Marriott Ko Olina Beach Resort

[FinnFogg]

I’ve seen a few owners from Marriott Ko Olina Beach Resort weigh in on the Aulani thread, and I’m hoping to pick your brains re the resort and Marriott Vacation Club in general. We are DVC members and own at Aulani, AKL and OKW. We live in the west coast and spend ALOT of time in Hawaii. We typically visit 2-3 islands a year, but always have al least 2 trips to Aulani. We have really grown to love the Ko Olina area, and I have always been intrigued by the Marriott property...largely because I PROMISED my husband no more DVC after our last resale purchase.

I’ve started looking into the way in which ownership works and resale offers, but it seems so different from DVC! Here are a few questions in case anyone can weigh in:

- Did you buy direct or resale? If resale, any major disadvantages? Would you do it again?
- It looks like all of the two bedrooms are lock-offs. Is that correct?
- I’ve seen reference to “using the lock-off” to double your weeks at the resort. How does that work?
- I’m assuming ocean view is better than mountain view, but is mountain view really that bad? How good are the ocean views?
- Looks like most resales are “Platinum floating”, which seems to allow bookings in any of 50 weeks out of the year (I’m assuming no Xmas). Any difficultly getting stays if you book when your window opens?
- We would likely want to use all of our time in Ko Olina, but if we did want to trade into Marriott properties on Kauai or Maui is that easy or difficult?

Any feedback that anyone has on any or all of the above would be much appreciated.

 

[monsterkitty]

We've been Marriott owners for about 11 years now I think. We actually made our first purchase right after attending a DVC presentation while we were at WDW for vacation. When the salesman left the room so we could talk, we called my sister who was already a MVC owner. We declined the DVC, went back to CBR, and called the MVC person at the Grand Chateau in Vegas, who was my sister's salesman.

I will try to answer your questions, but my DH is the one who really knows the ins and outs and is not home right now to ask.

1. We have bought direct from Marriott each time we've made a purchase. The first purchase we made was for a week of a two bedroom lock-off at the Grand Chateau. MVC now does a point system and the remainder of our purchases have been points.

2. Not all resorts have the 2-bedroom lock-offs. Some are just regular two-bedrooms so you have to look at the resort you want to stay and their floor plans. Off the top of my head, the Marriott in Marbella, Spain did not have a lock-off. The Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai also does not have a 2 bedroom lock off. When we did a presentation at that resort for points, they told us that the newer MVC resorts were moving away from lock-offs. Not sure if he was accurate or not. Like I said, you really need to look at the floor plan of the MVC you want to stay at and see the floor plans or even call the resort directly.

3. If you buy weeks then you can use the lock-offs to extend your vacation. What you do is reserve the one-bedroom or studio for a week. You can then wait and use the other half of the room at another time. We haven't done this in forever so I'm not sure if they've changed their policy or how to do this. However, new Marriott members buy points instead of weeks. I'm not sure if you can purchase the weeks resale or not. Personally, I would not purchase resale weeks for the Marriott because it is way easier using their point system.

4. Depending on where we are going and what we want to do with our points, we will always reserve the room with the lowest amount of points. We just stayed in a Ko Olina Mountain View. It overlooked the harbor and we could still see the ocean.

5. We are platinum members because we have so many points now. We have not had any difficulties booking anywhere since we went platinum. I also need to add that because we didn't purchase everything in "weeks", we currently have a reservation for Ko Olina from Dec24-Dec31, 2021. If we only had weeks, like we do with Grand Chateau, we would not have been able to make that reservation.

6. If you buy resale into weeks, then you do have to go through Interval I believe. It is more difficult to get the weeks you want but we've always gotten at least our second choice.

The main reason we bought MVC instead of DVC is because it was way more flexible, especially with the point system now. If the location we want to visit doesn't have a MVC, we can use points to stay at a Marriott branded hotel. They just purchased the Westin Vacation Clubs as well as all of their hotel brands, so the possibilities are endless.

As for purchasing a resale for one of the Hawaii resorts - I personally would not do this. When you make this purchase you will be paying the Hawaii property taxes which are way more expensive. If your buying resale, find a seller that is selling their home resort in a location that has a lower property tax.

Finally, DH and I don't have kids so if you look at us you wouldn't think it would be a good investment to buy some many MVC points plus our original week purchase. However, this has allowed us to go places we would have never dreamt of going. We went to Spain with my sister and her family using our week, and then they traded their week through Interval for a week in the UK. We've gone to Ko Olina, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island multiple times. Our first trip when we originally bought our week, was to Williamsburg and DC. We've gone to St. Thomas, Newport Coast in California, the Custom House in Boston (loved!!), DH has stayed at a few in Arizona while he golfed, we've stayed at a few of the MVC resorts around WDW, the NYC Pulse, and Myrtle Beach (our least favorite). We actually didn't use our home resort of the Grand Chateau until about 5 years after purchasing it. Instead we exchanged our week for either points or through Interval so we could stay at a non-Marriott when their wasn't a MVC in the area.

Before you purchase, I would attend a presentation at a MVC resort and ask your list of questions. You don't have to buy through them, but they do make changes frequently to keep up with what their owners request and want. Then, if you do buy resale, make sure you are getting all of the perks the original owners received. I believe that some of the original perks end with the original owner.

If we reserve a two-bedroom that does not have a lock-off we either invite another family member or friends to go with us. In exchange for the room, they usually pay for the rental car and food we eat in the room. We alternate years going by ourselves and then going with someone else. In a few weeks we are staying at a Westin Resort in Cancun. Next summer we've already reserved our 2 bedroom at the Ritz Carlton in St Thomas for a week. We're going the first week of June, which is low season and the ocean view room was half the points at the Ritz than what we just paid for our Mountain View Ko Olina room the last week of March. It's all about looking around to get what you want for the best point value.

Hope this helped a little!

 

[FinnFogg]

We've been Marriott owners for about 11 years now I think. We actually made our first purchase right after attending a DVC presentation while we were at WDW for vacation. When the salesman left the room so we could talk, we called my sister who was already a MVC owner. We declined the DVC, went back to CBR, and called the MVC person at the Grand Chateau in Vegas, who was my sister's salesman.

I will try to answer your questions, but my DH is the one who really knows the ins and outs and is not home right now to ask.

1. We have bought direct from Marriott each time we've made a purchase. The first purchase we made was for a week of a two bedroom lock-off at the Grand Chateau. MVC now does a point system and the remainder of our purchases have been points.

2. Not all resorts have the 2-bedroom lock-offs. Some are just regular two-bedrooms so you have to look at the resort you want to stay and their floor plans. Off the top of my head, the Marriott in Marbella, Spain did not have a lock-off. The Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai also does not have a 2 bedroom lock off. When we did a presentation at that resort for points, they told us that the newer MVC resorts were moving away from lock-offs. Not sure if he was accurate or not. Like I said, you really need to look at the floor plan of the MVC you want to stay at and see the floor plans or even call the resort directly.

3. If you buy weeks then you can use the lock-offs to extend your vacation. What you do is reserve the one-bedroom or studio for a week. You can then wait and use the other half of the room at another time. We haven't done this in forever so I'm not sure if they've changed their policy or how to do this. However, new Marriott members buy points instead of weeks. I'm not sure if you can purchase the weeks resale or not. Personally, I would not purchase resale weeks for the Marriott because it is way easier using their point system.

4. Depending on where we are going and what we want to do with our points, we will always reserve the room with the lowest amount of points. We just stayed in a Ko Olina Mountain View. It overlooked the harbor and we could still see the ocean.

5. We are platinum members because we have so many points now. We have not had any difficulties booking anywhere since we went platinum. I also need to add that because we didn't purchase everything in "weeks", we currently have a reservation for Ko Olina from Dec24-Dec31, 2021. If we only had weeks, like we do with Grand Chateau, we would not have been able to make that reservation.

6. If you buy resale into weeks, then you do have to go through Interval I believe. It is more difficult to get the weeks you want but we've always gotten at least our second choice.

The main reason we bought MVC instead of DVC is because it was way more flexible, especially with the point system now. If the location we want to visit doesn't have a MVC, we can use points to stay at a Marriott branded hotel. They just purchased the Westin Vacation Clubs as well as all of their hotel brands, so the possibilities are endless.

As for purchasing a resale for one of the Hawaii resorts - I personally would not do this. When you make this purchase you will be paying the Hawaii property taxes which are way more expensive. If your buying resale, find a seller that is selling their home resort in a location that has a lower property tax.

Finally, DH and I don't have kids so if you look at us you wouldn't think it would be a good investment to buy some many MVC points plus our original week purchase. However, this has allowed us to go places we would have never dreamt of going. We went to Spain with my sister and her family using our week, and then they traded their week through Interval for a week in the UK. We've gone to Ko Olina, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island multiple times. Our first trip when we originally bought our week, was to Williamsburg and DC. We've gone to St. Thomas, Newport Coast in California, the Custom House in Boston (loved!!), DH has stayed at a few in Arizona while he golfed, we've stayed at a few of the MVC resorts around WDW, the NYC Pulse, and Myrtle Beach (our least favorite). We actually didn't use our home resort of the Grand Chateau until about 5 years after purchasing it. Instead we exchanged our week for either points or through Interval so we could stay at a non-Marriott when their wasn't a MVC in the area.

Before you purchase, I would attend a presentation at a MVC resort and ask your list of questions. You don't have to buy through them, but they do make changes frequently to keep up with what their owners request and want. Then, if you do buy resale, make sure you are getting all of the perks the original owners received. I believe that some of the original perks end with the original owner.

If we reserve a two-bedroom that does not have a lock-off we either invite another family member or friends to go with us. In exchange for the room, they usually pay for the rental car and food we eat in the room. We alternate years going by ourselves and then going with someone else. In a few weeks we are staying at a Westin Resort in Cancun. Next summer we've already reserved our 2 bedroom at the Ritz Carlton in St Thomas for a week. We're going the first week of June, which is low season and the ocean view room was half the points at the Ritz than what we just paid for our Mountain View Ko Olina room the last week of March. It's all about looking around to get what you want for the best point value.

Hope this helped a little!

Thank you for taking the time to give me all of that information!! It sounds like you have really enjoyed MVC.

 

[juju]

We just spent one night at the Marriott in a studio. I’m not sure what Aulani has but I know what my home resort, BWV has. I was surprised to see that the Marriott studio had actual china, glasses, silverware. I hate the paper and plastic that the DVC studios have been using for some time now.

 

[happymommy]

- Did you buy direct or resale? If resale, any major disadvantages? Would you do it agaiin?

We own two weeks (every other odd year use Mountain View) at Marriott’s Ko Olina; bought the first week direct from Marriott, then a couple years later I bought a second week resale for 1/4 the price. First week I enrolled in the points program, which means I have the option of converting that week to points if I choose. Resale was a much better decision, and honestly I prefer using our weeks or trading through Interval, as there aren’t a ton of properties I want to go to with points. Every other year works for us, since we come from the East Coast.


- It looks like all of the two bedrooms are lock-offs. Is that correct?

There are 3 towers at the resort. Hale Kona and Hale Moana are all lock off capable, but Hale Naia has some dedicated two bedroom villas with a single entry. When you reserve your week, you must specify whether you are booking a dedicated or not. I always book a lock off capable unit, as Hale Kona is my favorite tower which I request. I can end up with a lovely pool view in Mountain View category.

- I’ve seen reference to “using the lock-off” to double your weeks at the resort. How does that work?


I did this in 2017. I reserved the first two weeks in a studio, which I shared with just my youngest. Then the 3rd and 4th week I reserved the one bedroom, and my DH and oldest joined us. So we stretched it out to 4 weeks total. It was fabulous. We were in Hale Kona, and if you look at the floor plan you can see a sitting room off the bedroom. It fits a rollaway bed nicely (we got two as aren’t a fan of sofa sleepers). There is no charge for a rollaway bed.


- I’m assuming ocean view is better than mountain view, but is mountain view really that bad? How good are the ocean views?

We own Mountain View and like it just fine. It was cheaper to buy.



- Looks like most resales are “Platinum floating”, which seems to allow bookings in any of 50 weeks out of the year (I’m assuming no Xmas). Any difficultly getting stays if you book when your window opens?

Not difficult but we book 12 months out. Actually we can book 13 months out when we are reserving consecutive weeks, and this has to be done over the phone. All weeks at Ko Olina are “platinum season” other than Christmas/New Years week which is sold as a separate category for higher cost. Platinum gets high trading power to other resorts; I’m pretty sure all Hawaii properties are platinum.



- We would likely want to use all of our time in Ko Olina, but if we did want to trade into Marriott properties on Kauai or Maui is that easy or difficult?

I never have traded for Kauai or Maui, but think it’s not too difficult.

Any feedback that anyone has on any or all of the above would be much appreciated.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We just spent one night at the Marriott in a studio. I’m not sure what Aulani has but I know what my home resort, BWV has. I was surprised to see that the Marriott studio had actual china, glasses, silverware. I hate the paper and plastic that the DVC studios have been using for some time now.

What do you do with plates and silverware in a studio without a dishwasher?

 

[happymommy]

What do you do with plates and silverware in a studio without a dishwasher?

When I spent two weeks in a studio, I just washed them right after using them. There is a small sink plus sponge, liquid dish soap and I think a dish drainer (I forget about that, but if it wasn’t there you can just call housekeeping for it). I also bought some disposable utensils and paper plates at Target to use as well. I also brought a small nonstick pan and a single burner to make things like grilled cheese and eggs, and housekeeping gave us a pot to make macaroni and cheese.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When I spent two weeks in a studio, I just washed them right after using them. There is a small sink plus sponge, liquid dish soap and I think a dish drainer (I forget about that, but if it wasn’t there you can just call housekeeping for it). I also bought some disposable utensils and paper plates at Target to use as well. I also brought a small nonstick pan and a single burner to make things like grilled cheese and eggs, and housekeeping gave us a pot to make macaroni and cheese.

I'm surprised by that. Usually a hot plate/burner is a big no-no.

 

[monsterkitty]

What do you do with plates and silverware in a studio without a dishwasher?

The studios we have stayed in have a dishwasher and at least a microwave and a toaster. One studio we stayed at had a stove top. I can't remember which one it was though.

The studios that do not have a dishwasher do have a kitchen sink. They provide dish soap, sponges, dish rags, and towels allong with a drying rack.

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

We've been Marriott owners for about 11 years now I think. We actually made our first purchase right after attending a DVC presentation while we were at WDW for vacation. When the salesman left the room so we could talk, we called my sister who was already a MVC owner. We declined the DVC, went back to CBR, and called the MVC person at the Grand Chateau in Vegas, who was my sister's salesman.

I will try to answer your questions, but my DH is the one who really knows the ins and outs and is not home right now to ask.

1. We have bought direct from Marriott each time we've made a purchase. The first purchase we made was for a week of a two bedroom lock-off at the Grand Chateau. MVC now does a point system and the remainder of our purchases have been points.

2. Not all resorts have the 2-bedroom lock-offs. Some are just regular two-bedrooms so you have to look at the resort you want to stay and their floor plans. Off the top of my head, the Marriott in Marbella, Spain did not have a lock-off. The Waiohai Beach Club on Kauai also does not have a 2 bedroom lock off. When we did a presentation at that resort for points, they told us that the newer MVC resorts were moving away from lock-offs. Not sure if he was accurate or not. Like I said, you really need to look at the floor plan of the MVC you want to stay at and see the floor plans or even call the resort directly.

3. If you buy weeks then you can use the lock-offs to extend your vacation. What you do is reserve the one-bedroom or studio for a week. You can then wait and use the other half of the room at another time. We haven't done this in forever so I'm not sure if they've changed their policy or how to do this. However, new Marriott members buy points instead of weeks. I'm not sure if you can purchase the weeks resale or not. Personally, I would not purchase resale weeks for the Marriott because it is way easier using their point system.

4. Depending on where we are going and what we want to do with our points, we will always reserve the room with the lowest amount of points. We just stayed in a Ko Olina Mountain View. It overlooked the harbor and we could still see the ocean.

5. We are platinum members because we have so many points now. We have not had any difficulties booking anywhere since we went platinum. I also need to add that because we didn't purchase everything in "weeks", we currently have a reservation for Ko Olina from Dec24-Dec31, 2021. If we only had weeks, like we do with Grand Chateau, we would not have been able to make that reservation.

6. If you buy resale into weeks, then you do have to go through Interval I believe. It is more difficult to get the weeks you want but we've always gotten at least our second choice.

The main reason we bought MVC instead of DVC is because it was way more flexible, especially with the point system now. If the location we want to visit doesn't have a MVC, we can use points to stay at a Marriott branded hotel. They just purchased the Westin Vacation Clubs as well as all of their hotel brands, so the possibilities are endless.

As for purchasing a resale for one of the Hawaii resorts - I personally would not do this. When you make this purchase you will be paying the Hawaii property taxes which are way more expensive. If your buying resale, find a seller that is selling their home resort in a location that has a lower property tax.

Finally, DH and I don't have kids so if you look at us you wouldn't think it would be a good investment to buy some many MVC points plus our original week purchase. However, this has allowed us to go places we would have never dreamt of going. We went to Spain with my sister and her family using our week, and then they traded their week through Interval for a week in the UK. We've gone to Ko Olina, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island multiple times. Our first trip when we originally bought our week, was to Williamsburg and DC. We've gone to St. Thomas, Newport Coast in California, the Custom House in Boston (loved!!), DH has stayed at a few in Arizona while he golfed, we've stayed at a few of the MVC resorts around WDW, the NYC Pulse, and Myrtle Beach (our least favorite). We actually didn't use our home resort of the Grand Chateau until about 5 years after purchasing it. Instead we exchanged our week for either points or through Interval so we could stay at a non-Marriott when their wasn't a MVC in the area.

Before you purchase, I would attend a presentation at a MVC resort and ask your list of questions. You don't have to buy through them, but they do make changes frequently to keep up with what their owners request and want. Then, if you do buy resale, make sure you are getting all of the perks the original owners received. I believe that some of the original perks end with the original owner.

If we reserve a two-bedroom that does not have a lock-off we either invite another family member or friends to go with us. In exchange for the room, they usually pay for the rental car and food we eat in the room. We alternate years going by ourselves and then going with someone else. In a few weeks we are staying at a Westin Resort in Cancun. Next summer we've already reserved our 2 bedroom at the Ritz Carlton in St Thomas for a week. We're going the first week of June, which is low season and the ocean view room was half the points at the Ritz than what we just paid for our Mountain View Ko Olina room the last week of March. It's all about looking around to get what you want for the best point value.

Hope this helped a little!

I would love to get more information about the Marriott Vacation Club, do you know any good resources or discussion boards to understand how the points work and booking information?

 

[monsterkitty]

I would love to get more information about the Marriott Vacation Club, do you know any good resources or discussion boards to understand how the points work and booking information?

Sorry, I don't know any discussion boards. We've learned the most by going to presentations so we can get points for attending. I suggest that you see if you can find a presentation near you or see if there is a sales office. They are the ones who can explain the ins and outs the best.

I can tell you what we do when we want to go somewhere:

We pick a location then go to the points chart on the MVC owners page to see how many points we need.
We either book online or we call to book as some resorts require you call them to book.
Because we have so many points we can book at 13 months out. We've already booked for June 2022 in St Thomas.
When you buy they have different incentives, such as extra points.
We can use points for car rentals and flights.
We can us points for activities and theme park tickets.
They do have package similar to Disney Destinations or whatever they call it.
We've also used points for cruises.

Two years ago we purchased more points at a presentation. A few months later we went to Myrtle Beach and were asked to attend another presentation for a whole lot of points. We told them we weren't interested in purchasing and they said that was fine so we went anyway for the points.

During the presentation, the agent said something and we were like, what?! He said we should have been told about this in the last presentation but we weren't. Because it was a huge mistake on their part, we were given enough points for a free week. We were supposed to go to DLP and stay at that Marriott last summer but COVID ruined that. Instead we're going to Cancun this June and staying at the Westin.

This guy took the time to show us a lot of ins and outs and it was very well worth our time.

 

[corgi_monster]

Thanks for posting all that great info @monsterkitty. I have been interested in MVC for a while because they're all over the world and they don't seem scammy (ahem, Wyndham). It's so hard to find real testimonials and good info about how the program works. The lack of info available online has been a huge deterrent for me. If I'm going into a timeshare presentation, I want to go in armed with info and know which questions to ask.

I would love to get more information about the Marriott Vacation Club, do you know any good resources or discussion boards to understand how the points work and booking information?

Redweek has forums, and while they're helpful, they're nothing like the Disboards.

 

[oktracy]

Thanks for posting all that great info @monsterkitty. I have been interested in MVC for a while because they're all over the world and they don't seem scammy (ahem, Wyndham). It's so hard to find real testimonials and good info about how the program works. The lack of info available online has been a huge deterrent for me. If I'm going into a timeshare presentation, I want to go in armed with info and know which questions to ask.




Redweek has forums, and while they're helpful, they're nothing like the Disboards.

Try timeshare users group. TUG for Marriott timeshare forums.

 

[happymommy]

I'm surprised by that. Usually a hot plate/burner is a big no-no.

Technically it’s not supposed to be allowed, but housekeeping didn’t seem to mind at all. I am very careful (and tidy; I keep the room very clean and always wash up everything right away as I am very picky at home and on vacation with cleaning).

I second the recommendation on getting on the TUG boards. That was where I learned everything about ownership and found our second week at Ko Olina for $5,000 from a broker off redweek (they’re based on Maui and are highly reputable).

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

Thanks for posting all that great info @monsterkitty. I have been interested in MVC for a while because they're all over the world and they don't seem scammy (ahem, Wyndham). It's so hard to find real testimonials and good info about how the program works. The lack of info available online has been a huge deterrent for me. If I'm going into a timeshare presentation, I want to go in armed with info and know which questions to ask.




Redweek has forums, and while they're helpful, they're nothing like the Disboards.

I dug into understanding resales yesterday. Marriott charges a $3/per point transfer fee that must be paid to them on top of what the owner is asking. That is a big deterrent to me to have such a big buy in price. There are also lots of negative reviews online.

 

[monsterkitty]

I dug into understanding resales yesterday. Marriott charges a $3/per point transfer fee that must be paid to them on top of what the owner is asking. That is a big deterrent to me to have such a big buy in price. There are also lots of negative reviews online.

Do you mean negative reviews on MVC in general or buying resale points?

We've never had an issue with MVC. In fact, they were the ones who stepped in and corrected a mistake that we didn't even know had occurred.

 

[MickeyD]

We have been MVC owners for nine years now. We bought in when they started the points system because it seemed more flexible, and it is. I can book 2-7 or more nights at 13 months out. We do Hawaii every year (except COVID year 2020) and we switch islands. This year is Maui. 2019 was Ko'Olina. I second the TUG boards, they are helpful, but I will caution that most of them are die hard weeks owners and dislike (strongly) the points system. However, they will help you understand it. I believe dioxide, used to post on the disboards, not sure if does any more or not. He has a youtube channel that is helpful as well. destination timeshare.

I want to add that during covid, Marriott was fabulous! We had reservations for Kauai and they put those points in a holding account so we didn't lose them. They also extended the expiration of those points for another year because they know so many of us now have tons of points to use.

As far as the units, I prefer Marriott because they have been across the board for us, the nicest units we have ever stayed in. A lot are designated 2 bedroom, and some have lock offs from back in the weeks days so owners could split their unit and get double mileage from it.

Hope this helps some, monsterkitty did a great job explaining everything.

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

Do you mean negative reviews on MVC in general or buying resale points?

We've never had an issue with MVC. In fact, they were the ones who stepped in and corrected a mistake that we didn't even know had occurred.

I am thing of cost and value. I have read some better reviews regarding fixed weeks, but that the points system is over valued vs. buy in costs.

 

[monsterkitty]

I am thing of cost and value. I have read some better reviews regarding fixed weeks, but that the points system is over valued vs. buy in costs.

That was our concern as well and some times I do second guess our choice to buy in. However, we've found the opposite to be true. We bought points the year they went to points to add to our week. By figuring the cost per night at the resorts we've stayed at, we paid for our points within 5 years. When we added points in 2018, we use those points to rent out on redweek or the MVC FB group. Those points have paid for all the maintenance fees plus what we spent to purchase the points.

I have 8 days until I retire (again) and DH is going 3 more years. When he retires we probably won't use those points as rentals but travel ourselves instead.

Like I said, the decision to buy wasn't easy and I do second guess our choice, but when I look at where we've gone and what our future travel plans are, it's been amazing for us.

 

[monsterkitty]

We have been MVC owners for nine years now. We bought in when they started the points system because it seemed more flexible, and it is. I can book 2-7 or more nights at 13 months out. We do Hawaii every year (except COVID year 2020) and we switch islands. This year is Maui. 2019 was Ko'Olina. I second the TUG boards, they are helpful, but I will caution that most of them are die hard weeks owners and dislike (strongly) the points system. However, they will help you understand it. I believe dioxide, used to post on the disboards, not sure if does any more or not. He has a youtube channel that is helpful as well. destination timeshare.

I want to add that during covid, Marriott was fabulous! We had reservations for Kauai and they put those points in a holding account so we didn't lose them. They also extended the expiration of those points for another year because they know so many of us now have tons of points to use.

As far as the units, I prefer Marriott because they have been across the board for us, the nicest units we have ever stayed in. A lot are designated 2 bedroom, and some have lock offs from back in the weeks days so owners could split their unit and get double mileage from it.

Hope this helps some, monsterkitty did a great job explaining everything.

Thanks!

I have to second that Marriott was amazing during COVID! When I saw people from other time shares trying to figure things out and stressing about losing points, I felt bad for them.

I have never heard of TUG before, but we'll look at the boards this weekend. I will also look at the YouTube channel.