I currently own SBP Staroptions 67100 every other year. We only vacation there and never trade for another resort and probably don't see ourselves doing that. We are going to an owners meeting New Years week, where I am told we will be pushed to upgrade to Flex. We are told that if we don't, our local trading power will be greatly reduced resulting in possibilities of not being able to use our options since they would be only available to trade in with others who did not join Flex or bank with II and trade that way. Also they said my yearly fees will go up for not joining. So, here are my questions.
1) Should I upgrade knowing what I do currently with my options?
2) Is there much truth to the trading limitablity by not joining the new program?
3) By not joining will they raise fees to punish those who don't join?
I don't care about trading with Marriott or Hyatt. We just want to come to SBP every year or every other year depending on how we split up our options.
Thank you for you advice.
I'm not familiar with the details of SBP, but my understanding being an owner at SVR is that for you the Staroptions don't matter since you only want to use your week at SBP and not trade within the Vistana system. When you say that you split up your options are you booking a few days at a time or do you book a full week?
I don't see a benefit for you joining. Flex would allow you to priority book at any of the Flex resorts at 8-12 months out (others such as the Westins would still be at 8 months) - you already have this feature at SBP with your ownership there.
I doubt that you would experience difficulties booking a unit unless an overwhelming number of owners trade into Flex - something that would take many years for existing owners.
The fees is a bogus argument. Flex is much more expensive from what I've observed and they can't raise fees on non-flex owners. All owners at a particular should pay the same amount in MF regardless of whether the unit is in Flex or not. Everything I have seen is that Flex is more expensive.
We were fed many of the same lines when we did an update at SVR earlier this year - only to find TUG and realize most of it was lies (i.e., the new Nanea is not part of Flex). If you want entry to the Flex system I'd watch eBay - there have been a few auctions where Flex points have come up for next to nothing.
