Originally posted by SusanU
I am looking at a direct exchange at Embassy Vacation Resort in Maui for 2 ea 1 bedrooms for next fall. Does anyone know how this resort compares to DVC? I am looking at the 2- one bedrooms rather than a 2 br because of occupancy. I have 6 adults & 2 small children. She wants to trade for a 2 Br at BW or OKW for Oct 04. Does this sound like a fair trade? Anything I should know? And thanks Dean for the tip re: ff tickets as I am going to try to use as many as possible. Am I better off trying for into Maui at the 330 day mark or settle for Honolulu & pay for the interisland trip? I want to stay 2-3 nights in Honolulu anyway to show main things to kids who haven't been. I stayed at HHV Hotel before, would I be better to try for HGVC 2 br exchange? Sorry so many questions, but thanks for the help.
Several thoughts as I did that exact trip in 2002 with a week at the Embassy Maui with two 1 BR units and a week on Kauai at the Embassy there in a 2 BR. I scheduled flights with Delta and flew into Maui then out of honolulu (by choice). It was easy but you've got to remember to make the first leg at the 330 day mark then call back for the return trip.
I got the Maui weeks through an Independent exchange company called San Francisco exchange. I did join for 3 years at I think it was $99. You don't have to get the pay membership but you get a few benefits if you do and I don't think the free membership gives you the search first option. You can keep calling though to see if they have what you want. You can do search first or deposit first. If you do deposit first, you may be able to get two 1 BR for just one deposit due to their generous bonus week program. They get a lot of Embassy's and HI in general. You also may want to talk to Trading Places who also get a lot of HI. Remember that many of the 2 BR units in HI, and in general, only sleep 6.
The Embassy has few 2 BR units so the odds are in your favor for the 1 BR. Still no guarantee on getting both so take one when it comes and schedule a cash reservation then cancel it if you match the second. The units there have a good minikitchen. It's far better than the DVC studio, more like the DVC studio should be. The unit we stayed in had a King bed plus a pullout. I think, but I'm not certain, that some of their units have 2 full beds in the master. You also need to know that the door between is louvered so not as much privacy as you might think. For your party, I'd actually prefer a 2 BR plus a 1 BR. You may also want to look for direct exchanges to there or other places and consider One Napili Way which has 3 BR/2 BA units though it's a little quieter.
Here's what I did. I put in a request for HI using II directly, a search first using DVC, a search first using SFX, a direct exchange add on TUG and contacted several other independents including Donita's, Platinum Interchange and TP. I had several other options but nothing that felt good. I turned down SOK and the Schooner because I didn't think they would be up to par for what I wanted.
The Embassy on Maui is somewhat of a strange bird. It is unique in color, very pink. While technially on Kaanapali beach, it's not part of the complex and you have to go around to get to it. The Kaanapali shuttle does not go there. It's a high rise hotel with some units timeshare and others not. I suspect they'll go all timeshare as they continue to sell. You will get a mountains, Star market view if you exchange in and they will offer to upgrade you for cash. They have a buffet breakfast that is one price for the unit. If you get both units in one name, it should be one price for all like you were in one unit, that's the way they did it for us. When I asked about it they said of course it's only one price but there were only four of us and you have 8. It was a good deal but got old quickly. For 8, I'd say do it if you can get if for the one unit price and NOT if they want to charge you for two units. DO NOT DO THEIR TIMESHARE TOUR. Good luck.
