Ease of trading weeks for weeks at other Marriott properties

[Potential Buyer Scott]

I am interested in purchasing a 3br, Platinum week at Marriott Grande Vista resort in Orlando as a resale purchase. However, I would probably only want to use that property 5 years out of 10. Can someone who owns a Marriott timeshare tell me how difficult it would be to trade for a week elsewhere in the other years and what the process is. What is your process and experience with a resold unit?

Thanks,

Potential Buyer Scott

 

[CMF]

Big Question

Hello Scott.

It may be helpful if you broke down your question into smaller chunks or provide more detail. Some issues: If you want to use the Marriott only 50% of the time maybe a Grande Vista is not the right purchase? You write that you are looking to trade primarily into other Marriotts? If so, which ones? For what weeks or season? And what unit size are you looking for? The maintenance fee for a platinum three bedroom is very high - maybe too high for something that you will be trading away half the time.

I think fleshing you question out a bit will be helpful.

Charles

 

[Potential Buyer Scott]

Details

I would anticipate primarily using other Marriott Properties. Hilton Head, Williamsburg, Hawaii, Miami Beach for example could all be attractive. Only need a 2 br in trade, but 3 br is better if it is possible to get. I would anticipate trading a Platinum season week for a Platinum season week but exactly which one is flexible.

Thanks for bearing with me. As you can tell, I don't know anything about time shares. I just signed up for TUG this weekend.

Thanks,

Potential Buyer Scott

 

[CMF]

Enjoy the Search!

I would anticipate primarily using other Marriott Properties. Hilton Head, Williamsburg, Hawaii, Miami Beach for example could all be attractive. Only need a 2 br in trade, but 3 br is better if it is possible to get. I would anticipate trading a Platinum season week for a Platinum season week but exactly which one is flexible.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all Marriotts have three bedrooms, so you may short change yourself if trading straight up. You can split your three bedroom into a two bedroom and an efficiency to avoid this, but you may want to opt to keep it simple. Others with more experience will contribute, but for starters, this is what I've gathered off the cuff:

Marriott has a bunch of properties on Hilton Head. Some are much nicer than others, the nicer ones are a hard get during the peak season, and are very expensive [this is of course a relative term].

It has been said that the Williamsburg Marriott is a good value because platinum weeks trade well and the maintenance fees are relatively low.

Hawaii is a hard trade and expensive - most folks would not buy a Hawaii resort to trade. I have little knowledge about the Marriott in Miami.

Even though you can get into an Orlando Marriott for a lot less than other Marriotts, you'll do better by buying outside of Orlando if you want a more powerful trader that can get you into Hawaii or Hilton Head during prime season.

There are may options out there to consider. I really enjoyed the hunt for my Marriott week and I hope you enjoy your search as much as I enjoyed mine.

Charles

 

[andypoole]

"Hawaii is a hard trade and expensive - most folks would not buy a Hawaii resort to trade."

Ouch!! I've just done that because I thought it would be good to trade.

 

[CMF]

You are kidding, right?

"Hawaii is a hard trade and expensive - most folks would not buy a Hawaii resort to trade."

Ouch!! I've just done that because I thought it would be good to trade.

Are you pulling my leg?

Charles

 

[MOXJO7282]

Getting a prime week 2BDRM in Hawaii or Hilton Head is a challenge, for a number of reasons, including limited availability and super high demand.

Grand Vista isn't quite up there in the food chain, so many other resorts will be in front of you. One advantage you do have if you choose to use it, is trading your 3bdrm for a 2bdrm. II in my experience, seems to like getting full 3 bdrm units, as those are a pretty rare commodity as well, so depositing a 3 definately adds to your trading power.

Regards.
Joe

 

[myip]

Grand Vista isn't quite up there in the food chain, so many other resorts will be in front of you.

I am a bit confused here. Isn't it if your resort has the trading power, it will in the queue to get the unit.

ie:
If one deposit a week with the trading power and request the same week as another deposit with a greater trading power, isn't the one who request first will get the week. Are you saying the one with higher trading power will jump the queue even though it request for the same resort later than the first one.

 

[Dave M]

There is no definitive answer to your question, but some of Craig Urbine's (II's former rep to TUG) posts on the old BBS give a pretty good indication.

How early you deposit your week is just one of the factors that affect how strong a trader your week is. For many resorts, depositing a week 9 months in advance will not be noticeably different for trading power than depositing it a full year in advance.

On the other hand, the difference in trading power between an early May beach week in Hilton Head and a July beach week in Hilton Head is huge.

Thus, other things being equal, a July Grande Ocean week deposited 9 months ahead should trump a May Grande Ocean week every time, no matter how early that May week was deposited.

The other factors, besides date of deposit, that affect trading power are: (1) the supply and demand of the week being deposited or offered through Request First, (2) the supply and demand of the week being requested, (3) the quality, facilities and overall experience offered by that week, (4) the date the exchange request is submitted to II (The earlier of two identical requests will be the winner) and (5) a comparison between the week relinquished and the week requested (sleeping capacity and unit type).

Note that the week being requested enters into trading power because the exchange must be a "comparable exchange under II's unpublished guidelines.

 

[Dave M]

Stated another way, yes, the one with the higher trading power will always get the trade, if it's a comparable exchange. When your week is deposited is just one factor in determining that trading power.

 

[andypoole]

Are you pulling my leg?

Charles

not totally CMF. We just bought 1 week EOY at Waiohai. Because of the distance from the UK, there's no guarantee we'll use it even EOY. But presumably, a 2 bed ocean view platignum should get us virtually anywhere, plus we have the bonus weeks. Is it that bad?

 

[Dave M]

Is it that bad? Depends on your point of view.

I believe Charles' point is that there are much less expensive great trading Marriott weeks that would likely accomplish your objective.

However, you have a great trader that virtually assures you get what you want in a trade. The downside is the higher front-end cost and higher maintenance fees than would be necessary with a different great trading week. But if money wasn't a consideration, why not?!

Based on what has happened to values for Marriott Hawaii timeshares, you'll probably do okay if you decide to sell in a few years, assuming you bought resale rather than from Marriott.

 

[CMF]

That's why Dave is Dave.

Is it that bad? Depends on your point of view.

I believe Charles' point is that there are much less expensive great trading Marriott weeks that would likely accomplish your objective.

However, you have a great trader that virtually assures you get what you want in a trade. The downside is the higher front-end cost and higher maintenance fees than would be necessary with a different great trading week. But if money wasn't a consideration, why not?!

Based on what has happened to values for Marriott Hawaii timeshares, you'll probably do okay if you decide to sell in a few years, assuming you bought resale rather than from Marriott.

Besides knowing a heckuvalot more about timeshares than I do, and that's an understatement, he has a much nicer way with words.

Charles

 

[andypoole]

Thanks Dave

Money is always a consideration but for us it's not the only one. The uncertainties around trading are an issue for us ( so why did we get into TS?) so having a 'banker' is a bonus. We absolutely love Kauai and would have no problem with using the resort over and over, subject to travel time and distance.

This is still a steep learning curve for us and I'm sure we could have done a different purchase which would have met our objectives but we came away feeling pretty ok with what we'd done.

Some might think we're not hard-nosed enough to truly take advantage but I know what we'd started to spend on vacations prior to buying MVCI and I know we're now ahead of the game. I can live with that.