Access to Abound is up!

[ocdb8r]

So, on the roulette wheel of randomness, today it appears all the Vistana availability has disappeared from Abound. I tried 10 Vistana resorts for about 6 months and absolutely nothing shows up. Assume it's a system glitch at the moment....but I thought I'd report it here for the morbidly curious amongst us.

 

[Red elephant]

So, on the roulette wheel of randomness, today it appears all the Vistana availability has disappeared from Abound. I tried 10 Vistana resorts for about 6 months and absolutely nothing shows up. Assume it's a system glitch at the moment....but I thought I'd report it here for the morbidly curious amongst us.

Wow oh wow. That did not last long.

 

[ocdb8r]

Some inventory seems to be back....but nothing like what was there just yesterday. I have been generally trying to monitor to get a sense of how inventory is moving. Last night there was a lot of inventory across a wide range of Vistana resorts throughout the year. Now I am seeing nothing at a lot of resorts. Inventory seemed to just disappear overnight, which leads me to believe there was some sort of change in the system.

 

[cubigbird]

Maybe they realized Vistana inventory was showing in Abound and shouldn’t have? Wasn’t it commented at launch day about how much Vistana was showing available in Abound?

 

[vistana101]

Frustrating that you cannot see availability without electing first. Ugh.

 

[triangulum33]

I called in today to check on Abound availability for Sheraton Kauai Villas and there was nothing April - June.

 

[SteveS1]

I called in today to check on Abound availability for Sheraton Kauai Villas and there was nothing April - June.

Seems that’s a bug. I was at that resort last week when Abound opened up for us and found plenty of availability.. now I see nothing showing up for the whole year.

 

[dioxide45]

Seems that’s a bug. I was at that resort last week when Abound opened up for us and found plenty of availability.. now I see nothing showing up for the whole year.

It is either a bug or the bug was when they first launched Abound and all that inventory that people were seeing shouldn't have really been here.

 

[TravelTime]

It is either a bug or the bug was when they first launched Abound and all that inventory that people were seeing shouldn't have really been here.

I do not understand why people are saying it was a bug that the Vistana inventory was showing up in Abound when it should not have been there. Where should the inventory have been instead?

 

[dioxide45]

I do not understand why people are saying it was a bug that the Vistana inventory was showing up in Abound when it should not have been there. Where should the inventory have been instead?

I am not saying it was a bug, but that it could have been. We don't know the answers but perhaps it was somehow still supposed to just be VSN inventory but was somehow also showing up in Abound. Much of it is gone now, so either it wasn't supposed to be there and they fixed it or they broke something that is preventing it from showing up now.

 

[TravelTime]

I am not saying it was a bug, but that it could have been. We don't know the answers but perhaps it was somehow still supposed to just be VSN inventory but was somehow also showing up in Abound. Much of it is gone now, so either it wasn't supposed to be there and they fixed it or they broke something that is preventing it from showing up now.

Another theory could be that they put inventory in for the first day of the soft launch on purpose so they could get some positive talk started about inventory availability. This makes people optimistic that there will be good inventory again. Perhaps on the hard launch day, we will see more inventory again. But it will get booked quickly probably and “disappear” again.

 

[Myrddin12]

You are completely missing the point. It does not matter if Marriott owns any inventory, it is just another owner like everyone else. How did they book these Christmas weeks that are currently not available to the Vistana resort owners? The VSN rules mention that during the Home Resort Reservation Period the owners the exclusive right to book without competition from non-owners. If this is true, it is clearly against the rules.

I may have misunderstood the details, but it looks like anyone can book at 13 months out if you are booking 7+ days - so that would give an advantage to them over an owner if the owner just wanted to book 6 days, let's say. Not thrilled with that as sometimes we do quick trips of 4 or 5 days. Hopefully I misunderstood, but it looks like what you said is true also.

 

[needvaca]

Another theory could be that they put inventory in for the first day of the soft launch on purpose so they could get some positive talk started about inventory availability. This makes people optimistic that there will be good inventory again. Perhaps on the hard launch day, we will see more inventory again. But it will get booked quickly probably and “disappear” again.

or MVC realized (after reading these threads) that they put up way more inventory than they had the rights to. Not many VSN members have elected to points yet, and MVC's inventory is more limited than the full calendar of availability they were showing for VSN prime properties, like Maui, Kierland, etc.
probably realized they needed to back down before they created serious problems for themselves (lawsuits?)

 

[TravelTime]

or MVC realized (after reading these threads) that they put up way more inventory than they had the rights to. Not many VSN members have elected to points yet, and MVC's inventory is more limited than the full calendar of availability they were showing for VSN prime properties, like Maui, Kierland, etc.
probably realized they needed to back down before they created serious problems for themselves (lawsuits?)

How would they add inventory they have no right to add?

 

[dioxide45]

How would they add inventory they have no right to add?

System error, over forecasting the number of owners that would elect for Abound Club Points or just a plain screwup. Mistakes do happen, much more often than you think.

 

[timsi]

How would they add inventory they have no right to add?

With the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is why the home resort reservation period is very important and should not be tempered with. 8-12 months just owners, if you see any inventory available for exchangers, it is against the rules as I read them. At least the Vistana owners should have that control. How can anyone trust the system otherwise, when we can't tell if it is a mistake, a feature, a human or a system error, where the inventory was coming from and nobody from Marriott will even bother to come with an explanation?

 

[timsi]

System error, over forecasting the number of owners that would elect for Abound Club Points or just a plain screwup. Mistakes do happen, much more often than you think.

Not good either way.

 

[ocdb8r]

Rampant speculation on my part, but there were about 6 reservations I was looking at....trying to sort out "election" issues. I notice availability that disappeared happens to closely match that still available for rental on Marriott.com. Perhaps someone coded Abound access incorrectly and people were booking up MVCs rental units?

 

[ocdb8r]

With the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is why the home resort reservation period is very important and should not be tempered with. 8-12 months just owners, if you see any inventory available for exchangers, it is against the rules as I read them. At least the Vistana owners should have that control. How can anyone can trust the system otherwise when we can't tell if it is a mistake, a feature, a human or a system error, where the inventory was coming from and nobody from Marriott will even bother to come with an explanation?

The HRPP (and anyone's interpretation of it) has little to nothing to do with what happened (or verifying what happened). There was widespread availability for Kierland in February/March 2023, for which respect of the HRPP (regardless of which interpretation of it) would not have explained. Seeing availability in one system or the other is never going to give you a sufficient picture of what is actually going on behind the scenes.

 

[aimersyo]

Sorry if this was already asked and answered, but if I have a little bit left for 2023 (~18k star options), can I elect to convert that and also convert 2024 into one pot for an Abound reservation? I am hesitant to test it out. Thanks!

 

[DanCali]

System error, over forecasting the number of owners that would elect for Abound Club Points or just a plain screwup. Mistakes do happen, much more often than you think.

That's true. But this is the kind of stuff that leads to various conspiracy theories, whether they are justified or not.

The whole idea that they can forecast how a group of new Abound member (who are not necessarily starting out as fans of the MVC brand, not used to "skim", not used to electing points months before a use year, etc) will behave seems a bit ridiculous, so I would hope the forecasting is very conservative for the first few years.

 

[DanCali]

Sorry if this was already asked and answered, but if I have a little bit left for 2023 (~18k star options), can I elect to convert that and also convert 2024 into one pot for an Abound reservation? I am hesitant to test it out. Thanks!

You can only convert an entire week into Abound. If you have 18K staroptions at this point in the year, you either use them or lose them (unless you are 5-Star Elite, in which case they are bankable till December 31, at least for now)

 

[ocdb8r]

Sorry if this was already asked and answered, but if I have a little bit left for 2023 (~18k star options), can I elect to convert that and also convert 2024 into one pot for an Abound reservation? I am hesitant to test it out. Thanks!

Assuming you are talking about "Home Options" (trust points), frustratingly, you are just below the threshold. Per the FAQs you must elect in "in increments of 20,000 Home Options". If this is a leftover part of a week VOI, no you must convert whole weeks only (and the whole unit you own).

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry if this was already asked and answered, but if I have a little bit left for 2023 (~18k star options), can I elect to convert that and also convert 2024 into one pot for an Abound reservation? I am hesitant to test it out. Thanks!

No, you must convert an entire VOI. If you own HomeOptions from one of the Flex programs, you can elect in 20K increments. You can't elect StarOptions for Abound Club Points.

 

[aimersyo]

You can only convert an entire week into Abound. If you have 18K staroptions at this point in the year, you either use them or lose them (unless you are 5-Star Elite, in which case they are bankable till December 31, at least for now)

These are 2023 partial home options, not 2022, so plenty of time to bank. It's giving me the option to convert them also in Abound as of right now, not sure what happens if I actually try that.

Edit: I tried it and it says you need 20K to convert. I wonder if next year I bank them, I can then used my banked options and my regular 2024 options combined to convert.