Access to Abound is up!

[aimersyo]

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).

Yes, I meant home, I own Westin Flex. I never know the difference in terminology. Thanks!

 

[dioxide45]

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.

You can't elect on Banked options. Once you bank, your HomeOptions become StarOptions and can only be used in VSN.

 

[timsi]

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.

The only time we have control is during the HRPP when exchangers are not supposed to book (you already know my position, so let's not debate this). In the first day, I could see inventory not only for Kierland in February but also for Lagunamar in December 2023 including 51 and 52! My point is that yes, it was very odd what you saw at WKV, but in normal times you could find a plausible explanation and move on. The only protection we have is the HRRP because you do not need a special environment like at launch to know that certain weeks should not be in Abound at certain times.

 

[timsi]

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.

This is so odd I find. You can give them 20k Homeoptions, and that is fine, even if it represents a fraction of a week spread on several resorts but you can't elect a 1BR premium if you own a 2 BR lockoff!

 

[ocdb8r]

This is so odd I find. You can give them 20k Homeoptions, and that is fine, even if it represents a fraction of a week spread on several resorts but you can't elect a 1BR premium if you own a 2 BR lockoff!

I suspect it was an unsatisfying compromise for MVC as well. Note that also does not apply to any "single-resort" Home Options such as Nanea or the various (trust) phases of St. John where you are also required to deposit your full ownership of Home Options (not just in 20k increments).

For MVC weeks they also make you deposit all or nothing when you "elect" for points.

 

[Venter]

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

Hence the speculation of a bug.

 

[DanCali]

For MVC weeks they also make you deposit all or nothing when you "elect" for points.

This is true but I am not sure MVC ever sold their "guest rooms" (aka studio) as separate deeds. And the guest rooms are not really timeshare units because the kitchens are truly limited, no washer/dryer, etc. Is they sold studios separately, I suspect the MFs for the studio + 1BR would exceed the MFs of the 2R but the way it is in most MVC resorts the MF difference between a 1BR and a 2BR (or between a 2BR and a 3BR) is minimal ($200-$300).

At Vistana you literally had salespeople playing with puzzle pieces and explaining how smaller + small = large and that equal sign applied to: purchase price, maintenance fees, and Staroptions. I suspect many of those who bought for Staroptions to trade internally would have chosen to buy 2 smaller units for the same price instead of the single lockoff deed because, besides the ability to book a 2BR at 8-12 months out), everything would have been the same. And there is a 15%-20% premium in Abound.

 

[kozykritter]

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.

You can only convert unbanked usage so you won't be able to combine usage from different years to meet a conversion threshold, unfortunately.

 

[ccclement250]

MVC 2023 points chart -

https://vacationpointexchange.com/pointschart/points_charts_2023.pdf

 

[kozykritter]

Here's an update on my access experience as a dual MVC-Vistana owner, in case it helps someone.

On the Vistana.com side I could convert to Abound (which I did) and my account showed Executive status (3*) but checking my Club Point balance or trying to make a Club Point reservation both yielded error messages once the pages I was redirected to loaded on MVC's website. On the MVC website account side, reservations worked and I could see my MVC Club Point balance but not my Vistana elected Club Points. Also my Executive status from the Vistana side was not being applied to my MVC account, leaving me down at Owner/Member level. Clearly something was not linked up!

After many phone calls with well-meaning reps with Vistana and MVC, we figured out half the problem. Before I became a MVC owner earlier this year, I had made and rescinded a MVC purchase in 2019. During that process MVC created an owner account for me and left it floating around the system after rescission rather than closing it. Instead of using that existing owner account this year when I bought, they created a second owner account and put my MVC points in there. However as part of the Vistana system merger, they associated my Vistana account and its Executive status with that abandon MVC owner account. It took 10 minutes for MVC to merge the two MVC owner accounts into the newer one with the points and then my MVC account finally showed Executive. The rep said she could now also see my VSN elected Club Points sitting in my MVC account next to my MVC points. However that status update came at a price as now I can't view my Club Point balance at all in my MVC account, same as when I click through Vistana.com. The only way to see my CP balance is to make a reservation through my MVC account and when it gets to the point allocation page, it displays all of my MVC and VSN elected CP balances. Progress, at least! I used those VSN elected points in combination with my MVC to make reservations through my MVC account. When I tried to make a CP reservation via Vistana.com, the reservation tool was working for me now but it gave me a message that indicated that I could only book reservations using my VSN elected CP alone (i.e. that method of access is not combining with existing MVC CP yet). Very interesting!

So it appears that the MVC system Vacation Club Point balance page can't yet handle displaying VSN elected points (for some users at least) which is why is crashes out with an "Apologies" message regardless of whether I access it from Vistana.com or the MVC website.

 

[TravelTime]

I was just checking Vistana inventory out of curiosity. I saw a lot of inventory of all unit sizes for Westin Princeville. I saw some for less than 7 days for Westin Cancun. I did not check everything but perhaps this means Marriott did not pull all inventory out and a lot of it was booked in the first few days by members.

 

[timsi]

I was just checking Vistana inventory out of curiosity. I saw a lot of inventory of all unit sizes for Westin Princeville. I saw some for less than 7 days for Westin Cancun. I did not check everything but perhaps this means Marriott did not pull all inventory out and a lot of it was booked in the first few days by members.

Westin Princeville is one of the 3 Vistana resorts that was conveyed to the trust in August. Marriott owns 100% of Westin Cancun. All the other resorts that had plenty of availability have been gone for few days.

 

[wjarcher]

Here's an update on my access experience as a dual MVC-Vistana owner, in case it helps someone.

On the Vistana.com side I could convert to Abound (which I did) and my account showed Executive status (3*) but checking my Club Point balance or trying to make a Club Point reservation both yielded error messages once the pages I was redirected to loaded on MVC's website. On the MVC website account side, reservations worked and I could see my MVC Club Point balance but not my Vistana elected Club Points. Also my Executive status from the Vistana side was not being applied to my MVC account, leaving me down at Owner/Member level. Clearly something was not linked up!

After many phone calls with well-meaning reps with Vistana and MVC, we figured out half the problem. Before I became a MVC owner earlier this year, I had made and rescinded a MVC purchase in 2019. During that process MVC created an owner account for me and left it floating around the system after rescission rather than closing it. Instead of using that existing owner account this year when I bought, they created a second owner account and put my MVC points in there. However as part of the Vistana system merger, they associated my Vistana account and its Executive status with that abandon MVC owner account. It took 10 minutes for MVC to merge the two MVC owner accounts into the newer one with the points and then my MVC account finally showed Executive. The rep said she could now also see my VSN elected Club Points sitting in my MVC account next to my MVC points. However that status update came at a price as now I can't view my Club Point balance at all in my MVC account, same as when I click through Vistana.com. The only way to see my CP balance is to make a reservation through my MVC account and when it gets to the point allocation page, it displays all of my MVC and VSN elected CP balances. Progress, at least! I used those VSN elected points in combination with my MVC to make reservations through my MVC account. When I tried to make a CP reservation via Vistana.com, the reservation tool was working for me now but it gave me a message that indicated that I could only book reservations using my VSN elected CP alone (i.e. that method of access is not combining with existing MVC CP yet). Very interesting!

So it appears that the MVC system Vacation Club Point balance page can't yet handle displaying VSN elected points (for some users at least) which is why is crashes out with an "Apologies" message regardless of whether I access it from Vistana.com or the MVC website.

My account has the same displaying issue, but it does not affect me making reservations. I can see both Vistana elected points and my Marriott points once it lets me choose what points to use. Figured that it is some kind of issue due to the merge.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[dioxide45]

I don't see a way through the MVC "portal" via Vistana.com to view Explorer Collection offerings like cruises and tours? Am I just missing it?

 

[dioxide45]

Westin Princeville is one of the 3 Vistana resorts that was conveyed to the trust in August. Marriott owns 100% of Westin Cancun. All the other resorts that had plenty of availability have been gone for few days.

I can't find the post now, but someone previously reported that there were no Westin resorts available in II getaway and they speculated that perhaps they had been pulled to try and fill reservations that may have been made with "phantom" inventory. I don't know if that is true and it is also quite possible that Westin getaways really aren't that significant anyway, especially leading in to busy season for where most Westin Resorts are located.

I do think it is strange that there was a lot of inventory that wasn't available in VSN nor for owners, but in Abound on day 1 but is now gone. I suppose it could all have just been taken or just as easily been a mistake and it shouldn't have been made available in the first place. If it was phantom inventory, then MVC will probably do whatever it takes to fulfil the reservations rather than cancel and have egg on their face.

 

[dioxide45]

It looks like they took away the StarOption summary that used to show up at the top of the Dashboard on VIstana.com? Now the only way to get to it is to scroll down the ACCOUNT BALANCES tile on the Dashboard and click on DETAILS.

 

[DanCali]

It looks like they took away the StarOption summary that used to show up at the top of the Dashboard on VIstana.com? Now the only way to get to it is to scroll down the ACCOUNT BALANCES tile on the Dashboard and click on DETAILS.

You can also get to it from the link on the top right (where it says Welcome, [your name]) and click on the word "STAROPTIONS" under Balances. That's accessible from any page on the website.

 

[kozykritter]

I don't see a way through the MVC "portal" via Vistana.com to view Explorer Collection offerings like cruises and tours? Am I just missing it?

Nope, not there. Goes back to my theory that they focused on giving rudimentary access to MVC's system upfront, just enough for Vistana owners to elect and book points. I suspect they'll add more in as they go along, including transferring points.

 

[timsi]

It looks like they took away the StarOption summary that used to show up at the top of the Dashboard on VIstana.com? Now the only way to get to it is to scroll down the ACCOUNT BALANCES tile on the Dashboard and click on DETAILS.

First the calendar, now the summary, I thought the IT was busy but it seems they just have other priorities.

 

[grrrah]

Had an interesting and somewhat informative call today. I wasn't planning to enroll my '23 week, but decided to after some MVC inventory was still there for this coming spring break. Apologies if the below is already known info as I haven't gone through the whole thread.

I couldn't enroll my EOY nanea online and had to call in. CSR incorrectly told me it was because I could do 20k increments since its points based (but she was wrong and as we know we need to deposit whole VOI). Not sure why, but Nanea has to be called in to elect.

My SVV week MF statement includes the $170 VSN fee (not the abound fee), and my Nanea week is blank. She tried to say that was because it's not certain yet that resale mandatory weeks will be eligible for Abound (even though I said it is allowing me to elect club points already for the resale weeks and my OBL reflects the week in the system). She mentioned nothing is certain until January 1st and I may get an abound membership fee statement separately for the Nanea week. Anyone enroll an resale week yet? As others have reported it sounds like Jan 1 is when everything will be official and resale week eligibility will be confirmed.

I asked about member-to-member point transfers and how can we find our account#. She mentioned it should be the contract number we have in VSN, but didn't sound confident and mentioned I should ask on the MVC side. I noticed in the MVC portal after I made a reservation and clicked on the reservation details, it shows me a "Contract #" that is different from both my Vistana weeks.

She mentioned that I would need to bank points before booking a 2024 week, which seems to be true when I try to book a Jan 2024 week now, but just wondering, once I bank, will we be able to bank multiple times before the deadline? I figure I should only bank the points I want to use to book a room, up until the deadline.. I didn't get to ask this question.

 

[dioxide45]

The big problem with Owner Services, and Customer Service at pretty much any company is that they simply make up shitty answers instead of find out for you or just say they don't know. I would rather hear an "I don't know" than a wrong or made up answer to get me off the phone and onto the next person.

 

[grrrah]

yeah, she was clearly mistaken about Nanea, but it really sounded like she knew the resale mandatory purchases were in, but not allowed to confirm until January 1st when things are official. This stemmed from me asking about my invoices.

Do we know yet if we have to pay banking fees for weeks remaining within VSN and not elected into Abound? This was another question I asked and she was saying to wait until Jan 1st for everything to be official and would confirm.

 

[dioxide45]

yeah, she was clearly mistaken about Nanea, but it really sounded like she knew the resale mandatory purchases were in, but not allowed to confirm until January 1st when things are official. This stemmed from me asking about my invoices.

Do we know yet if we have to pay banking fees for weeks remaining within VSN and not elected into Abound? This was another question I asked and she was saying to wait until Jan 1st for everything to be official and would confirm.

All VOIs are in Abound, electing Club Points would negate banking StarOptions anyway. So all VOIs that are in Abound are eligible for the consolidated fee structure.

 

[owl]

This has been a very helpful thread so far. Thank you for everyone who has contributed.

Question: if I want to add to my ownership through resale Vistana to add to my ownership and have it add to this new Abound partnership, is it still possible, now that it is past the August 2022 deadline? If not possible, what happens to resale weeks from Vistana mandatory resorts purchased today?

Thank you.

 

[byeloe]

This has been a very helpful thread so far. Thank you for everyone who has contributed.

Question: if I want to add to my ownership through resale Vistana to add to my ownership and have it add to this new Abound partnership, is it still possible, now that it is past the August 2022 deadline? If not possible, what happens to resale weeks from Vistana mandatory resorts purchased today?

Thank you.

you would have to requalify it with a developer purchase.
otherwise you just have access to the VSN