1.62 million in card fees. At the 2.4% processing rate, that suggests roughly $67.4 million in card transaction volume. If that same volume faced a full 3% surcharge, card-paying owners could collectively pay around $2.02 million, which is roughly $404,000 more than the Association currently budgets. Owners who avoid cards may benefit, but card users could end up paying more to process the same payments.
What to Watch for in the 2027 Budget
The 2027 Association budgets will be the first real test of whether this change delivers the promised savings. A few numbers are worth tracking:
- Credit Card Fees: How far does this line drop compared with 2026?
- Owner Assessments: Does removing part of the processing expense noticeably lower what owners are charged?
- Billing and collections: Does routing payments through a third party create new costs elsewhere?
- The actual surcharge: Will owners pay a full 3%, or something less?
- Payment options: Will ACH, debit, and prepaid cards stay as convenient as they are today?
For Sheraton Flex owners, the 2026 baseline of about 1.47% gives you a useful reference. If the card fee line falls sharply in 2027, the savings should show up somewhere in the budget.
Final Thoughts
Beginning in 2027, owners across three Marriott Vacations programs will need to weigh a new question each year: are the convenience and rewards worth a surcharge of up to 3%?
For owners who value their Bonvoy points highly, a card may still make sense. For others, a fee-free option like ACH or a debit card could be the smarter route. Either way, reviewing your payment method now, and watching your statements when the 2027 bills arrive, is time well spent.
