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Advise on Exchange Likelihood

cbros

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New to TUG, although owned our TS for 20 years. I'm not a savvy trader and don't really understand how many of you can find the information on trades that you do and report on this bb. So I'd appreciate advise experienced Marriott traders can provide.

We own a 2BR Floating Prime week Streamside Vail Evergreen unit. We used to use the week, but our skiing days are over and exchange into Cancun for Spring Break, which usually has tons of inventory so isn't a problem. So I really have no idea of the trading power I can expect for somewhere else.

I reserved 2015 week 6 (World Ski Championships), intending to try renting it for the first time, listing on Tug bb and a dedicated Vail by owner rental website. Its now approaching 90 days before check in, so I'm thinking of depositing the week for exchange.

Some questions, 1) will depositing closer to check in hurt my trading power?

2) Hoping to exchange into Marriott's Malaga or Marbella for a 2016 week in September or October. These are Gold and Gold Holiday weeks and I'll probably pick 6 weeks for each property for my request. How likely would I be able to match here?

3) Would we be better off trying to make the same exchange for September or October 2015 as these would already be booked through Marriott?

4) Are there equivalent non-Marriott properties I should consider adding to the request to increase the chance of matching? If so which would you suggest?

5) Should I hedge my bets and also request Cancun Spring 2016? we are already booked into Cancun April 2015. We always match at the Royal Resorts and I'm tired of them. How difficult a match is the Westin Lagunamar 2 BR in Cancun? If I specify this resort with multiple dates I'd be satisfied if I could not get the Spain exchanges.

Thanks so much for any help you can provide.
 

cbros

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Request First ?

Could anyone advise if I should try to do a request first for the 2015 exchange and to see what is available? Thanks!
 

vacationhopeful

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You might want to look at the Exchanging thread .. verses staying here in Marriott thread.

Additionally, as a TUG Member (thank you and Welcome to TUG!), look for the Distressed/Sightening Thread (bottom item on the column of threads) and POST your request there. As a TUG Member, other II exchangers will help you out.
 

cbros

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thanks, are you saying I should post this thread on the exchanging forum?
 

vacationhopeful

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No --- there is a SIGHTINGS thread .... look at the bottom of the list of threads ...

Go to the blue bar that says "FORUM JUMP" above it ... under the blue banner saying GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENTS. It is like a pull down menu.

It is on the right side upper part of your monitor. For this thread, it says MARRIOTT RESORT SYSTEM
 
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vacationhopeful

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Find it?

I added this post to make this a new post to draw your attention to my editing on the above reply....
 

cbros

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Linda, thank you for your attempt to help. I'm sorry but I really don't understand your reply. I'm not very savvy with exchanging so I know what sightings are and how that would help in my situation. :(
 

dioxide45

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I think you may be better to try to cancel your current reservation and make one that is late in 2015. That way, you will be depositing much further out and it will also extend the expiration date of your deposit. Deposing further in advance is also said to enhance trade power.

I can't speak for how much trade power you will need or how possible your desired trades are. However, by making a new later reservation, you will have the ability to place an ongoing request first request for when you want to travel without having to commit your week to II yet.
 

cbros

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Thanks, dioxide. I may be totally wrong, but I don't see how reservation outside of ski season in Vail would improve my trading power over a prime ski week reservation. I'd be trying to exchange a week with the lowest value for Vail. I have until Feb. 6, 2017 to match an exchange, which is why I asked if I'd be better off requesting 2016 instead of 2015.
 

tschwa2

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I prime ski week 90 days out is going to have more trading power than a November or early December ski week deposited 12 months out. If you could get a week 51 or 52 I would cancel and rebook. Definitely don't wait inside the 59 day mark for deposit. You may have already missed Laguamar for 2015. If you have at least 3 or 4 week range and put in a request ASAP for 2016 your chances are pretty good. If you have one week only and it is the week before or after Easter it will be a lot more difficult.
 

sudiski

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I just sent you a private message. Go to the top right corner of your screen and you will see "private messages"
 

cbros

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Thanks so much to everyone for your willingness to help a TUG newbie. I am so impressed with the kindness of TUG members and helpfulness of the community, I wish we had joined sooner.

When we purchased the Vail timeshare (directly from Marriott and sight unseen, :annoyed:) our kids were 2-5-8 and are now 22-25-28, so I'm trying to figure out how to make the week work with all the life changes. I haven't been able to ski for the past 15 years due to an accident and internal reduction of the pieces of my tibia and fibula. Our last family trip was 2004 and we've been exchanging into Cancun or banking Marriott points since then.

I don't know how you all juggle so many weeks; but I hope to learn from you to make the most of our one week.

I really appreciate all the replies but want to really,really thank sudiski for the generosity of her time to talk about her Marriott trades and experiences. Thank you so very much.

I will be a TUG member for a very long time.
 

vacationhopeful

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We just like having more people who enjoy timesharing the way we do.

We figure, you will within 12 months have decided YOU NEED another week or 2; brought resale, of course. ;)
 

ilene13

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Thanks so much to everyone for your willingness to help a TUG newbie. I am so impressed with the kindness of TUG members and helpfulness of the community, I wish we had joined sooner.

When we purchased the Vail timeshare (directly from Marriott and sight unseen, :annoyed:) our kids were 2-5-8 and are now 22-25-28, so I'm trying to figure out how to make the week work with all the life changes. I haven't been able to ski for the past 15 years due to an accident and internal reduction of the pieces of my tibia and fibula. Our last family trip was 2004 and we've been exchanging into Cancun or banking Marriott points since then.

I don't know how you all juggle so many weeks; but I hope to learn from you to make the most of our one week.

I really appreciate all the replies but want to really,really thank sudiski for the generosity of her time to talk about her Marriott trades and experiences. Thank you so very much.

I will be a TUG member for a very long time.

Are you enrolled in DC points? I was able to easily book a week in Marbella using th e points.
 

Marathoner

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Deposit your week

My advice is for you to deposit your week now into II. Buy the e-plus retrade option ($49) when you do your first exchange so that you can re-trade for free 3 additional times. In addition, e-plus will add another year from the first exchange check-in date.

Your Marriott Vail villa is a strong trader and you will be able to see and get alot of exchanges. You have a 24 day preference to exchange into a Marriott in II vs people who are using non-Marriott timeshares to exchange into a Marriott.

With my Marriott Fairway Villas, I can see in II that there is a studio at Marriott Playa Andaluza for the week of Sep 20 2015 if you want to exchange into it now. You are highly likely to get a larger unit if you keep looking from now to Sept 2015. So, you could exchange into it now and with e-plus retrade, you can keep looking for larger units or a different week for the next 10 months.

The 2016 exchanges in September is not likely to be visible until Aug 2015 at the earliest in II. So, I'm sure you can exchange into a nice Marriott unit in Spain but you won't know until then.

Why not try something besides Cancun? How about Aruba - the Marriotts there are very nice. Or Hawaii.
 

cbros

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Ilene, thanks for the information, I'm not a member of the DC program.

Marathoner, Thanks for your input. I have deposited my week, but I am not able to see any units available in Spain. Are you still seeing availability? I put a request in for fall 2016 hoping that my chances of matching a 2 BR will be better. Also, can you please elaborate on the e-plus option and what the benefit would be, I'm not following how it works. It sounds like after I've got the exchange I requested it gives me the option to cancel and retrade the week. If I'm certain I'd accept the requested weeks, is it just for insurance in case something happens that we're not able to use the week?

Also, we've been to Hawaii, absolutely loved it but being from the East Coast once, flying that far, was enough. We've also been to Aruba and agree it was very nice, but for us it just wasn't the spot location we'd return to often. I'm thinking coastal Spain may tick off all the boxes for us that Cancun has over the last 10+ years.
 

Fayeoctober

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Strongly suggest you take the E plus option. We had a week in Maui reserved for our daughter for her honeymoon trip. Our son-in-law hurt his neck and they had to cancel, because he couldn't sit comfortably on a plane that long. We were able to reschedule several months later. Well worth the price as insurance.
 

ilene13

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Ilene, thanks for the information, I'm not a member of the DC program.

Marathoner, Thanks for your input. I have deposited my week, but I am not able to see any units available in Spain. Are you still seeing availability? I put a request in for fall 2016 hoping that my chances of matching a 2 BR will be better. Also, can you please elaborate on the e-plus option and what the benefit would be, I'm not following how it works. It sounds like after I've got the exchange I requested it gives me the option to cancel and retrade the week. If I'm certain I'd accept the requested weeks, is it just for insurance in case something happens that we're not able to use the week?

Also, we've been to Hawaii, absolutely loved it but being from the East Coast once, flying that far, was enough. We've also been to Aruba and agree it was very nice, but for us it just wasn't the spot location we'd return to often. I'm thinking coastal Spain may tick off all the boxes for us that Cancun has over the last 10+ years.


I booked our week for September 2014 in August 2013. I was not able to get a 1 bedroom unit so I took a 2 bedroom. The e-plus option with II lets you re-exchange the week 3 times without a charge.
 

cbros

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Thanks Faye, so its more like a timeshare travel insurance? Thats probably a good idea then.
 

tschwa2

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It's not really like insurance. If you decide to go at another time, it becomes restrictive if you are making the change at less than 60 days. That is the time period when insurance is most useful What e plus trades allow you to do is to confirm a resort that you are ok with so you can make your travel arrangements but for no additional fee (above the original extra $49) you can continue to look to see if a bigger or better resort becomes available that works with the plans you already have. So if you have a family of 4, you can grab a studio and continue to look to see if the larger unit becomes available or you can pick the 3 star resort hoping that the 4 star one you want becomes available. If you are booking something way in advance, lets say before airline seats are released at 11.5 months prior and when the flights come online you find that nothing works for you then you can make other types of changes to your confirmed exchange.
 

Marathoner

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CBros,

As others have said, e-plus gives you the option to re-trade 3 more times for $49. Alot can happen between the day that you exchange into a resort until the actual travel date. e-plus allows you to cheaply and conveniently re-trade into a different resort, a bigger villa, or a different date for any reason that you choose.

I just checked and I can't see the Playa Andaluze resort studio any longer. My suggestion is that you check several times a day for the next year until you find a resort villa that you like. Especially check in the mornings between 7am to noon EST.
 

radmoo

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Hmmm, had it been me, I would have rented the FEB VAil week. Prime ski week would have fetched a good price and the you could have rented any week you wanted, anywhere you wanted.
 

tschwa2

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Hmmm, had it been me, I would have rented the FEB VAil week. Prime ski week would have fetched a good price and the you could have rented any week you wanted, anywhere you wanted.

That's what the OP tried to do but was getting antsy because at the 90 day mark didn't have it rented. (Post 1)
 

Marathoner

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Hmmm, had it been me, I would have rented the FEB VAil week. Prime ski week would have fetched a good price and the you could have rented any week you wanted, anywhere you wanted.

I ski and rent lodging a fair amount and my view is more nuanced than the way that you present it. In my view, the only sure ski rental weeks are Christmas, New Years, and Presidents Day weeks that are ski-in/out. There are some rare exceptions for very large special events (e.g. Sundance Film Festival).

If you are not ski-in/out and it is not a holiday weekend, then the outcome can be random. Many units will get rented and many will not. I even know of people who could not rent out their Christmas week ski-in/out unit because they didn't advertise in enough places and didn't work hard enough (they were both doctors and busy with their day jobs).

Most people use Expedia and other commercial websites to book their skiing stays. People who want to stay at a house while skiing tend to use VRBO. I don't know of people who actively search for timeshares off the mountain to find lodging (using timeshare websites like Redweek). This is just my experience. There are alot of lodging options in the Vail area and I think that anything is possible but the outcome could very well have been no rental.
 
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