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

[kozykritter]

Here's a new FAQ from the MVC website concerning Abound and booking windows for Vistana inventory:


Can Owners use Club Points to reserve a stay at a Sheraton Vacation Club or a Westin Vacation Club resort 13 months prior to arrival?

• No. Owners can reserve a Sheraton Vacation Club or Westin Vacation Club resort no earlier than 12 months prior to arrival.
• Even those who own VOIs with Sheraton Vacation Club and Westin Vacation Club may not make a reservation for a stay at their Home Resort(s) earlier than 12 months prior to arrival.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Here's a new FAQ from the MVC website concerning Abound and booking windows for Vistana inventory:


Can Owners use Club Points to reserve a stay at a Sheraton Vacation Club or a Westin Vacation Club resort 13 months prior to arrival?

• No. Owners can reserve a Sheraton Vacation Club or Westin Vacation Club resort no earlier than 12 months prior to arrival.
• Even those who own VOIs with Sheraton Vacation Club and Westin Vacation Club may not make a reservation for a stay at their Home Resort(s) earlier than 12 months prior to arrival.

Good information.

 

[dioxide45]

Here is the full Vistana points charts to make reservations (not what you get when electing Club Points)

 

[VacationForever]

Here is the full Vistana points charts to make reservations (not what you get when electing Club Points)

Thank you! These charts are very helpful. Did you get it from an "official insider"?

 

[kozykritter]

MVC has released a 33-page PDF on the owner website detailing the exchange procedures. I'm still going through it but I can confirm that weeks and one-property Home Options owners have to deposit the entire VOI to participate...no partials including half a lockoff. For Westin, Sheraton and Adventuras Flex, they can deposit the entire VOI or in increments of 20,000 options (same as converting to Bonvoy points). EOY interests can only deposit for the year of their usage. Any deposits to Abound for a given use year can not be reversed...once it's done, it stays there.

Here is the document:

 

[kozykritter]

Thank you! These charts are very helpful. Did you get it from an "official insider"?

Haha. He got them from the most official insider, MVC's owner website.

 

[dioxide45]

For Westin, Sheraton and Adventuras Flex, they can deposit the entire VOI or in increments of 20,000 options (same as converting to Bonvoy points).

So others that own these know. it does look like other Home Option owners (like Nanea and WSJ), they need to elect their entire VOI. The 20K looks to only apply to Westin Flex, Sheraton Flex and Aventuras.

 

[VacationForever]

I haven't gone to MVC or Vistana sites today, currently having crummy internet issues at home.

 

[dioxide45]

I haven't gone to MVC or Vistana sites today, currently having crummy internet issues at home.

Vistana.com is still down, so you aren't missing anything there. Lots of info on the MVC site though.

 

[Eric B]

MVC has released a 33-page PDF on the owner website detailing the exchange procedures. I'm still going through it but I can confirm that weeks and one-property Home Options owners have to deposit the entire VOI to participate...no partials including half a lockoff. For Westin, Sheraton and Adventuras Flex, they can deposit the entire VOI or in increments of 20,000 options (same as converting to Bonvoy points). EOY interests can only deposit for the year of their usage. Any deposits to Abound for a given use year can not be reversed...once it's done, it stays there.

Here is the document:

It looks to me like this document would make mandatory resale owners VSN members of Abound regardless of the purchase date. Haven’t read it thoroughly yet, but there doesn’t seem to be any reference to an acquisition date.

 

[kozykritter]

It looks to me like this document would make mandatory resale owners VSN members of Abound regardless of the purchase date. Haven’t read it thoroughly yet, but there doesn’t seem to be any reference to an acquisition date.

What I've read so far seems to leave determination of who's eligible up to the home program, in this case Vistana so it wouldn't be spelled out in these general exchange terms most likely.

 

[kozykritter]

It appears no rentals of reservations booked through Abound will be allowed, similar to the II and RCI policies for exchanges.

"Guest means a person who, as an invited guest of a Program Member, stays in an Accommodation, and is not a Family Member of the Program Member. Special Benefits (aka access to Abound) and the ability to reserve Accommodations are not available for Guests’ reservations if unaccompanied by a Program Member or the Program Member’s Family Member."

 

[rickandcindy23]

Vistana.com is still down, so you aren't missing anything there. Lots of info on the MVC site though.

Vistana website is down regularly.

I am worried about calling Vistana via phone to ask how to lock off our Westin Ka'anapali OF units. There are stupid people at Vistana. We have just the one reservation # for each of our two 2 bedroom weeks, and I wanted to advertise the studios, I am right at six months, but I need to get new reservation #'s.

Roger lost my small one bedroom at SBP for a July week. I was livid, and Vistana didn't get my week back. They basically said that happens sometimes. That was unacceptable. I had a renter for that week. I do not trust anyone at Vistana. The last time I told the person to make sure they knew what they were doing for another lockoff at SBP, and I was able to get the small one bedroom back with a new reservation #.

Has anyone had this problem on the Westin side of things?

 

[Venter]

Here is the full Vistana points charts to make reservations (not what you get when electing Club Points)

I noticed Westin Riverfront and HRA is not included yet.

 

[dioxide45]

It appears no rentals of reservations booked through Abound will be allowed, similar to the II and RCI policies for exchanges.

"Guest means a person who, as an invited guest of a Program Member, stays in an Accommodation, and is not a Family Member of the Program Member. Special Benefits (aka access to Abound) and the ability to reserve Accommodations are not available for Guests’ reservations if unaccompanied by a Program Member or the Program Member’s Family Member."

THis language has always existed in the MVC Exchange Procedures. Basically, MVC doesn't enforce it.

 

[dioxide45]

I noticed Westin Riverfront and HRA is not included yet.

That is correct. They won't initially be available, but they look to make them available in the future. They have dropped the "2024" from their written verbiage.

 

[dioxide45]

Vistana website is down regularly.

I am worried about calling Vistana via phone to ask how to lock off our Westin Ka'anapali OF units. There are stupid people at Vistana. We have just the one reservation # for each of our two 2 bedroom weeks, and I wanted to advertise the studios, I am right at six months, but I need to get new reservation #'s.

Roger lost my small one bedroom at SBP for a July week. I was livid, and Vistana didn't get my week back. They basically said that happens sometimes. That was unacceptable. I had a renter for that week. I do not trust anyone at Vistana. The last time I told the person to make sure they knew what they were doing for another lockoff at SBP, and I was able to get the small one bedroom back with a new reservation #.

Has anyone had this problem on the Westin side of things?

When you call Vistana, don't use the term "lock off". You want to reserve the small 1BR or the large 1BR and that is what you should be asking for. If you have the full 2BR booked, it will become a cancel and rebook.

 

[rickandcindy23]

When you call Vistana, don't use the term "lock off". You want to reserve the small 1BR or the large 1BR and that is what you should be asking for. If you have the full 2BR booked, it will become a cancel and rebook.

Jeremy, I just bought these two weeks and already have the 2 bedrooms booked at Ka'anapali, oceanfront, whale season. I cannot risk losing my reservations. If that becomes a concern, I am going to keep the entire lockoff and give the studio side to our kids or something. Maybe I should start another thread on this.

 

[jabberwocky]

It appears no rentals of reservations booked through Abound will be allowed, similar to the II and RCI policies for exchanges.

"Guest means a person who, as an invited guest of a Program Member, stays in an Accommodation, and is not a Family Member of the Program Member. Special Benefits (aka access to Abound) and the ability to reserve Accommodations are not available for Guests’ reservations if unaccompanied by a Program Member or the Program Member’s Family Member."

I thought you could rent reservations made with MVC DP? Is that not the case?

 

[vacationtime1]

When you call Vistana, don't use the term "lock off". You want to reserve the small 1BR or the large 1BR and that is what you should be asking for. If you have the full 2BR booked, it will become a cancel and rebook.

Vistana can "lockoff" an existing two bedroom reservation, keeping the original confirmation number for the one bedroom and adding a new confirmation number for the studio. They have done this for me and that's what Cindy was trying to get them to do; the CSR screwed it up.

 

[DanCali]

Jeremy, I just bought these two weeks and already have the 2 bedrooms booked at Ka'anapali, oceanfront, whale season. I cannot risk losing my reservations. If that becomes a concern, I am going to keep the entire lockoff and give the studio side to our kids or something. Maybe I should start another thread on this.

I have done this before with WKV. I had the 2BR reserved and wanted to separate to 2 different reservations.

They can change the original reservation to a 1BR (IIRC it keeps the same reservation number and confirmation date). Then they create a new reservation number for the other side of the lockoff. If it is within 8 months it will show as a Staroptions reservation instead of Home Resort and a guest fee may apply.

 

[mjm1]

I own everything at KOR...8 weeks including 3 week 52s...everything is OV or OF. Some developers some resale. Normally we rent week 52s to pay maintenance fees on all weeks we own. Bought all 3 week 52s for under 75k before over a year ago. I believe we have over 50k mvc points with our ownership as is. We go every Jan and July for at least 3 weeks and stay OF. I book my OF I own during home period and other weeks with SO. It sounds like this will get harder to get OF with SO because after 8 months ill be competing with other owners for OF during our normal stays as well as marriott owners. Thoughts on how to continue what we do with booking OFs???? I dont think converting to mvc to get 13 month booking window would help would it?

My initial thoughts are that you should continue to be ok if you make reservations right when the window opens. The points required to stay at KOR are higher than the Marriott properties, so while some Marriott owners won’t mind, many may not want to spend the additional points to stay there. Of course, only time will tell.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[kozykritter]

Here is a PDF I made of the Abound FAQs from the MVC owner help center. They are written to address MVC owner questions about the program so best to interpret them from that perspective. Hopefully they will do a similar one on Vistana's website, you know, when it comes back online

 

[Venter]

That is correct. They won't initially be available, but they look to make them available in the future. They have dropped the "2024" from their written verbiage.

I got a snap of this at an presentation.

 

[dioxide45]

I got a snap of this at an presentation.View attachment 63168

Interesting, it isn't included in the points chart available on the MVC website.