Thank you! I am sure we would stay at the resort at least 1/2 the years. But to your point, if we bought elsewhere where we could get a lock off, do you know hard it is to trade INTO this resort? It is not important to us to visit during high season.
Yes, that's a good question, and perhaps others will chime in.
We own the White season (a.k.a. Gold season at other resorts) at Marriott Desert Springs Villas 2. We generally lock off the unit and trade. And, like you, we often travel during non-peak seasons, usually in spring and fall.
We have traded into NCV twice in the past. These were week-for-week exchanges via Interval International:
- we used our DSV2 White week Master to trade for a 2BR at NCV in mid-April 2014
- we again used a DSV2 White week Master to trade for a 2BR at NCV at the start of Nov 2020
Even though I'm crazy enough to keep notes about our trades, unfortunately I don't save any record of how far in advance we made these trades. Typically, I'm a planner, so many of our stays are planned well in advance.
Also, as I recall, it's harder to use our DSV2 White week Studio side to trade into NCV, perhaps because NCV is all 2BR units.
You might also ask what other trades we have made
within the Marriott system using locked-off DSV2 White weeks. You will notice that these trades are
not during the summertime months (my wife doesn't like to travel when it's really crowded, so we often aim for shoulder season). Most of the 2BR units were obtained with the Master side of our unit, and most of the 1BR trades using the Studio side of our unit.
- Timber Lodge (Lake Tahoe) 2BR, late September, early October, and early November (yes, we like Tahoe - one of our favorite USA destinations)
- Mountainside (Park City) 2BR, late May
- Playa Andaluza (Spain) 3BR, early October - we fit this week in as part of a 3 week trip to Spain
- Desert Springs Villas 2 1BR, mid-late March
- Legends Edge (Florida panhandle) 2BR, May
- Ocean Pointe (Palm Beach, Florida), 2BR, April
- Cypress Harbour (Orlando, FL), 2BR, early May
- Grande Vista (Orlando), 1BR, April
- Willow Ridge (Branson), 1BR, early Oct
- Phuket Beach Club (Thailand), 2BR, December - we fit this in as part of a 3 week trip to SE Asia
- Grand Chateau (Las Vegas), 2BR, early May
- Summit Watch (Park City), 2BR, mid-May
- Canyon Villas (Scottsdale), 2BR, mid-January
Also, as part of our Interval International account, we've made a number of trades to a variety of Marriott resorts using the Accommodation Certificates that Interval occasionally grants.
Hope this is helpful.