How Do People Get Multiple Units for a Family Vacation?

[NboroGirl]

I own 2 weeks at Grande Vista. In the past I've had decent success exchanging one or both weeks to different places we wanted to visit. Due to everyone's different schedules and preferences, we've only managed to vacation with one son's family at a time, but now we'd like to try to get both my sons and their family's together for the same week at a different resort than Grande Vista. I've never attempted to get 2 exchanges for the same week for at the same resort before, and wondered what my chances are and what's the best way.

I would like to get two 2BRs for the 3rd week in April, 2027 at Grande Ocean on Hilton Head. This would be the week after the RBC Heritage golf event, which has an average TDI. I've exchanged my 3BR for this very week last year at SurfWatch and it was a fairly easy trade. We probably don't have to check in on the same day of the week tho that would be preferrable, and I would prefer we all be at Grande Ocean rather than spread over 2 different resorts. Are my chances good for this trade? If my chances aren't good, I would deposit-first to extend my chances to the following year. Any suggestions for improving my chances? I'll probably try to get Easter weeks at Grande Vista for the exchange.

 

[jwalk03]

I would think the odds are fairly high of being successful. April is not a peak demand time at HHI. Just put in an ongoing search with 2 different deposits for the same resort and week. If you want to try and get the same checkin day wait for one to come through and then call and have them restrict the check in day for the second one. (Or if they both match at the same time and you want to change one you have 24 hours to call and decline the match and edit the search.)

 

[jimf41]

I don't exchange in Interval so I can't help you there. I have been 100% successful using the enrolled points system to get multiple weeks at the same resort several times. You have to look at what you get for one and what it costs where you want to go. If you only own one week then you'll have to bank one year.

 

[Big Matt]

It should be fairly easy. You don't need to trade big (2 or 3BR) units to get the trades. BTW, I did this with consecutive weeks the last week of April and 1st week in May for this year and didn't even need an ongoing search. Lots of stuff comes up about 8-10 months ahead.

 

[claraj]

Last year I split my 2BR lock off at Los Suenos and was able to trade for two 2BR at Aruba Surf Club. I had to do it in steps where I traded for smaller units and then retraded for larger units closer to the check in dates. Not ideal, but it worked out.

 

[Dean]

For MGO you should have a good chance of success if you deposit your weeks at least a year out and request now. I wouldn't hold out for the same start date though. If you match different start dates and a better week comes online, you could always retrade to it. While you can ask II to only match certain start dates, they don't actually have a good way to ensure that. II tells me it goes into a free text comment field that is hit or miss. But if it's important to you, you could try.

 

[chunkygal]

I just covert to points and get a 1 bdrm for me and hubby, two bedroom for my dtr and her kids and if my other dtr and hubby want to go, we either get them a 1 bedroom, studio or 3 bdfm for all of them. I have rented extra points when needed.

 

[DRH90277]

To get multiple weeks, same resort and same dates, and without Chairman's status, I suggest exchanging your owned week through Interval and renting a week. I had this situation for a second Newport Coast (NC) reservation for mid July 2026 when I mistakenly deposited a NC week for points. My solution was to request the reservation using points and requesting an exchange week through Interval using an equivalent Timber Lodge week. My back-up plan was to just rent the NC week on Red Week. The outcome was the points reservation came through a few days ago. The Interval request is still open. If I get the Interval week, I will take it and either cancel the points reservation or deposit the owned NC week.

As a caution, I need to be more careful. The NC week that I mistakenly exchanged for points yielded only 3,475 points and the points reservation cost 4,725 points.

Points reservations for whole and in-season weeks can be very expensive in points. I think the commercial rental thing with MVC is overblown as using points is the most expensive approach to the MVC program. I am especially grateful for my owned weeks because the maintenance fees are more reasonable and the reservation prospects are much better suited to our needs than the points system. But, we do use Interval, owned weeks, the points system, and rentals - four approaches.


As an aside, does anyone know of someone who is making any real money renting out their points reservations. High point maintenance fees for points coupled with low prices for rentals seems to make this a pretty dumb exercise. The sales team is doing more than selling points, they are "also selling owners on the prospect of making real money" on point rentals.