Jerrygomi
TUG Member
To my surprise, I just got a two bedroom ocean view at Westin Nanea in exchange for a one bedroom at Desert Springs 1. Most of my other interval exchanges have had lousy views
Most of my other interval exchanges have had lousy views
Legends Edge seems to be an easy exchange in II too - was thinking about it but got Desert Springs instead. How's the weather there for Christmas - New Year?We just exchanged 3000 WM credits for Legends Edge over New Years. We received our request of top floor of BlueBell overlooking the gulf . We could see three different firework displays clearly from the lanai and another couple off in the distance which was a bonus. Since we didn’t have a view in our trade, I don’t see it as a downgrade.
Legends Edge also only has two buildings with no specified views. All views face toward the water.Legends Edge seems to be an easy exchange in II too - was thinking about it but got Desert Springs instead. How's the weather there for Christmas - New Year?
Much better than weather in Kansas!! 65-70 everyday. The pool/hot tub area was being renovated, so they provided those services @ Spring Hill Suites about 20-25 minutes away. It was right on the beach, so a good alternative for us. The gulf water was chilly, but still able to spend some time in it a couple days when it was 70+ & sunny. The Boiler is just a few minutes past Spring Hill, so we would visit the beach/hot tub & get supper on way back to our villa a couple times. We should have gone further south but it was far enough being 15+ hour one way drive.Legends Edge seems to be an easy exchange in II too - was thinking about it but got Desert Springs instead. How's the weather there for Christmas - New Year?
All way down from Kansas?! It must be a great place for New Year eve and glad you didn't stop in New Orleans. One of future New Years I will be there but for 2025, I am thinking of Orlando.Much better than weather in Kansas!! 65-70 everyday. The pool/hot tub area was being renovated, so they provided those services @ Spring Hill Suites about 20-25 minutes away. It was right on the beach, so a good alternative for us. The gulf water was chilly, but still able to spend some time in it a couple days when it was 70+ & sunny. The Boiler is just a few minutes past Spring Hill, so we would visit the beach/hot tub & get supper on way back to our villa a couple times. We should have gone further south but it was far enough being 15+ hour one way drive.
We have an II exchange in March. It will be our first time at Legends Edge and the last (non City Collection) Marriott timeshare to visit in Florida. It is good that they provided access to another property's pool while they were renovating the one at Legends Edge.Much better than weather in Kansas!! 65-70 everyday. The pool/hot tub area was being renovated, so they provided those services @ Spring Hill Suites about 20-25 minutes away. It was right on the beach, so a good alternative for us. The gulf water was chilly, but still able to spend some time in it a couple days when it was 70+ & sunny. The Boiler is just a few minutes past Spring Hill, so we would visit the beach/hot tub & get supper on way back to our villa a couple times. We should have gone further south but it was far enough being 15+ hour one way drive.
2024—Orlando for Pop Tarts Bowl & Xmas Cruise (stayed @ WM Reunion & Kingstown Reef)All way down from Kansas?! It must be a great place for New Year eve and glad you didn't stop in New Orleans. One of future New Years I will be there but for 2025, I am thinking of Orlando.
Pool/hot tub opened 3 days after we left. Check out their FB page for pics, etc.We have an II exchange in March. It will be our first time at Legends Edge and the last (non City Collection) Marriott timeshare to visit in Florida. It is good that they provided access to another property's pool while they were renovating the one at Legends Edge.
What is The Boiler?
There is no such thing as "ocean view" at Nanea. There is Ocean Front, which is excellent, and there is Resort View, which ranges from very good to a parking structure view.To my surprise, I just got a two bedroom ocean view at Westin Nanea in exchange for a one bedroom at Desert Springs 1. Most of my other interval exchanges have had lousy views
It also helps to link the stay to additional nights using DC points so they benefit by keeping you in the same villa.
Most of the time MVC does keep the views of exchanged.We just returned from OceanWatch where we exchanged into 3 units for spring break. We made these exchanges a year ago. My BonVoy account and Interval exchange history showed 2 of the units were designated as Oceanfront and 1 was Garden View. About a month ago I received an email from Marriott OW referencing only 1 of the units that was supposed to be oceanfront but the email specifically said we were being placed in a Garden View room in a lower floor of the Pine or Maple building. I never received an email referencing the other 2 units. I did call and talk to someone at MOW to make sure they knew we had 3 units and asked if they could honor the Oceanfront designation for 2 of the units. They said they did have record of the 3 exchanges and would try to honor my preferences. When we arrived we were given 2 oceanfront rooms in the Starfish tower on the 7th floor. Amazing views!! The other room was sure enough a garden view 6th floor room in the Maple building. So we did end up getting exactly what we were hoping for. The resort was definitely not at capacity so I guess they always say “views are not guaranteed” for when they are packed and have less wiggle room to keep everyone happy.
As discussed in other posts, exchanges done through Interval still get free parking. I was nervous because even the Welcome packet paperwork received at check in says parking is $25 per day, per vehicle.
In my recent experiences, I think most resorts by default assign exchangers in the lowest type of villa. However, if I call and request a better villa and provide my ownership information, they will 'upgrade' me as long as the resort isn't full with MVC owners. It also helps to link the stay to additional nights using DC points so they benefit by keeping you in the same villa. A call or email to the rooms control manager definitely helps.
This is typical at MVC. For the same reason, owners staying in their island view week do not get OF rooms.That has not been my experience. I have always gotten the view code that was listed on my interval exchange. I have never been downgraded. I have gotten oceanfront rooms at OceanWatch & Ocean Pointe on exchanges, and Oceanview at Surf Club as well.
I know from many reports here that the Hilton head resorts are ones that typically do downgrade views for exchangers- but I haven’t stayed at any of them yet.
For as long as I've owned at Barony and SurfWatch the resorts' stated placement policy is that first, understandably (and legally,) in order come Owners using their Owned Weeks, Abound Members using their Owned Points, and Cash Guests, all of whom are placed into the view that they specifically reserve - there are virtually no upgrades or downgrades among these groups (except in very rare instances of inventory becoming unexpectedly uninhabitable.) Next come any Preview and Encore guests who were guaranteed a specific view (which doesn't always happen.) Finally, among all the remaining available units, in order come the Resort Owners exchanging back in*, other Marriott Owners exchanging in*, Preview and Encore guests who weren't guaranteed a specific view, and finally non-Marriott exchangers.If their policy is to always assign II exchanges Garden View units, how would any owner benefit from this policy? Therefore no exchanger would get any benefit. Where does the resort move this inventory? An owner who used VC points for a reservation only gets the villa level that they reserved with points. The resort isn't going to upgrade a points user or week owner to a higher view villa. If 25% of the owner deposits are for oceanside or ocean front villas, and 100% of the exchangers are assigned the garden villas, how are those 25% inventory units used? If MVC utilizes them for DC point reservations or for Marriott Bonvoy rentals or Encore, they are generating more revenue from those downgraded II exchanges. I would also like to note that Ocean side villas are still available for VC points or Bonvoy cash reservations for the week I am there.
As I mentioned earlier, I received the confirmed Oceanside villa assignment two years ago when I combined it with my Oceanside points reservations. At that time, II provided PDF confirmations that included the villa level that had been deposited. Exchanges were typically allocated in the same 'buckets' as the deposits. Recently, II stopped including PDF files with the exchange details and it is much more difficult to find the type of unit that had been deposited (and to add to Bonvoy reservations). I realize that exchangers always have the lowest villa assignment priority, but at least the villa assignment was for the confirmed view type. In the past, owners exchanging into their owned resort received priority over other exchangers or renters, but II stopped providing ownership information to the resort so this policy stopped.
My question is still whether this downgrade is occurring at the other MVC resorts with multiple view levels, and has anyone actually been upgrade to a higher level for an exchange or points reservation?
Considering that Marriott has the right to make available for cash stays inventory to which they're entitled through multiple avenues, it benefits them greatly to be able to manipulate inventory among all of the buckets. For a simplified example, say Marriott has access to twenty gardenview units and II exchangers are confirmed into twenty oceanfront units that have been deposited by Owners. Marriott can take those oceanfront units from II and replace them with the gardenview units they're holding, thereby increasing their potential income from cash stays because views are a differential in pricing.What would be that advantage to MVCI for doing downgrades? Who would they give that room to? Owners get view they own, points get the view the reserve, cash get the view they reserve,. Seems changing views for II would cause more problems.
This really doesn't seem ethical to me and I would never have invested in my MVC timeshares if I thought they would profit by downgrading owners from what they are entitled to. If a ocean view unit was reserved for an exchange deposit, it should be used for an exchanger. I was told that they can't move inventory between 'buckets', but wouldn't be surprised if there is a loophole in the terms and conditions that allows them to do this.Considering that Marriott has the right to make available for cash stays inventory to which they're entitled through multiple avenues, it benefits them greatly to be able to manipulate inventory among all of the buckets. For a simplified example, say Marriott has access to twenty gardenview units and II exchangers are confirmed into twenty oceanfront units that have been deposited by Owners. Marriott can take those oceanfront units from II and replace them with the gardenview units they're holding, thereby increasing their potential income from cash stays because views are a differential in pricing.
Talking exchanges there are no owners rights that are applicable. All MVC has to do to fix this is simply remove all avenues to see what the deposited unit view type was.This really doesn't seem ethical to me and I would never have invested in my MVC timeshares if I thought they would profit by downgrading owners from what they are entitled to. If a ocean view unit was reserved for an exchange deposit, it should be used for an exchanger. I was told that they can't move inventory between 'buckets', but wouldn't be surprised if there is a loophole in the terms and conditions that allows them to do this.
I'm not surprised by anyone disagreeing with the policy but there are two points I'd make:This really doesn't seem ethical to me and I would never have invested in my MVC timeshares if I thought they would profit by downgrading owners from what they are entitled to. If a ocean view unit was reserved for an exchange deposit, it should be used for an exchanger. I was told that they can't move inventory between 'buckets', but wouldn't be surprised if there is a loophole in the terms and conditions that allows them to do this.
A lot of the inventory management is done based on forecasting e.g MVC guessing what owners will do with their ownership. Based on their guessing, they identify volumes of inventory for the different "buckets". Depending on what owners actually do they may then need to move inventory between the "buckets" we know that they can do this as its in the exchange procedures and terms and conditions. We know that they do do it as it was stated in the Investor presentation during the post COVID travel peak that they would be moving inventory from their rental keys to owner reservations and then some interesting stuff started to appear. I though it was very good of them to do that, as it goes against the notion that its all about monetising inventory, but that was likely an exception rather than the rule.If a ocean view unit was reserved for an exchange deposit, it should be used for an exchanger. I was told that they can't move inventory between 'buckets', but wouldn't be surprised if there is a loophole in the terms and conditions that allows them to do this.