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Using StarOptions for Resort Credit - New Feature

JIMinNC

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true, I did not think at this possibility. At the same time, we do not know if they are not already comfortable with what they own in order to cover their rental side of business. Owners paying MF with points on the other hand may bring a lot of inventory in cycles they do not control, hard to foresee and they may or may not be able to rent the extra units they have.
This practice would also probably exacerbate at the worst time of the economic cycle. It is not hard to imagine that owners would tend to do it more during recessions but those would be exactly the worst times to have extra inventory to rent since the hotel occupancy rate and prices tend to decline significantly.

Yep, all good points. I believe MVC does still have a rental program for weeks owners, where you can give your week to them and they rent it and share part of the proceeds with the owner. It would probably make more sense to extend that to Vistana weeks rather than paying with Points, since they can elect NOT to take a week for rental at their option. That would mean less revenue for MVW (since they have to share), but could protect them a bit from getting un-rentable inventory. An option to use points to pay the fee would likely have to be at owner option, and as you say, subject MVW to getting stuff they don't want/need.
 

VacationForever

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Wyndham offers this option of using their developer-purchased ownership to pay for part of their MF but the conversion rate is bad. If MVW decides to offer this option, I can see some owners opting for this because it is easier than renting out their timeshare, points or weeks.
 

Ken555

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Just called and found out they give you 110 dollar credit for every 9000 options to be used on specific resorts. All Hawaii resorts were listed

Hmm... $110 per 9000 SOs would be worth more than my annual fees for my WKV week.


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blondietink

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Yes, it is very generous as it only cost me $62 to buy 9000 points.
You are talking about the old Starpoints, I assume, which no longer exist and are now Marriott/Bonvoy Points. Totally different thing than StarOptions. If I could buy 9000 StarOptions for $62 I would jump on that.
 

YYJMSP

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That's my point...quite generous.

Agreed -- looks like that rate would cover 80%+ of my average MF costs...

So if I don't use a unit, I can cash in the SOs and effectively get 80% of my MFs back?
 

duke

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How long do you have to use the "resort credit"?
Do they expire?
 

Ken555

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It would be more generous if they allow the conversion of any amount of points. As it is, I typically end the year with leftover SOs of ~325-1675 or so. It wouldn’t be worth much based on the $110 per 9000 ratio, but it would be something and would be a nice gesture.


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PcflEZFlng

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It would be more generous if they allow the conversion of any amount of points. As it is, I typically end the year with leftover SOs of ~325-1675 or so. It wouldn’t be worth much based on the $110 per 9000 ratio, but it would be something and would be a nice gesture.

Agreed. I have about 2600 leftover SOs that are just short of being able to add a day to an upcoming stay. It was encouraging when I got the email yesterday, and then I saw this thread. Looks like they'll go to waste after all.
 

DannyTS

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Agreed. I have about 2600 leftover SOs that are just short of being able to add a day to an upcoming stay. It was encouraging when I got the email yesterday, and then I saw this thread. Looks like they'll go to waste after all.
It would be more generous if they allow the conversion of any amount of points. As it is, I typically end the year with leftover SOs of ~325-1675 or so. It wouldn’t be worth much based on the $110 per 9000 ratio, but it would be something and would be a nice gesture.


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I think this is what us owners would like to see. Yet, what would be Vistana's motivation to do it? These points go to them anyways. Besides, I think it may cost them a bit of money to manage this program: program coding, booking, follow ups, screw ups followed by phone calls to the member service dept. again etc. . If people deposit just 1000 points, is is really worth the hassle for Vistana?
Personally I understand if they have a minimum but after that it should be more flexible. I would prefer a minimum of 9000 options and 1k increments after that
 

dioxide45

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With MVC, it is valid for the duration of the stay at the resort.
I also don't think they are just generic resort credit certificates to use as you wish when you want. Don't you need to have a specific stay reserved and targeted to apply the resort credit to?
 

VacationForever

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I also don't think they are just generic resort credit certificates to use as you wish when you want. Don't you need to have a specific stay reserved and targeted to apply the resort credit to?
I can only share my experience with MVC. I have to decide which resort stay that I want the resort credits applied to. Not all resorts have them. When I check in, I have to go to their vacation club desk to activate it. I use points in my holding account to redeem for resort credits when I foresee that I will have no further use for them for the rest of the year.
 

Ken555

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I think this is what us owners would like to see. Yet, what would be Vistana's motivation to do it? These points go to them anyways. Besides, I think it may cost them a bit of money to manage this program: program coding, booking, follow ups, screw ups followed by phone calls to the member service dept. again etc. . If people deposit just 1000 points, is is really worth the hassle for Vistana?
Personally I understand if they have a minimum but after that it should be more flexible. I would prefer a minimum of 9000 options and 1k increments after that

That’s why I said “nice gesture”. Everything else you wrote I had assumed.


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DannyTS

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can you use any StarOptions including banked or restricted to buy resort credit?
 

DannyTS

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I do not think it was mentioned before. I just looked at the September 2019 AM presentation for SVV and it states that this is a pilot program only for Orlando and Hawaii. Kind of an odd combination if you ask me.


upload_2019-10-6_16-53-26.png
 

DeniseM

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Hopefully, this isn't old news: A Vistana phone Rep. told me about a new program for Resort Credits that I was not aware of.

When you have leftover Staroptions (even if they are restricted) you can use them for a resort credit at the resort where you have a reservation in your name:

Minumum number of Staroptions required = 9,000

9,000 Staroptions = $110 in resort credits.

You can "buy" additional credits in increments of 9,000 Staroptions.

Not all Vistana resorts are included, but all of the Maui resorts are included in this program.

The credits have to be assigned to a specific reservation that you have in your name.

You cannot assign the credits to a reservation in someone elses name.

Once you have assigned the credits to a reservation, the only way to reverse it is to cancel the reservation.

The resort credit can be used for most things at participating Vistana resorts that you can charge to your room, including alcoholic beverages.

Example: Let's say you have 5,000 restricted Staroptions leftover in 2019, and 4,000 banked Staroptions in 2020 - you can combine them and apply the 9,000 Staroptions to a $110 resort credit to a reservation in your name in 2019 or 2020.
 
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goaliedave

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great post! thx for the info

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cyntravel

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I have a question. If your SO expire at the end of Dec can you use the credit for next year's reservation?
 

DeniseM

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I have a question. If your SO expire at the end of Dec can you use the credit for next year's reservation?
Yes - see my example:

Example: Let's say you have 5,000 restricted Staroptions leftover in 2019, and 4,000 banked Staroptions in 2020 - you can combine them and apply the 9,000 Staroptions to a $110 resort credit to a reservation in your name in 2019 or 2020.
 

DeniseM

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Sorry - I completely missed that other thread - I think I was on vacation. Oh well, at least now we have a summary of the program. However, my post was based on the info that I got from one Phone Rep, so I can't guarantee the details.

*There were a lot of questions/comments in the other thread about this being a poor use of Staroptions, and yes, I agree, that using your Staroptions for reservations is a much better option. But if you have leftover and/or restricted Staroptions that you can't use and that will expire, this is a very good way to use them.
 
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DeniseM

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I'm on vacation about 2 weeks a month... But at the time of the original thread, I was camping with poor internet access, so I never saw it before today.
 

controller1

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So, if the StarOptions are assigned to a specific reservation I assume this assignment must be done prior to arrival? Does anyone know the real mechanics of this?
 
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