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Does a Aruba Surf Club (Gold Season) Lockoff of the Studio of 2Br have any Trading Value Through II?

jme

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Just wanted to add that as a New (pending closing in the next couple weeks) MVC owner I am trying to get a jump on the in's and out's of all my options beforehand. Perhaps I should just wait till I close and get the membership into II and MVC and then start browsing all my options and then come back with questions which I'm sure I'll have. Just too excited I guess....LOL. Thank you All.

Congratulations, it is exciting to be a new owner.....I remember well!

You can come back with lots of questions, no problem, or you can find a lot of answers already provided in the
Frequently Asked Questions "Sticky Notes" found at the beginning of the Marriott BBS in the pink-colored section, link below:

(A lot of work has been done to put together this "handbook" information,
and I believe a majority of your questions will be addressed. Welcome to TUG)

Whole list of Sticky Notes in pink section:
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?forums/marriott-vacation-club.29/

"Weeks" section pertinent to you (the last item shown in pink subject list):
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/faq-marriott-vacation-club-weeks-system.391/
 
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bazzap

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Sorry for the confusion but from what I can tell then, the only reason to do the request first without depositing would be to be able to keep the week you've booked and use it yourself or try to rent out (if your request doesn't come through)?
The one other imponderable, which many have different views on but noone knows for certain is which if either of Request First and Deposit First has higher priority in securing an exchange.
Our very first MVC salesman advised always doing Request First, as this gives added incentive for Interval to fulfil your exchange request otherwise they don’t get your week.
This may be true, it may not.
All I can say is that we have always used Request First for nearly 20 years now and always been successful getting our requests fulfilled.
 

Dean

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Sorry for the confusion but from what I can tell then, the only reason to do the request first without depositing would be to be able to keep the week you've booked and use it yourself or try to rent out (if your request doesn't come through)?
This is a BIG yes. There are a lot of negatives to request first and deposit later but the request first does give you options with your week up until a match is found including usage and rental. Since you're new to this, let me make sure about one variation on MVC with II. All II members can do request first but the normal request first for II in general requires the week requested to start no later than the start date of your week. With MVC you can do so for up to 2 years from the date you're putting in the request (and later amend the request) even if it's after the start of your week. You must call, it'd can't be done online. And you should specify that you don't want it deposited at 75 days out (else why do request first). If your situations changes and you later want to deposit you can always deposit later or change it to deposit automatically at 75 days out. If you don't specify, they normally set it up as deposit at 75 days but sometimes they'll ask you which you want.

The one question which I am confident the answer once was, if you deposit later, you had to restart the search and lose your place in line. The wording currently with II suggests it's now otherwise but one would want to know that for certain if calling back to deposit on a pending request first and I am not certain what that current answer is.
The one other imponderable, which many have different views on but noone knows for certain is which if either of Request First and Deposit First has higher priority in securing an exchange.
Our very first MVC salesman advised always doing Request First, as this gives added incentive for Interval to fulfil your exchange request otherwise they don’t get your week.
This may be true, it may not.
All I can say is that we have always used Request First for nearly 20 years now and always been successful getting our requests fulfilled.
All indications I've ever had, both direct and indirect, are that there is no priority either way. IIRC Craig Urbine (then II VP) stated such when the II board was active. But we also know that II has an incentive structure that encourages the employees to work individual accounts so I could see them looking at that request and trying to find something to match on the other side on a case by case basis. They'd potentially get a 2 for 1 if they were successful doing so.

More importantly though is your experience is a testimonial to having realistic requests, reserving a good trading week and planning early. I can't say I've always gotten what I requested but I have always been successful when I expected to be. I was never successful on a regular search trading Harbour Pointe week 35 for a Grande Ocean week 25-27 on a regular search which relates to why I sold it. I was successful once online within 60 days and once on a priority search when II messed things up canceling an exchange request by mistake and it wasn't found for a month or 2.

To be clear, I sold HP week 35 not because I couldn't get into GO but because it taught me the importance of resort quality and trade power (esp the former) in the trading formula. I did like the ability to deposit and request an extra 6 months earlier (18 months out) though.
 

Wally3433

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Another Yes answer to the original post. I own that same week and deposit both the 1 bedroom and the studio every year. Always get (2) two bedroom units in exchange. Usually I trade right back into the Surf Club, but have also gone to Kauai Waiohai, Maui Napili, St. Thomas Frenchmans and St. Kitts. Good luck on your trades! Share your results later.
 

elked12

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Another Yes answer to the original post. I own that same week and deposit both the 1 bedroom and the studio every year. Always get (2) two bedroom units in exchange. Usually I trade right back into the Surf Club, but have also gone to Kauai Waiohai, Maui Napili, St. Thomas Frenchmans and St. Kitts. Good luck on your trades! Share your results later.

Do you mean you lock it off and deposit both weeks in II and then turn around and request (and get) a 2 br back at the surf club for each week?
 

Pamplemousse

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Do you mean you lock it off and deposit both weeks in II and then turn around and request (and get) a 2 br back at the surf club for each week?

If you lock off and deposit both pieces you deposit a studio and a 1 bedroom- 2 weeks.

When you place a request you can indicate you will pay the upsize fee ($99-59 per step depending on your II membership level) and request a larger unit.

It will of course be more difficult to trade a studio or 1 br for a 2br and cost you an upsize fee. But it’s certainly a good bargain if it happens. I have done it by request traveling in shoulder season. I also search manually and see if I can find my trade with just the studio- I get a 2br in Orlando on non school breaks all the time (business travel)- and then still have the 1 br week to use elsewhere.

You don’t have to deposit both halves of your lock off into II, you can keep one to stay in or rent elsewhere if you wish.

I like to have an idea where I might like to exchange before I deposit into II if possible. That way I can look at how the value of what I want compares to what I’m offering and decide if I want to use the full 2br to request.
 
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Dean

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I like to have an idea where I might like to exchange before I deposit into II if possible. That way I can look at how the value of what I want compares to what I’m offering and decide if I want to use the full 2br to request.
Absolutely. I look at how I'll use it and make a judgement as to the difficulty and importance of a given trade. I have 3 trading weeks that are lockoff's. All have a Thursday start day option. So I use them to lead into my string of 13 month reservations then later I adjust the week to a higher demand week. I'll end up taking points on the one that returns the higher points and for the other 2 I'll usually lockoff one and not the other. Then I deposit early and I request ASAP. All of the weeks are enrolled (or will be very soon) but if not, the lockoff and reservation change fees would be factored into the equation.
 

elked12

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If you lock off and deposit both pieces you deposit a studio and a 1 bedroom- 2 weeks.

When you place a request you can indicate you will pay the upsize fee ($99-59 per step depending on your II membership level) and request a larger unit.

It will of course be more difficult to trade a studio or 1 br for a 2br and cost you an upsize fee. But it’s certainly a good bargain if it happens. I have done it by request traveling in shoulder season. I also search manually and see if I can find my trade with just the studio- I get a 2br in Orlando on non school breaks all the time (business travel)- and then still have the 1 br week to use elsewhere.

You don’t have to deposit both halves of your lock off into II, you can keep one to stay in or rent elsewhere if you wish.

I like to have an idea where I might like to exchange before I deposit into II if possible. That way I can look at how the value of what I want compares to what I’m offering and decide if I want to use the full 2br to request.

Wow, that's awesome. I didn't realize there was a small upgrade fee available.....lots to learn, can't wait to start looking for myself. Thank you.
 

Pamplemousse

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Wow, that's awesome. I didn't realize there was a small upgrade fee available.....lots to learn, can't wait to start looking for myself. Thank you.

Yes and the upgrade fee is a relatively new thing- many years I got 2 weeks in 2br units from my one lock off for nothing more than 2 exchange fees.

But the key is you need to have the trading power with your smaller unit. When you deposit your units spend some time looking around at the manual exchange to get an idea of what you see.
Requesting early has definitely helped me.
 
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NYFLTRAVELER

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What do you think the floating gold “studio” portion would get me? I’d only be interested in Marriott caliber properties or better.
 

dioxide45

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I think it's 24 days. It used to be 21 days but related to the Horizon's debacle, it was changed to 24 days IIRC.
That was my understanding. Horizons had a 21 day preference and Marriott had 24, or vice versa. At some point they just made them the same. However, there is no official timeframe written in to the II T&C. Just that there is a preference and experience shows that there is not always a priority or if there is, it isn't always 24 days. Some deposits go in with zero preference, sometimes the preference disappears in a day or two. Most often these shorter preference periods are on smaller studio units. It has also been said that perhaps Marriott bulk deposits aren't under preference, but we don't really know since II and Marriott are not openly transparent in this regard.
 

Wally3433

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What do you think the floating gold “studio” portion would get me? I’d only be interested in Marriott caliber properties or better.

If you are flexible and patient, you can trade into most any of the Marriott properties. Certainly this is the case with your 1 Bedroom. I've traded into 2 Bedroom units at St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba Surf, Hilton Head (multiple locations) with my studio as trade bait.
 
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