II Exchange Pono Kai Resort - Kauai ?

[dianeschlicht]

Wasn't your original request for Kauai?

That resort IS on Kauai. It's near Kapaa on Kauai. Actually, between Kapaa and Princeville.

 

[Dean]

In the World Passport Collection Can you have 4 people in the one bedroom?

It depends on the resort. As a rule, most 1 BR units sleep 4, some privately, others not. Many studios do not sleep 4 and many 2 BR only sleep 6. You can see the total and private capacities listed on the DVC II exchange website. Technically you can only search for the private sleeping capacity of the unit you're giving up up to the stated II maximums of 2/4/6. So even though DVC units will sleep 8, technically you can't search for 8. But if you do your homework and you know that a given resort only has sleep 8 two BR units, you know it's safe to request such a resort for 6 but needing 7-8. OTOH, if a resort has both sleep 6 & sleep 8 two BR units, it might be tough to specify. II resorts are often MUCH more strict on occupancy than is DVC. They are also almost always more strict on check in age which can be up to 25 at some resorts with 23 & 21 being more common restrictions.

Yes our original request was for Kauai, last month I added the Marriott & Westin on Maui too.

Boy that'd really suck if you matched a 1 or 2 BR at either of those resorts.

 

[ACDSNY]

Boy that'd really suck if you matched a 1 or 2 BR at either of those resorts.

I think the key word here is "Matched", so far no luck. At least I must be close to the front of the line since they called on the other resort. I'll just add more dates to our search if nothing comes through.

 

[Dean]

I think the key word here is "Matched", so far no luck. At least I must be close to the front of the line since they called on the other resort. I'll just add more dates to our search if nothing comes through.

Don't kid yourself. They offered you a decent second or third tier resort that didn't match anyone else's search. Your best chance is that you're looking for Kauai (less demand) during the lowest time of the year (for Maui also). Remember though that this is not a first come method, the next person that joins the line may go to the front and may indeed jump ahead of you. I think you will match, likely a 1 BR at the Marriott Beach Club, but the question is how short notice making air fare an issue. Remember you can't have a search for the other Marriott for a 1 BR, you may want to consider a separate search for just a 2 BR unit as I suggested earlier.

 

[ACDSNY]

The short notice airfare maybe an issue now that Aloha Airlines is gone; usually between Sacramento, Oakland, SF or LA I can still manage decent fares at 2-4 months out.

 

[tomandrobin]

There are a bunch of Marriott on II today, all for check-in today, Saturday on Sunday.............lol.

Why do the resorts do that, wait until a day before check-in and then release the room to II for trades?

 

[ACDSNY]

There are a bunch of Marriott on II today, all for check-in today, Saturday on Sunday.............lol.

Why do the resorts do that, wait until a day before check-in and then release the room to II for trades?

I guess it's for the ones that are on the Islands already and they want to stay another week....

 

[Dean]

I guess it's for the ones that are on the Islands already and they want to stay another week....

I think they do this for rooms they didn't rent hoping some will change over from other timeshares so they can get more people to tour and then hopefully buy in. It does seem a little dumb for it to be that short notice but it is a good way to upgrade if you're going anyway.

 

[jmatias]

There are a bunch of Marriott on II today, all for check-in today, Saturday on Sunday.............lol.

Why do the resorts do that, wait until a day before check-in and then release the room to II for trades?

There are always last minute trades to Hawaii but I've never seen this many.

Reason.....shut down of Aloha and ATA Airlines this past week. Aloha was bad enough but ATA had almost 10% of the market and was the 3rd biggest carrier of flights to the Islands. Within a day of ATA shutdown, the list of availability for Hawaii grew especially for April May.

As of today, the Hawaii travel Assoc. is saying there are 9000 people stranded in Hawaii b/c of ATA.

Jen

 

[ACDSNY]

When I called this morning to check on if I needed two searches I was told we've matched to Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai for 10/26/08. The wait is over!

 

[Dean]

When I called this morning to check on if I needed two searches I was told we've matched to Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai for 10/26/08. The wait is over!

Congratulations, great resort. Given they don't have 1 BR units, I assume you had to pay the 2 BR price for the MID season. Email me privately and I'll tell you how to check to see what view type you got. Marriott's public home page for this resort

 

[tomandrobin]

Congratulations on your trade!!!

 

[tomandrobin]

Congratulations, great resort. Given they don't have 1 BR units, I assume you had to pay the 2 BR price for the MID season. Email me privately and I'll tell you how to check to see what view type you got. Marriott's public home page for this resort

Dean

When you trade into Marriott, the room and view on your II certificate is guaranteed? I know with Starwood, the room number on the certificate doesn't mean anything, just holding a room type for you.

Tom

 

[Dean]

Dean

When you trade into Marriott, the room and view on your II certificate is guaranteed? I know with Starwood, the room number on the certificate doesn't mean anything, just holding a room type for you.

Tom

No guarantee but MOST marriott's assign you the same view type as was deposited in to II. That's why my daughter got OF for Maui. Unfortunately mine for Aruba is Gardenview. Other than possibly fixed week resorts, the view type and unit are not listed on II confirmations. They will list the MVCI res # and used to list the owners last name though the last few I've gotten haven't had that. Once it's been changed to your name you can find the view type with your last name and the reservation #. I'm going to try for a retrade to get the Aruba Ocean Club for this reason. Every resorts handles this situation differently, even within a system like Marriott or Starwood. The order of unit assignments for MOST Marriott's is:

1. Owners staying multiple weeks or with multiple units.
2. Owners with one week.
3. Multiple week Marriott exchangers.
4. Single Week Marriott exchangers.
5. Cash Guests though they are usually guaranteed a view type.
6. Multiple week non Marriott exchangers.
7. Lastly, single week non Marriott exchangers.

Most people simply don't make requests so unless you go to some place that purposefully tries to punish exchangers and you make reasonable requests, you'll be rewarded most of the time. That's one of the reasons you want to investigate the resorts ahead of time before listing them as a possible exchange. And also one of the reasons whey I feel that an even exchange really isn't an even exchange. Thus the reason I try to put myself in a position where I feel I'm trading up in one or more ways for EVERY exchange. That way if I get a poor view or there's some other issue, I can still feel good about my overall situation. So if I get none of my requests and I am placed in the worst unit in the place, I'm still in decent shape and everything else is icing.

 

[tomandrobin]

No guarantee but MOST marriott's assign you the same view type as was deposited in to II. That's why my daughter got OF for Maui. Unfortunately mine for Aruba is Gardenview. Other than possibly fixed week resorts, the view type and unit are not listed on II confirmations. They will list the MVCI res # and used to list the owners last name though the last few I've gotten haven't had that. Once it's been changed to your name you can find the view type with your last name and the reservation #. I'm going to try for a retrade to get the Aruba Ocean Club for this reason. Every resorts handles this situation differently, even within a system like Marriott or Starwood. The order of unit assignments for MOST Marriott's is:

1. Owners staying multiple weeks or with multiple units.
2. Owners with one week.
3. Multiple week Marriott exchangers.
4. Single Week Marriott exchangers.
5. Cash Guests though they are usually guaranteed a view type.
6. Multiple week non Marriott exchangers.
7. Lastly, single week non Marriott exchangers.

Most people simply don't make requests so unless you go to some place that purposefully tries to punish exchangers and you make reasonable requests, you'll be rewarded most of the time. That's one of the reasons you want to investigate the resorts ahead of time before listing them as a possible exchange. And also one of the reasons whey I feel that an even exchange really isn't an even exchange. Thus the reason I try to put myself in a position where I feel I'm trading up in one or more ways for EVERY exchange. That way if I get a poor view or there's some other issue, I can still feel good about my overall situation. So if I get none of my requests and I am placed in the worst unit in the place, I'm still in decent shape and everything else is icing.

Do you call the resort you exchanged into, the company of the resort or II for your room requests? I am one of the ones who have not called to requeast a view or floor. I do when I go thru Starwood, but not II. We have just been happy to be going to a nice resort, at a location we wanted to visit.

 

[ACDSNY]

Thanks Dean & Tom! Yes it was for a 2 bdrm unit so 270 points. My DD and SIL are very excited. My sister is camping this weekend so she doesn't know yet. It's for Halloween week so I'm not sure she'll go. We have a large extended family so I'm sure someone will want to join us. Otherwise we'll have plenty of space for the four of us.

 

[Dean]

Do you call the resort you exchanged into, the company of the resort or II for your room requests? I am one of the ones who have not called to requeast a view or floor. I do when I go thru Starwood, but not II. We have just been happy to be going to a nice resort, at a location we wanted to visit.

It depends on the resort in question. For Marriott, Bluegreen, DVC and others I call the general number then for most, f/u with the resort itself. For Westin you can usually get the email for the concierge. I limit my requests to one or two with one being non smoking if applicable. I try not to be too greedy and try to make it easy for them to meet my requests.

Thanks Dean & Tom! Yes it was for a 2 bdrm unit so 270 points. My DD and SIL and very excited. My sister is camping this weekend so she doesn't know yet. It's for Halloween week so I'm not sure she'll go. We have a large extended family so I'm sure someone will want to join us. Otherwise we'll have plenty of space for the four of us.

That week should have been mid season, 252 pts if I recall correctly but 18 points one way or another isn't going to make or break this deal.

 

[tomandrobin]

How did your request work out for you at WKORV? I am going there this fall and hadn't bother with a request. Mostly because of the 12 month window booking of owners and the timestamping they use. Plus I got the unit via an II trade. It was a better deal then going thru Westin.

 

[Dean]

How did your request work out for you at WKORV? I am going there this fall and hadn't bother with a request. Mostly because of the 12 month window booking of owners and the timestamping they use. Plus I got the unit via an II trade. It was a better deal then going thru Westin.

The owners there may not like my answer. I was able to find out the deposited unit which was OS on the North end on the outside fairly close to the check in building. I simply asked for best view possible and told them it was my wife's birthday present (an honest statement) and was assigned a higher floor poolside closer to the ocean, also an OS unit. The concierge had told me they normally assign based on owners first so to assume MV which is appropriate and we would have been happy with. Email me and I can give you the email for the concierge there if you like.

 

[tomandrobin]

The owners there may not like my answer. I was able to find out the deposited unit which was OS on the North end on the outside fairly close to the check in building. I simply asked for best view possible and told them it was my wife's birthday present (an honest statement) and was assigned a higher floor poolside closer to the ocean, also an OS unit. The concierge had told me they normally assign based on owners first so to assume MV which is appropriate and we would have been happy with. Email me and I can give you the email for the concierge there if you like.

Again, I find this interesting. There has been alot of talk recently on another board about views and room requests. How its suppose to be by timestamp and apparently OF units owners are not exactly getting those rooms, even though they booked 9am at the 12 month mark.