How do you personally trade through II?

[Jwerking]

When I first started timesharing almost 30 yrs ago - I use to do manual RCI searches every morning even though I had OGS in place. I cannot seem to get in the habit of doing this anymore - but maybe it can be my new goal so I can find those Jan 2021 weeks I want at the Marriott Waiohai. We lucked out and got II exchanges for 2 consecutive weeks this January and absolutely loved it. One of the best HI resorts we have ever visited.

 

[Dean]

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.

I get your almost endless flexibility and that that thing you wouldn't have listed but saw may end up being your best vacation ever, OGS's don't preclude that option. The problem I see with doing exchanges only manually is that many units will never make it to the website or if they do, someone else may grab it before you even saw it. I realize that if you match something you end up not wanting you may miss another unit that came through in that 24 hrs or so but I think that's a lot less likely than missing weeks that went to someone else's OGS that you could have been ahead of. One way to have it both ways is to put in an OGS for your very top options (maybe even just pie in the sky ones) then look online as you do otherwise. Sometimes what you're looking for and have listed goes to the website and didn't match for some reason, esp when you're within the 60 day window so I do both, esp as I get closer to a more important trip. I'd guess that about half of our exchanges are on manual searches but they are generally either because we had an additional need or I'm helping out family who never plan as well as we do. It's rarely that I took a 90 degree turn for a given trip. I realize you get what you want but for things where you have specific plans I strongly suspect you get them later than you would have gotten the match at least some of the time.

 

[remowidget]

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

No apology necessary, I love your information. I actually own three Platinum weeks in the Westin Lagunamar and have always been able to go where I want inside Vistana, but I'm flexible on dates and generally prefer not to travel during the busiest times anyways.

Just for my own clarity, do Marriott owners have to go through II if they want to go to another Marriott resort?

 

[Steve Fatula]

I get your almost endless flexibility and that that thing you wouldn't have listed but saw may end up being your best vacation ever, OGS's don't preclude that option. The problem I see with doing exchanges only manually is that many units will never make it to the website or if they do, someone else may grab it before you even saw it. I realize that if you match something you end up not wanting you may miss another unit that came through in that 24 hrs or so but I think that's a lot less likely than missing weeks that went to someone else's OGS that you could have been ahead of. One way to have it both ways is to put in an OGS for your very top options (maybe even just pie in the sky ones) then look online as you do otherwise. Sometimes what you're looking for and have listed goes to the website and didn't match for some reason, esp when you're within the 60 day window so I do both, esp as I get closer to a more important trip. I'd guess that about half of our exchanges are on manual searches but they are generally either because we had an additional need or I'm helping out family who never plan as well as we do. It's rarely that I took a 90 degree turn for a given trip. I realize you get what you want but for things where you have specific plans I strongly suspect you get them later than you would have gotten the match at least some of the time.

Yeah, but we have no top spot(s). There simply is no place we can pick where we want to go, it happened once and we did use OGS that one time. It could happen again, it's possible. Perhaps that is hard to imagine. And we've always gotten fantastic trades for 20 years trading manually. Manual is not an issue for us at all. It's the better way for us. Perhaps not weeks all make it, that's fine. But we almost never go to the same place and are always looking for new places which is the top criteria, and we don't know where that is. Marriott or not is irrelevant. New places can be anywhere, and, whatever comes up at any given time. So, we (based on the inventory at some given time) pick the most interesting spot in the world, and then go from there, can we get good flights, do we want to go overseas at that time, is anything scheduled near there, etc.

 

[Steve Fatula]

Just for my own clarity, do Marriott owners have to go through II if they want to go to another Marriott resort?

That is a yes. You go through II. If enrolled (corporate account), there is no exchange fee though there may be a unit size upgrade fee as always. If not, there is the usual exchange fee.

 

[Dean]

Yeah, but we have no top spot(s). There simply is no place we can pick where we want to go, it happened once and we did use OGS that one time. It could happen again, it's possible. Perhaps that is hard to imagine. And we've always gotten fantastic trades for 20 years trading manually. Manual is not an issue for us at all. It's the better way for us. Perhaps not weeks all make it, that's fine. But we almost never go to the same place and are always looking for new places which is the top criteria, and we don't know where that is. Marriott or not is irrelevant. New places can be anywhere, and, whatever comes up at any given time. So, we (based on the inventory at some given time) pick the most interesting spot in the world, and then go from there, can we get good flights, do we want to go overseas at that time, is anything scheduled near there, etc.

So you have nothing you'd like to get but haven't been able to routinely? That would be very unusual in the timeshare world even with your level of flexibility. Not even a 3 BR unit or week 51/52 in HI or Aruba or an event week somewhere? It can be as high a bar as one want it to be.

 

[Steve Fatula]

So you have nothing you'd like to get but haven't been able to routinely? That would be very unusual in the timeshare world even with your level of flexibility. Not even a 3 BR unit or week 51/52 in HI or Aruba or an event week somewhere? It can be as high a bar as one want it to be.

Well, yes, that is correct. Absolutely nothing. But that's because I am not looking for specific weeks at specific places, I guess you still don't understand. I have zero interest in event weeks, zero interest in week 51/52. I have no interest in a specific place even. I know you vacation that way, and many others do too. My interest is new places could be anywhere, no list, and not a year in advance. I suppose that would drive you nuts, lol. There is nowhere we have wanted to go, that we were not able to go.

I'm not the only one Dean, there are several in this thread who do manual for the same or similar reasons as me.

 

[10spro]

Well, yes, that is correct. Absolutely nothing. But that's because I am not looking for specific weeks at specific places, I guess you still don't understand. I have zero interest in event weeks, zero interest in week 51/52. I have no interest in a specific place even. I know you vacation that way, and many others do too. My interest is new places could be anywhere, no list, and not a year in advance. I suppose that would drive you nuts, lol. There is nowhere we have wanted to go, that we were not able to go.

I'm not the only one Dean, there are several in this thread who do manual for the same or similar reasons as me.

Yes, what Steve said. Trading this way has opened us up to so many new destinations, however, we have no school or event to schedule around, actually we try to avoid crowds and event weeks...and I can be packed ready to go in a hour. Some of our best trades have been within the 60 day window, heck I even did Hawaii on 3 weeks notice. It's a lifestyle that doesn't work for everyone but we get so much mileage out of our little desert week this way.

 

[10spro]

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.

I just exercised my first free re-trade and it was so easy. It's a great option if your plans change, or if you don't like the exact trade you got, take a chance if inventory is available and re-trade for better. Very easy and flexible.

 

[Dean]

Well, yes, that is correct. Absolutely nothing. But that's because I am not looking for specific weeks at specific places, I guess you still don't understand. I have zero interest in event weeks, zero interest in week 51/52. I have no interest in a specific place even. I know you vacation that way, and many others do too. My interest is new places could be anywhere, no list, and not a year in advance. I suppose that would drive you nuts, lol. There is nowhere we have wanted to go, that we were not able to go.

I'm not the only one Dean, there are several in this thread who do manual for the same or similar reasons as me.

I understand what you're staying but I find it difficult to believe that you have no preferences whatsoever any of the time. If so, how do you ever decide when there are more than one thing that pops up. Otherwise why not just list everything as an OGS and take what matches. Regardless, having an OGS will improve one's chances of success. It does not preclude manual searching, I do it all the time with an OGS in place.

 

[Steve Fatula]

Yes, what Steve said. Trading this way has opened us up to so many new destinations, however, we have no school or event to schedule around, actually we try to avoid crowds and event weeks...and I can be packed ready to go in a hour. Some of our best trades have been within the 60 day window, heck I even did Hawaii on 3 weeks notice. It's a lifestyle that doesn't work for everyone but we get so much mileage out of our little desert week this way.

We'll be out there at least somewhat your way in 2 days, heading to desert springs 2. We'll be there until the 14th. I see you own DSV1. We always trade that lockoff. Gets us anywhere and everywhere. And not just mud seasons. But you already know that. Totally agree (obviously) on those event and crowds. So, we'd never for example go to Hilton Head in summer, no way. I wouldn't pay 1 DC point for an event week, lol.

We enjoy talking with other owners at the resorts any time we can. Met quite a few Tuggers now.

 

[A.Win]

I know that OGS makes a lot of sense. But for some reason, I search manually like Steve does. It seems to me that OGS is better for long term planning, whereas I seem to mostly book only 3 or fewer months in advance.

 

[Steve Fatula]

I understand what you're staying but I find it difficult to believe that you have no preferences whatsoever any of the time. If so, how do you ever decide when there are more than one thing that pops up. Otherwise why not just list everything as an OGS and take what matches. Regardless, having an OGS will improve one's chances of success. It does not preclude manual searching, I do it all the time with an OGS in place.

Wow, Dean, you *really* have a problem understanding viewpoints or techniques other than your own. Now you find it really difficult to believe? Don't know what to say but wow, next you'll say lie. You are now using words in different posts that are getting more and more aggressive, no idea what your problem is, you seem to pick on many of my posts lately. This really isn't that difficult to understand and it's pointless to discuss further with you as if it isn't Deans way, it isn't valid, or good, or for no one else, or not as good, etc.

A.Win, you couldn't possibly do that, lol. You'll have slim pickings, only get leftovers, will always be traveling offseason, etc.

 

[Dean]

Wow, Dean, you *really* have a problem understanding viewpoints or techniques other than your own. Now you find it really difficult to believe? Don't know what to say but wow, next you'll say lie. You are now using words in different posts that are getting more and more aggressive, no idea what your problem is. This really isn't that difficult to understand and it's pointless to discuss further with you as if it isn't Deans way, it isn't valid, or good, or for no one else, or not as good, etc.

Steve this is at least the second time you've seemed to assume that understand and agree are the same thing. I understand and in this case it might work for you, that's fine. But I'll repeat the question, and it's a honest and heartfelt question. If you have no preference why not put in an ongoing search and take what comes up? That would be the ultimate luck of the draw.

 

[Steve Fatula]

Dean. Not going to answer. All of the info you are asking for has been posted. Total waste of time. I couldn't care less if you agree, you're wrong. It is obvious you do not understand at all. You clearly do not, else, you wouldn't ask such a silly question.

This thread was not about agreeing, it asked for your method. For some reason, you think you owe the world your disagreement with how someone else (me) does it. I honestly don't get your desire to do so and wish you wouldn't. Debating things is fine, but, this thread was not a debate, it was how do YOU do it. You cannot possibly believe you know better than me how I vacation! It's simply impossible Dean, silly.

 

[Dean]

Dean. Not going to answer. All of the info you are asking for has been posted. Total waste of time. I couldn't care less if you agree, you're wrong. It is obvious you do not understand at all. You clearly do not, else, you wouldn't ask such a silly question.

This thread was not about agreeing, it asked for your method. For some reason, you think you owe the world your disagreement with how someone else (me) does it. I honestly don't get your desire to do so and wish you wouldn't. Debating things is fine, but, this thread was not a debate, it was how do YOU do it. You cannot possibly believe you know better than me how I vacation! It's simply impossible Dean, silly.

Steve clearly I have offended you and for that I apologize.

 

[Steve Fatula]

Steve clearly I have offended you and for that I apologize.

I don't think offended is accurate, but, I appreciate your kind words. Annoy to a great degree would be more accurate, maybe rub the wrong way. I'd be happy at some point to address or discuss via pm, in person, or even on the phone. But I promise you I do as I say, and love it. It's clear I am not effectively communicating via writing here.

 

[mjm1]

We use our DSV1 unit for II trades if we aren’t staying there or electing DC points for that year. Most of the time we lock the unit off, so we can trade both the 1BR and the Studio. We have used OGS and manual trades often submitting an OGS and then watching manually in case something else attractive becomes available. Both OGS and manual have worked well. As others have mentioned, we also pay a unit upsize fee to get a larger unit than we traded. We do prefer to stay within the Marriott world unless they don’t have a resort in our targeted location. Having the flexibility to trade into Vistana resorts with a preference will be a nice alternative although we will continue to prefer using our Vistana SO’s to stay at Vistana resorts. It’s great to have options.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[davidvel]

I understand what you're staying but I find it difficult to believe that you have no preferences whatsoever any of the time. If so, how do you ever decide when there are more than one thing that pops up. Otherwise why not just list everything as an OGS and take what matches. Regardless, having an OGS will improve one's chances of success. It does not preclude manual searching, I do it all the time with an OGS in place.

In our 20+ weeks of trades, we mostly have done online searches (80%+), vs. OGS, as Steve describes. As noted above we trade almost exclusively up to 2BR in Marriotts. No we don't take everything that matches, or we'd end up in Hungary in the winter and Arizona in the summer.

OGS is faulty if that's all that you rely on, as units do fail to properly match and pass through to OGS. (Also, only recently could you put in an OGS for bigger unit. We could never have upsized all of our trades using OGS in the past.)

 

[bazzap]

In our 20+ weeks of trades, we mostly have done online searches (80%+), vs. OGS, as Steve describes. As noted above we trade almost exclusively up to 2BR in Marriotts. No we don't take everything that matches, or we'd end up in Hungary in the winter and Arizona in the summer.

OGS is faulty if that's all that you rely on, as units do fail to properly match and pass through to OGS. (Also, only recently could you put in an OGS for bigger unit. We could never have upsized all of our trades using OGS in the past.)

There is an exception to this, as we regularly do an OGS for a larger unit and upsize our trades.
We could do this because the resorts we have always been requesting only have larger units.

 

[jmhpsu93]

I just exercised my first free re-trade and it was so easy. It's a great option if your plans change, or if you don't like the exact trade you got, take a chance if inventory is available and re-trade for better. Very easy and flexible.

When you re-trade, do you get the trading power of your original week or the one you now "own"?

 

[Dean]

In our 20+ weeks of trades, we mostly have done online searches (80%+), vs. OGS, as Steve describes. As noted above we trade almost exclusively up to 2BR in Marriotts. No we don't take everything that matches, or we'd end up in Hungary in the winter and Arizona in the summer.

OGS is faulty if that's all that you rely on, as units do fail to properly match and pass through to OGS. (Also, only recently could you put in an OGS for bigger unit. We could never have upsized all of our trades using OGS in the past.)

My suggestion of best practices is to do both though neither are perfect. But certainly don't put anything in an OGS that you don't want to get.

 

[Pamplemousse]

When you re-trade, do you get the trading power of your original week or the one you now "own"?

The week you deposited gives the trading power even if you retrade.

 

[mpizza]

I am a “belt and suspender” trader - I place an ongoing search, watch sightings (thank you TUG!) and do manual searches! Most of the time, I will find a unit with a manual search before the ongoing search matches.

And I always add eplus in the event something better comes along!

Maria

 

[davidvel]

There is an exception to this, as we regularly do an OGS for a larger unit and upsize our trades.
We could do this because the resorts we have always been requesting only have larger units.

This is true although most Marriotts are lockouts. We've only traded into ncv which has only 2brs.