Marriott Waiohai Room Assignment

We just arrived at the Waiohai last night around 8:30pm. My husband and I own two weeks here (developer purchased) but are only using one at this time. Our unit is supposed to be an Ocean view unit. We were assigned unit #7408 which faces the quiet pool. I really don't believe this is an ocean view room. I made my reservation at 13 months out and we are owners, not exchangers. I am suprised by this room assignment unless our assigned room was given to someone else who got here earlier in the day. I really thought there was a heirarchy to the way units were assigned.

I have a sheet at home that has the unit numbers listed as well as which are ocean view units. If anyone has one of these (we bought in 2004) can you tell me if #7408 is an ocean view?

Thanks,

Monika

If I am not mistaken the room numbers start at Hale 6 and go out from there, which means you are the fourth room from Hale 6. This is actually closer to Hale 8 and in no way should be considered oceanview IMO.

Can you see the ocean from the balcany? If so it has to be the tiniest glimpse. The odd number rooms, although inferior, are most likely considered oceanview.

If you are not happy, go down and ask for something different. Maybe they will help you. I own islandview and love 8402, which is right beside where you are.

We are the last room in Hale 7 on the corner near hale 6 facing the pools on the 4th floor. I went out on the lanai this morning and can see a tiny portion of the ocean underneath the palm trees around the pool. I find it hard to believe this is an ocean view. I do think it is better than being on the opposite side of Hale 7 which would be facing the public parking lot for the beach.

I'm the only one in my party (we brought my parents) that is upset. I think it is because I make all the reservations and do all the planning.

As a multiple week owner staying at your home resort, you should have priority over almost everyone else for villa location (according to MVC policies). I suggest you speak with the manager regarding this issue. It appears that someone else may have been given your originally assigned villa due to your later check-in. Good luck.

As much as I hate to say this, ocean view with Marriott doesn't seem top mean you really get a view of the ocean. The most glaring example I can think of would be Barony Beach Club, where about the only units that have a view of the ocean are the ocean front units. We were in what was deemed an ocean view and, due to the tree's and low floor number, didn't even have a glimpse of the ocean. For that matter, I don't believe any of the units in the back two buildings would have any sort of view of the ocean.

At ocean points, all the units have an ocean facing window but, unless you're on the 4th floor or higher, all you're likely to see are palm tree's. We were fortunate going in when we purchased because we were staying in an "ocean view" unit as an exchanger and realized ocean view doesn't mean you'll see the ocean. Therefore we purchased ocean front. Even then we're not guarenteed we'll see the ocean. Just that we'll have a unit the directly faces the ocean. If we're on a low floor the palm tree's will block our view.

If I were you, I'd go to the front desk and ask if you could speak with whomever makes the room assignments. I'd politely explain my situation and that having in inward looking view of a quite pool hardly appeared to be an ocean view room. Perhaps a mistake has been made and can be corrected. Or, perhaps this is Marriott's definitioin of an "ocean view" room. Hopefully things will work out for you.

This map shows Hale 7 with both island and oceanview. I just always assumed that oceanview was overlooking the parking lot. I'd check this map and ask them: https://www.my-vacationclub.com/common/respages/pdf/resorts/wi/wi_sitemap.pdf

We didn't buy oceanview there because I just couldn't understand how they could call some of those views oceanview. However, I would love to be in a closer building to the beach. Last time we were in Hale 5 which also, says it has oceanview. I thought that building is too far from the action.

Hope the rest of your stay is better!

molemay said:

We just arrived at the Waiohai last night around 8:30pm. My husband and I own two weeks here (developer purchased) but are only using one at this time. Our unit is supposed to be an Ocean view unit. We were assigned unit #7408 which faces the quiet pool. I really don't believe this is an ocean view room. I made my reservation at 13 months out and we are owners, not exchangers. I am suprised by this room assignment unless our assigned room was given to someone else who got here earlier in the day. I really thought there was a heirarchy to the way units were assigned.

I have a sheet at home that has the unit numbers listed as well as which are ocean view units. If anyone has one of these (we bought in 2004) can you tell me if #7408 is an ocean view?

Thanks,

Monika

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Ask to see the unit assignment map and let us know what you find. My guess is that that is the ONLY unit on that side of the building that is OV.

According to a map I obtained while there last year, both 7406 and 7408 are considered Oceanview units. They are the only inward facing units in Hale 7 that are considered Oceanview.

My map shows 7408 as an Island View Unit (all of the units in Hale 7 facing the pool are considered Island View on my document). The ones opposite the hall from you facing the parking lot are considered Ocean View (7401, 7403, 7405 7407).

My document has a revision date of 11/28/03

jlee2070 said:

My map shows 7408 as an Island View Unit (all of the units in Hale 7 facing the pool are considered Island View on my document). The ones opposite the hall from you facing the parking lot are considered Ocean View (7401, 7403, 7405 7407).

My document has a revision date of 11/28/03

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Is that a document that you can scan & upload to Tug for future reference?

jlee2070 said:

My map shows 7408 as an Island View Unit (all of the units in Hale 7 facing the pool are considered Island View on my document). The ones opposite the hall from you facing the parking lot are considered Ocean View (7401, 7403, 7405 7407).

My document has a revision date of 11/28/03

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That is what I remember as well...

Here is a picture of the Ocean View from my lanai in room #7408.

molemay said:

Here is a picture of the Ocean View from my lanai in room #7408.

Click to expand...

Marriott tends to label view by location not necessarily by actual view from a given unit.

molemay said:

Here is a picture of the Ocean View from my lanai in room #7408.

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Did you complain yet to the front desk?

I can see how that is OV. While it isn't a full OV you can see the ocean. Obviously, this isn't the best view. Sorry you are disappointed with it.

I do want to ask and I will wait until the Owners Seminar on Tuesday afternoon. I don't want to be misled by the people at the front desk. We are also doing an Owner Meeting to get our 10,000 points on Tuesday. I'll see what both sets of Marriott experts have to say. I will ask each about the unit specifically to see if it is ocean view or not. I think what really happened is that we showed up in the evening. Other than that, I think I did everything possible to be on top of the food chain. They even sent us a survey to see where we would like to be located about 2 weeks ago.

I have a Disclosure Statement (revised 8/2/2005) showing unit 7408 to be an ocean view. Unfortunately, the Waiohai has a very "generous" definition of what constitutes an ocean view. I was in unit 6305 last year which had a similar view and was also categorized as an ocean view.

What I find interesting is that OP is a multi-week developer purchaser and was nonetheless given a non-prime OV unit.

On a related note, I recently saw a rental ad for an "ocean front" at the Waiohai, and when I queried the owner, was informed that that is what he owns (it is a week 51). Did Marriott add an ocean front designation, and if so, how can they do that?

no oceanfront

vacationtime1 said:

On a related note, I recently saw a rental ad for an "ocean front" at the Waiohai, and when I queried the owner, was informed that that is what he owns (it is a week 51). Did Marriott add an ocean front designation, and if so, how can they do that?

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we were at Waiohai a couple of weeks ago and I overheard a sales person point to building 1 and tell the people she was escorting that it was "oceanfront". I asked when we went on our owners preview and was assured that there is no oceanfront, just oceanview and islandview.

Mary

I think people take liberty with the fact that a resort is Oceanfront, so that they are referring to the property but not necessarily the view. Many resale ads claim even GV units are OF because the property itself is.

We actually own 5 weeks of Marriott timeshares. 4 Hawaii weeks, 2 Waiohai, 1 Ko Olina and 1 Maui Lahaina Tower all purchased direct through Marriott. We just bought a Timber Lodge this year resale. Maybe I need to start mentioning this on the survey they send out before arrival.

They should have your MVC ownership information in your files. I am very surprised that you were assigned such a poor location even though you should be highest on their list for priority (multiple week at home resort+ multiple week MVC owner). Did you ever discuss this issue with the resort manager? They need to make it up to you and should explain why you were assigned such a poor location for your owned 'view'.

We own multiple developer weeks at Waiohai also and have gotten rotten rooms. So, sympathy.

Similar Experience

Monika,

Are you at Waiohai right now? We arrived yesterday, June 14, 2009 and had a similar experience. They put us in a room with a one-inch square view of the ocean, but it was mostly a view of the road and parking lot.

When we asked for a room with an ocean view (which we paid for), they sent us to a room with a better view of the parking lot and NO view of the ocean.

Our third room has a two-inch square view of the ocean if you look carefully between the palm trees. If we hadn't paid extra for the ocean view, we wouldn't be complaining.

When you get home, I wonder if you could post the paper you have with the rooms that are listed as ocean rooms.

Jim

Superchief said:

They should have your MVC ownership information in your files. I am very surprised that you were assigned such a poor location even though you should be highest on their list for priority (multiple week at home resort+ multiple week MVC owner). Did you ever discuss this issue with the resort manager? They need to make it up to you and should explain why you were assigned such a poor location for your owned 'view'.

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As noted on another thread, I think the multi unit issue is mostly for people staying multiple weeks or in multiple units, not so much just owning multiple units. One should not get a unit assignment preference based simply on how many units they own. The reality is that at Waiohai, there are a lot of questionable OV units. They really should have made some OF, some OS, some OV and some garden view. This would have allowed a better alignment with expectations but does create a few other logistic issues.

Dean said:

.......... One should not get a unit assignment preference based simply on how many units they own......

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With Marriott, this is the way it is. The more you own with them the higher you are in the pecking order for unit preference. This is especially important and noticable at resorts where owner occupancy is high and there is a higher percentage of multiple week owners. I understand single week owners disgust with this idea but, that's the way it is with Marriott. In other resort systems, they give their owners status such as Elite. With DRI, we are Silver Elite and are higher on the pecking order for unit location than non-Elite members but are lower than Gold or Platinum Elite members. DRI uses this leverage to try to get us to bump ourselves up to the next level of ownership. You might not like it but, for most timeshare systems, that's just the way life is.

dougp26364 said:

With Marriott, this is the way it is. The more you own with them the higher you are in the pecking order for unit preference. This is especially important and noticable at resorts where owner occupancy is high and there is a higher percentage of multiple week owners. I understand single week owners disgust with this idea but, that's the way it is with Marriott. In other resort systems, they give their owners status such as Elite. With DRI, we are Silver Elite and are higher on the pecking order for unit location than non-Elite members but are lower than Gold or Platinum Elite members. DRI uses this leverage to try to get us to bump ourselves up to the next level of ownership. You might not like it but, for most timeshare systems, that's just the way life is.

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From what I've seen I'm not convinced that's true, it certainly isn't true at Grande Ocean. Even if it's set to be this way, you've got a room assigner sitting there with people beating on them all the time, they aren't going to make it very complicated. They aren't going to put much effort into these other issues. I wonder if people have confused the priority for multiple week/units for a stay with that for ownership. I own 5 units, two at the resort I frequent the most.