Club Dues

[GregT]

I was charged the club fee on both my Vistana and my Marriott weeks. I've sent a note to Starwood about this and will hope that they eliminate the duplicate fee.

Best,

Greg

 

[daviator]

I am billed for 307.29 for membership fees on 2BR EOY KORV And $155 for 2BR annual Mission Hills membership fees. Does that seem right?

No, it doesn’t sound right. You shouldn’t be charged membership fees/club dues on more than one VOI. So the fee you are being charged on Mission Hills shouldn’t be there, you already got charged for membership on your WKORV.

 

[DanCali]

I am billed for 307.29 for membership fees on 2BR EOY KORV And $155 for 2BR annual Mission Hills membership fees. Does that seem right?

Do you have any weeks not in Abound for which you may be paying a VSN fee?

 

[Mulege]

Do you have any weeks not in Abound for which you may be paying a VSN fee?

How do I know what contracts are in or out of Abound? Thanks.

 

[sponger76]

How do I know what contracts are in or out of Abound? Thanks.

You can go to https://www.vistana.com/elect-for-club-points and go through the motions to see which VOIs it would allow you to elect Abound points for.

 

[Mulege]

You can go to https://www.vistana.com/elect-for-club-points and go through the motions to see which VOIs it would allow you to elect Abound points for.

I took your advice. Both are in Abound. I’m going to contact Owner Services to get a refund on the $155 paid. So thankful to have TUGS community.

 

[nalismom]

I have 2 EOY even weeks…one is Bella with SO and the other is the Cascades which does not have SO. Both units were resales from other owners.

It’s impossible to talk to someone as to how the new club dues work. On Bella I have always paid the dues which covered II membership and separately purchased II membership for the Cascades since I could not trade internally with VSN. Does this revised fee also include II membership for Bella week?

My current Bella Statement shows the $230 Club Dues but the Cascades has none. Can I correctly assume that the Cascades will not be covered by the new $230 Club Fee? Or will it? Will I need to pay an additional $230 every other year with regards to my Biennial Bella week.

I have no interest in exchanging to Abound mostly because I don’t have many points and don’t quite understand how that works.

Is it correct that the $230 CF will also cover banking Star Options?

Thank you all for your patience….I haven’t followed mush with VSN/MVC due to dealing with some family issues of late.

 

[CPNY]

I have 2 EOY even weeks…one is Bella with SO and the other is the Cascades which does not have SO. Both units were resales from other owners.

It’s impossible to talk to someone as to how the new club dues work. On Bella I have always paid the dues which covered II membership and separately purchased II membership for the Cascades since I could not trade internally with VSN. Does this revised fee also include II membership for Bella week?

My current Bella Statement shows the $230 Club Dues but the Cascades has none. Can I correctly assume that the Cascades will not be covered by the new $230 Club Fee? Or will it? Will I need to pay an additional $230 every other year with regards to my Biennial Bella week.

I have no interest in exchanging to Abound mostly because I don’t have many points and don’t quite understand how that works.

Is it correct that the $230 CF will also cover banking Star Options?

Thank you all for your patience….I haven’t followed mush with VSN/MVC due to dealing with some family issues of late.

If your cascade one was never in the VSN then you never paid the VSN dues on that unit. Only your Bella unit is enrolled in Abound. Essentially nothing changes for your cascades ownership.

 

[nalismom]

If your cascade one was never in the VSN then you never paid the VSN dues on that unit. Only your Bella unit is enrolled in Abound. Essentially nothing changes for your cascades ownership.

Cascades: Got it

Bella: What do I get for the $230…and most likely I would not use Abound.

 

[sponger76]

Cascades: Got it

Bella: What do I get for the $230…and most likely I would not use Abound.

Well, pretty much all the other possible fees (banking, housekeeping, guest certificates, etc.) go away. If you book in such a way that you never pay additional fees, then the higher Club Dues doesn't really benefit you.

 

[daviator]

Well, pretty much all the other possible fees (banking, housekeeping, guest certificates, etc.) go away. If you book in such a way that you never pay additional fees, then the higher Club Dues doesn't really benefit you.

Even someone who never paid those extra fees might benefit with a higher Bonvoy tier if they become an elite member under the Abound program. That may or may not have value depending on whether they use Marriott hotels or not.

 

[kozykritter]

Cascades: Got it

Bella: What do I get for the $230…and most likely I would not use Abound.

It's more like what will you get for the extra $60 since you would have to pay the VSN annual membership fee instead which is $170 for 2023.

 

[CPNY]

Cascades: Got it

Bella: What do I get for the $230…and most likely I would not use Abound.

Never say never…. I said I’d never use it and had the system been working I was about to book a few nights in the ritz in st Thomas to add onto my St. John reservation. You just never know when you want to book Marriott resorts. Also, you’ll get 12 month booking instead of 8 months in the VSN. I’d recommend not opting out to anyone. The increase in dues for abound over the VSN dues is minimal when you consider what you CAN do if you ever decide to or want to.

 

[daviator]

Never say never…. I said I’d never use it and had the system been working I was about to book a few nights in the ritz in st Thomas to add onto my St. John reservation. You just never know when you want to book Marriott resorts. Also, you’ll get 12 month booking instead of 8 months in the VSN. I’d recommend not opting out to anyone. The increase in dues for abound over the VSN dues is minimal when you consider what you CAN do if you ever decide to or want to.

Agree 100%. I also said I'd never use it, but have already done so... I "saved" quite a bit by electing Abound for one VOI and using it for a Palm Desert stay next Spring. It does seem that MVW is squeezing the VSN inventory and so you may want or need to use Abound in the future. It's not worth closing off that option just to save $60/year.

 

[emeryjre]

The MF statements are out for Harborside. I have 2 units that will be eligible for abound when and if Harborside joins into the abound system. Regarding management fees, this is what I received. There is a line item on the invoice called "Owners Dues" the amount is $230.00. This amount is only on one invoice. There is an asterisk to read further down. This is what is further below.

Club Dues have been changed and now also includes (i) additional amounts charged for access to an additional exchange opportunity and other services provided through MVC Exchange Company pursuant to an Affiliation Agreement between MVC Exchange Company and Vistana Signature Network, and (ii) a consolidated fee that replaces the individual separate transaction fees that were previously billed to Owners on an a la carte basis (e.g., banking Points, reservation cancellations, conversion to Bonvoy, etc.). To Opt-Out of receiving the additional exchange opportunity and consolidated fee that replaces the separate transaction fees previously billed a la carte, please call/contact Owner Services at 1-877- 782-7496 and you can opt out by paying the 2023 Club Dues amount of either $170.50 USD (for single week Owners) or $236.50 USD (for multi-week Owners), plus VAT. If you opt-out, please note that you will be responsible for paying separate transaction fees, will not receive the additional exchange opportunity and services through MVC Exchange Company, and will be automatically assigned to the Owner Membership Level in VSN and will not receive any benefits as a Grandfathered Elite Member, but rather benefits attributable to the Owner Membership Level including reservation windows, Bonvoy status, etc. In the event you opt out and want to later take advantage of the consolidated Club Dues for 2024 or subsequent years, you will also need to pay an enrollment fee which is currently $595.00 USD but subject to change from time to time.

Not the cleanest explanation, as they refer to opting out of club dues and then paying club dues of a different amount. It would be cleaner if they referred to VSN fees, (which i assume they are referring to).
Bottom line for me is to pay the club dues of $230.00 and not pay any additional costs for the ala carte fees. Also club dues are less expensive up front,

 

[dsmrp]

I have been billed correctly for Abound club dues. Btw got the bill by slo-mail, but Marriott site always erred when trying to pay online.

Anyway, I have 2 concurrent options reservations in January, made with banked 2022 options. One of them, pre-Abound required additional housekeeping fee.
1. Will the new all-in-one fee cover the housekeeping fee?
2. Will I get charged for guest cert if I put one of the reservations in my friend's name in January before we arrive?

I wonder if the website logic is robust enough to check the year source of the options on the reservation.
I think housekeeping charges once applied to reservation will be sent on to the resort. I'll have to call CS on that one in January.

 

[grrrah]

Agree 100%. I also said I'd never use it, but have already done so... I "saved" quite a bit by electing Abound for one VOI and using it for a Palm Desert stay next Spring. It does seem that MVW is squeezing the VSN inventory and so you may want or need to use Abound in the future. It's not worth closing off that option just to save $60/year.

yep! I am also pretty guaranteed to split up my points ($38 Housekeeping fee x2) and bank ($109), so for me, it's automatically a $70-$110 savings.

 

[bigbillf]

Bella: What do I get for the $230…and most likely I would not use Abound.

From the Vistana website attached are the A La Carte fees that go away when you do not opt out of Abound eligible club dues. Plus if you would decide in the future that you want to reconsider and join Abound, there may be some buy-in required plus you may find yourself leaving small balances of the current year's Staroptions on the table and expire as it would not be worth the additional banking fee whereas when banking options is included with the club dues there is no additional cost to bank the options for later use.

 

[kozykritter]

I was charged the club fee on both my Vistana and my Marriott weeks. I've sent a note to Starwood about this and will hope that they eliminate the duplicate fee.

Best,

Greg

I also was charged the club fee on Vistana after already paying it on my Marriott points. I called Vistana and the agent had his manager check my linked Marriott account to verify the billing and payment there and then the manager cancelled the Vistana invoice. You may want to call about it instead if you haven't had any action. I only had to wait about five minutes to get an agent.

 

[mjm1]

I also was charged the club fee on Vistana after already paying it on my Marriott points. I called Vistana and the agent had his manager check my linked Marriott account to verify the billing and payment there and then the manager cancelled the Vistana invoice. You may want to call about it instead if you haven't had any action. I only had to wait about five minutes to get an agent.

Thanks for the tip. I haven’t seen a change to our account since I spoke with a supervisor about the issue. He said our name would be added to their list of owners who are known to have the issue. I will call again tomorrow and see if they will take immediate action. I already paid the rest of our dues in that account, less the ARDA fee of course.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[emeryjre]

Just got off of the phone with Vistana. If a person owns Marriott and Vistana VOI's, will only pay one club fee of $230. Thanks for the heads up on this issue. My situation is I own deeded weeks only. All fit the eligible weeks category for the Abound program. If you have a mix of eligible and ineligible VOI's, I do not know what the situation would be. Bottom line is I come out ahead with club dues.

 

[dsmrp]

I have been billed correctly for Abound club dues. Btw got the bill by slo-mail, but Marriott site always erred when trying to pay online.

Anyway, I have 2 concurrent options reservations in January, made with banked 2022 options. One of them, pre-Abound required additional housekeeping fee.
1. Will the new all-in-one fee cover the housekeeping fee?
2. Will I get charged for guest cert if I put one of the reservations in my friend's name in January before we arrive?

I wonder if the website logic is robust enough to check the year source of the options on the reservation.
I think housekeeping charges once applied to reservation will be sent on to the resort. I'll have to call CS on that one in January.

Here's an update after a couple of calls each to Marriott and Vistana CS.
I only own Vistana, but called Marriott since the club fee payment re-directs to Marriott website which errors.
Marriott CS says they don't have any access to Vistana customer records (huh, whatever happened to integration??),
so forwarded me to Vistana, which happened to be closed for the night. I call Vistana CS this morning,
pay my club dues, and got an email with the Marriott owner #, yay! That was the only thing I saw with that owner ID
after paying my MFs and looking only over my Vistana account etc.

So with the Marriott owner ID, my husband's btw, I was able to set up a marriottvacationclub.com account and have it tied to our
Vistana accounts(?) Seems that there is only one owner ID, in husband's name, even tho' I am on the deeds too and
have my own Vistana login. There wasn't much available to see on the owners.marriottvacationclub.com site.
I'm hoping that later we can use this account to rent club points.

I asked Vistana CS about club fee covering guest certificate and housekeeping for January reserved stays.
She said I could add my friend's name to reservation in January without charge.

However will still be charged housekeeping because I made the reservations in 2022. Only reservations made in 2023
and later will not be charged housekeeping. Sounds pretty hokey, because what if you had a lot of 2023 options, and made
more 2023 reservations than housekeeping unit allotment? You'd still have to pay housekeeping for 2023 options even with new 2023 club fee, because you made reservations in 2022?? That's not my situation, and I'm okay with paying housekeeping because I was
using banked options. But would be pretty annoyed if I was using 2023 options.

 

[CarpeDiem65]

I just logged into my Vistana account to check my statement. I saw the link to Club Dues and followed it. It shows that my Club Dues are $270 which is higher that dues posted by others on this thread. I own a 2bed Platinum week at WDW and some Westin Flex. Any thoughts. When I try to view the Dues statement I get an error.

 

[dioxide45]

I just logged into my Vistana account to check my statement. I saw the link to Club Dues and followed it. It shows that my Club Dues are $270 which is higher that dues posted by others on this thread. I own a 2bed Platinum week at WDW and some Westin Flex. Any thoughts. When I try to view the Dues statement I get an error.

How many Club Points can you elect for? The Club Dues are based on your Owner Benefit Level and that is based on either your VSN * Elite Status or the number of Club Points you have.

 

[mjm1]

I also was charged the club fee on Vistana after already paying it on my Marriott points. I called Vistana and the agent had his manager check my linked Marriott account to verify the billing and payment there and then the manager cancelled the Vistana invoice. You may want to call about it instead if you haven't had any action. I only had to wait about five minutes to get an agent.

A follow up question for you. Did Vistana actually remove the duplicate dues from your account so you could just pay the MF’s? The reason I ask is while the rep with whom I spoke said her Manager did that for us, it is still included in the invoice. I called again yesterday and was told that our name is still on the list, but the invoice still hasn’t been updated. I already paid the MF’s. I am still concerned about whether I should pay the duplicate dues and then ask for a refund after they fix the issue. Open to suggestions.

Best regards.

Mike