New MVC Aruba Ocean Club Owner - received Interval promotion offer to get an "extra 7 night resort stay"

[MrbeanOnVacation]

All,

I could use your advice...

We are new MVC Aruba Ocean Club owners and in 2024 would like to try exchanging for another location, ideally out of the U.S. We were leaning towards exchanging with Interval to have greater options for our exchange.

Today we got a card in the mail from Interval with a deal: Deposit a week by June 15th and receive a bonus Resort Accommodation Certification for an extra 7 night resort stay in exciting destinations around the world. [It was like Interval was listening to our thoughts]

I went to the Interval website and don't see many details on what destinations are available in this deal, and we've also never deposited a week to Interval before - so some anxiety with moving forward.

Quick questions:
1. Did anyone else receive this deal and have thoughts on whether it's good/not? (I would love this group's feedback - vs - the CS agents at Interval)
2. If we do deposit our week do we benefit from reserving a week first with Marriott and then depositing for exchanging? Or deposit BEFORE reserving? I'm assuming it doesn't matter since it's all part of Marriott and they can optimize for best week exchange on backend, but would love guidance before I mess up.

Thank you!

 

[igopogo]

My first year with interval they deposited a certificate for doing nothing, probably just to get us on the platform. I’m not sure if that’s common. There were some interesting destinations but we couldn’t use it within the time allowed.

 

[jwalk03]

I get free ACs all the time just for having an Interval account open. Have also gotten one of these extra ones for depositing my Marriott unit by a certain date.

I have almost never been able to redeem one. If you are flexible and can make last minute arraignments you can maybe find some gems to use one for, but if you are traveling around a school schedule or holidays there is often very little inventory that is good stuff- almost never any Marriott resorts anymore.

 

[dioxide45]

These are Accomodation Certificates. They seem to be pushing them pretty hard the last couple years just to try and get deposits. They are offering them up to us for Orlando 1BR and studio deposits. They did the same last year. These ACs "for deposit" tend to be a bit better than the free ACs and have additional availability on the grid, but they also have a tiered fee structure where a 1BR costs more than a studio, a 2BR is more than a 1BR, etc. They can be good if you are very flexible and can travel on short notice. The availability will be areas with lots of excess supply that II wants to unload. Many people can't make a good use of them but one year we used seven (during COVID), since then we probably use about half lf them. I wouldn't deposit specifically to get one, but since we always deposit our weeks we will time it so we get the ACs. If we don't use them, we aren't out anything.

 

[echino]

Mostly last minute, low season, small size units, low quality places. There is a fee to book it. AC for deposit is a little better than free ACs, but not by much.

 

[dioxide45]

It should be pointed out that Marriott properties don't show up on AC very often, even for places like Orlando. You may see the Sheraton resort in Orlando. There is a thread in the Sightings forum showing what different people are able to see with their ACs, but you need to be a TUG Member to access it.

 

[jwalk03]

It should be pointed out that Marriott properties don't show up on AC very often, even for places like Orlando. You may see the Sheraton resort in Orlando. There is a thread in the Sightings forum showing what different people are able to see with their ACs, but you need to be a TUG Member to access it.

The one AC I used was for a Marriott Manor Club week, but it was a March week and it was 2021 so lots of Covid restrictions still at the time.

But yeah I don’t remember the last time I saw a Marriott week searching with an AC lately.

 

[iowateach]

The one AC I used was for a Marriott Manor Club week, but it was a March week and it was 2021 so lots of Covid restrictions still at the time.

But yeah I don’t remember the last time I saw a Marriott week searching with an AC lately.

I get ACs all the time. The more you use, the more you will get. Marriotts are included. I use them in summer months in Palm Desert, CA. There are also a number in Orlando, mostly the bigger resorts. Large unit--2 bedrooms--are often available. Many resorts are ones I would never be able to trade into. You must be able to travel last minute, a month or two out. When was the last time you could book a 2-bedroom Marriott for about $55.00 a night? You need to be diligent about looking and make up your mind quickly.

 

[Dean]

All,

I could use your advice...

We are new MVC Aruba Ocean Club owners and in 2024 would like to try exchanging for another location, ideally out of the U.S. We were leaning towards exchanging with Interval to have greater options for our exchange.

Today we got a card in the mail from Interval with a deal: Deposit a week by June 15th and receive a bonus Resort Accommodation Certification for an extra 7 night resort stay in exciting destinations around the world. [It was like Interval was listening to our thoughts]

I went to the Interval website and don't see many details on what destinations are available in this deal, and we've also never deposited a week to Interval before - so some anxiety with moving forward.

Quick questions:
1. Did anyone else receive this deal and have thoughts on whether it's good/not? (I would love this group's feedback - vs - the CS agents at Interval)
2. If we do deposit our week do we benefit from reserving a week first with Marriott and then depositing for exchanging? Or deposit BEFORE reserving? I'm assuming it doesn't matter since it's all part of Marriott and they can optimize for best week exchange on backend, but would love guidance before I mess up.

Thank you!

As noted, this is not unusual or special and has little to no value, esp since you'd have to pay more to use it than a normal exchange. They can be useful for those that want to travel to lower demand areas (or areas with a ton of resorts like Orlando) or during lower demand times when you can plan on shorter notice.

Reviewing your posting history, it looks like you bought a 1BR Gold week at Aruba Ocean Club. You could deposit and exchange it or you could rent points transferred to your account to use for other MVC options. If you decide to exchange, you can do so for free to other Marriott resorts through your corporate online account, remember if you put non MVC resorts in your search, you'll have to pay the exchange fee even if you match a Marriott. The week you chose makes a lot of difference, for Gold you'll want week 26 or 27. You should reserve a week like you'll use it then deposit it yourself. Do not chose the "resort to deposit" option when you reserve. At that time you should know what you want to search for and set up an ongoing search for specific resorts, not just a location.

Where were and when you thinking of trying for?

 

[MrbeanOnVacation]

Thanks so much for the responses

Sounds like no need to rush depositing just to get this credit, since it’s unlikely we will be able to use it (we are limited to traveling at specific times)

And it also sounds like we will want to target reserving the prime weeks to maximize our exchange rate (e.g. July 4th week if possible) and this deal requires us to deposit before then

As to where we were considering going:

We were thinking Italy, along coast, or Greece but are open to other options. Ideally a place with nice beach to enjoy with our kids.

Another option I was considering was renting out the week and just using $$ to get hotel if that was less money.

Lots of options to get my head around, but glad this promo is no longer a variable

 

[Dean]

Thanks so much for the responses

Sounds like no need to rush depositing just to get this credit, since it’s unlikely we will be able to use it (we are limited to traveling at specific times)

And it also sounds like we will want to target reserving the prime weeks to maximize our exchange rate (e.g. July 4th week if possible) and this deal requires us to deposit before then

As to where we were considering going:

We were thinking Italy, along coast, or Greece but are open to other options. Ideally a place with nice beach to enjoy with our kids.

Another option I was considering was renting out the week and just using $$ to get hotel if that was less money.

Lots of options to get my head around, but glad this promo is no longer a variable

I agree, no rush for now. However, you do want to deposit as soon as you have a reservation and start a search if that's the end goal. I would not try to use this week to exchange to Italy or Greece though. I'd either use if for a MVC resort or look at other means tog et what you want for those locations.

 

[MrbeanOnVacation]

Thanks for the advice

Is the international exchange not great for those locations? Are others better? (We also discussed Spain)

Have no experience yet so any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the advice

Is the international exchange not great for those locations? Are others better? (We also discussed Spain)

Have no experience yet so any tips are greatly appreciated!

Spend time looking through the II directory for those areas and you'll see the II ratings are not great. I just browsed Italy and Greece and on a quick look I saw one Premier and no Elite resorts across the 2 countries. While I did not cross reference, you might also look through the reviews here on TUG. You have to be a member but it's well worth the minor fee anyway. That's not to say there are no resorts worth considering but it's a risk IMO unless you get specific inflation on a given options that is strongly suggesting it'll be a good fit for you. Then consider that availability is almost certainly going to be an issue. If you're set on those areas I'd look at cash non timeshare. But certainly the European MVC resorts are well worth considering. Don't forget you can also do a request first option. There are 2 request first options, one allows you to search only MVC resorts but you can search for later than your week with that option. You'll have to call II though. You won't lose your week unless you match but will as soon as they find a match. You could deposit your week for another option later or you could rent your week.

 

[dioxide45]

Also consider that most European timeshares are in places that Europeans want to travel. So they generally won't be in the major tourist cities that Americans travel to.

 

[MrbeanOnVacation]

Gotcha thanks to you both and all the others who gave feedback - very helpful!!