Timeshare purchase question

[philipgallo]

Hey folks. I've benefited greatly from TUG in the past and have a question I would love some advice on. My wife and I were given a timeshare from my grandparents a few years ago. It is a 2bd unit, week 25 at SHX (Shawnee River Village - a Wyndham property). We live in Seattle with our 4 kids (11 and under) and will never visit this property. We have used it to exchange via II and have had good results. We have exchanged into:

Week before Christmas, 2012 we got a 1bd at the Westin Ka'anapali.
2014 we got a 2bd at Wahohai (week of April 10)
2016 we got a 2bd at Ko'Olina over spring break (week of April 10)

These are amazing exchanges given the low ranking of our home resort and these types of resorts are very ideal for a family of 6 as we need the extra space and kitchen etc. Purchasing a week into these resorts would likely be north of $3,000. These exchanges have come at a lot of work as you can imagine. I typically can snag a studio at a location/time we want and then daily eplus manual searches hoping we can get a bigger unit (requiring some very early alarms to wake up and check). It's always a roll of the dice and results in a pretty big time expense.

I have wondered recently if it would make sense to purchase a Marriott/Westin/Sheraton/Hyatt week somewhere even if it's Orlando or somewhere we may not go, but would bank us greater trading power. We have gotten amazing value out of exchanging given we only pay $700/yr for our maintenance fees.

I've seen some relatively inexpensive ones in the marketplace.

Curious for your input on this. Thanks!

 

[TUGBrian]

moved this to the BSR forum as it seems to be more about that than exchanging.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I don't know if your issue is trading power. It seems like it might be more like availability. A test is if you can see less difficult weeks 10-12 months out at premium resorts. Like 2BR Marriotts that far out for shoulder season in Florida. If you can see them then you have decent trading power.

Having one of those other units might greatly help with preference. You will pay more. A compromise could be getting a lock-off, but then you give up an easier exchange with a request.

 

[icydog]

I'm looking at your exchanges and I'm blown away. I own a lot of Marriotts and have rarely gotten the type exchanges you have listed. Of course, I don't get up on Monday morning at 5 AM like I used to. That seems like the only way to snag the resorts you mentioned. But owning Marriott's will only give you an advantage, over what you've succeeded in getting, at the 60 day from check in period called Flexchange.

 

[taterhed]

Owning a Marriott--any Marriott--will give you Marriott Preference (MP, as noted above) and that is worth quite a bit.
The MP will give you an advantage over any NON-Marriott property on most exchange availability--OGS or instant or Flexchange--anytime; not just during Flexchange.
I think there is great value in owning a lock-off; by exchanging and reserving studios etc... and then eplus to a larger unit (as you have done, but with MP for Marriott properties) on TWO weeks instead of one. One-plus-one lock-offs (rare) or 3br 2br-plus-1br (MGC) make great traders that have lower exchange costs with less upgrade fees.

Not sure about your pricing quote...but there are good values in Marriott to attempt to ROFR. MF's are certainly higher than $700, but if you can get a lockoff and split it into two weeks, then you get more value for your $$$. Also, most Marriott's qualify for a good AC, and the AC's have shown to be very capable as of late; if you can travel on short notice.

IMHO. I love my Marriotts. I always stay in my HI week and trade the 2br l/o for my second week. Then I can use the studio for something else. I usually check for friends, and the studio can usually pick a week during flexchange (in HI) as well. It's amazing.

 

[philipgallo]

I don't know if your issue is trading power. It seems like it might be more like availability. A test is if you can see less difficult weeks 10-12 months out at premium resorts. Like 2BR Marriotts that far out for shoulder season in Florida. If you can see them then you have decent trading power.

Having one of those other units might greatly help with preference. You will pay more. A compromise could be getting a lock-off, but then you give up an easier exchange with a request.

That's a good suggestion. I just checked further out and for example I can pick up a 2bd Marriott Desert Spring Villas 12/21-28/17 later this year. As I'm looking the dates to other nicer spots are mostly avoided season dates, but some more prime sprinkled in.


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[philipgallo]

I'm looking at your exchanges and I'm blown away. I own a lot of Marriotts and have rarely gotten the type exchanges you have listed. Of course, I don't get up on Monday morning at 5 AM like I used to. That seems like the only way to snag the resorts you mentioned. But owning Marriott's will only give you an advantage, over what you've succeeded in getting, at the 60 day from check in period called Flexchange.

I agree the trade have been fantastic, but they have come by getting up at 3:50am PST for me to check availability for months on end.


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[philipgallo]

Owning a Marriott--any Marriott--will give you Marriott Preference (MP, as noted above) and that is worth quite a bit.
The MP will give you an advantage over any NON-Marriott property on most exchange availability--OGS or instant or Flexchange--anytime; not just during Flexchange.
I think there is great value in owning a lock-off; by exchanging and reserving studios etc... and then eplus to a larger unit (as you have done, but with MP for Marriott properties) on TWO weeks instead of one. One-plus-one lock-offs (rare) or 3br 2br-plus-1br (MGC) make great traders that have lower exchange costs with less upgrade fees.

Not sure about your pricing quote...but there are good values in Marriott to attempt to ROFR. MF's are certainly higher than $700, but if you can get a lockoff and split it into two weeks, then you get more value for your $$$. Also, most Marriott's qualify for a good AC, and the AC's have shown to be very capable as of late; if you can travel on short notice.

IMHO. I love my Marriotts. I always stay in my HI week and trade the 2br l/o for my second week. Then I can use the studio for something else. I usually check for friends, and the studio can usually pick a week during flexchange (in HI) as well. It's amazing.

Those are some great insights. What does the acronym ROFR stand for? Perhaps it's my groggy brain early in the morning, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Thanks!


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[theo]

What does the acronym ROFR stand for?

Right Of First Refusal. Some timeshare companies / chains have and may choose to exercise the option to "match" the agreed price of a private resale transaction within their particular system, essentially superseding (i.e., killing) a resale buyer's intended purchase and instead choosing to become the "buyer" themselves at that same figure. Not an issue or an available option at independent (non "chain") timeshare properties.