I'm curious to know what people think about the trading power of various resorts. Thinking about a fixed week as buying points seems to be to costly. What resorts will yield the highest trade value both internally and in II?
Just want to make sure you realize all trades would be through II (to another Marriott or non-Marriott).I'm curious to know what people think about the trading power of various resorts. Thinking about a fixed week as buying points seems to be to costly. What resorts will yield the highest trade value both internally and in II?
Well said.A hybrid week involves purchasing one deeded week that can be converted to points plus a package of points. The advantage is you can buy directly from Marriott, the average cost per point ends up being $7 to $8 per point and the MFs for the deeded week for the converted point value can come out lower than the MFs on pure points. The disadvantage is that it still costs more than buying pure points resale in total costs, and the resale value of a hybrid package is much lower than the resale value of buying pure points on the resale market. You end up with a deeded week somewhere you will never visit that will have almost no value when you sell it and you buy the points part of the hybrid package for close to retail value so you will lose at least 1/3 of your upfront cost immediately upon closing. There may be times when a hybrid package is good and if you own it a long time, you will get your value out of it. But I suspect buying a points package resale is a better deal.
I'm looking for an entry point. I guess I'm not willing to spend a ton at buy in. I figure I can get in and use the system. If I like it I can look to convert and/or buy points. So if I were to do this buying a good trader would be important. I guess Florida or Vegas is the way to go using this strategy?
This is true for the higher demand weeks, but not for all weeks. When we bought our floating week in Maui from Marriott years ago, a few of the fixed weeks were actually a bit cheaper than a floating week. For example, this was true for the first half of December, which I remember because it is a time when we enjoy going to Hawaii. The floating week worked better for us at the time, however, becasue the flexibility of the DC system was not yet available.Fixed weeks are relatively few in the system and significantly higher priced than floating weeks.
I can see I have my work cut out. There's a lot of good info hear to dig into. I'm starting to look for resales. While researching HGVC I found some good sitesMy opinion is that Florida weeks are diluted as traders because of the saturation, so don't go that route. Fixed weeks anywhere might be more expensive, and I prefer floating weeks for many other reasons. (You may actually use it.) My personal opinion is that Grand Chateau or Manor Club Sequel lock-offs are the two best options. Not too expensive resale, decent maintenance fees, and good trade results.
We bought a PLATINUM Manor Club Sequel lock-off and it has yielded amazing trades, even when split. Trade upgrades are often available for a small fee in Interval, so the studio portion still can be used to secure a great 2 or 3BR unit at a great resort in a great season. And the master 1BR gets great trades too, so we end up with two good weeks....usually platinum > platinum weeks.
My examples are listed in the posts noted below.
After 4 years, we've gotten superb trades using Manor Club, and my initial cost on Ebay for the platinum week was around $800 I think.
That's insane for a platinum Marriott week. A good non-lockoff week would be Harbour Point in Hilton Head---again, platinum. Cost would be higher though. HH summer weeks trade extremely well, and can even trade back into Hilton Head in summer for one of the "Big Three" resorts of Grande Ocean, Barony, or Surfwatch.
See posts #16 & 18 of mine in this thread:
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...not-dead-at-least-for-me.267812/#post-2109409
and post # 25 in this thread:
https://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php...for-good-marriott-trader.260191/#post-2035008
Good luck
Are DP only available through Marriott?I am not sure if you are tied to a school calendar, are retired and have complete freedom of choice or fit somewhere in between. Also important is do you take traditional week vacations or shorter stays.
If I was starting from scratch, I would look for a resale unit that rents well (you can get at least 33 percent or more above your MF). Units that rent well trade well. Aruba, Hilton Head summer and Hawaii are some areas that fit this. Also cash gives you a lot of flexibility to rent someone else's unit at other locations or go elsewhere outside of timeshare. If you want to cruise...cash still works.
If You thought DP had value, I suggest you buy some number of resale points. This gets you into the program. Once in the program, you can rent points. So tying the resale unit and resale points together, let's assume you purchased a Grand Ocean summer unit and it rents for 2900. You should be able to rent say 5000 points for that and have it transferred to your DP account.
In this scenario your cost and MF will be less than a hybrid package and your point value will be higher.
Is this more work..yes. Might MVCI find a way to stop the point rental market, I doubt it very much but you can't rule it out with 100 percent certainty.
As a pure trader, the Grand Chateau fits and I believe they are letting all sales go through without exercising right of first refusal. You can get it at a really good value (cheap). . I am sure people can suggest other inexpensive traders.
Full disclosure...I am an enrolled legacy owner tied to a school calendar. I rent at least one of my summer Monarch HHI units every year. We enjoy going to HHI with the other unit Every other year. In off years I rent or trade it. I own a Grand Chateau EOY that I only trade. I have never exchanged for DP or rented but plan on doing so when I retire.
BTW, I own a floating week and 2 fixed weeks. The only reason I like the fixed units are because one is a 4th floor Ocean front and one a 4th floor Ocean view three units down. Pictures from the balcony helps With renting them. If not for that or some other fixed advantage, floating works ?well.
There have been several threads on this topic. Grand Château and Grande Vista are consistently recommended and are at the top of the list for 3BR.I'm looking for an entry point. I guess I'm not willing to spend a ton at buy in. I figure I can get in and use the system. If I like it I can look to convert and/or buy points. So if I were to do this buying a good trader would be important. I guess Florida or Vegas is the way to go using this strategy?
To be honest I Hyatt Highlands in Carmel is a favorite of mine. Been to Carmel but did not stay at HH. The only reason I do not buy there is that I don't like what's going on with all the uncertainity between the Hyatt Residence Club and the Hyatt Points Program. So Marriott seems like a better option to me at this point. However I am new to the Marriott forum and have a lot to learn. Can one trade into Hyatt in Carmel by owning a Marriott TS since they both trade in II? If this is the case which Marriotts will trade well with Hyatt properties. Hyatt Highlands Inn is a bit different. It has only ibr premeir units and very few 2br. Just curious how easy/hard it is tot rade Marriott to Hyatt.
The best options that give a lockoff feature, are relatively inexpensive, have decent maint fees and will trade relatively well include Harbour Lakes, Grande Vista, LV, Manor Club Sequel, Willow Ridge all Platinum as well as Gold desert resorts all come to mind. There are a few others where dues aren't too bad and/or they don't have lockoff's like Manor Club, Ocean Pointe Silver, Cypress Harbour (and other Orlando Marriott's), Doral, Grande Ocean Gold (& HHs resort with the same Calendar, not Barony or Surfwatch) and Legend's Edge. I'm sure I left something out, ? NJ for example. I would generally sacrifice price and dues somewhat up to a point for something I'd use part of the time but I would consider buying 2 (one to use and one to trade) for many situations like Maui for example. Some resorts/weeks will have over the moon trading power but will have high entrance costs and often high fees and as a rule, I'd discourage them for trading.
In general I'd question the wisdom of buying in just as a single trading week as a novice esp if one doesn't already have an II account anyway. Many of us have been there at one time or another and a significant portion of us continue to struggle with this question periodically. If you decide to proceed and are only looking at buying a true trading option, I'd formulate a list of acceptable resorts with a judgement of price you're OK with. Then once you find one that fits your parameters you can proceed. I've had a lot of luck with ebay and redweeks for this situation but I've also worked with brokers at times. I've gotten the best deals on ebay. Personally I have resorts I use or rent out and don't take DC points though I could, resorts that are enrolled I use mostly for DC points and resorts mostly or exclusively for trading some of which are not enrolled. You should spend enough time to you truly understand. By the time you're ready to proceed you should be able to answer this question adequately for someone else asking.
I think trading to that property consistently isn't feasible unless you simply put the entire year, have an ongoing search at least a year out and can accept last minute matches any time of the year. Even then it's unlikely to be a 2 BR. I don't know that property well enough for usage or prices to judge the reasonableness of buying there but in general terms, and if you want to stay there consistently, you'll likely need to buy Hyatt based at that location. As I understand Hyatt, which is minimal, as long as you own at that location, you should have a reasonable chance of getting there. Then the rest of the Hyatt gyrations in that situation likely wouldn't affect you as much as it might if you were trying to exchange to other Hyatt's using the points. I would not buy Marriott expecting to trade there consistently plus I don't think adding the trade costs and II fee would be reasonable for a single week. You might look at Marriott's Newport Coast as a possible alternative or at least as a comparison. Spend time learning and developing perspective and you'll make much better choices and be more comfortable doing so.To be honest I Hyatt Highlands in Carmel is a favorite of mine. Been to Carmel but did not stay at HH. The only reason I do not buy there is that I don't like what's going on with all the uncertainity between the Hyatt Residence Club and the Hyatt Points Program. So Marriott seems like a better option to me at this point. However I am new to the Marriott forum and have a lot to learn. Can one trade into Hyatt in Carmel by owning a Marriott TS since they both trade in II? If this is the case which Marriotts will trade well with Hyatt properties. Hyatt Highlands Inn is a bit different. It has only ibr premeir units and very few 2br. Just curious how easy/hard it is tot rade Marriott to Hyatt.
I can see I have my work cut out. There's a lot of good info hear to dig into. I'm starting to look for resales. While researching HGVC I found some good sites
Are DP only available through Marriott?
Thanks for the heads up. IS getaways a cash deal. Can you buy less than week?As long as you have an II account, you will see all inventory in Getaway. But when you are using a week to exchange for Hyatt Highlands Inn (Carmel), that is when they have hardly any inventory. Hyatt sells excess weeks through II Getaway. This inventory is separate from Exchange inventory. Do not count on exchanging into Hyatt Carmel in II, if you do, you will be sorely disappointed.