Marriott's Summit Watch Bronze week

[kdorward Member Find all posts View Profile Close kdorward]

I talked to Marriott about buying a Summit Watch Bronze week today. They originally had 650 slots to sell. They recommended that these units are only good for flex changes if you buy one. With all those coming on to the Interval market it will be hard to get a flexchange. You might just get stuck with your unit and no exchange .

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I talked to Marriott about buying a Summit Watch Bronze week today. They originally had 650 slots to sell. They recommended that these units are only good for flex changes if you buy one. With all those coming on to the Interval market it will be hard to get a flexchange. You might just get stuck with your unit and no exchange .

This is obviously a deal that is not for everyone.

I do not have the luxury at this time to do flexchange exchanges for 2 weeks a year.
DH and I are both still working - he works full time and I make my own schedule. He does get 7 weeks vacation a year and I plan trips for all 7 weeks! But we use FF miles and this just wouldn't work with a flexchange.

I also do additional 'girls trips' that require advanced planning.

When we retire, we will be able to take advantage of what is seen in a shorter time frame but for now, it wouldn't work for me.

BTW, I currently have 8 1/2 weeks which lock-off into 12 weeks plus those pesky ACs

As far as II goes, there is ALWAYS availability within 59 days because 'life happens' and peoples' plans change.
I WISH I was in the position to take advantage of this deal but for now, I will just say NO

[I-DE-HO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close I-DE-HO]

He does get 7 weeks vacation a year and I plan trips for all 7 weeks!

Seven weeks! Wow. Even gov't employees don't get that many. Who does he work for?

Phil

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I talked to Marriott about buying a Summit Watch Bronze week today. They originally had 650 slots to sell. They recommended that these units are only good for flex changes if you buy one. With all those coming on to the Interval market it will be hard to get a flexchange. You might just get stuck with your unit and no exchange .

What you say is true. But, you need to weigh the probability of Flexchanges at Marriott's AND other resorts like the Four Seasons, the Hyatts, Disney's and others drying up as well vs. the payback period for this unit.

If you have Flexabilility in Travel, I have proven that the payback period can be less than 2 months. If you are not as aggressive, a more comfortable time horizon is 1 year.

Buying this unit is a bet that Flexchanges will be there for a year or more. And, every year after the first one is gravy.

That's they type of bet I am willing to make.

[kdorward Member Find all posts View Profile Close kdorward]

Even though its not alot of money for the purchase of the Summit week, when you include the MF's and different fees to exchange it adds up after the initial cost. I guess I look at TS differently. I wouldn't want to buy one for a couple of years and then not be able get exchnges and sell it. Hopefully it will work out for you . I am still thinking about the unit, but it seems like its not good for the long term.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

Seven weeks! Wow. Even gov't employees don't get that many. Who does he work for?

Phil

This is kinda funny to me. (Teachers have a lot of time off.)

My husband is a Denver firefighter and gets about five weeks a year, plus if he combines his kelly week( which is five days off in a row and happens every three weeks) with one day that he trades with another firefighter, he can have a total of about 20 weeks of vacation a year. That is why we own 14 weeks of timeshare. We use a lot of those weeks and his job is the reason it is so easy to travel. What do I do? I take care of our own little business and we conduct that business long distance when we travel. Plus, I sell real estate, but not timeshares. I think I should sell timeshares. I love them.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Buying this unit is a bet that Flexchanges will be there for a year or more. And, every year after the first one is gravy.

That's they type of bet I am willing to make.

I don't see why this should change...people's plans always change and there are late deposits and cancelations.....just a fact of life.
There would be no reason this would change (unless II starts to sell the weeks to non-TS owners )

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Seven weeks! Wow. Even gov't employees don't get that many. Who does he work for?

Phil

A large financial institution.......

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Even though its not alot of money for the purchase of the Summit week, when you include the MF's and different fees to exchange it adds up after the initial cost. I guess I look at TS differently. I wouldn't want to buy one for a couple of years and then not be able get exchnges and sell it. Hopefully it will work out for you . I am still thinking about the unit, but it seems like its not good for the long term.

You should do whatever you feel most comfortable doing. If you want to take a long view of timeshares, that' a perfectly fine strategy. It's just not the only strategy that works and it's not the best financially.

When I first started in timesharing a little over 2 years ago, I used to take the long term view of timeshare ownership. I did very detailed financial comparisons of various ownership and rental scenarios. I usually assumed that I would keep a timeshare between 6 and 10 years. And, I found that timesharing using a long term view delivered a decent return on investment.

However, the most important insight I encountered was that the shorter the expected ownership period I modeled, the higher my return. The extreme example of this is to buy and flip timeshares. That yields the most optimal return. I was yielding double and triple that of the buy and hold strategy.

Since the rules of timesharing are constantly changing, the best strategies involve capitalizing on the opportunities that exist today and moving out of them when they disappear while anticipating the new loopholes.

In gambling lingo, you want to play with the houses money. Buy, sell, rent to the point where your upfront capital is paid back as quickly as possible. Then, play with the houses money to get better deals. The quick payback period of the Marriott Summit watch is an example.

Then, you anticipate the scenarios where this strategy is no longer any good and what will be its cause, then keep reaping the benefit of the original strategy for as long as you can. In this case great Marriott Flexchanges.
When the Flexchanges no longer exist, then it will be time to exit that stategy and move to a different one. I believe that will be the internal Marriott exchange program or point system. By owning the right timeshares, it could be possible to get really cheap Marriott's with great benefits. That is my current Marriott strategy.

Another example is my WorldMark, Fairfield and Wyndham Vacation Ownership portfolio. I am postioning myself to be a platinum owner in a new Wyndham Vacation Ownership plan expecting them to offer an equity trade in program. If I use the right strategy, I could become one of the largest WVO owners in the entire system very quickly. But, if the conditions don't work out, I'll sell out of my portfolio still generating a decent return.

Timesharing is truly a fun game.

[kdorward Member Find all posts View Profile Close kdorward]

If the only thing these units are good for are II flexchanges or less than 24 day Marriott exchanges, it just seem that 650 people will be competing for those units and it will be that much harder to get any. Since those are the only exchanges they are good for.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

If the only thing these units are good for are II flexchanges or less than 24 day Marriott exchanges, it just seem that 650 people will be competing for those units and it will be that much harder to get any. Since those are the only exchanges they are good for.

Flexchange is open to ALL II exchanges, not just the few hundred that own at this resort...even in flexchange there is a Marriott preference but it is only 3 days.....there are many hundreds/thousands! of units available at any time during flexchange....it is just finding the exchange you want.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

If the only thing these units are good for are II flexchanges or less than 24 day Marriott exchanges, it just seem that 650 people will be competing for those units and it will be that much harder to get any. Since those are the only exchanges they are good for.

There are 3M timeshare owners with an average of over 1 timeshare per family.

II only has a percentage of that. If it's 1/3, then that's 1M owners. That's less than .07% of owners. Even less for weeks since each househouse owns on average more than a week.

10% of units go vacant. That's more than 100,000 units that would be available for Flexchange. 650 additional weeks is less than 1% increase in demand.

So, 650 really is a drop in the bucket.

[kdorward Member Find all posts View Profile Close kdorward]

I am confused. You said that Marriott only has 3 day priority for flexchanges. I thought Marriott has 24 day?? priority for other Marriott properties. I guess I don't understand the difference. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[ahzroe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ahzroe]

Marriott has 3 day priority for FLEXCHANGES. The Marriott 24 day priority is for the exchange times outside the flexchange window.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

There are 3M timeshare owners with an average of over 1 timeshare per family.

II only has a percentage of that. If it's 1/3, then that's 1M owners. That's less than .07% of owners. Even less for weeks since each househouse owns on average more than a week.

10% of units go vacant. That's more than 100,000 units that would be available for Flexchange. 650 additional weeks is less than 1% increase in demand.

So, 650 really is a drop in the bucket.

Another factor to consider is the lack of knowledge, which is a big unknown. I doubt that Marriott is touting the benefits of grabbing weeks in Flexchange because management doesn't generally care enough to let people know the real benefits of timeshare.