AC Offered for II Getaway Purchase

[BocaBoy]

Well, I decided to purchase a February Getaway from II over the weekend rather than wait until later because II was offering a $199 2BR AC with each Getaway purchase, usable only within 59 days of check-in. My theory was that because we like to travel off season and are flexible we would find a use for it. We still might as it does not expire for a year but I am now skeptical as it appears to be by far the least powerful AC I have ever encountered.

As an experiment, I looked at the grid for the next two months and did some experimental searches on II. I was unable to find a single Marriott available for the next 59 days in any location, NOT EVEN A STUDIO. I have never even heard of the vast majority of resorts included, and Sheraton Vistana in Orlando was the only one I could find that was even from a higher end name company. I tried all the locations on the grid where Marriott has a timeshare. Even the quantity of lesser resorts available was very limited. I was not expecting much, but that would have been OK had there been even Marriott studios available. The months involved include mud season at the ski resorts, August in Phoenix, and hurricane season in Florida. We were not expecting to use it until next year, but I am now thinking that it will be unlikely to find anything we would consider.

 

[dneveu]

That is interesting. We have two AC's received from Getaway purchases in early June when they ran the same promotion ($199 AC good for a year with 59 day window). With both of them I can currently see over 70 check in dates for 1 & 2 bedrooms between the 3 Marriott Palm Spring Locations for dates from Sept - mid October. This excludes studios as I did not count those. Several weeks ago when the 59 day window was July- early Sept there were NO palm springs 1-2 bedroom Marriott units showing up (makes sense as these are busier summer weeks). Just the reverse for Orlando - currently only see studios. However several weeks ago there were one and two bedrooms within the 59 day window....

I have a few AC's and recently asked II why if a location & month are on the grid for both AC's, and both AC's are priced about the same ($269 1bdrm vs $259 flat rate) why can I not see the same inventory with both AC's? I was advised inventory varies by AC type and those AC's given in exchange for something (i.e. deposit or getaway) are stronger than those "valued customer AC's which just pop up". I was also told the farther out the expiration date, the stronger the AC...was advised this from 2 different II reps...

Hope over time you find something. Seems like inventory for the 59 day AC's does change vs. the valued customer AC where inventory was used up shortly after issuance.

 

[TRAVELING FOOL]

Well, I decided to purchase a February Getaway from II over the weekend rather than wait until later because II was offering a $199 2BR AC with each Getaway purchase, usable only within 59 days of check-in. My theory was that because we like to travel off season and are flexible we would find a use for it. We still might as it does not expire for a year but I am now skeptical as it appears to be by far the least powerful AC I have ever encountered.

As an experiment, I looked at the grid for the next two months and did some experimental searches on II. I was unable to find a single Marriott available for the next 59 days in any location, NOT EVEN A STUDIO. I have never even heard of the vast majority of resorts included, and Sheraton Vistana in Orlando was the only one I could find that was even from a higher end name company. I tried all the locations on the grid where Marriott has a timeshare. Even the quantity of lesser resorts available was very limited. I was not expecting much, but that would have been OK had there been even Marriott studios available. The months involved include mud season at the ski resorts, August in Phoenix, and hurricane season in Florida. We were not expecting to use it until next year, but I am now thinking that it will be unlikely to find anything we would consider.

You may get lucky like we did. We got an AC for 199 from a getaway we purchased last year and were able to find a one bedroom on the 9th floor in the Lighthouse Tower at Aruba Surf Club this past May. Was shocked because the grid had not shown much until one day I found this. We ended up adding a getaway week in HH in January to our other week, before heading to Oceana Palms. We find the weather windy but sunny and a whole lot better than the snow up north! We found plenty to keep us busy.

 

[mdurette]

I have one of those ACs from a getaway purchase last week. I tried 4 areas and can see plenty of Marriotts.

Orlando - just about ever resort, even a 3BR at imperial
Palm Desert, CA - 2BRs available
Carribean - Aruba Beach a 1BR and St Kitts 2BRs

Most of these are spread out anytime from Sept - October.

Try again....if you still can't see I would call II, maybe some sort of glitch.


Also, another trick with these. The grid drops at 14 days out.