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How do you personally trade through II?

heathpack

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So, with your SBP, do you simply search frequently until you find something you like?

Yep, every day when I’m looking. Sometimes multiple times per day. I also check the sightings board every morning.
 

bazzap

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I almost always do ongoing searches, but typically starting 12 months out and for a specific MVC resort / dates.
This is perhaps a little unusual, but living in the UK I am looking to extend our home week stays at long haul resorts so I don’t often have the flexibility to seek out gems.
I do have an almost 100% success rate over many years in getting these fulfilled.
 

AlmostRetired

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Is there an advantage to depositing first, or do you do it simply because you know you are trading the Grand Chateau? Always doing an instant search, really helps. Thank you.
You are correct, i deposit first because I will never use the Grand Chateau.
 
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remowidget

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I almost always do ongoing searches, but typically starting 12 months out and for a specific MVC resort / dates.
This is perhaps a little unusual, but living in the UK I am looking to extend our home week stays at long haul resorts so I don’t often have the flexibility to seek out gems.
I do have an almost 100% success rate over many years in getting these fulfilled.

It's awesome to hear the other side. When I was looking through threads, I was seeing tons of complaints about never being successful this way. Probably because people are more likely to complain than brag. Who knows if they have a good trade or are being reasonable in their search.
 

remowidget

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Well, I have not seen them chime in, but, most people do not manually search. They do an automated ongoing search where II does the matching. The theory is they get first pick, and us manual searchers get the remains, however, that is not always the case. The main advantage of manual is if you are someone who likes to find gems.

I am a 4 star VSE owner and we have a similar program for reservation as a benefit of being 4 star or higher. In practice, it is almost worthless as it is a manual search done once a day during business hours and the inventory drops at midnight the night before. If its something good, it generally long gone by the next day.
 

drlee

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There are decisions to make, and they all have impacts. Our "trading" week is a rwo bedroom lock off in Aruba. So first, are we going to use it? If not, are we going to deposit it for points (like if we need a few extra days in Maui)? If not, then we will make a reservation (two: one for one bedroom, one for lockoff) and deposit them in Interval. You can do this online, but if you make the reservation by phone, the agent will do that for you. Since Interval needs a unit to trade, it makes sense to have your unit(s) deposited, Then if you know where you want to go (ie Myrtle Beach) you can place a request. If you're not sure, you can do the "manual" thing and keep checking, using broad search terms. With the new change, if you score a trade into Marriott or Vistana, there will be no trade fee. There will, however, be an upgrade fee if your lockoff finds a bigger unit. There are no lockoffs in Myrtle Beach. We've used our lockoff to trade into lots of places (only Marriott, since we had to pay for Sheraton and Westin). We even traded into Hawaii. What this change will also do is increase the competition for desirable property. We already have to get in line behind owners at their home property (many who will turn around and rent their units), multiple weeks owners, booking desirable weeks by starting much earlier, points owners booking weeks , and more often short stays, bonus weeks sold by developer, and who knows what else might be vying for the week you want. My advice is decide early where you want to go, deposit and make request early, and use your program's early access to your advantage. We've done this successfully for many years. We have also traded in Sheraton, but had to pay a trade fee. The point is that you can make this work, based on availability. Don't be disappointed if you start the process three months before you want to travel. If you own a lock off, deposit both sides, to get two weeks, or keep one to use and trade the other.
 

KarenP

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For the last four years, I have locked off my two bedroom gold Grande Vista and traded into Ocean Pointe for no less than 2, two bedroom units during Fall Break! The grandkids love Ocean Pointe and so do I! We have managed to get three bedrooms most of the time. I deposit my locked off units as soon as possible and then start looking on II every day until two bedrooms start showing up at Ocean Pointe for the week I want. I get eplus and keep looking until I get the three bedrooms. Works every time! But you have to be willing to look every day.
 

deniseh

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I love trading with interval. The key is being flexible. And since we have our weeks enrolled and additional DP I can do retrades with no fees and add on extra days.
 

GrayFal

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I'm REALLY new to the trading business (and also a DC points owner). I have four 2 BR lockoff weeks - 2 gold season at Marriott Grande Vista and 2 platinum non-mandatory at Sheraton Vistana Villages. :)

I just locked off and traded both haves of one of my MGV 2020 week (booked week 27 at Ocean Pointe through Florida Club) and traded the two halves for weeks 52/1 MGV 2 BRs. I got two bonus ACs from that and booked two early November weeks at Barony in Hilton Head. Total cost: $1500 MF + +$90 lockoff + $600 II trading fees + $800 AC costs = $2990 for four weeks.

Those four weeks would cost me about 9,600 DC points @ $.58 = ~ $5600 or $6371 booking direct on Marriott with 7VC discount code (nothing available on Redweek for Barony).
that in a nutshell is why I will never use my legacy weeks in the DC
points program.
I only pay the fee each year to have free II account and lock off and exchange fees paid and NOW free exchanges into Westin Resorts as well. Great!
 

Woj

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My two cents! We have been members since 1995 and early on it was very difficult to get exact dates and locations. Since Marriott purchased II I find it very easy to get your desired requests. I always call! We frequent Marriott Village de France (mvf) and just early this week I called for 2 weeks back to back in August or September and there was no availibility. I put in my request and paid the fee for my selected dates. Just yesterday I got a call from II stating that my request was available. It seems to me that once you pay they try harder in order that they do not have to refund your monies. My two cents!
 

Dean

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I deposit a year or more out, put in ongoing searches at least 13 months out then check manually at times as well. Even if one plans to look manually, there's no harm in doing an ongoing search. IMO the best chances of success is an ongoing search even if some have been successful otherwise.
 

jmhpsu93

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When you get a hit for an ongoing search, do they call you or email or just see it online?
 

Dean

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When you get a hit for an ongoing search, do they call you or email or just see it online?
I normally get an email within minutes of when it's put in the system.
 

bazzap

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When you get a hit for an ongoing search, do they call you or email or just see it online?
I get an email, but often our Interval rep calls as well.
 

Jwerking

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I get an email, but often our Interval rep calls as well.
Just curious, do you have a specific II rep? How do you get one as would love a call?

Just missed an email for a confirmation for a Kauai week that is not ideal for a desired 3 week stay - so beyond 24 hr cancellation.

Will try calling on Monday, but don’t think that I can cancel without compromising my deposit week.
 

bazzap

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Just curious, do you have a specific II rep? How do you get one as would love a call?

Just missed an email for a confirmation for a Kauai week that is not ideal for a desired 3 week stay - so beyond 24 hr cancellation.

Will try calling on Monday, but don’t think that I can cancel without compromising my deposit week.
We live in the UK, so it may be different here.
We tend to always speak to one of just a few Interval reps and normally just the one.
i do understand your dilemma, it can be a real issue with the 24 hour deadline to cancel if you don’t see it because it has got misrouted, went into your Spam email folder for whatever reason...
 

Steve Fatula

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We live in the UK, so it may be different here.
We tend to always speak to one of just a few Interval reps and normally just the one.
i do understand your dilemma, it can be a real issue with the 24 hour deadline to cancel if you don’t see it because it has got misrouted, went into your Spam email folder for whatever reason...

True, but, isn't that an error in specifying dates you really don't want more than anything else? If the dates are within the criteria they gave them, then, ideally, they'd be good. When someone else is looking for you, it pays to be very specific.
 

bazzap

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True, but, isn't that an error in specifying dates you really don't want more than anything else? If the dates are within the criteria they gave them, then, ideally, they'd be good. When someone else is looking for you, it pays to be very specific.
I agree and we are very specific with our requests, I guess others less so and perhaps they have change of plans but it is certainly a risk if not an error in those circumstances.
 

Jwerking

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True, but, isn't that an error in specifying dates you really don't want more than anything else? If the dates are within the criteria they gave them, then, ideally, they'd be good. When someone else is looking for you, it pays to be very specific.

It was not an error in my dates for a 3 wk long Marriott Hawaii vacation but it was an error that I did not link all 3 weeks in my ongoing search.

I am trading with two 2 BR units and a 1 BR. I had linked the request for the 2 BR units, but not the 1BR.

Got a confirmation for the 1BR in the middle week to KAuai Beach Club - which means we will have to switch units every week during our 3 wk stay.

I do wish that II would just place a match on hold like RCI, so I can review and either accept or decline. Hate that they auto confirm and you have 24 hr to call to cancel. I missed the confirmation because I had confirmed another II week myself that same day. Just saw it yesterday when going thru old emails to delete. Bummer!
 

Steve Fatula

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It's the downside of OGS, if you like control, you should be looking for instant manually. It's a lot more work though. I hear you on the match hold thing, but, they may have many other people looking for the same week though and it's best for them if they do it quickly in case you back out. Yeah, bummer.
 

Dean

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It's the downside of OGS, if you like control, you should be looking for instant manually. It's a lot more work though. I hear you on the match hold thing, but, they may have many other people looking for the same week though and it's best for them if they do it quickly in case you back out. Yeah, bummer.
If you're specific in your requests it's not much of a problem but for things you need to micromanage, you can also call and have them limit the search further. But the more you limit the less likely you are to get a match. But if one does match in a way that's not helpful, you can always call and cancel and reinstitute the search with the same priority as long as done by the next day. But you might miss out on a match in the interim though that's not a large risk IMO. You can always search manually as well. The problem with searching manually only is you'll miss units you'd get otherwise.
 

Steve Fatula

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But the problem with OGS is you will also miss things. You might miss something you didn't think of that you may see manually and then think "ohhh, I should have searched for that". There's good and bad about both. I mostly prefer manual but have done both. Both at the same time is the ultimate.
 

GregT

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I have never traded through II as I am a VSN owner and love our properties. However, with us being able to have priority in trading to MVC and vice versa through II, I'd like to learn more. I am asking Marriott owners because I think if you have traded your Marriott time through interval your experience and practice is probably more relevant than owners of properties that can't do internal exchanges through II.

I understand there are three ways to trade. What I am interested is specifically your process and any tips your be willing to share.
Hello OP,

I have traded through II for both Vistana and Marriott properties, and have different strategies for each. I don't know if this will be helpful, but this has been my general approach.

I own three dedicated trading properties, Marriott Shadow Ridge Enclaves (like an SDO, is two 1BR deposits), Marriott Willow Ridge (a 1BR/Studio) and Worldmark, which is a point-based timeshare system but has surprising trade power in II -- but alas no preference. SDOs could have an interesting role in the new trading world.

In Marriott, the owner makes a reservation at their home resort and then deposits it into II. This is a superior approach (for the owner) than Vistana's approach of giving a blended deposit to the Vistana week owner. If I can reserve a Marriott week that is a desirable deposit (Feb/March Palm Springs, July 4th in Branson) then I will deposit that week into II and I believe I have a better deposit with higher trade power than a blended week. In Marriott world, we think alot about how to maximize the trade power of our deposited week.

I then consider what my target exchange is -- if it is a rarely available week (like a 1BR in Summer at Maui Ocean Club), then I will sometimes deposit an intact 2BR Willow, because in the exchange world, there is real trade power differential in offering a 2BR for a 1BR, and you move to the top of trade stack. In TUG, we usually seek an uptrade and try to get a 1BR for our Studio or a 2BR for our 1BR, but sometimes I prefer to have an advantage in getting a rare week. And if I NEED to get the trade (ie, the specific week is important) than I will often downtrade an intact 2BR for a 1BR (or 1BR for a Studio) to increase my chances.

If you want to play with the Marriott trade world, before buying a Marriott, I would consider (and assuming you own a 2BR Sheraton, I would deposit the fully intact unit and put in an ambitious trade (1BR in July MOC, Q1 for a 1BR in Aruba) -- that will be a fascinating trade test. Because there aren't many WKORV July deposits made by Vistana, this is probably your best chance to go to Maui in July and your only chance for Q1 in Aruba. Those are rare deposits in II.

Conversely, if you are traveling in September, you can feel better trying to trade a locked-off 1BR for a 1BR at either of MOC/WKORV (or uptrade to a 2BR in MFC or Aruba). This is something I really like about the new integration -- I can play across both systems because I like all of the properties. In Kauai, I like all of WPORV/Waiohai/Kauai Lagoons/KBC, and something has to hit there in a Like-for-Like trade???

The last thing I do that I think is a reasonable trick is making a reservation with points/StarOptions, and then trying to replace it with an II trade. If you make your desired reservation with StarOptions and then you place a matching exchange request for the same week in II -- if it matches, you get your StarOptions back. I did this recently with Waiohai, and my reward is getting my valuable points back, my risk is that I will get a bad room assignment and look at the parking lot instead of the beautiful grounds -- but it is a calculated risk.

I hope that helps -- apologies for the lengthy response!

Best,

Greg
 
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Dean

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But the problem with OGS is you will also miss things. You might miss something you didn't think of that you may see manually and then think "ohhh, I should have searched for that". There's good and bad about both. I mostly prefer manual but have done both. Both at the same time is the ultimate.
Since you could also look manually you shouldn’t miss anything.
 
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Steve Fatula

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Since you could also look Manuel you shouldn’t miss anything.

You are right. The main problem I have with OGS is it kind of encourages you to just settle. The incentive is to pick a place or two and just wait and settle for what they give you. Admittedly, it's what you asked for, however, the main benefit of manual for me is it open my eyes to endless possibilities I would not otherwise see. I just feel, for me, that OGS is settling and limiting.

That being said, I completely get how others want an exact place possibly at an exact time. So, I can see how all the strategies work. I am sure most TUG member believe in OGS. But hey, that's whats nice about timeshares, there are many ways to do things and every wants different things. I've only used OGS once as far as I recall, and while I got what I wanted, I was sorry really. I just felt I missed out on a lot. Since I had done manual for 20 years and genuinely loved the 40 or so trades I have made, it's really limiting to think about OGS for me. So many places I would have never gone. I just can't do it, lol.
 
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