Marriott ?

[JimC]

Originally posted by Dean
....I have decided to buy what I want to use and rent them the rest of the time rather than trying to co much exchanging......

Dean, if you don't mind my asking....have you had bad experiences exchanging or trading within Marriott?

We have been thinking of buying a Marriott timeshare to use within their system and for other trades. Is that a bad idea?

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by JimC
Dean, if you don't mind my asking....have you had bad experiences exchanging or trading within Marriott?

We have been thinking of buying a Marriott timeshare to use within their system and for other trades. Is that a bad idea?

I don't mind you asking at all. Trading in general is a crap shoot. The people who have the top choices rarely give them up. And if they do, you need an inside track, like Marriott to Marriott trading. The trouble is that the inside track usually is also very expensive. And if you get the exchange you want, you will likely get the "dumpster view" or it's equivilent but it varies by resort and system. Don't get me wrong, I still trade but I have sold my Marriott trading week and all my La Cabana weeks. I did buy one back but for so low I couldn't pass it up. I use my La Cabana and Paradise Village resorts to exchange and go to PV every 3 years or so. That way even if I don't get the top choices during prime time, I'm getting good value. PV is a goldmine for trading.

Don't let me turn you off from Marriott exchanging totally as it's overall a very good part of the Marriott options. Just don't fall for the "buy the cheapest resort during off season and trade to Maui" ploy. It rarely happens and if it does, you still get the "dumpser view". By owning what I want to use as my core, I save $79-149 per exchange, get to choose my week and get an owenrs preference on unit assignments. I know 13 months out that I have it with Marriott and longer with PV. We love Disney, PV and HH and then try other things in between.

Last year at Grande Ocean was a good example. I had three 2 BR units with the entire close family invited. All went but my brother and his small family and I had enough room for them, they just got themselves in a situation where they couldn't go. The three units were in the same building. Two were on the third floor and the other the first. The third floor units were ocean front, looking straight out at the ocean, we own that. Also on the third floor was the ocean side unit we own which had a fairly good ocean view as well. The first floor unit had no view at all other than the pool and BBQ and it was an exchange unit.

I like having things set even though I feel I'm good at playing the games. Timeshare exchanging is not for the faint of heart, it's rather like playing high steaks poker in Vegas, you need nerves of steel. You have to know when to hold em and when to fold em. I love playing the game but especially when the steaks are low for me. So I deposit the La Cabana and Paradise Village units early and start looking. Sometimes I'm realisic and sometimes I shoot for the moon early and lower my sights later. It all depends on the situation I'm in. Then if I get what I want, great, and if not, I fall back on what I own. One of these days I'm going to schedule a vacation and then see what I can get that will work with II in the last 60 days. Starting next year I'll be able to travel off season. That means I'll actually be able to trade in and stay at DVC for times when units come available within II. I may actually sell two of my 3 contracts if that works out well.

I actually just bought a third HH Platinum Marriott week at the SurfWatch, which is just being built. I bought a gardenview which I think will have glancing views of the ocean. I was also able to convert my two weeks at Grande Ocean to Marriott reward options weeks as part of the deal. While I'm not a big fan of the Marriott reward points, I do like options and it was enough to convince me to add the extra week. Time will tell if it was the right decision but I'm excited about the resort, unlike Barony which doesn't grab me.

 

[Patty3]

Hi Dean, I have a question that I hope you can answer. Friends of ours have a time share on Paradise Island, Bahamas, that was a Marriott property when they bought it. Unfortunately, the Board of Directors for this time share decided not to be affiliated with Marriott anymore and this affiliation was dissolved. They are upset about this because they felt that Marriott kept the property in good shape and feel now that the quality has gone down. They bought another at Harborside and want to sell the other one in the near future. As others have pointed out, Disney goes up, but their resell now is about or less than what they paid for it over 8 years ago. They used to trade this property for a Marriott it Orlando. How often does this sort of thing happen? My friends say the reason for the dissolution with Marriott is because they were going to charge the owners a remodeling fee of about $3000 per unit.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Patty3
Hi Dean, I have a question that I hope you can answer. Friends of ours have a time share on Paradise Island, Bahamas, that was a Marriott property when they bought it. Unfortunately, the Board of Directors for this time share decided not to be affiliated with Marriott anymore and this affiliation was dissolved. They are upset about this because they felt that Marriott kept the property in good shape and feel now that the quality has gone down. They bought another at Harborside and want to sell the other one in the near future. As others have pointed out, Disney goes up, but their resell now is about or less than what they paid for it over 8 years ago. They used to trade this property for a Marriott it Orlando. How often does this sort of thing happen? My friends say the reason for the dissolution with Marriott is because they were going to charge the owners a remodeling fee of about $3000 per unit.

Stories abound but my understanding was it was more Marriott who dropped the resort than the other way around. The problems with Paradise Island are that the value isn't there, the fees are high (like $900) and I believe the resort charges a dramatic transfer fee. I have talked to others who own there and they feel their only options are to essentially give it away or keep it and trade it. There are a lot of units at that resort for sale. Marriott has gotten out of a number of resorts in the last few years including the Sea Pines units in HH, Spicebush and Swallowtail in HH, Paradise Island and Longboat. In the past they had dumped Loon Mt in NH and another Caribbean resort.