Adding Platinum Canyon Villas Week Vs Kierland Villas Week

[Daytripz]

We are looking to eventually “snowbird” to Phoenix every winter for a few weeks. I don't want a second home, but I do want a home base, and I have found I like the timeshare experience.

We currently own one week at Willow Ridge. It is enrolled, but it is a gold week, so we never see the weeks we want to book in Phoenix at either Canyon Villas or Kierland Villas.

I originally thought I would just use Getaways and try to string some weeks in January together, but the more I think about it, the more I’d like a platinum week for better planning and exchanging. And I’d really like to be able to drive and stay for two weeks - one in the large side, one in the small side. Adding to our portfolio through resale seems to be fairly inexpensive. I’ve found Marriott weeks for 1k and Kierland weeks for 2k. And the maintenance fees between the two properties are comparable at $2127 CV vs $2447 WKV

I’d love your opinions on what would work better and if there is anything I’m not considering.

Questions about Canyon Villas:

I know we can use the JW Marriott waterpark BUT is there a fee? And does it exclude all of spring break, or just the weekends at spring break? I know when we stayed at Lakeshore Reserve, we could use the JW but the weekend was blocked off. I think it was around a $50 fee.

Is the king second bedroom a more popular option than the 2 queens? If we were to book a two bedroom and bring our kids, the two queens would be preferable. But if we were to lock off and stay in it ourselves, I’d prefer having the king. Does it matter what we own versus what we can book?

How many abound points does a 2 bedroom villa convert to? Around 4000? Although I’ve never elected points because our Willow Ridge week is worth so few, I can see wanting to convert to points and stay at some of the city properties they are adding such as Charleston and Nashville. Or maybe even the Ritz in Vail.

Questions about Kierland Villas:

I really like the location of the Kierland villas. I have the same question about the JW Marriott - can we use it during spring break and what are the fees?

How well does a Westin week trade into Marriott? I’d definitely like to trade into some of the Marriott properties such as Spain or Marco Island at peak season. For this reason, I am favoring the MCV property.

Thanks so much for any help/input

 

[dioxide45]

You're not going to find a WKV Platinum Plus week for $2000. Those weeks are likely Gold Plus. Expect to pay over $10,000 for WKV perhaps even closer to $13K. Don't buy WKV with the plan to trade in II, the StarOptions are more valuable to use within VSN.

 

[iftravel]

We are looking to eventually “snowbird” to Phoenix every winter for a few weeks. I don't want a second home, but I do want a home base, and I have found I like the timeshare experience.

We currently own one week at Willow Ridge. It is enrolled, but it is a gold week, so we never see the weeks we want to book in Phoenix at either Canyon Villas or Kierland Villas.

I originally thought I would just use Getaways and try to string some weeks in January together, but the more I think about it, the more I’d like a platinum week for better planning and exchanging. And I’d really like to be able to drive and stay for two weeks - one in the large side, one in the small side. Adding to our portfolio through resale seems to be fairly inexpensive. I’ve found Marriott weeks for 1k and Kierland weeks for 2k. And the maintenance fees between the two properties are comparable at $2127 CV vs $2447 WKV

I’d love your opinions on what would work better and if there is anything I’m not considering.

Questions about Canyon Villas:

I know we can use the JW Marriott waterpark BUT is there a fee? And does it exclude all of spring break, or just the weekends at spring break? I know when we stayed at Lakeshore Reserve, we could use the JW but the weekend was blocked off. I think it was around a $50 fee.

Is the king second bedroom a more popular option than the 2 queens? If we were to book a two bedroom and bring our kids, the two queens would be preferable. But if we were to lock off and stay in it ourselves, I’d prefer having the king. Does it matter what we own versus what we can book?

How many abound points does a 2 bedroom villa convert to? Around 4000? Although I’ve never elected points because our Willow Ridge week is worth so few, I can see wanting to convert to points and stay at some of the city properties they are adding such as Charleston and Nashville. Or maybe even the Ritz in Vail.

Questions about Kierland Villas:

I really like the location of the Kierland villas. I have the same question about the JW Marriott - can we use it during spring break and what are the fees?

How well does a Westin week trade into Marriott? I’d definitely like to trade into some of the Marriott properties such as Spain or Marco Island at peak season. For this reason, I am favoring the MCV property.

Thanks so much for any help/input

MCV is not very hard to get in Winter (I exchanged into a Christmas week with a non-Marriott deposit and if you have enough trading power, you should see the inventory right now), but can be really hard in Spring Break. WKV seems much harder in winter and impossible in spring break if you want to exchange into.

If you like both, consider buy at WKV, and exchange into MCV?

 

[Pamplemousse]

We are looking to eventually “snowbird” to Phoenix every winter for a few weeks. I don't want a second home, but I do want a home base, and I have found I like the timeshare experience.

We currently own one week at Willow Ridge. It is enrolled, but it is a gold week, so we never see the weeks we want to book in Phoenix at either Canyon Villas or Kierland Villas.

I originally thought I would just use Getaways and try to string some weeks in January together, but the more I think about it, the more I’d like a platinum week for better planning and exchanging. And I’d really like to be able to drive and stay for two weeks - one in the large side, one in the small side. Adding to our portfolio through resale seems to be fairly inexpensive. I’ve found Marriott weeks for 1k and Kierland weeks for 2k. And the maintenance fees between the two properties are comparable at $2127 CV vs $2447 WKV

I’d love your opinions on what would work better and if there is anything I’m not considering.

Questions about Canyon Villas:

I know we can use the JW Marriott waterpark BUT is there a fee? And does it exclude all of spring break, or just the weekends at spring break? I know when we stayed at Lakeshore Reserve, we could use the JW but the weekend was blocked off. I think it was around a $50 fee.

Is the king second bedroom a more popular option than the 2 queens? If we were to book a two bedroom and bring our kids, the two queens would be preferable. But if we were to lock off and stay in it ourselves, I’d prefer having the king. Does it matter what we own versus what we can book?

How many abound points does a 2 bedroom villa convert to? Around 4000? Although I’ve never elected points because our Willow Ridge week is worth so few, I can see wanting to convert to points and stay at some of the city properties they are adding such as Charleston and Nashville. Or maybe even the Ritz in Vail.

Questions about Kierland Villas:

I really like the location of the Kierland villas. I have the same question about the JW Marriott - can we use it during spring break and what are the fees?

How well does a Westin week trade into Marriott? I’d definitely like to trade into some of the Marriott properties such as Spain or Marco Island at peak season. For this reason, I am favoring the MCV property.

Thanks so much for any help/input

I believe MVC has a longer in brand priority exchange period on II and Sheraton/Westin has a lesser priority period for MVC (but some before units are available to all). Unless that has changed recently.

 

[dioxide45]

I haven't really tracked the brand priority of MVC in practice through the Sightings forum, but I have watched some of the Vistana priorty threads. I know in the past it was always said that the Vistana priority was 30 days and the Marriott was 24 days. At least in the last decade, it has never really been that long for either brand priority. I think the longest I saw recently was 10 or 11 days on Vistana deposits before deposits moved in to the cross brand preference period.

 

[hcarman]

JW Marriott does not charge to use their pools but they are blocked off some peak weekends - such as Easter and spring break. Canyon Villas Platinum weeks will get you 2950 points, Gold weeks just 1800 points. However, many platinum weeks cost 4000 abound points so you have to learn when it is best to use your week versus points. We own at Canyon Villa and really like the surrounding area. That being said, we also make a trip to Kierland Commons each time we go.

 

[planada]

You could be happy at either resort. They are both highly regarded in the Phx area. Both are in great locations. Marriott Desert Ridge is slightly further North if u plan to visit Sedona ect….but plenty of restaurants, shops, and safe area. Westin Kierland is more the Scottsdale scene with higher end shopping and restaurants. You cannot go wrong with either one as they are both highly sought after. All that aside…..buy resale and buy at least 2 weeks so you can book out at 13 months. We are IN Phx and have followed your plan except we get out of
Phoenix in the summer and head to Marriott Newport Coast Villas. Between my owner 2 weeks and plenty of points to fill in the gaps we can usually cobble together 6 weeks of 72’ Heavenly days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[4Reliefnow]

JW Marriott does not charge to use their pools but they are blocked off some peak weekends - such as Easter and spring break. Canyon Villas Platinum weeks will get you 2950 points, Gold weeks just 1800 points. However, many platinum weeks cost 4000 abound points so you have to learn when it is best to use your week versus points. We own at Canyon Villa and really like the surrounding area. That being said, we also make a trip to Kierland Commons each time we go.

A Canyon Villas secondary week is ZERO points. It is not enrolled. They are very cheap now and a great purchase to snowbird. You can lock off the units, stay in the 1BR and have a good chance to exchange the studio to a 1BR because it has Home Resort priority in II.

A Kierland purchase in the secondary market is more expensive. It has mandatory Star Options which makes reservations at other resorts much easier. I think Kierland is a nicer resort, $13,000? I don't know. But you can buy 3 Kierland Platinum weeks for the price of 3,000 Abound points. Buying Kierland secondary is way, way better than buying points directly from Marriott.

 

[WBP]

We enjoy vacationing at both Canyon Villas and Westin Kierland Villas. We lean more towards Marriott resorts than we do to the former Starwood resorts, BUT, we really like Westin Kierland Villas, and prefer it over Marriott’s Canyon Villas.

The JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge blacks-out to MVC owners and guests, a lot, as that hotel is often at capacity, and, to their credit, they want to preserve their (hotel) guest’s favorable experience at the pools, as when the JW is full, the pools are packed.

Daily access to the spa at the JW Phoenix Desert Ridge is expensive.

 

[Dean]

A Canyon Villas secondary week is ZERO points. It is not enrolled. They are very cheap now and a great purchase to snowbird. You can lock off the units, stay in the 1BR and have a good chance to exchange the studio to a 1BR because it has Home Resort priority in II.

A Kierland purchase in the secondary market is more expensive. It has mandatory Star Options which makes reservations at other resorts much easier. I think Kierland is a nicer resort, $13,000? I don't know. But you can buy 3 Kierland Platinum weeks for the price of 3,000 Abound points. Buying Kierland secondary is way, way better than buying points directly from Marriott.

Maybe it's terminology but II doesn't offer home resort priority. II does offer Marriott to Marriott Priority with limitations which include trade power qualifications.

 

[Hindsite]

Maybe it's terminology but II doesn't offer home resort priority. II does offer Marriott to Marriott Priority with limitations which include trade power qualifications.

The last line of this extract is what tends to be called home resort priority. Its small, but I do seem to have got easier exchanges into my home resort than I would have expected.

 

[Dean]

The last line of this extract is what tends to be called home resort priority. Its small, but I do seem to have got easier exchanges into my home resort than I would have expected.

View attachment 114747

Thanks for posting that. Still, my understanding is that II does not actually have this capability other than the general internal exchange procedures. Regardless all factors are never equal.

 

[Hindsite]

Thanks for posting that. Still, my understanding is that II does not actually have this capability other than the general internal exchange procedures. Regardless all factors are never equal.

I'll take every possible even if improbable chance of getting the great value exchanges that I do.

There's so many other variables that could play into a match being made, plus the rumoured manual intervention which occasionally happens that its impossible to isolate the factors that resulted in a successful match, particularly when looking for exchanges that are out of peak season.

 

[Dean]

I'll take every possible even if improbable chance of getting the great value exchanges that I do.

There's so many other variables that could play into a match being made, plus the rumoured manual intervention which occasionally happens that its impossible to isolate the factors that resulted in a successful match, particularly when looking for exchanges that are out of peak season.

There is also no corresponding wording in the II Buyers Guide.

 

[WBP]

The last line of this extract is what tends to be called home resort priority. Its small, but I do seem to have got easier exchanges into my home resort than I would have expected.

View attachment 114747

I agree with you, and these writings, there IS Home Resort priority, however, things have changed from days gone by, and there are a lot of metrics that are evaluated by I.I. software, before the Home Resort priority is factored into the equation (e.g. CMG, unit size, etc), precisely as the verbiage that you site above, says.

In my experience, over the past 5 years, I.I. has changed a lot, and, I believe pulled in the reigns on exchange, placing priority on like for like exchanges.

The era of Fletch’s advocacy for Spicebush and Swallowtail, when they were Marriott Vacation Club resorts, and that South African resort, are long over. Times have changed.

 

[Bree]

You could be happy at either resort. They are both highly regarded in the Phx area. Both are in great locations. Marriott Desert Ridge is slightly further North if u plan to visit Sedona ect….but plenty of restaurants, shops, and safe area. Westin Kierland is more the Scottsdale scene with higher end shopping and restaurants. You cannot go wrong with either one as they are both highly sought after. All that aside…..buy resale and buy at least 2 weeks so you can book out at 13 months. We are IN Phx and have followed your plan except we get out of
Phoenix in the summer and head to Marriott Newport Coast Villas. Between my owner 2 weeks and plenty of points to fill in the gaps we can usually cobble together 6 weeks of 72’ Heavenly days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you know if having two EOY MVC qualifies for the 13 month window?

 

[dioxide45]

Do you know if having two EOY MVC qualifies for the 13 month window?

As long as they are the same use year.

 

[Bree]

As long as they are the same use year.

So if I have an EOY odd and an EY, only on the Odd years would we get the 13 month window? (Or if we have 2 MVC EOYO?) We just got an EOYO MVC and looking ahead to see what would work depending if we do another EOY or EY.

 

[dioxide45]

So if I have an EOY odd and an EY, only on the Odd years would we get the 13 month window? (Or if we have 2 MVC EOYO?) We just got an EOYO MVC and looking ahead to see what would work depending if we do another EOY or EY.

You would need to have two odd year weeks or two even year. You can't do 13-month reservations with an odd year and an even year. You need to be able to make consecutive or concurrent reservations with two different ownerships to qualify for 13-month reservations.

 

[Bree]

You would need to have two odd year weeks or two even year. You can't do 13-month reservations with an odd year and an even year. You need to be able to make consecutive or concurrent reservations with two different ownerships to qualify for 13-month reservations.

Thank you for your clarification, very helpful.