Best Options to Add to our Current Ownership

[chris1278]

Hoping to gather some thoughts from others on the board.

We own SVV mandatory (Key West), 81k SO. We were grandfathered in since we bought resale prior to the August 2022 date and have exchanged in Abound. Our week is worth 2525 points in Abound. We would like to get into the 4000-5000 point range but are trying to figure out the best course of action.

My thought has been to grab 1500-2000 points on resale which would seem to run us $7-10k by the time it's all said and done. But after sitting in on a presentation where the salesman was trying to get us to retro our current week (he didn't know we could already get into Abound) it got me thinking.

Would it make sense to pick up a flex package for basically nothing on resale, and retro that in with a small developer purchase? If so,
1. Would Marriott retro it with a purchase of club points? (meaning, we go to an MVC sales rep and pick up 1k points and retro the resale flex)
2. Or does it make more sense to just purchase flex through Sheraton to retro the resale?

I'm assuming if i picked up another 81k flex on resale, it would also exchange for 2525 club points once it has been retro'd. I'm guessing a developer purchase of 10-12k would net us another 31k points.

And I'm unclear with how the loyalty fits in when translating. In a previous Marriott presentation, they were putting us at the Owner level. Have these rankings been merged at all?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dioxide45]

A better option would be to avoid any of the Flex programs for the resale purchase. Try to go for a Westin Lagunamar 148,100 Platinum Plus week. Then retro that with a $10,000 purchase from Vistana. That may require buying Sheraton Flex or, even better, Westin Aventuras. That in total is going to run you about $15K-$18K all in but get you well over your intended Club Point mark.

The fees on Westin and Sheraton Flex are rather hight. Your need to try and target a low maintenance fee voluntary resale week. I would avoid mandatory since they cost more and by requalifying you will bring it into VSN and Abound at the same time. Perhaps even an Sheraton Vistana Resort 81,000 2BR Prime season week would make the cut. Sheraton Desert Oasis might be another good option and would also be a decent trader in II if you ever wanted to go that route with the usage. Even something other than the 2BR Plat Plus at Lagunamar might be a good option for the resale week.

 

[YYJMSP]

1. Would Marriott retro it with a purchase of club points? (meaning, we go to an MVC sales rep and pick up 1k points and retro the resale flex)

It's my understanding based on our recent presentation at WDW that the minimum purchase is now 4000 points

 

[iftravel]

It's my understanding based on our recent presentation at WDW that the minimum purchase is now 4000 points

You are probably right if you were in a MVC office but heard people bought a small Flex package to retro for much less! Not sure if it depends on what you own and who you talk to.

Like to hear more retro stories especially those who did it recently and for minimum money!

 

[dioxide45]

It's my understanding based on our recent presentation at WDW that the minimum purchase is now 4000 points

You'll get a different story every time you go. We were just pitched 1,000 Club Points today. There really is no minimum. They can easily ask for an exception to sell someone as few as 250 points. Though no incentives and no discounts.

The issue with buying Club Points to requalify is that Marriott requires a much higher purchase price (think 2,500 points minimum) than if one were to buy a legacy Vistana product where the requalifying requirements are $10K for first VOI and $5K for each additional VOI.

 

[YYJMSP]

You'll get a different story every time you go. We were just pitched 1,000 Club Points today. There really is no minimum. They can easily ask for an exception to sell someone as few as 250 points. Though no incentives and no discounts.

Of course, it follows the old Vistana sales model equivalent of offer them a high season week for $50K, if they don't bite offer them a EOY high season week for $25K, if they don't bite offer them a low season week for $20K, if they don't bite offer them a EOY low season week for $10K, and if they still don't bite make sure to sell them an Encore for whatever you can get out of them so we can try again next time and maybe get that commission!

 

[chris1278]

You'll get a different story every time you go. We were just pitched 1,000 Club Points today. There really is no minimum. They can easily ask for an exception to sell someone as few as 250 points. Though no incentives and no discounts.

Yeah, at our last Marriott presentation they said the minimum we could buy was 1500 and then when we didn't bite, she came back and gave us the whole "I can't believe they're letting me do this" routine and put an option for 1000 points in front of us.

 

[chris1278]

A better option would be to avoid any of the Flex programs for the resale purchase. Try to go for a Westin Lagunamar 148,100 Platinum Plus week. Then retro that with a $10,000 purchase from Vistana. That may require buying Sheraton Flex or, even better, Westin Aventuras. That in total is going to run you about $15K-$18K all in but get you well over your intended Club Point mark.

The fees on Westin and Sheraton Flex are rather hight. Your need to try and target a low maintenance fee voluntary resale week. I would avoid mandatory since they cost more and by requalifying you will bring it into VSN and Abound at the same time. Perhaps even an Sheraton Vistana Resort 81,000 2BR Prime season week would make the cut. Sheraton Desert Oasis might be another good option and would also be a decent trader in II if you ever wanted to go that route with the usage. Even something other than the 2BR Plat Plus at Lagunamar might be a good option for the resale week.

Thanks, Jeremy - So when you mention lower maintenance fees, I'm assuming if I find points tied to SVR or SDO, that those are overall lower in dues. Do you know about how significant of a difference they would be from something like SVV St. Augustine?

 

[iftravel]

Yeah, at our last Marriott presentation they said the minimum we could buy was 1500 and then when we didn't bite, she came back and gave us the whole "I can't believe they're letting me do this" routine and put an option for 1000 points in front of us.

They will do retro with 1000 points purchase?

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks, Jeremy - So when you mention lower maintenance fees, I'm assuming if I find points tied to SVR or SDO, that those are overall lower in dues. Do you know about how significant of a difference they would be from something like SVV St. Augustine?

SVR and SDO seem to have lower dues overall compared to something like SVV or WKV. You will want to look at this list, it is the best we have right now, to see the number of Club Points assigned to each VOI. You will probably want to run two sets of numbers. The MF per Club Point and the MF per StarOption. Then determine which one is most important for you. These voluntary resales won't come with VSN or Abound when you buy them and you should be able to get them for free on resale and perhaps even have someone provide free usage. Then you would look to requalify them into Abound when at a Vistana owner update.

 

[dioxide45]

They will do retro with 1000 points purchase?

They don't do this on the Marriott side. It may be possible to do this at a Vistana owner update but I would think it is easier to get it done if you were to buy $10,000 worth of a Vistana Flex product.

 

[ljmiii]

They will do retro with 1000 points purchase?

They don't do this on the Marriott side. It may be possible to do this at a Vistana owner update but I would think it is easier to get it done if you were to buy $10,000 worth of a Vistana Flex product.

Of course, it follows the old Vistana sales model equivalent of offer them a high season week for $50K, if they don't bite offer them a EOY high season week for $25K, if they don't bite offer them a low season week for $20K, if they don't bite offer them a EOY low season week for $10K, and if they still don't bite make sure to sell them an Encore for whatever you can get out of them so we can try again next time and maybe get that commission!

What @YYJMSP described is what happened at our owner update at the Westin St John (though as @dioxide45 wrote the last offer was 10K of Flex...the EOY low season week at the WSJ was just north of $20K). No Abound Points were offered.

 

[iftravel]

What @YYJMSP described is what happened at our owner update at the Westin St John (though as @dioxide45 wrote the last offer was 10K of Flex...the EOY low season week at the WSJ was just north of $20K). No Abound Points were offered.

10k purchase of flex to retro one unit?

 

[iftravel]

SVR and SDO seem to have lower dues overall compared to something like SVV or WKV. You will want to look at this list, it is the best we have right now, to see the number of Club Points assigned to each VOI. You will probably want to run two sets of numbers. The MF per Club Point and the MF per StarOption. Then determine which one is most important for you. These voluntary resales won't come with VSN or Abound when you buy them and you should be able to get them for free on resale and perhaps even have someone provide free usage. Then you would look to requalify them into Abound when at a Vistana owner update.

BTW, great spreadsheet!

 

[rcv82]

Others have made good points here. The one I would add is that even for a cheap resale I would try to buy something that has value to you if you want to use it outright, I.e., buy where you want to go. Unless of course you know all you care about are the StarOptions and Abound point values for the lowest maintenance fees.


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[ljmiii]

10k purchase of flex to retro one unit?

I believe so...but honestly I wasn't paying much attention to any of the lesser options.

They had an EOYO fixed Sunset Bay week 3 building 10 2nd floor oceanfront deed on offer for ~$48K and I was still busy trying to decide if I was willing to be that stupid. If you don't know, the only way to guarantee an OF villa at the WSJ is to own or rent a fixed deed in buildings 10 or 16...and the temptation was great. Most of Sunset Bay is floating and I don't think I'd stay in one of the 'pool view' buildings (11 and 15) if you paid me.

 

[chris1278]

10k purchase of flex to retro one unit?

Yes, basically a minimum $10k developer purchased Vistana product.

 

[iftravel]

Yes, basically a minimum $10k developer purchased Vistana product.

Awesome! One genius idea: buy 148k SDO and retro it for 10k, instead of 15k for mandatory WKV?

 

[dioxide45]

Awesome! One genius idea: buy 148k SDO and retro it for 10k, instead of 15k for mandatory WKV?

That will work. But finding 148K SDO "true" Plat Plus on resale isn't always easy. They also tend to sell for a premium.

 

[chris1278]

Others have made good points here. The one I would add is that even for a cheap resale I would try to buy something that has value to you if you want to use it outright, I.e., buy where you want to go. Unless of course you know all you care about are the StarOptions and Abound point values for the lowest maintenance fees.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This is a good point. One thing I'm thinking about is if I go the 'internal to Vistana' route, it would make sense to be able to combine total point values for trades either through the VSN or Abound.

I don't know that any SVR exchange for points, do they? Meaning, if I get a floating week at SVR, can I exchange that within VSN (assuming it's retro'd) or will it only be useful within Interval and Abound?

 

[dioxide45]

This is a good point. One thing I'm thinking about is if I go the 'internal to Vistana' route, it would make sense to be able to combine total point values for trades either through the VSN or Abound.

I don't know that any SVR exchange for points, do they? Meaning, if I get a floating week at SVR, can I exchange that within VSN (assuming it's retro'd) or will it only be useful within Interval and Abound?

Once retro's it will be in VSN and by its membership in VSN it will be affiliated with Abound. So once retro'd it can be used as StarOptions or elect for Club Points.

 

[iftravel]

Has anyone successfully retro’d a Marriott unit with a 10k Westin Flex purchase? The stories I’ve read are all about purchase Marriott to retro Marriott and purchase Vistana to retro Vistana.

 

[ljmiii]

Has anyone successfully retro’d a Marriott unit with a 10k Westin Flex purchase?...

I can tell you that at the WSJ in February the salesfolk said they were unable to enroll my Marriott KBC week no matter how much Westin I purchased (though they would have been quite happy to retro my two Westin deeds). Others may have had different experiences.

 

[jabberwocky]

This is a good point. One thing I'm thinking about is if I go the 'internal to Vistana' route, it would make sense to be able to combine total point values for trades either through the VSN or Abound.

I don't know that any SVR exchange for points, do they? Meaning, if I get a floating week at SVR, can I exchange that within VSN (assuming it's retro'd) or will it only be useful within Interval and Abound?

We own two SVR 2BR units (Gold+ season). Each can convert to 2600 Abound or 81,000 SO. I did convert one of the units to Abound to give it a try as the week we are looking at in a different Vistana resort would be 148,100 SO - but through abound it is 2575. One of the we good uses I’ve found.

My biggest worry is stranded points in one of the two systems.