Newport Coast Villa - Gold Season - Worth it/ Trading Power.

[Saeedibobbak]

Hi All,

Brand new to this forum and tons of great information. I have searched prior threads and wasn’t able to find many direct answers to my questions so thought I would post.

I am about to purchase a NCV - Gold Season (resale market).

I live in Southern California and chose to purchase this as primarily a trader but figured worse comes to worse I wouldn’t mind spending a week by the beach when it’s 30 min away from my home.

Can anyone provide some insight about the following:

1) I know I am unable to convert to Marriott points since purchased resale. Is this THAT big of a deal?

2) How does this resort do as far as trading power on II? (I was also looking as the Palm Springs locations and curious which would supierior for trading.)

3) Any special assessments coming up that anyone is aware of or things that I should be aware of prior to purchase?

This is my first timeshare FYI so any knowledge shall be greatly appreciated.

 

[FamilyEsq]

One thing to be aware of is that the 2 bedroom units do not lock off. You will only be able to deposit a 2 bedroom unit in Interval instead of a 1 bedroom and a studio (which would give you 2 week deposits). This NCV week should trade well.

 

[Saeedibobbak]

That is a good point, thanks for sharing.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Hi All,

Brand new to this forum and tons of great information. I have searched prior threads and wasn’t able to find many direct answers to my questions so thought I would post.

I am about to purchase a NCV - Gold Season (resale market).

I live in Southern California and chose to purchase this as primarily a trader but figured worse comes to worse I wouldn’t mind spending a week by the beach when it’s 30 min away from my home.

Can anyone provide some insight about the following:

1) I know I am unable to convert to Marriott points since purchased resale. Is this THAT big of a deal?

2) How does this resort do as far as trading power on II? (I was also looking as the Palm Springs locations and curious which would supierior for trading.)

3) Any special assessments coming up that anyone is aware of or things that I should be aware of prior to purchase?

This is my first timeshare FYI so any knowledge shall be greatly appreciated.

With regard to point #1 I would say research interval international well as you consider your purchase so you can understand and manage your expections for exchanging. NCV is ranked as an elite resort on II, but your TDI will depend on which week you deposit. Many newbies post frustration on the II community boards because they expect exchanging to be similar to booking a hotel and don’t understand trading power and placing requests in advance. If you are buying to exchange and can’t do so internally being sure you know what you are getting into with II is important.

 

[Saeedibobbak]

With regard to point #1 I would say research interval international well as you consider your purchase so you can understand and manage your expections for exchanging. NCV is ranked as an elite resort on II, but your TDI will depend on which week you deposit. Many newbies post frustration on the II community boards because they expect exchanging to be similar to booking a hotel and don’t understand trading power and placing requests in advance. If you are buying to exchange and can’t do so internally being sure you know what you are getting into with II is important.

Thank you for that info. Are there any resources that you could recommend to research II? I was on their site and it appears that they don’t show you much unless you sign up first (I was hoping to sign up after completing the timeshare transaction.

Also - I noticed that there are different II membership tiers. Do you guys think that the standard is all you need or are the benefits of the upper tiers and having access to locations sooner really worth it?

 

[Pamplemousse]

Your trading power doesn’t increase with the gold or platinum membership levels.
Gold or platinum gives you the opportunity to book short stays ( less than a full week)- but these are pretty limited availability.
The gold/ platnum also give you discounts on unit size upgrade fees and guest certificates.
Platinum gives access to some deeply discounted getaways a couple of times a year and both give lower cost getaways.
I would start out standard and see if it makes sense to upgrade later.

There is some discussion about II in the exchanging forum here on tug.
I’m not really sure where else you would find info.

The big takeaway I would offer is to just really understand that you are not just booking like a hotel. Someone has to give up exactly what you want and deposit it into II and you need to be top of the list for you to get it. If you like to travel high season- school breaks, summer beaches, Caribbean winters- these have the highest travel demand and require preplanning ( requesting a year or more ahead- especially for Marriott which can be deposited in that time frame).
You are looking at an elite resort, so that’s good for your trading power, but gold season is not peak for TDI (travel demand index- a measure of exactly what it says).

I’ll close by saying it may seem that I am not a fan of II, and actually I am. I own a gold season Marriott Orlando and I have had great success exchanging on II- but I am able to plan far in advance and I have learned to manage my expectations and roll with itbwhen necessary. I have a redweek trip planned for February because the family couldn’t get their act together far enough in advance.

 

[Saeedibobbak]

Your trading power doesn’t increase with the gold or platinum membership levels.
Gold or platinum gives you the opportunity to book short stays ( less than a full week)- but these are pretty limited availability.
The upper levels also give you discounts on unit size upgrade fees and guest certificates.
Platinum gives access to some deeply discounted getaways a couple of times a year.
I would start out standard and see if it makes sense to upgrade later.

There is some discussion about II in the exchanging forum here on tug.
I’m not really sure where else you would find info.

The big takeaway I would offer

Great! Thank you!

 

[GetawaysRus]

If your primary purpose is trading, and if you don't feel the need (or want to lay out the dollars) to purchase Platinum season, why not look at a White (Gold) week in Palm Desert. These do lock off into a 1BR and a studio, so you get 2 potential weeks of use/trading from one ownership. It should be possible to find a 2BR Desert Villas 1 or 2 unit (or Shadow Ridge, if you prefer that) for minimal cost.

There is a Marriott maintenance fee thread so that you can compare MFs of various resorts.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

2 BR Marriotts trade pretty well. Newport Coast (NCV) is a very desirable exchange. I live in San Diego, so I enjoy at least one trip up to Newport Coast each year and do it through exchanges. I typically like to go there in the fall (Sept or October), which is NCV's platinum season.

I own a couple of units at Marriott Desert Springs. I have always split my 2 BR unit into an efficiency and a master unit. I feel that by splitting the unit that I get more bang for my buck. Sometimes I need to deposit a 1 BR DSV unit to exchange into NCV but occasionally I have been successful depositing an efficiency and getting a 2 BR. I end up having to pay a unit-size upgrade fee to interval. Because I'm platinum ii, that amounts to $118 - - not at all bad. I have been exchanging in to NCV for probably 6 or 7 consecutive years.

So, if you are not fully committed contractually to NCV or if it fails the ROFR, you might give some consideration to buying a resale 2-BR lock-off which can be split into 2. Or, if you like timesharing and end up wanting to add another unit, perhaps that is when you pick up a lock-off. I think that Marriott Grand Chateau (Vegas) trades pretty well, has decent maintenance (MF) fees and usually passes ROFR. If you keep the NCV unit, I suspect that you can probably rent it out at an amount greater than your MF.

 

[Saeedibobbak]

2 BR Marriotts trade pretty well. Newport Coast (NCV) is a very desirable exchange. I live in San Diego, so I enjoy at least one trip up to Newport Coast each year and do it through exchanges. I typically like to go there in the fall (Sept or October), which is NCV's platinum season.

I own a couple of units at Marriott Desert Springs. I have always split my 2 BR unit into an efficiency and a master unit. I feel that by splitting the unit that I get more bang for my buck. Sometimes I need to deposit a 1 BR DSV unit to exchange into NCV but occasionally I have been successful depositing an efficiency and getting a 2 BR. I end up having to pay a unit-size upgrade fee to interval. Because I'm platinum ii, that amounts to $118 - - not at all bad. I have been exchanging in to NCV for probably 6 or 7 consecutive years.

So, if you are not fully committed contractually to NCV or if it fails the ROFR, you might give some consideration to buying a resale 2-BR lock-off which can be split into 2. Or, if you like timesharing and end up wanting to add another unit, perhaps that is when you pick up a lock-off. I think that Marriott Grand Chateau (Vegas) trades pretty well, has decent maintenance (MF) fees and usually passes ROFR. If you keep the NCV unit, I suspect that you can probably rent it out at an amount greater than your MF.

That was some great insight and I really appreciate all of the detail! I really like the DSV units but my wife doesn’t feel that we would use it as our preferred resort as much as we would NCV. With that said, I will look into the Grand Chateau as a possible secondary!

Do you feel that the Platinum II is worth it from an early access to inventory standpoint?

 

[vacationtime1]

That was some great insight and I really appreciate all of the detail! I really like the DSV units but my wife doesn’t feel that we would use it as our preferred resort as much as we would NCV. With that said, I will look into the Grand Chateau as a possible secondary!

Do you feel that the Platinum II is worth it from an early access to inventory standpoint?

My understanding is that it is the Marriott preference (when you trade a Marriott for another Marriott) that permits you to see the inventory first (up to 24 days in advance) on the exchanges you contemplate.

 

[Swice]

Do you feel that the Platinum II is worth it from an early access to inventory standpoint?

NO-- Interval Platinum doesn't give you "early" access. Trading a Marriott for a Marriott gives you the above mentioned first dibs. In other words, Marriott properties are only displayed to other Marriott owners for just under a month.

For years now, I've split Lakeshore Reserve into two one-bedroom units (I own the Deluxe model at Lakeshore) and traded one bedrooms for two bedrooms at Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head in lower seasons. But I haven't been as successful with that in the past year. I always started with high trading weeks and deposited a year or more in advance of what I wanted. Two years ago, the trade took much longer to come through. This past year, it took even longer and I was becoming impatient and started "searching" daily myself and finally I grabbed a Hilton Head property that I had not put on my request list because it was getting too close.

The unknown here is that Marriott bought Interval. So we really don't know how trading will shake out over the long term.

 

[bazzap]

NO-- Interval Platinum doesn't give you "early" access. Trading a Marriott for a Marriott gives you the above mentioned first dibs. In other words, Marriott properties are only displayed to other Marriott owners for just under a month.

For years now, I've split Lakeshore Reserve into two one-bedroom units (I own the Deluxe model at Lakeshore) and traded one bedrooms for two bedrooms at Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head in lower seasons. But I haven't been as successful with that in the past year. I always started with high trading weeks and deposited a year or more in advance of what I wanted. Two years ago, the trade took much longer to come through. This past year, it took even longer and I was becoming impatient and started "searching" daily myself and finally I grabbed a Hilton Head property that I had not put on my request list because it was getting too close.

The unknown here is that Marriott bought Interval. So we really don't know how trading will shake out over the long term.

There is one exception with Interval Platinum membership, in that it does give you early access to Getaway inventory.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

That was some great insight and I really appreciate all of the detail! I really like the DSV units but my wife doesn’t feel that we would use it as our preferred resort as much as we would NCV. With that said, I will look into the Grand Chateau as a possible secondary!

Do you feel that the Platinum II is worth it from an early access to inventory standpoint?

I think that Pamplemouse explained what platinum ii gets you.

I am currently Platinum II, but the primary benefits for me are ($40)discounts on the unit-size upgrade and a discount of $50 on getaways. Guest certs are free.
Occasionally I'll see ii getaway inventory that is supposedly not seen by regular members. I can't verify if that is true. But I've never bought any of those early inventory things - - perhaps because the locations are not of my liking and perhaps because there aren't a lot of those things showing up and they are only for getaways. Being platinum doesn't do anything for exchange inventory access.

Using Palm Desert as my preferred home resort? Every year (on average), I split and make 4 reservations in Palm Desert that I use for exchange purposes. We use half of the remaining one (EOY) for personal use in PD. Of those 4 res's, I use 1 for NCV, one or two for non-Marriott exchanges (Carmel, Napa, Tahoe or Sedona) and one or two to trade back into Palm Desert. Why do I deposit a PD and then trade back to PD? Well, I deposit the efficiency side and trade up to either a 1 or 2 BR unit. My wife and I are spoiled and like 2 BR units (with 2 private bathrooms). For us, it is worth the upgrade fee. Also, when we exchange back to Palm Desert, I will book whatever Marriott is available - - DSV1, DSV2, SR villages or SR enclaves. They all have their slight differences and I have some preferences, but they are all good.

For my annual exchange into NCV I prefer the fall. As you know living close to Newport, the gold season includes "May gray" and "June gloom". Sept to November are pretty nice weather-wise in Newport but are considered platinum season.

My two annual PD units are only "white" season. But I prefer to go to PD in the fall. I like to hike and the weather is usually very nice. If you wanted to attend the BNP tennis tournament or attend the Coachella Valley music festivals then you'd want a platinum/red week in PD. If I could do it over again, I think that I might have been wiser to have bought a platinum/red because I believe that it trades a little bit better. But they typically cost a few thousand more (but have the same MF as the white and blue weeks).

Good luck on your future timesharing.

 

[cp73]

That was some great insight and I really appreciate all of the detail! I really like the DSV units but my wife doesn’t feel that we would use it as our preferred resort as much as we would NCV. With that said, I will look into the Grand Chateau as a possible secondary!

I also agree that if you are buying primarily for trading you should buy one that has the lockout feature. I also agree since you live in Southern Calif one of the palm desert resorts makes the best sense. To me, when I go to vegas there are so many great hotels I would prefer to stay in a hotel right on the strip. Palm Desert has to be only about a 2 hour drive from you. We love that area. What doesn't your wife like about that area? Maybe she has just gone at the wrong time of the year and needs to give it another try?

 

[pmdpmk3]

I have a redweek trip planned for February because the family couldn’t get their act together far enough in advance.

Just looking at old posts and wondering what you meant by redweek trip planned. Does that mean you couldn't find rental on RCI (seems like people use term II = RCI?) so went to redweek.com to rent a week? Sorry I'm new to TUG and RCI so trying to figure it all out

 

[Pamplemousse]

Just looking at old posts and wondering what you meant by redweek trip planned. Does that mean you couldn't find rental on RCI (seems like people use term II = RCI?) so went to redweek.com to rent a week? Sorry I'm new to TUG and RCI so trying to figure it all out

Redweek is a site where owners offer their weeks for rent for money.
Marriotts timeshares exchange on interval internationa— not rent. II does offer getaways for cash but I did not find what I wanted there.
RCI is another exchange company, my Marriott doesn’t exchange with that company. They are 2 different companies- when people say II they mean interval international.
My family wanted to go to Sanibel and there are very few Sanibel weeks deposited into II and available for exchange and to have any chance of exchanging we would have had to place a request very far in advance- and still no guarantee- so we chose to pay cash to stay at the Sanibel timeshare. We found what we wanted for rent on redweek.
Hope that helps.