Starting to get worried about trades...

[rifleman69]

Starting to really worry now. I need to get these flights booked, but can't do that until we have the places booked. Should I call interval and see where we stand in the request pool? Do they give that information out? I would have thought I would have started to see my requests come through by now, but still nothing.

Hawaii is going to be wide open next year, hold your horses.

 

[potchak]

I just worry because of needing first class FF seats. I guess I will keep waiting, but unfortunately not a patient person! Thanks to all!

 

[potchak]

Still no trades to be had, and our first week has no more FF seats for 1st class.

I am a little confused though, I placed these requests in well over a year and still not getting anything. I have heard people putting them in at the 12 month mark and getting them immediately or within a couple of days. I have been waiting 2 months since the 12 month mark (since most marriott's cannot be reserved until 12 months out) and still nothing. I am worried that I will be waiting and not get any FF seats (totally bummed that they only have economy left.)

 

[auntdef]

Michelle,

you might want to check w/the Starwood board, I believe Starwood resorts are not released before the 8 month mark to non-starwood owners.

Also, what weeks did you use to trade...that always makes a difference. I would have thought Waiohai was a very strong trader...2nd or 3rd to Maui Ocean Club and Ko Olina.

I do know from experience that Waiohai did not get me MOC or the Westin for this August (I gave up waiting in May), most likely because I put in for the trade 11 months prior instead of 13 or even 12 months.

Good Luck.

 

[LisaRex]

Starwood (Westin) does things differently with II. First of all, they do not recognize high/low seasons in Hawaii so all owners are platinum owners. Second, we owners are not allowed to book a week and then deposit it into II. Instead when we want to deposit our week into II, Starwood decides what week to deposit on our behalf. As long as it's during our season, we don't really have any leverage to complain. As a result, Sarwood deposits most of their inventory during shoulder seasons (e.g. Apr/May and Oct/Nov) and very little during what everyone else considers high season.

The good news is that early June is still considered shoulder season; the bad news is that with the 3 day Starwood priority window in II, your chance of snagging a 2 bdrm unit are not nearly as good as your chance of snatching a 1 bdrm or studio.

I think that like the OPer a lot of Hawaii TS owners are waiting to see what happens with airfare. With oil prices actually decreasing in the last few weeks, there is hope that prices will return to earth. If I had a summer week booked, I wouldn't give up entirely on airfares until Feb or so. So you may need to be patient.

Personally, I'd fly into HNL, lock in my airfare now and worry about piecing together the TS sequence later. But I think you should be realistic about getting a 2 bdrm at either MOC or WKORV. If these weren't snatched up during the owner priority period, I'd be very surprised.

Do you have enough points to do 2 studios vs. 2 bdrm?

 

[jlr10]

I have been watching Hawaii, and also have an ongoing search on for a trip in May 2009, which was requested in November of 2007. So far the only things that I have seen with my DSV II has been availability in 2008, where there has been a lot more availability this year than in years past. I have seen nothing yet in 2009. It may be what I am offerring, which has always traded well in the past, but I really don't expect anything to come through until late this year or later, as most of my Hawaii trades in the past have been confirmed during that timeframe. To me it appears that there are more deposits this year based on the increased price of airfare. The question then becomes are people going to pass on going to Hawaii altogehter or are they depositing this year in hopes of a multi week vacation next year, trying to make the most of the cost of the airfare, or in hopes of the airfare dropping by next year. If this proves to be true and you are waiting to book with FF miles until you obtain a trade you might miss the opportunity to use the miles for airfare. As suggested you should probably book to HNL and worry about interisland airfare when a trade is confirmed.

 

[ciscogizmo1]

Just curious... and I haven't read through all the threads but have you asked II if your deposits are strong enough to pull Hawaii. I'm thinking they just might not be strong enough to pull a 2 bedroom. So, even though you had your request in since last December, there just might be others with stronger units pulling them.

Another option but not sure if it is too late is if you trade to a studio and one bedroom at the same resort to get your two bedroom. I've heard of people paying the exchange fee twice. I'm not sure if it works all the time but it might.

 

[DeniseM]

I agree - book your airfare to and from Oahu while you can still get FF seats, and sort out the inter-island flights later.

 

[thinze3]

Just curious... and I haven't read through all the threads but have you asked II if your deposits are strong enough to pull Hawaii. I'm thinking they just might not be strong enough to pull a 2 bedroom.....

Michelle's units are strong enough to pull a 2BR in Hawaii, but it is just a question of supply of 2BR units. Waiohai has all 2BR units but is a small resort with very high owner occupancy. Kauai and Maui are very large complexes with mostly 1BR units, and the 2BR owners usually lock-off before they deposit. Ko'Olina is the best bet IMO. Add these things to the fact that Michelle is requesting THREE weeks at the beginning of the high demand season and this becomes a difficult scenario, but one that will most likely come through in time - IMO.

I don't think she'll see a Westin unless it is last minute.

Terry

 

[LisaRex]

FYI, Delta recently announced a new tier structure for their FF awards, which will go into effect in September. Hawaii coach tickets which used to cost 35k will now cost between 40k and 90k SkyMiles RT. First class tickets which used to cost 75k will now cost between 75k and 180k SkyMiles RT.

Airlines tend to have a follow-the-leader mentality. If you haven't booked your tickets yet, I'd urge you to do so today.

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/about...m_updates/index.jsp?MkCpgn=RSS071106#upgrades

 

[califgal]

That's right. I read that in October, AA fights to Hawaii which are now35,000 are now going up to 45,000 , I think with American all FF tickets are going up by 10,000.

 

[ciscogizmo1]

Michelle's units are strong enough to pull a 2BR in Hawaii, but it is just a question of supply of 2BR units. Waiohai has all 2BR units but is a small resort with very high owner occupancy. Kauai and Maui are very large complexes with mostly 1BR units, and the 2BR owners usually lock-off before they deposit. Ko'Olina is the best bet IMO. Add these things to the fact that Michelle is requesting THREE weeks at the beginning of the high demand season and this becomes a difficult scenario, but one that will most likely come through in time - IMO.

I don't think she'll see a Westin unless it is last minute.

Terry

I'm glad you think her units are stong enough to pull the weeks. But seriously she should ask II these questions. I find II very helpful in regards to providing information to help me decide the best week to deposit.

I can tell her that when I was reserving my Waiohai week for August there was tons of summer availability through June and July. So, I think, people haven't even reserved their weeks yet. The only weeks that went quickly were 4th of July, Easter & President's weeks (however, when I looked last week prior to reserving my week there was a Sunday check-in available during President's week). So, if I had to guess about Waiohai that people there haven't even reserved their weeks. Waiohai owners are not like Maui owners where they call right at 9 am to get their week. Just my humble opinion...

 

[ciscogizmo1]

I don't think she'll see a Westin unless it is last minute.

Westin does bulk banking...

 

[pharmgirl]

Just deposited a lock off at KoOlina for week starting July 18 2009
Very happy, traded it for a 2 BR in Tahiti Village as we are going to a wedding there

 

[timeos2]

A report out this week says visitors to Hawaii in July were down 14% and future hotel bookings are off a whopping 31%! That type of drop will effect timeshares after the current cycle of trades/reservations runs out. It doesn't bode well and, most everyone agrees, it isn't a temporary thing.

 

[thinze3]

Westin does bulk banking...

I believe Starwood bulk bank weeks which have not been reserved by other SVN members. I cannot imagine very many June units at Westin Ka'Anapali being available to be bulk-banked. I may be wrong, however.


Terry

 

[LisaRex]

A report out this week says visitors to Hawaii in July were down 14% and future hotel bookings are off a whopping 31%! That type of drop will effect timeshares after the current cycle of trades/reservations runs out. It doesn't bode well and, most everyone agrees, it isn't a temporary thing.

Meh. There's no compelling cause (e.g. a natural disaster or war that wiped out half the refineries) to explain why gas prices doubled in one year, except for simple greed. But fuel can only stay sky high so long before users start looking seriously into alternative fuels (e.g. natural gas, hydrogren). That's already started to happen. In a few months, I predict that oil prices will drop like a stone. Because like a drug supplier and his addicts, they need us as much as we need them.

Once oil drops all will return to status quo and we'll all return to Hawaii in droves.

That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.

 

[thinze3]

...Once oil drops all will return to status quo and we'll all return to Hawaii in droves.

That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.

I'll be there next July.

Just hoping that airfare prices start coming down before I purchase.

 

[Kenrabs]

I'll be there next July.

Just hoping that airfare prices start coming down before I purchase.

We're going next July also. I just got my 3rd week from II. I figured that now's the time to try and trade hoping more exchanges would be available do to flight cost uncertainty. I'm glad I have plenty of time to plan and set up flights.

 

[potchak]

I guess I should have tried for July instead of June, might have had a better chance of getting my trades.

 

[seatrout]

I guess I should have tried for July instead of June, might have had a better chance of getting my trades.

Not really, I sat on a two request for July 08 Until April 08 and then gave up.
We used two Platnium OP and started in April 07. I requested 2BR only in Maui and Ko-Olina.

I think that if you need multiple 2BR in Hawaii- it is easier to break in pieces or just rent the darn thing.

If I were you, I would buy/book the airline first to hawaii (it is the most expensive portion of your trip). Then narrow the window of search down on II.

At last resort- few months prior to trip, you can rent if not matched by then.

good luck

 

[Kenrabs]

We only needed 1 bedroom units so that helped us get the exchanges quickly.

 

[potchak]

Well, we decided to open up our trade requests for pretty much the entire summer. We added weeks in July and August to the request to try to help us get it. If that doesn't work by the end of Sept, then we will just have to try Sept or Oct 2009 and say sorry to the teacher that may join us.

 

[potchak]

Today we knocked down two of our requests to 1bds in the hopes of procuring them. We figured we really only have a couple of people that have intentions of joining us, so if needbe, they can sleep on the couch. We left the one request as 2bd because we really want Waiohai. We love that resort, which is why we bought it.

 

[Zac495]

Ok, so I switched my requests to the following:
June 4-11, 2008- Ko Olina, Maui Ocean Club, Westin Kaanapali, Hanalei Bay resort, Kona Coast, and Waiohai
June 11-18- same as above
June 18-25- Waiohai, Maui Ocean Club, or KoOlina.

I changed this a month or so ago, and still no hits. Should I be getting worried? We still have to book our 1st class airfare via FF miles and I cannot wait too long.

I hate waiting.

I think you'd better book your tickets. we're going in July, and we got the last business class (or first - whatever it is) that was available on points. I,too, am worried about my trade- but I figure the worst is that I'll stay in a non-Marriott. If it's a 7 resort - it's still Hawaii. But no way was I going to fly coach from Philadelphia (mean mom - the kids are going coach)