Oceanwatch Fri-Fri Selection

[opie]

Does renting/owning a Friday-Friday Oceanfront/Oceanside reservation mean that you are less likely to get a preferred view than the Sat-Sat or Sun-Sun reservations? I assume there is less availability on Fridays. We rented an Oceanside before on Fri-Fri and had a view of a parking lot -- Marriott allowed us to change the view the next day, saying that there was more turnover on Saturdays. Just wondering -- is this is a typical Fri-Fri occurrence?

 

[Big Matt]

Better rooms go to owners at the resort and points owners. I don't think it has to do with check in day.

 

[opie]

Better rooms go to owners at the resort and points owners. I don't think it has to do with check in day.

It just seems like there is more turnover on Saturdays than Fridays. But to your point, does that mean that you should ask the timeshare owner to make any location requests rather than attempt to do so once the reservation is in my name? Or is the reservation marked as a rental somehow, regardless of who makes the request?

 

[icydog]

Better rooms go to owners at the resort and points owners. I don't think it has to do with check in day.

Wait a minute. Because I own DC points I'll get a better room? For sure? Does my level at MVCI put me at the top of the list of exchangers or only if I used points to book the resort?

I was at Canyon Villas and I was initially given the worst room on property. I had a parking lot and garbage can view. I was upset and the next day they moved me to a room overlooking the pool. But not until 4:30pm.

 

[tschwa2]

If you use points to exchange into a garden view, your pecking order with DC points will be just below garden view owners using their home week. Like garden view owners using their home week, you won't be upgraded to ocean view or ocean front.

An exchanger through II may be lower on the pecking order within a view category but are not necessarily limited to only garden views.

Owning points but exchanging a week through II doesn't help with room placement. Being a Marriott owner in general exchanging through II does put you above II exchangers who are not Marriott owners.

 

[Superchief]

Wait a minute. Because I own DC points I'll get a better room? For sure? Does my level at MVCI put me at the top of the list of exchangers or only if I used points to book the resort?

I was at Canyon Villas and I was initially given the worst room on property. I had a parking lot and garbage can view. I was upset and the next day they moved me to a room overlooking the pool. But not until 4:30pm.

I'm an owner at CV and Chairman level and haven't had great experiences at Canyon Villas regarding villa placement. I'm not confident that they even have a policy in place, or at least they don't seem to follow it. I've used my owned week, DC points, and II exchanges and have had really mixed experiences. I even try to improve my odds by sending an email 4-6 weeks prior to my stay, as well as leaving voice mail messages. I didn't even get a response on my last visit until I called the GM directly. Even after all of these efforts, I had to negotiate my location when I checked in and received an 'acceptable' but not great location. To make things worse, I met someone (non-MVC owner using II exchange) who had checked in at about the same time and received a much better villa in the building I had originally requested. Typically, my DC reservations at other MVC resorts have better villa assignment priority.

Even though I really love MCV and the JW access, I'm not thrilled with management at this property. Maintenance fees keep going up excessively so they can offer complimentary activities that require fees at other properties. Therefore owners are paying for activities being used by non-owners. This probably helps them improve their customer satisfaction evaluations from non-owners.

 

[Big Matt]

I was referring to using points for the trade. Just owning them does nothing for you if you exchange using another resort, especially a non-marriott.

Wait a minute. Because I own DC points I'll get a better room? For sure? Does my level at MVCI put me at the top of the list of exchangers or only if I used points to book the resort?

I was at Canyon Villas and I was initially given the worst room on property. I had a parking lot and garbage can view. I was upset and the next day they moved me to a room overlooking the pool. But not until 4:30pm.

 

[Bucky]

Does renting/owning a Friday-Friday Oceanfront/Oceanside reservation mean that you are less likely to get a preferred view than the Sat-Sat or Sun-Sun reservations? I assume there is less availability on Fridays. We rented an Oceanside before on Fri-Fri and had a view of a parking lot -- Marriott allowed us to change the view the next day, saying that there was more turnover on Saturdays. Just wondering -- is this is a typical Fri-Fri occurrence?

Since you were asking specifically about Oceanwatch I will chime in. We are owners so I can only speak of that but I would imagine renters would get the same treatment based off of the oceanfront/Oceanside designation of the unit. Oceanside, which is what we own, are only in the Scallop or Conch bldg. if you had a parking lot view you had to be in the Scallop bldg when the resort was fairly new and were facing what was called the owners club. Part of Grande Dunes. The other three views are either of the pool area or the JW.

We have never had a problem receiving the view we requested and we always get our reservations for Fri-Fri. Friday's there are obviously less check ins and outs because it's still a work day for most people. Saturday's are madness and Sunday's it slows down again. Pretty typical of most resorts.

The view you receive should be tied to the unit you own/rent. There are only two bldgs that have Oceanside units as stated and three that have oceanfront.

 

[opie]

Since you were asking specifically about Oceanwatch I will chime in. We are owners so I can only speak of that but I would imagine renters would get the same treatment based off of the oceanfront/Oceanside designation of the unit. Oceanside, which is what we own, are only in the Scallop or Conch bldg. if you had a parking lot view you had to be in the Scallop bldg when the resort was fairly new and were facing what was called the owners club. Part of Grande Dunes. The other three views are either of the pool area or the JW.

We have never had a problem receiving the view we requested and we always get our reservations for Fri-Fri. Friday's there are obviously less check ins and outs because it's still a work day for most people. Saturday's are madness and Sunday's it slows down again. Pretty typical of most resorts.

Thanks, Bucky. It was in Conch facing the Marriott hotel parking lot. Question -- when you book Oceanfront, what room requests do you typically make?

 

[Bucky]

Thanks, Bucky. It was in Conch facing the Marriott hotel parking lot. Question -- when you book Oceanfront, what room requests do you typically make?

Can't help with oceanfront since we own Oceanside. But, we always request a high floor, but not the top floor. The top floor rooms in the Conch and Scallop buildings do not have roofs over the balcony which either leaves you in the sun or rain most of the time. We find it much nicer to have the roof. Looking forward to our two weeks starting next week.

 

[Dean]

If you use points to exchange into a garden view, your pecking order with DC points will be just below garden view owners using their home week. Like garden view owners using their home week, you won't be upgraded to ocean view or ocean front.

An exchanger through II may be lower on the pecking order within a view category but are not necessarily limited to only garden views.

Owning points but exchanging a week through II doesn't help with room placement. Being a Marriott owner in general exchanging through II does put you above II exchangers who are not Marriott owners.

That is my basic understanding. From my experience so far with the Destination points reservations, Marriott hasn't updated the villa priorities of years ago. Historically the official line on the preference order has been multiple villa over single in the order of preference of owner using their week, Marriott Exchanger, Cash guest (not private rental), non Marriott exchanger. (I'm going by memory but think I got cash guest in the right location). I agree with giving owners at a given resort priority for requests. Some resorts (Ocean Pointe, Maui) have added a few sub categories like Exchangers who own at that resort and the like. On a number of occasions I've had resorts tell me that they put Destination and Trust reservations in the Marriott exchanger category. It doesn't seem that Marriott has updated their general guidance in this area or if they have, that it's not filtered down to the resorts well. My view is they should add a category below owners at that resort and above exchangers for Destination/Trust point reservations and that would be above exchanger owning at that resort where a consideration as well.