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Marriott's Grande Ocean Pre-Arrival Email Question

JIMinNC

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Just received the pre-arrival planning email from Grande Ocean for our trip that starts in about three weeks. We used Destination Points to reserve Oceanside accommodations. The planning form gives me three options for villa location:

- Lagoon View
- Pool View
- No Preference

Never been to GO before, but am familiar with and have a copy of the resort map. So for those of you who know GO well, which of the two view options - pool or lagoon - would likely result in the better location for an Oceanside (courtyard) view category? We are only Owner level (so no "status" there) but we are Platinum Elite in Marriott Rewards, if that makes any difference.

I was surprised it didn't give us the option of selecting a high-floor/low-floor. We generally note that in the preferences when we make the points reservation, but we've generally had to note that again on the pre-arrival email at other resorts.
 

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I would pick pool view.

I would write in the high/low floor preference in the text area where it asks for reservation numbers to combine (assuming there is such a text box).
 

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You might look at the resort map and decide which side of the resort you want, north or south. North will be more lagoon view and South will be more pool view. The south will likely be busier and closer to the main kids oriented pool as well as closer to the bar. The North will be closer to the Market Place and the grills that are in the middle of the lagoon will likely be less busy. Personally I would skip over this and ask for specific buildings or floors depending what's important to you. Either the Dolphin Building or the Starfish building (North or South) depending on your preference of busier, quieter, more for kids or more away from them. We always ask for Dolphin but we're usually combining owned OF, owned OS, DC reservations and at times, exchanges. Once you respond, you'll get an email from a real person and can respond more individually. If you haven't heard anything by 11-12 days, I'd call. I have the sense that the South Side is more requested for the summer so your chances of a good unit are slightly higher for the North. MGO is pretty strict on villa assignments for DC as an exchanger so if you get even third floor, you'll likely pretty good. For summer, consistently expect first or second floor (the buildings are elevated a level) unless you're willing to sacrifice the building. Sea Horse and Sand Castle are OF only, the 2 I mentioned above are 50/50 and the rest all OS/Courtyard. I don't think the Rewards or MVC status make much difference other than a tie breaker. Multiple villas concurrent or consecutive does make a difference but only with in a priority category.

The Marketplace is in SeaHorse as is the bike rental. If you take bikes or rent elsewhere they sometimes have Sea Pines passes you can pick up from them anyway depending on the mood they're in. You'll get Sea Pines passes for your car from the Front Desk but you'll need separate ones for the bikes.
 

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You might look at the resort map and decide which side of the resort you want, north or south. North will be more lagoon view and South will be more pool view. The south will likely be busier and closer to the main kids oriented pool as well as closer to the bar. The North will be closer to the Market Place and the grills that are in the middle of the lagoon will likely be less busy. Personally I would skip over this and ask for specific buildings or floors depending what's important to you. Either the Dolphin Building or the Starfish building (North or South) depending on your preference of busier, quieter, more for kids or more away from them. We always ask for Dolphin but we're usually combining owned OF, owned OS, DC reservations and at times, exchanges. Once you respond, you'll get an email from a real person and can respond more individually. If you haven't heard anything by 11-12 days, I'd call. I have the sense that the South Side is more requested for the summer so your chances of a good unit are slightly higher for the North. MGO is pretty strict on villa assignments for DC as an exchanger so if you get even third floor, you'll likely pretty good. For summer, consistently expect first or second floor (the buildings are elevated a level) unless you're willing to sacrifice the building. Sea Horse and Sand Castle are OF only, the 2 I mentioned above are 50/50 and the rest all OS/Courtyard. I don't think the Rewards or MVC status make much difference other than a tie breaker. Multiple villas concurrent or consecutive does make a difference but only with in a priority category.

The Marketplace is in SeaHorse as is the bike rental. If you take bikes or rent elsewhere they sometimes have Sea Pines passes you can pick up from them anyway depending on the mood they're in. You'll get Sea Pines passes for your car from the Front Desk but you'll need separate ones for the bikes.

You said South was more requested for summer, but this is not a summer trip. It's for mid-April, so would that change your opinions on room placement? I suspect there won't be many school aged kids, and any little ones will be mainly pre-schoolers in mid-April. It'll be just my wife and me unless we can get some friends to join us. Our points reservation is Friday-Friday, so we just added two cash nights on at the end, since I'm confident when Friday checkout rolled around we would be saying, "Why do we have to go home on Friday? The weekend is just starting. Bummer." The all-in cash rate comes out to the same as paying $0.56/point to rent points (those two nights were showing as available for points also), so since point rentals seem to be listed on VPE for $0.60/point or more, cash seems best. So we'll have 9 total nights.

Clearly Dolphin or Starfish would be the preferred buildings for OS/Courtyard, but I suspect GO owners would get most of those, right? Which would be the next best in your opinion? If we could get one of the higher floors, what is your opinion of the farther buildings like Pelican, Sand Piper, Sand Dollar, and Laughing Gull? Or are the chances of any higher floors pretty remote for anyone but GO owners, even in April?

If getting a good pool view in Starfish is unlikely, then just looking at the resort map, it almost looks like a lagoon view in any of the North buildings might offer a better view than Kingfisher, Sand Dollar, or Laughing Gull on the South side, since it looks like those three overlook the putting green, herb garden, tot pool, etc. Thoughts?

Is there parking at GO on the ground floor under the buildings like at Barony, or is all the parking in surface lots?
 

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You said South was more requested for summer, but this is not a summer trip. It's for mid-April, so would that change your opinions on room placement? I suspect there won't be many school aged kids, and any little ones will be mainly pre-schoolers in mid-April. It'll be just my wife and me unless we can get some friends to join us. Our points reservation is Friday-Friday, so we just added two cash nights on at the end, since I'm confident when Friday checkout rolled around we would be saying, "Why do we have to go home on Friday? The weekend is just starting. Bummer." The all-in cash rate comes out to the same as paying $0.56/point to rent points (those two nights were showing as available for points also), so since point rentals seem to be listed on VPE for $0.60/point or more, cash seems best. So we'll have 9 total nights.

Clearly Dolphin or Starfish would be the preferred buildings for OS/Courtyard, but I suspect GO owners would get most of those, right? Which would be the next best in your opinion? If we could get one of the higher floors, what is your opinion of the farther buildings like Pelican, Sand Piper, Sand Dollar, and Laughing Gull? Or are the chances of any higher floors pretty remote for anyone but GO owners, even in April?

If getting a good pool view in Starfish is unlikely, then just looking at the resort map, it almost looks like a lagoon view in any of the North buildings might offer a better view than Kingfisher, Sand Dollar, or Laughing Gull on the South side, since it looks like those three overlook the putting green, herb garden, tot pool, etc. Thoughts?

Is there parking at GO on the ground floor under the buildings like at Barony, or is all the parking in surface lots?
Jim, I know you said your trip was in 3 weeks but I was disclosing the information I know and where it comes from. I doubt it'll be any different for this time though it might not be as polarized. I can't see the Lagoon side taking over the feature pool side in demand. There is under unit parking but it tends to fill up when the resort is near capacity. IF you look at the map, the road around the perimeter has parking on both sides. I suspect there will be more kids than you think. It sounds like that'll be the week of the PGA Golf Tourney so it'll likely be very busy, esp in Sea Pines. You'll get one parking tag (green) that'll get you in the under building parking and if you have friends that join you, you'll get a second (yellow) that is OK for the resort side but not the under building parking. Overflow is across the street.

I haven't had any problems getting the Dolphin which is our request but I haven't done it with ONLY the exchange level of priority as I'm always combining with owned units and both OF & OS at the same time. If you're OK with first or second floor, I think you have a reasonable chance of getting one of those buildings, maybe someone who's been more in your time and situation has a better feel. So I'd request either of those building, Dolphin likely gives you a better chance or high floor. Or you could just request the best view possible and rely on their knowledge of the location and vegetation. In reality the changes of getting a good view are not great but you might be able to get a glimpse of the ocean. If a pool view interests you, the South side might be best and I think that gives you the best shot at a glimpse of the ocean since there is less vegetation.

As for which of the other other are best, I think it depends. I'd do the North Side if you're planning on swimming laps or want to avoid the pool where all those little ones will be. The grills may be closer on the South side and you could get a decent pool view. Also if you plan on walking to Coligny, I'd do the North side. I don't think it matters which building otherwise of those 6.

If you don't want a HC unit (MGO's are not bad) then say so. They have a few with only one queen in the second but that doesn't sound like it'll matter for your situation. MGO puts a lot of work into villa assignments but they are pretty strict on the pecking order as they should be IMO.

If I were in your situation and didn't get any other information than I have now, I'd request Dolphin, highest floor possible, non HC unit. But it'd be less important for a single OS villa than our usual trip because we're trying to get all in one building. Let us know how it works out and what you feel you would have done differently once you see/experience the resort.
 

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Thanks for all of the input. I also got a nice detailed PM from Marty (jme). Sounds like south side pool view it is.

There is under unit parking but it tends to fill up when the resort is near capacity. IF you look at the map, the road around the perimeter has parking on both sides. I suspect there will be more kids than you think. It sounds like that'll be the week of the PGA Golf Tourney so it'll likely be very busy, esp in Sea Pines. You'll get one parking tag (green) that'll get you in the under building parking and if you have friends that join you, you'll get a second (yellow) that is OK for the resort side but not the under building parking. Overflow is across the street.

We're checking in the Friday evening of the Heritage PGA, and going to the tourney Sat/Sun, but then we'll be there mostly the week after the tourney, checking out from our add-on cash nights on the following Sunday, so things should slow down a bit in Sea Pines for most of our stay. It's always fun in Harbour Town, though, on the Saturday night of the Heritage. Busy and crowded, but a very electric atmosphere. Hopefully the weather will be as good as it was last year when we were there for the tourney - high 70s and sunny.

I know GO is reasonably convenient to Coligny, but about how long does it take to walk there from GO? They run a tournament shuttle from the Coligny parking lot, and that will be a lot more convenient than driving to the off-site parking at the Coastal Discovery Museum.

I saw the parking around the perimeter on the map, and from the driveway locations it looked like there was parking underneath, but thanks for the confirmation. Sounds like the same set-up we're used to at Barony. But that just reminded me that we might have a parking issue if we ask someone to join us for a few days. My wife and I will be arriving separately, as the week prior to our Friday check-in she's in Iowa on business and I'm at an airshow in Florida on business. She'll be driving down to HHI from Charlotte on Friday afternoon/evening after returning from Iowa on Thursday, and I'll be driving up from Lakeland, Florida Friday evening after that day's airshow. So we'll already have two cars. Since I'm sure GO is like Barony and only gives out two parking tags, if someone joins us for part of the stay, we may have to temporarily park one of our cars at the HHI airport or somewhere like that where there is legal off-site parking.
 
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Thanks for all of the input. I also got a nice detailed PM from Marty (jme). Sounds like south side pool view it is.



We're checking in the Friday evening of the Heritage PGA, and going to the tourney Sat/Sun, but then we'll be there mostly the week after the tourney, checking out from our add-on cash nights on the following Sunday, so things should slow down a bit in Sea Pines for most of our stay. It's always fun in Harbour Town, though, on the Saturday night of the Heritage. Busy and crowded, but a very electric atmosphere. Hopefully the weather will be as good as it was last year when we were there for the tourney - high 70s and sunny.

I know GO is reasonably convenient to Coligny, but about how long does it take to walk there from GO? They run a tournament shuttle from the Coligny parking lot, and that will be a lot more convenient than driving to the off-site parking at the Coastal Discovery Museum.

I saw the parking around the perimeter on the map, and from the driveway locations it looked like there was parking underneath, but thanks for the confirmation. Sounds like the same set-up we're used to at Barony. But that just reminded me that we might have a parking issue if we ask someone to join us for a few days. My wife and I will be arriving separately, as the week prior to our Friday check-in she's in Iowa on business and I'm at an airshow in Florida on business. She'll be driving down to HHI from Charlotte on Friday afternoon/evening after returning from Iowa on Thursday, and I'll be driving up from Lakeland, Florida Friday evening after that day's airshow. So we'll already have two cars. Since I'm sure GO is like Barony and only gives out two parking tags, if someone joins us for part of the stay, we may have to temporarily park one of our cars at the HHI airport or somewhere like that where there is legal off-site parking.
You should be able to get a third parking pass but it'll likely be across the street. If you end up in that situation, and assume you won't but using both cars yourself ongoing, I'd park the one you won't be using across the street and let your guests use the yellow one. If you're lucky, maybe someone here will be there the same time and not need both of theirs. It's maybe 6 or 7 tenths of a mile if you're on the North Side, add maybe another 50-100 yards if you're on the South. It's an easy walk though with the only real interruptions crossing to get to Coligny. I think different than Barony, ALL buildings have under unit parking. Parking at Coligny can be hit or miss, I'd likely walk if this was the option or I'd shuttle my group and one of you take one for the team. I'm sure there will be other areas they shuttle from as well ? Shops at Sea Pines Center or one of the shopping areas around Sea Pines Circle as well as their normal shuttle area in the way in. Enjoy.
 

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You should be able to get a third parking pass but it'll likely be across the street. If you end up in that situation, and assume you won't but using both cars yourself ongoing, I'd park the one you won't be using across the street and let your guests use the yellow one. If you're lucky, maybe someone here will be there the same time and not need both of theirs. It's maybe 6 or 7 tenths of a mile if you're on the North Side, add maybe another 50-100 yards if you're on the South. It's an easy walk though with the only real interruptions crossing to get to Coligny. I think different than Barony, ALL buildings have under unit parking. Parking at Coligny can be hit or miss, I'd likely walk if this was the option or I'd shuttle my group and one of you take one for the team. I'm sure there will be other areas they shuttle from as well ? Shops at Sea Pines Center or one of the shopping areas around Sea Pines Circle as well as their normal shuttle area in the way in. Enjoy.

No tournament shuttles or tournament parking inside of Sea Pines, except handicapped parking. The only tournament shuttles run from Coligny and the main lot at the Coastal Discovery Museum, which is out across the Cross-Island Tollway. We'll just probably walk to Coligny Saturday and Sunday, and maybe Uber back to GO if we stay late for dinner in Harbour Town. Too much hassle to deal with parking. Given all the walking we'll be doing each day at the tourney, an extra 0.7 mile or so won't make a lot of difference! Last year at the Heritage, according to my iPhone step tracker, I walked 10 miles on Saturday and 14 on Sunday!
 

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Thanks for all of the input. I also got a nice detailed PM from Marty (jme). Sounds like south side pool view it is.



We're checking in the Friday evening of the Heritage PGA, and going to the tourney Sat/Sun, but then we'll be there mostly the week after the tourney, checking out from our add-on cash nights on the following Sunday, so things should slow down a bit in Sea Pines for most of our stay. It's always fun in Harbour Town, though, on the Saturday night of the Heritage. Busy and crowded, but a very electric atmosphere. Hopefully the weather will be as good as it was last year when we were there for the tourney - high 70s and sunny.

I know GO is reasonably convenient to Coligny, but about how long does it take to walk there from GO? They run a tournament shuttle from the Coligny parking lot, and that will be a lot more convenient than driving to the off-site parking at the Coastal Discovery Museum.

I saw the parking around the perimeter on the map, and from the driveway locations it looked like there was parking underneath, but thanks for the confirmation. Sounds like the same set-up we're used to at Barony. But that just reminded me that we might have a parking issue if we ask someone to join us for a few days. My wife and I will be arriving separately, as the week prior to our Friday check-in she's in Iowa on business and I'm at an airshow in Florida on business. She'll be driving down to HHI from Charlotte on Friday afternoon/evening after returning from Iowa on Thursday, and I'll be driving up from Lakeland, Florida Friday evening after that day's airshow. So we'll already have two cars. Since I'm sure GO is like Barony and only gives out two parking tags, if someone joins us for part of the stay, we may have to temporarily park one of our cars at the HHI airport or somewhere like that where there is legal off-site parking.
I hope to be able to say hello again to you during Heritage week, we will be a Barony Beach Club starting the Friday of Heritage week and we may end up with an extra parking pass. We will also be driving down from Charlotte that Friday. Have a great trip to Florida for the air show, can't wait to hear about it.
 

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I hope to be able to say hello again to you during Heritage week, we will be a Barony Beach Club starting the Friday of Heritage week and we may end up with an extra parking pass. We will also be driving down from Charlotte that Friday. Have a great trip to Florida for the air show, can't wait to hear about it.

Looking forward to Hilton Head for sure. We'll be at Grande Ocean this time instead of Barony.
 

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I thought I would post what actually happened with our room assignment.

Just checked into Grande Ocean Friday about 9pm. We had requested pool view, high floor. Ironically, we got the exact opposite - lagoon view, low floor. We're in Sand Piper, first floor (really second floor since ground level is under-building parking). It's a little disappointing, since I would have thought a DP reservation would result in a slightly better view than the lowest floor in the building farthest back from the water. I would have thought these locations would primarily be II exchangers.

Upon reflection though, since we checked in on the Friday of Heritage PGA week, I suspect owner occupancy is very high, and there may not have been many II exchanges this week; so maybe as a low tier Standard Owner DP reservation, we are one of the lower priority guests here this week and maybe shouldn't have expected more than what we got. While I've never heard that DP owner status tier is used in assignments, as I think about it, I would actually hope that a Presidential or Chairman level owner would get some priority over us. If I were one of those higher status levels and got this room assignment, I would not be a happy camper. As it is, we're OK withe whatever we got, since we are technically an "exchanger", and even a so-so view in Hilton Head is better than the view from our porch and patio at home!
 

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Jim, I wonder if the Friday check-in skewed things, with fewer room choices available for assignment. That said, it sure sounds like an II trade room assignment, unless they get the parking garage.

That's possible/likely as a contributing factor. But this is also a very popular spring week in HHI due to the PGA tournament this weekend, so I expect that owner occupancy is high, and if there aren't many II exchanges this week, then DP ressies (especially those from Standard Owners) might be closer to the priority cellar than the priority penthouse. And as you suggest, the Friday check-in probably didn't help either.

One other odd thing - this is the first MVC stay of any kind where we were not called or emailed prior to arrival and solicited for an "owner update". Nothing. I wonder if the fact that we recently bought an external resale at MOC put us on the "untouchables" list? This is our first stay since that purchase. They did give us the voucher for a $10 room credit "arrival gift" (SO generous of them! $10) that we have to redeem at the concierge, which gives them another solicitation opportunity. They said we had to redeem it tomorrow (concierge was closed when we got there after 9pm), but we'll be leaving for the golf tourney before concierge opens on Saturday and probably Sunday, too. We may try on Monday to see what they offer, if anything.
 

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Jim, I wonder if the Friday check-in skewed things, with fewer room choices available for assignment. That said, it sure sounds like an II trade room assignment, unless they get the parking garage.
MGO, and most Marriott's I know of, assign points rooms and II Marriott to Marriott exchanges as the same priority which is c/w Marriott's instructions to the resorts.

Jim they don't put much if any weight into the VIP status for unit assignments, at best it's a tie breaker, so I doubt it would have make any difference. Still the unit you were given is worse than I would have expected.
 

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Jim, I have heard there is construction with a large crane close to GO. Is that construction at the Hilton? Did construction effect your stay? Thanks
 

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Jim, I have heard there is construction with a large crane close to GO. Is that construction at the Hilton? Did construction effect your stay? Thanks

They are building the second building next door at HGVC Ocean Oak. We walked by that site on the way to and from Coligny to catch the shuttle to the Heritage PGA tourney today. It’s not that close, so would be surprised if it impacts us. We didn’t arrive until 9pm last night and were at the golf tournament today from 9:30am and after the tourney in Harbour Town for drinks and dinner, so we really have only slept at GO so far. Haven’t been here much. We’ll be back at the tourney tomorrow. Won’t get to explore GO much until Monday.
 

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I love the lagoon side, actually. More little hot tubs scattered around and we are always there in somewhat cooler weather. Also, the small heated pool is usually pretty empty on that side. Have a great week.
 

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They really do need to drain that lagoon area, clean it out 100% and refill it. That said, I would not want to be there when they were doing it, which is likely why they are not rushing to get it done.
 
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From our prior experience when using II to exchange, we were given good room assignments as we were "acknowledged" on check-in as being a multi-week Marriott owner. This happened at 2 stays at MKO. We had zero status then. More recently, after we "gained" status, we went to the "Platinum/Chairman's Club" queue, as printed on the welcome mat at the reception at the Desert Springs II check-in we were given a superb room, also using an II exchange.

I would be very disappointed if as a multi-week Marriott owner and using points to book that I did not get my requested view.
 

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From our prior experience when using II to exchange, we were given good room assignments as we were "acknowledged" on check-in as being a multi-week Marriott owner. This happened at 2 stays at MKO. We had zero status then. More recently, after we "gained" status, we went to the "Platinum/Chairman's Club" queue, as printed on the welcome mat at the reception at the Desert Springs II check-in we were given a superb room, also using an II exchange.

I would be very disappointed if as a multi-week Marriott owner and using points to book that I did not get my requested view.
They will acknowledge you in many cases, they will not put much if any emphasis on those items unless one is staying multiple weeks or has multiple units which is part of the formal process.
 

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They will acknowledge you in many cases, they will not put much if any emphasis on those items unless one is staying multiple weeks or has multiple units which is part of the formal process.
Maybe so far we have simply "lucked out".
 

JIMinNC

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From our prior experience when using II to exchange, we were given good room assignments as we were "acknowledged" on check-in as being a multi-week Marriott owner. This happened at 2 stays at MKO. We had zero status then. More recently, after we "gained" status, we went to the "Platinum/Chairman's Club" queue, as printed on the welcome mat at the reception at the Desert Springs II check-in we were given a superb room, also using an II exchange.

I would be very disappointed if as a multi-week Marriott owner and using points to book that I did not get my requested view.

Getting the requested view category is guaranteed with points, based on what you booked. The key is that at some resorts, there are different view qualities within a given view category. At Grande Ocean this week, we received the "Oceanside" view category we booked, but we received one of the least desirable unit views within that category. We had booked Oceanside under an assumption that, while we knew we wouldn't get one of the best views within that category (those would usually go to Oceanside week owners), we expected something better than we got. The lesson learned for us is, if view is important on a trip, spend the extra points to book Oceanfront or whatever the better views are. We still won't get the best views in that category, but a lower quality view in that higher category would probably be better than getting a so-so or worse view in the lower category. We already have an Island View booked at Waiohai for next February, so that will be a similar situation for us, so I hope that our luck will be better there and we won't get stuck with one of the dreaded parking lot Island View units. But for most future bookings, I think we'll lean toward booking the better view categories when booking with points.
 

Dean

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Maybe so far we have simply "lucked out".
Maybe or maybe you made reasonable requests. The point is that it's not part of the assignment paradigm thus no reason to be upset if one is assigned a unit c/w their assignment priorities as stated (owners, Marriott exchangers, cash, other exchangers).
 

1Kflyerguy

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We are at Grande Ocean now, using DC points. This is our first visit to Hilton Head. I requested a high floor on the lagoon side of the resort, we got the 3rd floor in Sand Piper. About as far back from the ocean as possible, but we do have a nice view of the lagoon. It actually quite peaceful.
 

Dean

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We are at Grande Ocean now, using DC points. This is our first visit to Hilton Head. I requested a high floor on the lagoon side of the resort, we got the 3rd floor in Sand Piper. About as far back from the ocean as possible, but we do have a nice view of the lagoon. It actually quite peaceful.
That is c/w how they normally assign DC reservations which they look at the same as Marriott exchangers. We usually have multiple units, both owned and DC points and have also had 3 types adding Marriott to Marriott exchanges to that mix with some OF and some OS. The exchange units have always been on the first or second floor which is the expectation they've given me over the years.
 
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