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Access to Abound is up!

I’m reading on Facebook that most Marriott owners are booking Westin properties with all of the prime inventory Marriott bestowed upon them. I don’t blame them, Westins were always a better product than Marriott hotels/resorts. Conspiracy theorists said that would be the case.

There is no Marriott inventory now so they had to book Westin for 2023 if they want something. They might choose Marriott or Westin if both were available now. I would have preferred to get my additional 3 days at MOC since I have 9 days there. But it has not been available for a long time. So I booked into a Westin. Now we have to change resorts after the first 3 days. You are creating conspiracy theories with this comment! ha ha ;)
 
There is no Marriott inventory now so they had to book Westin for 2023 if they want something. I would have preferred to get my additional 3 days at MOC since I have 9 days there. But it has not been available for a long time. So I booked into a Westin. Now we have to change resorts after the first 3 days. You are creating conspiracy theories with this comment! ha ha ;)
That’s not a conspiracy…. It’s a fact. Westin was a superior brand lol
 
As mentioned - I am at Chairman, but they have me listed with >6000 CPs more than my ownership warrants.


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Wow! Congrats on the chairman level. Hopefully it sticks.
 
There is no Marriott inventory now so they had to book Westin for 2023 if they want something. They might choose Marriott or Westin if both were available now. I would have preferred to get my additional 3 days at MOC since I have 9 days there. But it has not been available for a long time. So I booked into a Westin. Now we have to change resorts after the first 3 days. You are creating conspiracy theories with this comment! ha ha ;)
The developer owns both Marriott and Vistana inventory. How come at launch, according to you, Vistana inventory is available but not Marriott?
 
That’s not a conspiracy…. It’s a fact. Westin was a superior brand lol

I am a Westin and Marriott owner as you know. I get tired of the Westin snobs. LOL ;)

Frankly, the main advantage is the studio has a kitchenette. I do not stay in studios so that is not a benefit to me. Maybe if my kids were grown up and married, they would use the lock off and kitchenette and then it would be an advantage.

It depends on the specific Westin and Marriott as to which is better. For example, in Kauai, the Marriotts are preferred over Westin for various reasons. There is a thread right now on this topic. In Maui, they are equivalent and the only difference is which location you prefer. I actually thought the Marriott Lahaina/Napili was a little nicer in Maui. It had nicer interior decor and had more Hawaiian feeling, as much as one can say any hotel in Maui feels Hawaiian.

Even in terms of the hotels, it depends on the specific Westin. For example, in Puerto Vallarta, the Marriott is heads and shoulders better than the Westin, which is nearby. That Westin is run down.

I do not think either brand is the best out there though.
 
That’s not a conspiracy…. It’s a fact. Westin was a superior brand lol

The conspiracy theory is not about which brand is better. It is you saying all the Marriott owners are booking Westins now because it is better. My point is that they are booking because it is newly released inventory and all that is available for 2023.
 
Lots of “Perrys” here. :ROFLMAO:Lots of wrangling before launch about how one will just continue to use VSN, then on launch day everyone starts electing for Abound Club Points. For those that don’t know, PerryM was all doom and gloom about the launch of DC back in 2010 and how bad it would be, then when it launched he was the BIGGEST FAN! He did have ulterior motives though…
That was a lot of fun! Thanks for the memories!
 
Then if true this tells me that Abound will starve VSN of inventory. Am I looking at this right?
It will have an effect on the inventory. The problem is that it is impossible to know how many units they block for each week for each bucket. Because the prime weeks have more value in Abound vs the adjacent weeks within the same season (and the same value in VSN), Marriott has an economic incentive to give more prime weeks to Abound and leave less interesting inventory in VSN. On surface they are not breaking any rule, but this can create an important surplus of MVC points for the developer. This is one of the reasons I am suspicious of the fact they do not provide more details about how they divide the inventory.
 
I don't know if this was discussed, but I noticed my Harborside weeks show "not enrolled" although they are in the network - one cannot trade Harborside SO to elect points - is that what others are seeing too?
 
Is anyone else getting this error when trying to book with club points?

View attachment 69454
@kozykritter

Do either of you own Marriott Resale weeks? I am having the same issue. This is the error message I get in the chrome console:

{"statusCode":500,"errorCode":"SYSTEM_EXCEPTION","message":"Fatal Error Getting Owner Eligibility Search Criteria. Please check the logs","requestId":"e529be7987ec-2f9e-8def-6f4817b4f180"}
This makes me think that it's wrongly trying to use my Marriott ownership for searching. I think it could be a bit before we have access.
 
Do either of you own Marriott Resale weeks? I am having the same issue. This is the error message I get in the chrome console:

{"statusCode":500,"errorCode":"SYSTEM_EXCEPTION","message":"Fatal Error Getting Owner Eligibility Search Criteria. Please check the logs","requestId":"e529be7987ec-2f9e-8def-6f4817b4f180"}
This makes me think that it's wrongly trying to use my Marriott ownership for searching. I think it could be a bit before we have access.
Mine are both Sheraton Flex contracts bought from the developer.
 
I don't know if this was discussed, but I noticed my Harborside weeks show "not enrolled" although they are in the network - one cannot trade Harborside SO to elect points - is that what others are seeing too?
Yes that is correct. They HOPE that we might be able to trade with them in 2024
 
Yes that is correct. They HOPE that we might be able to trade with them in 2024
Does anyone know the exact reason why it’s not in at launch? Is it because it was a joint venture between Starwood and kerzner. If that the case, I assume that Brookfield asset management still owns half?
 
Does anyone know the exact reason why it’s not in at launch? Is it because it was a joint venture between Starwood and kerzner. If that the case, I assume that Brookfield asset management still owns half?
Yes I think that’s right and a similar issue with Riverfront
 
Yes I think that’s right and a similar issue with Riverfront
How was riverfront developed? It’s interesting because I’m sure Marriott holds a TON of acquired inventory through foreclosures. Or do those go back to the HOA?

It will be interesting to see what value they give to HRA units. The gold season units are drastically undervalued in SO’s. Summer weeks are the most desirable and hardest to book yet are super cheap in SO.
 
How was riverfront developed? It’s interesting because I’m sure Marriott holds a TON of acquired inventory through foreclosures. Or do those go back to the HOA?

It will be interesting to see what value they give to HRA units. The gold season units are drastically undervalued in SO’s. Summer weeks are the most desirable and hardest to book yet are super cheap in SO.
IIRC someone did post a point chart for HRA and even Riverfront. I don’t have access to it now, but see if I can find it when I get on dry land.
 
While comparing benefits of the Abound exchange and the VSN on the vistana website, I noticed that Star Option banking is still good for 2 years.

We all thought that the new club dues were going to remove all fees and change the banking usage of SO. According to this, the VSN rules and usage will not change. The removal of club fees and banking deadline would apply to VOI’s that have been converted to Abound Club Points. Am I reading this correctly? This drastically changes things for me.

4266D6FC-95B1-4DEF-918A-492EF08315EC.jpeg
 
IIRC someone did post a point chart for HRA and even Riverfront. I don’t have access to it now, but see if I can find it when I get on dry land.
Hope you’re enjoying your cruise!! The pics look awesome
 
While comparing benefits of the Abound exchange and the VSN on the vistana website, I noticed that Star Option banking is still good for 2 years.

We all thought that the new club dues were going to remove all fees and change the banking usage of SO. According to this, the VSN rules and usage will not change. The removal of club fees and banking deadline would apply to VOI’s that have been converted to Abound Club Points. Am I reading this correctly? This drastically changes things for me.

View attachment 69467
VSN banking is supposed to change to align with the owner benefit levels next year or the year after, IIRC.
 
I am still stuck on the view preferences situation for non-owners at Maui (and Kauai)! My SA tells me they are not doing time stamps anymore. I don't really believe that but if they are not, then how are they giving out the first floor vs 6th floor ressies at KOR or Nanea for example? If you own and reserve at 12 mo out as owner, paying almost $5000 in MFs, would a non-owner on an Abound ressie at 13 months (or 12 mo or even 9mo) have the same priority for views as an owner?

That seems insane and totally unfair.
 
While comparing benefits of the Abound exchange and the VSN on the vistana website, I noticed that Star Option banking is still good for 2 years.

We all thought that the new club dues were going to remove all fees and change the banking usage of SO. According to this, the VSN rules and usage will not change. The removal of club fees and banking deadline would apply to VOI’s that have been converted to Abound Club Points. Am I reading this correctly? This drastically changes things for me.

View attachment 69467
I noticed the same thing. But they had said that the changes to VSN banking (both the length and the banking deadlines) were not going to take effect until (IIRC) 2024. So I am *assuming* that the chart will change in a year or two.

If they are actually keeping the VSN banking policies the same and the announced changes only apply to Abound, that would be great. But I think they just gave us a short respite before reducing the elite benefits on the VSN side too.
 
I am still stuck on the view preferences situation for non-owners at Maui (and Kauai)! My SA tells me they are not doing time stamps anymore. I don't really believe that but if they are not, then how are they giving out the first floor vs 6th floor ressies at KOR or Nanea for example? If you own and reserve at 12 mo out as owner, paying almost $5000 in MFs, would a non-owner on an Abound ressie at 13 months (or 12 mo or even 9mo) have the same priority for views as an owner?

That seems insane and totally unfair.
What is an SA? I would love to hear from someone at the resort in rooms control on this issue.
 
I am still stuck on the view preferences situation for non-owners at Maui (and Kauai)! My SA tells me they are not doing time stamps anymore. I don't really believe that but if they are not, then how are they giving out the first floor vs 6th floor ressies at KOR or Nanea for example? If you own and reserve at 12 mo out as owner, paying almost $5000 in MFs, would a non-owner on an Abound ressie at 13 months (or 12 mo or even 9mo) have the same priority for views as an owner?

That seems insane and totally unfair.
I own both deeded Maui and a small amount of Marriott destination points. I will say I was shocked at the maintenance fees on my destination points. They are charging a ton of points to reserve Maui, so it might not be fair to say people staying on points are paying less in maintenance fees. One thing Marriott did right was better allocate points to high value locations unlike the star option model where properties with much lower fees were allocated the same number of star options. I can see both sides of this, but it does appear most of the Marriott properties allocate rooms to owners first, so Maui will likely start to do the same over time.
 
VSN banking is supposed to change to align with the owner benefit levels next year or the year after, IIRC.
Right! that makes sense… I do think they should do a better job stating that in the benefits list. So many are going to be blindsided
 
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