Best way to split stay Ko Olina (Aulani)

[cbyrne1174]

I own Marriott and DVC and was thinking of securing a week in a studio at Marriott's Ko Olina (right next to Aulani) in Interval International, then adding a few nights at Aulani exactly before or after the trade since it's literally right next door. I just picked up 50 SSR points so I have no clue what early June availability at Aulani looks like for studios. I know for certain the Marriott trade is the most difficult to get, I just don't know what are my chances are for getting a studio 4 nights at Aulani 7 months out to exactly match the dates of the Marriott week. The link to old 7 month availability thread is dead.

I also only want to visit only if I can get the Marriott week because it's only $900 (maintenance + exchange fees) for the entire week for beachfront. Aulani is just the added bonus. I live right next to WDW so I don't get as giddy as everyone else about being there. My first instinct with my newly aquired DVC membership is to go see Aulani lol.

I will have 82 points available without borrowing in June 2023 and am open to renting 24 points from Disney so I can afford 4 nights in any studio view category.

Thoughts and Advice?

 

[nlenguyen]

right now. Most studios are unavailable most of June and the latter end of May.

 

[cbyrne1174]

right now. Most studios are unavailable most of June and the latter end of May.

Yea but what about at exactly 7 months at 8 am?

 

[nlenguyen]

Yea but what about at exactly 7 months at 8 am?

Okay. When we booked, it was December 13 for looking at June 1 and I was able to just get one night standard and one night poolside but there were a lot of ocean studios. Eventually there were two nights of standard consecutive that came up which was nice. The higher categories had more nights together around that time

 

[cbyrne1174]

Okay. When we booked, it was December 13 for looking at June 1 and I was able to just get one night standard and one night poolside but there were a lot of ocean studios. Eventually there were two nights of standard consecutive that came up which was nice. The higher categories had more nights together around that time

so 4 consecutive nights ocean view is doable?

 

[nlenguyen]

From what I saw. Since we were not at the exact 7 months I am not sure. But you also have to account that by next year, there may be fewer people with banked points from the pandemic so availability maybe different

 

[cbyrne1174]

From what I saw. Since we were not at the exact 7 months I am not sure. But you also have to account that by next year, there may be fewer people with banked points from the pandemic so availability maybe different

Okay thanks. My alternative was to exchange into a week at SSR, so I think I'll just buy eplus if I get the Ko Olina week and re-exchange it for SSR if Aulani isn't available and wait to book a flight until after I secure Aulani. If it seemed too hard to do, I was just going to trade into SSR anyways.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Early June is extremely popular at Aulani, before the points per night jump.

 

[Ashlotte]

I own Marriott and DVC and was thinking of securing a week in a studio at Marriott's Ko Olina (right next to Aulani) in Interval International, then adding a few nights at Aulani exactly before or after the trade since it's literally right next door. I just picked up 50 SSR points so I have no clue what early June availability at Aulani looks like for studios. I know for certain the Marriott trade is the most difficult to get, I just don't know what are my chances are for getting a studio 4 nights at Aulani 7 months out to exactly match the dates of the Marriott week. The link to old 7 month availability thread is dead.

I also only want to visit only if I can get the Marriott week because it's only $900 (maintenance + exchange fees) for the entire week for beachfront. Aulani is just the added bonus. I live right next to WDW so I don't get as giddy as everyone else about being there. My first instinct with my newly aquired DVC membership is to go see Aulani lol.

I will have 82 points available without borrowing in June 2023 and am open to renting 24 points from Disney so I can afford 4 nights in any studio view category.

Thoughts and Advice?

This doesn't answer your question at all, but I have a question for you, if you don't mind. We are currently debating on buying resale either Aulani (150-200 points) or Marriott and a smaller point contract of Aulani, with the plan of staying at the Ko Olina Marriott and then a few days at Aulani. When you say the Marriott trade is difficult to get, is that because of the location of the resort, or the time you are traveling, or the room type you are wanting? Trying to figure out if we should buy into Marriott and Aulani, or just Aulani.

 

[cbyrne1174]

This doesn't answer your question at all, but I have a question for you, if you don't mind. We are currently debating on buying resale either Aulani (150-200 points) or Marriott and a smaller point contract of Aulani, with the plan of staying at the Ko Olina Marriott and then a few days at Aulani. When you say the Marriott trade is difficult to get, is that because of the location of the resort, or the time you are traveling, or the room type you are wanting? Trying to figure out if we should buy into Marriott and Aulani, or just Aulani.

There is no easy answer to your question, but I will try to explain my thought process as best I can:

There are 2 types of resale Marriott ownerships: DC trust points and legacy resale weeks. It depends on what you want to own. If you pay the higher cost of DC trust points, you can easily BOOK whatever room you want because you have booking priority at every resort as soon as the inventory opens. The downside is that you are paying more for the same thing vs trading in interval international with the legacy week. It just depends on how well you understand how to maximize the legacy week.

My strategy for aquiring ownerships has always been to buy the cheapest type of ownership first and see if it works for me. Whatever void isn't filled with that one, I buy the next cost effective one to fill it. Here is the order of systems from greatest value to least value: 1. Wyndham 2. Hilton/Marriott 3. Disney.

I first bought Club Wyndham resale (even though I knew the ins and outs Marriott system and DVC system). Why? It has the lowest buy in cost and maintenance fees of all the systems I find to be acceptable (Wyndham, Hilton, Marriott and Disney). Then when I felt like I needed more variety than what Wyndham has to offer in the locations I want to travel, I added Marriott because I really like their FL and HI locations. I already can book short stays with my Wyndham points and I understand how to maximize my trades in Interval International, so I don't need DC trust points.

The studio portion of my 2 bedroom lock off at Marriott Grande Vista can pull a 2 bedroom at all of the Marriott locations in Orlando during most times of the year, so I just use that to trade into Lakeshore Reserve or the Mariott World Center. The 1 bedroom portion of my Grande Vista lock off will trade into a studio or 1 bedroom in Maui or Ko Olina, depending on the time of year. Each unit has its own "trading power" in Interval. Since I want to travel to Hawaii during summer vacation, my unit will most likely only pull a studio at that time (which I'm perfectly okay with).

I would honestly see if Marriott works for what you want first because it has a much lower price tag than DVC does (dues and buy in costs). The studio portion of my Marriott deed pulls 1 BR Saratoga Springs during slow seasons, and the 1 bedroom portion of my deed pulls 100% of the DVC deposits (SSR OWK and AKV), so I can get 2 DVC weeks per year with the deed that costed me $1800 to aquire and has an annual maintenance of $1486.

Marriott is a much better deal than DVC, that's why I would chose Marriott over DVC. You get more for what you pay. Just keep in mind that if you get a Marriott week, you also do have to pay $90 everytime you want to split your lockoff, $99 when you want to upgrade to a bigger unit and $164 when you want to exchange your week for somewhere else. It still works out to be a lot cheaper than owning DC Trust points or DVC points.

I did the math of the retail cost of the trip I want to take and it came out to be about $8,500 paying the hotels directly. Taking that same trip using a Marriott week + DVC points costs me about $2,100 doing it my way (assuming I can get an Ocean View studio at Aulani at 7 months out).

 

[Ashlotte]

There is no easy answer to your question, but I will try to explain my thought process as best I can:

There are 2 types of resale Marriott ownerships: DC trust points and legacy resale weeks. It depends on what you want to own. If you pay the higher cost of DC trust points, you can easily BOOK whatever room you want because you have booking priority at every resort as soon as the inventory opens. The downside is that you are paying more for the same thing vs trading in interval international with the legacy week. It just depends on how well you understand how to maximize the legacy week.

My strategy for aquiring ownerships has always been to buy the cheapest type of ownership first and see if it works for me. Whatever void isn't filled with that one, I buy the next cost effective one to fill it. Here is the order of systems from greatest value to least value: 1. Wyndham 2. Hilton/Marriott 3. Disney.

I first bought Club Wyndham resale (even though I knew the ins and outs Marriott system and DVC system). Why? It has the lowest buy in cost and maintenance fees of all the systems I find to be acceptable (Wyndham, Hilton, Marriott and Disney). Then when I felt like I needed more variety than what Wyndham has to offer in the locations I want to travel, I added Marriott because I really like their FL and HI locations. I already can book short stays with my Wyndham points and I understand how to maximize my trades in Interval International, so I don't need DC trust points.

The studio portion of my 2 bedroom lock off at Marriott Grande Vista can pull a 2 bedroom at all of the Marriott locations in Orlando during most times of the year, so I just use that to trade into Lakeshore Reserve or the Mariott World Center. The 1 bedroom portion of my Grande Vista lock off will trade into a studio or 1 bedroom in Maui or Ko Olina, depending on the time of year. Each unit has its own "trading power" in Interval. Since I want to travel to Hawaii during summer vacation, my unit will most likely only pull a studio at that time (which I'm perfectly okay with).

I would honestly see if Marriott works for what you want first because it has a much lower price tag than DVC does (dues and buy in costs). The studio portion of my Marriott deed pulls 1 BR Saratoga Springs during slow seasons, and the 1 bedroom portion of my deed pulls 100% of the DVC deposits (SSR OWK and AKV), so I can get 2 DVC weeks per year with the deed that costed me $1800 to aquire and has an annual maintenance of $1486.

Marriott is a much better deal than DVC, that's why I would chose Marriott over DVC. You get more for what you pay. Just keep in mind that if you get a Marriott week, you also do have to pay $90 everytime you want to split your lockoff, $99 when you want to upgrade to a bigger unit and $164 when you want to exchange your week for somewhere else. It still works out to be a lot cheaper than owning DC Trust points or DVC points.

I did the math of the retail cost of the trip I want to take and it came out to be about $8,500 paying the hotels directly. Taking that same trip using a Marriott week + DVC points costs me about $2,100 doing it my way (assuming I can get an Ocean View studio at Aulani at 7 months out).

Very thorough reply. Thank you! I had kind of set aside the idea of Marriott because my heart really wants Aulani, but do I really need to stay on property the whole week, or would I be content with a week at the Marriott Ko Olina and just a few days at Aulani? More to think about. Thank you! We already have WorldMark (under the Wyndam umbrella) and have been really happy with its value, so I totally understand your line of thinking.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Very thorough reply. Thank you! I had kind of set aside the idea of Marriott because my heart really wants Aulani, but do I really need to stay on property the whole week, or would I be content with a week at the Marriott Ko Olina and just a few days at Aulani? More to think about. Thank you! We already have WorldMark (under the Wyndam umbrella) and have been really happy with its value, so I totally understand your line of thinking.

If your heart is in Hawaii, Marriott is DEFINITELY the way to go. The Worldmark resorts aren't even in the same league as the Marriotts. With a Marriott ownership, you have 3 awesome resorts to chose from (Kaua'i, Maui and Ko Olina) instead of just 1 (Aulani). They also have really nice ones in the Carribean as well. The Aruba one has a lazy river ^____^

 

[Ashlotte]

If your heart is in Hawaii, Marriott is DEFINITELY the way to go. The Worldmark resorts aren't even in the same league as the Marriotts. With a Marriott ownership, you have 3 awesome resorts to chose from (Kaua'i, Maui and Ko Olina) instead of just 1 (Aulani). They also have really nice ones in the Carribean as well. The Aruba one has a lazy river ^____^

Yes, we got lucky with trading our WorldMark in a few times and got Aulani in 2015 (they gave us a two-bedroom ocean front for our piddly WM points) and in 2016 at the Marriott Waiohai in Kauai (also a two-bedroom, but smart enough to give us a view of a parking lot). Both were a million times nicer than the only WM in Hawaii I have been to, the Kihei resort on Maui.

I was just watching Youtube video tours of the Marriott on Ko Olina vs the Maui Ocean Club, and I have to say, the Maui property looks pretty amazing, and I greatly prefer Maui to Oahu anyway. Marriott sounds a little harder to swap between properties than DVC or WorldMark, though, which I don't love. We like variety. Looks like I need to do more overthinking of it all.

 

[Ashlotte]

If your heart is in Hawaii, Marriott is DEFINITELY the way to go. The Worldmark resorts aren't even in the same league as the Marriotts. With a Marriott ownership, you have 3 awesome resorts to chose from (Kaua'i, Maui and Ko Olina) instead of just 1 (Aulani). They also have really nice ones in the Carribean as well. The Aruba one has a lazy river ^____^

Hold up. Did you say "lazy river"? SOLD!

 

[cbyrne1174]

Yes, we got lucky with trading our WorldMark in a few times and got Aulani in 2015 (they gave us a two-bedroom ocean front for our piddly WM points) and in 2016 at the Marriott Waiohai in Kauai (also a two-bedroom, but smart enough to give us a view of a parking lot). Both were a million times nicer than the only WM in Hawaii I have been to, the Kihei resort on Maui.

I was just watching Youtube video tours of the Marriott on Ko Olina vs the Maui Ocean Club, and I have to say, the Maui property looks pretty amazing, and I greatly prefer Maui to Oahu anyway. Marriott sounds a little harder to swap between properties than DVC or WorldMark, though, which I don't love. We like variety. Looks like I need to do more overthinking of it all.

Well you already have an II account with Worldmark that you can share with Marriott. Maybe try to get an every other year lock off deed first to see if you like it? If you don’t like it, you can always just sell it just as easily as you bought it. That’s a lot cheaper than Aulani points. Grand Chateau has the lowest maintenance fees of all the 2 bedroom lock offs in the Marriott system.