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

[TravelTime]

A Vistana salesperson called me today. She has no clue how the MVC program works. She had no idea how an EOY week is awarded points. She thought an EOY week gets half the DP value EOY. I tried to explain it to her and she got frustrated and hung up on me quickly. Then she called back a few minutes later and said she spoke to her boss and I was right. So she put her boss on the line to try to sell me something. His offers were not good. The offers were expensive based on a cost per DP basis.

 

[jabberwocky]

@jabberwocky Good point. But what about mandatory deeds that are in Flex trust?

As far as I know they are still mandatory weeks.

I suspect Vistana is managing inventory in the background when a flex owner wants to make a reservation. Vistana likely has to book a full week 8-12 months out even if an flex owner wants a partial week. Those days that aren’t picked up by flex owners would then become available via SO at 8 months.

 

[clymberz]

This was on our printout. I did not include multiple weeks as they are the same.

MVC Points
2600	SVR	EY
4050	WKV-Platinum	EY
3100	WKORVN	eoy-odd	IV
3100	WKORVN	eoy-even	OV
3150	WMH-Platinum	EY

I'm trying to follow this discussion since a family member has a WKORVN. I'm also surprised IV/OV are the same points. I chalk that up to being based on sq ft and maintenance fees being the same (?). We used to enjoy spending ski week or spring break at one of the MVC Palm Springs resorts, but based on the point transfers, we would not have enough MVC points to stay a week. (Shadow Ridge 2br is 4k, for example). This sounds like a really bad deal considering WKORVN mtc fees of $2500 versus renting the MVC resort for the week. Although, maybe my market pricing is out of touch since socal folks can spend more for a week of vacation without paying for airfare.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

As far as I know they are still mandatory weeks.

I suspect Vistana is managing inventory in the background when a flex owner wants to make a reservation. Vistana likely has to book a full week 8-12 months out even if an flex owner wants a partial week. Those days that aren’t picked up by flex owners would then become available via SO at 8 months.

Mandatory deed value is based on being able to sell your week and your resale buyer still has SO trading rights. Does SO trading/points transfer to a resale buyer when they buy Westin Flex? I don't believe it does in the same way that a deed sale would across the entire SVN network. If it does not, Flex trust is a way they are limiting SO mandatory rights even though these rights remain in the underlying mandatory deed in the trust.

 

[jabberwocky]

Mandatory deed value is based on being able to sell your week and your resale buyer still has SO trading rights. Does SO trading/points transfer to a resale buyer when they buy Westin Flex? I don't believe it does in the same way that a deed sale would across the entire SVN network. If it does not, Flex trust is a way they are limiting SO mandatory rights even though these rights remain in the underlying mandatory deed in the trust.

Flex is voluntary, so no the SO associated with a resale Flex package don’t transfer. This does not mean that the underlying mandatory weeks lose their SO. But it is a good point that it could be seen as a way to limit access to SO reservations on resale. Practically I think they manage the inventory so most owners won’t notice and most mandatory weeks in the trust won’t end up converting to SO.

In theory a similar result could come from weeks sent to MVC. If left unbooked at 8 months those mandatory deeds in MVC would be available via SO. I doubt this would happen with any a great frequency as most weeks will be in high demand and booked before 8 months due to MVC managing the inventory.

 

[dioxide45]

Hold on to your hats for this one! I have MVC Summit Watch and Mountainside stays over the next three weeks and received an advance call from the local resort marketing people inviting me to a sales presentation during my Park City stays. The super nice lady kept referring to me as a Marriott owner even though I only own Sheraton Flex and for the incentive they offered me Bonvoy points, a visa card or Marriott DP. I told her that I don't currently own MVC and have no Marriott account to put DP into as they haven't launched the new program so I haven't enrolled my Flex into DC to create an account. She told me that I have already been assigned a Marriott owner number and have an account with them that she was looking at right now! It's just not funded with my ownership yet. I nearly fell off my chair...mind blown!

With the "merger" (her words), they have reached the point where we Vistana-ites are considered Marriott owners, all without lifting a finger on our part. Of course we can't yet use their system but those days are fast approaching. This explains why she knew so much about my reservations, room preferences, recent sales presentations, etc, something I never experienced at those properties as an exchanger or renter. She said DP pops up now as an incentive option for me because of this, and if I chose it, it would go into that owner account and be waiting for me when I gained access (after the launch).

It actually felt good to learn all this, like the stepchild that suddenly gets recognized by the family and warmly invited to the table. I guess this supports my ongoing theory that all Vistana accounts will be/have been migrated onto Marriott's IT platform and will be accessed there, even if through backend access via Vistana.com. This information creates more questions like will I be able to access and use the DP in 2022, even if I don't enroll my Flex into DC? Someone mentioned they were told that Vistana Elite levels were going away and everyone would have Marriott Elite levels instead...this would make sense for them creating Marriott owner accounts as I'm a 3*. So many questions!

You should have asked what your Marriott owner number was so you could go to the MarriottVacationClub.com website and create a profile!

 

[jabberwocky]

Anyone willing to give odds on whether this thread hits 100 pages before the integration day on July 1?

 

[kozykritter]

You should have asked what your Marriott owner number was so you could go to the MarriottVacationClub.com website and create a profile!

I know, right?! I thought of that after I hung up the phone. I'm going to be seeing them later this week in person so I will have another chance

 

[kozykritter]

Anyone willing to give odds on whether this thread hits 100 pages before the integration day on July 1?

I think if you're going to put money on anything, that's a good bet with more than 3 weeks to go!

 

[DanCali]

Not disagreeing with the logic, but aren't Marriott Destination Point resales required to pay a $3 per point enrollment fee?

Yes, but that wasn’t the comparison I was making. I was saying they are selling you something for $15/point which you can sell only for only $2-$3/point. If you want to say it’s $5-$6 to buy the points resale because of some artificial fee then that’s true. It doesn’t change the fact that the “true” value is $2-$3 and that’s what you get ;today) if you sell them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[remowidget]

You cannot enroll a resale week by buying resale DC points.

How do you enroll DC Points?

 

[remowidget]

Yes, but that wasn’t the comparison I was making. I was saying they are selling you something for $15/point which you can sell only for only $2-$3/point. If you want to say it’s $5-$6 to buy the points resale because of some artificial fee then that’s true. It doesn’t change the fact that the “true” value is $2-$3 and that’s what you get ;today) if you sell them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is there any disadvantage to purchasing resale Destination Points over purchasing retail?

 

[dioxide45]

How do you enroll DC Points?

If you buy resale DC points, you just have to pay the Junk fees of $3pp + the $300 owner education fee to have the points "enrolled" in the MVC Exchange Company.

 

[dioxide45]

Is there any disadvantage to purchasing resale Destination Points over purchasing retail?

None that we are aware of. The DC Exchange Procedures seem to have some exclusions for points not purchased from an authorized reseller, but so far in practice resale and retail points seem to work the same.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Sounds like the $3 is MVCs requal enrollment fee. This prevents the trust from losing deeds when someone resells their points. If you buy resale points and enroll, any options to requal a resale deed with it?

 

[VacationForever]

Sounds like the $3 is MVCs requal enrollment fee. This prevents the trust from losing deeds when someone resells their points. If you buy resale points and enroll, any options to requal a resale deed with it?

No.

 

[dioxide45]

Sounds like the $3 is MVCs requal enrollment fee. This prevents the trust from losing deeds when someone resells their points. If you buy resale points and enroll, any options to requal a resale deed with it?

The only way to requalify a resale week is to buy something direct from the developer.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

That's what I thought but I never want to assume in this TS world.

 

[dioxide45]

That's what I thought but I never want to assume in this TS world.

Generally, timeshare companies use requalification as a way to sell more timeshare direct. Most of the timeshare companies have similar programs, Vistana, DRI, Hilton all have their own method of "cleaning" those "dirty" resale deeds.

 

[remowidget]

...

 

[CalGalTraveler]

@remowidget Yes, weeks and points. I own a resale deed, so I am exploring options.

 

[dioxide45]

Marriott resale points only have to pay the $3 per point to be allowed to use the MVC Exchange Company to have full access to the system.

• Marriott resale weeks currently can't enroll in the point program unless the owner also buys a large point contract, currently the minimum is 3,000 points >$34K purchase price.
• Vistana resale points (Flex) don't have any enrollment fees, they can't be used for reservations in VSN.
• Vistana resale mandatory deeds don't have to pay any enrollment fees to use StarOptions. But if they want full access in VSN, they have to re-qualify, $10K minimum purchase price
• Vistana resale voluntary deeds don't have access to StarOptions or VSN but they can re-qualify for $10K minimum to have full access to VSN.
• In no case can a resale purchase be used to qualify/enroll another resale purchase.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

• Vistana resale mandatory deeds don't have to pay any enrollment fees to use StarOptions. But if they want full access in VSN Marriott DP they have to re-qualify, $10K minimum purchase price

Minor clarification above. Mandatory resale have full access to VSN/Staroptions but the latest rumor is that they won't have access to Marriott DP. However we won't know for sure until MVC fully announce later this summer (hence a 97 page thread!)

 

[dioxide45]

Minor clarification above. Mandatory resale have full access to VSN/Staroptions but the latest rumor is that they won't have access to Marriott DP. However we won't know for sure until MVC fully announce later this summer (hence a 97 page thread!)

Not really, they only have access to StarOptions in VSN. They can't use other VSN benefits like resort credit or elite status. That is why I worded it like I did. No enrollment fee to use StarOptions, but for full access to VSN...

We have no idea how access to DP will work.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Thanks for clarifying. Okay so no elite, no Bonvoy but those features are not worth much and Bonvoy conversion is a poor use of MF that are almost $3000 a week so I don't consider those of value. It's the mandatory SO for resale buyers that is the huge benefit.