Westin Flex success

[cubigbird]

So I’m curious.....do we have any data or idea the success of Vistana getting people to surrender their weeks and buy into Westin Flex??? It seems sales is aggressively trying to get weeks back. I wonder how many existing owners are willing to pony up the big bucks to “upgrade?”

 

[The Haileys]

We were actually told to hang onto our deeded week at WKORV, and to not even consider cashing it in for Flex, even though the MF would be considerably lower.

Yeah, every now and then a TS sales person will be brutally honest.

 

[controller1]

We were actually told to hang onto our deeded week at WKORV, and to not even consider cashing it in for Flex, even though the MF would be considerably lower.

Yeah, every now and then a TS sales person will be brutally honest.

+1 - We've been told that for the last two owner updates we've attended.

 

[PamMo]

Really? You guys must be very special! We've been told we should trade in our WKORV oceanview to buy Flex @ Nanea. I thought it was odd that they were not interested in our oceanfronts for Flex.

 

[controller1]

Really? You guys must be very special! We've been told we should trade in our WKORV oceanview to buy Flex @ Nanea. I thought it was odd that they were not interested in our oceanfronts for Flex.

They're not interested in your Oceanfronts because those are not being placed in the Flex program. My WKORVN units are Oceanfront.

 

[PamMo]

They're not interested in your Oceanfronts because those are not being placed in the Flex program. My WKORVN units are Oceanfront.

Can Flex owners not use their points to get into oceanfront units?

 

[cubigbird]

On my last update they were pretty aggressive in wanting me to turn in my individual Kierland deeds. We actually use our weeks in our deeded season and never trade them internally or externally, and would therefore never upgrade to Flex. That would do the very opposite of what I need it for. The sales person was even trying to get me to believe that this is where EVERYTHING is going and EVERYONE is trading in their weeks and that at some point I’m going to be the only owner left with my traditional week and therefore would not be able to book my time. Hardly. This is even after the reminder that my original contract is just that, a contract and that can’t be taken away. My “no” had to be pretty firm.

In any case, I posed the original question in this thread because the push for Flex seems to be pretty hard, and even harder for trade ins if you have something they want you to trade in. I’m curious to the success of the Flex program and churn rate....

 

[okwiater]

Can Flex owners not use their points to get into oceanfront units?

No, there are no oceanfront units in the Flex pool.

 

[controller1]

Can Flex owners not use their points to get into oceanfront units?

No, there are no oceanfront units in the Flex pool.

As @okwiater said, there are no OF units in the Flex pool. However, if Westin Flex was purchased from the developer one could use StarOptions for OF units if any were available at the 8-month mark. Usually, the only ones available, if any, are the Studio units.

 

[controller1]

. . .

The sales person was even trying to get me to believe that this is where EVERYTHING is going and EVERYONE is trading in their weeks and that at some point I’m going to be the only owner left with my traditional week and therefore would not be able to book my time.

. . .

I do have a concern on the number of uninformed owners that will buy that line and thus decrease the available pool for owners of traditional deeded weeks.

 

[cubigbird]

I agree, this is an overall concern of mine too, again the reason for my question in post #1. I'm curious to see how much success they are having at talking folks into paying big bucks to trade in their currently held weeks. Additionally I am worried that sales is spinning Flex as book any of the Flex resorts at 12 months out at any time, without the important disclaimer that there has to be a week available inside the trust for the reservation to be made -- subject to availability that is. They can't sell something that does not exist.

I guess it all depends on if you own a week that they REALLY want in Flex, therefore the pressure to trade in gets ratcheted up.