Purchasing a week or weeks at the Marriott Waiohai

How difficult is it to secure a week in the summer at the Waiohai

I'm interested in purchasing a week or two at the Waiohai. Are there going to be any problems that wouldn't be obvious to me? For example two of my friends own at the Marriott Maui and the other in Newport Beach Ca. Both purchased from Marriott, the one in Newport purchased two Christmas/New Years weeks, both have said it is very tricky and difficult to get the weeks in the summer, they have to call at 6 am a year out etc, (even the one in Newport has trouble and he has two weeks). Will I have problems securing a summer week if I only own one eoy unit? I have heard that my room assignment will likely be in the back overlooking the pond if I purchase a garden view eoy unit, so I am considering purchasing two ocean view rooms. Any suggestions or opinions?

Last edit by davidh918 on May 08, 2016 03:37 PM.

Maui and Newport Beach are much more difficult to high season than Waiohai or Kauai in general. As long as you have a little flexibility and are willing to call on the first day you should be ok.

Thanks for the input.

Just an aside, we were given an OV there when we checked in but it was a view across a large public parking lot with a glimpse of sea in the distance! A garden view would've been nicer.

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Owners get priority (within a view category) over exchangers. An owner garden view is often better than an exchanger's ocean view. An owner's ocean view booked at 12 months should be quite nice.

For anyone purchasing a deeded week at the Waiohai, I always recommend ocean view weeks 1-50. We own 7 of these weeks and bought all through the resale market. We use 3 or 4 of our weeks each year for a vacation and typically rent out the others on Redweek for a nice profit. I suggest you buy two weeks even if you only intend to use one so you can take advantage of the 13 month booking window and, if you phone owner services first thing on the day that the reservations are available for your week, you won't have any problem getting your weeks. Book them during a popular week and you'll make a 15% return on your investment each year if you rent out the week you don't want. It's funny how you hear all these horror stories about people who are "trapped in a timeshare." They're not Waiohai oceanview owners. We purchased our last oceanview Waiohai week in 2022 at a total cost of $15,300 total. ($14,500 sales price plus $800 in fees). The annual dues for that week are $2,245. We will rent it out on Redweek next year for $4,500. After listing fees and maintenance fees we will have pocketed $2,100. That's close to a 14% return on our $15,000 investment with no risk to the principal. Not bad. Also, we traded a couple of our weeks last year on interval international and gifted the weeks to my daughter for her honeymoon. They received a beautiful villa in Tuscany and another in Scotland and I.I. threw a third week our way to even the score. These Waiohai weeks will trade well into pretty much anywhere in the world you'd like to go. You are wise to avoid points programs and purchase deeds on the resale market for a resort like the Waiohai.

Forgive my lack of knowledge, but if you buy on the secondary market with Marriott you can still use Interval International? TIA!

Yes, you can still use Interval if you purchase on the resale market.

Thank you for your post. We are hoping to do something similar to you - Our purchase contract (same resort) has a unit number and specific week listed (plus says Floating 1-50. Am I correct to assume that is just the week you "own" but can book any week 1-50 assuming you call early enough and there is availability?