Proof that Marriott is off the mark (Better?) about II Trades drying up

Post your trades here. My trades have been great and continue to be great. I read over and over that the "High Pressure" sales pitch used to push you into buying DC points is that you will never get a good trade on II again. Scream it from the rooftops "II is alive and well" and the DC salesman is lying to you about the ability to trade(among other lies)

My trades
Into Date Traded unit When Traded
Canyon Villas-2b 2/25/12 MCV Nov/11 April 2011
Desert Springs-2b 2/11/12 MGV 2/12 Aug 2011
Playa Andaluza 2-b 10/7/12 MGV 2/12 Dec 2011 - Gold
Royal Sands 2-b 12/15/12 MGV 2/11 Feb 2012
Ocean Pointe 2-b 2/28/13 MCV 3/13 Mar 2012
SurfWatch 3B 4/14/13 MCV 8/11 Apr 2012 - Gold for a silver

All my trades have been using 2 bedrooms, until now. Working with a 1br and lock-off separately to see how I do.

Is there a sticky or how you doin' trading post that has a long list of trades?

Summitt Watch 1Bedroom for ShadowbRidge 1bedroom February 16, 2013 Presidents Week
Barony Beach 2Bedroom for Ocean Pointr Ocean Front 2Bedroom March 30, 2013 Easter
Both 12 months out.

What the sales reps fail to mention is that for every week that doesn't go to II because it goes to DC, there is also one less week that is in II vying for exchange inventory. Sure prime weeks in some locations will be difficult trades in II, they were in the past also.

We got a 2 br Phuket beach end of June for my gv (gold) studio, and 2br manor club at Easter for my shadow ridge studio (gold), and 2br barony beach in aug for my shadow ridge 1br (gold) amongst many other great trades post dv...

I have been very happy with my recent trades. Some of them are upgrades and some of them equal trades. I don't except always to get an upgrade, I am happy with equal trades since I am still getting what I want. And all the XYZs and getaways in addition to trades. I continue to be very happy with Interval even though I joined DC but at this point I don't see myself ever converting my weeks to points.
Recent trades - Grande Vista 1 br to 2 br Beach Place Towers, Grande Vista studio to 2 br Sabal Palms, Grande Vista studio to 1 br Maui Ocean Club.

great trade!

OceanWatch (April gold week) for the Westin Princeville on Kauai, May 12-19, 2013. Could have used SurfWatch or Aruba Surf Club, had to decide which to give up next year.

Now we can spend 2 weeks on Kauai - Princeville followed by our all-time favorite, Waiohai Beach Club.

I agree, II is alive and well! Got this trade 10 days ago, it's rare to see a Westin property in II.

2Br Plat Ocean Pointe for 2Br Plat Beachplace Towers Jan 2012 - I did use Florida Club for this booking though.
2Br Plat Ocean Pointe for 2Br Plat Harbour Club at Harbour Town Hilton Head 4th of July week 2012!
I have an ongoing search with a Gold Ocean Pointe for Crystal Shores for Oct/Nov of this year. I know this is a tough one to get so I am crossing my fingers.
I have another ongoing search for Aruba Surf or Ocean for April 2013.

I will update when/if the ongoing requests are filled.

We just came back from Maui Ocean Club, obtained with our summer DSVII week. They tried to get just to go to the presentation because II was no longer providing any good trades, didn't we agree? We looked at her and said "Well, we are here on an exchange, and have always gotten an exchange where we wanted to go..." The standard answer to that is "Well, you were just very lucky!" Our answer "We always are."

We've been very happy with our post DC exchanges; using both pending requests & finding an immediate exchange on II. Here's what we've been able to exchange into:

Studio Premier Plat Lakeshore Reserve for 1BR Harborside at Atlantis (Jan 2012) – 7 mos wait

2BR Premier Plat Lakeshore Reserve for 2BR K’Olina (Jan 2013) – 12 mos wait

1BR Gold Grand Vista for 3BR Grand Vista (Oct 2011) – self II search; immediate exchange (Halloween visit to see the Mouse; coupled with another exchange week into Cypress Harbor)

Studio Gold Grand Vista for 2BR Branson (Dec 2011) – self II search; immediate exchange (wanted to see what Christmas season was like in Branson; not what we expected based on the TV commercials)

1 BR Gold Grand Vista for 2 BR Ford’s Colony (Dec 2012) – self II search; immediate exchange (love Williamsburg & wanted to see area during the Christmas season)

Studio Gold Grand Vista for 2BR Barony Beach (April 2012) – self II search; immediate exchange (added this week to an April 2012 week at Lakeshore)

1BR Gold Grand Vista for 2BR St Kitts (Sept 2012) – self II search; immediate exchange (coupled with another week exchange to St Kitts; realizing chance of hurricane season)

Studio Gold Grand Vista for 2BR Cypress Harbor (Oct 2011) – self II search; immediate exchange (coupled with another “Halloween visit to the Mouse” week exchange into Orlando)

1BR Gold Grand Vista for 2BR Lakeshore Reserve (April 2012) – self II search; immediate exchange

Studio Gold Grand Vista for 2BR St Kitts (Sept 2012) – self II search; immediate exchange

2BR Premium Plat Lakeshore Reserve - deposited with II Nov 2011 for pending exchange requests

Haven’t yet done anything with our 2013 weeks.

I have no horse in this race and don't know whether trades are now more difficult or not, but I find it curious that repeatedly since the introduction of the DC program, quite a few owners have complained on TUG that II trades are now much more difficult. Here is a poster who accuses Marriott of "lying" (the "proof" is 6 successful trades) because he/she was told essentially the same thing by Marriott. That seems pretty strong. Were the other TUG posters also "lying"? I think not. I think everyone is just expressing their opinions. Maybe there is an anti-Marriott agenda here?

Using the Studio side of our MGV 3BR L/O, I have been able to see multiple dates to trade back in to Grande Vista for a 3BR unit, as well as several 2BR open weeks at Harbour Lakes.

3BR for a Studio ... If that is what dried up trades look like.

Forget the plum trades. Bring on the prunes!!!

BocaBoy said:

Maybe there is an anti-Marriott agenda here?

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I read the original post in this thread as countering the tall tales told by Marriott sales people. That is not an anti-Marriott agenda.

I expect to continue to get good trades as I'm going to do "Request First" from now on. They can't have my Oceanwatch Platinum week until they give me what I want. We commonly look for weeks that are somewhere between end of April and middle of May. It shouldn't be that hard, but they're not getting my week until I get what I want.

Our 2010 1 bdrm fixed week 47 Streamside Birch on deposit with II nabbed a 1 bdrm Maui Ocean Club for the last week of January 2012. It earlier pulled a 2 bdrm Phuket week for January but we held out for Maui. Our request took about two and a half to three months to come through.

I think the Marriott prefernce has become much stronger in II within the last year. If I have noticed any negative difference in II, it is that studios are now blocked from seeing most two bedrooms or larger except in flex or in off season. Even seeing one bedrooms with a studio is getting harder. I'm hoping this is only true when searching on-line inventory and that studios are pulling much better via ongoing searches.

Although, last year I had a few ongoing searches with my platinum marriott studio for the Carolina Marriott properties and nothing matched -- so I am thinking that studios aren't pulling so well in II, even with ongoing searches.

I'll be sure to post my 2013 exchanges, when they happen. Wish I had more Marriott weeks!!!

brigechols said:

I read the original post in this thread as countering the tall tales told by Marriott sales people. That is not an anti-Marriott agenda.

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The subject line clearly states that "Marriott is lying" so it's a bad choice of words...

"Tall tales" or "lying" ... either one really isn't the focus of the thread. The point 4relief seemed to be working toward was to get a list of positive trades. Positive news helps temper the slant that gets flowing in the other direction.

Back in the day of weeks being sold we did a tour at St. Kitts. We were told "you'll never be able to trade into here. . .". Maybe that was stretching the truth

Quilter said:

"Tall tales" or "lying" ... either one really isn't the focus of the thread. The point 4relief seemed to be working toward was to get a list of positive trades. Positive news helps temper the slant that gets flowing in the other direction.

Back in the day of weeks being sold we did a tour at St. Kitts. We were told "you'll never be able to trade into here. . .". Maybe that was stretching the truth

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We were told at an Orlando presentation that we would never be able to trade in to Lakeshore Reserve. "They don't want the II rif raff over there". That wasn't a stretch of the truth, it was an outright lie. We have traded in to there twice now. Don't know any other way to put it.

We were told a smilar thing at Ocean Watch last week, that II would be drying up. Will it turn out to be a lie? Probably so.

brigechols said:

I read the original post in this thread as countering the tall tales told by Marriott sales people. That is not an anti-Marriott agenda.

Click to expand...

My point was simply this: Why is Marriott "lying" when TUG members who have expressed the same opinion are not? That point holds up whether what the Marriott sales person said was true or not.

You Guys can trade like a Baseball GM (better than most)

I am humbled by the list of trades reported here. I apologize for using the word "Lying" in my title. Thank you, Thank you, thank you all for the wonderful list of trades, and some ideas of how you executed...self search or request first.


My real objective is to bring out to the open some of the abilities to trade, how are the rookies gonna know to find Maui, Westin, Phuket if they don't even know to ask. How you gonna turn a Jul 31-Aug 7 Phoenix week into Gold (Surfwatch 3 BR April) without a lesson. How can you stretch a studio into a 3br unless TUGGERS teach you that "Hey all the got is 2br and 3br on Hilton Head.

I love what you guys do to educate other time sharers and make the game better for us owners and renter. Please don't let my jab at Marriott Pressure Sales about II Trades distract you from sharing. (Or, even bragging a little)

Hurray on all the great trades you've done and cheers to the next big catch.

Very cool 4Relief.

My trades last year and this have made me satisfied enough to still be a fan of II. Without logging into my account I can remember some of the details.

2bd Manor club Plat. for this past Easter week in April at Barony Beach.

1bd. Plat. for 2br. oceanWatch 4/20/12 but I retraded it to 2 bd. SurfWatch week before Easter (II reps still referred to it as Easter).

Plat. studio for 2 bd. Cypress Harbour 3/4/12

xYZ to 2bd. harbour lake 2/25/12

OP plat. Studio to 3 bd. Cadillac MI but retraded to 2 bd Traverse City MI in Jan.

2 bd MCV summer week to 3 bd. Bay Harbor, MI 9/26/12, prime leaf peeping week

On the other Hand - DC Request Not Available

I had a phone call from someone looking to rent my extra DC Points (strange but true....cannot use all my timeshare this year). I needed to make the reservation for him because the purchase includes my 800 enrollment points.

Didn't they tell you that if you buy DC Points, you will get that super hard to exchange week you wanted? Well I called last night to reserve 2br at Aruba Surf Club GV and it was sold out. Sold out for my dates in January, Sold out for 7 of 9 weeks in Jan and Feb in GV and most of the OV weeks as well.

I would really be bawling if I bought DC points with the dream of going to Aruba. And this is paying the sticker price in DC Points, not like I could trade a 1br silver HHI for Gold.

Just more proof that Marriott might be off the mark when they say DC reservations will be the only way to go and II is nearly dead.

4Reliefnow said:

I had a phone call from someone looking to rent my extra DC Points (strange but true....cannot use all my timeshare this year). I needed to make the reservation for him because the purchase includes my 800 enrollment points.

Didn't they tell you that if you buy DC Points, you will get that super hard to exchange week you wanted? Well I called last night to reserve 2br at Aruba Surf Club GV and it was sold out. Sold out for my dates in January, Sold out for 7 of 9 weeks in Jan and Feb in GV and most of the OV weeks as well.

I would really be bawling if I bought DC points with the dream of going to Aruba. And this is paying the sticker price in DC Points, not like I could trade a 1br silver HHI for Gold.

Just more proof that Marriott might be off the mark when they say DC reservations will be the only way to go and II is nearly dead.

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I think it depends on what and when you are looking for. My last couple of trades II has come up bust but DC got me in when and where I wanted to go. It did cost slightly more as I had to rent a small amt of points to cover skim but I think sometimes you will hit home runs in either systems and sometimes you will strike out.

I am looking for a DC reservation in Aruba next Feb/Mar.
Nothing at the Ocean Club and there are some scattered at Surf Club.
I am surprised since I check as soon as they are 'open'. Maybe not enough Ocean Club people chose to deposit their weeks for DC points?
Probably would have been better to try for a trade in II, but I already opted for the points. Live and learn.

JPrisco said:

I am looking for a DC reservation in Aruba next Feb/Mar.
Nothing at the Ocean Club and there are some scattered at Surf Club.
I am surprised since I check as soon as they are 'open'. Maybe not enough Ocean Club people chose to deposit their weeks for DC points?
Probably would have been better to try for a trade in II, but I already opted for the points. Live and learn.

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I am not surprised- there is a relatively poor point allocation for Aruba resorts, and esp. Platinum (but even Gold) owners are much better off renting their weeks or trading in II or privately then exchanging for points. Conversely, points are a good bargain there, and at the other Caribbean resorts, for the exchanger; not so good for the owners but a good deal for someone looking to go there.