[ 2019 ] Best II Resort trader

[Mjasp]

What would you say is the best II trader with the lowest maintenance fee?

I heard there is II points now, they didn't have them when I had my TS years ago, can someone please explain how II points work?

 

[echino]

In my opinion, a right Hyatt timeshare is the best II trader.

Low season Hyatt week worth 1,300 points can be found for free, or close to free, and it comes with a free Gold II membership. Maintenance fees are about $1,200. A high season 2br costs 1,300 points in II.

A high season Hyatt week worth 2,000 points would cost about $5-$10k to buy, depending on the resort. But you get 3 weeks in II every 2 years. 1,300x3 = 3,900 points, you are getting 4,000 points in two years. This brings maintenance fees cost per week down to about $800.

Hyatt points get top trading power in II and can see everything. They are also good for a very long time: you can confirm an exchange starting one year prior to your deeded week, up to two years after your deeded week, and then can actually travel another two years after that, and then add another year using eplus. 6 years in total to use your points.

 

[heathpack]

II resorts I own:
Hyatt High Sierra Gold 2BR
Marriott Barony Beach Gold 2BR
Marriott Mountainside Gold 2BR lock off
Sheraton Broadway Plantation Platinum Plus small 1BR

Hands down the best II trader of my bunch is SBP. You can pick em up for free, get Vistana preference, inexpensive MF, deposits good for 3 years and you can set up searches 2 years out.

Hyatt is second best, your points go far and the underlying ownership is more valuable. But you get no preference for anything in II and can only search one year out.

 

[carpie99]

How do points work in II ... I don't see how much my timeshares are worth in II.

 

[echino]

Points work differently in II depending on what you own. Most ownerships that trade in II are weeks, not points. Hyatt uses a points system to trade in II. Vistana's new Flex program also uses points to trade in II, but it's a different system than Hyatt. There are also others. But most are still weeks, not points

 

[amycurl]

There are also a few very strong II traders that are not hotel-brand affiliated, and, therefore, are much cheaper to both buy and own. Just sayin'.

 

[chalee94]

There are also a few very strong II traders that are not hotel-brand affiliated, and, therefore, are much cheaper to both buy and own. Just sayin'.

Yes. I love my "poor man's Marriott."

But it depends on what you are trying/hoping to do...

 

[DannyTS]

Sheraton Vistana Resort (Cascades) 1 bdr platinum, MF around $480, Westin Lagunamar studio, platinum season, MF around $515. Both have Vistana preference.

 

[littlestar]

My Fairways of the Mountains at Lake Lure 2 bedroom week 27 lock off is a good trader in II. It locks off into two one bedrooms. It is dual affiliated with RCI and II, but I only trade it through II. An every other year ownership, or for that matter annual, at Fairways would make a good resort to own to have access to both II and RCI cash deals. Someone was giving a Week 26 away on the Tug bargain board recently.

 

[tschwa2]

I like to go with something I can use if I decide I don't need a deposit that year. Or at least something that you can rent out to cover the MF's fairly easily. I have more than this but I think a good combo is an EOY small SBP gold plus (MF around $200 per year- $400 per usage) and a summer deeded 4 BR EOY Colonies of Williamsburg 4 BR (ideally 25-32 or there about) or slightly less desirable summer deeded EOY Williamsburg plantation- MF around $425 per year. The edge to the Colonies because both sides of the lockout have full kitchens so it is easier to rent or when you are going to use. At this point II doesn't really give more or less trading power based on full or partial kitchen.
This would give you two 2 BR deposits in Williamsburg (no priority but decent exchangers with 2BR pull). On the other year you would have a 1 br at SBP which does have Vistana trading power.

Another plus is they all exchange both in RCI and II in case you ever want to do that. SFX will usually but not always take summer weeks at all 3 resorts.

You can probably find any of those for free and at most you would just need to pay closing and transfer fees although if you are patient you might find those for free too and even free usage.



As for points there are systems that have there own set of points that use a grid to exchange through II- examples Marriott DC points, Sheraton/weston flex points, Worldmark, Hyatt, etc. II also sells club interval points. Owners pay to convert but in most cases when they sell those points revert back to the deed and the new owner would have to pay to convert again.

 

[ski_sierra]

Does anybody know a good II trader in Tahoe? There are a bunch of timeshares in South Lake Tahoe. I'm ok with paying a little higher MF for those compared to SDO because I will actually use them during ski season. I also see several of them given away for free. Many of them have MF > 900. The Ridge has been recommended but the MF is $1250. Club Tahoe in Incline Village has been recommended as an option with low MF. It's in RCI I think though.

 

[Shankilicious]

Welk has two resorts in Tahoe, but their MF isn't exactly cheap. It's around average. But Welk Resort Northstar has it's own private gondola. This is an II Elite resort and was/is in the RCI registry collection. You would want to get around 420k points if you want to go during ski season.

 

[SabresFan]

There are also a few very strong II traders that are not hotel-brand affiliated, and, therefore, are much cheaper to both buy and own. Just sayin'.

Can you name any names?

 

[Mjasp]

Yes. I love my "poor man's Marriott."

But it depends on what you are trying/hoping to do...

May I ask what is your “Poor Man’s Marriott “?

 

[chalee94]

the same resort as littlestar. summer weeks there trade pretty well in II (despite not having preference, I have stayed at Marriotts in Newport Coast, Vegas, Hilton Head (surfwatch and GO in shoulder season), St Kitts, Williamsburg and most everything in Orlando except Lakeshore - I generally like staying closer to the parks). Got a trade for Kauai at the Beach Club recently that is coming up. (almost took a trade for the Marriott near Paris but the timing didn't work out.)

 

[chemteach]

I think Worldmark is just about the best you can do - except no Vistana or Marriott priority... The Worldmark units see just about everything as far as I can tell. A 2 bedroom is 10,000 Worldmark credits, which is less than $800 in maintenance fees. You can always just use the Worldmark points within the Worldmark system if you don't want to exchange. And you can "rent" Worldmark points from other Worldmark owners up to twice the amount of points you own. So if you buy a 10,000 point account, you can "rent" 20,000 from a Worldmark owner each year. If you want Marriott priority, you have to own Marriott. I am super happy with my Marriott trader!!!

 

[NiteMaire]

...and a summer deeded 4 BR EOY Colonies of Williamsburg 4 BR (ideally 25-32 or there about) or slightly less desirable summer deeded EOY Williamsburg plantation- MF around $425 per year. The edge to the Colonies because both sides of the lockout have full kitchens so it is easier to rent or when you are going to use.
Another plus is they all exchange both in RCI and II in case you ever want to do that. SFX will usually but not always take summer weeks at all 3 resorts.

Agree with tschwa2; we own a 4BR Colonies unit. We've never stayed there; heck, we haven't even seen the resort. Here are some of the trades we've pulled with it (owned week 23, now own week 26); II and 2BR LO except where annotated:

Week 23:
Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club studio, 1BR
Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas 1BR
Westin Nanea Ocean Resort Villas 2BR
Marriott's Cypress Harbour 2 BR
Marriott's Grande Vista 2BR, 3BR
Kona Coast 2BR
Las Residencias Golf & Beach Club 3BR
Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa 2BR
Vidanta Grand Luxxe RM 2BR, 3BR, 4BR
Hilton Kohala Suites 2BR (SFX)

Week 26:
Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas 1BR
Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club Studio
The Cliffs Club 1BR
Hilton Bay Club 2BR (RCI, full 4BR traded)

Haven't had any issues with SFX taking the deposit. Deposited week 23 previously, and currently have week 26 deposited with them. We just purchased a 1BR SVR ($9 with current year's use, and seller paid all closing) to explore with Vistana preference. Some/most will tell you to avoid Orlando since it's overbuilt, but @DannyTS is pleased with what he sees with his. We'll find out shortly if we are as well. I believe most tuggers will tell you SBP is a better option than SVR. Our other 2 timeshares are in "overbuilt" areas, but we've been very pleased with the trades we've found/made.

 

[Panina]

There are also a few very strong II traders that are not hotel-brand affiliated, and, therefore, are much cheaper to both buy and own. Just sayin'.

I find my non hotel brands trade well in II especially the one in the North Carolina mountains, Blue Ridge Village.

 

[ski_sierra]

I think Worldmark is just about the best you can do - except no Vistana or Marriott priority... The Worldmark units see just about everything as far as I can tell. A 2 bedroom is 10,000 Worldmark credits, which is less than $800 in maintenance fees. You can always just use the Worldmark points within the Worldmark system if you don't want to exchange. And you can "rent" Worldmark points from other Worldmark owners up to twice the amount of points you own. So if you buy a 10,000 point account, you can "rent" 20,000 from a Worldmark owner each year.

I'm under contract for a 10k WorldMark membership for this reason.

Also, I was this interesting post for a cheap II trader during flex.
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...eat-cheap-way-to-join-ii.223854/#post-1730704

 

[Mjasp]

Thank you to everyone for contributing. This turned out to be a very interesting thread.

 

[deslagle]

Worldmark??? It is owned by Wyndham which are questionable at best.
In my opinion, you will be sorry you own Worldmark eventually. I was in Shell Group and got out of it after Wyndham bought Shell Group.
In time, Wyndham will take them over and parts of Raintree Vacation Club and Worldmark and Shell group will all be Wyndham.
Be careful, is all I caution. I was checking Redweek in the last month for a friends client and curiously there were no resales of Wyndham properties. Don't know if that was
a quirk or what to make of that.
I talked on the side one day with a Wyndham salesperson in Washington (Lake Chelan). She said Wyndham are ruthless and put a lot of pressure on their sales staff.
I personally went through a 2 & 1/2 hour sales presentation (saying no) on Maui with Wyndham (guaranteed to be 90 minutes or less) and they would not let us leave (4-6 years ago).
They kept bringing more and higher management and changing the offer. Nope I did not buy into Wyndham.
I buy resale or upgrade within a timeshare Entity/unit I already own knowing full well what I am getting and what it is worth.

 

[Mjasp]

Oh, I have another question...If you book an extra vacation or whatever they call it in II, do you "have" to stay the entire week? Or can you leave after 3 or 4 nights without penalty.

 

[VacationForever]

Worldmark??? It is owned by Wyndham which are questionable at best.
In my opinion, you will be sorry you own Worldmark eventually. I was in Shell Group and got out of it after Wyndham bought Shell Group.
In time, Wyndham will take them over and parts of Raintree Vacation Club and Worldmark and Shell group will all be Wyndham.
Be careful, is all I caution. I was checking Redweek in the last month for a friends client and curiously there were no resales of Wyndham properties. Don't know if that was
a quirk or what to make of that.
I talked on the side one day with a Wyndham salesperson in Washington (Lake Chelan). She said Wyndham are ruthless and put a lot of pressure on their sales staff.
I personally went through a 2 & 1/2 hour sales presentation (saying no) on Maui with Wyndham (guaranteed to be 90 minutes or less) and they would not let us leave (4-6 years ago).
They kept bringing more and higher management and changing the offer. Nope I did not buy into Wyndham.
I buy resale or upgrade within a timeshare Entity/unit I already own knowing full well what I am getting and what it is worth.

Worldmark still has the best value timeshare out there. Units are well maintained with low maintenance fees. Liberal change policies etc. Loved my Worldmark.

 

[Mjasp]

Oh also, Is Harborside a Vistana preference?

 

[VacationForever]

Oh also, Is Harborside a Vistana preference?

Yes.