We recently purchased a timeshare at this resort and just used it for the first time. In a nutshell, we love it!! The maintenance fees are very reasonable for a beach resort and the property is extremely well maintained. We met several 15-20 year timeshare owners during our visit and they told us they’ve only had a $1,000 special assessment once every 10 years in order to remodel the rooms. They also said the MF % increase each year is very reasonable. A number of the owners actually own more than one week. The private island is wonderful, but we really enjoyed the lagoon and pool areas. Many of the employees have worked at the resort for a number of years and the views are spectacular from the upper floor units. Although the units are a 1/1 bedroom-bath, they have a sofa sleeper for 2 more people. However, if traveling with anyone besides small kids, I’d recommend a second room.
As the OP notes, there is a hotel part of the resort located across the street and the timeshare portion located on the beach. The timeshare floors are 1, 3 and 5 with floors 2 and 4 being available to rent. The timeshares are all sold as a deeded unit/week that can be traded on Interval International or swapped internally for another week (deeded unit isn’t guaranteed if exchanging weeks).
Also, there is a Facebook owners group that I’d recommend joining if you’re interested in renting or buying one of these units. Many of the owners rent or sell their weeks via this group and the rental prices are often much lower than the Marriott and other online website prices. The transfer process for purchasing one of the units is extremely easy and there is a $250 transfer fee charged by the resort to process the change in ownership. It took less than one month for everything to be completed and the new agreement to be re-titled in my name.