29 minute Maui Ocean Club Sales Tour – Fantastic!

This week, President's week, we are staying at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club. This morning my wife won a massage worth $50 at the owners meeting and we signed up for our sales tour at 1:30 PM.

This was the best timeshare sales tour I’ve ever been on. We checked in, got our cookies and soda, and started our tour exactly at 1:30 PM today. The tour ended at 1:59 PM and I felt that this was the best sales tour, out of 50 of them, that I’ve ever been on. This is what I learned in 29 minutes:

1) 1 in 3 sales tours ends in a sale at this Marriott, the national average is 1 in 7

2) The top sales rep here sold $9 M in 2007, the lowest sold $ 3 M

3) Almost every salesrep here owns a Bronze Summit Watch

4) They can sell just about every other Marriott resort here and like to sell the Grande Chateau next to Maui – put together combo packages for 13 month exchanges

5) The Maui site out sells every other Marriott and sold $130 M in Jan 2008. 50 reps work here

6) The most expensive unit sold here was $165,000 3BR week 52 at one of the new towers – the owner got it because he bought from Thanksgiving thru New Year’s week here ($900k in sales with NO discounts)

7) Saw the 3BR demo unit – we are staying at a 2BR Maui Ocean Club now – the difference is unbelievable

Prices:

Maui Ocean Club:
1BR Ocean Front sells for $38,700 resale goes for 75% of that (didn’t bother asking about MRPs) MF is $1,400
1BR Ocean View sells $35,500, resale goes for 65% of that
1BR Mountain View $28,900
1BR Island View $24,200

2BR lock-off OF sells for $62,500, resale is 77% of that, MF is $1,500
2BR lock-off OV sells for $56,300, resale is 67% of that
2BR lock-off MV sells for $46,000

Lahaina and Napili Villas:
2BR OF $72,500, resale is 90% of that, MF is $2,000
2BR OV sold out, no prices
2BR Island View $44,900


Conclusion:
There was absolutely NO sales pressure at all. We didn’t feel rushed and our sales rep had exchanged his 1BR Bronze Summit Watch for a 1BR Aruba for a May vacation from Maui and was very knowledgeable with II exchanges.

I was very impressed with the courteousness and how knowledgeable the sales rep was. He was willing to sell other Marriotts that could exchange into Maui instead of selling Maui. He said his goal was to make sure we were happy Marriott owners and that’s exactly what he did.

We did not buy, of course, but he was ready to discuss strategies for exchanging and MRP usage. If I were to grade our salesrep I’d give him an A+. He did not waste one minute trying to steer us in any direction we did not want to go. We got our 15,000 MRPs and the way we use them that's worth $300 to us.

I wish the other 49 sales tours over the years were as nice.

Tonight we go to the owners meeting, guzzle down Mai Tais, eat a pile of Poo Poos, and hope to extend our winnings at the Maui Ocean Club. Fantastic vacation in the first 24 hours.

Thanks Perry. We had a similar sales presentation last November at MOC. Ours lasted 40 minutes because I asked questions. But, I will say that our salesman's approach was odd. He never asked us a single question. He didn't try to sell us anything, etc. We were there for 40 minutes because I had a few questions. It's the only tour I've ever been on where I felt like I had to keep the conversation going. And, our guy had been there for 3 years so it wasn't newness.

How does the construction look? If you have chance to snap a picture or two they would be much appreciated! We are headed back in April. Thanks.

sdtugger said:

Thanks Perry. We had a similar sales presentation last November at MOC. Ours lasted 40 minutes because I asked questions. But, I will say that our salesman's approach was odd. He never asked us a single question. He didn't try to sell us anything, etc. We were there for 40 minutes because I had a few questions. It's the only tour I've ever been on where I felt like I had to keep the conversation going. And, our guy had been there for 3 years so it wasn't newness.

How does the construction look? If you have chance to snap a picture or two they would be much appreciated! We are headed back in April. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I have my digital camera but didn't bring the docking station so I can't show you a picture of the second tower's progress. The pile driving is over and they are on the 5th floor.

Our unit is just a brick's throw away from the construction. Tomorrow we will be treated to the workmen doing their thing starting at 5AM I'm told.

Hi Perry ... sounds like you're having a great time.

Here's a MOC sale on Ebay you might find interesting compared to the 'developer' price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220200667047&ssPageName=ADME:B:DBS:US:1123

Brian

PS...the guys on the DC forum are missing your words of wisdom.

pwrshift said:

Hi Perry ... sounds like you're having a great time.

Here's a MOC sale on Ebay you might find interesting compared to the 'developer' price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220200667047&ssPageName=ADME:B:DBS:US:1123

Brian

PS...the guys on the DC forum are missing your words of wisdom.

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I'm sure Marriott steps in on ANY MOC sale below 60% of current selling prices. It's nice to see Marriott owners falling on the sword to give Marriott a nice fat profit.

Any 1BR OV sale below $21,300 is just going to be recycled into the hands of the Marriott salesreps here who will sell it for $35,500.

P.S.
Just think about it, the Marriott owner gave up getting $21,300 and got $13,100 or $8,200 less because the guy had NO idea what his unit was worth. He needs to spend some time here and maybe next time he won't give that money to Marriott.

PerryM said:

Any 1BR OV sale below $21,300 is just going to be recycled into the hands of the Marriott salesreps here who will sell it for $35,500.

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Perry, can you blame them? This is capitalism and most people are not as smart as the TUGgers are here or they wouldn't get away with it.

It is amazing how many cheap travel packages are offered to the Islands and to Europe too. I receive them every day and you do too. The travel industry must be really hurting.

pwrshift said:

PS...the guys on the DC forum are missing your words of wisdom.

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I actually enjoy Perry's posts.

Did you see the new Dubai timeshare on the Palm Island?...there was a bunch of II sightings over the weekend and I was tempted to grab one.

We will be in Maui in June and I plan on touring Marriott. Perhaps you can PM me the sales rep name.

Hi Perry, thanks for the update on my home away from home. I am curious, how did you come by the resale percentages?

The prices you have for the Lahaina/Napil Towers are for floating. I haven't seen any threads on the fixed weeks and how will people set resale values where different weeks of the year have different prices when they were originally sold by Marriott. I wonder how people will set resales, other than trying to mimic a percentage of Marriotts original price list for that week of the year. I am curious to see how this plays out...

Also waiting for pictures...

PerryM said:

Prices:

Maui Ocean Club:
1BR Ocean Front sells for $38,700 resale goes for 75% of that (didn’t bother asking about MRPs) MF is $1,400
1BR Ocean View sells $35,500, resale goes for 65% of that
1BR Mountain View $28,900
1BR Island View $24,200

2BR lock-off OF sells for $62,500, resale is 77% of that, MF is $1,500
2BR lock-off OV sells for $56,300, resale is 67% of that
2BR lock-off MV sells for $46,000

Lahaina and Napili Villas:
2BR OF $72,500, resale is 90% of that, MF is $2,000
2BR OV sold out, no prices
2BR Island View $44,900

Click to expand...

iconnections said:

Perry, can you blame them? This is capitalism and most people are not as smart as the TUGgers are here or they wouldn't get away with it.

It is amazing how many cheap travel packages are offered to the Islands and to Europe too. I receive them every day and you do too. The travel industry must be really hurting.

Click to expand...

I certainly don't fault Marriott - the ROFR is a fantastic tool for everyone concerned, even the winner of the auction. Next time someone needs to figure out what the Marriott is worth or Marriott gets the profit.

But for now Marriott stock holders might give a thumbs up to the owner - every little bit helps.

GaryDouglas said:

Hi Perry, thanks for the update on my home away from home. I am curious, how did you come by the resale percentages?

The prices you have for the Lahaina/Napil Towers are for floating. I haven't seen any threads on the fixed weeks and how will people set resale values where different weeks of the year have different prices when they were originally sold by Marriott. I wonder how people will set resales, other than trying to mimic a percentage of Marriotts original price list for that week of the year. I am curious to see how this plays out...

Also waiting for pictures...

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I did a survey of RedWeek and MyResortNetwork and came up with an average resale price and compared that to the current selling price. Any resale Marriott selling less than 60% of the current sales price is a candidate for the ROFR - if Marriott wants to recycle the week for a couple of bucks profit.

I didn't bring the docking port for my Casio so I can't upload pictures to my PC - sorry. When we are back home, in 2 weeks, I'll upload the pictures then. Tomorrow I'll try to take a picture with my cell phone and eMail it to myself and upload it. Can't do it right now - too many Mai Tais from the owners meeting tonight. The poo poos were just cauliflower and broccoli this year - poo poo that.

P.S.
The 3BR units in the towers are ALL fixed weeks in a fixed condo - good luck trying to figure out what those puppies are worth when it comes time to sell them.

sdtugger said:

Thanks Perry. We had a similar sales presentation last November at MOC. Ours lasted 40 minutes because I asked questions. But, I will say that our salesman's approach was odd. He never asked us a single question. He didn't try to sell us anything, etc. We were there for 40 minutes because I had a few questions. It's the only tour I've ever been on where I felt like I had to keep the conversation going. And, our guy had been there for 3 years so it wasn't newness.

How does the construction look? If you have chance to snap a picture or two they would be much appreciated! We are headed back in April. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I have some pictures from the beginning of the month, if you tell me how to attach them i will show you where they were at the beginning of the month. We to were a bricks throw away.

Perry, good to hear from you!

Here's something for you to try. See if you can walk out of the owners meeting with a Mai Tai in hand. Better yet, take two. I'll bet you a dollar that they stop you in your tracks.

Enjoy your stay.

thinze3 said:

Perry, good to hear from you!

Here's something for you to try. See if you can walk out of the owners meeting with a Mai Tai in hand. Better yet, take two. I'll bet you a dollar that they stop you in your tracks.

Enjoy your stay.

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Yes, enjoy your stay! How is the weather?

Perry, the fixed units are only fixed if you want to stay in the same unit every year but you can exchange them for any other time of the year or to anywhere else just like with floating units so why would it make much difference in the sales price? Can you explain?

We were recently in Maui and I went to see the completed Lahaina tower by myself. I took some pictures too but mainly of the view. I saw both models and they look very nice but the 3 br condo is awesome because it is very light and airy and you also overlook the new pool area of the resort but it is far enough away from the other building. Here are a few pictures. I also have a picture of the balcony with the salesman who showed it to me. I will ask his permission to post it here. The balconies are small in comparison to the older units.

I didn't take a tour or update but asked the sales office if I could see the completed condo and they showed it to me. We hope to be there on March 22 for our fixed week and I can hardly wait.

iconnections said:

Yes, enjoy your stay! How is the weather?

Perry, the fixed units are only fixed if you want to stay in the same unit every year but you can exchange them for any other time of the year or to anywhere else just like with floating units so why would it make much difference in the sales price? Can you explain?

We were recently in Maui and I went to see the completed Lahaina tower by myself. I took some pictures too but mainly of the view. I saw both models and they look very nice but the 3 br condo is awesome because it is very light and airy and you also overlook the new pool area of the resort but it is far enough away from the other building. Here are a few pictures. I also have a picture of the balcony with the salesman who showed it to me. I will ask his permission to post it here. The balconies are small in comparison to the older units.

I didn't take a tour or update but asked the sales office if I could see the completed condo and they showed it to me. We hope to be there on March 22 for our fixed week and I can hardly wait.

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I really didn't get into details with the 3BR - I did not get the impression that you could turn in your 3BR week for something else. I can't imagine anyone turning in a 3BR into II for exchange.

The great thing with Marriott is resales - 60% of the current selling price is your resale price. If later your week is not for sale by Marriott just what is it worth? I can't guess the answer.

Fixed weeks are great for the few lucky holiday owners - the rest are lumped into one "non holiday" week that is worth much less than the holiday weeks. Sure the week you got might be an anniversary week to you but not to anyone else.

P.S.
The weather is fantastic - but they say it has rained almost every day from last autumn until last week!

Moc Prices

Thanks for the info Perry. Very helpful. (I was there two weeks ago but we stayed away from the salespeople – and yes it was rainy, but beautiful).

A few questions, if you know or discover this info:

When I was there I kept hearing new owners talking about $2000 maintenance fees for the Napili Villas. Last year it was $1,700 for a 2 bedroom in the Lahaina Villas. Does this mean the mf are increasing to $2,000 in the new buildings, or is that just for the Napili Villias? If it is an anticipated increase for the Lahaina Villas, then that is a steep one year increase (after a previous steep yearly increase).

Are the Lahaina Villas sold out yet? What percentage of the Napili Villas are sold? I heard it was 25% sold.

Which raises another issue: What percentage of the MOC old building is sold? One would think it would have sold out long ago. Are they simply selling units that they take off the resale market?

One disagreement: If you know anyone who would buy a Lahaina Villas unit resale at 90% of retail, then please give them my email address. I WOULD SELL IN AN INSTANT AT THAT PRICE (but my wife and grandkid would hate me). Those listings on Redweek for Lahaina Villas have not resulted in any sales of those units, and each listing comes in at a lower price than the one listed before it. One TUGGER guessed recently (in another thread) that they might sell for $40,000 (the ones that sold for $70,000).

"We got our 15,000 MRPs and the way we use them that's worth $300 to us."

And what way is that Perry?

Lawlar said:

Thanks for the info Perry. Very helpful. (I was there two weeks ago but we stayed away from the salespeople – and yes it was rainy, but beautiful).

A few questions, if you know or discover this info:

When I was there I kept hearing new owners talking about $2000 maintenance fees for the Napili Villas. Last year it was $1,700 for a 2 bedroom in the Lahaina Villas. Does this mean the mf are increasing to $2,000 in the new buildings, or is that just for the Napili Villias? If it is an anticipated increase for the Lahaina Villas, then that is a steep one year increase (after a previous steep yearly increase).

Are the Lahaina Villas sold out yet? What percentage of the Napili Villas are sold? I heard it was 25% sold.

Which raises another issue: What percentage of the MOC old building is sold? One would think it would have sold out long ago. Are they simply selling units that they take off the resale market?

One disagreement: If you know anyone who would buy a Lahaina Villas unit resale at 90% of retail, then please give them my email address. I WOULD SELL IN AN INSTANT AT THAT PRICE (but my wife and grandkid would hate me). Those listings on Redweek for Lahaina Villas have not resulted in any sales of those units, and each listing comes in at a lower price than the one listed before it. One TUGGER guessed recently (in another thread) that they might sell for $40,000 (the ones that sold for $70,000).

Click to expand...

The sales sheet our rep gave me has only 2BR OF ($72,500) units available in the Lahaina tower and OF ($72,500) and Island View ($44,900) available in 2BR at the Napili tower. I really don't know anything beyond that. I didn't get into how many units were still up for sale.

In the older part of MOC all sales from Marriott are recycled resales. Marriott only talks about owners there who upgraded to the new towers and not ROFR purchases.

I didn't see any older salesreps there and suspect that just scraps are left of the entire project now and that the guys making $300+k have moved to Kauai and the Marriotts there. That's what our salesrep was going to do shortly.

The 90% resale value for a tower Marriott is what someone is asking for - I'd bet they could get it if there is no inventory left to sell and Marriott is not into ROFR for tower units yet.

andypoole said:

"We got our 15,000 MRPs and the way we use them that's worth $300 to us."

And what way is that Perry?

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We use the biggest MRP packages with airfare for 2 to a Marriott hotel in far away locations. We might start to use MRPs to Maui from now on since our son is 21 years old and in college.

Turning in your MRPs for just airline tickets is not as efficient - I remember the "good old days" where we got a 200k package to Maui and sold the hotel part on eBay and that paid for our son's ticket and about $1,000 in cash to spend on Maui - I miss those days.

P.S.
I still don't understand why Marriott sold the two towers as timeshares - if they had sold them as condo-hotels they would have sold out in the first 15 minutes and received 50% of the rental income for the next 50+ years and the management fees too.

The 3BR display unit we saw was easily worth $5M and would have sold instantly to hoards of California folks who would have lined up for 24 hours in advance to get a chance at a lottery ticket to buy it.

If the towers were sold as condo-hotels they would have been mainly studios, 1BRs and a few 2BR OF units.

PerryM said:

Prices:

Maui Ocean Club:

2BR lock-off OF sells for $62,500, resale is 77% of that, MF is $1,500
2BR lock-off OV sells for $56,300, resale is 67% of that
2BR lock-off MV sells for $46,000

Lahaina and Napili Villas:
2BR OF $72,500, resale is 90% of that, MF is $2,000
2BR OV sold out, no prices
2BR Island View $44,900

Click to expand...

Please pardon my ignorance, but why would anyone by a 2BR for $46-62K when you can buy a much cheaper unit elsewhere and trade into the more expensive?

kamumma1 said:

Please pardon my ignorance, but why would anyone by a 2BR for $46-62K when you can buy a much cheaper unit elsewhere and trade into the more expensive?

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This week we are staying in a $56,300 Maui week via a Marriott Gold Summit Watch that I bought for $5,500 resale - but that doesn't occur to 90% of timeshare owners.

Our salesrep made it perfectly clear that a $1,500 Bronze Summit Watch will get you just about anywhere in the Marriott system via the 24 day II Marriott only exchange window. If no other Marriott owner want's that Maui week in II, Marriott has instructed II to give it to ANY Marriott owner who want's it before releasing it to the general II population.

That's exactly what we did this vacation and our 2BR MountainSide for this last Christmas week - that week costs $65k.

Once someone learns this secret then buying a $56k Marriott makes little sense (Cents?).

P.S.
I did get a kick out of our salesrep who bought a $1,500 Bronze Summit Watch from Marriott and can now claim to be a Marriott owner and did not have to buy resale to afford it. Very clever of these reps here. I got the impression that they must read TUG!

Napili Tower picture

Took this crummy picture with my cell phone and sent it to myself and uploaded it here. Picture taken at 7:59 AM on 2/19/08 just before the workers started pounding away...

PerryM said:

I didn't bring the docking port for my Casio so I can't upload pictures to my PC - sorry.

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If you have a laptop, then you can buy a digital card reader from Costco, Walmart, etc for about $20 as a backup.

PerryM said:

Maui Ocean Club:
2BR lock-off OF sells for $62,500, resale is 77% of that, MF is $1,500

Lahaina and Napili Villas:
2BR OF $72,500, resale is 90% of that, MF is $2,000

Click to expand...

The cost per night of $60k purchase = $3,000 (5% lost opportunity) + $2000 (annual dues) = $5,000 per week = $714 per night

How much is the rack rate and/or VRBO rental for these?

PerryM said:

I did get a kick out of our salesrep who bought a $1,500 Bronze Summit Watch from Marriott and can now claim to be a Marriott owner and did not have to buy resale to afford it. Very clever of these reps here. I got the impression that they must read TUG!

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Did they buy these because they really use them or just to claim that they "too" are Marriott owners?

Steamboat Bill said:

If you have a laptop, then you can buy a digital card reader from Costco, Walmart, etc for about $20 as a backup.




The cost per night of $60k purchase = $3,000 (5% lost opportunity) + $2000 (annual dues) = $5,000 per week = $714 per night

How much is the rack rate and/or VRBO rental for these?

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I have a micro SD reader that I upload movies to my cell phone - can get 5 2 hr movies on my 2 GB micro SD card. I should get one for my Casio's SD card reader too - thanks for the prod.

I agree that folks spending $60k for a week on Maui is hard to understand but when we attended last night's owner's get together about 90% of the name tags were Maui owners - they come year after year and are extremely happy with their ownership.

ALL of them, however, are very unhappy with Marriott reservations - they have bought the atomic clocks and call exactly at 8 AM CST to make their reservation or click their mouse. Many were snookered with leap year this year and were calling in a day late and settled for their 3rd choice. Even so they got President's week but really wanted Christmas week or 4th of July week.

Steamboat Bill said:

Did they buy these because they really use them or just to claim that they "too" are Marriott owners?

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I think the salesreps here did both - can claim to be a Marriott owner who bought direct from Marriott and once they pay the $1k MF to Summit Watch lock it off and take 2 great vacations far far away from Maui.

Steamboat Bill said:

Did they buy these because they really use them or just to claim that they "too" are Marriott owners?

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With $800++/yr in MF's - Most likely they use them.
Probably during flexchange like Perry did.

Thanks for the picture Perry. It is plenty clear to see what is happening. I'm a little surprised that they aren't further along. When we were there in November, they had at least 3 or 4 floors on part of the building. And, they seemed to put in a new floor during the week we were there. Your photo looks like they are only at about 4 floors. Oh well.

Sorry if I missed it earlier, but did you say how you made this trade? 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom? During flexchange? etc. Just curious. Did you trade part or all of your SW unit?

Thanks.