Thanks so much for your responses.
I'm still trying to navigate all of the Marriott nuances. A couple more questions....
It looks like the best ski properties from the reviews are the ones in Park City. I'm also looking at a Vail platinum week. Does anyone know if Vail platinums float or are fixed weeks?
The Park City resales during ski season seem very expensive... I'm also looking at Platinum weeks at MCV, MPD, and NCV. Would they trade into ski season?
Also, I've read several threads that discuss the 53 week advantage. Is it necessary to get a resort with a Thursday check-in to maximize this advantage? Does anyone know which resorts have them off-hand? I originally understood the 53 week advantage was based on owning in the same resort and booking concurrent or consecutive weeks, but now I'm thinking you can own in two different properties and book consecutively?
So much to figure out!!! Definitely addling my brain!
I did figure out that I need to go resale rather than buy directly from Marriott. Can't believe the differences in what we were quoted during our visit and what things are going for and even passing ROFR!
Thanks for letting me ramble ....all help is appreiciate!
As dioxide45 mentioned, there is a 13 month reservation rule but the way it works right now is you can call from 13 months out from the first day of the reservation weekend for the resort in questions. If the resort has a Thursday date, you can call 13 months out but you could reserve a Sat or Sun if you wanted. And you do have to own two separate weeks even if you own a lockoff and you must book them concurrently or consecutively. They do not have to be at the same resort or the same Marriott season, one could be platinum and one bronze if they could be booked together.
IMO, Vail is a major risk. Marriott has already separated themselves from part of that resort and it's likely that the resort and Marriott will go their separate ways eventually, I'd say within 10 years. It's also a resort that's not quite up to the overall Marriott standards from what I can gather. There's also Breckenridge and Tahoe as other Marriott ski locations.
There's no resort you can consistently count on to trade to top ski weeks/resorts but a Platinum desert or Newport Coast likely will as well as anything else. Not sure what MPD is, ? MPB (Ocean Pointe). IF you want a prime ski week EOY, you should buy it but as you say, it will be big bucks. With the current economy though you might be able to get something cheaper than a couple of years ago. If you want to take the chance and try to trade in for some years, there are many good choices to do so and a lot more that are not good choices. If there is another location you'd likely go repeated, that might be a better choice to own for your stated purpose and try to trade to ski weeks part of the time.
