My Survey - I just want Marriott Maui Ocean Club

[samolet1977]

Hello Tuggers,

I've been a lurker for a few years here, but finally decided to sign up and join. This community seems like a great wealth of info. My wife and I fell in love with Maui and specifically the Marriott Maui Ocean club. We first visited in 2010 and have come back every years since then. We typically rent from redweek and sometimes have used our Marriott Reward points to snag some last minute deals. Needless to say - we LOVE the resort as do our kids and don't mind coming back here every year forever.

We really like the Napili tower and even the Molokai/Lanai wings, and am now trying to make sense if buying resale will better suit our needs to continue coming back here year after year.

I've looked at Redweek resales and see oceanfront Napili units for around $30k, and $40k for specific weeks. My specific questions are: Floating vs. Specific weeks - why the price difference?




1) Where do you want your home resort to be?

Marriott Maui Ocean Club

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?

Would like to come back to same resort regularly

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?

Other Hawaiian islands

4) How many people do you usually travel with?

4-6

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?

Summers for now and fall

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?

Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?

Yes always at least 7-10 days

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?

5 Stars

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?

$30,000

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?

$3,000

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?

Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?

Yes

 

[JohnPaul]

Sounds like you know what you want so now you just have to find the best deal.

Good luck.

 

[dagger1]

Specific weeks/units are guaranteed. You compete for floating weeks and may not get week/unit you want...

 

[WalnutBaron]

I recommend you hire a reputable broker specializing in Marriott's in Hawaii. Remember, the seller is the one paying the brokerage so you should be able to avoid paying commission. You know exactly what you want, in what season, and your budget is realistic. I see many Marriott Maui units pop up on My Resort Network dot com. It's a very good resource and you can sign up for alerts when something new is listed.

 

[taffy19]

Syed Sarmad of http://advantagevacation.com/ knows the different brand programs inside out and TUGers recommend him. You may like to contact this office.

There are also a few other brokers who mainly work for the buyer trying to get you the very best deal and I hope that someone else here can give you that information but then you pay the commission.

We stayed once in a corner studio of an oceanfront Molokai tower condo that is on the corner between the Molokai tower and the new Napili tower and the view was panoramic. You had an ocean view right in front of you as well is to the right along the beach and the beautiful grounds and colorful trees but they are floating week/units only so there is competition for them and you need to reserve them very early.

Some wrote that the beach is narrow in the summer but that is not all year long. We saw the new Nanea this spring and the beach over there was narrow and quite sloping. The Napili tower has by far the deepest beach in front of the Marriott property and the Lahaina, where we own, the least but close to the ocean so you hear the waves day and night.

Good luck hunting.

 

[lizap]

I second using Syed..