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What's the best way to trade for Club Son Antem?

Woody73

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We own at Desert Springs 2, and have deposited a week with Interval. What is the best way to trade for a week at Club Son Antem (in Majorca, Spain) for October 2012?

When I checked the Interval website, they only show availability at that property for the next five five months, into May. Is that typical for timeshare properties in Europe?

We have a cruise booked that embarks from Barcelona, so we are looking for a pre-cruise stay. What are the chances of getting a specific week at Club Son Antem in October?

Thanks in advance.

Woody
 

Venter

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Should not be too dificult

only the last week of October fall within the school holidays therefore I cannot see a major problem trading into Club Son Antem in October except the last week. The European resorts do not show up far in advance normally so I would say this is normal. A specific week should also not be too much of problem as long as you put your request in very early seeing as you will have Marriott priority.
 

exotherm

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Our Experience

We stayed at Son Anthem last September-it is a great resort .

We tried to get in using DC points , but to no avail. We actually double-booked using Reward Points, while hoping our DC point reservation would come through. It never did.

A representative at the resort said that most of the owners are European and there is a high % of people who return each year and never trade off. Therefore, it is tough to get into with DC points.

I suggest you book with Reward points (which you can cancel at the last minute) while waiting to see if you can get in with DC points.

Good luck.
 

m61376

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I thought the European resorts were not part of the DC and thus any trades for them would have to be through II, whether or not you were trading a week or using DC points in lieu of a week to trade in II.
 

Ireland'sCall

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I thought the European resorts were not part of the DC and thus any trades for them would have to be through II, whether or not you were trading a week or using DC points in lieu of a week to trade in II.
You are correct we are not part of the DC points system. However it should be easy to trade at that time of the year..schools are back in early Sept
G
 

MALC9990

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We own at Desert Springs 2, and have deposited a week with Interval. What is the best way to trade for a week at Club Son Antem (in Majorca, Spain) for October 2012?

When I checked the Interval website, they only show availability at that property for the next five five months, into May. Is that typical for timeshare properties in Europe?

We have a cruise booked that embarks from Barcelona, so we are looking for a pre-cruise stay. What are the chances of getting a specific week at Club Son Antem in October?

Thanks in advance.

Woody

First the good news - Son Antem is one of the best Marriott Vacation Club Resorts - but as an owner I guess I'm biased.

The Bad News - Oct 2012 is Gold Holiday Season. Every week in October is half term at some school somewhere in Europe, if its not Germany then it will be England or Scotland or France or Italy or The Netherlands or another country.

Son Antem is a year round resort - it has two golf courses and is also great for the Sun from May through October. It has a great SPA, it also has the Marriott Hotel.

Club Son Antem has 4 seasons, Plat is basically the 6 weeks of the English Summer school holidays and two weeks at Easter. Gold Holiday covers all the half term periods and Christmas and New year. Gold fits around these and Silver is the Winter from Nov thru to mid March.

To get an II exchange in Oct 2012 you probably should have placed a request back in August or earlier in 2011. You should place a request for the desired week at Son Antem ASAP and use a strategy to get around the II 3 week window or 3 resorts requirement for requests.

You might get lucky but it is a high demand period for families across Europe. Also Son Antem is 100% sold out in Gold Holiday and Plat seasons and so Marriott has nothing to deposit either.

Marriott has rental availability for Son Antem villas on Marriott.com since a small but significant number of owners give up weeks for MR points each year. The MOD rate is 224 Euros per night for a 2 bed villa or about $2,000 US for a week.

Also remember that Majorca is a 4 hour ferry journey by sea from Barcelona or an internal flight.
 

Quilter

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If you don't need school holidays what would the best time of year be to visit this resort?
 
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If you don't need school holidays what would the best time of year be to visit this resort?

That depends on what you want from your holiday. To avoid the school breaks I would look at June, July and mid to late September. Those three months should guarantee you sun although if you're looking to enjoy the med then I'd stick to September as it'll be warm by then. If you want to do a lot of walking and sightseeing then opt for June as the heat won't be so oppressive. With Mallorca you can't really go wrong from May to October it really comes down to how you intend to spend your time.
 

Woody73

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Many thanks to those who responded to my original query. Sadly, exchanging a week through Interval is not nearly as easy as one would hope.

Woody
 

abdibile

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I went to Son Antem through interval exchanges two times during the German autumn holidays in October.

Placed an ongogins search with my 2 BR Willow Ridge about a year in advance and it matched some time in late spring.

I also went in late February/early March which is an really easy trade. It is a nice escape to warmer climate, although not really warm.

You can enjoy the island without too many other tourists there at this time of the year and the almond trees are really beautiful.

If you do not get Son Antem: Club Cala Pi is also a nice resort on Mallorca and should be an easier trade. It is dual affiliated with II and RCI. It is a little older, less luxuriuos but by the sea at a small nice beach.
 

Ireland'sCall

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Marriott through a German travel agency (fully approved , and 99% acceptance ) regularly offer a 6 day deal for the same price as the maintenance fees at this location . Will "dig out " the link and post it later,
G
 

MALC9990

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here is the eBay link . 100 % marriott sale have used it many times . There is an English link but dont have time just now to look it up . This will give you the flavour . (And you can resind which is very unusaul for eBay .)
G
http://www.ebay.de/itm/MALLORCA-Rei...888058?pt=Wellness_Reisen&hash=item27c1aa4cfa

Whilst my schoolboy German is a bit rusty I can still read a bit and that EBAY sale was for a room at the hotel and not for a timeshare villa so we are not talking like for like here. The villas are all 2 bed or 3 bed - much more value than a room in the hotel.

So whilst it may be less than the MFs - the 2 bed villa will accommodate 6 people and the 3 bed villa will take 8 people - the hotel room - 2 people. The villas all have private garden, with your own BBQ and you still have access to all the hotel facilities.

SO no this is not comparable to the TS villas at all.
 

abdibile

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The auction is definitely for a hotel room. I have used that company for hotel vouchers at other Marriotts. it always worked out fine.

If youa re only two people travelling a hotel room could be an option. It is right in the middle of where everything is (restaurants, pool, Golf) while some villas are 10-15 minutes walking distance from the hotel.

The hotel room is about the size of the master bedroom plus bathroom of the villas. No living room, no kitchen.
 

MALC9990

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Son Antem Hotel Rooms

One other point to bear in mind - having stayed several times in the hotel - there is little if any sound proofing between rooms. You can almost hear the neighbours breathing. If your neighbour likes to watch TV then you will hear it clearly also.
 

Jeffrey

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The link is definitely "only" for a two bed hotel room and not for a villa.

BTW- I have also purchased cheap stays with Cultuzz many times without incident. If you are looking for cheap Marriotts throughout Europe, they offer some great deals..... The only negative is that the reservations/stays/nights are not eligible for elite night credits.
 

josh1231

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It was one I was watching for my vacation last September/October, and it showed up quite frequently on trades with my Shadow Ridge. I have found they usually do bulk deposits, and then the inventory slowly goes away, but they did them a couple of times last year for the off season. Of course I say that and this will be the year they don't do it :).

There's quite a bit for November of next year with Shadow Ridge Gold, so I don't think it stops in May.

I agree, it shouldn't be any problem at all. I have seen

We own at Desert Springs 2, and have deposited a week with Interval. What is the best way to trade for a week at Club Son Antem (in Majorca, Spain) for October 2012?

When I checked the Interval website, they only show availability at that property for the next five five months, into May. Is that typical for timeshare properties in Europe?

We have a cruise booked that embarks from Barcelona, so we are looking for a pre-cruise stay. What are the chances of getting a specific week at Club Son Antem in October?

Thanks in advance.

Woody
 

brooklynT

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Use to be much easier

We use to trade very easily with Son Antem but in the last 3 years it has become extremely hard. We have a silver and a gold week in Palm Beach and always send thru any week during the summer. It use to be easy but we have gotten only one week in the past 2 years.
 

bazzap

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We use to trade very easily with Son Antem but in the last 3 years it has become extremely hard. We have a silver and a gold week in Palm Beach and always send thru any week during the summer. It use to be easy but we have gotten only one week in the past 2 years.
Probably one reason why you are not finding it easy to trade now is the DC points program.
The impact on US resort availability of this program, and it not being available to non US owners, means that European owners, possibly others too, are finding it really difficult if not impossible to get II exchanges into US resorts.
As a result, many of us are either occupying our home resorts or using "Request First" rather than "Deposit" with II.
The sooner Marriott address this with an integrated global points program the better.
 

MALC9990

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Probably one reason why you are not finding it easy to trade now is the DC points program.
The impact on US resort availability of this program, and it not being available to non US owners, means that European owners, possibly others too, are finding it really difficult if not impossible to get II exchanges into US resorts.
As a result, many of us are either occupying our home resorts or using "Request First" rather than "Deposit" with II.
The sooner Marriott address this with an integrated global points program the better.

Absolutely agree, Next year the two Gold weeks that I would have reserved and deposited will now either be traded for Marriott Reward points to build up a balance for a package or will be occupied. I might consider a Request First but would then expect to occupy and use my weeks if it gets bto the point thyat I need to book flights.

This year I am using all 4 weeks and even trading back in using another of my resorts to make 5 weeks in total.

With the DC program not available to European and Phuket Beach Club weeks owners and a separate Asia Pacific points program, Marriott is now totally fragmented as a TS program and this is impacting owner experience and definitely having a negative impact on exchanges for European owners.
 
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