Just got a call from Vistana corporate trying to get me to chance my ownership", basically trying to sell me some flex options. The rep claimed going forward that is all that Vistana will be selling.
As part of the introduction, he said they'd be rolling out phase 1 of the integration with Marriott in 2020, to allow using options for 2021 reservations across all 6 Marriott brands (he had to think about what all the brands were, but ended up mentioning Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and Gaylord - not Sur he really knew). Mentioned a Cap White program where Marriott was continuing to acquire distressed properties, was bringing them up to standards and adding them to the program. He said there was one in Costa Rica and one in New York City that he had heard of. He mentioned how Flex options trolled out at about 35 cents/option in 2016 and were now about 20% higher at about 41 cents/option, and that Marriott options were much higher. They were currently working on getting a common point "currency"that should work across all the brands.
So something is definitely being announced next year, but he had no details of what it would entail or what the costs would be. He wasn't trying to get me to convert my current ownership, but said they were offering discounts to Elite owners to help them get more options before the full program rolled out. The options would all be part of the Fee program. He mentioned an example of someone that bought a Christmas week at Nanea and they were able to offer them a 20% discount, the the owner took as a cash discount, but could have also been additional Flex options.