# Just Received Notice About II!



## LouiseG (Apr 15, 2013)

Just received official notice from Morritt's that they have become affiliated with Interval International.  Since we have very seldom exchanged our time through RCI we don't have much experience at this.  Can anyone help with opinions about II and suggestions on best way to utilize?  We bought at Morritt's 20 yrs ago because we loved the island and the diving/snorkeling, but as we age, we find ourselves looking to revisit many places previously visited and to explore some new spots.  Is II going to be difficult to exchange our time thru?  It seems pricier than RCI.


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## K2Quick (Apr 15, 2013)

LouiseG said:


> Is II going to be difficult to exchange our time thru?  It seems pricier than RCI.



On the contrary, II is a little cheaper than RCI.  Membership fees are about the same, but exchange fees are around $30 cheaper with II.  I think it all comes down to where you want to go and when you want to go there to determine which exchange company would be better.  I'm a member of both, but use II far more often.


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## DeniseM (Apr 15, 2013)

The nice thing for Marriott owners is that you will have first priority for all Marriott deposits made with II.  I would take this as good news!


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## wilma (Apr 15, 2013)

DeniseM said:


> The nice thing for Marriott owners is that you will have first priority for all Marriott deposits made with II.  I would take this as good news!



OP is talking about Morrittt's in Grand Cayman not Marriott.


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## DeniseM (Apr 15, 2013)

wilma said:


> OP is talking about Morrittt's in Grand Cayman not Marriott.



Ohhhhhh.....


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## Bucky (Apr 15, 2013)

LouiseG said:


> Just received official notice from Morritt's that they have become affiliated with Interval International.  Since we have very seldom exchanged our time through RCI we don't have much experience at this.  Can anyone help with opinions about II and suggestions on best way to utilize?  We bought at Morritt's 20 yrs ago because we loved the island and the diving/snorkeling, but as we age, we find ourselves looking to revisit many places previously visited and to explore some new spots.  Is II going to be difficult to exchange our time thru?  It seems pricier than RCI.



II is easy to exchange with and IMO has better resorts to choose from. Nice to be able to exchange into all the Marriotts and Westins. II also trades into all the Royal Resorts.

A big caveat when trading through II is the XYZ exchange. Deposit one week and get a second exchange for the exchange fee only. The only problem is that it could go away at any time since its not a permanent feature with II at present time. But, the program has been around for a few years now so who knows?


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## jdunn1 (Apr 15, 2013)

I like II much better than Rci but it is really difficult and usually impossible for some to exchange into the marriotts and hyatt's and westins and starwoods without owning in whatever system you want to trade into.  If your goal is to travel during off season and sometimes shoulde season then you can trade into these systems without having to worry much about not owning in those systems.  By far, I get the most trade value through II.  I think it is a good change for the original poster except he will have no presence into the best II timeshares and will always have to settle for deposits not taken by owners in whatever system he wants to trade into.  In Rci, everyone is mostly on a level playing field when It comes to trading.


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## GrayFal (Apr 15, 2013)

I am a multi week Morritt's owner and I am thrilled with the move to II. II has much fewer quality resorts in the Caribbean and so I feel that our weeks will trade much better with II. They will value our deposits in a very good way and most likely will offer us bonus weeks with our deposits.

Is there a promotion for Morritts owners to join II ?  2 years for one?..


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## twinmommy19 (Apr 21, 2013)

> We bought at Morritt's 20 yrs ago because we loved the island and the diving/snorkeling, but as we age, we find ourselves looking to revisit many places previously visited and to explore some new spots. Is II going to be difficult to exchange our time thru? It seems pricier than RCI.



It sounds like you do not need to travel on a school schedule, is this correct?  If that's the case - I believe you will love Interval and it is worth every penny of the II membership - is it $59 or has it gone up?  IMO RCI has a better selection in the northeast and has DVC, but otherwise the selection is significantly better in II.  For us - we live in the northeast so we want to own a property in both systems for different reasons.  

Denise mentioned the Marriott priority which is a great perk to Marriott owners who want to travel to the Marriott ski properties in the winter, South Carolina in the summer, or the Caribbean over Christmas, Presidents week or Spring Break (unless you are willing to stay in a studio which almost always comes available in my experience if you are patient).  If you require these locations at the specific times mentioned only and also need a full kitchen, then II may not be for you unless you own Marriott.  That said, at most other times it is pretty easy to trade into the top Marriott hotels.  For your ownership, II will likely offer you a bonus accommodation certificate when you deposit your week.  (We own at ESJ in Puerto Rico and almost always get these -I think you will too as your property is a nice place.)  This year - we used our accommodation certificate (not our real exchange but the extra bonus week) to exchange into a 1 BR unit at Marriott Ocean Club over Memorial weekend (Friday check in).  We could have reserved a 2BR at the Surf Club if we wanted but did not need one for this trip as it is only 2 of us going and for adults only we prefer the Ocean Club.  We also could have reserved the Marriott in St Kitts in a 3BR unit for the same week but we prefer the beach in Aruba.  Last year, we used our bonus certificate to stay at the Ocean Club over 4th of July week.  Trading in January-February timeframe is harder but not impossible.  I hope this information is helpful.


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## LouiseG (Apr 21, 2013)

Thanks to all who responded.  After looking through all the info that was sent to us and reading all the responses, I'm hoping we'll be satisfied.   Altho, RCI does credit us with a 1 BR on our exchanges, because our studio was in the building that was destroyed by Ivan and II has us down for a studio/hotel room for exchanging.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see how that works out.


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## LouiseG (Apr 21, 2013)

GrayFal said:


> I am a multi week Morritt's owner and I am thrilled with the move to II. II has much fewer quality resorts in the Caribbean and so I feel that our weeks will trade much better with II. They will value our deposits in a very good way and most likely will offer us bonus weeks with our deposits.
> 
> Is there a promotion for Morritts owners to join II ?  2 years for one?..



Morritt's paid for the first year of membership for us and they are offering a bonus week if you deposit now.


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## dioxide45 (Apr 21, 2013)

So why the thumbs down on the title of the initial post? You don't even know yet if this is good or bad and you seldom exchange through RCI currently and it gets a thumbs down?


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## twinmommy19 (Apr 21, 2013)

Did not realize you actually own a studio.  Since staying in a 1BR or larger is NOT a requirement for you this should be a no brainer for you.  In many many years of ownership, I can honestly say that our family has never had a problem confirming a studio where we want to go even at the most peak of times.  That said, sometimes we've had to take a downgrade to a studio from our 1BR over school break but our property is not gold rated and we almost always trade into places that are.  Confirming larger Marriott units are harder because Marriott owners lock out their units and are often able to use their 1BR side to confirm bigger units.  I think Marriott owners rarely deposit and then choose to trade back into studios so the vast majority of studio deposits end up going to non MVC owners.  SC in the summer is very hard to get because there are no lock outs in the Marriott system.  Everywhere else has studios and getting the studio exchanges are pretty easy with the one exception being Utah during ski season where owners will typically only deposit at the last minute if their unit doesn't rent.  The properties in the Caribbean do rent too but owners don't tend to wait it out as long.  Flying destinations are different.  The closer to check in the more the cost of the flight.  Depositing by the 60 or 90 day deadline is better than risking not covering your maintenance with a rental.  The Utah properties are almost no risk at all of not covering fees as maintenance fees there are low. Local residents would happily rent those units last minute and owners know it.  Marriott owners - do I have this mostly right?


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## dougp26364 (Apr 21, 2013)

We kept our personal I.I. membership but dropped our personal RCI membership if that tells you anything. 

RCI is like standing on shifting sands with all the changes they've made. I.I. has remained reasonably steady.

RCI is more expensive than I.I.

RCI might have more resorts but, IMHO, there's a lot of filler in there with some pretty mediocre to subpar resorts. I.I. has fewer resorts but the majority are of good to excellent quality.

I.I. will allow you to make a request first. You keep your reservation at your home resort unless I.I. finds your exchange. With RCI you just have to give up your unit and hope you can get what you request.

As for the studio week, I've also shopped our studio deposit online with I.I. and usually manage to upgrade to a 1 bedroom. Of course these are not the most difficult exchanges into high demand resorts during high demand seasons but, we've had some very nice upgrades in size shopping for exchanges online


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## shorts (Apr 22, 2013)

dougp26364 said:


> I.I. will allow you to make a request first. You keep your reservation at your home resort unless I.I. finds your exchange. With RCI you just have to give up your unit and hope you can get what you request.



This is not the case with Morritt's because they bulk bank. I was really hoping we would be able to see how well our units would trade before actually depositing with request first or even just doing some online searches but can't do anything without first calling the resort to deposit a week. 

I have not deposited one of my weeks in years, preferring to use or rent, due to poor value RCI gave us. Was so hoping to try it out in II before depositing 

REALLY DISAPPOINTED!


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## dougp26364 (Apr 22, 2013)

shorts said:


> This is not the case with Morritt's because they bulk bank. I was really hoping we would be able to see how well our units would trade before actually depositing with request first or even just doing some online searches but can't do anything without first calling the resort to deposit a week.
> 
> I have not deposited one of my weeks in years, preferring to use or rent, due to poor value RCI gave us. Was so hoping to try it out in II before depositing
> 
> REALLY DISAPPOINTED!



There's a lot of resorts with I.I. that bulk bank but I.I. still allows them to request first rather than deposit first. So long as you can make a reservation at your home resort you can should be able to do a request first. The week the Morritt's ends up giving I.I. may be different than your reservation but, that won't matter to the owner of the week.


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## momeason (Apr 22, 2013)

jdunn1 said:


> I like II much better than Rci but it is really difficult and usually impossible for some to exchange into the marriotts and hyatt's and westins and starwoods without owning in whatever system you want to trade into.  If your goal is to travel during off season and sometimes shoulde season then you can trade into these systems without having to worry much about not owning in those systems.  By far, I get the most trade value through II.  I think it is a good change for the original poster except he will have no presence into the best II timeshares and will always have to settle for deposits not taken by owners in whatever system he wants to trade into.  In Rci, everyone is mostly on a level playing field when It comes to trading.



If you travel non peak it is not difficult to get a lot of the Marriotts. Summer vac and holidays..no go. I like to travel in shoulder season.


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## twinmommy19 (Apr 23, 2013)

> If you travel non peak it is not difficult to get a lot of the Marriotts. Summer vac and holidays..no go. I like to travel in shoulder season.



Right - when people say "non-peak season" sometimes it is interpreted as having to travel to ski resorts in mud season or SC in the dead of winter.  This is simply not true.  School breaks are impossible.  So is the summer.  If you are not on a school schedule exchanging is pretty easy to all the non-ski resorts (east coast beach locations in April, May, Sept and October are easy).  If you want Jan-Mar at the ski resorts that is harder.  There just aren't that many resorts that offer ski in / out facilities in general so owners are able to rent them.


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## lprstn (Apr 24, 2013)

Drats that means I won't be able to trade into it using RCI :-(


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## NJDave (Apr 25, 2013)

Does anyone know the difference between the two different Morritt's Tortuga Clubs listed in the Interval directory (i.e. the difference between MTU and MT2) ?


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## shorts (Apr 25, 2013)

NJDave said:


> Does anyone know the difference between the two different Morritt's Tortuga Clubs listed in the Interval directory (i.e. the difference between MTU and MT2) ?



MTU is the resort code for exchanges and MT2 is the resort code for getaways ($$$).


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## LouiseG (Apr 27, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> So why the thumbs down on the title of the initial post? You don't even know yet if this is good or bad and you seldom exchange through RCI currently and it gets a thumbs down?



I have a vision problem and actually thought that that was a question mark.


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## NJDave (Apr 27, 2013)

shorts said:


> MTU is the resort code for exchanges and MT2 is the resort code for getaways ($$$).



Thanks.   Is Morritt's Grand Resort a separate resort?  If so, does Morritt's Grand Resort only trade with RCI?


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## shorts (Apr 28, 2013)

NJDave said:


> Thanks.   Is Morritt's Grand Resort a separate resort?  If so, does Morritt's Grand Resort only trade with RCI?



Yes, it is listed as a sperate resort although they share check-in/ammenities. The Grand won't be switching over to II from RCI for another year or two.


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