Purchase Paradox: Upgrading View

Friends,

We purchased Garden View at the Aruba Surf Club back in 2005. Lately, we inquired about upgrading to a better view and learned (as suspected) that you cannot do that through Marriott unless you:

a.) Purchase a whole new timeshare w/a better view and then try to sell your old one or b.) Convert to Vacation Destinations and add enough points to get a better view. (Minimum investment of $16,000+ $1K more in MF each year.) :-(

Several friends of ours have strongly advised against the Vacations Destination program and the sales presentation was very underwhelming. I was wondering if any wiser timeshare friends had any real-word suggestions.

If you must have that view, then RENT the points. Renting will get you what you want today without you having to have the perpetual maintenance fees for those points.

Thx Charles! We're original vacation club week owners. We were strongly advised against converting to the Vacation Destination points. Great point about the one-time hit on the rental, but I think if we were to rent (points or week), it would negate the original time share investment.

Without knowing much about the backend of timeshare workings, I was hoping that there was a method of resale or exchange that would accomplish our goal without us having to abandon our equity and start all over again.

Just my opinion but for $16,000 more and $1000 more in yearly maintenance fees I would keep the garden view. As far as exchanges go, it's a crapshoot these days to get what you want when you want it.

I understand that you would feel as if the retun on your investment would be lower. However, you paid on a garden view. If you want to upgrade to a different type unit you will need to pay more. Remember the people who bought the oceanview you want paid thousands of dollars more than you. It would be different if you were paying extra to get into an oceanview room that you already had bought into. You are asking for more. I looked at ocean view and ocean front villas at Aruba Surf. I just made the assumption that you had a 2 bedroom. A two bedroom garden would be 2925 points in August. An ocean view was 3500 points and oceanfront was 4525 points. If you were to rent the difference in points at .40 per point. You would pay an additional $640 for an oceanFRONT and $230 for an oceanVIEW unit.

Unless you have another Marriott unit, I would advise you not to joint the DC. You don't have enough in one of your weeks to really take advantage of what the points could do. Buying more points would only be so much more expensive. Keep your garden view and try to request an oceanview or oceanfront and maybe you'll get lucky. If it's that important to you to get oceanfront, then you may want to join the DC and rent the additional points.

Good points. Thanks so much! We also own with Disney (RCI) and one other Marriott Redweek elsewhere that we've always rented or traded through interval. I've heard scuttel about direct owner exchanges or even Right to Use agreements that seemed to hold some potential for our situation but I really know nothing about either.

If you own another Marriott week and you usually trade or exchange with II, then the DC is a viable option for you. You will save money with your II membership, exchanges and/or lock offs.

It becomes a good deal for multiple week owners who do a lot of exchanging and locking off of their units because you will save money.

I would suggest that you go to the Timeshare Users Group tug2.net at that site there is extensive discussion on the DC program from many, many Marriott timeshare holders. Go to the forums page. You will see a section on Marriott and then the wealth of information.

We don't own with Marriott but we always get ocean view or ocean front as Interval exchangers because our group bulk banks two years ahead with I I to guarantee maximum trading power. You don't need to own Marriott or Westin to get better units than the owners do . . . .

Thank you both so much!

I really wish the Marriott DC product was a fit for us. We've loved the traditional Marriott ownership with all our hearts and originally intended to enroll in the points program. After attending the presentation, reviewing the contract closely and speaking with close friends who regretted enrolling, we realized that it wasn't what we had hoped it would be. That of course doesn't mean anything against those who either didn't have the traditional option or who've found DC enrollment a good fit for their needs.

I'm getting that it's probably time to explore other time share properties in the area by trading in as an II exchange? Fortunately there are several gorgeous places down there and it's never really a "sacrifice" to try them out. :-)

Thanks again friends. If any other suggestions were missed, please do pass them on to us.

Again, I agree that instead of paying thousands and thousands of dollars more for an upgrade (and never being able to recoup those fees), I would suggest just renting the points as well. Unless you have an extra $16k sitting around with no better use. Renting = same experience with no long term commitments/costs.