# Worldmark II access questions



## Xcalibur (Sep 11, 2015)

Hi, 

Thinking of  buying wm points.  We do more westcoast travel,  so wm would be a good fit.  We would also love to access the II suite of properties.  We currently own Wyndham and am happy with the  RCI access.  How good is the II access? I've tried to read and figure it out but haven't had much luck learning about the actual II booking experience.  Are there fees?  How much stock is there?  At first glance,  it seems it is better to won wm to access the hotel chain   resorts instead of the actual chains themselves (eg Marriott).  What are your thoughts?


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## presley (Sep 11, 2015)

You should be able to find some good threads about it on wmowners.com
From what I understand ( I don't have II set up for my WM), you can either search with just points and pretty much see everything, or you can have WM deposit a week for you. That can be a gamble because they may deposit something with very low trading power. In either case, II has low exchange rates for checking in within 60 days, no matter which resort/season.

As far as trying to use it to get hotel chain resorts, you can do that, but each system has their own internal preference window. For example, when Marriott makes a bulk deposit, only Marriott owners can see it for a while so that they have a higher chance of getting it. A lot of high demand resorts will be taken by owners in those systems. You can still get them, though. I've had Four Seasons and Marriott a few times by using my Shell II portal.


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## PassionForTravel (Sep 11, 2015)

WM is very good as an II trader. It will pull anything not under preference (Marriott Starwood). I generally see less inventory doing a search than with RCI so for any prized weeks usually requires an ongoing search. I've gotten some very good trades, but don't count on high demand locations under preference I.e Marriott Hawaii. It's possible but not probable because of preference.

The fees are the standard II fees I believe $189 online. The amount of credits required is fixed. In red season it's 8k for studio, 9k for a 1bd, 10k for a 2bd. Any exchange within 59 days of checkin is 4k for any size unit.

You can either do a request first and they don't take your credits until a match or a deposit first where you tell them the size unit and season to deposit. People who are flexible with travel dates sometimes do this to save points. You have no control over what unit gets deposited so you could get a dog. Better to do request first until experienced with II.

Ian


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## Xcalibur (Sep 11, 2015)

PassionForTravel said:


> WM is very good as an II trader. It will pull anything not under preference (Marriott Starwood). I generally see less inventory doing a search than with RCI so for any prized weeks usually requires an ongoing search. I've gotten some very good trades, but don't count on high demand locations under preference I.e Marriott Hawaii. It's possible but not probable because of preference.
> 
> The fees are the standard II fees I believe $189 online. The amount of credits required is fixed. In red season it's 8k for studio, 9k for a 1bd, 10k for a 2bd. Any exchange within 59 days of checkin is 4k for any size unit.
> 
> ...



how does rci inventory compare with II?  I wanted II for access to starwood and marriot, so if that is limited, maybe II is not that much better than RCI?

has anybody ever compared the 2 systems?


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## PassionForTravel (Sep 11, 2015)

II has less resorts than RCI and therefore less inventory. I've seen the biggest differences in Hawaii. II people also seem to rely more on Ongoing Searches than RCI does.

You will still have access to Marriott and Starwood. The unit has to drop out of the preference period before you have a chance at it. Which means your chance of getting the harder locations at peak time is less. Note that Starwood has full control over their inventory and they do not deposit peak times into II (so even a Starwood trader won't get it). With Marriott it's more hit and miss. I you want Colorado or Park City in the summer no problem. You want Hawaii, it's probably only going to happen last minute and then probably off season. You want Tahoe at presidents week or New Years or July 4th probably not going to happen.

The hotel brand which doesn't have preference is Hyatt so WM is very good for grabbing those. But I don't believe that Hyatt deposits peak weeks either.

Ian


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