Is there a way to tell the trading power of your unit in II? For instance, is there a way to tell if it is in the realm of possibility to trade into Hyatt Residence Club Maui, Diamante in Cabo or any other resort out there?
I have a SDO floating week 1-52 SDO 2 BDR LO. From what I understand it is "easier" to trade into other VSE properties with an SDO. Do I have a chance at Hawaii(or other destinations) Marriotts and Hyatts? If not, that's ok I just don't want to wonder and/or put in an exchange request that has no chance of ever happening.
On II, check the TDI (Travel Demand Index) of the various weeks at your home resort. Then reserve the highest demand week. It will give you the highest trading power.
For Vistana floating units, the quick answer is no. You could guess based on the average TDI, but there really is no way to know.
For SDO floating units, you can't reserve the highest week. Vistana rules (unless something has changed that I'm not aware of) are that you cannot reserve a specific week in II. When you deposit a week, Vistana will pick and II will provide you with a blended trading value depending on the season (i.e. at SDO, Plat Plus week would have a stronger trading power than Gold Plus). You will have a preference advantage in trading for most Vistana properties that are dropped into II.
I own both. My experience has been that Gold Plus pulls mostly the same as Plat Plus when you do a live search ... Plat Plus has pulled a Harborside week that Gold Plus can't but there isn't a ton of difference IMHO. However, in an OGS, I do note that when both weeks have the same search, the Plat Plus will hit first sometimes while the Gold Plus misses (obviously when trading same size units).
Also, generally (but not always), size trumps season. Most times I have other non-SDO traders that will outperform SDO for Hyatt and other non-Vistana searches at a lower cost - so even Hyatt will be tough. Others may have different experiences.
The rest of BJR's post is accurate.
-ryan