# No Star Options For You!



## suzanna945 (Jan 10, 2018)

We are brand new timeshare owners, and we are apparently off to a bad start.  We purchased a Westin Virgin Grand Villa timeshare by resale recently.  Although we were fully aware that we couldn't vacation at our home resort in 2018 (due to the hurricanes and rebuilding), we went through with the sale with 2018 as our first year of use, assuming that we could use the 2018 Star Options to vacation somewhere else this year.  We paid the 2018 maintenance fees and taxes through the Vistana website.  

Now that we're looking into using our 2018 Star Options to vacation somewhere else in Vistana's network this year, there are none associated with our account.  I called Vistana; after an hour on the phone and being transferred 5 times to different reps, we still have no Star Options....they say that according to them, our first year of use is 2019.  They acknowledge receipt of our payment for the 2018 maintenance fees and taxes, but still say our first year of use in the Vistana system is 2019.

Did we totally screw up in thinking if we paid the maintenance fees and taxes for 2018 we would have Star Options to use the same year?


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## cubigbird (Jan 10, 2018)

Did you get a estoppel as part of the purchase to confirm what you were buying?  It is possible you purchased an every other year, in which case 1/2 is due each year.  How much is your yearly maintenance fee?


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## Caligirlfrtx (Jan 10, 2018)

cubigbird said:


> Did you get a estoppel as part of the purchase to confirm what you were buying?  It is possible you purchased an every other year, in which case 1/2 is due each year.  How much is your yearly maintenance fee?


Is it a mandatory or voluntary resort? it matters


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## suzanna945 (Jan 10, 2018)

cubigbird said:


> Did you get a estoppel as part of the purchase to confirm what you were buying?  It is possible you purchased an every other year, in which case 1/2 is due each year.  How much is your yearly maintenance fee?


No, it's a yearly.


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## suzanna945 (Jan 10, 2018)

Caligirlfrtx said:


> Is it a mandatory or voluntary resort? it matters


 
It's a mandatory.


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## r1lee (Jan 10, 2018)

suzanna945 said:


> It's a mandatory.



What phase?


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## VacationForever (Jan 10, 2018)

Virgin Grand (Hillside) is mandatory.  I wonder if SOs are forfeited because the resort is closed even though owners had to pay much discounted MF for 2018.


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## GrayFal (Jan 10, 2018)

I think you need to call back.  If your first year of ownership is 2018 in VGV you can bank your SO until 2021 snd you can purchase SP at a deep discount.  

They (Vistana) just keep f@@@@@@ up.  You need to stay on top of this.


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## VacationForever (Jan 10, 2018)

Deleted...


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## GrayFal (Jan 10, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> Resale owner does not get discounted SP purchase option.


You are incorrect.  Yes they do (says me who purchased them)


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## bizaro86 (Jan 10, 2018)

I think it's worth checking whether the prior owner used them early (borowed )


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## VacationForever (Jan 10, 2018)

GrayFal said:


> You are incorrect.  Yes they do (says me who purchased them)


Wow!  I stand corrected!  The sales folks always make it sound like you have to buy from the developer to buy the SPs at their great rate.  I will correct my post.  Thank you!


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## VacationForever (Jan 10, 2018)

...also what did the resale sheet (estoppel) say?


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## GrayFal (Jan 10, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> Wow!  I stand corrected!  The sales folks always make it sound like you have to buy from the developer to buy the SPs at their great rate.  I will correct my post.  Thank you!


This was an exception due to the circumstances. We normally can not as resale owners convert to SP or get offers to buy SP.  

This was a compensation offer made to WSJ owners.  Only one SP package per owner not Numbet of units owned


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## LisaRex (Jan 10, 2018)

Check your contract.  It should have made crystal clear what year first usage was and who was responsible for paying 2018 MFs.


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## jabberwocky (Jan 10, 2018)

bizaro86 said:


> I think it's worth checking whether the prior owner used them early (borowed )



The 2018 estimated MFs would have to be paid before they could be borrowed - so I don't think this would be possible.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 10, 2018)

@rickandcindy23 was reporting a similar problem regarding getting first usage in this thread. Though hers was with a voluntary resort and it wasn't transferred in to their name yet. I sure hope this isn't a new trend or policy with Vistana as she mentioned in that thread. We picked up another mandatory week that is supposed to come with 2018 usage, fingers crossed it goes smoothly.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 10, 2018)

LisaRex said:


> Check your contract.  It should have made crystal clear what year first usage was and who was responsible for paying 2018 MFs.


The problem is that I don't think Vistana cares what the contract says. They just do the transfer at a given time and at that time all usage rights transfer to the new owner. If the prior owner didn't own any other weeks, their VSN account is closed. If they do have other weeks and they banked the points, then the new owner doesn't get them. If they didn't bank the points, then the new owner should end up with them. I don't think that Vistana can cleanly separate use years in their system. If first use really isn't until 2019, Vistana just absconds with the StarOptions if the prior owner didn't otherwise use or bank them.

Is it possible that the prior owner didn't call up and bank the points between the time the estoppel was written and the transfer happened? You can bank SOs without prepaying the MFs.


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## jabberwocky (Jan 10, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> Is it possible that the prior owner didn't call up and bank the points between the time the estoppel was written and the transfer happened? You can bank SOs without prepaying the MFs.



That would be my guess.  The 2018 SO could have been banked as early as October 2017.  Banking is supposedly irreversible, so they would stay with the former owner.


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## canesfan (Jan 10, 2018)

Vistana has been encouraging banking of WSJ too.  Before it was sold, they could have banked it knowing it wasn’t going to be used in 2018.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kcgriffin (Jan 11, 2018)

I have a new twist on this issue.  We owned at the hillside villas and planned to visit week 52 2BR unit in 2017, which we have owned since the Starwood  takeover of the resort in 1998. We also transferred ownership to our son, to take over in 2018.  The hurricane forced the resort to close and we were each told we would each be credited the 176700 points the unit was worth for the two years 2017 and 2018 the resort was closed.  We were Ok with that outcome. Starwood has just informed us that because we are no longer owners we forfeit our 2017 staroptions (176700).  I’m still negotiating with them for a satisfactory resolution, so far they will not let us give them to our son, and are holding firm.  They closed the resort, that is why we could not use our week in 2017, and now refuse to give us the 2017 points due us. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We tried to hold up the transfer, but Starwood said it was too late.


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## Helios (Jan 11, 2018)

kcgriffin said:


> I have a new twist on this issue.  We owned at the hillside villas and planned to visit week 52 2BR unit in 2017, which we have owned since the Starwood  takeover of the resort in 1998. We also transferred ownership to our son, to take over in 2018.  The hurricane forced the resort to close and we were each told we would each be credited the 176700 points the unit was worth for the two years 2017 and 2018 the resort was closed.  We were Ok with that outcome. Starwood has just informed us that because we are no longer owners we forfeit our 2017 staroptions (176700).  I’m still negotiating with them for a satisfactory resolution, so far they will not let us give them to our son, and are holding firm.  They closed the resort, that is why we could not use our week in 2017, and now refuse to give us the 2017 points due us. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We tried to hold up the transfer, but Starwood said it was too late.


Wow, this is horrible.  Did you pay MF with CC?  If so, I would decline the charge.  At a minimum you recover your MF...


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## VacationForever (Jan 11, 2018)

Just when there were posts that said Vistana was better than Marriott in handling the Irma hurricane cancellations.  I guess this is worse and outright deceitful to owners.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 11, 2018)

kcgriffin said:


> I have a new twist on this issue.  We owned at the hillside villas and planned to visit week 52 2BR unit in 2017, which we have owned since the Starwood  takeover of the resort in 1998. We also transferred ownership to our son, to take over in 2018.  The hurricane forced the resort to close and we were each told we would each be credited the 176700 points the unit was worth for the two years 2017 and 2018 the resort was closed.  We were Ok with that outcome. Starwood has just informed us that because we are no longer owners we forfeit our 2017 staroptions (176700).  I’m still negotiating with them for a satisfactory resolution, so far they will not let us give them to our son, and are holding firm.  They closed the resort, that is why we could not use our week in 2017, and now refuse to give us the 2017 points due us. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We tried to hold up the transfer, but Starwood said it was too late.


This goes along the lines of what I posted about in post #18. Once they do the transfer, the old owner has nothing. I don't agree with it and Vistana seems to be very sloppy in how they handle transfers and first/last usage.


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## VacationForever (Jan 11, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> This goes along the lines of what I posted about in post #18. Once they do the transfer, the old owner has nothing. I don't agree with it and Vistana seems to be very sloppy in how they handle transfers and first/last usage.


But kcgriffin's son is not getting the SOs for 2018 either.  It feels like Vistana is cheating owners out of the SOs if they can.  If kcgriffin has other VSN timeshare/membership, then the 2017 SOs could have been deposited by Vistana if Vistana really wants to.


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## blondietink (Jan 11, 2018)

What if they had made their son a joint owner of their week instead of outright transferring it to him?  Then a year or two down the road, take their names off leaving only the son as owner.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 11, 2018)

VacationForever said:


> But kcgriffin's son is not getting the SOs for 2018 either.  It feels like Vistana is cheating owners out of the SOs if they can.  If kcgriffin has other VSN timeshare/membership, then the 2017 SOs could have been deposited by Vistana if Vistana really wants to.


True, but banked StarOptions never transfer anyway. So they would belong to the prior owner. The problem with Vistana is that if you own no other weeks, they simply close your VSN account when you sell your only week leaving you with nothing. If you have other weeks and bank weeks before you sell a week, you get to keep the banked weeks. In the end, no account, no points in this case. It isn't right, but it seems to be how Vistana handles things.


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## VacationForever (Jan 11, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> True, but banked StarOptions never transfer anyway. So they would belong to the prior owner. The problem with Vistana is that if you own no other weeks, they simply close your VSN account when you sell your only week leaving you with nothing. If you have other weeks and bank weeks before you sell a week, you get to keep the banked weeks. In the end, no account, no points in this case. It isn't right, but it seems to be how Vistana handles things.


Yes, agree that this would be the case if there is not other timeshare sitting in the VSN account.


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## VacationForever (Jan 11, 2018)

blondietink said:


> What if they had made their son a joint owner of their week instead of outright transferring it to him?  Then a year or two down the road, take their names off leaving only the son as owner.


Yes... but I think Vistana is quick to say, nope, transfer is done, you lost your SOs, have a good day.


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## canesfan (Jan 11, 2018)

What would’ve happened if they put them in Interval? At least then they wouldn’t had been a total  lost. I would be asking Vistana to give them back and deposit into II as a compromise.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## VacationForever (Jan 11, 2018)

canesfan said:


> What would’ve happened if they put them in Interval? At least then they wouldn’t had been a total  lost. I would be asking Vistana to give them back and deposit into II as a compromise.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I have not been following but I think there is nothing to deposit since the resort is shutdown last year.... For 2018, the son should get the SOs though since it has now been transferred to him.


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## dioxide45 (Jan 11, 2018)

canesfan said:


> What would’ve happened if they put them in Interval? At least then they wouldn’t had been a total  lost. I would be asking Vistana to give them back and deposit into II as a compromise.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The problem is that the deposit would go in to the corporate VSN II account. That too would close once one is no longer an owner or in VSN.


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## VacationForever (Jan 12, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> The problem is that the deposit would go in to the corporate VSN II account. That too would close once one is no longer an owner or in VSN.


Good point again.  Dioxide, you are so sharp!


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## suzanna945 (Jan 12, 2018)

An update to my original post at the beginning of this thread:  the lawyer who handled our purchase of the timeshare contacted Vistana about our first year of use being 2018, the fact that we paid the 2018 maintenance fees and taxes, and that we should have the Star Options to use this year.  We still have not heard back from Vistana and our account still shows no Star Options for 2018.  And the week that we want to book at the other resort for our vacation this year with those Star Options opens up in 2 days.  Not sure what we should do now.


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## Smithsingeneva (Jan 12, 2018)

suzanna945 said:


> An update to my original post at the beginning of this thread:  the lawyer who handled our purchase of the timeshare contacted Vistana about our first year of use being 2018, the fact that we paid the 2018 maintenance fees and taxes, and that we should have the Star Options to use this year.  We still have not heard back from Vistana and our account still shows no Star Options for 2018.  And the week that we want to book at the other resort for our vacation this year with those Star Options opens up in 2 days.  Not sure what we should do now.



Denise has posted this on another thread.  I would try her via every method possible.

The behaviors described in this thread seem to be another attack on the resales by Vistana.



DeniseM said:


> Vistana has violated terms before (implementing a guest confirmation fee for home resort reservations.)  When Tuggers brought this to Vistana's attention, they had to back down.
> 
> Everyone who has a contract or other documentation showing that the premier 1bdm. sleeps 5, should scan it and send it to:
> *
> ...


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## dioxide45 (Jan 12, 2018)

suzanna945 said:


> An update to my original post at the beginning of this thread:  the lawyer who handled our purchase of the timeshare contacted Vistana about our first year of use being 2018, the fact that we paid the 2018 maintenance fees and taxes, and that we should have the Star Options to use this year.  We still have not heard back from Vistana and our account still shows no Star Options for 2018.  And the week that we want to book at the other resort for our vacation this year with those Star Options opens up in 2 days.  Not sure what we should do now.


My guess is, that you probably won't be making the reservation you want, at least not yet. I wonder if perhaps the lawyer either didn't indicate on the paper work the first use year or listed it incorrectly?


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## Jayco29D (Jan 15, 2018)

Deleted


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## dioxide45 (Jan 15, 2018)

Jayco29D said:


> This is exactly how StarOptions work. Let’s say you bought June 2018. Your first use month in your fixed unit is actually June 2019. Your StarOptions would be deposited in June 2018. From June 2018 - Nov 2018, you have 6 months to decide if you want to use your fixed unit/fixed week or release it and use the Starpoints instead. There are a lot more details than this but this is how it works in a nutshell. Who was your selling agent? Many TS agents do not understand the Hyatt system. I spoke to many who gave me wrong info, even those who claimed to be Hyatt experts.


So are you saying that StarOptions on a fixed week don't run on the calendar year but rather a year that is based on the month in which your fixed week is in? I was not aware of this. Do you own such a week with Vistana?


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## Jayco29D (Jan 16, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> So are you saying that StarOptions on a fixed week don't run on the calendar year but rather a year that is based on the month in which your fixed week is in? I was not aware of this. Do you own such a week with Vistana?



Sorry I deleted that post. I posted in error. That was Hyatt, not Westin. You can see at the bottom I thought I was responding to a Hyatt post.


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## suzanna945 (Jan 16, 2018)

To follow up on my original post, we heard back from Vistana Consumer Relations  today. They fixed the error and posted the Star Options on our account for this year.

Thank you to everyone who offered advice.


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## EnglishmanAbroad (Jan 19, 2018)

suzanna945 said:


> To follow up on my original post, we heard back from Vistana Consumer Relations  today. They fixed the error and posted the Star Options on our account for this year.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who offered advice.



I like a Happy Ending


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## kcgriffin (Jan 23, 2018)

Starwood has reached out to me on my issue, I’ll post the outcome on this thread.


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## kcgriffin (Feb 6, 2018)

kcgriffin said:


> Starwood has reached out to me on my issue, I’ll post the outcome on this thread.


Here his the Starwood offer to us: You have until Friday February 9 to use the 2017 staroptions from the St. John closing.  176000 staroptions.  We will be booking something, but I’m not very happy with their response, it is anything but “customer friendly”.  We bought from the developer when the resort first opened after the previous hurricane (it use to be the Hyatt Virgin Grand) paid a small fortune (30K) but always loved the resort and the island.  I think Starwood is really screwing us but I don’t want to start legal action, just be careful in your dealings with them.  Marriott seems to be much more focused on the customer than Starwood.


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## rickandcindy23 (Feb 6, 2018)

dioxide45 said:


> @rickandcindy23 was reporting a similar problem regarding getting first usage in this thread. Though hers was with a voluntary resort and it wasn't transferred in to their name yet. I sure hope this isn't a new trend or policy with Vistana as she mentioned in that thread. We picked up another mandatory week that is supposed to come with 2018 usage, fingers crossed it goes smoothly.



Yes, I was denied use of my 7 nights for a prime deeded week at SBP (voluntary).  It was free use (I didn't pay the fees for 2017).  I didn't want the SO's, just the use, and Vistana would not let me have the use.  It was there, and one gal almost let me book something, then hesitated and said, "You don't have use for 2017."  

I was not expecting that because the seller said use came with it, and then in their contract it said any use mentioned in the ad doesn't not necessarily guarantee use.  So they got by with it.  Sumday Vacations is not a company I would use again, after the delays and contract small print.  Okay, so it wasn't small print, but I bid on an auction, paid in full, then got the contract after, and the contract basically took away whatever benefits I thought I had.  I am still bitter.  Can you tell?


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## rickandcindy23 (Mar 8, 2019)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FREE-USE-2...445358?hash=item5b542094ee:g:IDcAAOSwoF5cfoVx

Sumday is still promising free use, and then when you get the contract, it says the free use is not a guarantee, so when you tell them you didn't get free use, they say, "Read your contract."  

So annoyed that they continue doing this.  It was not one but TWO for me, at the same time.


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## dioxide45 (Mar 8, 2019)

rickandcindy23 said:


> https://www.ebay.com/itm/FREE-USE-2...445358?hash=item5b542094ee:g:IDcAAOSwoF5cfoVx
> 
> Sumday is still promising free use, and then when you get the contract, it says the free use is not a guarantee, so when you tell them you didn't get free use, they say, "Read your contract."
> 
> So annoyed that they continue doing this.  It was not one but TWO for me, at the same time.


I won't do business with them because of this.


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