Booking Marriott Hawaii Week 52 with Points

[ArubaFan01930]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge on the availability of booking a week in Hawaii (Ko Olina or Maui resorts preferred) with vacation club points. We have tried this for the Aruba resorts in the past and there is never any inventory even at the very beginning of the booking window. My understanding is that this is due to the limited availability of week 52. I have seen limited inventory in St. Thomas and some Florida resorts in the past. So basically was just trying to get an idea if the Hawaii resorts will have any openings. Thank you.

 

[jwalk03]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge on the availability of booking a week in Hawaii (Ko Olina or Maui resorts preferred) with vacation club points. We have tried this for the Aruba resorts in the past and there is never any inventory even at the very beginning of the booking window. My understanding is that this is due to the limited availability of week 52. I have seen limited inventory in St. Thomas and some Florida resorts in the past. So basically was just trying to get an idea if the Hawaii resorts will have any openings. Thank you.

All of the international resorts, like Aruba- do not belong to the points trust. So since the points trust does not own any inventory there the only time inventory is available for points is when a weeks owner elects their usage for points in a given year. The odds of a week 52 owner doing that are pretty small given the high rental premium those weeks command.

Booking Hawaii with points should be easier than any of the International resorts in general since Hawaiian resorts are owned by the trust.

That said week 52 is extremely high demand and will still be difficult, and most of the Hawaiian resorts sold week 52 as a platinum plus fixed week which reduces the trust availability.

Other Hawaii resorts like Waikiki and the one on the Big Island were never sold as weeks and are exclusively owned by the trust and would be easier to book with points that Maui or Ko Olina which were sold as weeks initially.

 

[jwalk03]

All of the international resorts, like Aruba- do not belong to the points trust. So since the points trust does not own any inventory there the only time inventory is available for points is when a weeks owner elects their usage for points in a given year. The odds of a week 52 owner doing that are pretty small given the high rental premium those weeks command.

Booking Hawaii with points should be easier than any of the International resorts in general since Hawaiian resorts are owned by the trust.

That said week 52 is extremely high demand and will still be difficult, and most of the Hawaiian resorts sold week 52 as a platinum plus fixed week which reduces the trust availability.

Other Hawaii resorts like Waikiki and the one on the Big Island were never sold as weeks and are exclusively owned by the trust and would be easier to book with points that Maui or Ko Olina which were sold as weeks initially.

After I typed this- I just realized that there is a weeks calendar on the website for Waikiki? Are they planning to sell weeks there??

 

[LeslieDet]

After I typed this- I just realized that there is a weeks calendar on the website for Waikiki? Are they planning to sell weeks there??

I suspect that they are locking out weeks to ensure it is a 7 night stay for those prime holidays. That lock out also prevents owners from reserving a few nights for the main holidays and then trying to rent out those peak nights. You must commit to an entire week.

 

[daviator]

So far as I know, ALL the Hawai’i properties were sold with Week 52 (and maybe Week 51 too) being an event week which was sold separately from the floating weeks for the rest of the year. Week 52 was much more expensive than a floating week. if you bought that week you did so because you intended to use it every year. I know this is true for the Vistana properties (Westin and Sheraton) and I think it’s true for Marriott Ocean Club. I’d guess it’s true for Ko'Olina but I don’t know with certainty.

The only way any week 52 inventory ends up available for club points is if an owner of that week exchanges it for club points, it could happen but it’s going to be a pretty rare occurrence.

 

[frank808]

At MKO week 51 and 52 are platinum plus event weeks.

 

[LeslieDet]

So far as I know, ALL the Hawai’i properties were sold with Week 52 being an event week which was sold separately from the floating weeks for the rest of the year. Week 52 was much more expensive than a floating week. if you bought that week you did so because you intended to use it every year. I know this is true for the Vistana properties (Westin and Sheraton) and I think it’s true for Marriott Ocean Club. I’d guess it’s true for Ko'Olina but I don’t know with certainty.

The only way any week 52 inventory ends up available for club points is if an owner of that week exchanges it for club points, it could happen but it’s going to be a pretty rare occurrence.

Just FYI - Ko'Olina has a number of components in the MVC Trust, as it was in the build out process when Marriott Inc. created the MVC Trust and dumped the unsold inventory into it. I do not know if weeks 51/52 components had already been sold off at Ko'Olina at the time. But as to the other resort properties, you are correct. Re the newest "Pulse" locations, the components are not being sold; but since both the Big Island and Waikiki remain "exchange" properties in the MVC Trust, it is quite possible that the actual owner of the locations (one of the MORI development entities) holds onto the inventory to rent directly for cash during those premium periods.

 

[vacationtime1]

So far as I know, ALL the Hawai’i properties were sold with Week 52 (and maybe Week 51 too) being an event week which was sold separately from the floating weeks for the rest of the year. Week 52 was much more expensive than a floating week. if you bought that week you did so because you intended to use it every year. I know this is true for the Vistana properties (Westin and Sheraton) and I think it’s true for Marriott Ocean Club. I’d guess it’s true for Ko'Olina but I don’t know with certainty.

The only way any week 52 inventory ends up available for club points is if an owner of that week exchanges it for club points, it could happen but it’s going to be a pretty rare occurrence.

Kauai Beach Club was sold 1-52. I think that was the only one.