[What] timeshare - should I [buy] (and from whom) decision

[ljmiii]

I'm just curious about this - if Marriott will sell you a resale week without points, does it come with all the same restrictions as a resale week on the resale market or can it somehow be enrolled or linked to the internal Marriott exchange system? Or is there any other benefit to purchasing a resale week directly from Marriott (with no points involved).
Thanks for the knowledge.

If you buy a week in the US without points directly from Marriott the only difference from buying it resale is that it can be traded for Bonvoy Points.

If you buy a week outside the US directly from Marriott my understanding is that they will always be enrolled and electable into Abound Points (but I could be wrong).

I have no idea what happens if you buy a week at the Custom House in Boston (which can’t be put in the Abound Trust) except to say that I wasn’t offered that option when I went to a sales presentation there.

 

[chrithew]

OK, back at this. It seems like it's a question of how much time I want to put into things, if I want to deal with Interval International trading.
I see this as my easiest few options.
1 - Buy a gold week at Ocean Pointe and use it. Maintenance ~$2,700 (super simple)
2 - Buy a gold week at Grande Vista and use Florida club to book Ocean Pointe (seems like the best option for me right now, as the sales go through and the cost is much less than Ocean Pointe). ~1,900 in maintenance (relatively simple, need to figure out using Florida Club and only 6 month booking window)
3 - Attempt to buy in order to optimize maintenance fees vs trade value and then spend time in Interval International (II), learning how to trade. Since maintenance fees are the same regardless of season, it'd be optimal to buy a Platinum for trading purposes. Overall, this seems pretty complicated

So, some more questions. If I buy a lock-off, the main value is for upgrading for trading purposes and that's done via Interval International, correct? Marriott doesn't have anything to do with it.

Thanks!

 

[claraj]

OK, back at this. It seems like it's a question of how much time I want to put into things, if I want to deal with Interval International trading.
I see this as my easiest few options.
1 - Buy a gold week at Ocean Pointe and use it. Maintenance ~$2,700 (super simple)
2 - Buy a gold week at Grande Vista and use Florida club to book Ocean Pointe (seems like the best option for me right now, as the sales go through and the cost is much less than Ocean Pointe). ~1,900 in maintenance (relatively simple, need to figure out using Florida Club and only 6 month booking window)
3 - Attempt to buy in order to optimize maintenance fees vs trade value and then spend time in Interval International (II), learning how to trade. Since maintenance fees are the same regardless of season, it'd be optimal to buy a Platinum for trading purposes. Overall, this seems pretty complicated

So, some more questions. If I buy a lock-off, the main value is for upgrading for trading purposes and that's done via Interval International, correct? Marriott doesn't have anything to do with it.

Thanks!

I think #2 would be ideal because you can still do #3 with a Grande Vista later on. I don't think you would save significantly more shopping for a week with lower maintenance fee. Also Grande Vista trades really well. You can lock-off and trade for 2 weeks in Interval International.

 

[Pamplemousse]

OK, back at this. It seems like it's a question of how much time I want to put into things, if I want to deal with Interval International trading.
I see this as my easiest few options.
1 - Buy a gold week at Ocean Pointe and use it. Maintenance ~$2,700 (super simple)
2 - Buy a gold week at Grande Vista and use Florida club to book Ocean Pointe (seems like the best option for me right now, as the sales go through and the cost is much less than Ocean Pointe). ~1,900 in maintenance (relatively simple, need to figure out using Florida Club and only 6 month booking window)
3 - Attempt to buy in order to optimize maintenance fees vs trade value and then spend time in Interval International (II), learning how to trade. Since maintenance fees are the same regardless of season, it'd be optimal to buy a Platinum for trading purposes. Overall, this seems pretty complicated

So, some more questions. If I buy a lock-off, the main value is for upgrading for trading purposes and that's done via Interval International, correct? Marriott doesn't have anything to do with it.

Thanks!

Has anyone weighed in on #2- how easy is it to book ocean pointe the week you want using the Florida club?

I’ll also add that #3 is not that complicated.
Yes you have to use II and there are rules/procedures/costs- but you reserve your week with MVC, deposit into II and place a request.
I have never stayed my owned week in 15+ years- too expensive for us! We lock off and exchange for 2 weeks on II.
The fees have increased over the years but it still a far better value. Our salesmen advised us to do this and it has worked for us.

 

[Dean]

2 & 3 can be done with a GV unit but 3 can be done with any "trading" unit. I will point out that for exchanging and the FC, you'll have to wait to buy plane tickets. In this exact situation I would probably just buy a Gold week there. I don't think the minor up front and yearly savings are worth the hassle and uncertainty for this situation. I fear you'll try to save money on it and end up not being happy with the outcome. That's because your plan is to just stay there. By the time you pay for II and exchanging costs, your yearly savings will be modest.

 

[chrithew]

In terms of timing and waiting to buy plane tickets, with Florida club you have to wait 6 months out, right? What about the timeline for exchanging? Is it variable, depending on when an exchange goes through?

The other thing that seems to me to favor the GV route is the upfront costs and the ROFR. A silver 2BR at Ocean Pointe failed for 5K on 6/4/24. A platinum 2BR at GV passed on 5/29/24 for $1,800.
It's hard to search on redweek (or find, maybe?) Gold Season. A comparison of Platinum weeks though: The cheapest at Ocean Pointe (high season) was $8,700 vs $2,500 at GV (high season).

 

[jwalk03]

Has anyone weighed in on #2- how easy is it to book ocean pointe the week you want using the Florida club?

I’ll also add that #3 is not that complicated.
Yes you have to use II and there are rules/procedures/costs- but you reserve your week with MVC, deposit into II and place a request.
I have never stayed my owned week in 15+ years- too expensive for us! We lock off and exchange for 2 weeks on II.
The fees have increased over the years but it still a far better value. Our salesmen advised us to do this and it has worked for us.

Gold weeks are pretty easy to Florida Club into Ocean Pointe at the 6-month mark. Summer is not all that high of demand time there. Feb- early Apr are far more difficult.

 

[Pamplemousse]

In terms of timing and waiting to buy plane tickets, with Florida club you have to wait 6 months out, right? What about the timeline for exchanging? Is it variable, depending on when an exchange goes through?

The other thing that seems to me to favor the GV route is the upfront costs and the ROFR. A silver 2BR at Ocean Pointe failed for 5K on 6/4/24. A platinum 2BR at GV passed on 5/29/24 for $1,800.
It's hard to search on redweek (or find, maybe?) Gold Season. A comparison of Platinum weeks though: The cheapest at Ocean Pointe (high season) was $8,700 vs $2,500 at GV (high season).

Yes it can be a wait with exchanging too. But if you place your request early-ideally 12 months before travel so when owner‘s deposit your request is already there you may match quickly, especially with MVC priority.

 

[Mlvnsmly]

It seems clear that you should just buy at Ocean Pointe Gold Season since that is where and when you want to stay. There may be cheaper ways to get there, but you get what you pay for. For me, if I know exactly where and when I want to go, it's a heck of a lot easier to just own that. and if your needs change, sell it and buy something else. you're buying resale and in my experience the market doesn't fluctuate much. If you buy something for 5k, you can probably sell it for 5k down the road. I've sold 2 timeshares for more than I paid and one for the same while I purchased others that were a better fit for me.

 

[jadejar]

There is someone on one of the Marriott owners Facebook pages that was asking how to sell an Ocean Pointe gold week. I told them to look you up on here.

 

[jwalk03]

There is someone on one of the Marriott owners Facebook pages that was asking how to sell an Ocean Pointe gold week. I told them to look you up on here.

Not sure it was the same person- but yes I was giving advice to someone about how to sell a Gold OP week earlier today on Facebook. It was an every other year one though; not annual.

 

[chrithew]

There's one thing that's not clear to me if I attempt to do the Florida Club route. Say I want to vacation week 27. That's a platinum week at Grande Vista and a gold week at Ocean Pointe. So, would I need a gold or platinum week at Grand Vista to reserve that?

 

[chrithew]

I think i found the answer to my question. You need like for like, so I'd need gold at Grande Vista to book a gold week at Ocean Pointe.
I was considering trying to find a lock-off at Grande Vista, splitting it, then having a week at Ocean Pointe followed by a week at Grande Vista. That, however, won't work because the weeks that I'm intersted in (summer) are different seasons for the two resorts.

 

[Dean]

I think i found the answer to my question. You need like for like, so I'd need gold at Grande Vista to book a gold week at Ocean Pointe.
I was considering trying to find a lock-off at Grande Vista, splitting it, then having a week at Ocean Pointe followed by a week at Grande Vista. That, however, won't work because the weeks that I'm intersted in (summer) are different seasons for the two resorts.

Yes, to reserve during Gold season at OP AND use II, you'd need a GV Gold that was in the FL Club. Personally I'd either just rely on II exchanging or buy OP, I would not buy a Gold at GV except in some very specific circumstances where I intended to use most years. Basically if I needed a 3 BR. I still don't think the exchange savings worth the hassle for almost exclusive use of OP. A couple of other things to consider that I'm not sure has been mentioned but by owning you have the option of buying OF but unlikely to get that option by using the FC. Also, you'll have a MUCH higher unit assignment priority if you own and are using your week there.

 

[jmhpsu93]

There's one thing that's not clear to me if I attempt to do the Florida Club route. Say I want to vacation week 27. That's a platinum week at Grande Vista and a gold week at Ocean Pointe. So, would I need a gold or platinum week at Grand Vista to reserve that?

Gold Grande Vista, and you could book that six months out. I will say, though, that July 4th week at Ocean Pointe is not easy to get into via Florida Club, but the weeks before and after are usually available.

 

[jwalk03]

Gold Grande Vista, and you could book that six months out. I will say, though, that July 4th week at Ocean Pointe is not easy to get into via Florida Club, but the weeks before and after are usually available.

It’s a pretty easy exchange though. I have 3- 2BR villas booked checking in tomorrow. All via Interval exchange.