Expanding on Bill's response....
At most Marriott resorts that have view categories (e.g., Oceanfront and Oceanside), owners, renters and exchangers are
all preassigned to one of those specific categories.
Owners at the resort get assigned to one of the categories based solely on what they own. They are not supposed to be upgraded to a higher view category. If they were routinely upgraded, it would never make sense for anyone to buy the most expensive view category. Those who rent privately from an owner get the same view and priority that the owner was entitled to.
Renters - those who rent from Marriott - get assigned a view category based on what they pay for. If you don't believe me, go to Marriott.com and pick a resort such as Grande Ocean and go through the motions of pricing a one-week stay. You'll see that, as a renter, you'll pay different rates for different views. However, even as a renter, you won't often see a Marriott guarantee of "Oceanfront".
Exchangers are supposed to get the view that is the same as that deposited by the owner of the week that the exchanger is confirmed into. Thus, if the exchanger is lucky enough to be matched with an Oceanfront unit that was deposited, that's the view the exchanger is supposed to get. Some resorts don't follow that guideline and, in fact, II specifically states on its confirmations that views are not guaranteed.
Finally,
once all with reservations have been assigned to a view category (at resorts that have them), the prioritization of assignments takes over. Although the exact ranking varies slightly at various resorts, here is the published priority for Grande Ocean, one of my home resorts, for making unit assignments
within each view category:
- Multiple-week Marriott Grande Ocean Owner stays
- Single-week Marriott Grande Ocean Owner stays
- Marriott Grande Ocean Owners, returning on an exchange
- Marriott multiple-week owners on an exchange
- Marriott single-week owners on an exchange
- Rental and sales preview guests
- Non-Marriott owners on an exchange.
Thus, the best views/floors/confirmed preferences within a category are assigned based on that priority list.
If Marriott didn't do it that way and, for example, gave all exchangers Oceanside units, that would mean that some Oceanside owners would be "forced" to take upgrades to Oceanfront units during busy summer weeks. It's a rare, rare day that Marriott gives those Oceanfront units to Oceanside owners. "If you want Oceanfront at your resort, you have to buy it." However, exchanging back into your home resort gives you at least some chance for that upgrade, depending on the resort and the luck of the exchange.
Two added notes:
- As with any rule, there will always be exceptions. Thus, there have been numerous posts on this forum from people who have been assigned a unit that seems contrary to what they should have been assigned. It happens. As long as premium-view owners at the resort who are using their week get the view they paid for, the resort has the authority to move others around as needed to make the overall assignments work as well as practical. If you think making those assignments is easy, you should ask to sit with a rooms-control person for a while as I did!
- Whether Marriott should or shouldn't change the priority system or whether a particular resort should conform to what other resorts do is an argument I'll leave to others. For me, I accept that my assigned view might be better or worse in some circumstances and I'll leave it to Marriott to judge what's most fair for the overall group that is staying at the resort at the same time I am.
