jerseyfinn
TUG Member
For selfish reasons, I really dislike lock offs and wish they did not exist. When I go on Interval to Exchange or buy a getaway, there is often listings for the resorts we want. But when we get there, they are glorified hotel rooms from all the danged lock offs. It is really annoying.
Lots of TS companies have gone the lockoff route & one does indeed have to be careful when positing a trade so that you don't trade down for your 2BR resort. If one looks very carefully on Marriott.com, Interval, or in the rental market, you will note that MPB inventory is quite often broken into 1BR & lockoffs because savvy owners are going for more value when they trade/rent ( and so too, Marriott ). It's a consequence of the opportunity to increase value. We tried a trade-back using a platinum MPB week for a summer gold week, and I could never find a full 2BR villa on offer for the weeks we sought & I finally settle for a 1BR.
I think that Marriott is well-intentioned when they go the lockoff route as it does indeed offer additional flexibility if an owner strategizes carefully. How well it functions depends upon the resort, the season, the demographic of owners & how many of them elect to implement the lockoff option. For example, lockoffs work quite well in the Orlando area partly because of the larger aggregate inventory in the region which dilutes the ownership effect. But as I mention above, there are indeed negative consequences when lockoff usage runs higher. Remember, an owner who locks off essentially 'blocks' off one full villa for two weeks -- doing so in large numbers has negative resort inventory availbility consequences which extend beyond the idea of first-come-first-served when reserving your week. High lockoff implementaion creates a dichotomy of ownership in which all owners are not equal in a relative sense as lockoffs "lock out" some owners trying to get their full villa week in. This situation is distinct from the more usual reserve your week early where all owners compete for the resort's entire weekly inventory availibility. Now there's no sleight of hand here, it's just the practical result of what can happen when lockoff usage hits a "tipping point". We never thought too deeply about this when we purchase at Ocean Pointe, & it's only when we expand our ownership to other resorts that we become quite aware of the functional differences between resorts. Then again, TS ownership is about learning as much as you can about the resort where you will purchase, ownership usage & demographics, and how this plays out in real terms.
Before the economic collapse halts all new development in TS, Marriott was trending away from lockoff resorts, or they were implementing lockoffs on a more limited basis. I would assume that part of this decsion was because of logistical issues associated with lockoffs. For example, Playa Andaluza implements lockoffs only in a handful of 3BR villas & consciously creates some 3BRs which are not lockoffs. Oceana Palms is 100% two bedroom units with no lockoffs. I'm not gonna suggest that lockoffs are bad, but you gotta keep your eyes open & figure out how they function at a specific resort. Lots of ways to do TS, but one does indeed have to be careful both pondering resort owenrship & when trying to trade.
Barry
& we love the expansive, comfortable 20+ acre campus. And it is all of a 2 1/2 plane ride from PHL -- [TS 101: purchase where you will visit each year ].
.
So our doubts/disatisfaction with how the lockoff frenzy at Ocean Pointe muddles up planning a visit there has a solution . . . move up the beach to MVO & play the game straight up, which for us is more in keeping with what we want out of TS.