Very New to this

[Matseu]

I am not an owner but have been researching whether or not to buy a timeshare. I now know I want one, resale of course. However, the whole trading power is hard to gauge. Say for example, if i purchase a 1 BR floating at a Marriott in Hawaii wil that limit me to 1BR exchange or will I have chances at bigger/better trades?

 

[vacationhopeful]

Marriott is affiliated with II as an exchange company. II generally trades "like" for "like" except during the Flex-exchange period (shortly before checkin at a desired location) -1bdr for 1bdr.

Resort chains can have preference windows where a Marriott deposit would go first to another Marriott owner .... but I know little compared to many other who trade thru II and/or with Marriott deposits.

 

[Passepartout]

Welcome to TUG. First, buy where you want to use. It's just a waste of money to buy to exchange. Every exchange costs more money. And buy the size unit you need. Unless I was sure I would be using at least 2 years out of 3 in Hawaii, I wouldn't buy there. The airfare isn't getting cheaper, and those weeks/units have timesharing's highest maintenance fees, and the state of Hawaii taxes timeshares higher than anywhere.

Soooo now to your question. IF you own a 1 bedroom week in Hawaii, it's very likely to be able to trade it for a larger unit somewhere else. That takes care of the 'bigger' part. Whether it's 'better' is your call.

Others will probably chime in, but if it was me, I'd get a 2BR lock-off in a location where you can drive to if you want, then use it's trading power to either exchange into Hawaii, or split it up to use one side and exchange the other for another week somewhere else.

That's just my 2 cents worth.

Again Welcome. Stick around here for a while. You have much to learn to become an educated consumer before you buy anything.

Jim Ricks

 

[chalee94]

it's best to look at "like for like" exchanges as indicated.

sometimes you might luck into a big trade up , but to get a 2BR you will typically have to give up something...lower demand area (you can probably typically trade for a 2BR in orlando FL), lower quality resort (no-name rather than marriott) or lower demand timeframe (summer in hawaii for shoulder season elsewhere when the kids are still in school.)

 

[Carolinian]

I second the buy where you want to go approach. Trading has become a lot more of a crap shoot these days, largely due to exchange companies renting out exchange deposits to the general public. II does it a lot less than RCI but they still do it. Some of the independents don't do it at all. Always look upon trading as being secondary to your timeshare ownership, not the primary purpose.

 

[WinniWoman]

I agree with the other posters. Buy where you want to use every year, preferably somewhere you can drive to, with exchanging as a possibility once in a while. You can always rent somewhere else if you want a change of pace.