HH Marriott/buy resale or through Marriott??

[Popovich]

We are looking at buying a timeshare on HHI. We have DVC and love it, but want a location in HH that is on the beach.

We will go to HH each year primarily over spring break (weeks 16-21) but if it's an early Easter year, we'd probably want to go week 23. W ate may occasionally trade out.

Our choices are:
1) Buy from Marriott at Surf Watch. Just did the tour. Gold season oceanfront for $29,400 and get the 300,000 Marriott reward points. Get weeks 13-21. There is one oceanfront building at Surfwatch. We could also buy an oceanside week for $25,400. I'm not sure if the location of the Surf Watch is as nice as Grand Ocean which is closer to Sea Pines? Does that matter if we're ok with it?? The Surf Watch is supposed to be the first Marriott "lifestyle" resort with 5 star ammenities on HH (all pools heated etc). Not sure if that's important or not.

2) Buy a resale through Marriott at Grand Ocean a 14 yr old resort in very good condition that is closer to Sea Pines. Only one heated pool. Cost for resale through Marriott is about $23,000 or $22,500. The Gold season at Grand Ocean includes weeks 22 & 23. Also the units at Grand Ocean are bigger than at Surf Watch by about 100 sq feet.

3) Buy a resale outside of Marriott - Saw one listing showing a range of $16,000 - 21,500 for Gold season. Our concern about this is how Marriott seems to treat their external owners. Our Marriott guide said that if an internal owner and an external owner had the same requests, the internal owner got preference??? Not sure if that's a big deal since we'd be primarily going to our home resort in Gold Season??

If we buy outside of Marriott, where should we look? We bought our two DVC contracts resale through Jaki.

Should we feel presured to make a decision while we can get the $300,000 bonus Marriott points??? We know we want a place on HH.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[dis-happy]

I'm no timeshare expert, but I do know HH--we live there on and off throughout the year (for 17 years now). The true high season for HH is the summer, especially the month of July. Have you been that time of year yet? The ocean is 85, people flock to the island. In my mind it would be the most valuable season to use and trade out; the island is never booked solidly during spring break, so I venture to say you could always find a place to book or rent for then. If I were in your shoes I would either: save my money and rent the week I wanted each year, or (if really set on buying) I would buy at the newer place but at a prime summer week. JMHO

Add'l observations: it's almost always too cold to swim in the spring unless the pool is heated, so if swimming is important to your family go with the place with all heated pools.

Close to Sea Pines during Heritage Golf week (usually the second week in April, sometimes the first one) means a LOT of traffic in that area. Plus, it's next to impossible to get in and out of SP if you want to visit. Something to keep in mind.

I'm not sure of all the details but a few years ago a friend who owned a Marriott TS there was really mad--their TS trade status was downgraded by Marriott. Maybe Dean knows the details.

Good luck making a final decision! Like you, my family loves HH.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Our Marriott guide said that if an internal owner and an external owner had the same requests, the internal owner got preference??? Not sure if that's a big deal since we'd be primarily going to our home resort in Gold Season??

Ask Marriott for a new salesperson. Your salesperson is either uninformed or dishonest.

With just one exception, Marriott timeshare owners have exactly the same status, regardless of whether they bought from Marriott or through a third party resale. The exception is that people who buy from Marriott can turn in their week for Marriott Rewards (hotel frequent guest program) points, either every other year or every year, depending on the resort and their contract. There's a fee involved, and the points tend to be worth less than the week that's turned in.

Except for that one exception, resale customers are treated exactly the same. Specifically, Interval International doesn't care how you purchased your week.

Considering that there are many Marriott timeshares on Hilton Head, and they've been around for many years (except for the relatively new Marriott Surf Watch), there should be resales in many different price ranges, depending on the resort and the season. At least that was the case a few years ago when I looked into Marriott resales on Hilton Head. You won't find quite the bargains that you'll find in other areas because there is a decent demand for resales on Hilton Head. However, you should be able to do much better than buying from directly form Marriott.

If you love Surf Watch, and you can see yourself going there year after year, then it might make sense to buy Surf Watch from Marriott.

 

[Cruelladeville]

I own Marriott in Orlando, which I purchased thru resale for under $6000. Marriott charges $13,000 and up for the same thing. I mention this just to let you know that you will get better deals outside of Marriott. Since Marriott loses its value in most locations, you should not buy retail unless you know FOR SURE that that location has increased in value. Dean owns in HH, so he would know the market. I do know that spring break isn't difficult to trade into, and it's usually COLD. At least it was a couple of years ago, so we went back to Orlando. Marriott timeshares are all really lovely resorts, though, so you don't have to worry about being well kept up. Unlike DVC, though, Marriott charges for everything, including changing your reservations.

 

[Dean]

I'm no timeshare expert, but I do know HH--we live there on and off throughout the year (for 17 years now). The true high season for HH is the summer, especially the month of July. Have you been that time of year yet? The ocean is 85, people flock to the island. In my mind it would be the most valuable season to use and trade out; the island is never booked solidly during spring break, so I venture to say you could always find a place to book or rent for then. If I were in your shoes I would either: save my money and rent the week I wanted each year, or (if really set on buying) I would buy at the newer place but at a prime summer week. JMHO

Add'l observations: it's almost always too cold to swim in the spring unless the pool is heated, so if swimming is important to your family go with the place with all heated pools.

Close to Sea Pines during Heritage Golf week (usually the second week in April, sometimes the first one) means a LOT of traffic in that area. Plus, it's next to impossible to get in and out of SP if you want to visit. Something to keep in mind.

I'm not sure of all the details but a few years ago a friend who owned a Marriott TS there was really mad--their TS trade status was downgraded by Marriott. Maybe Dean knows the details.

Good luck making a final decision! Like you, my family loves HH.

Thanks for making the point that on the beach is important in value and desirability. What your friend likely owned was either Spicebush or Swallowtail. Marriott dumped them a couple of years ago. Anyone who owned to do internal Marriott trading was quite shocked as they lost that option. Just like would happen if DVC even divested either of the off property resorts. Marriott has actually cut lose at least 6 resorts over the years if you count the aggregate units that were in the "Sea Pines" resort. Actually a combo of individual units at any one of 5 townhouse locations in Sea Pines. Marriott and a portion of Streamside in Vail are in the process of splitting up as well. It looks like 1 or 2 of the 5 buildings there will leave and go on their own. Their choice but based on pressure from Marriott to upgrade or else.

Popovich as for buying, I think resale for GO is your best bet basically for the reasons you've mentioned already. Gold season includes all the time you might travel and it's available resale. The location is better in many people's eyes. And GO is being upgraded to the same quality items as Surfwatch. Overall, it comes down to price. don't let the rewards points sway you, it's not worth a major additional expense. And as Horace noted, the only difference is the ability to trade for points. I also agree that if you buy from Marriott, don't do so from someone who is lying to you.

I'd also agree that it's fairly easy to trade in to HH for the time you quote. So one option is to buy elsewhere and try to trade in. Maybe by buying a lockout and trading two for one. Regardless, remember that Marriott HH is pretty expensive to own for trading both in terms of up front and yearly fees. You might want to look at a fixed week at Harbour Pointe or Monarch (also has some floating weeks) where you can deposit 18 months out and trade about as well at the more expensive locations. But if I did, I'd either buy a unit you could use part of the time OR a mid summer unit.

 

[Popovich]

Thank you for all the help and excellent information. We decided not to purchase from Marriott at Surf Watch and will look for a resale. We also decided that we'd go for a summer trip before making a purchase. As was mentioned, we may find the Platinum Season which includes summer to be a better time to go since Spring break may be too cold.

We really enjoyed HH and I think we'd lean toward Gold or Platinum Oceanfront resale at Grand Ocean. I don't think we'd look to trade out - just plan on making an annual trip to our home resort just like our DVC timeshare. We've only used it for DVC resorts and HH was our first trip outside of using it for WDW.

Again, thanks for all your input. We really appreciate it.

Gailyn