novice request help [Marriott]

[maigueri]

Hi everybody:



This is my first post in this web, and i´m completely beginner in the "timeshare world"

I´m thinking very seriously about buying a timeshare, so i´ve been investigating a lot of things,

but i still have doubts about it and i hope u can help me, so...let´s go:



My idea is buying a marriott timeshare with rate of gold or platinum ¿many diference between them?


i have been checking properties in ebay in "no reserve" bids which are about 70% lower than it´s first value ¿there is any other better palce to get a cheap one?

Probably i´ll never go to the property i buy. I only want it to trade with it, and travel around the world in high class hotels ¿is a good idea or i can find many problems to trade it?(i usually dont travel in high seasons)

Which is the best exchange agency for this purpose ¿II, redweek, RCI...any other?


Could u give me some examples of marriott properties not very expensive with great power of trade?

I´ve listened that with lock off properties, u can trade with a week but u have to use the other in the resort u own ¿is it truth?

When is the best time to buy a property before the end of the year or from january?

When u trade ur week with II or any other can u give that week to other person or only the week in your own resort?
¿and can u give to another person the getaways offers?


Last but not least i would like to thank u for read this :zzz: post and ask for sorry if u find some grammar faults in the post (i´m from spain)


thanks in advance for your help!

 

[DeniseM]

Welcome to TUG! I'm going to move your post to the Marriott board where you will get expert help - be sure you check out the info. posted at the top of the board for lots of great info. about how Marriott works.

 

[Bill4728]

First Welcome to TUG

I have attempted to answer your questions below but the best advise I can give you is to take your time before buying and get educated about TS before buying. It is very easy to buy and very hard to sell so TAKE YOUR TIME!!

My idea is buying a marriott timeshare with rate of gold or platinum ¿many diference between them?

the Marriott TS system is one of the very best TS systems. And buying a Marriott TS resale is a great idea.
Gold vs Platinum. Normally, platinum weeks will trade much better than gold because most of the time Platinum is the peak travel time for that resort. But sometimes Marriott has assigned the platinum season too many weeks, when this happens, sometime a gold week will be of equal trading power but cost much less than Platinum.

i have been checking properties in ebay in "no reserve" bids which are about 70% lower than it´s first value ¿there is any other better palce to get a cheap one?

Ebay is a great place to pick up a super cheap week, but you must be carefull because there will not be someone ( a broker) to make sure that you are getting everything you think you'll get when you bid.

Probably i´ll never go to the property i buy. I only want it to trade with it, and travel around the world in high class hotels ¿is a good idea or i can find many problems to trade it?(i usually dont travel in high seasons)

THIS IS NOT WHAT TIMESHARING IS ABOUT!! YOU CAN'T TRADE INTO HOTELS , YOU TRADE INTO OTHER TSs. IF YOU WANT TO STAY IN HOTELS MAYBE TIMESHARING ISN'T FOR YOU.

Which is the best exchange agency for this purpose ¿II, redweek, RCI...any other?

IMHO, if you own a Marriott, you'll only want to trade with II.

Could u give me some examples of marriott properties not very expensive with great power of trade?

Over the years, many people have said that the lock-off, platinum weeks at manor club sequel in Williamsburg or platinum weeks (AKA red weeks) at Palm Desert have the best price & trading power for a resort you're planning on trading most of the time.

I´ve listened that with lock off properties, u can trade with a week but u have to use the other in the resort u own ¿is it truth?

You can trade a lock-off unit in several different ways, If you don't plan on staying there, you can trade the whole unit as a 2 bedroom OR you can trade it a 2 units ( a 1 bed & a studio). You do not have to use either side of a lock-off if you don't want to use it.

When is the best time to buy a property before the end of the year or from january?

At the moment, TS prices are in a free fall. I've never seen them so low. This is a great time to buy!!

When u trade ur week with II or any other can u give that week to other person or only the week in your own resort?
¿and can u give to another person the getaways offers?

If you make a trade, you can give that week to a friend or family to use but you must pay a small fee for a guest certificate. You can also give away a week you have obtained by buying a get-a-way week.

Hope that helps and Welcome to TUG

 

[maigueri]

Thanks a lot Bill

I hoped to get help but not so good and exhaustive!!!

I now my thinking is not the timeshare normal idea, but i still think it can work, i´ve checked the properties in interval to see what places have resorts to trade and there are a lot of them.

And if i get a lock off unit used like 2 weeks, i could get two marriot weeks for the price of maintenance fee, and with the current prices in two years i´d would have cover my invest.

Anyway Bill i would like to thank u again, u helped me a lot

take care!!

 

[Glynda]

Which...

Over the years, many people have said that the lock-off, platinum weeks at manor club sequel in Williamsburg or platinum weeks (AKA red weeks) at Palm Desert have the best price & trading power for a resort you're planning on trading most of the time.

Which Palm Desert resort is better? Shadow Ridge or Desert Springs Villas?

 

[JimIg23]

Probably i´ll never go to the property i buy. I only want it to trade with it, and travel around the world in high class hotels ¿is a good idea or i can find many problems to trade it?(i usually dont travel in high seasons)

If you want to "trade" into hotels, the only way to do it with a Marriott is buying direct from Marriott and having the ability to trade your week for points. There are many threads on that subject on this site. If you buy resale, people usually trade their week thru II.

 

[maigueri]

First of all thanks for the help!!

I commited a mistake when i said, that i want to trade with my property to convert it into hotels, what i really wanted to say was that i wanted it to trade it to go all the different choices that interval or redweek offers.

That´s why i was so interested in a powerfull trade property ¿is it hard to trade?i suposse that with i gold marriott property it should´t...

how does interval really work when u deposit ur week ¿can u see all your chances to trade? i would really like to know which properties are available with 6 months-one year in advance to ask for my holidays dates acording o them.

I´m considering to buy a marriot property in palm desert (thanks for the advice bill)to get good trade, my only doubt is that i don´t really like that kind of resort (too much golf and no beach)...but if it´s the best relation price-power trade, taht´s what i´m looking for.

Finally do u know how many years are the timeshare prices going down or when i can get graphs with this information (yes i work with stocks daily..)

Again thanks for all your help it´s being very usefull for me.

waiting to read u ...see u!

 

[Dave M]

Some rambling thoughts on your questions....

Many of us here recommend buying a timeshare that you would be happy to occupy rather than exchange more often than not. In your case, that might not be practical, but a primary reason for that recommendation is worth a look.

Exchanging for the dream week at the dream resort of your choice is rarely a sure thing. Whether you'll get that exchange depends not only on the trading strength of your timeshare, but also whether owners at the resort where you want to stay have deposited weeks with the exchange company and whether your exchange request is in line when the week is deposited.

Thus, if you need to plan your exact holiday/vacation dates six months or more in advance, you could wind up being disappointed if you don't get the exchange you want. On the other hand, there are some weeks available for every week of the year, even though many of them are weeks you wouldn't want.

There's another factor you should consider regarding exchange power. Not every Gold (or Platinum) week at a specific Marriott or other timeshare resort has the same exchange strength. Various weeks within a particular season have widely different strength. Thus, in Marriott's system, knowledgeable owners call Owner Services at the exact minute when reservations first open (usually one year in advance) to try to reserve the desired week at the owner’s home resort. For popular weeks (e.g., holiday or school vacation weeks), there are often more owners trying to reserve than there are weeks available, leaving some very disappointed owners.

Overriding all of that is that if you truly have the flexibility to travel at times when most others do not take their vacations, you should have many fine exchanges available to you. Some Interval International exchanges that will meet your needs will show up online and you can confirm them instantly, often as much as a year in advance. For more difficult (high demand) exchanges, you might have to put in an ongoing exchange request and hope for the best, expanding or changing your request if you start getting worried about getting a confirmed exchange.

As for your question about timeshare resale prices, they have been in a freefall for over a year now. A combination of (1) the poor economy and (2) timeshare dumping on eBay by companies that acquire timeshares from people willing to pay to get rid of them have had major impacts on the resale market. There is no way to predict the future, but the current economic situation might suggest that prices - on average - will go down further.