tahoeJoe
TUG Member
... I don't. What is Sheraton-flex? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this program? Who can join and is there a cost?
Just curious,
Just curious,
IMNSHO - Starwood ran out of things to sell, so they repackaged some of the less popular resorts and re-sold them as something new and improved.
Personally, I can't think of any advantage over simply buying a resale deed at the resort(s) that you want, for a fraction of the cost. YMMV
I don't disagree entirely, as most of those resorts can be booked with VSN/StarOptions. However, Flex does get you access to Myrtle Beach over July 4th, as well as Steamboat Springs during ski season. Neither of those are typically available as VSN exchanges.
That's all subject to availability and not guaranteed. The sales team does a great job in implying that you can book at any of those resorts at any time. Steamboat is a very small resort so if you try to book even minutes late you'll be out of luck. If you really want those ski weeks or prime summer weeks you are probably better off looking for an old non-Flex contract deeded for that usage. Own where and when you want to go.
I don't disagree entirely, as most of those resorts can be booked with VSN/StarOptions. However, Flex does get you access to Myrtle Beach over July 4th, as well as Steamboat Springs during ski season. Neither of those are typically available as VSN exchanges.
Are any of the above worth the $20+thd price tag? I don't think so.
One very imlortant thing to know is that if you go with flex your maintenance fees will be guaranteed to increase.
The same could be said about almost any developer purchase.
'almost' being the operative word for any TS purchase
There are certainly VSE resale over >$20K that are worth it.
and even some direct VSE purchases... for those 0.1% (certain situations, money to burn, etc...)
As opposed to a non-Flex ownership??
An indirect consequence of these consumer protection laws is that MFs cannot realistically exceed the rental rate of the lowest season. If they did, then low season owners would bail. (How stupid would you have to be to pay $2500 in "maintenance fees" for a unit that you could rent for $1500?) For resorts like WKORV, seasonal swings in rental rates are minimal, but for resorts like WKV, SBP, HRA, and WSJ, that low season rental rate "cap" has most certainly helped keep their MFs low.
Yes, but I was responding to Password is taco who was talking specifically about a developer purchase of Flex.
There are a lot of unqualified statements in this thread and on this BBS (not saying you DnR, just in general) about Flex which are either untrue or overly generalized. Most of the people making the statements don't own Flex and don't fully understand the system themselves. The OP of this thread specifically asked about advantages and disadvantages of Flex and my opinion is that if this board is to maintain credibility then he should get a factual and unbiased answer.
An indirect consequence of these consumer protection laws is that MFs cannot realistically exceed the rental rate of the lowest season. If they did, then low season owners would bail. (How stupid would you have to be to pay $2500 in "maintenance fees" for a unit that you could rent for $1500?) For resorts like WKORV, seasonal swings in rental rates are minimal, but for resorts like WKV, SBP, HRA, and WSJ, that low season rental rate "cap" has most certainly helped keep their MFs low.
Flex programs destroy all those protections because you've destroyed the "7 days in a specific resort in a specific season in a specific unit size" model. Once you break the connection between MFs and a specific resort, you lose the "low season" cap, and the ability to compare your MFs to comparable rental rates. $1500 in MFs might be a good deal for a July week at SPB, but not at SDO. So how do you know if you're getting a good deal or not? And who/what is going to protect you if the developer increases the MFs by 5 cents per point?
Putting aside the flaw in your premise regarding the relationship between MFs and rental rates, it's not accurate to say this blended MF concern affects only Flex programs. Yes, it affects the Flex program but it also affects all points-based programs, i.e. Nanea, WSJ Coral/Bay Vista, the entirety of the Marriott TS system, etc. So although it's reasonable to see an inherent disadvantage in not owning a deeded resort week, it's not accurate to describe Flex as a uniquely disadvantaged style of ownership.
The new VSE 'points' systems attempt to fix a major issue with deeded weeks that have seasons where MF is same regardless of season. The problem with these deeded weeks (as discussed here) is that Owners of the lower season weeks (that have same MF as high season weeks) may bail on their weeks as they have become valueless (or very low value) - many examples of this - and cause the other Owners to pick up the slack (increase in MF) which in turn may cause more Owners to bail (vicious cycle).
This is why WSJ-VGV HOA started the take back and resale of delinquent weeks.