Buying Direct v Resale

Hi I am trying to establish what I lose by buying resale.

I have asked Marriott direct and they advise

1.No priority trading from one resort to another
2.No vacation ownership advisor
3.No purchase bonus
4.No Marriotts rewards points options

I can understand the value of 3 & 4 but not sure how important 1 & 2 are?

My basic plan would be to buy fairly cheaply in say a gold week in Spain. We would likely only travel there once every 5 or so years. I would look to trade into other marriotts every other year, and spend the balance of time locally in Australia using II. Does this make sense, and do you think the $15,000 or so I can save by buying resale would be worth it, considering my plans?

Appreciate any help

Patrick

1 and 2 do not exist.

Charles

1. False. The 24-day priority period for exchanges is handled by Interval International, not by Marriott, and applies to all Marriott weeks, whether purchased from Marriott or purchased resale. Although Marriott could - at some point in the future - direct II to change the way it handles Marriott exchanges, it's unlikely that such a change would adversely impact any resale owner whose ownership is in place as of the date such a change might be announced.

2. Technically true, but from a practical standpoint, false. True because Marriott won't automatically assign a VOA to you after you purchase resale. False, because all you have to do is make a two-minute call to Marriott Ownership Services and ask to have one assigned for you. Further, you can get all of the services that a VOA can do by simply calling Ownership Services and asking for the same help that you would seek from a VOA.

Does this make sense, and do you think the $15,000 or so I can save by buying resale would be worth it, considering my plans?

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Absolutely. There are some valid reasons for buying from Marriott. It doesn't appear that any of those reasons apply to your situation.

PatrickG
Keep reading on this board like you are doing. You will learn from the posts of others like yourself that some Marriott Sales Reps are known to stretch the truth to make a sale, and that you can save thousands by buying resale. One additional benefit of buying resale is that if after a few years you decide timesharing is not for you, you more than likely will be able to sell it for what you paid. However, I know you will be very happy with a resale purchae.

Belonging to Tug and this message board will educate you on how to best use it and you will find it will also increase your enjoyment of it.

Thanks for the advice

Does it make sense for me to buy in Spain even though I doubt I will go there very often? I chose this as it is much cheaper than say Hawaii. Is there another good cheaper location to buy that trades well? I also was interested in Phuket but this doesn't seem to be available at the moment

I am unsure how the trading works? I offer my week to Marriott or II and once they have found what I request they take over my week, and if no one is found for mine, then it reverts back to me? A bit of a summary of this process over a year would be really helpful. Eg on 1st January I decide I would like to spend my 2009 week in Aruba. What do I do, and when, and when would I be likely to have a definite answer either way? How does this vary when I am exchanging within Marriott, and outside using II

Thanks

Patrick

patrickg said:

Thanks for the advice

I am unsure how the trading works?

Thanks

Patrick

Click to expand...

• Brief overview of the process of trading
  • First, reserve a week at your resort where you own (preferably 12 months earlier that the week you reserve to assure you can get the best week for trading value. You would have done this during 2008.
  • Now you have a reserved week at your home resort. Take your reserved week and you give it to II, it doesn't revert back to you. Once you give it to II its gone for your use. Someone else will get it. Not the same person who's week your going to take.
  • Now you can place a request for the week you want in 2009 at Aruba (preferably at least 6-12 months out) with II. Marriott has nothing to do with the trading.
  • Now you wait for your request to come through from II. It can happen immediately, it can take months, or it could not happen. The more flexible you are in your request (give many potential weeks you would take) the more likely your request will be filled.

There is another variation where you dont give up your week to II as mentioned above in the second bullet. In this case you make a request first without depositing your week. This means you only give up your week if they fill your request.

Maybe others can expand on this.

Thanks Chris

So what happens to your week that you deposit with II if you don't get the Aruba week you are after? You lose your week, and get nothing in return?

I thought that we use Marriott to trade our week with another Marriott, but II if we want to trade into a resort other than Marriott? If this is not the case, what do we need Marriott for? I was quoted by Marriott $95 to exchange to another Marriott through them, and $165 if I use II and trade to a non Marriott?

Sorry to sound like a dummy!

patrickg said:

Thanks Chris

So what happens to your week that you deposit with II if you don't get the Aruba week you are after? You lose your week, and get nothing in return?

I thought that we use Marriott to trade our week with another Marriott, but II if we want to trade into a resort other than Marriott? If this is not the case, what do we need Marriott for? I was quoted by Marriott $95 to exchange to another Marriott through them, and $165 if I use II and trade to a non Marriott?

Sorry to sound like a dummy!

Click to expand...

Yes your week is gone once you give it to II. However you can trade for another week at another resort if your request doesn't come through. Read on this board . Generally most people get the weeks they want unless your trying to get a hard to reserve week at prime time. There is a lot to the trading power of resorts and weeks your trying to trade for, and the amount of time your willing to wait. Those are three factors that effect your ability to get your trade.

You only use Marriott to reserve at your home resort. All trading is done through II. The $95 trade fee is to II for Marriott trades. Plus you have to pay $89 (???) to belong to II each year.

Ok I will have to do some more reading as I certainly wouldn't want to give my week to II and maybe get nothing back! Seems a hell of a risk to take!

You have to have realistic expectations when you are trading with II (unless within the 59 day flexchange window -- that's a whole other story which you can investigate if you can make trips at the last minute).

If you turn in a very low demand (poor) week to II and expect to get a prime week at any Marriott resort, you will be disappointed. The more flexible you are with dates, # of locations you want to go to, etc. will increase your chances of getting your trade. It all depends on how II ranks the week you turn into them.

For example, I own silver season (late winter/early spring & late fall) at Barony Beach in Hilton Head. The chances of me trading thru II for a summer platimum week at Barony or any another Marriott on Hilton Head are slim to none. Now that's not to say it might not happen, but I would never count on it.

You need to factor into your decision when you will be able to vacation. Will you be limited by a child's school calendar or any other factors? If so, you need to buy where you want to go most of the time and in the season you can go.

There is a lot to learn about trading with II, so keep reading on TUG and make yourself knoweldgeable before you make any decision. Also, don't believe everything you hear from a Marriott sales rep. Check the facts here on TUG.

Good luck. Wish I had known about TUG before our first purcahse in 2001 directly from Marriott. Our latest purchase was a resale and we saved over $15,000.

I do understand the need to be realistic but i cannot understand why i would risk losing my week altogether and get nothing at all in return. It just seems a large risk-unless i am missing something. II must pick up a lot of weeks for free by this happening, and a lot of owners will have nothing to show for their year except maintenance fees.

Why don't you just wait until you find what you want, have it confirmed, and then give them your week? After all you wouldnt advertise your car for sale in the paper if it meant you would have to hand it over if no one was found to buy it!

Like I said I must be missing something

patrickg said:

I do understand the need to be realistic but i cannot understand why i would risk losing my week altogether and get nothing at all in return. It just seems a large risk-unless i am missing something. II must pick up a lot of weeks for free by this happening, and a lot of owners will have nothing to show for their year except maintenance fees.

Why don't you just wait until you find what you want, have it confirmed, and then give them your week? After all you wouldnt advertise your car for sale in the paper if it meant you would have to hand it over if no one was found to buy it!

Like I said I must be missing something

Click to expand...

There are 2 ways to exchange -- deposit first or request first (which is what you are talking about). With request first, II doesn't get your week until they have confirmed your exchange request. To do this you have to first reserve your week with Marriott and then let II know which week you have/want to use for your exchange request. If no exchange comes through you still have your week to use. Hence the reasoning behind to buy where you want to go just in case you don't get the desired trade.

Also, I'm not sure if this was mentioned before, but when you deposit your week first, you have 2 years from the date on the reserved week to make an exchange. For instance, I've already deposited a Thanksgiving 2008 week with II. I have until November 22, 2010 to make an exchange.

patrickg said:

i cannot understand why i would risk losing my week altogether and get nothing at all in return.

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No need to worry. It won't happen unless you let it happen. As stated above, you have up to three years (a year before the check-in date of the week you deposit and two years after the check-in date) to exchange for another week. There are literally thousands of weeks available to exchange for at any particular time.

As suggested above, be realistic. It's best to request an exchange to several resorts and as many time periods as you are willing to accept. Requesting your exchanges a full year or more in advance, as we recommend, should allow you to be that flexible with your travel plans.

If you really believe you must have a particular week at a particular resort, use the request-first exchange method. Or, if the week you want for a deposited week doesn't come through, put in another exchange request for other dates within that three-year period or select from one of the many (yes, thousands of) weeks that you can see when you search online at II's website.

If you deposit your Marriott week with Interval and request a trade and that trade does not come through for you then you do not lose your week. let me clarify that a bit. Yes you lose the particular week that you deposited with Interval. that week that you used to request your trade is gone probably given to someone else by Interval but you still have a week banked with Interval that you can use to trade either back into your home resort at another time or to try to trade into another time share.
THe only way to get the particular week that you deposited back to is to do a "request first" trade which means they cannot give your particular week up unless your trade comes through. The problem with that is that you must make sure that the week you reserve to trade with is later in the calender that the week you request through Interval.
For example you own Marriott Grand Ocean platinum time. In August 08 you reserve a week at Grand Ocean in August 09. You give that week to II and request a trade for week in April 09 at Marriott Maui Ocean Club using a request first. The trade does not happen. You can still use your August 09 week at Grand Ocean. However if you reserved that same week and then requested a week at Maui Ocean club in November of 09 then by August of 09 you won't know if they are going to be able to fill your request or not so you can hardly use the August 09 week at Grand Ocean.

Thanks all for the clarification. It is making a bit more sense now...

I guess, from my perspective, I would be happier to not give them my week until they have found the trade I want.

Is there any restictions or costs in requesting say 5 or 6 different trades?

Cheers

No restrictions or extra costs. In fact, II encourages that and the more resort (or time) requests that you give them, the better your chances of receiving a trade.

patrickg said:

Thanks for the advice

Does it make sense for me to buy in Spain even though I doubt I will go there very often? I chose this as it is much cheaper than say Hawaii. Is there another good cheaper location to buy that trades well? I also was interested in Phuket but this doesn't seem to be available at the moment.

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I toured all spanish MVCI locations within the last year looking for a reasonale priced addition for my timeshare portfolio and was not able to find anything. Given todays Marriott € prices at those resorts i cant imagine that buying into those resorts makes financial sense. Only exception might be if one really has to go to those resorts during the mega prime season and has no flexibility to try a exchange request. At current $/€ fx-rates buying a good trader in the US seems to be the better approach in my opinion.

patrickg said:

Thanks all for the clarification. It is making a bit more sense now...

I guess, from my perspective, I would be happier to not give them my week until they have found the trade I want.

Is there any restictions or costs in requesting say 5 or 6 different trades?

Cheers

Click to expand...

II charges a single price for filling a exchange based on the resorts which you request. If they are all Marriott resorts, II will charge you $95, but will charge you $165 if you request any non Marriott resorts ( $165 if 5 marriott resorts and one non marriott)? So this may be a restriction in many peoples eyes.

Bill4728 said:

II will charge you $95, but will charge you $165 if you request any non Marriott resorts ( $165 if 5 marriott resorts and one non marriott)?

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Close, but not quite.

$99 for a Marriott exchange request.
$139 if a non-Marriott is included in the exchange request.
$154 if a non-Marriott outside of the II member's home* country is included in the exchange request.

*The U.S. and Canada are treated as a single country for purposes of this fee.

Dave M said:

$99 for a Marriott exchange request.
$139 if a non-Marriott is included in the exchange request.

Click to expand...

What happens if you make a request for 5 Marriotts and 1 non-Marriott and they've charged you the $139, then you get confirmed into one of the Marriotts. Do they refund you the difference?

luv2vacation said:

What happens if you make a request for 5 Marriotts and 1 non-Marriott and they've charged you the $139, then you get confirmed into one of the Marriotts. Do they refund you the difference?

Click to expand...

No they don't. That's why I always request only Marriotts.

Wow! What a racket - I guess I'll continue to only request Marriotts now, too. (In the past, that's all I requested with my Marriott b/c that's all I wanted.)

Same thing happens if you request your own country and international locations. You'll pay the exchange cost for the highest (international) eventhough you might get an exchange in your own country. You're right, it's a racket.

patrickg said:

Thanks for the advice

Does it make sense for me to buy in Spain even though I doubt I will go there very often? I chose this as it is much cheaper than say Hawaii. Is there another good cheaper location to buy that trades well? I also was interested in Phuket but this doesn't seem to be available at the moment

I am unsure how the trading works? I offer my week to Marriott or II and once they have found what I request they take over my week, and if no one is found for mine, then it reverts back to me? A bit of a summary of this process over a year would be really helpful. Eg on 1st January I decide I would like to spend my 2009 week in Aruba. What do I do, and when, and when would I be likely to have a definite answer either way? How does this vary when I am exchanging within Marriott, and outside using II

Thanks

Patrick

Click to expand...

Patrick, you have been given a LOT of good advice here....but just one thing you MUST remember, to get a good week in return (exchange) you must give a good week - so a Gold week in Spain might not have the 'trade power' to get an exchange into Aruba or Hawaii which are considered high season all year long.

A Platinum week in Spain WILL get an Aruba or Hawaii exchange if requested 10-12 months ahead of time.

I have a friend who owns a Silver week in Spain and he has a hard time getting good trades - (Boston in Feb/March comes to mind...he couldn't get ANYTHING in the April-November time frame) .....because all the Platinum and Gold owners will get an exchange BEFORE him

Do your homework and buy the best week in the best season that fits your budget.

(To everyone else - I KNOW there are exceptions to what I have posted - I just wanted the OP to get the idea that just because it is a Marriott week, will not guarantee u will get great trades)