FYI:
Barony only has garden view, ocean side, and ocean front 2 bedroom condos.
TOGA is for the garden view condos which are in the villas behind the Westin hotel.
VILA is the category for the ocean side condos which are all of the rooms on the side of the 4 buildings ( Bayberry and Live Oak furthest from the beach) located beachfront.
TBOF is the category for the ocean front rooms which are in the front of the 2 buildings (Morning Glory and Seaoat) facing the ocean.
All of the buildings are only 5 stories tall, so only a few of the 'oceanside' villas actually have an ocean view.
Ocean side was the term I was looking for. That might be the term Marriott uses for all of those types of rooms since a view of the ocean rarely goes along with that type of room.
One of the more important things I've learned about Marriott is that an owner will almost always get the view for which they've purchased. At Ocean Pointe, this has been a point of contention for ocean side owners who find exchangers in ocean front rooms. Marriott's stance has always been that they were assigned the view they purchased and, that they would always be assigned the view they purchased.
Taking this further, if one were to spend a week at Barony and all owners at Barony who owned a Garden Villa had reserved a week at Barony and all the owners who had purchased ocean side or ocean front had exchanged, the garden villa owners would still be placed in the view/style unit they purchased and exchangers would be placed in the ocean side or ocean front units.
Why would Marriott do something like this? To encourage prospective owners to purchase the most expensive view they could afford rather than buying the cheapest view and counting on getting bumped up into a higher view that they didn't purchase.
My understanding with Marriott is that, when staying at your home resort, you will always be placed in the unit style/view you purchased, although I'm sure there have been exceptions. Exchangers will then be assigned units based upon the hierchy I've listed above or, something very close.
One addendum is that each HOA does have some latittude on how they assign rooms. I believe this is only a recommendation from Marriott but, it does appear, at least from our experience, that most resorts follow this plan.
So I would never say that you'll be guarenteed the view on your confirmation. It will just depend on who is staying at the resort the week your arrive and what your standing is for room placement based on your ownership level with Marriott. There are, of course, some unit styles/types the are only located in specific locations such as the 3 bedroom units at Ocean Pointe, which are all ocean front units and, the 3 bedroom units at Grand Chateau, which are all on the end caps of each tower.
FWIW:
Here is the confirmation from our Barony Beach stay
Marriott's Grand Chateau
MGC
Unit: THGV (1 bedroom)
Week: 9 Fri, February 29, 2008
Fri, March 07, 2008
Confirmed
Confirmed To:
Marriott's Barony Beach Club • MBY
Unit: TOGA (2 bedrooms)
Week: 19 Fri, May 09, 2008
Fri, May 16, 2008
If TOGA is a Garden Villa, then we were bumped up to an ocean side unit for our week. As you can see we were there during the first part of May, which isn't high season. So in this case we were not given the view assignment on our confirmation but were given what some would consider a better view/location. We are multiple week owners (two three bedroom, one Plat. and one Silver season). So, we apparently were strong enough to get a slightly better room but, we were strong enough to get off the second floor or, there were enough Barony owners staying on their time that the second floor ocean side was the best anyone could have done.