Hi All,
I've been researching as much as I can to determine if getting in to the Marriott Timeshare system is a good fit for us, but I definitely have some outstanding questions and would also welcome any feedback/insight you are willing to impart.
Here are my main questions, for those that do not want to read all the detail below:
1) Should I buy a Platinum 2BR or Platinum 3BR lockoff at Marriott's Grande Vista (I would get the Florida Club with either)?? Is the additional trading power of the 3BR LO (depositing a 2BR and studio instead of 1BR/studio) worth the extra MF? For example, would the 2BR side trade be more likely to get me in to OceanWatch Myrtle Beach during the summer (even late August) for example, or other desirable locations/times?
2) The idea of being able to buy a deeded week for <$2000 for GV and having the ability to trade in to places that have deeded weeks going for $10-20,000+ seems too good to be true. What am I missing here? It's the low capital buy-in that we are really interested in pursuing, and that makes it make sense from a cost perspective compared to rental/hotel prices. What's the catch?
3) Is there any reason I would consider a much higher purchase price of a "bundle" to be able to enroll this week in the points program? I am not really interested in points at all, but I'm just wondering about longevity and missing out if the system switches to favor points people or II becomes really limited and we are not able to trade as much. The upfront costs seem really high and I'm not convinced there is added value.
Background/details if you care to read further:
We have stayed in many Marriott timeshares and are comfortable with the quality of the resorts, etc, so we are only looking at Marriott properties. We are mainly looking at purchasing a resale week that we would be trading 75% of the time to go somewhere else. We like the idea of a lockoff not only to get the two week trade, but also because the number of people we are traveling with will change over the years and it will give us flexibility to travel by ourselves in a smaller unit if we wanted to. We want to purchase somewhere that we actually would like going to repeatedly (in case we ever get stuck not being able to trade), and mainly on the East Coast of the US. After researching everything, that narrowed it down to Marriott's Grande Vista in Orlando. We were also considering Marriott's Manor Club in Williamsburg because it is within driving distance for us, but we are really resort pool people and we wouldn't be excited about vacationing there all the time if we got stuck with it (although it's lovely and a great Spring destination if you ever want to go!).
1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
We generally vacation up and down the East Coast - Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Bald Head Island, Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg once in a while, Maryland, Delaware and Jersey Beaches. I think we would want to visit Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head area a lot due to the number of timeshares there, but we would want to do that in the summer (even end of August is ok). And we would like to try lots of different places in Florida, but usually we go to Florida in April or October (we like Halloween at Disney).
2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
Trade more than half the time. Even when visiting Orlando, I think we would trade around and visit the different resorts versus always staying at GV. We just like variety.
3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
1) Marriott's OceanWatch in Myrtle Beach would be number one. We drove through it while we were staying at the Sheraton Broadway Plantation and would just really like to try it. What is realistic here? I see that a lot of the owners are trying to rent out (very high rental prices), but I see only half of those actually getting rented, so I'm hoping owners are still depositing in II probably at that 60 day mark when their rental doesn't work out.
2) Hilton Head
3) Florida, all over (Disney Animal Kingdom once or twice -hoping to try through the Florida Club to get an exchange that could be used for that)
4) Bahamas/ Virgin Islands maybe
5) Would like to try Canada, Spain, France - but these would be one offs.
We will never go to Hawaii. Not super interested in Aruba either.
4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?
4 adults and 2 kids right now (why the 3 BR has some practical appeal so everyone gets a bed instead of a couch when a 3BR is available), sometimes 2 adults/2 kids
5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
We are in a school schedule, but can also take a week during the school year to vacation usually in the Spring or Fall. Our school schedule is different than the majority so usually our spring break is a different week than most, and we also have off the last two weeks in August and don't start back until after Labor Day, when a lot of other places are back to school mid-August. We have done most of our summer vacations during those last two weeks in August when things aren't as crowded. I'm really looking to be able to trade into an East Coast Beach Summer week (Myrtle/Hilton Head/Virginia Beach) on a regular basis, but it could be the end of August - I just want to know what is realistic.
6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Yes no problem.
7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Yes.
8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
4 or 5. We really only stay at nice resorts these days or luxury rentals.
9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
We won't finance anything. The appeal of the Grande Vista is the very low capital buy-in, which makes the MF worth it compared to the skyrocketing costs of luxury rentals/hotels. I don't think we would be interested in buying a week, say, at OceanWatch because the buy-in is really high and when the capital costs are spread out with the maintenance fees the purchase doesn't make sense over just renting each year.
10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year? We are ok with the current maintenance fees (1850 for 2BR LO or 2500 for 3BR LO) and the expected 5% annual rise in MF that seems to be the trend for the last 15 years (I downloaded all the historic data). I realize the last year or two is a blip for MFs, so I'm not sure if those big bumps will continue or if they will affect the long term increases. We can afford the increases, but we would want to make sure that the MFs are always cost comparative to the luxury rental market. Right now they are competitive with the places we would want to trade into compared to rental costs or booking through Marriott.
11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Yes, I am a scientist. I like data
12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
Yes, I've been researching the various exit strategies just in case. I understand Orlando might be harder to sell/give away than other destinations- that seems true of the low capital costs weeks in saturated markets. Again, I'm ok with the ongoing fees as long as they are cost competitive with the luxury rental market. Right now they are very competitive! Hoping that is the case during the duration of ownership.
Thanks for reading if you got this far!
