Ocean Pointe Building request

[gjhardt]

Does anyone know what is best building to request at Ocean Pointe - wondering if some have been refurbished recently and which offer the best ocean view. Thanks in advance.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

The hard renovation schedule completed in 2014 so now the buildings are on the soft-goods renovation years. Sailfish was done last year so Dolphin would be next this Sept. I really don't think you are going to notice much difference among the building units but for what it's worth Pampano and Kingfish would be the most recent hard renovations.

The view from the four main buildings is almost identical. Sailfish and Dolphin are ideal for families since they are near the family oriented pools. If you are ocean side ask for south facing if you want sun on your balcony in the afternoon. I would avoid asking for a unit closest to ocean front. The higher units towards the inter-coastal have great views while the low units closer to OF have horrible views.

Kingfish is separated from the main property. People either want Kingfish or they definitely do not want Kingfish. Make sure you specify one way or the other on your request, especially if you have ocean front.

 

[gnipgnop]

Saintsfanfl: Are you a Marriott owner? I have a reservation for late August and this is my first time at this resort. Exchangers (which I am) usually do not get their requests ~ but let's just imagine that I do ~ what is best to ask for. We are four adults in a two BR unit. Really would love an ocean view. Any suggestions?

 

[dioxide45]

Are you Marriott owners? I have a reservation for late August and this is my first time at this resort. Exchangers (which I am) usually do not get their requests ~ but let's just imagine that I do ~ what is best to ask for. We are four adults in a two BR unit. Really would love an ocean view. Any suggestions?

High floor is important. Be willing to take the highest floor in any of the buildings, even if that means being further back from the beach. Low floor Ocean Side, as Saintsfan indicates can have poor views mainly of the parking. All the higher floors will at least be able to see the ocean water. Just call the resort a couple weeks out and tell them your request.

 

[dougp26364]

Saintsfanfl: Are you a Marriott owner? I have a reservation for late August and this is my first time at this resort. Exchangers (which I am) usually do not get their requests ~ but let's just imagine that I do ~ what is best to ask for. We are four adults in a two BR unit. Really would love an ocean view. Any suggestions?

We've been owners at Ocean Pointe since 2001. I'll give you my opinion FWIW.

There are 5 buildings, 4 in the main complex, one separated by a pink condo building Marriott was never able to buy out. The 4 main buildings, starting from the northern most building are, Sailfish, Dolphin, Cobia and Pompano. IMO Sailfish and Dolphin are the least likely to provide a good ocean view for exchangers if they're relegated to a floor below the 4th floor. Dolphin was the first building we ever stayed in. We were exchangers staying on a II resort accommodations certificate. We had a first floor room as far west (away from the ocean) as one could be I. The dolphin building. We had a wonderful view of the parking lot and ongoing construction of the Cobia building. Palm trees blocked our view.

Sailfish and dolphin are closer to the family pools and tiki bar/grill. The Maze activity enter and Marketplace are located in the Dolphin building. It's noisier and the palm trees are mature. Anything below the 4th floor likely won't see a lot of the ocean. For that matter the palms may be big enough now that the fifth floor might be blocked to some point. However, he south side units of sailfish and north side nuts of dolphin overlook the low level registration building, so there's a big open space not blocked by another 7 story building. Those units might provide your best views for those two buildings.

Cobia is my favorite for the main complex BUT, we own ocean front. It's a little quitter, the Palm trees aren't quite as tall in front of the building and the nicer hot tub is directly in front of it. Either the north or south side of Cobia will be bracketed by other buildings, so no opportunity foe any sort of a vista. 4th floor or higher for the best opportunity to see the ocean but the third floor might have something of a sliver of a view.

Pompano is our least favorite but, for your desire to get a decent ocean view, a south facing unit in this building might be your best bet in the main complex. The fitness center and sauna are located in this building and it's the furthest away from the bar/grill in the main complex. The south facing rooms face the pink condo building. Because of that the vista towards the ocean is less obstructed. You'll also have a view towards the inlet to watch the boat traffic come and go. I'd want a unit closer to the ocean to provide the best possible ocean view if ocean view is what you desire. I believe, but could be wrong, that even the lower south facing units of Pompano have a good chance to see ocean.

Kingfish is almost a resort unto its own. It has its own fitness center, bar, pool, hot tub and grills. The ocean side units are on the north side and look directly at parking lot and the pink condo building. The pink condo appears close enough that it would block most of the ocean view but, I might be mistaken about that. The north units spend a lot of time in the shade. Most people hate being in kingfish but we prefer the solitude. It's really not that far of a walk from the Mai. Complex but people usually want the convince of walking out of their building and being right there in the middle of everything.

So, that's my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[1st Class]

I agree high floor, any building is probably your best bet. I'm an OP owner and I can tell you that owners don't get their requests either. I have been disappointed with 1st floor parking lot views despite my pre-check-in requests. Only once in 10 years of ownership did we get 2nd floor! IMO, OP staff is really the worst for assigning views. Fortunately, the rest of the resort makes up for poor villa view. Maybe summer will be better timing for better view? My stays have always been in the winter months.

Something to think about ... the sun on your balcony will be strong in August. If you prefer shade, ask for a north facing balcony.

Good luck and please post back with your villa assignment.

 

[dougp26364]

I agree high floor, any building is probably your best bet. I'm an OP owner and I can tell you that owners don't get their requests either. I have been disappointed with 1st floor parking lot views despite my pre-check-in requests. Only once in 10 years of ownership did we get 2nd floor! IMO, OP staff is really the worst for assigning views. Fortunately, the rest of the resort makes up for poor villa view. Maybe summer will be better timing for better view? My stays have always been in the winter months.

Something to think about ... the sun on your balcony will be strong in August. If you prefer shade, ask for a north facing balcony.

Good luck and please post back with your villa assignment.

I think a lot of the unit assignment satisfaction comes from which season you own and single week vs multiple week ownership. Platinum single week owners who stay in Feb seem to have to worst luck.

When Ocean Pointe opened, there were those who realized the cost effectiveness of buying the number of winter weeks they wanted at Ocean Pointe vs buying a condo outright. They bought what they'd use, pay the MF's and not have to worry about a condo price tag that, at that time was often north of one million dollars. No insurance costs, no condo association fee's, no worries renting out the condo for the times they weren't there et.... At the time timeshare made sense for some snowbirds rather than buying a condo.

But what happened to platinum season single week owners was that multiple week owners were higher on the food chain and, they'd get into a prime location and stay there for 3 or 4 weeks. In the end single week owners got locked out of the prime locations most of the time.

We own in Silver season and tend to stay the first or second week of December. Some years it's been the first couple of weeks of November but, we prefer December. We've always been assigned 4th floor or higher. Gold season and Silver season owners don't appear to have nearly the location issues that Platinum season owners experience.

The OP is traveling in August, which is Gold season. MVC assigned Gold season a lower point value for the Destination Club than they did Silver season. If that's an idication of owner demand for those sumer weeks, the OP as an exchanger might stand a better than average chance of a decent unit location. On the other hand, the only time we ever exchanged into Ocean Pointe as non-MVC guests we were assigned the "coveted" first floor all the way to the back with a great parking lot view unit. Even so, that stay promted us to become owners. Go figure.

I will reinforce the opinion that it's best to NOT expect a great or even really good unit view assignment. Ocean Pointe has a history of high owner occupancy. Exchangers that are non-Marriott owners are given the lowest priority for unit view assignment and thus tend to draw lower floors further away from the ocean.

This is a link to a photo album from 2001. It is not representative of the resort or the units today. There are 2 pictures of the view we had. This was in December. It's likely a very good representation of the view to expect. https://dougp26364.smugmug.com/Travel/TImeshare/Ocean-Pointe-December-2001/

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I have never been assigned lower than the 4th floor either and this is even with exchanges although when I have several units it's been varied but usually a 6th or 7th floor, a 2nd or 3rd floor, and the rest in between. I've never been assigned a 1st floor unit. I actually think all of my stays have been exchanges because I will exchange for the same week as my owned and then rent out the owned. This is Thanksgivng week.

I can't imagine an owner being assigned a 1st floor unit every year.

 

[1st Class]

Maybe I should try exchanging in.

1st floor Sailfish every time! (With the single exception of 2nd floor Sailfish 1x.) Screening those balconies with palm trees would improve things a bit!

Doug, you are correct that I'm a platinum season owner traveling in February, but that's when we need to travel. We want to get out of the cold and warm up a bit so that's why I bought platinum. We are multiple weeks owners as well, but have just this one week at OP.

After being told time after time that "there's nothing available on higher floors" I've given up. I started renting out my week a few years ago and renting back elsewhere. My renters the last 3 years have reported ... you guessed it, 1st floor Sailfish!

Honestly, we are treated like royalty everywhere else we go, including non-Marriotts. OP seems to be the exception, and for us, not in a good way. That's too bad because we really enjoyed everything about the resort except our villa assignment.

Doug and Saintsfanfl, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Maybe you can answer this too. My week is oceanside. Do ALL oceanside villas in Kingfish face the pink building? I like Kingfish but won't request it if the view is worse than what we've had.

Gjhardt and gnipgnop, sorry for the slight detour to your questions. I sincerely hope you enjoy OP and get a villa to your liking.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

Are you placing Villa location requests in advance? If so nothing else you can do. Feb is very tough at Ocean Pointe. So many multi-week owners given priority. The only time I have stayed during Platinum season is in my uncle's villa and another I rented early April. In both cases they were many multi-week owners and their priority applied.

I am fairly certain that ocean side in Kingfish is all facing the condo. Kingfish is mostly OF since the inlet facing units are classed as OF. Kingfish is also a lower floor building. I think there are 5 floors. The other buildings have 8 floors (ground floor is parking).

 

[dougp26364]

Maybe I should try exchanging in.

1st floor Sailfish every time! (With the single exception of 2nd floor Sailfish 1x.) Screening those balconies with palm trees would improve things a bit!

Doug, you are correct that I'm a platinum season owner traveling in February, but that's when we need to travel. We want to get out of the cold and warm up a bit so that's why I bought platinum. We are multiple weeks owners as well, but have just this one week at OP.

After being told time after time that "there's nothing available on higher floors" I've given up. I started renting out my week a few years ago and renting back elsewhere. My renters the last 3 years have reported ... you guessed it, 1st floor Sailfish!

Honestly, we are treated like royalty everywhere else we go, including non-Marriotts. OP seems to be the exception, and for us, not in a good way. That's too bad because we really enjoyed everything about the resort except our villa assignment.

Doug and Saintsfanfl, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Maybe you can answer this too. My week is oceanside. Do ALL oceanside villas in Kingfish face the pink building? I like Kingfish but won't request it if the view is worse than what we've had.

Gjhardt and gnipgnop, sorry for the slight detour to your questions. I sincerely hope you enjoy OP and get a villa to your liking.

Your story is familiar as a single week owner at Ocean Pointe, even though your a multiple week owner within the system. To many multiple week OP owners, some of which reserve the entire month.

As to Kingfish, I believe you are correct. I recall one of the complaints of ocean front owners was that MVC considered the inlet view as ocean front. But, I can't say this is true with 100% certainty.

 

[1st Class]

Thank you both once again for your input.

Yes, I add my request as soon as the reservation is made. Then I call about a month ahead as a reminder. This is my procedure at all resorts, but it seems it's only an issue at OP.

Hmmm ... parking lot or pink building?? I would gladly take Kingfish, any floor, facing the inlet, but if those are all OF I guess I'll forget that plan. Ironically, I feel bad for my renters. I always tell them villa placement is the luck of the draw and caution them about multiple week owner priority. What I fail to mention is how my luck has been running.