Marriott Trading System

[kyfonky]

Hello everyone

I'm so interested in buying a Marriot resale, particulary at Newport or Timberlodge; still not sure about how much trading power those might have for getting into another locations (platinum ski seasson at TL or platinum seasson at Newport)

However, I just read a thread about the four main TS systems, and realized that many people complain about the Marriott Trading System thru II, and the 13-months priority for multiple owners.

They basically said that trading into Marriot is very "complicated", and very ofther you do not get the week that you want.

I know that Marriott does not really have an internal trading system, still gives 25 days priority to other Marriott's owners for trading thru II, before the inventory is released for everybody else.

Can somebody share your experience for trading with Marriott? How often can you get what you want?

If I'm buying a EOY 2BR L/O at Platinum Newport or Timberlodge, is it probable, within reasonable basis, to get a trade to Villas Doral at Summer? Timberlodge at ski seasson (if buying Newport)? Newport at summer (if buying at TL)? Vegas in Summer? other ski locations? and perhaps Orlando in summer?

I really like buying at Marriot, because I love the resorts/locations, even thought I prefer the points system for its flexibility and considering that Marriot does not have resorts in Mexico, where I live; still, if trading into places I want is probable, I guess I will buy Marriott.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BocaBoy]

Hello everyone

I'm so interested in buying a Marriot resale, particulary at Newport or Timberlodge; still not sure about how much trading power those might have for getting into another locations (platinum ski seasson at TL or platinum seasson at Newport)

However, I just read a thread about the four main TS systems, and realized that many people complain about the Marriott Trading System thru II, and the 13-months priority for multiple owners.

They basically said that trading into Marriot is very "complicated", and very ofther you do not get the week that you want.

I know that Marriott does not really have an internal trading system, still gives 25 days priority to other Marriott's owners for trading thru II, before the inventory is released for everybody else.

Can somebody share your experience for trading with Marriott? How often can you get what you want?

If I'm buying a EOY 2BR L/O at Platinum Newport or Timberlodge, is it probable, within reasonable basis, to get a trade to Villas Doral at Summer? Timberlodge at ski seasson (if buying Newport)? Newport at summer (if buying at TL)? Vegas in Summer? other ski locations? and perhaps Orlando in summer?

I really like buying at Marriot, because I love the resorts/locations, even thought I prefer the points system for its flexibility and considering that Marriot does not have resorts in Mexico, where I live; still, if trading into places I want is probable, I guess I will buy Marriott.

Thanks in advance.

Platinum weeks at Newport Coast Villas and Timber Lodge both have strong trading power. You would usually be able to get what you want in a trade, but of course there are no guarantees. However, there are no lockoff units at Newport Coast Villas.

 

[LAX Mom]

July & August at Newport are tough to get if you own Newport plat. The plat season goes all the way from late June (excluding July 4 week) to early Dec, but many owners want the July & Aug. weeks. This makes it very tough to book a week unless you own more than 1 and have the 13 month advantage in booking.

Summer months at Newport Coast are also a very tough exchange with II. Many plat owners use summer weeks themselves or rent them out for lots of $$.

 

[jdunn1]

Newport is not a lock off resort, but Timber Lodge is. With that said, I would say a Newport July or August week is an almost impossible exchange so if vacationing there in those months is a goal, best to buy there and book as soon as your 12 month window opens -- and start calling at 8:55 AM and don't stop hitting redial until you get through.

I think there are two platinum seasons at Timber Lodge, summer and winter. Getting a ski week is really tough but so long as you do not want a holiday week, I think you will get a trade for a ski week before you would get a summer Newport trade. Getting a full 2 bedroom at one of the Marriott ski resorts is tough becuase those units all lock off and the trade power is so great that most owners always lock off their two bedrooms so for a prime ski week (holiday weeks are impossible) you will almost always have to settle for a one bedroom. Sometimes you will see a full two bedroom hit II within a week or so of check-in and two bedrooms at the ski resorts can be had very easily for early December and maybe the last week of March and first week or two of April, but that's when the snow is iffy.

...and trading for Marriotts in II can be a lot of fun and it is pretty amazing what even a one bedroom platinum marriott can pull. But, when you do not buy the best inventory Marriott has (i.e. a ski week or summer Carolina beach week, Hawaii), your trading power is limited. You can get those prime weeks, but I would say your odds of landing a ski week or a summer beach week (with the exception of Florida) are not good. You will get those trades sometimes, but not with any amount of regularity that you can plan vacations around them.

 

[puckmanfl]

good morning....

Here's a trick I used before DC... Purchase a 3 bedroom somewhere cheaper... Probably can pick up a 3 bedroom GV for about 8-10K. I own 2 of these. Before DC i traded every year for ski weeks at mountainside, summer HHI and summer NCV. Only caveat is i gave wide range of dates...Usually gave early feb-mid march for my ski weeks....

3 bedroom at GV out traded my 2 bedroom hawaii... I can prove this.. I deposited my 3 bedroom GV and 2 bedroom hawaii (both plat) weeks and requested ski week at mountainside with both..The 3 bedroom GV trade came in first!!!!


3 bedroom grand chateau would work better as these lock off into 2 and 1 bedroom (not 2 + studio) Higher trade power than GV but more expensive MF's...

I have stopped II trades since DC came out...don't know about II trades now...lots of controversy here... My impression is that II trades have diminished but still good values to be had if flexible and good planning!!!

 

[BocaBoy]

Getting a full 2 bedroom at one of the Marriott ski resorts is tough becuase those units all lock off and the trade power is so great that most owners always lock off their two bedrooms.

Not 100% true. In Vail, Marriott's StreamSide-Evergreen is composed entirely of dedicated 2BR units.

 

[jdunn1]

That is true but the Vail resorts are not ski in ski out. And no one here on Tug ever posts about the Vail resorts. Almost like they do not exist.

Not 100% true. In Vail, Marriott's StreamSide-Evergreen is composed entirely of dedicated 2BR units.

 

[kyfonky]

Thanks everyone for your replies; very usefull!

I guess it might be better to buy a platinum Newport than a platinum ski Timberlodge, as it might be more difficult to get a summer week in Newport than a non-holiday-ski week at Timberlodge.

Still I wonder how much trading power a Barony week might have for getting those platinum weeks at Newport and/or Timberlodge....just thinking.....

Also the main point I wanted to brought to this thread was how easy is to trade marriott thru II, as in several posts many people complain about trading with Marriott, particularly since DC, and considering the every-day-increasing inventory in the DC trust.

Thanks again

 

[BocaBoy]

I guess it might be better to buy a platinum Newport than a platinum ski Timberlodge, as it might be more difficult to get a summer week in Newport than a non-holiday-ski week at Timberlodge.

Don't underestimate the value of owning a lockoff.

 

[Beefnot]

Thanks everyone for your replies; very usefull!

I guess it might be better to buy a platinum Newport than a platinum ski Timberlodge, as it might be more difficult to get a summer week in Newport than a non-holiday-ski week at Timberlodge.

Still I wonder how much trading power a Barony week might have for getting those platinum weeks at Newport and/or Timberlodge....just thinking.....

Also the main point I wanted to brought to this thread was how easy is to trade marriott thru II, as in several posts many people complain about trading with Marriott, particularly since DC, and considering the every-day-increasing inventory in the DC trust.

Thanks again

Prime beach and ski weeks may be difficult to get through II, I dunno, but everything else is ripe for the taking. Also, if you plan or are able to take more than one week of vacation per year and have flexibility, then I would concur with the lock-off recommendation. Getting two 2br trades from a single 2br lockoff is nice.

 

[kyfonky]

Don't underestimate the value of owning a lockoff.

I don't BocaBoy; a L/O is actually my preference but resale price and MF's for a 2BR L/O at TL is much higher than a 2BR at NCV, and considering that, based on some opinions in this thread, it might be easier to get a non-holiday-ski-week at TL than a summer NCV week....it looks that the decision might be to get NCV.....still this is something to think about, since I honestly like TL better than NCV, just for family reasons.

So...Generally speaking and based on some comments, it looks like trading into Marriot, thru II of course, is not as painfull as some other expressed in other threads/posts. Maybe it is painfull for prime/holiday weeks, but other than that, it is reasonable possible to get what you want, within a reasonable time in advance.

Does anyone agree with this statement based on your experiences?

I basically want to use my Marriot TS for ski seasson at non-holiday weeks (such as first week of December); NCV at summer (July or August) or early December; Villas Doral at summer (July or August) or early december; and Vegas at Summer. All this at least for the years my dauther is at school; after that, when she is going to college, I will normally use my TS during September to December....I'm very flexible at work....

Not sure if a platinum NCV week can give me reasonable possibilities to get the trades I want......

Please advise

 

[m61376]

I don't BocaBoy; a L/O is actually my preference but resale price and MF's for a 2BR L/O at TL is much higher than a 2BR at NCV, and considering that, based on some opinions in this thread, it might be easier to get a non-holiday-ski-week at TL than a summer NCV week....it looks that the decision might be to get NCV.....still this is something to think about, since I honestly like TL better than NCV, just for family reasons.

So...Generally speaking and based on some comments, it looks like trading into Marriot, thru II of course, is not as painfull as some other expressed in other threads/posts. Maybe it is painfull for prime/holiday weeks, but other than that, it is reasonable possible to get what you want, within a reasonable time in advance.

Does anyone agree with this statement based on your experiences?

I basically want to use my Marriot TS for ski seasson at non-holiday weeks (such as first week of December); NCV at summer (July or August) or early December; Villas Doral at summer (July or August) or early december; and Vegas at Summer. All this at least for the years my dauther is at school; after that, when she is going to college, I will normally use my TS during September to December....I'm very flexible at work....

Not sure if a platinum NCV week can give me reasonable possibilities to get the trades I want......

Please advise

Unless you want to go to NCV a lot of the time over the summer, then I would lean towards getting a lock-off. If you are very flexible at work, you might be able to make great use of that lock-off capability. Can you plan less than 60 days out? If so, don't overlook those Flexchange trades.

I would only buy NCV if that's where I wanted to go a lot of the time.

 

[kyfonky]

Unless you want to go to NCV a lot of the time over the summer, then I would lean towards getting a lock-off. If you are very flexible at work, you might be able to make great use of that lock-off capability. Can you plan less than 60 days out? If so, don't overlook those Flexchange trades.

I would only buy NCV if that's where I wanted to go a lot of the time.

Thanks m61376! No, I do not plan to go many times to NCV, since I own a DVC that I pretend to use most of the time when going to SoCal; still I'd like to go to NCV 3 to 4 times in my life, as I've seen the picture and it looks great; plus going to Disney everytime is something that I do not consider particularly when children go to college. My concern is not being possible to get a NCV trade ever in a summer seasson, if not owning there.

Most of the time I pretend to go to ski resorts, at ski seassons, particularly to Timberlodge; secondly I pretend to go to Miami/Fort Laudardale and Las Vegas; and eventually to Orlando and Hawaii.

So I do not know what resale week might be the best for me.

Regards

 

[jdunn1]

My vote is for summer NCV for you. This will surely get you all of the trades you want and in the years you want NCV, then so long as you call to book your home week right at the 12 month mark, you should be fine. If you decide you need more trades you can always buy a lock off Orlando or Branson or Williamsburg or desert EOY Marriott for practically nothing. I'd start with NCV and go from there.

Thanks m61376! No, I do not plan to go many times to NCV, since I own a DVC that I pretend to use most of the time when going to SoCal; still I'd like to go to NCV 3 to 4 times in my life, as I've seen the picture and it looks great; plus going to Disney everytime is something that I do not consider particularly when children go to college. My concern is not being possible to get a NCV trade ever in a summer seasson, if not owning there.

Most of the time I pretend to go to ski resorts, at ski seassons, particularly to Timberlodge; secondly I pretend to go to Miami/Fort Laudardale and Las Vegas; and eventually to Orlando and Hawaii.

So I do not know what resale week might be the best for me.

Regards

 

[kjd]

To the OP: There is nothing complicated at all about the Marriott trading system per se'. It's what you read here at TUG that makes it so. The reason is that a lot of posters here are interested in maximizing their usage. I'm one of them. Sometimes these strategy discussions become very twisted, lack consensus and are at best long shots.

It's very simple to call the Marriott adviser and let them handle things. If you bought re-sale you might not have an adviser but the Marriott desk at I.I. can also handle things pretty well. You will get what they are able to give you. If that's all you need then there's no problem.

It becomes complicated when you read about alternative strategies that involve MRPs, DC points, ACs, flextime, lockoffs, etc. All of that is discussed here at one time or another. The best way to learn is to read the posts that you are interested in and in time you will get the picture.

Mariott's trading system is simple. You trade your week for another week. When it goes beyond that it gets more complicated but, for many of us well worth the effort.

 

[Davey54321]

We are at Newport Coast Villas now on an II trade....

....used Memorial Day week 2012 Marriott Cypress Harbour sport week to get it... Great resort, (beautiful location and weather here now too) with some caveats, which I will share at later date, if anyone is interested....
Vicki
ps. We have been able to get pretty much any trades we wanted within MVCI using our Cypress Harbour Sport week as trader, including Oahu and Kauia and Marbella, but this is first major trade since DC program was fully in play... We did join DC and bought some points (hedging our bets, with that decision

 

[Bill4728]

Most all good weeks at nice Marriott resorts will have enough trading power to get the weeks you want. II assigns trading power when you deposit your week and if the week you deposit has enough power, if the week is available you can get it.

The problem isn't trading power but supply and demand. Very few summer weeks at NCV get deposited. So there are more people ( who have a deposit with enough trading power) wanting summer NCV then weeks available. So, having higher trading power may not be the key to getting one of those weeks.

We own 2 gold weeks at NCV, but never have to use them to trade into NCV during platinum season. Our other TSs have enough trading power to get us into NCV in the fall (when we prefer to visit NCV) and our gold weeks at NCV let us reserve any week in the spring.

Hope this helps

 

[kyfonky]

Thanks everyone for your comments! very usefull information. After reading your comments I guess I'm more comfortable about the trading system; as someone said, Marriot trading system is simple, but sometimes we complicate it trying to get the most benefits.

I guess I will check resales prices for both Timberlodge and NCV and compare; maybe Barony might be also a good option -for trading only-. A cheaper options are Grande Vista and Grand Chateu, but I'm not sure how much trading I can get with those weeks.

Thanks again

 

[kyfonky]

How much trading power....

Hello everyone!

I'd like to have your opinions and experiences about how good trades I could get with the following resorts/seassons:

- Timberlodge 2BR Gold seasson (i.e. last week of November)
- Timberlodge 1BR Platinum seasson (January to February)
- MountainSide 2BR Silver seasson (i.e. last week of November)
- Newport Coast 2BR Platinum seasson (i.e. summer, mid-november or early december)
- Villas Doral 2BR Silver seasson (i.e. summer June to August)
- Grand Chateau 2BR Platinum seasson (what is the most-demanded dates in the US? (I live in Mexico)
- Grande Vista 2BR Platinum seasson (i.e. summer)

Those are my options to buy resale, based on cost and annual MF's (except for TL Platinum which even 1BR is expensive).

Finally, does a Silver week normally gets poor trades? (i.e. silver only gets silver or Gold at the most); Similar to Gold weeks (i.e. only silver or gold, and sometime Platinum)

Thanks for your help!

 

[gmarine]

As I said in similar thread, my advice would be to not buy anything. While I own a bunch of timeshares, right now I think the best move is to buy nothing. You can pretty much rent anywhere, anytime for at or not much above maintenance fees.

Dont let the rental asking prices fool you. Actual rental prices are generally much less than the asking prices.

Maintenance fees are outpacing inflation mostly everywhere so it makes more sense to rent rather than take on the committment of fees every year.

 

[kyfonky]

As I said in similar thread, my advice would be to not buy anything. While I own a bunch of timeshares, right now I think the best move is to buy nothing. You can pretty much rent anywhere, anytime for at or not much above maintenance fees.

Dont let the rental asking prices fool you. Actual rental prices are generally much less than the asking prices.

Maintenance fees are outpacing inflation mostly everywhere so it makes more sense to rent rather than take on the committment of fees every year.

Thanks for the advise....so if you are not interested in keeping your bunch of TS, I could buy you one, if the price is fair....

 

[gmarine]

Thanks for the advise....so if you are not interested in keeping your bunch of TS, I could buy you one, if the price is fair....

A few of mine I use every year. A few I would sell in a second, unfortunately these are ones I havent been able to even give away.

One thing I wouldnt do is buy one now.

 

[kyfonky]

Anyway, I'd like to bring my question back again, as I really like to get some comments on it.

Thanks

Hello everyone!

I'd like to have your opinions and experiences about how good trades I could get with the following resorts/seassons:

- Timberlodge 2BR Gold seasson (i.e. last week of November)
- Timberlodge 1BR Platinum seasson (January to February)
- MountainSide 2BR Silver seasson (i.e. last week of November)
- Newport Coast 2BR Platinum seasson (i.e. summer, mid-november or early december)
- Villas Doral 2BR Silver seasson (i.e. summer June to August)
- Grand Chateau 2BR Platinum seasson (what is the most-demanded dates in the US? (I live in Mexico)
- Grande Vista 2BR Platinum seasson (i.e. summer)

Those are my options to buy resale, based on cost and annual MF's (except for TL Platinum which even 1BR is expensive).

Finally, does a Silver week normally gets poor trades? (i.e. silver only gets silver or Gold at the most); Similar to Gold weeks (i.e. only silver or gold, and sometime Platinum)

Thanks for your help!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

My own experiences

Anyway, I'd like to bring my question back again, as I really like to get some comments on it.

Thanks

I bought a 2BR L/O Gold week at Marriott Desert Springs II two years ago. We like to go there several times a year and originally intended to split the unit and use each of the two weeks separately. As an added benefit, Palm Desert is less than 2 hours away by car. I paid $300 for the Gold week deed. I may have been smarter buying a $3K Platinum week (especially in terms of an exit strategy), except that I enjoy Oct, Nov and December in the desert.

After we bought and reserved a week, we were surprised with it's tradeability within Marriott, especially given that it was only a gold/white week. Here is our history in the past 2 years

traded efficiency for 1 BR Timberlodge (early June)
traded 1 BR for 2 BR Newport Coast (October)
traded efficiency for 1 BR Shadow Ridge (mid April)
traded 1 BR for 2 BR Newport Coast (Sept)

I think that the Marriott Preference has a lot to do with that. Also, I frequently check availability and joined TUG so that I had access to the Sightings forum. It seems like whenever Marriott does a bulk deposit that it is pretty easy to snag a unit at Timberlodge or Newport Coast.

Because we are trading our unit rather than using it (our initial plan), we are "back-filling" into Palm Desert with Getaways in the neighborhood of $400 for a week, which is less than the associated MF.

So - - while my home resort is not on your target list, I'm using it to go to some of the places that ARE on your target list.

 

[SMB1]

Thanks everyone for your replies; very usefull!

I guess it might be better to buy a platinum Newport than a platinum ski Timberlodge, as it might be more difficult to get a summer week in Newport than a non-holiday-ski week at Timberlodge.

Still I wonder how much trading power a Barony week might have for getting those platinum weeks at Newport and/or Timberlodge....just thinking.....

Also the main point I wanted to brought to this thread was how easy is to trade marriott thru II, as in several posts many people complain about trading with Marriott, particularly since DC, and considering the every-day-increasing inventory in the DC trust.

Thanks again

Yes it might be a difficult trade into NCV in the summer, but for owners it is also difficult to reserve July & August. So if you uy there you may not get the trade power you are looking for.