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Favourite Marriott Resorts - Exchanges Only

jbman

jbman

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2023
Messages
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Resorts Owned
Marriott's Grand Chateau
Club Wyndham Bali Hai Villas
Vacation Village at Williamsburg
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
I have seen some older threads on people's favourite MVC resorts, I was wondering what your favourite resort or resorts are specifically on exchanges?

Whatever qualifications you like, whether it is a resort where all the rooms have at least decent views, good availability for exchanges, just overall a great resort etc.
 
Boston Marriott Custom House. we have exchanged here 3 times and love it.
we also like Grand Chateau in Las Vegas. It’s a pretty easy exchange.
 
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I would say Aruba Surf Club has been my favorite exchange.
 
Waiohai and Mountainside.
 
Marriott Ko’Olina. Great resort lots of pool and hot tubs to spend the day at the resort. Plenty to do on Oahu if you want to explore.
 
Definitely Marriott's Ko Olina. We love the location and the views. Watching sunset while having dinner at Longboard or at nearby Four Seasons and Aulani is the best. It is walkable to Four Seasons and Aulani and to us, this is Hawaii paradise. We also enjoy golfing at Ko Olina Golf Club. If only we don't need to fly there, we will be living out of this place like @frank808 . :)
 
There are only a handful of resorts that are hard to or impossible to get with an exchnage. So the question really is, what is your favorite resort. No reply necessary if it is Costa Rica. Though it has shown up in II before, even on freebie ACs last minute.
 
jwalk03 said:
I would say Aruba Surf Club has been my favorite exchange.
Click to expand...
Aruba Surf Club was our first, and thus far only, exchange, we absolutely loved everything about it. We were assigned what I think was either an Oceanside or Oceanview room, only the third floor, but looking at the resort we felt we would have perfectly happy with any room there.

It was definitely somewhere we would love to go back every year, but first will try some of the other resorts.
 
davidvel said:
Waiohai and Mountainside.
Click to expand...
For Mountainside, is it only during ski season you enjoy it or other times of the year as well?
 
dioxide45 said:
There are only a handful of resorts that are hard to or impossible to get with an exchnage. So the question really is, what is your favorite resort. No reply necessary if it is Costa Rica. Though it has shown up in II before, even on freebie ACs last minute.
Click to expand...
Los Suenos is definitely on the short list for where we would like to try next, I think there was availability last October, though I understand it rains a lot in Costa Rica in October, would prefer an April exchange I think, but may have to just accept it will be the rainy season if we want to go.

Our not so short list is Los Suenos, Ko Olina, Waiohai, Desert Springs Villas, Newport Coast Villas, Village I'lle de France, OceanWatch, Frenchman's Cove, Canyon Villas, Grand Chateau and Lakeshore Reserve.

Outside of Marriott we would also like to exchange into DVC and Hyatt Pinon Pointe and maybe the Hyatt in San Antonio, I'm sure there are many others that I'm not thinking of.

So many different resorts to try, it can be hard to plan which one to go to next.
 
jbman said:
For Mountainside, is it only during ski season you enjoy it or other times of the year as well?
Click to expand...
We've only been there is ski season. Either early January or spring break.
 
We really like Marriott Crystal Shores. We love being right on the beach, the amenities are great, and the activities staff is a lot of fun.

Lakeshore Reserve is our favorite in Orlando (Harbour Lake is a close second -- but our kids are young). We like the rooms at Lakeshore Reserve, the activity staff is great, and it never seems crowded.
 
Boston's Custom House
Cameron House (Loch Lomond Scotland) !!!!!!!
Newport Coast Villas
Mountainside & Summit Watch (ski season only)
Manor Club @ Ford's Colony (original)
Lakeshore Reserve
Grande Ocean (back into our "Second Home" so many times)
Maui Ocean Club
Ocean Pointe


The MOST IMPORTANT factor for exchanges (actually it's CRITICAL for all stays),
is WHEN you go......ie, the month, as it makes or breaks the trip.
Ex: imho, Fall is the best time for New England or Virginia, July/August for UK,
April/May & Sept/Oct for Paris, Summer for California, April/May/June/Sept for southeastern beaches,
Ski season Jan/Feb for Utah, Jan/Feb for whales in HI or Spring/early Fall otherwise.
"Proper scheduling" is one of the greatest pieces of advice I have adhered to for my lifetime of vacationing, and it's served our family well.
"Being in the right place at the right time" can be applied to a lot of things, but for trips it's everything.
Or to put it another way: People always scream "Location, location, location", but you need to add a dash of "Timing, timing, timing" to seal the deal.
 
For me, my favorite exchanges are the ones where I get a huge upgrade in value from my trade. I think @dioxide45 mentioned in another thread getting 10K+ Abound points worth of value in some trades. Some of the best trades have been Grande Vista gold season studios or 1BRs (so at the time < $1K in maintenance and trade costs) into Grande Vista 3BR, Surfwatch 3BR, Aruba Ocean Club, Ocean Pointe 2BR oceanfront, 4th of July week 2BR Manor Club.

And @jme is right on timing/season.
 
While we’ve enjoyed nearly all of the MVC resorts (SF Pulse the lone exception) we have a few we tend to return to because we either enjoy the location or the resort.

Crystal Shores so long as we can get a gulf front units. We really enjoy the views and the layout of these particular units.

Ritz Carlton SF is a favorite for its luxury and access to public transportation. It’s pretty easy to get anywhere without the need of a car, Uber, Lyft, or taxi

Custom House is another favorite, largely because its location and the easy access using public transportation.

Harbor Club not because it’s luxurious or provides fabulous views, but we enjoyed the location so close to,Harbor Town.

Kaui Lagoons for the wonderful units and proximity to Lahui. It didn’t ever seem to far of a drive to anything we wanted to go do or see.
 
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