Location or Season?

[DJensen]

I've been reading multiple posts in my quest to learn more about TS and what/where/when to purchase.

I believe the first priority is to pick a location where I would want to vacation, however with exchanges, it throws villa size (probably 2 bedroom lock-off for long term benefits) and season into the mix.

My one thought is to look at Orlando based on 2 kids under 10, which would give us lots to do as they grow. The other thought is to look at Marriotts Manor Club in Virginia (besides the historical items), based on the fact that the platinum season seems very accomodating based on weeks available. Am I correct that those platinum weeks are then "available" to exchange with other resorts? Some of the other Marriott locations have such chopped up seasons that travel becomes difficult (not even so worried about school breaks such as Christmas or Spring breaks) - would travel during summer most times.

Please also help me understand the home resort season destignation. If I own platinum 13-43 and 48-52 at Manor Club Ford Colony, does that mean my exhange to another resort would be in this time period? Or does the exchanging resort weeks play into this as well? I realize its all based on availability as well.

Thanks for your help as all of this TS information is starting to make sense!!

 

[ocdb8r]

You can exchange out of season so you won't be restricted to those weeks. Getting a Platinum week is key because exchanges are based on a "trading power" number which generally corresponds to demand for the week you are exchanging. The higher demand week you offer to exchange, the higher demand week you can pull (or exchange into). In general though, with a bit of flexibility you can get some very good exchanges with a Platinum Manor Club. (In fact, in general most Marriott platinum weeks exchange very well).

I personally would NOT buy my first timeshare in Orlando if there were another area I might be interested in. Reason: Orlando is very over-developed with timeshares. That means it is generally much easier to trade into that it is to trade out of. Manor Club will likely get you into any Orlando resort all year (except maybe 4th of July and Christmas/New Years, but even then if you are flexible as to which resort you can get something at that time). On the other hand the Orlando Marriotts are much more hit and miss (some trade well, others poorly...often this changes drastically as new resorts are built as the over-saturation of the mkt makes "new" resorts the only ones in real high demmand).