What does AAZZ mean on a Marriott rental I see on Redweek?

[SueDonJ]

And when a Marriott owner exchanges into a unit at their home resort, they also get the view category exchanged, and not downgraded for what they own?

I think the Westin Kanaapali front desk just has the unit disappointment response on recording. I'm not sure I agree that all owners should only get the category they own period. If I owned at WKORV (and I don't) and was paying the really high MF, I would want to have a shot at a better view in my home resort than someone trading or using StarOptions to get in who pays a fraction of the annual fees. View category does not exchange with units through Starwood, I understand that it does, depending on location, with Marriott.

If a Marriott owner exchanges back into their home resort it's in one of two ways, either as an II exchanger or through converting a DC-enrolled Week into Points and using those Points to reserve the stay. None of them are given the same priority as owners using their own weeks, they're all considered to be exchangers.

With II exchanges no view is guaranteed; some resorts disregard the view type that's attached to the II confirmation and instead use the Priority Placement system that places owners exchanging back in somewhere below owners using their own weeks and above other exchangers, and, other resorts place exchangers into the units that are attached to the II confirmations but maybe below owners on the list.

With DC Points stays, if there are different views available then there are different Points requirements for each view, and the user chooses which one s/he wants. I think the same thing about those as I do about owners using their own weeks at their own resorts - they all should be placed into what was "purchased." We haven't figured out on TUG yet where the resorts that use a Priority Placement system fit DC Points users into the mix, except we're pretty sure they don't have the same priority as owners using their own weeks.

It sounds like Marriott uses a similar disclaimer as Starwood does and if you make requests they'll note them but they'll tell you that nothing is guaranteed. I've always thought that unit placement with exchanges is a crap shoot. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't, but being an owner exchanging back in doesn't mean you automatically get an upgrade.

 

[LAX Mom]

Marriott doesn't upgrade owners to a better view category than the view they purchased. If they did, no one would ever pay the extra $$ for the ocean view, ocean front categories. If I recall correctly, at the Hawaii Marriotts the ocean view weeks were at least $10,000 more than island view. Why spend the extra $$ if you knew you had a good change of getting an upgrade?

Marriott has always had the policy that you stay in the type of unit you purchased. I've exchanged into the Hawaii Marriotts many times and always end up in the type of unit that was deposited with II. They might give me ocean view, but not the best ocean view. I've also had an amazing ocean view on the 14th floor.

Sue is right, unit placement with exchanges is a crap shoot! You never know

 

[readyalready]

I don't know, some people have to have the view and would pay to guarantee it, just like they pay to own at the resort they want to stay in, or they spin the wheel and take their chances.

I'm curious to see what kind of relative view we get on a cash reservation next month.

I can see both sides. I was frustrated a few years ago when I unknowingly rented a unit using Staroptions from an island view Starwood owner. I wanted to be in a specific building because I had an injured child on crutches. I would have happily taken the loading dock units, or walled view blocked patio units but they couldn't/wouldn't because the owner had island view. A friend who didn't own and used Staroptions had no trouble getting a great ocean view unit in that building, as I spent hours waiting in line that day I saw many other exchange/option units check into ocean view buildings or get upgraded. It felt like there was a penalty for owning.

 

[vacationtime1]

Starwood doesn't give better views to exchangers anymore. They used to, but our last exchange to Maui was island view, and it didn't matter we were owners of SBP who traded into the Westin. They were actually quite discourteous, no spirit of Aloha whatsoever, and it was early September (very slow time for Maui). I felt they went out of their way to give us island view.

My niece and sister just left Maui yesterday, and they had two weeks as exchangers. They were given ground floor units, no view at all, and that was at the Westin North. So now we know Starwood's new policy. We were all told we exchanged into Island View. Okay, okay, we get it.

No, it really is luck of the draw.

DW traded one of our SBP units for WKORVN through Interval. She was there last month. She was given a unit in building 8 -- ocean front.

 

[bazzap]

I guess for me what this comes down to is
If any Marriott Ocean Front units are still available after all Marriott Ocean Front owners have been allocated their units, is it better for the remainder to go to Marriott Garden view owners (or other non Ocean Front owners) staying at their home resort or to any non Marriott owners exchanging in.
As a Marriott Ocean Front owner, I would vote for my Marriott co-owners getting preference for the remaining units.

 

[dioxide45]

I guess for me what this comes down to is
If any Marriott Ocean Front units are still available after all Marriott Ocean Front owners have been allocated their units, is it better for the remainder to go to Marriott Garden view owners (or other non Ocean Front owners) staying at their home resort or to any non Marriott owners exchanging in.
As a Marriott Ocean Front owner, I would vote for my Marriott co-owners getting preference for the remaining units.

This would mean any time an ocean front owner exchanged out a lower view owner would get ocean front. You paid big bucks for your ocean front, you are okay with those that only paid garden view prices getting those ocean front units on a regular basis?

This causes lots of problems for the future because people begin to expect that "upgrade" and get upset when they can't get it. Then when they list their week to sell, they probably list it with the wrong view because they have almost always gotten an ocean front. We see this problem at Ocean Watch with people that had ultimate occupancy for garden view but in the early years of their ownership they got ocean front or ocean side. They list the view on their rentals and sales ads wrong.

It seems that for the SC properties, owners exchanging back in get priority over non owners exchanging in. There really is no perfect way to allocate views.

 

[bazzap]

I do take your point.
I doubt Marriott non Ocean Front owners would regulary get an upgrade though and I am fairly sure from personal experience that non Marriott owners, who in many if not most cases have probably paid far less still, are successfully exchanging into these Ocean Front units.
Is this really any better for us Ocean Front owners who have paid big bucks?
I agree that if Marriott owners begin to "expect" an upgrade that could cause a problem. Most owners I know though would just feel very lucky if they occasionally get an upgrade and this would not be an issue.

 

[ocdb8r]

It sounds like they are referring to an II exchange. They would have no other reason to refer to the II unit ID.

The unit IDs are not related to II...Marriott uses them internally, II just also happens to list them on exchanges. For example, I have a DC point reservation that lists the 4 letter room type in the link to room information.

 

[dioxide45]

The unit IDs are not related to II...Marriott uses them internally, II just also happens to list them on exchanges. For example, I have a DC point reservation that lists the 4 letter room type in the link to room information.

I have two DC point reservations and don't see this in the Room Details link under Change/Cancel Reservations on Marriott.com. Where exactly are you seeing them?

 

[ocdb8r]

I have two DC point reservations and don't see this in the Room Details link under Change/Cancel Reservations on Marriott.com. Where exactly are you seeing them?

I'm looking at the confirmation email they sent me when I made the point reservation.

Under the reservation details there is a link after the room description. In part of that link you'll see the text "roomPoolCode=XXXX", where XXXX is the 4 character unit ID.

If you know some of the other unit IDs for the resort you can actually replace the XXXX and read the descriptions for any of the units. In fact, if you know the resort codest that follow "marshaCode=XXXXX" you can re-engineer the link to give you descriptions for other resorts.

What I usually do when I get a marriott exchange in II and I want to see how Marriott describes the room, is I search for a dummy cash reservation on marriott.com. Any availability offers a "Room details" link which I click and then modify the 4 digit code to match what's in my II confirmation.

So, for the OP's original question, we get this link:

www.marriott.com/reservation/viewRo... Maybe we can add resort codes to your list.

 

[thinze3]

....

Under the reservation details there is a link after the room description. In part of that link you'll see the text "roomPoolCode=XXXX", where XXXX is the 4 character unit ID.

If you know some of the other unit IDs for the resort you can actually replace the XXXX and read the descriptions for any of the units. In fact, if you know the resort codest that follow "marshaCode=XXXXX" you can re-engineer the link to give you descriptions for other resorts.

Copy and paste that and you have the official marriott description.
....

This is good to know. Very nice.

 

[dioxide45]

I'm looking at the confirmation email they sent me when I made the point reservation.

Under the reservation details there is a link after the room description. In part of that link you'll see the text "roomPoolCode=XXXX", where XXXX is the 4 character unit ID.

If you know some of the other unit IDs for the resort you can actually replace the XXXX and read the descriptions for any of the units. In fact, if you know the resort codest that follow "marshaCode=XXXXX" you can re-engineer the link to give you descriptions for other resorts.

What I usually do when I get a marriott exchange in II and I want to see how Marriott describes the room, is I search for a dummy cash reservation on marriott.com. Any availability offers a "Room details" link which I click and then modify the 4 digit code to match what's in my II confirmation.

So, for the OP's original question, we get this link:

www.marriott.com/reservation/viewRo...n't seem to really tie it to a resort.:shrug:

 

[LUV2TRVL2HI]

After playing around for about an hour trying to duplicate ocdb8r's instructions (I am obviously technically and computer challenged), I was finally able to bring up the code for the rooms on my DC points reservation by clicking on the attachment icon (paperclip) that was on the reservation confirmation email. When the attachment opened, it contained the string of text that ocdb8r referred to, showing the room designation (such as ZZAA).

When I went onto marriott.com and entered a future date and location under "find a room", and chose the Marriott Vacation Club I wanted, then when it offered the available room/villa types, I right-clicked on the room I wanted to check on and indicated I wanted to show it in a new window, and when the new window popped up it contained the string of text that ocdb8r referred to, showing the room designation.

dioxide 45, I hope this helps you in locating the room designations so you can validate the unit codes for your on-going list (which I thank you for taking the time to compile -- )

 

[ocdb8r]

A couple of notes after playing with this...

I am clearly not seeing what you are seeing. I have two points reservations (made with PlusPoints). There is no link in the e-mail for "Room Details. When I am on Marriott.com in the Change/Cancel Reservations section and click on the Room Details link, it just opens a pop-up. It appears to be a Flash pop-up in that is just opens up over the existing page and isn't in it's own browsers window or tab. The address bar does not change in any way from what it was and does not show what you have in your post.

Not sure why our confirmations are different. Mine clearly has a link to room details (and it shows the full link text).

As for the cancel/change reservations section on marriott.com, I was using firefox and for me it opens the room details in a new tab (rather than a pop-up window). If you use firefox you'll see the string of text in your browser bar. Alternatively, in other browsers if you right click the "Room details" link and choose "Open in new tab" it will open it in a new tab and you can see the link text in your browser bar.

If I copy and paste the link you provided in to a web browser, it does show some room details, but there is no property information. If I first look up room details for a reservation I have on Change/Cancel Reservations, then copy and paste it in to the browser, it shows me the last property that I was viewing room details for.

Take a closer look. I notice that the "Room Details - XXXXXXXX" at the top of the page seems to stay with whatever the first room you looked at happened to be. However, if you look at all the other details, they change to describe the room of whatever "roomPoolCode=XXXX" code you change in the link...including the "Room Overview" which is what tells you what type of room you have.

I do in fact see that changing the property code ("marshaCode=XXXXX") does NOT seem to work to change the property info. I've never tried to re-engineer the property code (since that never shows up in the II confirmation) and have always just used the method I described above to search for a cash reservation and then use the "Room details" link in the cash reservation results page as my base (hence, I always have the correct resort up as it's the resort I searched for a cash reservation at). - I hope that makes sense...a bit contrived, I know.

Bottom line, I think if you click on a "Room details" link anywhere on marriott.com (either in your own reservation pulled up via cancel/modify or by searching for a cash reservation), you can then modify that link with the 4 character room code to see the description for the various types of rooms at that resort.

 

[dioxide45]

A couple of notes after playing with this...



Not sure why our confirmations are different. Mine clearly has a link to room details (and it shows the full link text).

As for the cancel/change reservations section on marriott.com, I was using firefox and for me it opens the room details in a new tab (rather than a pop-up window). If you use firefox you'll see the string of text in your browser bar. Alternatively, in other browsers if you right click the "Room details" link and choose "Open in new tab" it will open it in a new tab and you can see the link text in your browser bar.



Take a closer look. I notice that the "Room Details - XXXXXXXX" at the top of the page seems to stay with whatever the first room you looked at happened to be. However, if you look at all the other details, they change to describe the room of whatever "roomPoolCode=XXXX" code you change in the link...including the "Room Overview" which is what tells you what type of room you have.

I do in fact see that changing the property code ("marshaCode=XXXXX") does NOT seem to work to change the property info. I've never tried to re-engineer the property code (since that never shows up in the II confirmation) and have always just used the method I described above to search for a cash reservation and then use the "Room details" link in the cash reservation results page as my base (hence, I always have the correct resort up as it's the resort I searched for a cash reservation at). - I hope that makes sense...a bit contrived, I know.

Bottom line, I think if you click on a "Room details" link anywhere on marriott.com (either in your own reservation pulled up via cancel/modify or by searching for a cash reservation), you can then modify that link with the 4 character room code to see the description for the various types of rooms at that resort.

I was have used IE6, 8 and 9. I also have Firefox, I will try it with that.

 

[dioxide45]

I was have used IE6, 8 and 9. I also have Firefox, I will try it with that.

Well, Firefox 3.6.8 also only opens in a Flash popup for me and not a separate tab. Though if I click on the Print link in that popup it opens in a new window and I can see the code.

 

[ocdb8r]

Try right clicking the "room details" link and selecting "open in new tab".

You can also right click and select "copy link location" which will copy the string of text for you to paste into your browser bar.

Sorry it's giving you trouble...maybe it's just my dumb luck that it's been relatively easy for me thus far.