Thinking About Adding Vistana Unit

[TBipp]

Hello All,

We have 4 weeks with Hyatt and are thinking about adding Vistana as Vistana has Caribbean and Mexican units which Hyatt does not. I am curious as to whether it is fairly easy to purchase Vistana resale? Does the system offer fixed and floating weeks? I am used to fixed and am wondering if the floating weeks are an issue? How do the points work? Same as Hyatt (if you are familiar with that system)? Is Vistana undergoing any major changes after being purchased by Interval? (Hyatt is somewhat in flux.)

Thanks in advance.

Teresa

 

[DeniseM]

Only a few resorts have Staroptions when you buy them on the resale market.

Here is the Vistana FAQ to get your started: http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?...-to-timesharing-or-starwood-start-here.63224/

The points (Staroptions) work well off-season, but it's harder to get high season weeks at the most popular resorts. At many resorts, you cannot reserve Christmas/New Years with Staroptions.

I would say that Vistana is still in flux.

 

[TBipp]

Only a few resorts have Staroptions when you buy them on the resale market.

Here is the Vistana FAQ to get your started: http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?...-to-timesharing-or-starwood-start-here.63224/

The points (Staroptions) work well off-season, but it's harder to get high season weeks at the most popular resorts. At many resorts, you cannot reserve Christmas/New Years with Staroptions.

I would say that Vistana is still in flux.

Thank you, Denise. I had quite the learning curve with Hyatt so I wanted a feel for Vistana. It looks like a purchase to obtain Star Options (which provide the most flexibility) could be pricey.

 

[echino]

I am looking into this also. What I learned so far is you could purchase a mandatory Sheraton Vistana Villages with Staroptions for very cheap, close to free, but maintenance fees are quite high. On the other hand, Westin Kierland Villas maintenance fees are the lowest among mandatory resorts with Staroptions, but purchase price is very high. And you need to purchase the right size unit in the highest season for the best MF/Staroption ratio.

 

[vacationtime1]

Thank you, Denise. I had quite the learning curve with Hyatt so I wanted a feel for Vistana. It looks like a purchase to obtain Star Options (which provide the most flexibility) could be pricey.

Definitely buy a unit with transferrable StarOptions (Vistana Villages [certain sections only] or Kierland); those are the most cost/efficient traders. But start by figuring out how many StarOptions you need to get the units you want. Vistana Villages is cheap: $1 - $1500 will suffice.

echino's advise about buying prime season to get the best MF/StarOption ratio is spot on.

 

[dioxide45]

The only Caribbean property that Vistana has is Westin St John and Harborside. I wouldn't buy a mandatory week to plan on booking that with any regularity. They are the more difficult properties to book The Mexican property in Cancun is pretty easy to book with StarOptions, except for perhaps the highest season weeks. The other Mexican properties that are coming online will probably be fairly easy StarOptions trades for the foreseeable future.

The best option to test the waters if you don't want to drop a lot of money upfront is to buy SVV Bella or Key West. For the prime season weeks, expect to pay about $1200. High season (gold) is what you can find for free. The problem is that the high season have the same MF for fewer StarOptions

 

[okwiater]

If you like Caribbean properties and have use for a 3-bedroom unit, purchasing a Westin St. John 3BR pool villa (Hillside/Virgin Grand phase) is also a good choice because it is also a mandatory property, and comes with 257,700 StarOptions for similar MF-SO ratio as Kierland.

 

[dioxide45]

If you like Caribbean properties and have use for a 3-bedroom unit, purchasing a Westin St. John 3BR pool villa (Hillside/Virgin Grand phase) is also a good choice because it is also a mandatory property, and comes with 257,700 StarOptions for similar MF-SO ratio as Kierland.

How much do these usually cost to buy? Are they very common on the resale market?

 

[TBipp]

The only Caribbean property that Vistana has is Westin St John and Harborside. I wouldn't buy a mandatory week to plan on booking that with any regularity. They are the more difficult properties to book The Mexican property in Cancun is pretty easy to book with StarOptions, except for perhaps the highest season weeks. The other Mexican properties that are coming online will probably be fairly easy StarOptions trades for the foreseeable future.

The best option to test the waters if you don't want to drop a lot of money upfront is to buy SVV Bella or Key West. For the prime season weeks, expect to pay about $1200. High season (gold) is what you can find for free. The problem is that the high season have the same MF for fewer StarOptions

I am curious as to why the other Mexican properties are not available for trading at this time with StarOptions?

 

[dioxide45]

I am curious as to why the other Mexican properties are not available for trading at this time with StarOptions?

The only other Mexican property that is coming online for StarOptions is Los Cabos. Vistana also owns the Westin Hotel in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. They are converting those to timeshare over time. Los Cabos had some StarOption availability for January 2018.

 

[okwiater]

How much do these usually cost to buy? Are they very common on the resale market?

I wouldn't describe them as "very common" but I didn't look too hard for mine. I would think somewhere between 25-30k is about market price depending on the week. One downside is they were sold as fixed weeks so you might have a hard time finding one if you absolutely must have a specific week. To each their own... In years when we couldn't use our owned week, we've had no problem renting for more than twice the MF. We've also exchanged for StarOptions.

 

[TBipp]

I wouldn't describe them as "very common" but I didn't look too hard for mine. I would think somewhere between 25-30k is about market price depending on the week. One downside is they were sold as fixed weeks so you might have a hard time finding one if you absolutely must have a specific week. To each their own... In years when we couldn't use our owned week, we've had no problem renting for more than twice the MF. We've also exchanged for StarOptions.

Thanks for responding. I am surprised about the price. We purchased our 4 Hyatt weeks (Prime time-weeks 6-10) in Key West for less than half of that price for each week.

 

[cubigbird]

Lately Lagunamar in Cancun has been impossible to book during event weeks -- 51 and 52, Thanksgiving and also Presidents Day week. Otherwise it is pretty open.

 

[hollyl]

The only other Mexican property that is coming online for StarOptions is Los Cabos. Vistana also owns the Westin Hotel in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. They are converting those to timeshare over time. Los Cabos had some StarOption availability for January 2018.

Do you know that the new Cabo will be a mandatory resort?

 

[canesfan]

Do you know that the new Cabo will be a mandatory resort?

No, it's going to be the new points system. It's voluntary.


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[Tucsonadventurer]

Hello All,

We have 4 weeks with Hyatt and are thinking about adding Vistana as Vistana has Caribbean and Mexican units which Hyatt does not. I am curious as to whether it is fairly easy to purchase Vistana resale? Does the system offer fixed and floating weeks? I am used to fixed and am wondering if the floating weeks are an issue? How do the points work? Same as Hyatt (if you are familiar with that system)? Is Vistana undergoing any major changes after being purchased by Interval? (Hyatt is somewhat in flux.)

Thanks in advance.

Teresa

We own 2 weeks with Hyatt and just purchased a Kierland week with 148,100 SOs. I think the 2 systems go well together as far as increasing your options but keeping quality. We thought about it for a good 6 months and asked many questions throughout this time on TUG, read a lot, as well as attended presentations to get questions answered, before we bought. I still don't understand the system completely but I know with Hyatt there was a learning curve .
There is a lot that Vistana offers that Hyatt does not in the form of activities in general although to be fair, there are some Hyatt resorts with activities. Some of the Vistana properties rent well so you can recoup some of the higher
prices. We stayed at Lagunamar 3 times this year and fell in love with it. There are a lot of Getaways still for Lagunamar but you might want to wait until hurricane season is done.