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My Intro

A

AmyL4408

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Joined
Feb 25, 2006
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Location
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Hello! I am new to the whole Marriott process


Hubby and I purchased in April 2005 at Marriotts Grande Vista. We have successfully traded several times now with II. We have a 10 year old daughter, who travels with us.

Here is what we have done so far....
2005 platinum 2BR - exchanged for Aruba Surf Club 2BR for April 2006
2006 gold 3BR- locked off
Guest Room traded for Heritage Club 2BR for Jan 2006
2BR traded for Royal Mayan 2BR for March 2007
2007 platinum 2BR - locked off
Guest Room traded for Aruba Surf Club efficiency for Jan 2007
1 BR - ? Haven't decided yet

Here are my questions:

After reading some of the posts on this board, I was wondering if someone could explain to me what a "bonus" week is, and how you get it.

My 1 BR Platinum that I have.... Should I made my reservation for February or March? We plan to exchange it with II..... maybe try for Aruba again? I'm unsure because I haven't been there yet to know for sure that I will like it. Hawaii is nice, but too expensive for the flight. My preffered travel time is during Michigan's winter, to go somewhere warm! I think we will probably wait to visit the Grande Vista until 2008.

Any info you have that would help us in anyway, is greatly appreciated! It seems this website has a wealth of information, that is going to take me years to read.

Thanks!
Amy
 
The "bonus week" you are referring to is an Accomodation Certificate (AC) issued by II when you deposit a high demand week. You can use this AC for other weeks in II's inventory, but there are restrictions. You generally won't be able to use it for high demand, high season locations. You have to pay a fee, up to $299 for a 2 bedroom unit.

You didn't day what week(s) you own at Grande Vista, but it sounds like a 2 bd platinum and a 3 bd gold week. I don't know if II considers any Orlando week "valuable" enough to induce your deposit by offering an AC. Others will know. If they do, then it would probably be the paltinum week that would get one over the gold week. Also, you have to deposit the "whole" week and not lock it off and make 2 deposits. Finally, you must deposit it outright - if you have a "request first" pending, you do not get an AC.
 
seenett said:
Also, you have to deposit the "whole" week and not lock it off and make 2 deposits.
Click to expand...

That's not quite true. In a lot of cases II will give an AC for the 1 bedroom portion of the lockoff, but not the studio side.

For Orlando, II started giving out AC's for deposits last year for the first time I've heard in years. That being said, II gets a lot of deposits from Orlando which is why they usually don't offer AC's for Orlando deposits. Don't let that discourage you though b/c Grande Vista still trades very well as you've already demonstrated. The next time you deposit with II, though, specifically ask them for an AC and they might give you one.
 
II offered AC's for Orlando Marriott deposits in 2004 and 2006. Several Platinum and a couple of Gold weeks qualified.

As far as I can tell, they haven't made the offer yet for 2007.
 
Do they tell you?

Do you call, and then they tell you the weeks that qualify?

This AC program was never mentioned at all, in our sales pitch we heard...

Thanks,
Amy
 
Yes you can call Interval and they will tell you which weeks qualify for an a/c. For '06 at Grande Vista it was for weeks from Feb thru mid-April. I didn't deposit my April '06 1 br until about Oct of '05 and got a 1 br a/c. If you own gold and are in the Florida Club you could try reserving a gold week at Ocean Pointe or BeachPlace as I believe they get an a/c for alot of their gold weeks also. You would have to verify that with Interval also. The only drawback with the Florida Club is you can only reserve 6 months out. So you might give up a little trade power but you get an extra week for a couple hundred bucks. As stated above there are seasonal restrictions with the a/c but I believe once you hit the 59 day window there are no restrictions. I recently booked a 1 br at Aruba Surf Club for 4/15/06 with my a/c at about the 57 day mark.
 
Oh, also, the a/c expires 1 year from date of issue. Something to keep in mind if you're getting multiple a/c's and want to be able to use them all.
 
However did I survive without this board?

Thank you all for the information!

Do you have to specifically ask for the AC, or do they kindly offer it to you?

My weeks alternate with Platinum 2 bedroom on the even years, and Gold 3 bedroom on the odd years.

My 2006 reservation was for week 18 Gold season.... so that means I wouldn't have qualified for an AC it sounds.


Thanks again!
Amy
 
In the past, if tuggers did not know to ask (or anyone didn't know)...they were not offered at all times.

If you ask, they can check to see if the week is in strong demand, and may give you an AC.

MAny tuggers get AC, but are unable to use them in the time required. Also, there are a few different types.
 
In the past, SOMETIMES gold, and silver Marriott weeks did qualify, sometimes the same weeks did not the next year.

You can ask when you turn in your weeks to Marriott and also ask (before you give up your rights to the weeks) the Interval person.

SFX has also given "Bonus Weeks" for many weeks they recieve.
 
Called Interval

I called Interval and they said the 2007 infor for AC has not been released yet. They did say that in 2006 AC's were given for Grande Vista Feb2 - April30 weeks of 1BR units or larger.

I think I will just wait a week or two on my decision, and call back.

Thank you all for your replies!
Amy
 
AC for 2006 Grande Vista

We called our vacation advisor with Marriott about depositing our 2006 week last August and she told us that there was an AC out there for spring break weeks at Grande Vista. We reserved that week and deposited it with II. It then showed up on our listing of available units with II to trade like our regular week. It does expire and is limited but we were able to trade to Manor Club for Memorial Day weekend with the AC and Ko Olina for November with our regular week.

I have heard that II doesn't just offer this info, although our advisor offered it, you need to ask.

Susan
 
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