- Joined
- Jul 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,139
- Reaction score
- 1,909
- Location
- Carlsbad, CA
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott: Maui Ocean Club Lahaina Villas (3BRx5), Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge II, Willow Ridge, Aruba Ocean Club, DC Points HGVC: Flamingo, Sea World, I-Drive, Starwood Bella (x4), SDO, TradeWinds, Worldmark
All,
Thank you to the TUGgers who participated in the Aruba sightings experiment. I ended up focusing on Aruba Surf Club because it had the most weeks deposited and had a good cross section of Studios, 1BRs and 2BRs. Further, I only ended up using Sightings from last Thursday because I believe Marriott did a second deposit on Friday, as new weeks started to appear that distorted the consistency of the weeks reported.
The purpose behind my experiment was to see if we could learn more about the Trading Power for various Marriott deposits at II. I suspected that the TDI Chart [click here] that II published on the DClub provided important clues on how II viewed different Marriott weeks and I wanted to see if there was correlation between the Chart and TUGgers ability to get trades consistent with the Chart (ie, a TUGger's 1BR deposit "worth" 2,750 points can see a 2BR in II that is worth 2,250 points, whereas a Studio deposit worth 1,500 points can't see that same 2BR).
Beyond confirming my suspicion about the TDI Chart, there really aren’t any new findings here. This experiment does provide further confirmation of many things that TUGgers have reduced to “best practices” for II trading.
In summary:
1) 51 weeks (2012 Year) at Aruba Surf Club were deposited (presumably by Marriott)
2) The Marriott preference appeared to protect all 1BRs, all 2BRs and only Studios that are more than 6 months out
3) Other TUGgers could report seeing Studios in May/June without using Marriott traders, including me, who sighted Studio weeks with my 3BR WM Float week.
4) 18 of the 51 weeks were Studios, 14 were 1BRs and 19 were 2BRs
5) 37 units were TDI rated 75-85
6) 11 units were TDI rated 90
7) 3 units were TDI rated 95
8) The weeks that TUGgers used to search were high quality weeks presumably picked for excellent trading power (Dioxide had Memorial Week at Grand Vista, ScubaKat had Week 1 at Harbour Lake, Yumdrey had a Platinum at Shadow Ridge, Ocdb8r had a good 2BR at Marbella, and I had two different summer MOC Studios – one deposit that is via DClub Interval and a second deposit that is my old Interval account – both are 2011 weeks)
9) Only the 2BR Marbella was able to see all 51 weeks. This deposit had the highest “Full-Week Exchange Value” per the chart – I believe it would be worth 3,000 points.
10) The 1BR’s, which I think would have a “Full-Week Exchange Value” per the chart of 2,750, could see all weeks except for a single Aruba Surf Club week – a Nov 22nd 2BR. Nov 22, 2012 is Thanksgiving, so II has apparently increased the trading power requirement for that specific week, since these same 1BR deposits could see all other 2BRs, including a 2BR (Nov 1) with higher TDI than the missing Nov 22. This reinforces the notion that Interval’s TDI ratings are a guide only, and the actual deposits will be tweaked by II for holidays. This certainly supports the TUG best practice of reserving a Thanksgiving Week (or other holiday) to maximize your Trade Power
11) My MOC Week 24 Studio (TDI 130) – the deposit not in DClub Interval -- could see more weeks (ie, most of the 2BRs) than my Week 25 MOC Studio (the one that is in DClub Interval). I intentionally deposited the Week 24 in my external II account in July 2010 so I could compare trading power of the two deposits (ie, with/without DClub). The Week 25 wasn’t deposited until 4 months prior to check-in, and I’ve conducted a bunch of experiments in 2011 and had been under the impression that they were seeing the same things. However, the fact that the Week 24 could see 2BR units and Week 25 (with higher TDI) could not supports the hypothesis that as you get closer to check-in to make your deposit, there will be a marked deterioration in Trade Power. The Week 24 Studio, deposited 12 months out, behaved more like a 1BR deposit than a Studio, and the Week 25 Studio behaved just like a good Studio.
12) Studios in general have a difficult time seeing a 2BR week (if that week is still 8-12 months out) and it is also not a slam dunk to get a 1BR, even at the lower TDI’s
13) II remains quirky, I noted a couple inconsistencies where a Studio week with modest TDI was seen by one Studio, but not seen by a different Studio (when it should have). I could not come up with an explanation, other than to think it was an II glitch or someone booked it and released it 18 minutes later – accordingly, I’ve been trying to make comments above based upon when a pattern can be discerned across all the different deposits.
Thank you again for the support and the Sightings information. Again, nothing here is really new or novel, I just find it validates a lot of the best practices and confirms that DClub Interval does not have a preference over the legacy Interval accounts. Further, the Marriott preference is very powerful, because even a 3BR WM float (which is a powerful trading week) was restricted from seeing anything but Studios.
I welcome further comments and insight and am happy to share the spreadsheet (such as it is) with anyone who sends a PM.
All the best,
Greg
Thank you to the TUGgers who participated in the Aruba sightings experiment. I ended up focusing on Aruba Surf Club because it had the most weeks deposited and had a good cross section of Studios, 1BRs and 2BRs. Further, I only ended up using Sightings from last Thursday because I believe Marriott did a second deposit on Friday, as new weeks started to appear that distorted the consistency of the weeks reported.
The purpose behind my experiment was to see if we could learn more about the Trading Power for various Marriott deposits at II. I suspected that the TDI Chart [click here] that II published on the DClub provided important clues on how II viewed different Marriott weeks and I wanted to see if there was correlation between the Chart and TUGgers ability to get trades consistent with the Chart (ie, a TUGger's 1BR deposit "worth" 2,750 points can see a 2BR in II that is worth 2,250 points, whereas a Studio deposit worth 1,500 points can't see that same 2BR).
Beyond confirming my suspicion about the TDI Chart, there really aren’t any new findings here. This experiment does provide further confirmation of many things that TUGgers have reduced to “best practices” for II trading.
In summary:
1) 51 weeks (2012 Year) at Aruba Surf Club were deposited (presumably by Marriott)
2) The Marriott preference appeared to protect all 1BRs, all 2BRs and only Studios that are more than 6 months out
3) Other TUGgers could report seeing Studios in May/June without using Marriott traders, including me, who sighted Studio weeks with my 3BR WM Float week.
4) 18 of the 51 weeks were Studios, 14 were 1BRs and 19 were 2BRs
5) 37 units were TDI rated 75-85
6) 11 units were TDI rated 90
7) 3 units were TDI rated 95
8) The weeks that TUGgers used to search were high quality weeks presumably picked for excellent trading power (Dioxide had Memorial Week at Grand Vista, ScubaKat had Week 1 at Harbour Lake, Yumdrey had a Platinum at Shadow Ridge, Ocdb8r had a good 2BR at Marbella, and I had two different summer MOC Studios – one deposit that is via DClub Interval and a second deposit that is my old Interval account – both are 2011 weeks)
9) Only the 2BR Marbella was able to see all 51 weeks. This deposit had the highest “Full-Week Exchange Value” per the chart – I believe it would be worth 3,000 points.
10) The 1BR’s, which I think would have a “Full-Week Exchange Value” per the chart of 2,750, could see all weeks except for a single Aruba Surf Club week – a Nov 22nd 2BR. Nov 22, 2012 is Thanksgiving, so II has apparently increased the trading power requirement for that specific week, since these same 1BR deposits could see all other 2BRs, including a 2BR (Nov 1) with higher TDI than the missing Nov 22. This reinforces the notion that Interval’s TDI ratings are a guide only, and the actual deposits will be tweaked by II for holidays. This certainly supports the TUG best practice of reserving a Thanksgiving Week (or other holiday) to maximize your Trade Power
11) My MOC Week 24 Studio (TDI 130) – the deposit not in DClub Interval -- could see more weeks (ie, most of the 2BRs) than my Week 25 MOC Studio (the one that is in DClub Interval). I intentionally deposited the Week 24 in my external II account in July 2010 so I could compare trading power of the two deposits (ie, with/without DClub). The Week 25 wasn’t deposited until 4 months prior to check-in, and I’ve conducted a bunch of experiments in 2011 and had been under the impression that they were seeing the same things. However, the fact that the Week 24 could see 2BR units and Week 25 (with higher TDI) could not supports the hypothesis that as you get closer to check-in to make your deposit, there will be a marked deterioration in Trade Power. The Week 24 Studio, deposited 12 months out, behaved more like a 1BR deposit than a Studio, and the Week 25 Studio behaved just like a good Studio.
12) Studios in general have a difficult time seeing a 2BR week (if that week is still 8-12 months out) and it is also not a slam dunk to get a 1BR, even at the lower TDI’s
13) II remains quirky, I noted a couple inconsistencies where a Studio week with modest TDI was seen by one Studio, but not seen by a different Studio (when it should have). I could not come up with an explanation, other than to think it was an II glitch or someone booked it and released it 18 minutes later – accordingly, I’ve been trying to make comments above based upon when a pattern can be discerned across all the different deposits.
Thank you again for the support and the Sightings information. Again, nothing here is really new or novel, I just find it validates a lot of the best practices and confirms that DClub Interval does not have a preference over the legacy Interval accounts. Further, the Marriott preference is very powerful, because even a 3BR WM float (which is a powerful trading week) was restricted from seeing anything but Studios.
I welcome further comments and insight and am happy to share the spreadsheet (such as it is) with anyone who sends a PM.
All the best,
Greg
