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Aruba Ocean Club II trade -- important

GregT

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All,

As many of you will recall, my wife and I are seeking to go to Aruba Ocean Club next February and I had placed various trade requests to experiment/probe with trading power and trading priority.

Please note the following trade requests (all seeking the same trade: a Studio at Aruba Ocean Club either of the first two weeks of February 2012)

1) Lock-off unit of our 3BR Week 24 at Maui Ocean Club (MM1) -- deposited into our legacy II in approx July 2010 for max trading power
2) Lock-off unit of our 3BR Week 25 at Maui Ocean Club (MM1) -- with a Request First in our Corporate II account (started in Dec 2010)

The initial reason we deposited the Week 24 into legacy II was to check to see if legacy II and Corporate II see the same population (they do -- I kept comparing Week 24 results to Week 25 results). Note that we also have our customary Worldmark 3BR float trade request in for Aruba in Feb 2012, which as TUGgers may recall, has recently hit Aruba Surf Club Studio's 4 times for Feb 2012, but I kept rejecting the trade as I sought Aruba Ocean Club.

The purpose of my trade experiment was to see if the DClub trade request (a trade entered later, so should have lower trading power) matched the Aruba Ocean Club before the legacy account. In theory it should not, but I'm always curious to prove these things for myself.

Well, the Worldmark just confirmed to Aruba Ocean Club for Feb 10 2012, prior to either of the two on-going Marriott requests with the identical date. The way Worldmark trades work is that you search with the largest unit possible (a 3BR) but II will only deduct the actual points required for the actual trade (Studio points).

But there is no way that Worldmark should have beaten the Marriott preference. I'm very familiar with Worldmark trades matching at 13 months, less 24 days, but I've never ever seen Worldmark beat the Marriott preference.

At this point, nothing surprises me anymore. And I suspect Interval International screwed up the Marriott preference when making the recent changes to preferences for DClub -- this could not at all be what was intended, and definitely contradicts the Terms and Conditions.

This confirms the variability around the Marriott preference -- I still don't think it's gone completely, but it's definitely not functioning as designed.

Best,

Greg

Edited to add: Room code is OVTG, so not a developer deposit
 
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TheTimeTraveler

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All,

As many of you will recall, my wife and I are seeking to go to Aruba Ocean Club next February and I had placed various trade requests to experiment/probe with trading power and trading priority.

Please note the following trade requests (all for the same, a Studio at Aruba Ocean Club either of the first two weeks of February 2012)

1) Lock-off unit of our 3BR Week 24 at Maui Ocean Club (MM1) -- deposited into our legacy II in approx July 2010 for max trading power
2) Lock-off unit of our 3BR Week 25 at Maui Ocean Club (MM1) -- with a Request First in our Corporate II account (started in Dec 2010)

The initial reason we deposited the Week 24 into legacy II was to check to see if legacy II and Corporate II see the same population (they do -- I kept comparing Week 24 results to Week 25 results). Note that we also have our customary Worldmark 3BR float trade request in for Aruba in Feb 2012, which as TUGgers may recall, has recently hit Aruba Surf Club Studio's 4 times for Feb 2012, but I kept rejecting the trade as I sought Aruba Ocean Club.

The purpose of my trade experiment was to see if the DClub trade request (a trade entered later, so should have lower trading power) matched the Aruba Ocean Club before the legacy account. In theory it should not, but I'm always curious to prove these things for myself.

Well, the Worldmark just confirmed to Aruba Ocean Club for Feb 10 2012, prior to either of the two on-going Marriott requests with the identical date. The way Worldmark trades work is that you search with the largest unit possible (a 3BR) but II will only deduct the actual points required for the actual trade (Studio points).

But there is no way that Worldmark should have beaten the Marriott preference. I'm very familiar with Worldmark trades matching at 13 months, less 24 days, but I've never ever seen Worldmark beat the Marriott preference.

At this point, nothing surprises me anymore. And I suspect Interval International screwed up the Marriott preference when making the recent changes to preferences for DClub -- this could not at all be what was intended, and definitely contradicts the Terms and Conditions.

This confirms the variability around the Marriott preference -- I still don't think it's gone completely, but it's definitely not functioning as designed.

Best,

Greg




Greg; very interesting.

The gremlins are out there for sure.

Thanks for posting this.




.
 

yumdrey

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What is Worldmark?

Formerly, WorldMark Trendwest, now, it is WorldMark the Club by Wyndham. But Wyndham is just a management co. the Club is owned by WorldMark Owners.

II treats WM owners very well, always offer 2 years for 1 membership renewal and has great trading power and low MF. It is the most flexible point system AFAIK.

As a multiple Marriott weeks and 2 Worldmark accounts owner, my feeling is a mixed one - should I laugh or should I cry?

On another note, I put an ongoing search for Marriott Phuket Beach Club for week 27 about 10 days ago by using Worldmark and it matched within 4 days. I know, it is not a platinum/prime week in Thailand, but it matched sooner than I thought.
Also, it took only 8000 WorldMark credits. To calculate MF of 8000 WM credits, it is about $440. So including the exchange fee of $159, the total cost I spent for this exchange is $599. Much less than Marriott Phuket Beach Club's MF.
 
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dioxide45

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Could it be a trade power issue with your week 24 and 25 deposits? Not something sinister? Since WM will pull anything as long as you have the points, this would seem like the most likely culprit.
 

VacationPro

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Could it be a trade power issue with your week 24 and 25 deposits? Not something sinister? Since WM will pull anything as long as you have the points, this would seem like the most likely culprit.

I don't think this is a trade power issue. If the priority was working correctly, it should have been available for other Marriott owners to see before the Worldmark pulled it.
 

GregT

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Marriott: Maui Ocean Club Lahaina Villas (3BRx5), Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge II, Willow Ridge, Aruba Ocean Club, DC Points HGVC: Flamingo, Sea World, I-Drive, Starwood Bella (x4), SDO, TradeWinds, Worldmark
Could it be a trade power issue with your week 24 and 25 deposits? Not something sinister? Since WM will pull anything as long as you have the points, this would seem like the most likely culprit.

I don't think it can be trade power. These are very high TDI weeks at MOC that I was offering in trade, and they should should have very strong power.

Even if they were weak though, I would have thought the weakest Marriott would get preference on Day 23 Hour 23 versus the Worldmark???

I just think the way the Marriott preference is implemented is flawed.

Note: I believe the preference is still there, because recently I was doing Instant Exchange searching and my Marriott Studio (the same Week 24) could see Marriott units both in Flex and out of Flex that the Worldmark could not.

Example is that it saw an Instant Exchange for a June MOC Studio that Worldmark could not -- I assumed that was Marriott preference making the distinction.

Very strange.....thanks to all,

Greg
 
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m61376

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I wonder if it has to do with II's "recycling." For example, sometimes you can nab a week that you have an on-going search for that didn't get matched, and many have assumed that the deposits go in all day but the matching gets done perhaps once a day, when the system recycles (for lack of a better description). Maybe the Marriott preference doesn't get assigned until the system updates, and in the interim a strong non-Marriott trader will have the opportunity to "see" the week, and in this brief interim period a 3BR Worldmark (which is what the system "sees" as the deposit, even though it only takes points appropriate for a studio trade) trumps even a strong studio deposit.

This may not be a change in policy but might be an illustration of II's quirkiness. Anything seems possible with II (and with Marriott these days too :shrug:
 

jekgirl

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On another note, I put an ongoing search for Marriott Phuket Beach Club for week 27 about 10 days ago by using Worldmark and it matched within 4 days. I know, it is not a platinum/prime week in Thailand, but it matched sooner than I thought.
Also, it took only 8000 WorldMark credits. To calculate MF of 8000 WM credits, it is about $440. So including the exchange fee of $159, the total cost I spent for this exchange is $599. Much less than Marriott Phuket Beach Club's MF.

yundrey--fyi someone i know was able to help me book the phuket marriott beach club during flexchange in march using worldmark. was able to get a 2 bedroom.
 

GrayFal

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Could it be a trade power issue with your week 24 and 25 deposits? Not something sinister? Since WM will pull anything as long as you have the points, this would seem like the most likely culprit.

I don't think it can be trade power. These are very high TDI weeks at MOC that I was offering in trade, and they should should have very strong power.

Even if they were weak though, I would have thought the weakest Marriott would get preference on Day 23 Hour 23 versus the Worldmark???

I just think the way the Marriott preference is implemented is flawed.

Note: I believe the preference is still there, because recently I was doing Instant Exchange searching and my Marriott Studio (the same Week 24) could see Marriott units both in Flex and out of Flex that the Worldmark could not.

Example is that it saw an Instant Exchange for a June MOC Studio that Worldmark could not -- I assumed that was Marriott preference making the distinction.

Very strange.....thanks to all,

Greg

It is obvious the preference has been altered as it is not functioning as it should. There is no way a week 24/25 Hawaii should not have picked up the Feb Aruba week.
Over the past 8 years I have traded into Marriott aruba using Marriott Grande Vista, Marriott BeachPlace Towers, Sheraton Broadway Plantation, Wyndham generic deposits (2BR for studio Marriott)
And the Worldmark definitely should not have gotten the exchange if the unit was in the preference period.

So now not only is Marriott holding back inventory, they are giving exchanges to non-Marriott owners first.

Greg, I hope you forward this thread to the Marriott Executive that you contact thru https://www.my-vacationclub.com/default.jsp so he can see your evidence of a change to the II system - they will either look into it or maybe finally take responsibility for screwing their loyal owners.
 

MALC9990

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yundrey--fyi someone i know was able to help me book the phuket marriott beach club during flexchange in march using worldmark. was able to get a 2 bedroom.

All the units at Phuket Beach Club are 2 beds. March is still high season and the weather should be hot and sunny. You got a good exchange :whoopie: Will be there myself until March 18th.:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Enjoy !!
 

GregT

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It is obvious the preference has been altered as it is not functioning as it should. There is no way a week 24/25 Hawaii should not have picked up the Feb Aruba week.
Over the past 8 years I have traded into Marriott aruba using Marriott Grande Vista, Marriott BeachPlace Towers, Sheraton Broadway Plantation, Wyndham generic deposits (2BR for studio Marriott)
And the Worldmark definitely should not have gotten the exchange if the unit was in the preference period.

So now not only is Marriott holding back inventory, they are giving exchanges to non-Marriott owners first.

Greg, I hope you forward this thread to the Marriott Executive that you contact thru https://www.my-vacationclub.com/default.jsp so he can see your evidence of a change to the II system - they will either look into it or maybe finally take responsibility for screwing their loyal owners.

I will definitely forward the issue to both MVCI and II -- I'm trying to gather a couple more data points demonstrating the same issue, and will report back.

Best,

Greg
 

Pit

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This is just a guess (I don't have personal experience with this subject), but perhaps the preference only applies when a unit is released by Marriott into II inventory.

If the week was matched by someone else under the preference period, and they then release the week, does it go back into the exchange pool under the preference? Maybe not. :shrug:
 

nspils

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We put in an exchange request for Aruba Ocean Club in early January for our son's honeymoon trip in June, 2011. I was starting to get anxious and last week I had decided that we would use Destination Club points to buy the week. Before I did that deal the exchange was confirmed. Exchanges DO happen.
 

GregT

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All,

I did forward my original post to John Goodman, Marriott's Director of Customer Advocacy, who in turn has forwarded it on to II to investigate. I'll let you know what I hear back on a resolution.

Best,

Greg
 

GrayFal

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All,

I did forward my original post to John Goodman, Marriott's Director of Customer Advocacy, who in turn has forwarded it on to II to investigate. I'll let you know what I hear back on a resolution.

Best,

Greg

Thank you Greg.
 
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