Sheraton Desert Oasis -- Should I really deposit to Interval anymore?

[marmite]

I just payed my MF for everything (Happy New Year!), but have not deposited my Sheraton Desert Oasis to Interval yet. I usually lock off the A & B side. I was doing some searches with the 2027 placeholders in Interval, tried out both 1BR A&B sides and the 2BR for my Hawaii codes and am seeing absolute crap (only seeing studios for Kahana Beach KAH). When I search with my 2026 deposited A & B side I can see quite a bit more including Marriott weeks.

Do you 'trust' those placeholder weeks to give you a good idea of what your deposited 2027 week will be able to pull? Have you already deposited today and been able to compare trade power against older deposits?

I have never deposited into RCI, but would like to know what you recommend and what your own plans are for your SDO weeks (or other Vistana deposits).

Thanks.

 

[Great3]

Marmite, I know Cindy probably agree with you, the trading power doesn't seem to be as good as years past.

However, RCI isn't a better deposit, and if you don't already have an RCI account, that's an added expense for no guarantees of a better trade, unless you plan on trading in HGVC Hawaii only, but even than, TPU's you will get will probably not cover the TPU required for the HGVC units in Hawaii.

Even though instant exchange doesn't seem good inventory wise in II, I am hoping on-going searches will work better.

I too just pay MF dues for SBP, and did deposit into interval. Hoping to trade that into a 2-bed DVC unit for anytime in 2026 to any WDW Resort, which I placed on on-going search for. I know Cindy mention many times where OGS doesn't always work, so I will still be searching manually.

Good Luck with your decisions, but I still think depositing in II is the best bet, much better that RCI, if you aren't planning on actually using your units at SDO. Else, it may be time to considering getting rid of the unit, but I still find lots of value in playing the Exchange Game.

Great3

 

[jabberwocky]

This is the problem with “tiger traders”. Eventually if more people are owning to trade, the value of those deposits goes down.

We’ve used the SO on ours to get into WKORVN again this March. Bringing the plat unit into the system was one of the best things we ever did.

We do love staying at SDO, but I’ll be trading back into it using Abound points from our other Vistana weeks.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I ran a search on 2 SDOs we have in E-Plus (2025 and 2026 weeks) and our 2027 week (search before deposit). All the searches were the same. No Hawaii but I have seen Hawaii in the past and believe they will show up closer in. I like SDO for II because I can trade it into MVC for non-Hawaii locations. I am still new to SDO II trading but so far it has been decent.

We use our WKV SOs for Vistana Hawaii and hard-to-get Vistana units during peak season. II is good for shoulder season and non-holidays which is when we prefer to travel.

 

[marmite]

So last night I did end up depositing my SDO to Interval. My search results this morning were exactly the same as my placeholder searches. Pretty terrible. I am even missing weeks that are in Flexchange.

My 2026 deposit can pick up some 1BR Kauai Beach Club, and studios for Ko Olina, Maui Ocean Club and Westin Princeville. It also sees Kahana Village Vacation Club, up to 2BR's. My 2027 can't see any of those. I'm not a fan of studios, but certainly would have been interested in trading into the 1BR's at Marriott's Kauai Beach Club.

Not that it will necessarily help, but how do I engage with Mark from Interval? If anyone knows, please PM me the email.

Thanks.

 

[Danlop88]

So last night I did end up depositing my SDO to Interval. My search results this morning were exactly the same as my placeholder searches. Pretty terrible. I am even missing weeks that are in Flexchange.

My 2026 deposit can pick up some 1BR Kauai Beach Club, and studios for Ko Olina, Maui Ocean Club and Westin Princeville. It also sees Kahana Village Vacation Club, up to 2BR's. My 2027 can't see any of those. I'm not a fan of studios, but certainly would have been interested in trading into the 1BR's at Marriott's Kauai Beach Club.

Not that it will necessarily help, but how do I engage with Mark from Interval? If anyone knows, please PM me the email.

Thanks.

This is the email to reach Mark tugmembers@intervalintl.com. Maybe you can ask him why such a drastic drop in trade power for SDO.

 

[marmite]

This is the email to reach Mark tugmembers@intervalintl.com. Maybe you can ask him why such a drastic drop in trade power for SDO.

Thanks. Have sent him an email with a few of my search results and concerns. I just recently did a search with ALL the Maui codes and was able to see 15 resorts with my 2026 deposit, yet only 2 with my 2027 deposit. I do realize that things get a bit worse every year, but this seems like a huge hit. It could be that it is Hawaii that has drastically increased in TPU required to trade into it... not sure what Mark can tell me.

 

[Hindsite]

There's weird stuff going on in II as far as what is being deposited when and various TP requirements, and that can only continue as MVW's management try and work out how to stem the losses they are expecting this year and put the business back to something that can function in a more stable way.

If they've got any sense they'll try and make changes incremental if they are aiming to get more to a comparable exchange.

 

[travelhacker]

@marmite - This looks like a bug. I'm looking with a 2027 Lagunamar 2 bedroom and can only see what you see in Maui with your studio SDO.

Now -- how long they take to recognize it as a bug (or if they ever do), and correct it is a different story.

 

[GrayFal]

The issue is (imho) you are looking with 2027 - even though you could deposit it by paying the maint fee it just isn’t the “norm” in II so they just do not know what to do with it yet. Likely a glitch.

Will be interesting to hear what Mark says.

Have sent him an email with a few of my search results and concerns. I just recently did a search with ALL the Maui codes and was able to see 15 resorts with my 2026 deposit, yet only 2 with my 2027 deposit. I do realize that things get a bit worse every year, but this seems like a huge hit. It could be that it is Hawaii that has drastically increased in TPU required to trade into it... not sure what Mark can tell me.

 

[dioxide45]

The issue is (imho) you are looking with 2027 - even though you could deposit it by paying the maint fee it just isn’t the “norm” in II so they just do not know what to do with it yet. Likely a glitch.

I seem to recall similar concerns at the beginning of 2025 related to 2026 deposits and maybe even for prior years. Though I can't find those threads now. Or I may not be remembering it correctly.

 

[GrayFal]

I seem to recall similar concerns at the beginning of 2025 related to 2026 deposits and maybe even for prior years. Though I can't find those threads now. Or I may not be remembering it correctly.

Agree it's happened in the past with two year out searches.

 

[marmite]

@marmite - This looks like a bug. I'm looking with a 2027 Lagunamar 2 bedroom and can only see what you see in Maui with your studio SDO.

Now -- how long they take to recognize it as a bug (or if they ever do), and correct it is a different story.

Is your 2027 Lagunamar deposited already? Not really important, but the SDO I am searching with is a the larger 1 bed unit. The A side 1 BR has a full kitchen, and the B side 1 BR has a limited kitchen.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I would never put anything Sheraton into RCI. Just FYI. $299 exchange fees, high TPU's required for anything good, and what are you going to settle for on Maui, because most inventory at Sands of Kahana (just an average resort) and Kahana Beach (above average with the new updates) are in RCI Points, not weeks. Most is in points, not all, but 1 bedrooms at Kahana Beach are going to be very high TPU's, but so rare to see them.

 

[travelhacker]

Is your 2027 Lagunamar deposited already? Not really important, but the SDO I am searching with is a the larger 1 bed unit. The A side 1 BR has a full kitchen, and the B side 1 BR has a limited kitchen.

It's not. However, I've never seen a difference between a placeholder and a deposited week.

 

[wmgjr]

Try sfx or thirdhome

 

[Danlop88]

Is your 2027 Lagunamar deposited already? Not really important, but the SDO I am searching with is a the larger 1 bed unit. The A side 1 BR has a full kitchen, and the B side 1 BR has a limited kitchen.

Does a dummy reservation see less inventory than a deposited for SDO?

 

[GrayFal]

@marmite
searched “maui” and it pulled up all Hawaii

Undeposited 2BR SVV 2026 20 resorts,
Undeposited 2BR SVV 2027 3 resorts

EPlus 1BR SVV 2025 16 resorts,
undeposited 1BR SVV 2026 16 resorts,
Undeposited 1BR SVV 2027 3 resorts.

EPlus 2025 OP 1BR, 21 Resorts
Deposited 2026 OP 1BR, 21 resorts

Deposited WR 2026 2BR 19 resorts
EPlus WR 2025 1BR 17 resorts
Deposited WR 2026 1BR 17 resorts

Undeposited 2027 OP 1BR 1/29/27 dummy date, 21 resorts
Undeposited 2027 OP 1BR 3/12/27 dummy date (14 months out?) 21 resorts

 

[rickandcindy23]

You can always try renting SDO during Presidents' Week or baseball spring training. I rented two of my four one bedrooms (two small, two large) for a few hundred each over MF's for 2026. It's not hard to rent SDO. I know of a TUG member who owns 60+ SDO weeks and rents them every year for a profit over MF's, deposts what he doesn't rent into II at the end of the year. He figures his exchanges are 100% free. Anything he gets for exchange is gravy. He will deposit a 2 bed SDO to get anything he wants on Maui.

That's what I would do as well, and I may absolutely do that with my SBR. I may deposit the entire lockoff units to II.

 

[Red elephant]

I used to rent SDO then I realized it’s better to deposit the 1 bedrooms in interval and exchange for Westin los Cabos or Nanea 2 bedrooms and premium one bedroom in Lagunarmar for 2 weeks.
But now you need 2 bedroom for Nanea so I use my SBR for that.

 

[marmite]

You can always try renting SDO during Presidents' Week or baseball spring training. I rented two of my four one bedrooms (two small, two large) for a few hundred each over MF's for 2026. It's not hard to rent SDO. I know of a TUG member who owns 60+ SDO weeks and rents them every year for a profit over MF's, deposts what he doesn't rent into II at the end of the year. He figures his exchanges are 100% free. Anything he gets for exchange is gravy. He will deposit a 2 bed SDO to get anything he wants on Maui.

That's what I would do as well, and I may absolutely do that with my SBR. I may deposit the entire lockoff units to II.

I know people do rent it, but I don't really want the headache to do it. I just want to have the timeshares for my personal use or gift unused weeks to family. There are also some obstacles to renting from a Canadian (i.e. no Venmo) and I would probably have to treat it like a business. Sounds like I'd be starting a new job that I'm not quite ready for.

It's not that I can't trade to other places, but short-term retirement plans were to just string together consecutive weeks in Hawaii. It is so much easier to do that with waiting for the new deposits online vs. relying on OGS.

 

[marmite]

Undeposited 2BR SVV 2026 20 resorts,
Undeposited 2BR SVV 2027 3 resorts

EPlus 1BR SVV 2025 16 resorts,
undeposited 1BR SVV 2026 16 resorts,
Undeposited 1BR SVV 2027 3 resorts.

Wow. I didn't expect to see that happen with a 2BR unit. That is terrible.

 

[GrayFal]

string together consecutive weeks in Hawaii. It is so much easier to do that with waiting for the new deposits online vs. relying on OGS.

I know most won't agree with me but I feel the ongoing search is the way to get what you want especially for Nanea.
But with the monthly Vistana deposits your stategy will work.

 

[marmite]

The issue is (imho) you are looking with 2027 - even though you could deposit it by paying the maint fee it just isn’t the “norm” in II so they just do not know what to do with it yet. Likely a glitch.

Will be interesting to hear what Mark says.

GrayFal, @travelhacker and @dioxide45 were right on the money. Glitch. Mark redeposited them and the trade power for 2027 now looks the same as my 2026 deposits. Impressed by how quickly he was able to investigate this.

 

[marmite]

double post - delete