Report on Five Weeks in Hilton Head

[Superchief]

I would expect the worst and hope for the best. If you exchanged in though II, there is a good chance that they will reassign your villa to a Garden View. The SC resorts are known to do this with pretty good regularity. Moving owners that exchanging in are bumped up and non owners are moved down. Being a Marriott owner will help, a lot depends on the number of Grande Ocean owners staying there that exchanged in to the property.

I'm curious whether owners who don't own OF also get upgraded to OF when exchanging through II? This would mean they have a better chance of an OF room when they exchange than when they use their owned week. I have never been upgraded to a higher view when using owned week or DC points since I started my MVC thousands of years ago (or when Royal Palms opened).

 

[tschwa2]

I believe HHi owners staying at their own resort through II exchange have priority for the best available views regardless of what type of view they own, with multiweek owners exchanging in for multiple consecutive weeks have the highest priority. In general you don't get upgraded in view when using your home week although you have priority for the best better views in that category over exchangers.

 

[Superchief]

I believe HHi owners staying at their own resort through II exchange have priority for the best available views regardless of what type of view they own, with multiweek owners exchanging in for multiple consecutive weeks have the highest priority. In general you don't get upgraded in view when using your home week although you have priority for the best better views in that category over exchangers.

This is inconsistent with what I have been told at MVC resorts in the past. Are you saying that an owner of a lower view level will be upgraded to OF during their owned week if an exchanger is using a week that had be deposited by an OF owner? Have any Grand Ocean owners ever been upgraded to a higher view level when using an owned week?

I've always been told that you cannot be upgraded to a higher view level when you are using your owned week, and I have been staying at MVC resorts as an owner since the 80's. This would be new to me. I understand that owners have priority for villa assignment within the view level, but not to a higher view level.

 

[BocaBoy]

This is inconsistent with what I have been told at MVC resorts in the past. Are you saying that an owner of a lower view level will be upgraded to OF during their owned week if an exchanger is using a week that had be deposited by an OF owner? Have any Grand Ocean owners ever been upgraded to a higher view level when using an owned week?

I've always been told that you cannot be upgraded to a higher view level when you are using your owned week, and I have been staying at MVC resorts as an owner since the 80's. This would be new to me. I understand that owners have priority for villa assignment within the view level, but not to a higher view level.

I think the upgrades occur on II exchanges, not on owned weeks. It is important for several reasons that owners get the view they bought.

 

[bazzap]

I think the upgrades occur on II exchanges, not on owned weeks. It is important for several reasons that owners get the view they bought.

This is certainly consistent with St Kitts, where we own Garden View and always get Garden View for our home week even if the resort has low occupancy.
We do seem to always get our preferred Garden View unit though.
I did ask about this once and was told the reason was that it would be unfair on Ocean Side or Ocean View owners who had paid more for their week if they upgraded us.
I can understand and accept this.
It does though, to most owners I have spoken to there, seem not quite right that II exchangers even those who do not own at MVC at all often get the best Ocean Side units.
We always add II exchanges to our home weeks for long stays, so I have not been able to tell whether we might get view upgrades with those exchanges as resort owners.
Maybe we will request this on our next visit and see if we can move from our Garden View "home" unit after 2 weeks to an Ocean Side / Ocean View " exchange" unit for the rest of our stay?

 

[Superchief]

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has actually experienced an upgraded view to OF at Grand Ocean or other MVC HH resorts. What were the circumstances of the upgrade? Although I have received a preferred location within the view for many owner stays, II exchanges (including into home resort), and DC points, I have never been upgraded to a higher view.

If the resort 'takes' away the OF deposited villas, I wouldn't be surprised if they use them for rentals or tour packages in order to get more money or a 'sale' from them.

Personally, I don't have a problem as an owner if someone gets an OF unit through an II exchange as long as that was the view that was deposited. I thought that was how the system was supposed to work. I only have a problem if they are assigned a better villa location than an owner within the same view level.

 

[BarbS]

We were upgraded to oceanfront for a December stay at Grande Ocean. The view was spectacular. I can't remember if this was a trade or an AC. I think the reservation said oceanside. We have also been upgraded to oceanfront at Barony on trades and AC's, although not every time. We have never been assigned a garden view, no matter what the view was on the reservation. We own 3 weeks (2 at Barony, oceanfront and oceanside).

No matter what the reservation says, I always request a high floor with an ocean view. Of course, we don't always get it, but it never hurts to ask.

 

[SkyBlueWaters]

You are a brave man to spend 5 weeks there. Why so long there as opposed to a warmer weather destination such as Florida? We went to HHI over Christmas week and the weather was downright awful and there was not all that much to do there w/the kids. A pretty place, no question, and though I do not plan on going back to HHI anytime soon, I certainly would not go anytime other than say April through October when the weather is a bit more cooperative.

Summer is fun in HHI. You should go there in the summer. You might have a different opinion.

 

[Big Matt]

I was upgraded each of the last two years to a unit that was Ocean Front from a view stand point. This year I was in Dolphin in a unit on the third floor that had a spectacular ocean view. The year before it was Starfish, but I can't remember the unit.

Both times they told me it was due to my owner status and my Platinum Elite Rewards status.

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has actually experienced an upgraded view to OF at Grand Ocean or other MVC HH resorts. What were the circumstances of the upgrade? Although I have received a preferred location within the view for many owner stays, II exchanges (including into home resort), and DC points, I have never been upgraded to a higher view.

If the resort 'takes' away the OF deposited villas, I wouldn't be surprised if they use them for rentals or tour packages in order to get more money or a 'sale' from them.

Personally, I don't have a problem as an owner if someone gets an OF unit through an II exchange as long as that was the view that was deposited. I thought that was how the system was supposed to work. I only have a problem if they are assigned a better villa location than an owner within the same view level.

 

[Superchief]

Big Matt and Barb S, Thanks for your comments. From what I can tell by your profiles, neither of you own at Grand Ocean but still enjoyed an upgrade. Since I am also a MVC owner (now Chairman level) and lifetime platinum MR member, I hope they will honor the ocean front view from my exchange.

 

[jme]

I think the upgrades occur on II exchanges, not on owned weeks. It is important for several reasons that owners get the view they bought.

Absolutely true, and that is written in stone. You will not get any sort of upgrade as an owner occupying your ownership week. You get what you paid for. I have been told by the Rooms Control person (and resort manager) on more than one occasion that it's against the rules to do anything different. It's a potential legal issue.

You can elect to move "down", say for closeness to other family members or friends in another unit, or to remain in a lesser unit if you have different category consecutive weeks, but never up. I've seen this happen many times. And to offset it, they might give that higher upgrade to an incoming exchanger.


Edit: to clarify, you can get an upgrade within the category you purchased, i.e., "a higher floor" or "nearer the ocean", still within your section, but not a move from oceanside to oceanfront units. That's where requests still play a part.

 

[bazzap]

I was upgraded each of the last two years to a unit that was Ocean Front from a view stand point. This year I was in Dolphin in a unit on the third floor that had a spectacular ocean view. The year before it was Starfish, but I can't remember the unit.

Both times they told me it was due to my owner status and my Platinum Elite Rewards status.

This is the first time I have heard of Owner status and Elite Rewards status being a prioritising factor in unit allocation on II exchanges.
I wonder how common this is across all MVC resorts?
It would certainly be a very welcome unpublicised benefit for having such status.

 

[Steve A]

In December 2014 we use one of the weeks we own to stay at the Barony while we were closing on our house in Hilton Head. We have oceanside and we were given oceanfront. This is not the first time we have been upgraded in Hilton Head but never during the summer. We have been upgraded to oceanfront in September. We own two weeks at the Barony (bronze and silver) and a total of four Marriott weeks.

 

[jme]

In December 2014 we use one of the weeks we own to stay at the Barony while we were closing on our house in Hilton Head. We have oceanside and we were given oceanfront. This is not the first time we have been upgraded in Hilton Head but never during the summer. We have been upgraded to oceanfront in September. We own two weeks at the Barony (bronze and silver) and a total of four Marriott weeks.

The percentage of owners occupying (their owner's week) in off-season is much lower compared to the other seasons, so naturally more upgrades are seen for owners returning on trades. This is not unusual, it's happened to me many times. Also in play is the Marriott Rewards status (imho)....regardless of what's reported, it seems to matter at timeshare resorts too. I'm beginning to believe that it's responsible for some of the great assignments we receive, in addition to the phone call requests I always make. In other words, I'm more apt to have the request filled given my status.

For those with less status, I know that phone calls still help tremendously
for assignments. I've seen it too many times, and when I had less status, it worked for me.


.