Traders: Marriott vs. Sheraton

[Tcbmcb5]

Still researching before buying my first timeshare. I am leaning toward a Marriott 2 BR lockoff GV Platinum week. I have stayed as a guest at a few of the MVC properties and am always impressed. However some of the Sheraton properties are tempting because of free/low purchase price and lower maintenance fees. I would rather go with the better trader though. If everything else is equal, (location/number of bedrooms/season) does Marriott typically trade better than Sheraton?

 

[Bill4728]

You're looking at Grand Vista in Orlando. BUY Orlando if that is where you want to vacation regularly and GV will trade good to great. In general, Orlando TS don't trade as well as most other TS locations because there is so much inventory. On the other hand the demand for Orlando is huge too. Marriott vs Westin/Sheraton, We own Marriott in California when we trade we almost always trade into a Marriott or Westin/Sheraton. Marriott trade into other Marriott a little easier than Westin/Sheraton and Westin/Sheraton trade into Westin/Sheraton a little easier too, BUT in general the difference isn't that much and both will trade really well

Good Luck

 

[Tcbmcb5]

You're looking at Grand Vista in Orlando. BUY Orlando if that is where you want to vacation regularly and GV will trade good to great. In general, Orlando TS don't trade as well as most other TS locations because there is so much inventory. On the other hand the demand for Orlando is huge too. Marriott vs Westin/Sheraton, We own Marriott in California when we trade we almost always trade into a Marriott or Westin/Sheraton. Marriott trade into other Marriott a little easier than Westin/Sheraton and Westin/Sheraton trade into Westin/Sheraton a little easier too, BUT in general the difference isn't that much and both will trade really well

Good Luck

Thanks! Since I don’t have access to Interval yet I feel a bit in the dark as to how the trades happen. I appreciate everyone’s advice here in TUG. I am comfortable with Marriott since they’re the only timeshare properties I’ve ever stayed, so I will definitely be looking to trade into other MVC properties. So it’s good to know that Marriotts tend to trade easier with other Marriotts.

 

[NiteMaire]

I have a view counter to the conventional wisdom on TUG. All of my 4 timeshares are traders. Three of them are in Orlando, Williamsburg, and Las Vegas. Some (most?) will tell you to avoid those areas for trading, but they are all superb traders. FWIW, I debated between MGC and MGV. I ultimately went with MGC...no regrets. MGV is also a really good trader.

Since you are leaning toward Marriott, here's a post with a link to 6 threads on the subject of Marriott Traders: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/looking-at-resale-mvc.307317/#post-2479621
And here's one more post and thread: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/marriott-trader-where-to-buy.300605/post-2393269

 

[Steve Fatula]

The reason Marriotts trade into Marriotts better is they have internal exchange priority. What typically happens is the inventory released to II is held for Marriott exchangers only for a certain amount of time (I believe it's up to 24 days), before being released to anyone else wishing to trade in. I believe Sheraton/Westin now has secondary priority to exchanges into Marriott now as well, so it's not as good for exchanging into Marriott, but, it's better than anyone else.

 

[jmhpsu93]

I've owned both Marriott and Sheraton in Orlando (Gold Grande Vista and Platinum Vistana Villages), both 2 BR lockoffs. Maintenance fees are almost identical (~$1500/year). All units were picked up for free (or actually free with free usage, too). Both trade well for my purposes, SVV probably a little bit better and it does lockoff into (2) 1 BR units vs a 1BR and studio with MGV. MGV has the Marriott-to-Marriott preference as well. I use all of those units specifically as traders.

MGV platinum will get you the best of both words but there's an entry cost, though in the big picture pretty nominal. There are other locations that are great lower-end traders in MVC, like Grand Chateau, Willow Ridge, and Manor Club.

 

[Tcbmcb5]

Thanks again to everyone for all of your advice!! So so helpful. I have been bugging my husband to buy a shore house for years to use in the off season and rent during the summer to help pay the mortgage. We live not far from the Jersey shore. Well prices are insane especially now with COVID...rock bottom interest rates/people working remote = no inventory or ridiculous asking prices. So that dream is on the back burner until things change. We recently stayed at Cypress Harbour as a guest of a Marriott owner and now I have the itch to buy a timeshare just to have a nice vacation to look forward to at least once a year. And hopefully more than one if I can pick up some decent Interval getaways. The knowledge gained just from reading these threads is so valuable and has saved me from making a few expensive impulse buys.

 

[Tcbmcb5]

I have a view counter to the conventional wisdom on TUG. All of my 4 timeshares are traders. Three of them are in Orlando, Williamsburg, and Las Vegas. Some (most?) will tell you to avoid those areas for trading, but they are all superb traders. FWIW, I debated between MGC and MGV. I ultimately went with MGC...no regrets. MGV is also a really good trader.

Since you are leaning toward Marriott, here's a post with a link to 6 threads on the subject of Marriott Traders: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/looking-at-resale-mvc.307317/#post-2479621
And here's one more post and thread: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/marriott-trader-where-to-buy.300605/post-2393269

WOW I just finished reading these 2 threads!! They really give such insight into how to play the timeshare game I’m a planner and as my kids are getting older I have way more flexibility so I know that owning will be a good fit for me.

 

[Steve Fatula]

WOW I just finished reading these 2 threads!! They really give such insight into how to play the timeshare game I’m a planner and as my kids are getting older I have way more flexibility so I know that owning will be a good fit for me.

There are many games to be played! If you take the time to learn it, you will get far more value out of it.

 

[Fasttr]

If you take the time to learn it, you will get far more value out of it.

#Wisdom

 

[jmhpsu93]

#Wisdom

Agreed. We thought about the second house thing until we figured out how to work timeshare ownership. Now our idea is to downsize in our "home base" and second home anywhere we want within reason.

 

[CPNY]

Thanks again to everyone for all of your advice!! So so helpful. I have been bugging my husband to buy a shore house for years to use in the off season and rent during the summer to help pay the mortgage. We live not far from the Jersey shore. Well prices are insane especially now with COVID...rock bottom interest rates/people working remote = no inventory or ridiculous asking prices. So that dream is on the back burner until things change. We recently stayed at Cypress Harbour as a guest of a Marriott owner and now I have the itch to buy a timeshare just to have a nice vacation to look forward to at least once a year. And hopefully more than one if I can pick up some decent Interval getaways. The knowledge gained just from reading these threads is so valuable and has saved me from making a few expensive impulse buys.

If you’re from the east coast, the natural progression would be to head right for Florida! Since Orlando is easier to get into, why not another Marriott Florida property? Crystal shores looks amazing as does ocean pointe. Others can tell you how either of these trade compared to MGV.

I’d also say, it depends on where you want to trade into. If you only want to trade into Marriott properties then owning in the Marriott system will give you a leg up on availability plus the benefit of no exchange fee.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Thanks again to everyone for all of your advice!! So so helpful. I have been bugging my husband to buy a shore house for years to use in the off season and rent during the summer to help pay the mortgage. We live not far from the Jersey shore. Well prices are insane especially now with COVID...rock bottom interest rates/people working remote = no inventory or ridiculous prices....... The knowledge gained just from reading these threads is so valuable and has saved ..........

Agreed. We thought about the second house thing until we figured out how to work timeshare ownership. Now our idea is to downsize in our "home base" and second home anywhere we want within reason.

If your looking to explore using timeshares as a " vacation home" you may want to also look at Wyndham due to it's flexibility and diversity .
Owners - @cbyrne1174 ,@Jan M. ,@Sandy VDH were recently on with @dioxide45 for a TUG Livestream Wyndham Edition that is on YouTube

 

[jmhpsu93]

If you’re from the east coast, the natural progression would be to head right for Florida! Since Orlando is easier to get into, why not another Marriott Florida property? Crystal shores looks amazing as does ocean pointe. Others can tell you how either of these trade compared to MGV.

I’d also say, it depends on where you want to trade into. If you only want to trade into Marriott properties then owning in the Marriott system will give you a leg up on availability plus the benefit of no exchange fee.

You have to pay an exchange fee unless your week is enrolled, which is really expensive to do if you buy resale like the OP is planning. There are no "mandatory" resorts like in Vistana. You will need your own Interval account ($70-100/year depending on the deal you get) and you'll pay lockoff fees to MVC if applicable ($90), then $154 per trade, $59 for ePlus to allow free retrading, and $59 per unit size upgrade.

I budget / allocate $1,000 per unit all in for a 2BR Marriott-to-Marriott trade through Interval. You'll also get access to additional weeks through Getaways ($350 - $1000/week) or Accommodate Certificates ($300-500/week). Getaways can be a great deal going to Orlando or Palm Desert in off season.

 

[CPNY]

You have to pay an exchange fee unless your week is enrolled, which is really expensive to do if you buy resale like the OP is planning. There are no "mandatory" resorts like in Vistana. You will need your own Interval account ($70-100/year depending on the deal you get) and you'll pay lockoff fees to MVC if applicable ($90), then $154 per trade, $59 for ePlus to allow free retrading, and $59 per unit size upgrade.

I budget / allocate $1,000 per unit all in for a 2BR Marriott-to-Marriott trade through Interval. You'll also get access to additional weeks through Getaways ($350 - $1000/week) or Accommodate Certificates ($300-500/week). Getaways can be a great deal going to Orlando or Palm Desert in off season.

Interesting. I never knew that. I thought the Marriott to Marriott exchanges were free for all. Then maybe a mandatory vistana trader without all those fees is a good option. I only have mandatory deeds on the vistana side. Not having to pay for an interval membership and a lockoff fee (when I owned a LO) is nice.

 

[Tcbmcb5]

You have to pay an exchange fee unless your week is enrolled, which is really expensive to do if you buy resale like the OP is planning. There are no "mandatory" resorts like in Vistana. You will need your own Interval account ($70-100/year depending on the deal you get) and you'll pay lockoff fees to MVC if applicable ($90), then $154 per trade, $59 for ePlus to allow free retrading, and $59 per unit size upgrade.

I budget / allocate $1,000 per unit all in for a 2BR Marriott-to-Marriott trade through Interval. You'll also get access to additional weeks through Getaways ($350 - $1000/week) or Accommodate Certificates ($300-500/week). Getaways can be a great deal going to Orlando or Palm Desert in off season.

I'm ok with paying for Interval because I definitely plan on buying Getaways...but is it still another $154 to deposit in II then exchange into another Marriott? I thought once you were an Interval member exchanges were relatively free unless you are locking-off and/or upgrading.

 

[CPNY]

I'm ok with paying for Interval because I definitely plan on buying Getaways...but is it still another $154 to deposit in II then exchange into another Marriott? I thought once you were an Interval member exchanges were relatively free unless you are locking-off and/or upgrading.

No no no you pay an exchange fee to execute an exchange.

 

[Tcbmcb5]

No no no you pay an exchange fee to execute an exchange.

Ok thanks. I need to take a course in Interval 101. Definitely something else to consider then. This actually makes me really lean toward Grande Vista since I can try to get a unit in the Florida Club for some free trade options.

 

[CPNY]

Ok thanks. I need to take a course in Interval 101. Definitely something else to consider then. This actually makes me really lean toward Grande Vista since I can try to get a unit in the Florida Club for some free trade options.

The way I understand it only some MGV are enrolled in the FC but all the other Florida properties are enrolled in the FC.

Again, it ultimately depends on where you want to travel. If you want a good interval trader and are open to ALL interval resorts then the colonies (vacation village) gets excellent trades. You can learn more about that in the vacation village sub forum. Your maint fees will prob be half of what you would pay for a marriott or vistana. The colonies is also dual affiliated, meaning you can have it enrolled in interval and RCI (you’ll pay two membership fees). This would give you access to every timeshare resort everywhere.

I prefer Sheraton vistana villages mandatory platinum ownerships because of the good trading power in interval. Along with that, I get star options usage which I use 99% of the time. If you primarily want interval exchanges, Marriott will have priority to Marriott resorts over everyone else for a certain amount of time. Same goes for vistana to vistana exchanges.

priority/ preference for interval exchanges:

Marriott resort availability
Marriott owners > Vistana Owners > then all other interval members

Vistana Resort availability
Vistana owners > Marriott owners > then all other interval members

 

[echino]

I noticed that Marriott studios no longer have enough trade power to pull some high demand weeks, especially 2br. So if you plan to lock off a Marriott and trade for 2 weeks, then a 2br may not work well because it locks off into 1br + studio. If you buy a 3br at Marriott Grand Chateau, it solves it, because it locks off into 2br+1br. It's a bit more expensive, but it consistently trades into 2 high demand Marriott weeks in 2br each.

 

[Tcbmcb5]

The way I understand it only some MGV are enrolled in the FC but all the other Florida properties are enrolled in the FC.

Again, it ultimately depends on where you want to travel. If you want a good interval trader and are open to ALL interval resorts then the colonies (vacation village) gets excellent trades. You can learn more about that in the vacation village sub forum. Your maint fees will prob be half of what you would pay for a marriott or vistana. The colonies is also dual affiliated, meaning you can have it enrolled in interval and RCI (you’ll pay two membership fees). This would give you access to every timeshare resort everywhere.

I prefer Sheraton vistana villages mandatory platinum ownerships because of the good trading power in interval. Along with that, I get star options usage which I use 99% of the time. If you primarily want interval exchanges, Marriott will have priority to Marriott resorts over everyone else for a certain amount of time. Same goes for vistana to vistana exchanges.

priority/ preference for interval exchanges:

Marriott resort availability
Marriott owners > Vistana Owners > then all other interval members

Vistana Resort availability
Vistana owners > Marriott owners > then all other interval members

CPNY guess what? I bought an EOY week 29 at the Colonies. Thanks so much for your advice/recommendation!! This is the perfect way for me to dip my foot in the timeshare pool before jumping in. I’m excited to be able to join RCI & II just to see the benefits of each. It’s a 4 BR so i might even split it and deposit one in each to see what trades I can get on each platform.

 

[NiteMaire]

CPNY guess what? I bought an EOY week 29 at the Colonies. Thanks so much for your advice/recommendation!! This is the perfect way for me to dip my foot in the timeshare pool before jumping in. I’m excited to be able to join RCI & II just to see the benefits of each. It’s a 4 BR so i might even split it and deposit one in each to see what trades I can get on each platform.

That week at Colonies can get some amazing trades! Throw in the relatively low MF along with the ability to LO into 2 2BR units, and you have one of the best traders in II. When we first purchased Colonies, it was affiliated with only II. When they added RCI as an option, we jumped on the 2-for-1 yearly membership. Decent TPUs, but we ended up not renewing RCI since II worked so well for us.

You probably already know, but there is a (somewhat new) Vacation Village sub-forum on TUG. Here's a link to a thread with some info on Colonies, including some of our trades with our week 23 and 26 Colonies units.

Resale prices - Vacation Village

I’ve noticed some of the RCI points units in Vacation Village have been increasing. I saw a 122K Grandview unit on eBay sell for nearly $2,000 today! Has anyone seen any regal vistas or woodstone at massanutten red weeks on the market lately?

tugbbs.com

 

[Tcbmcb5]

Thanks NiteMarie. I’ve read all of your posts to regarding the Colonies too and I would have never thought to buy anything other than Marriott without the advice I found here on TUG. I wish it was an annual unit but I jumped in this one because I knew week 29 should do well. And it was easier to convince my husband to enter the timeshare world on an EOY basis for now but I have a feeling I’ll be buying more. This summer we’re just going to actually check it out and use the unit since the time for deed transfer will be cutting it close. But I’m excited for future trades
And yes I will jump on the VV thread too

 

[Mowogo]

Thanks NiteMarie. I’ve read all of your posts to regarding the Colonies too and I would have never thought to buy anything other than Marriott without the advice I found here on TUG. I wish it was an annual unit but I jumped in this one because I knew week 29 should do well. And it was easier to convince my husband to enter the timeshare world on an EOY basis for now but I have a feeling I’ll be buying more. This summer we’re just going to actually check it out and use the unit since the time for deed transfer will be cutting it close. But I’m excited for future trades
And yes I will jump on the VV thread too

As someone that owns a VV RCI trader, they really are one of the best values for maintenance fee exchanges. I pay just over $800 mf for a 2BR, and it is 98,000 RCI points which is on the higher end of their valuation (Basically points wise, I have to downsize only for Disney and some of the top Hawaii). They also have some specials where you get a free week at a VV resort just for maintenance fee with zero expectation of attending the sales presentation.

 

[CPNY]

Thanks NiteMarie. I’ve read all of your posts to regarding the Colonies too and I would have never thought to buy anything other than Marriott without the advice I found here on TUG. I wish it was an annual unit but I jumped in this one because I knew week 29 should do well. And it was easier to convince my husband to enter the timeshare world on an EOY basis for now but I have a feeling I’ll be buying more. This summer we’re just going to actually check it out and use the unit since the time for deed transfer will be cutting it close. But I’m excited for future trades
And yes I will jump on the VV thread too

Do you have the interval account set up yet? Would love to hear what your first trade was