Ko Olina Reservation & Exchange Questions

[dickandrews]

Greetings to everyone! I am new to TUG and would appreciate comments and suggestions on what I plan to do in 2011.

I have two weeks with Marriott Vacation Club and, as such, I can reserve 13 months prior to date for concurrent or sequential weeks. Assuming I get up early 13 months before the target vacation date, I hope to reserve two sequential 2 bedroom Villas exercising the lockout option on the second 2 br villa, for the middle of summer (Hawaii peak season). I will then have three high power reservations (One each for a 2 br villa, a 1 br villa and an efficiency unit). I plan exchange with II two (1 br and efficiency) of the three for some other vacation spots we would want to go to since they will have good trading power.

While I have the summer reservation for the 2 bedroom villa, I prefer to vacation in Hawaii in the Spring and Fall. My questions are, assuming there is availability:

>Will the system allow me to do the three reservations for two sequential weeks?, or
>Do I have to make the efficiency reservation for the third sequential week?
>Can I change my 2 bedroom reservation from summer to the fall at a later date?, and
>Will the cost be $75 for the lockout and $35 for the reservation change?

Why am I planning to do this? So I can have maximum trading power for my one bedroom and lockout units by securing a peak season week, which I notice is mostly gone by the time the 12 month window opens up.

I would appreciate your expert thoughts and feedback on these questions.

Happy vacations,
Dick Andrews

 

[thinze3]

You can make sequential reservations with your 1BR and Studio at KoOlina while putting Monarch if front or behind that. You will have to pay a $75 lock-off fee.

If going to trade those KoOlina units, I would deposit the studio immediately and then the 1BR as soon as Interval offers a bonus week for it, if you are one to use them. If not, them deposit it immediately as well. Remember place you search requests at least 12 months prior to desired date of travel.

The Monarch reservation can be changed at a later date and will cost you a "change" fee. You mention changing Monarch to a fall date. If you own Summer season at Monarch you cannot book a Sport or Value season week.

Here is the calendar.

Good luck.

 

[cigarboo]

I think the OP is wondering if he can use his 13 month advantage and book 2 sequential weeks, one week with the whole 2br and the other week locking off the 2br into a 1br reservation plus a studio reservation. It would essentially give him 3 reservation numbers for 2 sequential weeks. I think he can do that. I'm not a multi-week owner, but I think the weeks can be concurrent as well as sequential whether you lock off or not??

Now, if he were to change one of those weeks to a different date within his season, is it as simple as just paying the reservation change fee? Does it affect the other weeks that were booked with the 13 month advantage? It wouldn't seem so, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a rule that made changing one of those weeks to result in canceling the associated reservations, just to prevent abuse or something. I hope someone can clarify this.

The OP wants to vacation in Hawaii in the spring or fall. He wants to move the 2br reservation to a later time after securing a high demand summer week with the Ko Olina 1br and studio reservations, for trading purposes. Are the reservations for Ko Olina in the spring and fall much easier to obtain so that the OP can reasonably expect to get his week of choice during these seasons? Or is the OP better off using his 13 month advantage to secure his reservation for the time he wants to go and then just booking the sequential/concurrent week in that time, figuring that Hawaii is pretty much high demand year round?

If the trading power for Ko Olina is similar whether its the spring/fall vs summer, then maybe it's not worth the hassle of booking summer and having to move the reservation just for the sake of trading power. It'll save you the change fee at least and it's less of a headache.

 

[cigarboo]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[dickandrews]

Cigarboo,
Dan Rather or Walter Kronkite could NOT have done better in articulating and elaborating what it was I was trying to do, and catch/see any pitfalls associated with such a plan.
Thanks for your explanation.
DickA

 

[dickandrews]

.
If going to trade those KoOlina units, I would deposit the studio immediately and then the 1BR as soon as Interval offers a bonus week for it, if you are one to use them. If not, them deposit it immediately as well.

Remember place you search requests at least 12 months prior to desired date of travel.
Here is the calendar.

I assume that most reservations and deposits can be made no earlier than 12 months prior to the vacation date. As such, if you place your request "at least 12 months prior" say 18 months, there would be no available units, as yet, but, does this put you ahead of the queue versus another requester who has equal trading power when the unit come up.
Would higher trading power always trump early requesters of lower trading power? For example, if one had reservations in Ko Olina (Honolulu) for PRO BOWL week in March would an early request be of tangible value. Or would it only be used as a tie breaker?
Thanks.

 

[thinze3]

What you are inquiring about can be done. I booked two of my resorts for March 13, 2010 and will probably lock-off one of them at a later date if I get it rented.

Technically, yes, there are rules about using the 13 month rule and then changing one of the reservations later. Marriott CAN cancel both. However, if you deposit one of the units with II first, there will not be any problems.

Hawaii, including KoOlina, has high demand year round, but generally a bit more demand during the summer weeks.
Look at the Travel Demand Index here. Note, because of the high year round demand, very few Tuggers have difficulty booking their desired weeks in Hawaii, especially at resorts like KoOlina where there are so many unsold weeks. Just start calling at 8:59am ET - you'll be fine.

Mainly, the reason for depositing early is to get your request in early, so that as the deposits of your desired destination begin coming in, you will already be in line. I, for example, already have a request in for Hawaii summer 2011 to tag along with my odd year ownership at Waiohai.

 

[dickandrews]

Thank you for your response, Terry.

Should I just then do my reservation starting at 8:59 AM EDT under the 12 month lead time and forget about leveraging the 13 month window unless I want to use the reservatios as booked on the erlier cycle?

I suppose if I stay clear of the Fourth of July week, I should do OK with a 12 month lead time.

Thanks,
Dick

 

[thinze3]

If all you are going to do is reserve your week, lock-off, and then deposit, you will have no problem geeting a good week at KoOlina. Usually there are Sunday check-in days available for even the best weeks, 25-27, lingering for several days after the 12 month time frame. Sunday check-ins have the same II trading strength as Friday and Saturday check-ins.

Another thing, it is a Marriott in Hawaii. Even the lessor demanded weeks are VERY strong traders.