Marriott Visa credit card - Use the black-colored Visa Premier card. With the black card, you earn 5 points for every $1 spent at Marriott (including maintenance fees), 2 points spent on air, dining and rental cars, and 1 point on all other purchases. You also earn a free night at a Marriott category 1-5 hotel each year, offsetting the annual fee of $65. If you currently have a Silver colored card, call Chase to upgrade to a Black card.

Pay for hotel rooms - Should you use points or cash to stay at a hotel? If the cost of the hotel is less than the value of the points, pay with cash.  In ourSeptember newsletter, I offered ways to determine the value of your points.  For each $1 you spend, you can earn up to 17 MR points. (10 points for being a MR Member, 2 points bonus for Silver Elite status, 5 points using the black Visa card)

Charge incidentals to the room/villa - Every dollar you spend while staying at a Marriott hotel or MVCI resort should be charged to your room. The points earned are the same as above.

Exchange use year for points - At most properties, you can trade your timeshare for MR points every other use year. Some properties allow you to do this every year. The cost is $109.

Purchase points - Every calendar year, you and your spouse can purchase 50,000 MR points for $625 each. Thinking of adding another week to build points? Just buy the points, for about the cost of a maintenance fee, and save yourself the upfront purchase cost of an ownership week.

Attend a sales presentation - Marriott offers from 10,000-20,000 MR points for attending a 90 minutes sales presentation. Yes, they are Sales Presentations. Although you are often told these are "owner update" sessions, the objective is to sell you another timeshare week.

Refer a friend - With Marriott's Friendshare program you earn a minimum of 50,000 points per referral that purchases.

Purchase ownership weeks - At most properties, Marriott is still offering MR points if you add another week of ownership.