Rentals - optimal timings

[N5girl]

Hi

First of all I am not an owner, however we have now successfully rented weeks/reservations via points from owners/members a couple times in Orlando. We are now in a position (due to the restrictions of the school calendar) to be able to book at least 13mths in advance in future. In fact I could probably plan out our holidays for the next 13 years Given we are located in the UK we tend to need to book a long way in advance because of flight availability/cost.

I have been busy reading the threads and I would be very grateful if someone could check my logic/answer my questions as I want to make sure I am not missing a trick or two.

Availability
- Renting weeks from owners = Anytime - at what time is the greatest amount of supply of owner weeks available or is there no set pattern?
- Reservations via DC points = These can be secured from 13mths out (assuming renter has the correct status - is there likely to be a particular point when owners deposit their weeks into the system?)

Edited to include this from a post by Jim (thanks) - Unlike in the weeks system where only multi-week owners can book at 13 months out, all owners, regardless of owner status level can book seven-night stays at 13 months out. It's just that "Owner" level owners (under 4,000 points owned) have to pay a 20% point premium to book at 13-months. "Select" level owners (4,000 to 6,999 points owned) can book at 13 months without the 20% premium. "Executive" level and above (7,000+ points owned) adds the ability to book trips shorter than 7 nights at 13 months out. But the important thing to remember is only a portion of the inventory for any given check-in day is released at 13 months out. Marriott holds out at least 50% of the available inventory to release on the 12-month release date. At 12-months, everyone is equal

Length of stay
- Renting weeks from owners = 7nts / 14nts only?
- Renting days / weeks = any number of days (assuming availability in the DC system)

Supply
- Greater supply of weeks via owners v availability from points [I was told this last year and wanted to check that people still think it holds true]
- Weeks from owners - TUG Marketplace / Redweek - any other suggestions
- Reservations via points - TUG Marketplace / Vacationpoint (assuming people selling points would make a reservation for us)

I was also once told that it is better to book longer stays (i.e. a couple of weeks) via owner week as points would have higher MF over a longer period of time. However when I look at cost of points this does not seem to hold true.

Also I don't think I have quite grasped what the difference between fixed and floating weeks means.

Thanks in advance for any help. This forum is invaluable.

 

[2disneydads]

I think that the best way to start is to look at the Redweek rental units for the weeks that you want to travel and contact one or two owners in your price point to see if they are able to modify their reservations to add any additional days that you might need. Sometimes you will see owners who have listed multiple weeks that might work for you. Those owners might be able to combine the reservations to get one reservation for the number of weeks you need. At worst, they can link the reservations so that the resort knows to assign the same unit to the multiple reservations. Good luck.

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[NboroGirl]

Also, if you're interested in Florida, there's the Florida Club (for weeks owners). You can find the details in this thread: http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/2007-marriotts-florida-club.51287/

One of the features for owners in the Florida Club is they can split their stay/week between 2 different properties, so you can spend 3 days at one location, and 4 at another. The problem with this is, owners can only book other properties 6 months in advance, so it might not work for you.

I own 2 weeks (a 3BR and a 2BR) at Grande Vista in Orlando and sometimes rent out one of my weeks. So far I have only rented thru TUG because it feels more secure to me for some reason. I tried one year thru RedWeek and only got inquiries but never any renters, so I'm reluctant to pay the fee again. But you can usually find many weeks owners renting via RedWeek.

 

[2disneydads]

I have rented my Orlando Marriott units successfully on RedWeek see several times. Grande Vista always seems to rent best. Right now there is almost no rental inventory on TUG. The OP would have a wide selection of options on Redweek. The Marriott resorts are not the only game in town - the HGVC resorts are very nice, and Vistana Villages should be considered, too. There should be rental options in those resorts on Redweek as well.

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[rickandcindy23]

If you really love Orlando and want to stay there, and you want to stay in quality units for summer or spring break, I would buy a good trader or two and do it that way. Orlando is so incredibly easy to get via exchange with a good trader. I use my good traders to get Orlando all of the time. We stay in Orlando some years six weeks, and I wouldn't own Orlando to stay there, nor would I rent from an owner because, as I said, Orlando is easy to get. It's overbuilt with beautiful timeshares.

I told my stepsister to look at Orlando inventory through II with a bonus (AC) week I received. She wanted a week over Thanksgiving last year. She emailed me very excited that she found Mystic Dunes, 3 bed lockoff, for $350 total for the week, using my bonus week. I thought she might have gotten a bad resort, but she went with her three daughters, her grandson, and my stepdad (her dad), and she said it was as nice as the Marriott she stayed before this on another bonus week I was able to get for her.

I know what I posted is not related to renting an owner's week, and so if you want to dismiss my post, you sure can. I am not in the habit of pushing my way of doing things on others. But if you haven't considered owning, and you travel often, you should know that trading into many resorts is much cheaper than paying maintenance fees for that same week.

If you are interested in doing exactly what I suggested, there are many weeks being given away here on TUG, in the Bargain Deals Section, and also in the TUG Marketplace.

 

[N5girl]

If you really love Orlando and want to stay there, and you want to stay in quality units for summer or spring break, I would buy a good trader or two and do it that way. Orlando is so incredibly easy to get via exchange with a good trader. I use my good traders to get Orlando all of the time. We stay in Orlando some years six weeks, and I wouldn't own Orlando to stay there, nor would I rent from an owner because, as I said, Orlando is easy to get. It's overbuilt with beautiful timeshares.

I told my stepsister to look at Orlando inventory through II with a bonus (AC) week I received. She wanted a week over Thanksgiving last year. She emailed me very excited that she found Mystic Dunes, 3 bed lockoff, for $350 total for the week, using my bonus week. I thought she might have gotten a bad resort, but she went with her three daughters, her grandson, and my stepdad (her dad), and she said it was as nice as the Marriott she stayed before this on another bonus week I was able to get for her.

I know what I posted is not related to renting an owner's week, and so if you want to dismiss my post, you sure can. I am not in the habit of pushing my way of doing things on others. But if you haven't considered owning, and you travel often, you should know that trading into many resorts is much cheaper than paying maintenance fees for that same week.

If you are interested in doing exactly what I suggested, there are many weeks being given away here on TUG, in the Bargain Deals Section, and also in the TUG Marketplace.

Thanks. Absolutely open to suggestions. We like MVC (Lakeshore in particular with the RC gym/lap pool). I do read the posts to see if it is worth buying into MVC but to be honest I don't think I feel comfortable about it enough yet to commit to the investment. I recognise there is probably a cost to retaining flexibility. However until someone can show me how I can save 30-40% buying into MVC v renting a week/points I will probably stick with what I am doing.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Who says you have to buy into Marriott to get a Marriott through exchange?

Marriott resale is cheap too. I should have added that I paid less than $1,000 for a 2 bed platinum week in Branson, and it's pretty cheap to get exchanges through II.

If you were wanting to rent Hawaii Marriott resorts, I would say, Yes, you should definitely rent from an owner. It's very hard to get Hawaii, but Orlando resorts are a dime a dozen. I have yet to stay at Lakeshore Reserve, the dates have never worked out for our trips. So that might be a resort you need to rent from an owner for prime dates. I mostly don't even need prime dates because we are retired.

 

[N5girl]

Who says you have to buy into Marriott to get a Marriott?

From my v limited knowledge I understand that you can trade weeks via II however a lot of what I have read on here suggests that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get inventory via II. I would love to see an example of what's required to get a week at LR via II (at Easter) v cost of renting points (c.$1600 pw for a 1BR during our school holidays) .

 

[N5girl]

Who says you have to buy into Marriott to get a Marriott through exchange?

Marriott resale is cheap too. I should have added that I paid less than $1,000 for a 2 bed platinum week in Branson, and it's pretty cheap to get exchanges through II.

If you were wanting to rent Hawaii Marriott resorts, I would say, Yes, you should definitely rent from an owner. It's very hard to get Hawaii, but Orlando resorts are a dime a dozen. I have yet to stay at Lakeshore Reserve, the dates have never worked out for our trips. So that might be a resort you need to rent from an owner for prime dates. I mostly don't even need prime dates because we are retired.

Another thing I don't understand about II trading is that everyone goes on about the ability to trade-up - i.e. from 1BR to 2BR/3BR. Surely not everyone can trade-up in the system or am I missing something?

 

[Quilter]

We like Lakeshore Reserve too.

My weeks are booked 13+ months in advance. When I list my weeks on redweek I usually go for the 6 month period before check-in. Sure it would be great to list my weeks on redweek ad for longer but the redweek ads run for 6 months. I try to spend only 1 fee for each rental. I've found many of the people who contact me wait until the last minute to book a room. Other renters may post their weeks with similar logic.

Your desire to plan well in advance so you can get optimal flights makes me consider listing my winter weeks now.

When trading in II you may be lucky to get a 1 or 2 bd. unit for a studio. Or a 2 bd. for a 1 bd. II now has an upcharge for those. $99 for one step increase, $198 for 2.

When trading through II the more options you give them the better your chances for your request to be filled. By renting Lakeshore Reserve you are guaranteeing that you'll get the size unit and resort you want. If you were doing an exchange you may broaden your pallet for other resorts simply because it would increase your odds for a match.

While it seems there are always units to be had in Orlando, your specific resort and week are high demand.

 

[N5girl]

We like Lakeshore Reserve too.

My weeks are booked 13+ months in advance. When I list my weeks on redweek I usually go for the 6 month period before check-in. Sure it would be great to list my weeks on redweek ad for longer but the redweek ads run for 6 months. I try to spend only 1 fee for each rental. I've found many of the people who contact me wait until the last minute to book a room. Other renters may post their weeks with similar logic.

Your desire to plan well in advance so you can get optimal flights makes me consider listing my winter weeks now.

When trading in II you may be lucky to get a 1 or 2 bd. unit for a studio. Or a 2 bd. for a 1 bd. II now has an upcharge for those. $99 for one step increase, $198 for 2.

When trading through II the more options you give them the better your chances for your request to be filled. By renting Lakeshore Reserve you are guaranteeing that you'll get the size unit and resort you want. If you were doing an exchange you may broaden your pallet for other resorts simply because it would increase your odds for a match.

While it seems there are always units to be had in Orlando, your specific resort and week are high demand.

Thanks - for us Brits flight prices are a big consideration given that you are looking at upwards of $800 each in coach for an Easter holiday flight to the US. Our Easter holidays (aka Spring Break) are relatively fixed for all areas - i.e. they are only differ by a couple of days for each region so we are all looking for the same flight times. I think that is why a lot of Brits will book so far in advance - not sure whether it would hold so much for the US market where you have less annual vacation time and more flexible school vacation times.

 

[Quilter]

not sure whether it would hold so much for the US market where you have less annual vacation time and more flexible school vacation times.

That's an interesting question.

What do you use to compare the amount of annual vacation time for US vs. UK? It's been so long since DH has "punched a clock" that I'm not up on average annual vacation time. He's been on a technological tether for years, so much of vacation time is spent working and much of working time is while on vacation. Our SIL is in the Army and they seem to get a couple weeks of leave mid-year and again Dec./Jan. So that would be 4 weeks which seems similar to what DH would get back in the days where it was counted.

Here's a map comparing 2011 UK population with some U.S. states. There are just 12 of our states in consideration. http://brilliantmaps.com/uk-region-us-state/

For each of our school districts I would think my friends would say they don't have a flexible schedule. They are locked in to whatever their school system has scheduled and competing for the rooms and flights from their local airports. I rarely hear of my friends with school age children flying internationally for vacations. Most of them would be traveling domestically so their airfare is considerably less.

Do you find many of your friends come to the US for Spring Break as opposed to somewhere in Europe?

 

[N5girl]

Flexible was a bad choice of words - what I mean is that I thought that the dates for Spring Break vary more based on which school district you are in - talking to my US friends there was about 3 weeks difference in the weeks they were on holiday - i.e. they were more spread out. This is comparing north v south etc. Whereas in the UK the state school spring break varied by about 4 days. Private schools broke up about a week earlier than the state schools (they get longer holidays). State schools get 2 weeks and private schools get about 3 - 3.5 weeks.

Europe is generally still cold at Easter in terms of a beach holiday - a lot of our friends go to US or the Middle East. Dubai is probably comparable in terms of cost at Easter despite being a shorter flight. A lot of Brits like Orlando at Easter because it is a reasonable temp. Summer in the parks is a killer.

In terms of holiday we tend to get 25 days + bank holidays (there are 8 of those). I get an extra 5 days because I am worth it. Recently it was possible to take 9 days leave to get an 18 day holiday due to the way the Easter / bank holidays have fallen this year.