Newbie questions: What do I need to know about Marriott trading?

[boraxo]

For background - my parents have offered to gift me a mix of legacy weeks and points at Desert Springs/Shadow Ridge. I am trying to determine if this makes sense for me. Unfortunately I don't have all the details yet (will post) but they said these were floating weeks. My parents they typically visit Palm Desert for 2-3 weeks in February.

In 2020 I purchase Hyatt HHS (resale) - the price was great but the learning curve has been a bit steep. It took a while to figure out how to use the program to book the weeks I need and in retrospect I should have purchased a higher value week (Diamond) rather than Gold. I would like to ensure I have more complete info before I take on the obligation to pay annual fees for Marriott.

Here are my questions:

• Can I trade within the Marriott system (as I do for Hyatt) or do I have to go through Interval? (I really hate the II website so this may be a dealkiller.)
• 
  
• If I trade through Interval am I restricted to full weeks? (This may be dealkiller #2)
• 
  
• Does Marriott system use Plat/Gold/Silver legacy weeks? If so how do these affect trades? (for example it is impossible to trade into Hyatt Maui unless you have a Diamond week)
• 
  
• How easy would it be for me to trade Palm Desert for prime ski weeks (excluding Xmas/NYE) at Park City, Vail and Lake Tahoe?
• 
  
• How easy is it to trade for a few days in NYC, Washington and South Beach?

I spent some time researching in this forum but I did not see an FAQ that addresses how trades work.

I expect some of the survey questions might help (see below). Apologies for the long post.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

The most frequent destinations would be peak season for Park City, Vail, Timber Lodge, Maui and Newport Beach. We would also like to visit South Carolina, Cabo and city locations like DC, NYC, South Beach

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?

We would probably trade 90-95% of the time

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

MVC Park City, Vail, Timber Lodge, Maui, Newport Beach

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?

4 adults (need a minimum of 2 BR with 3 beds and 2 BA) but might occasionally use studio particularly for city destinations

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

Somewhat locked into school schedules

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes but prefer to do split weeks - particularly for skiing and city stays

 

[jwalk03]

If the weeks are enrolled in the points program and the transfer is parent to child the weeks would remain enrolled which gives you additional options of using Abound points instead of just trading via Interval. Abound points provide the flexibility of booking less than full weeks. Trading in interval basically requires full week stays.

Marriott does use seasonal calendars for float weeks but the seasons vary by resort. Most use Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze, but some like DSVI for example use Red/White/Blue. There are other variations as well depending on the resort. February is Platinum/Red season for Palm Desert and would typically be a desirable week to own. (Especially coupled with Abound enrollment)

Prime ski weeks are difficult trades but not impossible with flexibility and advanced planning. Especially if you can use a studio or 1-bedroom unit. January weeks are not super tough. Feb and early March are harder. Late Mar and early Apr relatively easy. First two weeks of December also relatively easy. Christmas & NYE- forget about it.

Trading for a few days to any of the city collection resorts you mention is not possible with interval. But with Abound points is certainly doable.

 

[davidvel]

To add to what jwalk said, if your parents were reserving their weeks in February then they are Platinum. These should trade well in II, including ski weeks that you mention.

My suggestion would be to get your parents' login, pay the MF, and try it out for a year or so before you commit.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I own four Marriott Palm Desert units (weeks) and do an average of seven exchanges through ii each year.

@boraxo , you mention the Timberlodge, Newport Coast, Maui and South Carolina (Hilton Head?).

I am no longer a skier, so I like to go to Tahoe during June to October while the weather is nice. It is not a difficult trade usually. I go to Newport Coast once or twice a year skipping the summer but targeting Sept to November and April. Again, not a difficult trade for a Marriott owner. I've exchanged into Maui a few times as well as Kauai and Oahu (all Marriotts). So, your targets are probably reasonable, although I can't address the higher demand of the ski season.

You mentioned: "4 adults (need a minimum of 2 BR with 3 beds and 2 BA) but might occasionally use studio particularly for city destinations" IIRC, Newport Coast and Timberlodge 2 BR units have two beds - - not 3. But they also have a pull out couch. So, in theory that could be considered 3 beds. If that doesn't work for you, then that will be an issue to address.

School schedule? That could provide a challenge in some cases. Perhaps consider taking the kids out of school for a week.

@davidvel 's idea of using it for a year or two before transferring ownership has merit. It takes a while to figure out how to use a timeshare. I am a planner and have above average luck with exchanges because I reserve my highest damage weeks and request at least a year in advance, do a "shotgun" approach (wide in terms of dates and targets) on-going request in Interval (my Units are deeded weeks rather than points) plus augment the request with daily searches as I savor my morning coffee. Since you can plan a year out, you should do well.

 

[Hindsite]

You are right to take a bit of time and as others have said experiment with it before it it transferred if you can. Doing that will add an overhead of guest certificates, but that is worth it for the learning, take your time if you have the opportunity
Like with Hyatt there is a lot of terminology that matters, for you to learn.
Exchanging via II - MVC use the II platform as its internal weeks exchange mechanism, so that is the equivalent to Hyatt internal exchange platform, as well as providing the external exchange opportunities that you have with Hyatt via II.
All the best

 

[Pamplemousse]

For background - my parents have offered to gift me a mix of legacy weeks and points at Desert Springs/Shadow Ridge. I am trying to determine if this makes sense for me. Unfortunately I don't have all the details yet (will post) but they said these were floating weeks. My parents they typically visit Palm Desert for 2-3 weeks in February.

In 2020 I purchase Hyatt HHS (resale) - the price was great but the learning curve has been a bit steep. It took a while to figure out how to use the program to book the weeks I need and in retrospect I should have purchased a higher value week (Diamond) rather than Gold. I would like to ensure I have more complete info before I take on the obligation to pay annual fees for Marriott.

Here are my questions:

• Can I trade within the Marriott system (as I do for Hyatt) or do I have to go through Interval? (I really hate the II website so this may be a dealkiller.)

You can’t trade your week to other MVC/Abound properties without using II.
Many, many of us have successfully used II for years.
I can’t imagine that being a total deal killer.

• 
  
• If I trade through Interval am I restricted to full weeks? (This may be dealkiller #2)

II exchanges weeks. There are also some shortstay exchanges where 1 week can get you 2 stays of up to 6 days each. Limited availability.

• 
  
• Does Marriott system use Plat/Gold/Silver legacy weeks? If so how do these affect trades? (for example it is impossible to trade into Hyatt Maui unless you have a Diamond week)

When you exchange on II you are not limited to the season of week you own/deposit. The way the season affects you is each week has a TDI (travel demand index) number and the highest numbers are in the platinum season. But often not that much higher and by requesting early and using in brand priority I exchange up in season on II all the time.

• 
  
• How easy would it be for me to trade Palm Desert for prime ski weeks (excluding Xmas/NYE) at Park City, Vail and Lake Tahoe?

If you want it so does everyone else- getting the plum weeks will always be a challenge. MVC priority in exchanging in brand on II will help you as will requesting early (13+ months) since that is the earliest MVCowners can deposit.

• 
  
• How easy is it to trade for a few days in NYC, Washington and South Beach?

You won’t trade for a few days. You could use points if you have them. Or else I always say not all trips are timeshare trips. Explore what the timeshares in these city locations give you- often they are more similar to hotel rooms so you could just go that route.

I spent some time researching in this forum but I did not see an FAQ that addresses how trades work.

Trades are II. With a week you book in your season at your resort. You then stay in it, deposit it in II where it is good for 2 years or rent it out.

My thought is that you first need to clearly understand what you parents are giving you. If the weeks are enrolled or can be that enrollment will pass from parent to “child” and allow you to elect for points and then book points directly for varying number of days to Abound properties using the MVC owners website and not need to use II (plus give you free in brand exchanges on II). The next challenge would be looking at what you could book with those points vs the maintenance fees to see it that makes sense for you. Having enrolled weeks gives you the most flexibility possible in the MVC system. Good luck.

 

[Dean]

For background - my parents have offered to gift me a mix of legacy weeks and points at Desert Springs/Shadow Ridge. I am trying to determine if this makes sense for me. Unfortunately I don't have all the details yet (will post) but they said these were floating weeks. My parents they typically visit Palm Desert for 2-3 weeks in February.

In 2020 I purchase Hyatt HHS (resale) - the price was great but the learning curve has been a bit steep. It took a while to figure out how to use the program to book the weeks I need and in retrospect I should have purchased a higher value week (Diamond) rather than Gold. I would like to ensure I have more complete info before I take on the obligation to pay annual fees for Marriott.

Here are my questions:

• Can I trade within the Marriott system (as I do for Hyatt) or do I have to go through Interval? (I really hate the II website so this may be a dealkiller.)
• 
  
• If I trade through Interval am I restricted to full weeks? (This may be dealkiller #2)
• 
  
• Does Marriott system use Plat/Gold/Silver legacy weeks? If so how do these affect trades? (for example it is impossible to trade into Hyatt Maui unless you have a Diamond week)
• 
  
• How easy would it be for me to trade Palm Desert for prime ski weeks (excluding Xmas/NYE) at Park City, Vail and Lake Tahoe?
• 
  
• How easy is it to trade for a few days in NYC, Washington and South Beach?

I spent some time researching in this forum but I did not see an FAQ that addresses how trades work.

I expect some of the survey questions might help (see below). Apologies for the long post.

1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?

The most frequent destinations would be peak season for Park City, Vail, Timber Lodge, Maui and Newport Beach. We would also like to visit South Carolina, Cabo and city locations like DC, NYC, South Beach

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?

We would probably trade 90-95% of the time

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

MVC Park City, Vail, Timber Lodge, Maui, Newport Beach

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?

4 adults (need a minimum of 2 BR with 3 beds and 2 BA) but might occasionally use studio particularly for city destinations

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

Somewhat locked into school schedules

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes but prefer to do split weeks - particularly for skiing and city stays

You've gotten a lot of good information. Rather than try to piece my thoughts together and just hit the things I might have additional thoughts on, I'll just give you a broader response even though there will be some redundancy.

This is a wonderful gift if you'll actually use it and can truly afford it long term, if not, it might be a curse and not a blessing. I haven't been to the resorts there but it doesn't sound like you plan to do so much either. Keep in mine you may have to reenroll once transferred but this could be done for free, you just need to be aware.

• Certainly get the specifics of what they own in terms of resorts, seasons, volume and weeks vs Trust Points. And for weeks whether they are enrolled or if not, were bought before the 2010 cutoff date to easily enroll.
• If you have the luxury of using it like it's yours for a year or 2 before deciding, I do think that is a great option. At this point we don't know the reasoning they are wanting to give it to you. It might be they no longer want or can use this and they see this as a win/win.
• As noted, any true exchanging will be through II however, the points can be used internally to reserve subject to availability and often for less than a week. While there are some exceptions with II, realistically you're stuck with exchanging for full weeks but that doesn't mean you have to use the full week and often it can be beneficial just to use 3 or 4 days if one learns to play the game well. I use weeks I own, points and II exchanging to complement each other.
• As for the ease of exchanging for high demand options like the best ski weeks or top holidays, this is very difficult and for some options, almost impossible. You should assume you will not be able to do so for sake of your planning and decision making but then try for those options if you do proceed with taking this on. Even reserving those options as an owner there can be very difficult unless one owns a week that's locked in (Platinum Plus for example). The same applies to reserving using points and II exchanging.
• Using points for a few dats at the Urban locations you mentioned is not difficult if you plan 12-13 months out but you'll have to plan that far out anyway if you want to play in the sandbox successfully.
• And one of the most important points is that not only can things change over time THEY WILL CHANGE OVER TIME. And usually those changes affect many members negatively. So if this barely makes sense in the current environment, I wouldn't proceed.

The most frequent destinations would be peak season for Park City, Vail, Timber Lodge, Maui and Newport Beach. We would also like to visit South Carolina, Cabo and city locations like DC, NYC, South Beach

All of these are workable with the planning mentioned IF you are flexible, even working around the school calendar, but not necessarily the very top weeks consistently.

We would probably trade 90-95% of the time

Just be aware that the CA weeks tend to have high fees so you'll be paying more yearly than similar weeks in some other locations. Depending on the specific resort this could be several hunger dollars per week more than the resorts with the lowest fees. Still it may be worth it if they would come enrolled or can be enrolled for free as that'd give you free lock off ability, free MVC to MVC exchanges, a free II account but only for the enrolled weeks. You could not add other non enrolled or non MVC weeks to the II account.

4 adults (need a minimum of 2 BR with 3 beds and 2 BA) but might occasionally use studio particularly for city destinations

This highlights the need to understand a given resort situation. MOST lock off 2 BR have a King in the master then a King and pull out in the second. MOST dedicated 2 BR have 2 Queens in the second. Some of the older resorts and some of the 2 BR with a second BR have twin beds in the second. All should have a pull out queen in the LR. IMO this is a major principle. Think exchanging to Kauai assuming you'll have a beach but instead your on a bluff with no beach accessible or you're looking out over a parking lot. Just always investigate a given area and resort for a number of factors such as unit configuration, how they assign units, additional charges, etc.

 

[boraxo]

Thanks all for the helpful answers. I will follow up with more specifics as soon as I have them. In the interim:

• Is there a master thread on the Abound points? I have no idea what these are but I will try a search.
• What does this mean: "MVC priority in exchanging in brand on II will help you as will requesting early (13+ months)"? Does this mean we would get priority at other MVC properties? That would be a huge deal though I gather only if we can plan 13 months out.

• I love the suggestion on paying the MF for their account and then experiment with the booking process for a year or two.
• Why are my parents disposing of these weeks? I suspect there are a couple of reasons (1) they are nearing 90 and more paranoid of travel post-covid (2) like many they originally had a concept of booking multi-generation family trips (and successfully pulled off trips to Orlando, Oahu, etc.) but that has become more difficult over time. I don't think management fees are a key issue though obviously no reason to keep paying if they can't use the time. They just mentioned offhand they were going to sell them and I said "wait - we might want to buy them" (though I expect they would gift them to us).
• Ideally we would like to book family trips with our teens (boy and girl) and/or their friends so hence a 2 BR unit with 2 beds doesn't really cut it. Obviously there is the pullout couch but that is suboptimal. Our Hyatt unit comes with 2 Q in the 2nd bedroom. It sounds like we will have to research specific MVC properties to determine the configurations. No handy charts??
• As for city trips we realize they are largely glorified hotel rooms, just wondering if they are as difficult to book as say Hawaii.

 

[DRH90277]

The biggest question is "Can I get the points reservations I want at my lowly level of 1,500 points? The second question is "Can you show me the best reservation I can get for my lowly 1,500 points?

 

[jwalk03]

When Marriott weeks are deposited in Interval there is a preference period where only other Marriott weeks can be traded for them. After the Marriott to Marriott preference period there is an additional Marriott-Vistana preference period. Before finally being available for any other resort deposits.

The preference period does not only apply at 13-months. It applies at anytime. We have seen weeks within the same week still show up in preference only. Though the preference period will be shorter for sooner checkin dates.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Thanks all for the helpful answers. I will follow up with more specifics as soon as I have them. In the interim:

• Is there a master thread on the Abound points? I have no idea what these are but I will try a search.
• What does this mean: "MVC priority in exchanging in brand on II will help you as will requesting early (13+ months)"? Does this mean we would get priority at other MVC properties? That would be a huge deal though I gather only if we can plan 13 months out.

• I love the suggestion on paying the MF for their account and then experiment with the booking process for a year or two.
• Why are my parents disposing of these weeks? I suspect there are a couple of reasons (1) they are nearing 90 and more paranoid of travel post-covid (2) like many they originally had a concept of booking multi-generation family trips (and successfully pulled off trips to Orlando, Oahu, etc.) but that has become more difficult over time. I don't think management fees are a key issue though obviously no reason to keep paying if they can't use the time. They just mentioned offhand they were going to sell them and I said "wait - we might want to buy them" (though I expect they would gift them to us).
• Ideally we would like to book family trips with our teens (boy and girl) and/or their friends so hence a 2 BR unit with 2 beds doesn't really cut it. Obviously there is the pullout couch but that is suboptimal. Our Hyatt unit comes with 2 Q in the 2nd bedroom. It sounds like we will have to research specific MVC properties to determine the configurations. No handy charts??
• As for city trips we realize they are largely glorified hotel rooms, just wondering if they are as difficult to book as say Hawaii.

Jwalk03 answered what I meant about priority exchanging in II.
I mentioned it because if you want to exchange into MVC it is really helpful to own MVC.

There is a section on points in the pink area at the top of this forum.

“Ease of booking” seems to be a big concern and there are just too many factors to give a blanket answer. It depends on what season you are trying to book, week day or weekend, how far in advance you book- and a little luck thrown in.

One more comment from a recent empty nester- your vacation style/ unit needs will change over time. I wouldn’t get hung up on bed arrangements when trying to decide if you want to own TS.
There are many (maybe most) 2nd bedrooms with 2 beds if the “kids” want to share a room. I will also say the new American leather sleeper sofas many renovated mvc units have are very comfortable.

 

[Dean]

When Marriott weeks are deposited in Interval there is a preference period where only other Marriott weeks can be traded for them. After the Marriott to Marriott preference period there is an additional Marriott-Vistana preference period. Before finally being available for any other resort deposits.

The preference period does not only apply at 13-months. It applies at anytime. We have seen weeks within the same week still show up in preference only. Though the preference period will be shorter for sooner checkin dates.

I would point out and as you know, but it's important for someone learning, it doesn't apply universally. Trade power is still a factor so even if a unit is sitting there and an MVC member is searching for it, there may not be a match and that unit may go to a non member. Also, inside 60 days it's also not as active.

 

[Dean]

Try This Sticky Above

The idea about searching at 13 months is that you're searching when the units are deposited else they will be gone before you are trying for them.