Oceana Palms exchange!

[ArBravesFan]

After a long search I snagged an Oceana Palms exchange! I am excited. My wife and I are going to a bowl game in Florida and I was looking for an availablity. I got Oceana Palms December 30-Jan 5 with a Willow Ridge studio! I am planning to take the property tour just to be able to brag to the salesmen, the ones that tell you exchanges into Oceana Palms are impossible!:hysterical:

 

[FractionalTraveler]

That sounds like a wonderful exchange during a very nice time in Florida.

Congratulations and have a great trip!

 

[jlf58]

I traded in with a 1bd non marriott free week

That sounds like a wonderful exchange during a very nice time in Florida.

Congratulations and have a great trip!

 

[Saintsfanfl]

After a long search I snagged an Oceana Palms exchange! I am excited. My wife and I are going to a bowl game in Florida and I was looking for an availablity. I got Oceana Palms December 30-Jan 5 with a Willow Ridge studio! I am planning to take the property tour just to be able to brag to the salesmen, the ones that tell you exchanges into Oceana Palms are impossible!:hysterical:

Which bowl game are you going to? I had BCS tickets but sold them. I have Orange bowl.

 

[pianodinosaur]

After a long search I snagged an Oceana Palms exchange! I am excited. My wife and I are going to a bowl game in Florida and I was looking for an availablity. I got Oceana Palms December 30-Jan 5 with a Willow Ridge studio! I am planning to take the property tour just to be able to brag to the salesmen, the ones that tell you exchanges into Oceana Palms are impossible!:hysterical:

Congratulations!! I was thinking about trading into the Oceana Palms in either 2014 or 2015. We will be going to Williamsburg in 2013.

 

[dougp26364]

Salesmen are funny. At the expensive properties, they tell you that you'll NEVER be able to exchange into the resort for any variety of reasons. At the more "affordable" properties, the salesmen tell you to "buy here for the cheap MF's and use it to trade into the more expensive properties."

I always laugh when a salesmen attempts to tell me anything about exchanging. After making multiple exchanges each year for 11 years, I think I probably have more experience in the area than all the salesmen we've spoken to combined. You really have to guard against the mentality of, "that trade is impossible because......" Holiday's aren't as strong as everyone believes, the I.I. trade index might be a reference but is far from definitive, salesmen don't have a clue and if you really want the exchange, you give it enough time and it's reasonable you'll probably get it.

The trick, at least in my mind, seems to be time. The sooner you can deposit and the sooner you can request (get in line) the better your chances appear to be. This is what I.I. has told us for years and, they're the ones confirming the exchanges. If anyone knows you'd like to think maybe the exchange company knows it's own rules better than anyone else.

BTW, great exchange. I'm thinking strongly about using DC points to make a reservation into Oceana Palms (salesman tried to tell me Legacy Points won't get a mostly trust resort. LOL) instead of exchanging in but, that's only because we have more weeks than we can efficiently use and I really prefer a Thursday to Thursday reservation.

 

[NJDave]

I traded in with a 1bd non marriott free week

It was only free to you. Someone had to pay for it. LOL

Enjoy your stay!

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Salesmen are funny. At the expensive properties, they tell you that you'll NEVER be able to exchange into the resort for any variety of reasons. At the more "affordable" properties, the salesmen tell you to "buy here for the cheap MF's and use it to trade into the more expensive properties."

I always laugh when a salesmen attempts to tell me anything about exchanging. After making multiple exchanges each year for 11 years, I think I probably have more experience in the area than all the salesmen we've spoken to combined. You really have to guard against the mentality of, "that trade is impossible because......" Holiday's aren't as strong as everyone believes, the I.I. trade index might be a reference but is far from definitive, salesmen don't have a clue and if you really want the exchange, you give it enough time and it's reasonable you'll probably get it.

The trick, at least in my mind, seems to be time. The sooner you can deposit and the sooner you can request (get in line) the better your chances appear to be. This is what I.I. has told us for years and, they're the ones confirming the exchanges. If anyone knows you'd like to think maybe the exchange company knows it's own rules better than anyone else.

BTW, great exchange. I'm thinking strongly about using DC points to make a reservation into Oceana Palms (salesman tried to tell me Legacy Points won't get a mostly trust resort. LOL) instead of exchanging in but, that's only because we have more weeks than we can efficiently use and I really prefer a Thursday to Thursday reservation.

If you were the salesman how would you sell the program? Honestly.

I think thats a fair question since so many folks trash the sales people on this board and claim to be more knowledgeable.

 

[dioxide45]

BTW, great exchange. I'm thinking strongly about using DC points to make a reservation into Oceana Palms (salesman tried to tell me Legacy Points won't get a mostly trust resort. LOL) instead of exchanging in but, that's only because we have more weeks than we can efficiently use and I really prefer a Thursday to Thursday reservation.

Depending on when you go, you might consider trading the 1BR side of your Grand Chateau unit in II for Oceana Palms. We got a week at Oceana Palms using a 1BR Harbour Lake gold week. So off/shoulder season is a pretty easy trade. Though if you are going in low summer season at Oceana Palms, it only costs 2000 DC points.

 

[dioxide45]

If you were the salesman how would you sell the program? Honestly.

I think thats a fair question since so many folks trash the sales people on this board and claim to be more knowledgeable.

I do agree with Doug, that pretty much any experienced trader on Tug knows more about trading in the Marriott system than the sales reps do. Their job is to sell, not know how to exchange.

 

[DanR]

After a long search I snagged an Oceana Palms exchange! I am excited. My wife and I are going to a bowl game in Florida and I was looking for an availablity. I got Oceana Palms December 30-Jan 5 with a Willow Ridge studio! I am planning to take the property tour just to be able to brag to the salesmen, the ones that tell you exchanges into Oceana Palms are impossible!:hysterical:

Several years ago we traded into a 3 bedroom ocean front villa at Ocen Pointe.
We used a accommodation certificate for the exchange.
I think the cost to use the AC was $199.

We took the tour.

The lady said that it was very difficult to trade into OP because the owners occupy the resort instead of trading.

You should have seen the look on her face when I told her we used a AC for a 3 bedroom ocean front villa.

Priceless!!!!!!!!

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

I do agree with Doug, that pretty much any experienced trader on Tug knows more about trading in the Marriott system than the sales reps do. Their job is to sell, not know how to exchange.

Many of them are poor at selling and pathetic at explaining exchanging.

 

[iluvfla]

THEY ARE ALL PRICELESS !!!!!!!:hysterical:

 

[FractionalTraveler]

I do agree with Doug, that pretty much any experienced trader on Tug knows more about trading in the Marriott system than the sales reps do. Their job is to sell, not know how to exchange.

OK so how would this product be sold? I thought one of the useage options was trading so shouldn't they be able to explain how this works to the potential customer?

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Many of them are poor at selling and pathetic at explaining exchanging.

Thats easy to say. But how would you do it correctly?

 

[dougp26364]

OK so how would this product be sold? I thought one of the useage options was trading so shouldn't they be able to explain how this works to the potential customer?

The truth never hurts.

Let's start with finding out how the prospect travels vs the canned speech with the set travel packages.

Do you take mostly short weekend trips? Do you travel in season, shoulder season or off season? Do you travel with children, as a couple or both? How many vacation days do you take per year? Do you return to the same location every year or do you travel to a varity of locations? What sort of accomadations do you look for when you travel? Are you a last minute fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants traveler or do you plan your vacations out in advance? If you plan in advance, what's the timeframe or definition of advanced planning?

The presentation should be tailored to the prospects needs. Help the prospect get what they need and you'll get what you need.

If they travel for short 3 night weekend stays, tailor the presentation and offer a points package that meets that need.

If they travel for a full 7 nights, then offer points packages the fit that need.

If they're budget travelers, you might have to sell them on the idea of luxury accomadation vs budget hotels. If you can accomplish that then you'll need to tailer a program that fits their budget and fullfills their needs.

Right now timeshare is sold using half truths and lies. It's sold on exclusivity but then they turn around and tell you that you can exchange outside the system. They try to sell you a points package based on what they're told to offer, not what fits you needs.

As an example they tried to sell us a 2,500 points package when we told them that we take week long vacations. He tried to cover it up by showing us the difference between weekend points requirements and weeknight points discounts. He tried to sell us a points package that would NOT fit our needs. He never mentioned the total points required for a week long stay. I just happened to know in the back of my mind that there are resorts on HHI that would fit within that points package but that other resorts, such as Newport Coast, would require 2,900 points or more.

He tried to sell us what corporate wanted him to sell, not what we might want to buy. There in lies the difference. They need to find out first what someone might be interested in or what they're most likely to buy. Skip the canned speech and the rigid points presentation. If the prospect travels on weekends only, sell a points package that would get them where they wanted to go. If they travel for a full week and they wanted ocean front Hawaii resorts, show them those packages (it wouldn't hurt to show full ownership condo's to soften the sticker shock). If they want Orlando weekends for the grand kids or their own children, show them a package that fullfills that need.

SELL THE PRODUCT THAT FITS THE NEED OF THE CLIENT, NOT THE NEED OF THE SALESMAN OR MARRIOTT! There's no need to stretch or skirt the truth. It's a good product and it can fullfill many needs by being flexable. The sales presentation should be as flexable as the product.

 

[dougp26364]

Depending on when you go, you might consider trading the 1BR side of your Grand Chateau unit in II for Oceana Palms. We got a week at Oceana Palms using a 1BR Harbour Lake gold week. So off/shoulder season is a pretty easy trade. Though if you are going in low summer season at Oceana Palms, it only costs 2000 DC points.

It would undoubtedly be a better deal for us to exchange from a dollars and cents point of view. I had contemplated doing either a request first exchange of our 2 bedroom master suite at Grand Chateau or a 1 bedroom deposit first exchange request.

The thing is, if we do Thursday to Thursday vacations, we save 24 hours of vacation time (we'll only need to take 12 hours instead of 36 hours of paid time off). Right now that fits our needs better. Shelley's on short term disablity again (shoulder surgery) and burning through her paid time off. Conservtion of vacation time is more important than stretching the value of our timeshare ownerships at this point in time.

Like I said, points isn't the most efficient usage of our ownership but the flexablity is more valuable in our current situtation. It's the #2 reason we joined the DC. The #1 reason was to save on fee's. We didn't know at the time flexablity would turn out to be the most important of those top two reasons.

At this moment, the three programs we own that are points based reservations are far easier to use than the timeshares that are strictly weeks based exchanges. Yes it costs more but, being able to be flexable with check in days and/or take short stays even though we prefer longer stays has allowed us to continue to use our ownerships in the most efficient way for our situation. Once things return to "normal" (assuming they do of coure) we'll probably be right back to locking off and exchanging in the weeks based system. Until then I need to conserve my wife's vacation time to rebuild a cushion in her paid time off account.

 

[dougp26364]

Several years ago we traded into a 3 bedroom ocean front villa at Ocen Pointe.
We used a accommodation certificate for the exchange.
I think the cost to use the AC was $199.

We took the tour.

The lady said that it was very difficult to trade into OP because the owners occupy the resort instead of trading.

You should have seen the look on her face when I told her we used a AC for a 3 bedroom ocean front villa.

Priceless!!!!!!!!

This is the perfect example of the sales person not knowing their prospect.

A few questions at the outset would establish the presentation given. I suppose the first question they should ask, if they didn't already know, would be "where are you staying." The follow up would be, "Are you an owner or did you exchange in." If an exchanger the follow up would be, "What did you use to exchange into the resort."

Takes only a few minutes and might save the integrity of your presentation. All is lost after stepping into the big mud puddle and making yourself look bad as a salesman. That misstep just detroyed all credablity from that point forward.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

dougp26364

Wow! You make some very good observations. This sounds like its easier than to feed customers from a script that is supposed to be a compelling business proposition for pre-paying vacations.

If I were to summarize some of your salient points, I would add the following:

• Listen to the Customer

• Be Open and Honest

• Explain how the System may be able to help the customer achieve their goals

• Speak from a position of experience

It is a lot harder to get this right than to criticize the poor performance.

Thanks for the discussion points!

 

[jlf58]

Not to sweeping of a statement.....

Many of them are poor at selling and pathetic at explaining exchanging.

 

[dioxide45]

Not to sweeping of a statement.....

Sweeping would have been saying "All" instead of "Many".

 

[dougp26364]

Not to sweeping of a statement.....

But accurate

 

[pwrshift]

I got Pres Week at Oceana Palms for MOD...which was cheaper than using MR points and I get credit for the stay nights and platinum level points.

Brian

 

[BocaBoy]

Several years ago we traded into a 3 bedroom ocean front villa at Ocen Pointe.
We used a accommodation certificate for the exchange.
I think the cost to use the AC was $199.

We took the tour.

The lady said that it was very difficult to trade into OP because the owners occupy the resort instead of trading.

You should have seen the look on her face when I told her we used a AC for a 3 bedroom ocean front villa.

Priceless!!!!!!!!

Was this trade during Flexchange? I only ask because I often see people bragging about their great trades when they are during Flexchange when most restrictions are off.

 

[pianodinosaur]

I wonder how many sales reps actually own timeshares and have any first hand experience at exchanging. Most Tuggers are very experienced at exchanging and understand II and RCI very well. However, I doubt many Tuggers would want to become timeshare sales reps because they are not very experienced at lying, nor do they desire to become so.