Location recommendation for Christmas travel

[iftravel]

Now planning for Christmas (perhaps a bit late in the game already). Looking for a warm location for family fun and easy to exchange into. In II, Palm Springs and Phoenix seem easy to get. I’m thinking of a week in Hawaii, but nothing shows up right now. I will put in a request but is it close to impossible for decent resorts like Marriott and Westin?

Orlando and Florida is easy but we were just back from there. From next year, we will probably stick with Florida for Christmas and look elsewhere for Spring break and summer, way easier to get than Christmas time.

Any other recommendation for Christmas? Yes I will just exchange not to buy a Christmas week to just stay.

 

[Hindsite]

Have you considered Mexico and the Caribbean Islands? St Kitts and St Maarten are good choices to add to your request, the latter having better flights from the US.

Not too late, but you'll be relying on cancellations so a request is your friend, as well as setting getaway alerts and checking as often as you can for anything that slips through the auto-match process. The good news is that the rental market is soft so there may be things that go in just before the 60 day mark.

 

[iftravel]

Have you considered Mexico and the Caribbean Islands? St Kitts and St Maarten are good choices to add to your request, the latter having better flights from the US.

Not too late, but you'll be relying on cancellations so a request is your friend, as well as setting getaway alerts and checking as often as you can for anything that slips through the auto-match process. The good news is that the rental market is soft so there may be things that go in just before the 60 day mark.

Thanks I will look into Caribbeans. I thought its as hard as Hawaii. Any successful experience of getting a Christmas week in a resort close to Marriott quality?

 

[Hindsite]

MVC St Kitts is excellent and Simpson Bay and Oyster Bay on St Maartin are good. Then there is the MVC on St Thomas and the Aruba ones to pitch into your request.
Not sure about Mexico, there are several elite resorts, but check for resort fees and avoid all inclusive if you are using II.
As you are a TUG member you could put in a sightings request in the sightings forum. I can see Xmas 2-bed at an MVC in one of the US locations that you mention, but don't want to incur the wrath of moderators by offering a sighting outside of the members benefit. It might be in MVC preference, or you may be able to see it yourself.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Now planning for Christmas (perhaps a bit late in the game already). Looking for a warm location for family fun and easy to exchange into. In II, Palm Springs and Phoenix seem easy to get. I’m thinking of a week in Hawaii, but nothing shows up right now. I will put in a request but is it close to impossible for decent resorts like Marriott and Westin?

Orlando and Florida is easy but we were just back from there. From next year, we will probably stick with Florida for Christmas and look elsewhere for Spring break and summer, way easier to get than Christmas time.

Any other recommendation for Christmas? Yes I will just exchange not to buy a Christmas week to just stay.

You don’t say what you own/ are offering for exchange but I see you own DVC. Do you have an Abound property too?
As others have said your problem right now will be supply not so much trading power if you have the baseline amount to exchange into these resorts.
If you don’t own MVC/Abound your other problem is units MVC units will be under priority for 3 weeks once deposited meaning they can only be seen in inventory/match a request placed by in brand owners so it would need to survive that before you could exchange in.
My advice is to place a request today for everything you really want- all the MVC/Abound HI, carribean MVC, other brands-places you don’t see in inventory.
And then search manually too as often as you can since cancellations often end up in general inventory before the request filter runs and matches.
Do your research on locations, resorts, flight costs up front so if something great comes up you can grab it.

I have some friends who go to Williamsburg at Christmas every few years- they say it is beautiful with lots to do. Might not be your definition of warm.

 

[iftravel]

You don’t say what you own/ are offering for exchange but I see you own DVC. Do you have an Abound property too?
As others have said your problem right now will be supply not so much trading power if you have the baseline amount to exchange into these resorts.
If you don’t own MVC/Abound your other problem is units MVC units will be under priority for 3 weeks once deposited meaning they can only be seen in inventory/match a request placed by in brand owners so it would need to survive that before you could exchange in.
My advice is to place a request today for everything you really want- all the MVC/Abound HI, carribean MVC, other brands-places you don’t see in inventory.
And then search manually too as often as you can since cancellations often end up in general inventory before the request filter runs and matches.
Do your research on locations, resorts, flight costs up front so if something great comes up you can grab it.

I have some friends who go to Williamsburg at Christmas every few years- they say it is beautiful with lots to do. Might not be your definition of warm.

Thanks for the advice. I just booked Marriott Desert Springs as I wanted to lock in something available. Plenty of Christmas inventory in Palm Springs / Palm Desert area. I put in an e-Plus so I could change if I find anything more exciting. I have the Colonies at Williamburg as my trader and I will put in a request for something like Marriott Newport Coast Villas and Four Seasons Aviara. Yeah, it would be more advantageous to own a Marriott week to trade but will see if I got lucky. Anything else to recommand / good expereince in SoCal for Christmas? Thank you all for your input.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Now planning for Christmas (perhaps a bit late in the game already). Looking for a warm location for family fun and easy to exchange into. In II, Palm Springs and Phoenix seem easy to get. I’m thinking of a week in Hawaii, but nothing shows up right now. I will put in a request but is it close to impossible for decent resorts like Marriott and Westin?

Orlando and Florida is easy but we were just back from there. From next year, we will probably stick with Florida for Christmas and look elsewhere for Spring break and summer, way easier to get than Christmas time.

Any other recommendation for Christmas? Yes I will just exchange not to buy a Christmas week to just stay.

We just came back from Palm Springs and we loved it there and we want to go back next year, we went for a wedding so we stayed in Indian Wells, and it was a lovely place to visit. We learned that September is too hot, so next year we will go in October.

 

[PigsDad]

Neither Palm Springs nor Phoenix would be considered "warm" at the end of December, IMO. Pleasant, yes, but not what I would call warm. With desert weather, it can be quite unpredictable and it will be downright cold at night. We spent one Christmas in Scottsdale outside of Phoenix, and it never got above 55 or so that week, plus it was rainy most days. If you want guaranteed warm weather for Christmas, you really have to look at Hawaii or Mexico.

Kurt

 

[Janann]

@PigsDad is correct, its not all that warm in Palm Desert in December.

 

[b2bailey]

I recently booked a week in Puerto Vallarta for Christmas.
I'll be curious about the weather.

 

[b2bailey]

Neither Palm Springs nor Phoenix would be considered "warm" at the end of December, IMO. Pleasant, yes, but not what I would call warm. With desert weather, it can be quite unpredictable and it will be downright cold at night. We spent one Christmas in Scottsdale outside of Phoenix, and it never got above 55 or so that week, plus it was rainy most days. If you want guaranteed warm weather for Christmas, you really have to look at Hawaii or Mexico.

Kurt

We were at a small Palm Springs timeshare Christmas a few years back.
They had to go out and buy portable space heaters.

 

[ScoopKona]

Looking for a warm location for family fun and easy to exchange into. In II, Palm Springs and Phoenix seem easy to get. I’m thinking of a week in Hawaii, but nothing shows up right now.

Hawaii is a hard trade for Christmas. It is unbelievably popular with non-Christians who have the time off anyway. (I'm seriously considering offering brisket that week -- captive market.)

All of my favorite Christmas trades are in Europe. They're not warm-weather. But I'd rather spend Noel in France than any other country. I've spent Christmas in a dozen different countries and France is by far my favorite. (And I speak German and have been to a LOT of Christmas markets. I still prefer France.)

 

[iftravel]

Hawaii is a hard trade for Christmas. It is unbelievably popular with non-Christians who have the time off anyway. (I'm seriously considering offering brisket that week -- captive market.)

All of my favorite Christmas trades are in Europe. They're not warm-weather. But I'd rather spend Noel in France than any other country. I've spent Christmas in a dozen different countries and France is by far my favorite. (And I speak German and have been to a LOT of Christmas markets. I still prefer France.)

Thinking of France for Spring break but if Christmas is doable, I will look into that too. For first timers, any particular places / resorts you recommand? BTW, is Spain warm enough?

 

[ScoopKona]

Thinking of France for Spring break but if Christmas is doable, I will look into that too. For first timers, any particular places / resorts you recommand? BTW, is Spain warm enough?

Spain is where Europeans spend their winters. It's warm enough for most people. But I'm not going to escape the cold. I want food, wine, beer, and pleasant company.

For those reasons, I just LOVVVVVVVVVEEEEEE France for Christmas. Oysters, Chestnuts, a joie de vivre attitude about everything. My French is appalling. Seriously. Atrocious. I can barely conduct a transaction. But I know my food terms.

"Here! Try this oyster. Just arrived from Brittany this morning! [shucks an oyster and hands it to me]."

"Pate! My mother's recipe. Try some!"

"We brought out some of the reserve cheese! Cantal! Three years old! You must try some!"

Yes, these people all want me to buy some. But their effusive good nature isn't just about commerce. I buy, sure. But not a whole lot. Just enough for tonight. And I'll buy more tomorrow. And all week. Those food-stall merchants stuff my wife and I with food every time we go there. They're so heavy-handed with the samples that we can barely waddle to our favorite Bouillon. And Au Pied de Cochon will do brisk business all month. That's my idea of "Christmas done right."

 

[Snazzylass]

Now planning for Christmas (perhaps a bit late in the game already). Looking for a warm location for family fun and easy to exchange into. In II, Palm Springs and Phoenix seem easy to get. I’m thinking of a week in Hawaii, but nothing shows up right now. I will put in a request but is it close to impossible for decent resorts like Marriott and Westin?

Orlando and Florida is easy but we were just back from there. From next year, we will probably stick with Florida for Christmas and look elsewhere for Spring break and summer, way easier to get than Christmas time.

Any other recommendation for Christmas? Yes I will just exchange not to buy a Christmas week to just stay.

I lived in PHX nearly 10 years and as others have posted, Winter in PHX is a crap shoot. I rode my bike after Mass this past Christmas in Scottsdale. Great time to ride because the roads were not busy. I was able to navigate around Old Town and noticed the bars are busy. So, yes, the resorts are busy.

On the other hand, before I moved there, I traveled to PHX a bit earlier in Dec and was met with rain and overcast skies - same weather for the Super Bowl in '15 but better in '23. I volunteered for the Waste Mngmt Open several times. Man, some of those early mornings were chilly and wet!

Not sure where you are from but with no cloud cover in the desert, you can always expect 30 degree temp swings. So, if it's 80 during the day, expect 50 at night.

 

[ambere]

I love Christmas or post-Christmas in Cabo; weather is typically really good, but airfare can be high. Cheapest is to fly from Tijuana on Volaris or other airlines.