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Trade power: Marriott Fairway Villa

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Hi -

Still new to timesharing and in the process of buying a Marriott Fairway Villa timeshare on resale basis - platinum season.

Curious if there is a way to determine the Trading Power of a platinum season, 2bd 2 bath time share at this resort?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Also, curious, what is the possibility of using this timeshare property to trade for destinations via Interval International for places such as 1) Harborside Bahamas (SPG), 2) Fourseason properties, 3) Marriott Phuket, 4) Westin Timeshare properties, etc... or would these be considered way out of Marriott Fairway's league?
 

MOXJO7282

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Hi -

Still new to timesharing and in the process of buying a Marriott Fairway Villa timeshare on resale basis - platinum season.

Curious if there is a way to determine the Trading Power of a platinum season, 2bd 2 bath time share at this resort?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Also, curious, what is the possibility of using this timeshare property to trade for destinations via Interval International for places such as 1) Harborside Bahamas (SPG), 2) Fourseason properties, 3) Marriott Phuket, 4) Westin Timeshare properties, etc... or would these be considered way out of Marriott Fairway's league?
I would say that if you were looking for really prime weeks at these locations then yes its a reach to think you will be able to regularly trade into these resorts. Not to say that you couldn't but your success rate might not be more than 50%. If you can work with shoulder (gold) weeks which are sometimes better than plat weeks then your chances improve.

A few things that improve your chances would be to reserve a great week and place that into exchange 12 months out. As I mentioned trading plat for gold weeks. Also if you can consider exchanging a 2 bdrm for a 1 bdrm that also improves your chances.

Sorry for the reality check.
 

yumdrey

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Starwood properties (Harborside Atlantis, Westin and SHeraton) have priority to starwood owners, and chances of getting desired week is... very low.
By the time it passes priority period, there are only dog weeks left.
It's the same for Four Seasons weeks. Four Seasons owners get 21 days priority for II inventory.
However, during flexchange period (last minute availability), I have seen quite many four seasons weeks even during platinum season in AZ.

If you purchased fairway villas for trading purpose, its maintenance fee is high and it is not lock-off capable. There are better Marriott traders.
If you purchased it to use, it is a great resort and lots things to do near by.
I go to that resort 2-3 times a year and always had great time.
 

dioxide45

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I think if you are buying a Marriott you should be buying it with the intention of trading in to other Marriott properties. Given the Marriott priority in II, there wouldn't be many trade possibilities that are out of reach. This similar priority makes trading in to other brands very difficult.

That said, as the yumdrey indicated, I think there are better options for trading purposes only with lower MFs. Now if you are buying Fairway Villas because it is within driving distance and you would be happy to go there at lease every other year, then you should be okay. If you hope to trade in to premier properties outside of the Marriott system a lot, you will surely be disappointed more years than not.
 

classiclincoln

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In my opinion, if you are buying to trade, I'd look at getting something with better trading power. The resort is not in Atlantic City proper, it's on the mainland. Very nice, grande old resort, but I'd think there are other resales out there with better trading power. Also, to improve your trading power, I'd look at getting a bigger unit than you need; your chances are better trading down (a 2 BR for a 1 BR) than up.

Stu
 
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This was all great advice and very much appreciate the guidance.

I'm very excited about the possibility of owning this via resale -- I've been there on weekends, using the standard Marriott.com reservation system and paid lots of $$ to rent for a weekend. its a great property and convenient.

But will also be interested in trading it from time to time, and curious on the trade power -- and which properties i could trade for -- is it possible to trade for other premier Marriott properties? sounds like best bet is to focus on staying within the Marriott system for an "advantage".

Based on responses, it feels like Marriott Fairway is in the middle of the range for trade power? One quick follow up, was if anyone knew is there was any table and/or charts out there that ranks property by trade power?
 
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We traded our Plat Harbour Lake Week for Fairway two years ago so I'd guess that the same could be achieved likewise although it would appear that most Florida Marriott's are easy to trade into.
 

dioxide45

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Based on responses, it feels like Marriott Fairway is in the middle of the range for trade power? One quick follow up, was if anyone knew is there was any table and/or charts out there that ranks property by trade power?

This would be the coveted holy grail. Unfortunately no list, chart or table exists that ranks trade power. In general, locations that are in high demand have better trade power (obviously). Those locations tend to be beach, ski, or Hawaii. Fairway Villas is like Villas at Doral in Miami. It is in a beach town/location, but it is not located directly on the beach. These two resorts are geared toward golfers, which have a more limited user base. Families love going to the beach on school vacation, they don't tend to go golfing. That is more of a couples (sometimes retired) or guys getaway.

It is for this same reason that the resorts in Hilton Head Island that are on the beach are far more coveted than those that are not on the beach. Marriott gave far more DC points to those on the beach than those that are not. Simply because people demand the beach.
 

jont

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In general, locations that are in high demand have better trade power (obviously). Those locations tend to be beach, ski, or Hawaii. Fairway Villas is like Villas at Doral in Miami. It is in a beach town/location, but it is not located directly on the beach. These two resorts are geared toward golfers, which have a more limited user base. Families love going to the beach on school vacation, they don't tend to go golfing. That is more of a couples (sometimes retired) or guys getaway.

The other issues with Fairway is that they are not lockoffs and the Platinum season is too long. If you are able to get a July/August week and do a request first your chances are better of getting a good trade. Otherwise, like Joe said earlier you may have to settle for a smaller unit during prime seasons. If you can travel during shoulder season or during the flexchange period you should get some very good trades.
Enjoy you unit, I'm sure you got it for a very good price.:cool:
 

jdunn1

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Trade power within the Marriott system is such a broad concept, it is hard to explain and even harder to understand. Do you have a great trader? Definately. Will this unit be your ticket to any Marriott you want? Definately not? Will this unit get you prime Hyatts or Starwoods or Westins? Hardly ever, unfortunately -- but this is only because of the various internal preference periods in II. Likewise, those owners can't get prime Marriott weeks, either.

What seems to matter most in II is internal trade preference unit size and then season. That you will have a full two bedroom and a platinum week will give you the best internal Marriott trade power as is possible. It will still be less than like weeks at beach or ski resorts, but not much less. Owners looking to trade back into their home resorts have more preference than anyone else, too.

So, let's say you want to exchange your platinum Fairways week for a summer Grande Ocean week. That you have a full two bedroom to give up puts you in as best a position as possible. But, platinum Grande Ocean owners will have first dibs over anyone else, then other summer Marriott Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach owners are likely next in the pecking order and then other Marriott owners. This is where the fact that you will be giving up a full two bedroom is most important and then depending on what summer week you are giving up, that probably puts you in an even better position or a slightly worse position.

The whole thing to keep in mind is like for like. In II, if you are asking for a like week as you are giving up, you will be most successful. Beach and ski weeks are easy to determine what is like for like. Inland resorts are a little tougher to determine like for like, outside of the various seasons.

So, I think you will do awesome trading within the Marriott system. The preference you will get for other Marriott weeks will be wonderful. Sure, you only get one trade because you are not buying a lock off, but you will be in a much better postion getting the prime trades than other Marriott owners looking to trade up. You will only be looking to exchange like size for like size or even trade down in size. I guess the dues might be a little high for your resor but the dues are high at all the Marriott resorts -- just having a lock-off gives you the potential for two trades, not one.

Have fun owning. Sounds like you already love the resort and I bet owning there will make you love it even more.
 

infamazz

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This would be the coveted holy grail. Unfortunately no list, chart or table exists that ranks trade power. In general, locations that are in high demand have better trade power (obviously). Those locations tend to be beach, ski, or Hawaii. Fairway Villas is like Villas at Doral in Miami. It is in a beach town/location, but it is not located directly on the beach. These two resorts are geared toward golfers, which have a more limited user base. Families love going to the beach on school vacation, they don't tend to go golfing. That is more of a couples (sometimes retired) or guys getaway.

It is for this same reason that the resorts in Hilton Head Island that are on the beach are far more coveted than those that are not on the beach. Marriott gave far more DC points to those on the beach than those that are not. Simply because people demand the beach.

The other problem with Fairway Villas is that the golf courses, while great, are no longer associated with the resort (as of a few years ago). This means that you can't use the certificates for free rounds of golf that sometimes come your way at those courses and, correct me if I'm wrong, you don't get the usual 15% Marriott discount on greens fees for being an owner.
 
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