Trying to trade into Ocean Watch through II under old weeks system

[kamumma1]

Hi all -
We are still using our timeshare under the old Marriott's weeks system. I have a trade request in through II using our Platinum week at Grande Vista, trying to get a summer week at Ocean Watch. I put in the trade a year in advance (June 2018) and haven't heard anything yet. I'm wondering if with the newer Marriott points system and internal trade, if trading through II is going to be more difficult to get what you want? Also wondering if this is a hard trade. I have the entire summer as a request. At what point do you decide that it's getting too close and start looking at other locations/hotels? Little nervous to go outside of Marriott. And also thinking that if trading through II is getting harder, if its worth keeping our TS. Not really psyched to go to a points system.
K

 

[tschwa2]

Hi all -
We are still using our timeshare under the old Marriott's weeks system. I have a trade request in through II using our Platinum week at Grande Vista, trying to get a summer week at Ocean Watch. I put in the trade a year in advance (June 2018) and haven't heard anything yet. I'm wondering if with the newer Marriott points system and internal trade, if trading through II is going to be more difficult to get what you want? Also wondering if this is a hard trade. I have the entire summer as a request. At what point do you decide that it's getting too close and start looking at other locations/hotels? Little nervous to go outside of Marriott. And also thinking that if trading through II is getting harder, if its worth keeping our TS. Not really psyched to go to a points system.
K

When you say the entire summer what dates did you request. This was always a fairly difficult exchange for late June through early August. If you have requested Memorial Day through Labor day, then your chances of getting an early June or mid to late August is still doable. If you didn't get the exchange at 12 months, you may have to wait until March or April when owners who originally thought they were going to use their weeks decide to deposit.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

OceanWatch during Platinum season is a difficult trade, but its possible. I've always used my Platinum Fairway Villas to exchange. I've requested OceanWatch several times for summer, a year in advance, and have given up by January/February of the travel year. What I've done in those cases is add 3 Hilton Head locations to the same ongoing request. Each time, except for one, we have been confirmed into a Hilton Head location and not OceanWatch. The Hilton Head locations are fantastic, so not a big deal, other than the extra 2 hours drive each way. I generally believe that many families do not book their stays until close to the end of the previous year, right around the time MF bills come out. But, with a prime location like OceanWatch, that may not be entirely true. I just picked up a Platinum unit at MOW, and about a month ago, I asked the existing owner to book me a week. I gave them 5 preferred check-in dates in preference order and they was able to get the 2nd on the list. Essentially, they booked it 10.5 months out.

 

[davemy]

OceanWatch during Platinum season is a difficult trade, but its possible. I've always used my Platinum Fairway Villas to exchange. I've requested OceanWatch several times for summer, a year in advance, and have given up by January/February of the travel year. What I've done in those cases is add 3 Hilton Head locations to the same ongoing request. Each time, except for one, we have been confirmed into a Hilton Head location and not OceanWatch. The Hilton Head locations are fantastic, so not a big deal, other than the extra 2 hours drive each way. I generally believe that many families do not book their stays until close to the end of the previous year, right around the time MF bills come out. But, with a prime location like OceanWatch, that may not be entirely true. I just picked up a Platinum unit at MOW, and about a month ago, I asked the existing owner to book me a week. I gave them 5 preferred check-in dates in preference order and they was able to get the 2nd on the list. Essentially, they booked it 10.5 months out.

 

[normab]

We are still trading into high demand resorts through II. However, the trades are coming through later. We are guessing that MVCI holds onto units for points transactions, and then if they have too many that aren’t reserved, they release them to II.

That all being said, for high demand weeks that are traded directly to II, there still needs to be owners depositing and you need to request early, and have a strong trader.

We wait until day 60, if it’s a driving vacation and we don’t have to worry about airfare.

We are not giving up on II. We are just being more patient!

 

[davemy]

A friend of mine who owns a Silver week at MOW has traded back into a summer week twice. The exchange did not come thru until April or May. He put the exchange in a year in advance. Hang tight!! The last 2 weeks of August is a easy exchange at worst case.

 

[TXTortoise]

FWIW, I expect late trades are the norm for high demand weeks. We were usually able to trade into Maui in Jan-Feb, but most came 60-90 days out as owners decided not to go and deposited. The wild card is how many of those weeks are now deposited for points vs II.

 

[Dean]

Hi all -
We are still using our timeshare under the old Marriott's weeks system. I have a trade request in through II using our Platinum week at Grande Vista, trying to get a summer week at Ocean Watch. I put in the trade a year in advance (June 2018) and haven't heard anything yet. I'm wondering if with the newer Marriott points system and internal trade, if trading through II is going to be more difficult to get what you want? Also wondering if this is a hard trade. I have the entire summer as a request. At what point do you decide that it's getting too close and start looking at other locations/hotels? Little nervous to go outside of Marriott. And also thinking that if trading through II is getting harder, if its worth keeping our TS. Not really psyched to go to a points system.
K

It is a challenging trade. If you didn't get it early on, your chances are less but I agree, you still have an reasonable chance of getting the exchange if you did indeed list the entire summer. If you only put mid June through mid August, you're chances will go down significantly but I still think you have a good chance. Hopefully you're using a solid GV week that was deposited at least 10 months out. But in general I do feel exchanging has changed somewhat and likely due in part to the points system.

 

[Bucky]

OceanWatch has always been a tough trade. It’s I believe the only Marriott on the beach from Maine all the way down to SC. Thus it gets heavy eastern seaboard traffic and ownership. Trying to trade in during Platinum season is tough but not always impossible. The last two weeks of Aug are Gold season but even the 3rd week is very tough to get because it is the last week before public schools start back in NC/SC.

Keep in mind when trading through II that it’s governed on a like for like basis as it’s top priority. Evidently the system doesn’t recognize Grande Vista to Oceanwatch as a total like for like trade. That’s the only explanation I can think of since we were able to use one of our Gold weeks to exchange into a Platinum week for next year and our request was placed after yours. We have been with II for over 15 years and never quite figured it out because there really is no transparency to the system. We have had tons of super exchanges over the years but usually not during peak season at any location. Unfortunately with Orlando considered as being over built I’m not sure if Grande Vista will carry enough weight to pull an Oceanwatch Platinum week. But, with that all being said, I wouldn’t give up yet. You just never know with this crazy system.

 

[NJDave]

I traded a platinum Orlando week into OceanWatch in July and August six times (including 3 times for fourth of July). However, those trades occurred between 2005 and 2016.

I have found that, in the last few years, this trade has become very difficult. In the past, I would put the request in 2 years in advance and receive it within 10 -12 months of checkin. Now, I still regularly include OceanWatch in my request, but it has not getting confirmed. I usually give up within 6 months of checkin and change the request. I have not been depositing with Interval as much since I don't get the exchanges that I was did.

 

[Big Matt]

Just remember that the Marriott priority is in place. As long as Marriott keeps pumping things into II someone will match as long as the trading power is there. Don't expect that a silver studio will match, but 1 or 2BRs should be okay.

 

[Swice]

Very interesting.

We own Oceanwatch and Lakeshore Reserve (Deluxe which we split and trade as "two" one bedroom units). Most years we have traded Oceanwatch (we've actually gone a few times like the very week it opened but have mostly traded) because it had excellent trading power and we always got a bonus week for the deposit. BUT, in recent years, the Bonus Week certificates from Interval have become no value to us because of the grid restrictions. ...We even had trouble using them for ORLANDO! So that was one strike against depositing. We have tried listing for rent several times over the years and were only successful once. Our family is in "calendar" transition (with one in college and one in high school we are not sure of internships, co-ops, academic enrichment programs and sports) so I made a reservation for next August but I'm sitting on it until I know more about our schedule. Our Oceanwatch trades have gotten us everything we've ever asked for within reason.

On the flip side, we've traditionally split our Lakeshore Reserve and traded into either Oceanwatch or Hilton Head resorts in lower seasons. For example, we have always reserved Lakeshore for Thanksgiving or Christmas weeks. Our requests would list all of the Hilton Head locations and Oceanwatch for Spring Break and for Thanksgiving week (we live within driving distance so whatever popped up was always fine for us). It was actually amusing to us that our trades seemed to alternate... Oceanwatch this year, Hilton Head the next and back and forth. FOR YEARS, we had no problems with trades. But in the past couple of years, our trades have taken longer and longer. Combine that with the Interval upgrade fee and the useless bonus week, I really do think people are opting for club points and bypassing Interval more and more. When I'm giving Interval six locations and nothing comes through, and I'm trading a high demand week, something is wrong.

Last year, we did opt for vacation club points ourselves and are using those for this Thanksgiving and next (granted not full weeks). The sales people have always loudly proclaimed deposits were going to dry up because people would opt for points. Ironically, I think that is really happening... but because people love using points (there is skim afterall), but because of Interval.

I'm really curious to see if things change now that Marriott owns Interval.

 

[krj9999]

I had a request in for June/July 2019 (using Plat 1BR Willow Ridge), and got a call today that they had a unit for May 31 check-in (which I went ahead and took).

I saw May 24/25/26 check-ins this morning which didn't last long (and were earlier than I wanted).

 

[jme]

I believe it IS a like-for-like trade, both destinations and times being highly popular,
but nowadays if someone is not going to use the week, they seem to be gravitating more toward
RENTING IT OUT FOR MORE THAN TWICE the MAINTENANCE FEE,
rather than depositing and merely obtaining a trade week (with bonus weeks being of questionable value).

We own 6 summer Grande Ocean weeks, and there's NO WAY I will ever deposit one for trade....never have and never will.
So I think that's how the OW summer week owners view it,
and imho, this factor is more responsible for less trades being available in Interval than people give it credit for.

 

[ml855]

I search every morning on II and this morning was able to pick up an Ocean Watch unit with a June 2nd, 2019 check in. There was also a June 7th check in but I wasn't fast enough to pick it up so I took the June 2nd. I split my Marriott Manor Club, 2019 week and used my 1 bedroom side in order to do this trade. I know it's early June but we're happy with it. It's been several years since we've been to Ocean Watch due to it being a difficult trade.

 

[kamumma1]

We got our trade !!!

 

[Panina]

We got our trade !!!

Which month July or August

 

[dioxide45]

We got our trade !!!

What week did you get? I believe someone mentioned in the Sightings forum that there were several HHI weeks bulk banked in to II yesterday.

 

[pedro47]

Were you able to exchange into the original side with the ocean front villas views and the ocean side villas views or where your exchange approve into the Pine or Maple Building with The Garden Views.

These are the two (2) back buildings with the large outdoor pool and the large outdoor children area and also where the indoor pool is located.

 

[dioxide45]

Were you able to exchange into the original side with the ocean front villas views and the ocean side villas views or where your exchange approve into the Pine or Maple Building with The Garden Views.

These are the two (2) back buildings with the large outdoor pool and the large outdoor children area and also where the indoor pool is located.

With an II exchange and especially in South Carolina, and even more so in the summer, there is no guaranty of the view.

 

[BocaBoy]

With an II exchange and especially in HHI, and even more so in the summer, there is no guaranty of the view.

I believe the trade was to Myrtle Beach, not Hilton Head, although your point is still valid.

 

[dioxide45]

I believe the trade was to Myrtle Beach, not Hilton Head, although your point is still valid.

You are right, I fixed my post.

 

[Panina]

Were you able to exchange into the original side with the ocean front villas views and the ocean side villas views or where your exchange approve into the Pine or Maple Building with The Garden Views.

These are the two (2) back buildings with the large outdoor pool and the large outdoor children area and also where the indoor pool is located.

No guarantee of views but I was in a unit with no view of water or pool, low floor and I still loved the place.

 

[samara64]

Few weeks back, II offered me MOW for Aug 11 but I rejected it as we will be in Spain. Maybe the OP got a match for the 2nd half of August. In some states (like WA and OR), the school is still off til labor day. I think Aug 12 is first day of school in SC and other SE states.

By the way this was for a 2BR plat Manor Club Fords Colony Orig Section.

 

[Bucky]

In some states (like WA and OR), the school is still off til labor day. I think Aug 12 is first day of school in SC and other SE states.

In NC the first day of school is the Monday closet to August 26th. SC schools typically start the third Monday of Aug. Next year that will be Aug 19th.