CLOSED: Thread Dedicated to the Upcoming/Anticipated Integration of Vistana & Marriott Ownerships (Marriott Link + Vistana Discussion)

[bdavidson]

Just got out of our second owners update this year where they were discussing the new Abound program. One thing todays sales rep told me is that if i owned no MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex points, the MVC levels do not apply. We are basically no-status in MVC so would be the 10 month window (?) not the 13 month window. Only if we had flex or any MVC points, would the MVC levels apply based on all of our deeded week ownership.

Also, i was told by St John Bay Vista wouldn’t convert at all unless i owned MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex.

Anyone else understand that to be true?

 

[Eric B]

Anyone else understand that to be true?

Neither we nor the sales staff have access to the rules and guidelines for the Abound affiliation for VSN owners, so it's pretty much like Schrodinger's truth - both true and false at the same time until we can finally check it against them and actually observe what it really is.

 

[dioxide45]

Just got out of our second owners update this year where they were discussing the new Abound program. One thing todays sales rep told me is that if i owned no MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex points, the MVC levels do not apply. We are basically no-status in MVC so would be the 10 month window (?) not the 13 month window. Only if we had flex or any MVC points, would the MVC levels apply based on all of our deeded week ownership.

Also, i was told by St John Bay Vista wouldn’t convert at all unless i owned MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex.

Anyone else understand that to be true?

We know that Vistana 3*, 4* and 5* will respectively get Executive, Presidential and Chairmans in the new Abound program. It doesn't matter if the Abound points come from Flex or weeks based VOIs. There is still some questions around how they will implement if your VSN owner status equals Executive but your number of Abound points is enough for Presidential, I expect one would be presidential and the conversations from 3*, 4* and 5* are just there to get people into the system and grandfather in the VSN ownership levels into Abnound.

 

[remowidget]

Just got out of our second owners update this year where they were discussing the new Abound program. One thing todays sales rep told me is that if i owned no MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex points, the MVC levels do not apply. We are basically no-status in MVC so would be the 10 month window (?) not the 13 month window. Only if we had flex or any MVC points, would the MVC levels apply based on all of our deeded week ownership.

Also, i was told by St John Bay Vista wouldn’t convert at all unless i owned MVC or Sheraton/Weston flex.

Anyone else understand that to be true?

 

[bdavidson]

Doesn’t quite answer my questions… I’m primarily looking for access to the Abound 13 month, 1+ day, reservation window and being able to convert my St John Bay Vista to Abound points. Sales rep specifically said if i didn’t own any Flex (I dont) or MVC (I dont), i would not be able to get access to either of those benefits.

I’m considering purchase the minimum Sheraton Flex solely to get those two benefits on the cheap. (MVC minimum purchases and annual maintenance are very high)

 

[Eric B]

Doesn’t quite answer my questions… I’m primarily looking for access to the Abound 13 month, 1+ day, reservation window and being able to convert my St John Bay Vista to Abound points. Sales rep specifically said if i didn’t own any Flex (I dont) or MVC (I dont), i wouldnot be able to get access to either of those benefits.

The current understanding is that if your Bay Vista ownership is retail or requalified resale (i.e., is in the VSN) you will be able to convert it to Abound points. We'll see for sure when the rules actually come out, but there is a very high likelihood that the sales rep was not speaking the truth as anyone understands it.

 

[bdavidson]

Neither we nor the sales staff have access to the rules and guidelines for the Abound affiliation for VSN owners, so it's pretty much like Schrodinger's truth - both true and false at the same time until we can finally check it against them and actually observe what it really is.

Ok, then i think i will wait and risk the savings of purchasing flex now. Thank you.

 

[remowidget]

...

 

[bdavidson]

The current understanding is that if your Bay Vista ownership is retail or requalified resale (i.e., is in the VSN) you will be able to convert it to Abound points. We'll see for sure when the rules actually come out, but there is a very high likelihood that the sales rep was not speaking the truth as anyone understands it.

Got it, it was clear that their system has my retail purchase of every other year in bay vista with no Abound points value. And their nice little web app couldn’t lookup Bay Vista either.

if I was a flex or mvc owner, they would “retro” my bay vista and give me ~4600 every other year. But only half would count towards the Abound level calculation. They were showing clear charts that outline Abound levels based on converting Staroptions to destination club points.

 

[Eric B]

Got it, it was clear that their system has my retail purchase of every other year in bay vista with no Abound points value. And their nice little web app couldn’t lookup Bay Vista either.

if I was a flex or mvc owner, they would “retro” my bay vista and give me ~4600 every other year. But only half would count towards the Abound level calculation. They were showing clear charts that outline Abound levels based on converting Staroptions to destination club points.

Interesting. Was there any indication at all that their system was actually run by Marriott officially rather than just being something cobbled together by the local sales department to provide purchase motivation? Same with the rest of the information provided?

 

[tstiv1996]

You think so? I use it to book the StarOptions for Maui. I doubt Maui will be available once it's all done

Im in same boat as you, bought SVV to use in Maui or Kauai. Concerned it may not all work out as advertised at purchase... Id like to see inventory held back for some 8 mo reservations, or hope that more vistana folks will want to play in Marriott than vice versa for a couple years to explore and keep some inventory open but I'm not holding out hope, we may get the bad end of this deal.

If I may play devils advocate at least for myself, the price paid for SVV when compared to booking without a timeshare in WKORV, got me far better than breaking even on the first trip alone (not sure how this math works for your 4 or 5 units but id guess its close). Im going to hang for another couple years and see if I can continue getting value. Worst case, I got some value but not as much as I was hoping for. Best case, the investment continues to pay off. I don't like admitting it, but that was theoretically always a risk for us not buying for where we wanted to use the SO's.

 

[William Seward]

Got this notification when I login.

I wonder if this could mead Abound is about to launch?

 

[iowaguy09]

Got this notification when I login.

I wonder if this could mead Abound is about to launch?

View attachment 61001

I had logged in this morning and saw the pop-up message that has been showing up for the last couple of weeks. Just logged in again now and saw the same pop-up you have reported, so this is definitely something new and different as of today. Yes, it may truly be a little more confirmation that Aug 1 is the day "it" starts happening.

 

[kozykritter]

Got this notification when I login.

I wonder if this could mead Abound is about to launch?

View attachment 61001

The Marriott ownership website shows the identical message after you log in so clearly it's some type of coordinated upgrade. Fingers crossed!

 

[samcar1]

I just hope it works out to be a positive thing and we all get to go on great vacations.
By the way, how does a person rent points? I generally rent a few of my booked weeks but didn’t know about renting points. Thanks

 

[lorenmd]

i've been texting with my sales rep this past week because i have 126k home options in westin and wanted to get that to 148k home options so i could have the 13 months window in westin. he told me i could but only until july 30. then it will all go away and they will only be selling marriott points. no more opportunity to get westin flex which is what i want. they have been doing these traveling owners upgrades to let owners know what's happening and have had overwhelming response. he thinks it's going to be much harder for him to sell marriott points cause they are so much more expensive. he was very honest with me, we are friends. his best price he could get me for 21k more westin flex home options was about 11k all in. i have a few more days to think about it. i just want the 13 month window for a 2 bedroom in hawaii or colorado

 

[jabberwocky]

i've been texting with my sales rep this past week because i have 126k home options in westin and wanted to get that to 148k home options so i could have the 13 months window in westin. he told me i could but only until july 30. then it will all go away and they will only be selling marriott points. no more opportunity to get westin flex which is what i want. they have been doing these traveling owners upgrades to let owners know what's happening and have had overwhelming response. he thinks it's going to be much harder for him to sell marriott points cause they are so much more expensive. he was very honest with me, we are friends. his best price he could get me for 21k more westin flex home options was about 11k all in. i have a few more days to think about it. i just want the 13 month window for a 2 bedroom in hawaii or colorado

That’s pretty expensive for WFlex. That would convert into around 730 DP. So you’re paying over $15/point. The offer we received last week for 81,000 EOY worked out to $13.90/DP when converted (using the 28.8:1 ratio).

Keep in mind that 148,100 will only convert to around 5,140 DP. That won’t go very far to get a 2BR in Hawaii. If you are planning on using it as DP or HomeOptions at one of the Maui Westins, you won’t be able to do so until 12 months in advance.

 

[dioxide45]

i've been texting with my sales rep this past week because i have 126k home options in westin and wanted to get that to 148k home options so i could have the 13 months window in westin. he told me i could but only until july 30. then it will all go away and they will only be selling marriott points. no more opportunity to get westin flex which is what i want. they have been doing these traveling owners upgrades to let owners know what's happening and have had overwhelming response. he thinks it's going to be much harder for him to sell marriott points cause they are so much more expensive. he was very honest with me, we are friends. his best price he could get me for 21k more westin flex home options was about 11k all in. i have a few more days to think about it. i just want the 13 month window for a 2 bedroom in hawaii or colorado

13 months won't be into Westin properties as it has already been confirmed that Visana resorts will only be available in Abound at 12 months.

 

[jabberwocky]

Just a friendly suggestion that you may want to print or get screen captures of all your existing reservations as well as your StarOption Balances and ownerships.

It will probably not be an issue - but we are talking about Marriott IT here.

 

[samcar1]

13 months is only for Marriot DC. If you own Westin Flex you would have 12 in your home properties or Vistana Flex at 12. If I want to go to a Westin property with vistana options it’s 8 months out but if I convert to DC points it’s 13 months as I am 4*
Also, I purchased Westin flex this week. I paid 31k which is a 15% discount. I also got 164k extra options for 1 yr. I don’t calculate price per points but In the end I’ll have over 14k in dc points. Marriott points moving forward are going to be insanely expensive. I say buy now.

 

[pchung6]

If I want to go to a Westin property with vistana options it’s 8 months out but if I convert to DC points it’s 13 months as I am 4*

This is not correct. You can only book Marriott at13 months. You can only book Westin at 12 months with DC points and it’s subject to enough owners convert to DC points for enough inventory.

 

[pchung6]

Marriott points moving forward are going to be insanely expensive. I say buy now.

Why you think Marriott points will appreciate in value? When was the last time anything good happened to Marriott customers or timeshare customers? I just don’t recall any. Resales do appreciate since last year, but still dirt cheap vs developer purchase. I suggest you to rescind now.

 

[VacationForever]

13 months is only for Marriot DC. If you own Westin Flex you would have 12 in your home properties or Vistana Flex at 12. If I want to go to a Westin property with vistana options it’s 8 months out but if I convert to DC points it’s 13 months as I am 4*
Also, I purchased Westin flex this week. I paid 31k which is a 15% discount. I also got 164k extra options for 1 yr. I don’t calculate price per points but In the end I’ll have over 14k in dc points. Marriott points moving forward are going to be insanely expensive. I say buy now.

Were you already 4* before the latest purchase? If you were, then I would definitely rescind. 4* gets you Presidential. 14K or 10K dc points get the same Presidential level. If you were only 3* and want to get to Presidential, you can buy resale DC points at about $7 per point to get you over the 10K DC points hump.

 

[samcar1]

Were you already 4* before the latest purchase? If you were, then I would definitely rescind. 4* gets you Presidential. 14K or 10K dc points get the same Presidential level. If you were only 3* and want to get to Presidential, you can buy resale DC points at about $7 per point to get you over the 10K DC points hump.

Honestly, im pretty comfortable with my purchase. I never said properties will go up in value, I said that buying Marriott points will be extremely expensive. This year I turned a bunch of my options into Marriott bonvoy points, went to the Maldives, and stayed free at the st regis. The room was $2,500 per night. For me it was an enormous value. I like to know I can play that way and have a week left over to rent.
I’m looking forward to the new program. I also don’t have time to overthink it. If I did, my head would explode. Lol.

 

[samcar1]

This is not correct. You can only book Marriott at13 months. You can only book Westin at 12 months with DC points and it’s subject to enough owners convert to DC points for enough inventory.

Sorry. I wasn’t clear. You are correct. I can only book the Westin flex I own 12 months out. The 13 month window would be converting my option for Marriott dc