VSN Features/Benefits Reduction and Elimination Post Abound Launch [Call to Action]

[Grandma2016]

and you don't even have to elect points in order to be able to rent. You can rent enough for an entire reservation.

Can you rent points to anyone im assuming they have to be in the system?

 

[dioxide45]

Was it 2 weeks in 2BRs? We need 2BRs for our family.

It wouldn't have been. You can get 13 nights in Cancun Gold Plus season 1BR (which includes January) for 81,000 StarOptions. For a 2BR, you can only get seven nights.

 

[Ken555]

Given how far one can get in VSN with the current chart, for many VSN is the automobile and Abound is the donkey.

Yeah, it’s just so apparent that we have a number of constant posters who are Marriott fanatics here and seem to see their ownership through rose tinted glasses.


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[dioxide45]

Can you rent points to anyone im assuming they have to be in the system?

You can rent points based reservations to anyone, but to rent and transfer points both parties need to be Abound members.

 

[TravelTime]

It wouldn't have been. You can get 13 nights in Cancun Gold Plus season 1BR (which includes January) for 81,000 StarOptions. For a 2BR, you can only get seven nights.

Is it 1 week in a 2BR at Lagunamar in high season or low season? What month would it be? I could check the charts but I am being lazy! Ha ha.

 

[kozykritter]

That is a good question in regard to how they will manage inventory when a Flex owner elects Abound Club Points from their VOI or a portion of their VOI (they can elect in 20K increments). I guess the question is, what are good weeks. A good week for one person is too expensive to book for another one. Sure they could take all the Sheraton Kauai or Steamboat Ski weeks, but those also require a lot of points to book and they may go unused in Abound because of the number of points needed. I suspect the inventory management system is rather complex to make sure they take only what they are able to fulfill. People still like to go to Vistana Villages

I would guess also that requests on the wait list might be a factor as well when pulling inventory for Abound. If someone elects home options Sheraton Flex and there are numerous Abound wait list requests for a specific property within that Flex, that may influence what they pull from Flex into Abound, in order to help complete those transactions.

 

[dioxide45]

Is it 1 week in a 2BR at Lagunamar in high season or low season? What month would it be? I could check the charts but I am being lazy! Ha ha.

You can get seven nights in a 2BR in low season with 81K or you can get 13 nights in a 1BR low season with 81K.

 

[JIMinNC]

I think the biggest draw to abound for the VSN owner is the ability to rent points when needed if their ownership doesn’t yield enough for a reservation they want.

For knowledgable owners like TUGgers, absolutely. But just like I'm fairly confident the average MVC owner doesn't have a clue that they can rent points or how to do it, I think VSN owners will follow the same pattern. I suspect most owners get their info on how to use the system from sales updates, and we all know how accurate and unbiased those are...

 

[CPNY]

For knowledgable owners like TUGgers, absolutely. But just like I'm fairly confident the average MVC owner doesn't have a clue that they can rent points or how to do it, I think VSN owners will follow the same pattern. I suspect most owners get their info on how to use the system from sales updates, and we all know how accurate and unbiased those are...

Ha that’s a fact! Gotta love those owners updates.

 

[kozykritter]

Yeah, it’s just so apparent that we have a number of constant posters who are Marriott fanatics here and seem to see their ownership through rose tinted glasses.


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The same can be said about VSN fanatics here. Everyone has their biases.

 

[byeloe]

Was it 2 weeks in 2BRs? We need 2BRs for our family.

For us it wasn't in 2bd, but you could get what you need for 162000 staroptions.
I think it would be a bit over 2
10000 points in the new abound.
I think Marriott was trying to close a bit of a loophole when they created the chart for Lagunamar

 

[timsi]

and you don't even have to elect points in order to be able to rent. You can rent enough for an entire reservation.

Great, so in addition to the thousands already spent annually on MF we will have the ability to spend more money to rent in Abound points from other owners in order to do the same reservations that we can currently do in VSN using what we already own and nothing more.

 

[dioxide45]

Yeah, it’s just so apparent that we have a number of constant posters who are Marriott fanatics here and seem to see their ownership through rose tinted glasses.


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The same can be said about VSN fanatics here. Everyone has their biases.

 

[TravelTime]

I checked the charts. I do not know how many Club Points 81,000 converts to. Would it be approx 3400? Is conversion 24:1? Even if it is less, I can still make Abound work better for me than SOs for the below reasons.

There are dates that overlap with Vistana’s definition of high season for 2BR at 3950 club points, not as many dates when we could visit but early June is a time we travel every year. The lowest season is only 2400 points but we are less likely to go during those dates due to the school calendar. So if I use 3950 club points for Lagunamar, then I still have enough points for another good week somewhere else.

I would not divide my 2 BR WKOVRN OF into a 1 BR and a studio in order to try to book at Lagunamar at 8 months. Like I said, I need 2BR and prefer staying at resorts with an ocean view unless it is a non-beach resort.

So to me Abound offers more than I can get through SOs for our travel needs.

 

[dioxide45]

I checked the charts. I do not know how many Club Points 81,000 converts to. Would it be approx 3400? Is conversion 24:1? Even if it is less, I can still make Abound work better for me than SOs for the below reasons.

There are dates that overlap with Vistana’s definition of high season for 2BR at 3950 club points, not as many dates when we could visit but early June is a time we travel every year. The lowest season is only 2400 points but we are less likely to go during those dates due to the school calendar. So if I use 3950 club points for Lagunamar, then I still have enough points for another good week somewhere else.

I would not divide my 2 BR WKOVRN OF into a 1 BR and a studio in order to try to book at Lagunamar at 8 months. Like I said, I need 2BR and prefer staying at resorts with an ocean view unless it is a non-beach resort.

So to me Abound offers more than I can get through SOs for our travel needs.

It depends on where the 81,000 comes from. Points? Weeks? The conversion rate is different for everyone depending on exactly what they own. OUr SVV 2BR 81K would get 2,825. Looking at the Abound points charts, 2,800 Club Points don't go very far. Couldn't get a 1BR any time for even a week except for Sept-Oct.

 

[TravelTime]

It depends on where the 81,000 comes from. Points? Weeks? The conversion rate is different for everyone depending on exactly what they own. OUr SVV 2BR 81K would get 2,825. Looking at the Abound points charts, 2,800 Club Points don't go very far. Couldn't get a 1BR any time for even a week except for Sept-Oct.

If I use 81,000 of my SOs for a 2BR at Lagunamar, then I only have a 1BR with my remaining SOs. With Abound, I can easily get two 2BRs if I elect club points and sometimes in high season, definitely I can make it work regarless of season.

 

[TravelTime]

I am starting to think there are a couple potential problems with folks who think SOs might be better. Mainly it is a basic lack of knowledge on how to maximize Abound points. There is definitely a learning curve to any new system. I think where the advantage to Vistana over Abound comes in is when you book your home resort due to the skim. OTOH, in years where you do not want to use your home resort, electing Abound points to go somewhere else is simple, easy and effective if you understand the Abound system.

 

[byeloe]

I am starting to think there are a couple potential problems with folks who think SOs might be better. Mainly it is a basic lack of knowledge on how to maximize Abound points. There is definitely a learning curve to any new system. I think where the advantage to Vistana over Abound comes in is when you book your home resort due to the skim. OTOH, in years where you do not want to use your home resort, electing Abound points to go somewhere else is simple, easy and effective if you understand the Abound system.

I agree if you own Maui and get 8300 points. But unfortunately many VSN resorts won't get enough points to be able to stretch 1 week into 2

 

[rickandcindy23]

I see this discussion going in circles.

I cannot imagine doing anything with our OF Westin Ka'anapali weeks in Marriott's system. If we get to the point where our OF units will not be used, I will rent the weeks or sell them through Syed. That would only happen if something happened to Rick's or my health.

 

[pchung6]

I see this discussion going in circles.

I cannot imagine doing anything with our OF Westin Ka'anapali weeks in Marriott's system. If we get to the point where our OF units will not be used, I will rent the weeks or sell them through Syed. That would only happen if something happened to Rick's or my health.

I'm on the same boat as you. I still cannot figure out what to do with OF Westin Maui with these points. I rather just rent my OF week. For SVV, I can't even reserve any 1 bedroom in Hawaii which I'm currently using SVV for. If somehow SVN inventory dries up, I will just sell my SVV and be done with Marriott. I'm looking at Hilton right now, they have some exciting Hawaii resorts that I might be interested.

 

[timsi]

I see this discussion going in circles.

I cannot imagine doing anything with our OF Westin Ka'anapali weeks in Marriott's system. If we get to the point where our OF units will not be used, I will rent the weeks or sell them through Syed. That would only happen if something happened to Rick's or my health.

The question is not what those who only use or rent Maui will do but rather will happen with those that have traded in VSN and whether they will continue with VSN or Abound. I have not seen one hand raised for VSN from a Maui owner but I have many raised for Abound.

 

[TravelTime]

I see this discussion going in circles.

I cannot imagine doing anything with our OF Westin Ka'anapali weeks in Marriott's system. If we get to the point where our OF units will not be used, I will rent the weeks or sell them through Syed. That would only happen if something happened to Rick's or my health.

I was just about the say the same thing. Going around in circles. I personally think buying to use is least stressful regardless of how you use it. Everyone likes different things. I even like hotels sometimes.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I'm on the same boat as you. I still cannot figure out what to do with OF Westin Maui with these points. I rather just rent my OF week. For SVV, I can't even reserve any 1 bedroom in Hawaii which I'm currently using SVV for. If somehow SVN inventory dries up, I will just sell my SVV and be done with Marriott. I'm looking at Hilton right now, they have some exciting Hawaii resorts that I might be interested.

The only reason I would get Westin Kierland Platinum would be to reserve Maui or Kauai, and if Marriott owners get that inventory before me at 8 months, the Kierland Villas would be a waste of money for us to consider. I was looking into it and told Syed I would like a couple of weeks but not at his listed prices a few months ago. Kierland will lose value for me. I would rather not risk the money for that.

 

[TravelTime]

The only reason I would get Westin Kierland Platinum would be to reserve Maui or Kauai, and if Marriott owners get that inventory before me at 8 months, the Kierland Villas would be a waste of money for us to consider. I was looking into it and told Syed I would like a couple of weeks but not at his listed prices a few months ago. Kierland will lose value for me. I would rather not risk the money for that.

You own so much. What do you personally use for your own enjoyment?

 

[Ken555]

The same can be said about VSN fanatics here. Everyone has their biases.

Yes, but this is the Vistana forum…


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