Which Marriott to choose

[Vacationsarefun]

I am still thinking about getting a timeshare (our first) and am leaning towards a Marriott.

I would appreciate some feedback about which resort would work best for us. Here are some of our considerations:

As we live overseas the "buy where you can drive to" rule won't work in our case. However, the resort should be close to a major airport (i.e. one with a large number of international flights). It should also be in an area with many different attractions as we would usually come for at least three weeks (not all at one timeshare but other vacation destinations/attractions should be within a couple of hours drive).

I would like to have a lock-off unit in order to get two weeks of vacation out of one maintenance fee.

We would probably want to stay at our home resort about every second year and use it to trade the other times so should be a fair trader.

We are stuck with the school schedule so would have to travel in August/early September and maybe Easter. A one bedroom unit would be fine for us to use.

Don't really want a Marriott resort in Orlando as we liked Sheraton Vistana Villages and would possibly like to trade into DVC (not with the Marriott of course).

At the moment I am leaning towards Shadow Ridge but maybe there is another resort that would be even better?

 

[jont]

East Coast- Manor Club lockoff
Florida-Ocean Pointe or Beachplace
West Coast- Canyon Villas or Grand Chateau

 

[jdunn1]

I think you should go with WorldMark. No Marriott preference but it's a points bases system and the dues are very reasonable. Best of all, you can use WM points internally (mostly California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, Nevada, Utah, Arizona resorts) or WM has top trading power in Interval and RCI, so you could get all the major timeshare brands with only one timeshare ownership. WorldMark trades best in RCI since there are no resort preference periods like there are in II, but Worldmark is a very inexpensive trader and trades just as well as the Hyatts and Marriotts in Interval, just without any kind of internal resort brand preference.

Do yourself a favor and look into WorldMark. WorldMark is not on many people's radar screens, but boy is it a valuable timeshare to own, especially if you can only own one.

 

[VacationForever]

East Coast- Manor Club lockoff
Florida-Ocean Pointe or Beachplace
West Coast- Canyon Villas or Grand Chateau

I live in CA and I have been considering a Marriott as well. I have narrowed down to Canyon Villas vs. Desert Springs II. Pros vs. cons?

Thanks. SP

 

[K2Quick]

I think you should go with WorldMark.

I'd have to know where the OP wants to vacation most of the time before recommending Worldmark. Worldmark is great if you spend most of your time on the west coast. However, if you spend most of your time vacationing back east, I'd probably opt for something else. If used primarily for trading, there are traders that are equal or better to Worldmark from a cost of entry perspective and from a system preference perspective.

 

[jdunn1]

I don't disagree. Sounds like the OP wants a trader, mostly -- and it sounds like DVC is what interests the OP at least half the time. WM is just the safest timeshare to own in terms of being able to sell quickly if you need to and the dues are caped at a certain increase each year. The original poster is also looking for flexibility (i.e. traveling 3 weeks at a time). If you own WM and want to travel more one year, you can rent the extra points to make a 3 week vacation possible and for about the same cost in dues as if you owned the points.

If Marriott preference is important to the original poster and getting multiple trades within the Marriott family of resorts then I think a 3 bedroom a the Marriott in Las Vegas would be a good way to go but the dues are close to 1,700 a year for that.

I'd have to know where the OP wants to vacation most of the time before recommending Worldmark. Worldmark is great if you spend most of your time on the west coast. However, if you spend most of your time vacationing back east, I'd probably opt for something else. If used primarily for trading, there are traders that are equal or better to Worldmark from a cost of entry perspective and from a system preference perspective.

 

[ilene13]

I am still thinking about getting a timeshare (our first) and am leaning towards a Marriott.

I would appreciate some feedback about which resort would work best for us. Here are some of our considerations:

As we live overseas the "buy where you can drive to" rule won't work in our case. However, the resort should be close to a major airport (i.e. one with a large number of international flights). It should also be in an area with many different attractions as we would usually come for at least three weeks (not all at one timeshare but other vacation destinations/attractions should be within a couple of hours drive).

I would like to have a lock-off unit in order to get two weeks of vacation out of one maintenance fee.




We would probably want to stay at our home resort about every second year and use it to trade the other times so should be a fair trader.

We are stuck with the school schedule so would have to travel in August/early September and maybe Easter. A one bedroom unit would be fine for us to use.

Don't really want a Marriott resort in Orlando as we liked Sheraton Vistana Villages and would possibly like to trade into DVC (not with the Marriott of course).

At the moment I am leaning towards Shadow Ridge but maybe there is another resort that would be even better?

We own 4 Marriott weeks and 3 Royal Resort weeks. I would buy a RR week in Cancun or Playa del Carmen. They are lock off units and they trade as well as my Marriott Platinum weeks.

 

[brigechols]

If used primarily for trading, there are traders that are equal or better to Worldmark from a cost of entry perspective and from a system preference perspective.

Can you give an example? Thanks!

 

[K2Quick]

Can you give an example? Thanks!

Sheraton Desert Oasis for one. Pretty much no cost of entry. Lock off and deposit both one-bed units from a two-bed unit in II and get two deposits that see pretty much everything in II instant exchange inventory for maintenance fees of about $500 per exchange. Plus you get an incredibly valuable three to four week preference period on Starwood deposits. Worldmark has preference on nothing in II.

I'm coming at this as someone who currently owns nothing but Worldmark, but I don't think WM should be recommended to someone unless that someone plans to use it quite a bit.

 

[Vacationsarefun]

Thanks for all the input. Let me give some more background.

Ideally I would like a timeshare that I could use about half the time and trade the other half. Right now I am thinking of a lock off unit which should give me two weeks per year (right?) if I split it. Adding on another week with an II getaway or similar would get me three weeks.

I don't really want a huge up-front cost (unless it really gets me some MAJOR advantages). Yearly mf shouldn't be much more than 1,000.

I would prefer buying a timeshare that I would like to visit at least occasionally - just in case the future holds major problems with exchanges.

In recent years we have visited mostly Florida and California. I don't really see us spending too much time in Arizona or Las Vegas in the next five to ten years.

I would say we would probably visit the US about 2 in 3 years (the third year either banking the timeshare use for the next year or using it in Europe). We would probably alternate between visiting California and Florida/East Coast.

In California I am mostly interested in Southern California. In Florida maybe a split between Orlando and a week at the beach. I don't want to mess up our chances for DVC but it isn't a major goal either.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[K2Quick]

Given what you've laid out, Worldmark would actually be decent option for you. You have your choice of multiple resorts in Southern California. Orlando is an easy trade (and can be done very cheaply with WM points). WM is also affiliated with both II and RCI so that leaves the door open to trade into DVC if you want.

The biggest caveat, in my opinion, is that Worldmark is a noticeable step down in luxury from Marriott (while still being clean and comfortable).

 

[brigechols]

If you will consider a Starwood unit, check the TUG Bargain deals for free units. For Marriott, I agree in part with a previous poster.

East Coast- Manor Club
Florida-Ocean Pointe
West Coast- DSV

Curious, how do you plan to trade into DVC?

 

[dougp26364]

For exchanging only, I really like our Grand Chateau 3 bedroom unit. The main reason we purchased this unit was the lockout was a full 1 bedroom. With a full 1 bedroom we can utilize deposit first exchange requests and be able to always request a 1 bedroom unit. If the lockout were a studio unit, we'd either have to accept a match of another studio unit or utilize online exchanges only in an attempt to trade up in size. Neither the wife or I really enjoy studio units. We tend to get up or go to bed at different times. The 1 bedroom size allows us to stay up or get up earlier than the other without disturbing each others sleep.

Exchanges we've made since owning our 3 bedroom Grand Chateau unit:

1 bedroom MGC unit exchanges

May 1 bedroom Custom House (have made this exchange twice)

May 2 bedroom Barony Beach Club

June 2 bedroom Mountainside

May 2 bedroom Harbor Club @ Harbor Town

March 1 bedroom Grand Chateau (before we purchased second EOY unit we exchanged back into our home resort in non-use year)

2 bedroom MGC exchanges

March 2 bedroom Newport Coast

March 2 bedroom Desert Springs Villa's II

March 2 bedroom Waiohai

April 2 bedroom Willow Ridge Lodge


Many of the 2 bedroom exchanges were request first exchanges. We love our unit at MGC and don't mind going there yearly but, we also love trying now locations and have no issues making an exchange if I.I. can confirm it.

The big issues I see with this unit for you would be;

#1, The MF's last year for the 3 bedroom unit was $1,600, which is higher than you're stated desire for a MF.

#2, You don't seem inclined to want to travel to Vegas if all else fails.

The advantages:

#1 It has a history of exchanging very well

#2 Vegas has a very large number of internationjal flights

#3 Vegas has a reasonable location for other points west if you're so inclined to fly into one airport and not mind driving to other locations.

 

[EKniager]

I am a fan of the Manor Club too. You can hit the Virginia wine trail from there, the coast, the Outer Banks, DC, etc. And of course there are great historic sites and golf courses real close. It is inexpensive by resale and has modest annual MF's. Then again, you might be able to rent there for equal to or close to MF's a good portion of the year.

 

[jont]

I am a fan of the Manor Club too. You can hit the Virginia wine trail from there, the coast, the Outer Banks, DC, etc. And of course there are great historic sites and golf courses real close. It is inexpensive by resale and has modest annual MF's. Then again, you might be able to rent there for equal to or close to MF's a good portion of the year.

You can also drive up to Baltimore, Philly, NY, and even Boston.
I've had MC on my radar screen for some time now. It's a strong contender should I consider another Marriott purchase.

 

[Vacationsarefun]

If you will consider a Starwood unit, check the TUG Bargain deals for free units. For Marriott, I agree in part with a previous poster.

East Coast- Manor Club
Florida-Ocean Pointe
West Coast- DSV

Curious, how do you plan to trade into DVC?

As I said I am thinking of getting a first timeshare. However, depending on how we like it/how things go I might get a second one a bit later. That would be the one for exchanging into DVC. For now we would either just rent DVC or stay at a Disney hotel as we have in the past.

 

[Vacationsarefun]

Manor Club does sound like it might be a good alternative. I do plan to visit New York/Washington/Myrtle Beach etc. in the next couple of years so it might work out quite well.

I will also look at the Grand Chateau. The main problem is really that it has higher mfs than I am looking for and that I don't think Las Vegas is a place we will visit as long as the kids are still young. If I bought there it would primarily be for trading - not sure if that is what I want at this point.

How about Shadow Ridge or Desert Springs? These are two resorts that I could see us visiting more often.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Hot in the summer

How about Shadow Ridge or Desert Springs? These are two resorts that I could see us visiting more often.

I own a 2 BR lockoff at Desert Springs II. You mentioned in your initial post that you would be visiting every few years in Aug or Sept. If you check the weather, it can be REALLY hot at that time. Like 105 F plus or abt, 41 C plus. Some people like the heat and some people don't. Our favorite time in Palm Desert is probably anytime in November. Jan through April is also nice. On each end - - May and June or Oct, the temperature is variable. It might be nice or it might be hot.

The ownership is broken into 3 seasons:
Platinum (or red): weeks 1-21 and 51/52
Gold (or white): Wks 22-26 and 36 to 50
Bronze (or blue): Wks 27-25

We own a DS2 white/gold week. That means that we can book only a white week directly with Marriott and use II if you want to exchange for another resort, timeperiod, etc.. It seems to trade pretty well and has a Marriott 22 day preference when trading for other Marriotts. Of course the platinum week will trade better. Also, if you ever want to sell, you have a chance with the platinum but you'll basically need to give away the gold/bronze.

The Gold and Bronze are dirt cheap. Check eBay for closed listings to get prices. IIRC the Platinum weeks are selling for around $2500 to 3500.

Size wise: DS1 is bigger than DS2, which is bigger than Shadow ridge.
View issues: DS1 efficiencies often have a patio view of the parking lot (only some end unit first floor efficiencies have a patio facing the golf course. DS2 units all (generally) face the golf course or the ponds. IIRC Shadow ridge units typically have a nice golf course view.

We are finding the DS2 to be a good value. We have been able to trade the efficiency for a 1 br and have traded the 1 br for a 2 br (both within Marriott). Also, we've traded a hot June week for a cool June week up at Lake Tahoe. We get 2 weeks for one $1K maintenance fee plus $80 split fee to Marriott and 2 x $129 Interval Intl fee (only applies if/when we exchange).

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Canyon villas vs. DS2

I live in CA and I have been considering a Marriott as well. I have narrowed down to Canyon Villas vs. Desert Springs II. Pros vs. cons?

Thanks. SP

I own at DS2 but have also stayed at CV. They are both excellent timeshares.

Typical advice that people give to people getting in to timesharing is to buy in a location that is convenienct to get to. From N. Ca. to Palm Springs it is probably a long 1 day drive. I think that to go from N Ca. to Phoenix is maybe 3 or 4 hours longer. Maybe that makes it into a 2 day drive for some people.

When we were at CV last year, I REALLY enjoyed using the "lazy river" over at the nearby JW Marriott. It is a very nice water park.

I'm probably going to have people correct me, but I think that the DS2 and CV experiences were similarly enjoyable. I have a hard time saying one place is better than another.

It seems like the CV's keep their value better than DS. Their cost is more than DS. IIRC, their MF is comparible.

If you look at the Marriott points chart, you'll see that CV points (for a wk in a 2 br) range from 1725-4175 and DS2 is 1775-3375.

The CV are 3 story and have elevators and the DS2 are 2 story and no elevators.

I prefer the closeness of good restaurants and shopping in Palm Desert over Phoenix, but both are nice.

It probably boils down to which location you are going to find more convenient to get to and how much $ you want to initially pay.

 

[Deb from NC]

I'm not a Marriott owner, but have traded into many Marriotts. We LOVED Shadow Ridge (we went in February this year) I'm thinking about getting a week there as well! I wouldn't buy anything in Orlando..it's too easy to get a trade or cheap getaway. Manor Club is almost as nice as Shadow Ridge in my opinion, but I liked the pools at Shadow Ridge much more,if pools are important to you.
Good Luck....I've yet to stay at a Marriott that I didnt like!
Deb

 

[mstoyanov]

As an owner of both Sheraton Desert Oasis and Worldmark I disagree that SDO is better overall trader.
SDO is better only when you need Starwood priority and do not need to run search for 2BR. WM 3BR search beats SDO hands down in ongoing search - in all instances where there wasn't enough inventory to match both searches WM search got the unit while SDO did not.
Also SDO is not a good trader in RCI.
And finally SDO will have refurbishment next year so who knows what will happen with MFs which are already pushing $1000 for 2BR LO.
It is true that SDO cost less than small WM account initially but with renting credits from other even small WM account allows as many trades as you want.
The only real strength of SDO is Starwood priority in II but that works mostly if you are after Starwood resorts and are not tied to school vacation since Starwood almost never deposits school break weeks in top resorts.
And as for the person that recommended Royal Resorts as a trader must be joking. With AI implementation RR deposits trade power will drop like a rock (if not already). Even before AI program WM was out-trading Royal deposit even for the same resort as RR deposit (when you trade back to your home resort in II you are supposed to have trade power boost).

Sheraton Desert Oasis for one. Pretty much no cost of entry. Lock off and deposit both one-bed units from a two-bed unit in II and get two deposits that see pretty much everything in II instant exchange inventory for maintenance fees of about $500 per exchange. Plus you get an incredibly valuable three to four week preference period on Starwood deposits. Worldmark has preference on nothing in II.

I'm coming at this as someone who currently owns nothing but Worldmark, but I don't think WM should be recommended to someone unless that someone plans to use it quite a bit.

 

[jdunn1]

These are great points. Thanks for making them. Anyone who doesn't think WM is a powerful trader in II either doesn't know or is bias toward a particular brand.

I mostly recommended WM because you can buy a small contract and have dues of $500 or less a year and simply rent point from other owners whenever you want for the same cost as owning them. I have a 5k point contract but rent points all the time whenever I need them.

Definately, the WM resorts are not glamerous like some of the Marriotts and Hyatts and Hiltons, but some are. WM has some very nice California options, especially in wine country and San Fran and San Diego.

Having owned DVC, Marriott and WM, those are the only systems I know. In II, having Marriott preference is a huge benefit, but only if you need to travel during peak season or at a handful of resorts that are tough to trade into all the time.

The major disadvantage to any of the hotel brand systems (Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood) is that you have ZERO options if you need an extra week, let alone two without saving your week one year or two year. Sure you could rent, but that is expensive and saving your week for a year or two can be hard -- at least it is for me. Saving your week isn't really a bad way to go but what if you need a 3 bedroom one year or two units one year, there are just lots of ways where you could use/need an extra unit or week and have no way of getting one. This is not true with WM. If you need 10 units, you can rent points for that many weeks -- and you will be able to rent for the same price, maybe even less than if you owned those points and had to pay the dues. This is the most beneficial aspect of WM in my oppinion.

As a plus with WM, it is just so easy to get DVC -- and your costs are set, unlike others who have to worry about trade value and stuff.

...if the OP really wants a Marriott in California then a Desert Springs Villa I is a great way to go. The DSV I units trade in both RCI and II. I'm not sure how well they trade in RCI, but at least you have that option.

My most prized timeshare ownership is definately one of my Marriott weeks but it was expensive. My most flexible timeshare ownership that just continues to amaze is my WM ownership.

As an owner of both Sheraton Desert Oasis and Worldmark I disagree that SDO is better overall trader.
SDO is better only when you need Starwood priority and do not need to run search for 2BR. WM 3BR search beats SDO hands down in ongoing search - in all instances where there wasn't enough inventory to match both searches WM search got the unit while SDO did not.
Also SDO is not a good trader in RCI.
And finally SDO will have refurbishment next year so who knows what will happen with MFs which are already pushing $1000 for 2BR LO.
It is true that SDO cost less than small WM account initially but with renting credits from other even small WM account allows as many trades as you want.
The only real strength of SDO is Starwood priority in II but that works mostly if you are after Starwood resorts and are not tied to school vacation since Starwood almost never deposits school break weeks in top resorts.
And as for the person that recommended Royal Resorts as a trader must be joking. With AI implementation RR deposits trade power will drop like a rock (if not already). Even before AI program WM was out-trading Royal deposit even for the same resort as RR deposit (when you trade back to your home resort in II you are supposed to have trade power boost).

 

[Beefnot]

Slight correction

The ownership is broken into 3 seasons:
Platinum (or red): weeks 1-21 and 51/5250-52
Gold (or white): Wks 22-2627 and 36 to 5049
Bronze (or blue): Wks 27-2528-35

 

[BocaBoy]

We do not particularly like going to Las Vegas, but our most valuable timeshare (comparing its benefits to the cost) is without question our 3BR Grand Chateau. I would recommend it to anyone except someone who wanted to go to the same non-Las Vegas resort in prime season every year, in which case I would usually recommend buying at the resort I wanted to go to.

 

[VacationForever]

As an owner of both Sheraton Desert Oasis and Worldmark I disagree that SDO is better overall trader.
SDO is better only when you need Starwood priority and do not need to run search for 2BR. WM 3BR search beats SDO hands down in ongoing search - in all instances where there wasn't enough inventory to match both searches WM search got the unit while SDO did not.

Are you saying that you use a 2BR SDO and a 3BR Worldmark to search for the same 2BR property in an ongoing search? It sounds like apple and orange. Also, is your SDO a platinum week?

I know this thread is about Marriott but I am curious about the comparison that you have highlighted here.