II Deposit First or Request First

[Tunley]

Does anyone have any insight into whether it makes a difference to do a Request First or a Deposit First with II. I own at Marriott's Custom House. I've been told on this board that I should first get the best (from a trading power respective) week I can through Marriott before I deposit it with II. My skeptical nature tells me that once I deposit my week with II (as a Deposit First), there is no real incentive for my request to be granted, so generally I will do a Request First. Problem is, that while I have a Platinum season (summer) in Boston, if I want to go skiing the following year, I have to wait until May (when my season opens up) in order to book my week.

A second question is, how does II determine who gets a week if there are multiple on-going search requests for a particular resort. For example, I have an on-going request for Marriott's Mountainside resort in Park City for Feb. '09. If multiple owners have that same request, do they then look at the "trading power" of each of the units? If someone has a Request First and I have already deposited my week, am I at a disadvantage because II already has my week? Any help understanding this would be helpful.

 

[Bill4728]

Generally, When you deposit your week, II will assign it a secret trading power. The better the week and the earlier it's deposited will both increase your assigned trading power. Once it is assigned it will not change. Most people believe that II gives some extra trading power ( although maybe small) to weeks which deposited rather than may be deposited ( as with request first) II also gives you a AC ( bonus week) if you deposit a high value week like a summer Boston Marriott.

When you do request first, your trading power may change each day and will likely become less as your checkin date approaches.


So, in general, you are not in any disadvantage if you deposit first. And if you're deposit a high value week, you'll likely get an AC ( bonus week).

 

[Tunley]

Thanks, Bill. To get this bonus week, I assume I have to call II and ask for this? Are the bonus weeks worth anything. I seem to remember getting one of these when I first bought my TS and it was very limited in where and when I could travel.

Also, is there any information out there about the inner-workings of II and how trading power is determined? You mentioned above that most people believe that II gives some extra trading power to those that deposit first. How did this belief come about? Does anyone actually know for sure. Thanks, I appreciate your help.

Scott

 

[Bill4728]

Scott,

Are you siigned up for online access to II?

If you are this thread tells you about ACs ( bonus weeks) and how to get one, what you can use them ect. You can do it all online.

 

[rsnash]

Do you have to actually have a reservation in order to check for AC availability? I want to do some searches to see if I would get an AC, for various dates (my TS if gold-float), but I don't have a reservation for 2009 yet and it won't let me do any search with a made up reservation number or not. How can I see what week I should request for a res from Marriott if I can't search without the reservation? To be clear, when I click "Available" on the "Deposit/Extend A Week" page, a small bubble window pops up saying my unit is available, but the link does not continue to a page to enter the fake res number. I can do this if I click "request" but not "deposit."

So, if you have to have an actual reservation to check (even with a fake res number), how can you check to see what week you should try to reserve so as to get an AC?

 

[Phill12]

We had this talk last year and one of the moderators ripped into me that I didn't know what I was talking about.

II says more power with deposit first and you might even get a A/C to go with your deposit.

My view is that if you have a timeshare in demand and week it won't matter.

First if you like your resort and would go there then request first is better in my opinion. We have always used this and we get what we want or we go to Lake Tahoe in the summer months mostly July 4th week.:whoopie:

I have had II try and talk me into changing it to a deposit and getting a A/C and I have told them no.

Last year we had a request first in and they called with offers we didn't want. In Feb I told them that we would wait until May 1st and pull our resort and use it if they didn't get one of our four choices and whithin three days we had our second choice in Hawaii. I would bet if I had let them change it to a deposit we would not have our second choice.

It doesn't do II any good no matter what their power list shows if I pull my unit back. They don't get my exchange fee and they don't get to give it to another member and no matter what your told this is very important to II.

If you are not going to use your unit then go ahead and deposit early and maybe get a A/C from II.



PHIL

 

[Tunley]

Thanks, Bill. Yes, I'm set up to see everything online. I called II today and they said my week (Marriott Custom House - Memorial Day Week '09) did not qualify right now for an AC. My request for a February ski week in Park City and Breckenridge hasn't come through (the request has been in since May) so I called today to withdraw the request (I'm going to pay for a week at Grand Timber Lodge in Breckenridge for '09). Since I have no desire to go to Boston, I can either trade for the Marriott points (125,000) or do a deposit first and look to get a ski week in 2010. I'm leaning towards the deposit first since I'm thinking I'll have a better shot if I deposit now for Winter 2010, hence why I was wondering if I was disadvantaged by a deposit first.

 

[bnoble]

II says more power with deposit first and you might even get a A/C to go with your deposit.

As I recall, the difference is very modest---deposit/request status is used only to break ties if all other factors are equal. (I think that's what Dave has said in the past.) Modest indeed, but a slight advantage to deposit-first.

There are only two compelling reasons to deposit your week, as far as I can tell. One: you have been offered an AC, and want to take advantage of the offer. Two: you want to enter an ongoing search to travel after your interval's use date. Request-first searches can only be put in for dates up to your unit's use date.

AC offers do change from year to year. I had two '08 weeks with offers last year, from a full year in advance up to about four months (I deposited both). This year, neither has been offered an AC so far, and we're about 11 months out from use, give or take.

Edited to add: there is a third reason---if you're getting close to 59 days before use, and you're pretty sure you're going to end up depositing it, deposit before that deadline, else you will be limited to flexchange.