Trying to decide which Marriott is for me

[dominidude]

Hello guys,
A little help from you might help me decide which Marriott timeshare to buy.

The MFs for the 2bdr Williamsburg Marriot is somewhere between 1200 to 1400.
For Myrtle Beach and Barony Hilton Head it is about the same.

Please correct me if my MF data is wrong and/or point me in the right direction.

Do you think I should buy a timeshare at any of those places (W'burg, MB, or HH) or do you think I should get a trader?

The idea is to minimize costs. I like all three places, but I would also like to alternate among those three.

I can only travel when school is out, so the season would be platinum.

Obviously, this is a personal question that varies person to person, but still your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hangloose]

I have been to Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach as well as Barony on HHI. Both are great resorts that are right on the beach. They tend to be hard to exchange into in summer, as many owners on the East Coast use their ownership weeks to go annually. They are dedicated 2-bedrooms and do not have a lock-off. No lock-off is an important difference vs Manor Club. Maintenance fees at both of these are very reasonable at ~$1,200 for a 2bedroom platinum season. These resorts have 'views', which will determine resale price. Ocean view or ocean front..will cost more than garden views. There are many other MVC resorts in HHI, which could be worthwhile looking into also.

While I have not been to Manor Club in Williamsburg, I hear it is very nice. It does have a lock-off, which adds flexibility and value especially when exchanging. Maintenance fees are also in the same ballpark as the MB/HHI properties above, near $1,200. Manor Club resale purchase will likely be significantly less than Ocean Watch or Barony. Probably half the price or less.

Trading would primarily go through Interval International, which you have to pay a membership fee and exchange fees to.

You should perhaps think about which location you prefer as all three you listed are quite different. We prefer HHI for the natural beauty, beaches, golf, restaurants, bike paths, etc.

 

[tschwa2]

Summer and spring break exchanges into Manor Club 2 br units are easy with priority and not too difficult without priority. Summer weeks rent for about the same as MF's. A platinum week should go for around $1000-2000 all in and sometimes less. Manor Club Sequels lock off but most prefer the layout of the original section when staying.

A platinum week at an Oceanfront HHI is a different story. A garden view Barony would probably fetch around $3000-5000 or a little more. All of the others ocean view, vista or ocean front would probably be in the $10,000-17,000 range. A garden view at Ocean Watch in Myrtle would probably be somewhere in between. Ocean view and especially ocean front (at any in SC) would cost quite a bit more than MF to rent a summer week. Getting an exchange in the summer would be impossible without priority and on the difficult side with. Someone reported matching recently. They used a 2 BR and had the search going for 2 years, did not match in 2016 and changed the search to 2017. Without priority the non ocean front resorts in HHI are possible through II especially when requested early.

 

[disneymom1]

I own at Manor Club and Surfwatch (HHI). Maintenance fees for Manor Club are approx $1260, but have gone up about $50-60 per year.

Resale prices for platinum Barony are around $8,000-10,000 for garden view. Oceanside and Oceanfront $10,000-18,000. Have you visited the resort? Garden view at Barony has a very cool pool area with waterslides and a spray ground. The units are disconnected from the main resort and are closer to the Westin.

Manor Club has 2 resort codes - MMC and MSE. MMC are all dedicated 2 bedrooms. Units are very nice and a cut above the standard 2 bedroom Marriott. MSE (Sequel) are all 2 bedroom cookie cutter lock offs. Which you purchase determines if you can lock off. We own at MSE and we love the resort. We have locked off our unit and have gotten 3 weeks of vacation, thanks to bonus weeks. Now we are tied to school vacations, so in order to travel in platinum season we have been using the intact 2 bedroom if we want to exchange. This summer we exchanged our Manor Club for OceanWatch (Myrtle Beach). We got the match less than a month after placing the request. Maybe we were just lucky?

We stayed at OceanWatch last summer. Very well managed resort. Facilities are great! The main pool tends to be crowded. We visited in July last year and most of the chairs were taken by 8 am. A Marriott employee enforces the chair rules starting about 7 am. My kids loved the resort activities and can't wait to go back this year. Rooms are a little smaller than other MVCs, but adequate. There are 4 view categories which will affect resale price. The 3 buildings nearest the beach are ocean front and ocean side. The 2 buildings in the back are ocean view (higher floors) and garden view. Resale prices seem similar to a bit higher than Barony.

Good luck!

 

[dominidude]

Thanks all for your replies.

I want to clarify that I want one Marriott timeshare, but I want to be able alternate between all three (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH)

Just a couple final questions.

1) Would you recommend I get a trader unit, say Willow Ridge in Branson? how likely is it that I would be able to trade into a summer week at each of those resorts using that trader unit?

2)Of the three locations (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH), which would you say is hardest to get availability for during summer?

Depending on your answers, I may decide to get a trader unit that has relatively low MFs (like Willow Ridge) provided it can reasonably get me a spot at each one of those three resorts, or I may decide to get a unit at the one of the three resort with the lowest availability, and trade into the other two resorts.

Thank you again!

 

[dominidude]

Summer and spring break exchanges into Manor Club 2 br units are easy with priority and not too difficult without priority. Summer weeks rent for about the same as MF's. A platinum week should go for around $1000-2000 all in and sometimes less. Manor Club Sequels lock off but most prefer the layout of the original section when staying.

A platinum week at an Oceanfront HHI is a different story. A garden view Barony would probably fetch around $3000-5000 or a little more. All of the others ocean view, vista or ocean front would probably be in the $10,000-17,000 range. A garden view at Ocean Watch in Myrtle would probably be somewhere in between. Ocean view and especially ocean front (at any in SC) would cost quite a bit more than MF to rent a summer week. Getting an exchange in the summer would be impossible without priority and on the difficult side with. Someone reported matching recently. They used a 2 BR and had the search going for 2 years, did not match in 2016 and changed the search to 2017. Without priority the non ocean front resorts in HHI are possible through II especially when requested early.

Thanks tschwa2, I hadnt read this reply, very informative.

 

[hangloose]

Thanks all for your replies.

I want to clarify that I want one Marriott timeshare, but I want to be able alternate between all three (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH)

Just a couple final questions.

1) Would you recommend I get a trader unit, say Willow Ridge in Branson? how likely is it that I would be able to trade into a summer week at each of those resorts using that trader unit?

2)Of the three locations (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH), which would you say is hardest to get availability for during summer?

Depending on your answers, I may decide to get a trader unit that has relatively low MFs (like Willow Ridge) provided it can reasonably get me a spot at each one of those three resorts, or I may decide to get a unit at the one of the three resort with the lowest availability, and trade into the other two resorts.

Thank you again!

MB and Barony HHI will be hard exchanges in summer in my opinion. You would have to trade something with high TDI within Interval International and make your request preferably at or very near 12 months in advance.

I cannot speak for Branson. It appears to have high TDI in summer weeks per II. I would still bet that it and Williamsburg would still be lower in demand than MB/HHI.

If exchanging MVC into HHI, you could select more than just Barony Beach Club. There are plenty others (Grande Ocean, SurfWatch, Monarch, etc, etc) on HHI. Requesting more than one...would up your odds of an exchange if you didn't purchase at HHI.

Good luck.

 

[icydog]

Thanks all for your replies.

I want to clarify that I want one Marriott timeshare, but I want to be able alternate between all three (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH)

Just a couple final questions.

1) Would you recommend I get a trader unit, say Willow Ridge in Branson? how likely is it that I would be able to trade into a summer week at each of those resorts using that trader unit?

2)Of the three locations (W'Burg, MB, and Barony HH), which would you say is hardest to get availability for during summer?

Depending on your answers, I may decide to get a trader unit that has relatively low MFs (like Willow Ridge) provided it can reasonably get me a spot at each one of those three resorts, or I may decide to get a unit at the one of the three resort with the lowest availability, and trade into the other two resorts.

Thank you again!

I wouldn't count on WR to trade into Hilton Head in the summer at any of the beachfront resorts. In fact, it is a difficult trade for all my weeks. I guess if I owned KoOlina I could do it though. I have been able to trade my Silver Surfwatch for a summer Hilton Head week, just not at the three beachfront locations I would go to Grande, Barony and Surfwatch. The same goes for Myrtle Beach!

 

[sparty]

MB and Barony HHI will be hard exchanges in summer in my opinion. You would have to trade something with high TDI within Interval International and make your request preferably at or very near 12 months in advance.

I cannot speak for Branson. It appears to have high TDI in summer weeks per II. I would still bet that it and Williamsburg would still be lower in demand than MB/HHI.

If exchanging MVC into HHI, you could select more than just Barony Beach Club. There are plenty others (Grande Ocean, SurfWatch, Monarch, etc, etc) on HHI. Requesting more than one...would up your odds of an exchange if you didn't purchase at HHI.

Good luck.

I traded Worldmark points for a week at MVCI HHI - leave this Friday..

 

[dominidude]

I traded Worldmark points for a week at MVCI HHI - leave this Friday..

Just curious, which one?

 

[MOXJO7282]

There is a big difference in demand for July weeks vs. mid August so if you can use August weeks then it is possible to trade into these resorts with a lesser Marriott plat week.

 

[lisa3635]

Just curious, which one?

I'm obviously not the other poster but I traded my worldmark points for the 7/16-7/23 at Marriott barony. The exchanged happened early April.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I have received matches for summer Hilton Head with my WR Platinum one bedroom. I didn't end up going in summer, I chose April instead, but it was spring break in a lot of areas. We stayed at Barony.

I agree that sometimes matches happen with other resorts that aren't Marriott. But no property used for exchange is guaranteed to get Barony or Ocean Watch in summer. Williamsburg is pretty easy for summer.

 

[tschwa2]

FYI also. Most Barony II summer exchangers (it is the easiest of the ocean front Marriotts in SC to exchange into but still not easy) end up in the garden section. Summer rentals into the garden section seem to hoover around $1900-2200.

 

[hot2trot]

Honestly speaking, Hilton Head has more demand over the other properties you mentioned. Hilton Head also has higher property values. They are all nice resorts, but given a fairly equal playing field I would take Barony hands down.

No, to Willow Ridge. It wouldn't be a good trader. If you want a good trading property Barony Beach club beats them all. MUCH higher demand for that property. If you can afford it, buy platinum season Barony. Second choice would be Myrtle Beach Platinum, third choice would be Barony Gold. It is VERY easy to trade into Williamsburg and Branson. I often purchase getaway weeks at those resorts.

Your Maintenance fees will probably be higher at a Beach resort as the cost to maintain the property is higher, but well worth it if that is where you like to go.

 

[Fairwinds]

Honestly speaking, Hilton Head has more demand over the other properties you mentioned. Hilton Head also has higher property values. They are all nice resorts, but given a fairly equal playing field I would take Barony hands down.

No, to Willow Ridge. It wouldn't be a good trader. If you want a good trading property Barony Beach club beats them all. MUCH higher demand for that property. If you can afford it, buy platinum season Barony. Second choice would be Myrtle Beach Platinum, third choice would be Barony Gold. It is VERY easy to trade into Williamsburg and Branson. I often purchase getaway weeks at those resorts.

Your Maintenance fees will probably be higher at a Beach resort as the cost to maintain the property is higher, but well worth it if that is where you like to go.

I mostly agree. However, if Plat Beach is not affordable I would go with MSE Plat. before gold elsewhere. MSE has worked well for me. Especially if you will drive to the three locations and can be a little flexible on planning vacation time while waiting for confirmation. I've had good luck trading my MSE into summer weeks in MB & HH but I list multiple weeks resorts in HH and Ocean Watch.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Something for the OP to consider is buying two or three EOY timeshares. If he owned 2 EOY - - one odd and one even at different locations, then he would be able to go to different TS and have a good chance of getting the week they want.

Of the 3 TS, the one that I would not buy with this Two EOY scheme is the Williamsburg. My thought is that Williamsburg is easy to trade in to due to the high number of TS there.

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

Something for the OP to consider is buying two or three EOY timeshares. If he owned 2 EOY - - one odd and one even at different locations, then he would be able to go to different TS and have a good chance of getting the week they want.

Of the 3 TS, the one that I would not buy with this Two EOY scheme is the Williamsburg. My thought is that Williamsburg is easy to trade in to due to the high number of TS there.

I think this is a good suggestion........based on all of the OP posts above

 

[dominidude]

Thank you all, lots of great information.

Originally I considered buying a platinum EOY Ocean Watch and an additional platinum EOY Barony or Grande Ocean. But in the time I've been looking (two months) I have not come across either.
So far I've only see annual timeshares for sale at those two resorts, especially during summer months. So I thought I'd ask you about it.

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

It certainly seems like you are going about this correctly, doing your homework, etc...............

The EOY is still a good idea to me---good luck in your search.


Pat

Thank you all, lots of great information.

Originally I considered buying a platinum EOY Ocean Watch and an additional platinum EOY Barony or Grande Ocean. But in the time I've been looking (two months) I have not come across either.
So far I've only see annual timeshares for sale at those two resorts, especially during summer months. So I thought I'd ask you about it.

 

[tschwa2]

Barony sells EOY but the only ones I've ever noticed for sale have been garden section (back building). I have seen both EOY platinum and gold.