• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 32 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 32 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 32nd anniversary: Happy 32nd Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Wish you could meet up with other TUG members? Well look no further as this annual event has been going on for years in Orlando! How to Attend the TUG January Get-Together!
  • Now through the end of the year you can join or renew your TUG membership at the lowest price ever offered! Learn More!
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

NEW CANCEL POLICY - Restricted Star Options are good until end of 2021 and 120 day advance use.

duke

duke

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2005
Messages
746
Reaction score
149
Location
California
Called to cancel my WMH reservation due to receiving closure email.
They said:
1. Resorts are not closed for owners or StarOption reservations/use.
2. The email only applied to cash pay reservations which are being refunded.
3. Cancel policy has been updated today so that returned StarOptions are good until end of 2021 and can be used to make reservations 120 days in advance.
4. These restricted options can not be exchanged for Marriott Points.
5. Policy may change again in future.
6. This change applies to cancellations made before where you received restricted options after March (date to be determined).
 
Still not updated on the app or website
 
duke said:
Called to cancel my WMH reservation due to receiving closure email.
They said:
1. Resorts are not closed for owners or StarOption reservations/use.
2. The email only applied to cash pay reservations which are being refunded.
3. Cancel policy has been updated today so that returned StarOptions are good until end of 2021 and can be used to make reservations 120 days in advance.
4. These restricted options can not be exchanged for Marriott Points.
5. Policy may change again in future.
6. This change applies to cancellations made before where you received restricted options after March (date to be determined).
Click to expand...
I was told the same over the phone this morning. He said they hoped to have the new rules operational online in the system in a matter of days.
 
#1 is very confusing given that Atlantis has closed down. Does this mean that Harborside is still open to owners and star option reservations?
#2 same as #1
#3 canceled today, was told that my star options were resticted to 60 days and expired in 2020.
#4 OK, no issue with that one
#5 Please get consistent
#6 Same as #3.

Plea to Management. Please get this info out via the websites and hub.vacation.com and stop with the mouth to mouth transmittal of the information. Ties up the phone lines and makes management look really behind the curve in the digital age.
 
emeryjre said:
#1 is very confusing given that Atlantis has closed down. Does this mean that Harborside is still open to owners and star option reservations?
#2 same as #1
#3 canceled today, was told that my star options were resticted to 60 days and expired in 2020.
#4 OK, no issue with that one
#5 Please get consistent
#6 Same as #3.

Plea to Management. Please get this info out via the websites and hub.vacation.com and stop with the mouth to mouth transmittal of the information. Ties up the phone lines and makes management look really behind the curve in the digital age.
Click to expand...
I expect it will take them some time to fix #3 in their system. Their IT departments are not up to par. They probably have to create a database script to run in an overnight process to update the restrictions and new expiration dates. This will take some time.

For #5, I don't think being consistent is possible. SO much change and everything is fluid. Even at State and Federal levels. They could have been consistent and kept their more restrictive policy. Would you have preferred that?
 
If we all know about the changes at the same time, they can change as often as they like. I would certainly have handled my post cancellation action today differently if I would have had the latest information. Top weeks for July are gone now and they were available this morning as I was told I couldn’t book out more than 60 days. They were within a 120 day window. Piss poor information flow caused me to miss out on Maui resorts for July.
All the people that booked July did not need the changes to the scripts and databases, they just had to get through on the phone and get the latest info.
 
So we won't have to pay a banking fee for those restricted options to carry over, right?
I'll likely have to bank my remaining 2020 options anyway... I can't very well take a week's vacation every month in the fall. Every 3 months is tolerable enough from mgmt's perspective.
 
emeryjre said:
If we all know about the changes at the same time, they can change as often as they like. I would certainly have handled my post cancellation action today differently if I would have had the latest information. Top weeks for July are gone now and they were available this morning as I was told I couldn’t book out more than 60 days. They were within a 120 day window. Piss poor information flow caused me to miss out on Maui resorts for July.
All the people that booked July did not need the changes to the scripts and databases, they just had to get through on the phone and get the latest info.
Click to expand...
Not sure what you was looking at but studios or a short stay (< 7 days) are all that was available throughout Maui (WKORV and WKORVN) in July as of Monday 3/23 and Tuesday 3/24 because I was looking at trying to move our 2BR reservation for 6/28 a few weeks further out.
 
Last edited:
As you know inventory changes fast. There were several 2 bedroom units available at all 3 Maui resorts on a search I did that morning. I was on the phone and was told that those units were too far out for my restricted star options.
A friend I talked with later in the day got one at North in the morning. He said he had seen a post about the change to 120 days and called VSN. He explained to the rep about the change. Rep checked, discovered it was true. Rep booked unit with a phone call to someone else while friend was on hold. Friend called an associate to tell him. There was nothing available at that point. Maybe 20 minutes later.
 
www.vistana.com

Property Updates | Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Stay up to date on resort and destination information – from applicable weather impacts and relevant maintenance projects to certain health measures and governmental mandates in response to communicable illnesses.
www.vistana.com www.vistana.com

now on the website


Canceling a Reservation 1 – 60 Days from Arrival

As of March 12, 2020, due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 situation, we are extending the 60-day restriction on StarOptions to 120 days.

Reservations cancelled within 60 days of arrival will be returned as Restricted StarOptions and can be used for a future reservation within 120 days of arrival date. This change will take approximately 14 days to process. The expiration date of those restricted StarOptions has also been extended for use through December 31, 2021. This extension will be visible in your online account within 45 days.Additionally, cancellation fees are waived due to COVID-19
 
If the resort is closed, how can they restrict your SO's. That should be illegal. By making their policy a little better, they are appeasing folks. They actually wrote to us to tell us to cancel our April stay.
 
Question - I know that the refunded Staroptions can be used until the end of 2021, but is there a fee to bank them, like usual?
 
DeniseM said:
Question - I know that the refunded Staroptions can be used until the end of 2021, but is there a fee to bank them, like usual?
Click to expand...
You can’t bank them. The expiration date is being extended.
 
okwiater said:
You can’t bank them. The expiration date is being extended.
Click to expand...

Correct. Restricted StarOptions are not eligible for banking or conversion to Bonvoy points.
 
So they can be used in 2021, without banking? Cool!
 
DeniseM said:
So they can be used in 2021, without banking? Cool!
Click to expand...
I wonder if they change my options to restricted since they were cancelled as unrestricted.
 
controller1 said:
Correct. Restricted StarOptions are not eligible for banking or conversion to Bonvoy points.
Click to expand...
So when i cancelled the rep removed the restrictions (before the official policy came down). Do you think they would run reports on who cancelled and then restrict the points? Or once restrictions removed i should be ok?
 
CPNY said:
So when i cancelled the rep removed the restrictions (before the official policy came down). Do you think they would run reports on who cancelled and then restrict the points? Or once restrictions removed i should be ok?
Click to expand...

They're so busy I wouldn't bet on them going back to find your StarOptions that were not restricted.
 
Your SO detail will show that they are restricted. The reservation that I had to cancel was after March 12th and show as restricted, but they have not updated the footnotes to indicate that they have the 120 days reservation window and expire at the end of 2021 yet. They did say it would take awhile to update the system.
 
I have a reservation for Harborside in April using StarOptions that expire December 2020 (banked from 2018). It will be interesting to see if I cancel if they will now expire in 2021 with 120 day restriction..
 
Yes - but the recovered Staroptions may not be listed correctly in your account for 45 days, per their announcement.
 
I just cancelled a reservation within 60 days check-in, and it's available for 120 day reservations, so looks like it's working.
 
KACTravels said:
Your SO detail will show that they are restricted. The reservation that I had to cancel was after March 12th and show as restricted, but they have not updated the footnotes to indicate that they have the 120 days reservation window and expire at the end of 2021 yet. They did say it would take awhile to update the system.
Click to expand...
So if it doesn’t show restricted which it shouldn’t since I can bank them now. I might just do that and be done with it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top