Marriott's Maui Ocean Club vs Marriott's Ocean Pointe

Guys,

I'm new to timeshare and I need your advice. My friend has 2 timeshares: Marriott's Maui Ocean Club 1bdrm w/ Lockout in Platinum yearly usage and then Marriott's Ocean Pointe 2 Bdrm w/ Lockout in Gold yearly usage. He is asking $10k for the Maui with about $1,200 in Maintenance and $7K for the on in Florida w/ about 1,000 in Maintenance. It is just my wife and I and we do not think that we will visit the Home Resort more than once ever. Therefore, we are interested in the Exchange power of the timeshare that we choose in order to visit different place. My question is which one should we choose and is it worthy to pay extra for the Marriott brand? I have tried to research online (before posting here) about the probable Exchange power, but got only conflicting opinions. Please help since I am confused. Thanks,

Simon

There's a Marriott forum on www.tugbbs.com where your questions can be answered by Marriott owners.

It does not let me log in there! Probably since I have only a Guest Account. Thanks for any future replies.

Yes, Try TUG (Timeshare Users Group) go into the Marriott blog. If R/W has no answers, TUG has been helpful. Tony

simond15 wrote:

It does not let me log in there! Probably since I have only a Guest Account. Thanks for any future replies.

You have to register with Tug even though you're a guest .... you can be a guest for free and post all you wish.

To check on the value of your friends pricing for his Maui and Ocean Pointe units you should review the for sale listings for both units here on Redweek and on eBay. On eBay check ithe buy-it-now listings and completed listings. I think his pricing may seem fair to him if he purchased direct from Marriott, but they appear higher than I've seen on the resale side. I'd say you can get the Maui unit for under $5000 and the Ocean Pointe for $3500 (roughly half his asking price).

As for the trading value, both units will trade well on Interval International (where Marriotts trade). Almost all Marriott's also trade well for any other resort group. Between the two Maui has higher demand, but Ocean Pointe is a 2bd unit so between the two it may be a tie. Owning Maui is best if you want to go to Maui. If you are going to trade you will want high demand/trade value units with low mainentance fees. Good Luck!