Considering purchasing vistana flex points.

[Tride]

We are at Marriott OceanWatch on an encore package and had our presentation today. They offered us 20,700 flex points for $10,081 for Interval exchanges. They claimed it will open up more inventory for us despite being chairman level with MVC. Good deal or not? What should we be on the lookout for? Any help or comments would be appreciated thank you in advance.
Troy

 

[Hindsite]

If you own only Trust Club points then having any other timeshare will open up access in II to MVC weeks. There are much, much cheaper and better ways to get a trader for II, if that is what you want/need.

Having Sheraton flex opens you up to the inventory that is in Sheraton Flex portfolio and also in the VSN exchange, which is different to what is in II and what is in Abound.

If you find that having Sheraton Flex is something that you need, you'll find that it is available resale for free, so paying over $10k for it is not a good deal. Much better for accessing the VSN exchange is one of the "mandatory" resorts resale, like Westin Kierland, which might get you a lot more Star Options for the money.

The choice of an II trader or one for use in VSN is likely to be different, so its worth having some clarity on what your requirement is. 20,700Flex points aren't many, so you may find it a struggle to use them. Its a classic sales trap to sell something that appears cheap, but is close to useless, so people come back and complain and get told that they need to buy more to get access to more inventory.

Is there something that you feel is missing from your current portfolio that you want to be able to access?

 

[CPNY]

We are at Marriott OceanWatch on an encore package and had our presentation today. They offered us 20,700 flex points for $10,081 for Interval exchanges. They claimed it will open up more inventory for us despite being chairman level with MVC. Good deal or not? What should we be on the lookout for? Any help or comments would be appreciated thank you in advance.
Troy

@Hindsite summed it up perfectly. 20K Flex points wont get you much in Vistana or Interval.

 

[Tride]

Can you upgrade like they are telling us for $59.00 or is it not enough points to even secure anything to upgrade?

 

[Ken555]

Run away! Buy resale to get II.

 

[Hindsite]

Can you upgrade like they are telling us for $59.00 or is it not enough points to even secure anything to upgrade?

Not when you use flex points in II.

When you use weeks in II, lock-off units can be split into 2 separate reservations and then deposited to II as smaller units and then you can pay the unit size upgrade fee, if your unit pulls larger units.

With Sheraton flex in II its just a table of TDI vs Unit size, so for a bigger unit, you need more points to get a bigger unit, see the table below for how many points for what.

 

[ljmiii]

With Sheraton flex in II its just a table of TDI vs Unit size, so for a bigger unit, you need more points to get a bigger unit, see the table below for how many points for what.
View attachment 123265

You probably know more than I...but on the MVC side that chart just shows the points cost of the week that MVC puts into II for you to trade with not the size of the unit you get. You have/get to pay II's upgrade fee to trade into a 2BR from a studio or1BR (if you choose that villa size from the chart using Abound points).

 

[dioxide45]

You probably know more than I...but on the MVC side that chart just shows the points cost of the week that MVC puts into II for you to trade with not the size of the unit you get. You have/get to pay II's upgrade fee to trade into a 2BR from a studio or1BR.

Vistana points work differently. Unlike when depositing Abound into II, which results in an actual week placeholder unit available for exchange, HomeOptions are actually deposited as points. You can't pay a fee to upgrade in unit size with any of the Vistana Flex programs. You need enough points to make the exchange into the unit size you want.

 

[ljmiii]

Vistana points work differently....

Thank you!

 

[DavidnRobin]

Congrats on asking this important question in time.
Too many do not...

 

[WorldT]

The last question in post #2 will help the group guide you on what your options are. I know cause I have learned so much from them.
One of the things I have learned is what you were presented with is highly unlikely to be the way to get what you are trying to achieve.

 

[chinh9]

So Westin flex gets deposited as points and you don’t have to book the week and then deposit it? Is there a chart showing number of points deposited to what you can generally exchange for or do you just have to do it to learn it?

 

[dioxide45]

So Westin flex gets deposited as points and you don’t have to book the week and then deposit it? Is there a chart showing number of points deposited to what you can generally exchange for or do you just have to do it to learn it?

The chart is in post #6 above.

 

[chinh9]

Doh!!

Blind as a bad. Is it a 1:1 exchange? Like 1 Sheraton flex and 1 Westin flex equals 1 point? Or are some more valuable than others?

 

[Hindsite]

Doh!! Blind as a bad. Is it a 1:1 exchange? Like 1 Sheraton flex and 1 Westin flex equals 1 point? Or are some more valuable than others?

Yes its 1:1 for flex points into II, as to whether Westin flex points pulls different inventory from Sheraton flex points I've never seen info on that. I believe, the excellent thing is you can deposit in lumps of 20k flex points so you can accumulate points over time @dioxide45 , can you advise on the finer points of this or point to where the info is? But...you'll need to keep a log of what you deposit and what you use, as there isn't an easy way to find out via II or VSN.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Flex points are $0 resale. That is a huge drop in "value" for any timeshare. People are giving it away, which says a lot more about the product than what a salesman has to say.

Buy a resale week, lock it off into two deposits for $95 through Marriott, or buy Sheraton Desert Oasis or Sheraton Broadway Resort 2 bed lockoff for two trades for one maintenance fee. You will have to have a separate II account for the purchase of a week.

 

[sponger76]

Is it a 1:1 exchange? Like 1 Sheraton flex and 1 Westin flex equals 1 point? Or are some more valuable than others?

The chart in post #6 is a 1:1 exchange to Sheraton/Westin Flex HomeOptions, along with Westin Aventuras HomeOptions. All of those products use the exact same amount of points as shown in the chart, and all see the exact same availability.

 

[Tride]

Thank you all for your replies I told them today I wasn’t going to go through with it despite their best efforts to convince me I was making a mistake.

I would like to find out if buying a resell unit within this post

What do Mandatory and Voluntary mean?

a. If a resort is Staroption "Mandatory," it means that when the week is sold to a new owner (resale) the Staroption value of the week transfers to the new owner, and the new owner has the right to exchange his timeshare in the Starwood Vacation Network. These resorts are Staroption Mandatory:
* Harborside at Atlantis
* Vistana Villages (Bella and Key West phases only)
* Westin St. John (Virgin Grand - Hillside only)
* Westin Ka'anapali & Westin Ka'anapali-North
* Westin Kierland Villas

Will this open up other inventory to us through II or is that something else that was misleading?

 

[WorldT]

Thank you all for your replies I told them today I wasn’t going to go through with it despite their best efforts to convince me I was making a mistake.

I would like to find out if buying a resell unit within this post

What do Mandatory and Voluntary mean?

a. If a resort is Staroption "Mandatory," it means that when the week is sold to a new owner (resale) the Staroption value of the week transfers to the new owner, and the new owner has the right to exchange his timeshare in the Starwood Vacation Network. These resorts are Staroption Mandatory:
* Harborside at Atlantis
* Vistana Villages (Bella and Key West phases only)
* Westin St. John (Virgin Grand - Hillside only)
* Westin Ka'anapali & Westin Ka'anapali-North
* Westin Kierland Villas

Will this open up other inventory to us through II or is that something else that was misleading?

If you buy a resale mandatory resort in the vistana system, you get the allotted staroptions and you will use that in the vistana system.
1. You can use your home week at your home resort . This means you are not using the star options
2. You can use your staroptions to exchange into other vistana (Westin and Sheraton) when the exchange window opens in the vistana system. There is a chart for this which is different from the chart in post #6.
3. You can deposit your home week as a week (you can lock off if able) and then use that week to exchange into any available resort in II.

 

[dioxide45]

Thank you all for your replies I told them today I wasn’t going to go through with it despite their best efforts to convince me I was making a mistake.

Had you signed anything? If so, telling them you don't want it isn't enough. You would need to send a rescission letter.

 

[chinh9]

Buying mandatory gives you more options within the old Vistana system when that 8 month window opens.

Voluntary you get that home resort priority and that’s all you can book or you can deposit to interval. Or you could buy a small developer purchase to get that resale week grandfathered in or retro’d in as if it were a developer purchase. In that case you can use home options, star options when that 8 month window opens, deposit into interval or convert to Marriott abound club points.

Does this help?

 

[sponger76]

Thank you all for your replies I told them today I wasn’t going to go through with it despite their best efforts to convince me I was making a mistake.

I would like to find out if buying a resell unit within this post

What do Mandatory and Voluntary mean?

a. If a resort is Staroption "Mandatory," it means that when the week is sold to a new owner (resale) the Staroption value of the week transfers to the new owner, and the new owner has the right to exchange his timeshare in the Starwood Vacation Network. These resorts are Staroption Mandatory:
* Harborside at Atlantis
* Vistana Villages (Bella and Key West phases only)
* Westin St. John (Virgin Grand - Hillside only)
* Westin Ka'anapali & Westin Ka'anapali-North
* Westin Kierland Villas

Will this open up other inventory to us through II or is that something else that was misleading?

Mandatory vs voluntary makes no difference in what you would see in II. That is just a function of the overall quality/desirability of the specific resort, season/week and unit size that you are using for your exchange.

How mandatory/voluntary does come into play:
With mandatory resorts, even resales get a 'corporate' II account where you don't have to pay the annual membership fee. With voluntary resorts, unless the deed has been brought into VSN by making an additional retail purchase, resale owners must pay for their own 'personal' II account in order to exchange that particular deed, even if they already have a 'corporate' account.