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Depositing Vistana into Exchange Companies

TravelTime

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I have a week booked at Westin Princeville for next August. I am concerned we won’t want to go due to the Covid restrictions. It is booked using banked points. How can I deposit it into either II or ThirdHome? Can I deposit a week using SOs into ThirdHome? Can I deposit the 81,000 SOs into II?
 

Ken555

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Can I deposit the 81,000 SOs into II?

Sadly, no. You may only deposit a week into II.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Eric B

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I don't think ThirdHome will care. If you look at some of the listings they have, you'll notice that there is a housekeeping fee listed, which seems like an indication that the reservation for the week was probably made with SOs. I've only deposited weeks I owned using reservations made as home weeks, myself, so I can't say with any certainty, but they don't have an affiliation agreement with Vistana and rely on the confirmation emails and your obligation to provide a guest certificate like other independent exchanges do.

That being said, it would probably be worth looking over the VSN guidelines to be sure it's not prohibited. I didn't see anything that would prevent it when I read through them, but wouldn't try it unless I reread them to be sure.
 

DeniseM

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Vistana will not deposit a reservation made with Staroptions - you can only deposit what you own.
 

tschwa2

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And once banked with Vistana you lose II as an option.
 

dioxide45

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Like someone else said, ThirdHome won't care where it comes from. But there will be a guest certificate fee to add the guest that ends up booking. Housekeeping fees may or may not apply depending on what the reservation indicates.

You could also make a reservation at your home resort, using StarOptions of course. Then that reservation could be rented out for cash.
 

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Vistana will not authorize the deposit of a reservation made with Staroptions - you can't do it without their consent.
 

Eric B

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@DeniseM, Vistana doesn’t actually get involved in the process of exchanging in ThirdHome because they don’t have an affiliation agreement. They have an agreement with MVC at the Ritz Carlton level only and there are a bunch of Marriott and Vistana weeks the owners have set up their own independent ThirdHome accounts to use. That could always change in the future, as it did with Vidanta, but to Vistana the transaction is just someone booking a reservation for someone else using a guest certificate.

That being said, I’ve only done it with home reservations at resorts I own. There may well be limitations against third party exchange systems in the VSN terms and conditions, which is a major reason why I don’t do that, but I’ve seen deposits in there that strike me as likely having been made with SOs.
 

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So [Third Home] accepts deposits, with no resort verification? Interesting.
 
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Eric B

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Not MVC; ThirdHome. They confirm by checking a copy of your confirmation email for the reservation. That’s how SFX does it with resort systems that won’t confirm reservations for third parties as well (e.g., Wyndham and WorldMark; probably Vistana, too, but I wouldn’t deposit one there).
 

TravelTime

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Not MVC; ThirdHome. They confirm by checking a copy of your confirmation email for the reservation. That’s how SFX does it with resort systems that won’t confirm reservations for third parties as well (e.g., Wyndham and WorldMark; probably Vistana, too, but I wouldn’t deposit one there).

I made a deposit into ThirdHome. They contacted the resort to confirm. They did not go off my reservation confirmation.
 

Eric B

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I made a deposit into ThirdHome. They contacted the resort to confirm. They did not go off my reservation confirmation.

Interesting; how did you know they contacted the resort to confirm? Also, was it the resort in Princeville or Vistana that they confirmed it with?

BTW, I took a few minutes to look over the VSN Disclosure Guide R-5 (Mandatory Resorts) to see if it has anything that covers using independent third party exchanges like ThirdHome. The definitions portion, copied below, reads as though they could be considered an "External Exchange Company."

"External Exchange Company means any company that provides services to the Network or to Network Members under an External Exchange Program.

External Exchange Program means the contractual arrangement pursuant to which a Network Member may exchange the use of a Vacation Period, under certain conditions, for the use of accommodations in resorts other than Network Resorts."

The section on "External Exchange Program" is written somewhat vaguely as to whether or not you are required to use Interval International, which isn't named in the guide, as the External Exchange Company. The only item that really comes close, IMHO, is on page 22 of the disclosure where it says "(7) With the exception of Vacation Periods reserved at the Home Resort, Network Members are prohibited from renting to a third party any accommodation reserved through the Network's exchange program, including accommodations of the External Exchange Program." They can always update the terms in the future, of course, and I've stuck to using my own home resort for deposits to avoid having things change in a way that fouls up a ThirdHome exchange for me in the future.
 

TravelTime

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Interesting; how did you know they contacted the resort to confirm? Also, was it the resort in Princeville or Vistana that they confirmed it with?

BTW, I took a few minutes to look over the VSN Disclosure Guide R-5 (Mandatory Resorts) to see if it has anything that covers using independent third party exchanges like ThirdHome. The definitions portion, copied below, reads as though they could be considered an "External Exchange Company."

"External Exchange Company means any company that provides services to the Network or to Network Members under an External Exchange Program.

External Exchange Program means the contractual arrangement pursuant to which a Network Member may exchange the use of a Vacation Period, under certain conditions, for the use of accommodations in resorts other than Network Resorts."

The section on "External Exchange Program" is written somewhat vaguely as to whether or not you are required to use Interval International, which isn't named in the guide, as the External Exchange Company. The only item that really comes close, IMHO, is on page 22 of the disclosure where it says "(7) With the exception of Vacation Periods reserved at the Home Resort, Network Members are prohibited from renting to a third party any accommodation reserved through the Network's exchange program, including accommodations of the External Exchange Program." They can always update the terms in the future, of course, and I've stuck to using my own home resort for deposits to avoid having things change in a way that fouls up a ThirdHome exchange for me in the future.

I know because I had not yet paid my MF so Four Seasons Aviara rejected the deposit until I paid.

It sounds like you can’t rent reservations at the non-home resort but it sounds like there is not mention of depositing into an exchange program.

I asked ThirdHome if they allow deposits from II and EliteAlliance. I have not heard back yet since it’s the weekend.

I paid a fortune to Elite Alliance in membership fees and exchange fees. Then I had to cancel my weeks with them. I hope I can deposit them into ThirdHome since EA has so little inventory and my membership expires in April. I am less concerned about II because they are more flexible. I have a week with them that expires in March but I can cancel it and get another year’s extension.
 
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Eric B

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I know because I had not yet paid my MF so Four Seasons Aviara rejected the deposit until I paid.

It sounds like you can’t rent reservations at the non-home resort but it sounds like there is not mention of depositing into an exchange program.

I asked ThirdHome if they allow deposits from II and EliteAlliance. I have not heard back yet since it’s the weekend.

I paid a fortune to Elite Alliance in membership fees and exchange fees. Then I had to cancel my weeks with them. I hope I can deposit them into ThirdHome since EA has so little inventory and my membership expires in April. I am less concerned about II because they are more flexible. I have a week with them that expires in March but I can cancel it and get another year’s extension.

Ok; that deposit with Aviara would be treated differently because there is an affiliation agreement between that resort and ThirdHome. There isn't an affiliation agreement between Vistana and ThirdHome - I've deposited my 2021 Vistana home week into ThirdHome, had it booked, and added a guest name to the reservation all in 2020 prior to paying my fees for the new year.

As far as depositing from II to ThirdHome goes, that's prohibited by the II Terms and Conditions, General Exchange Procedures and Priorities, Paragraph 16, on page 8, which reads in pertinent part:

16. The Host Accommodations may be used only for personal and noncommercial purposes. Members are expressly prohibited from exchanging or renting the Host Accommodations, including, but not limited to, offering the Host Accommodations for sale or rent to third parties through the use of a Guest Certi cate or otherwise. Failure to use the Host Accommodations will not entitle Members to use the Home Resort accommodations for the period relinquished.

I would expect that Ellite Alliance has similar restrictions; RCI does. The RCI Points Terms and Conditions cover it by prohibiting barter as follows (page 3, emphasis added):

F. Commercial Use Prohibited. Use of the Network and/or RCI Points is for the personal use of Members and, if permitted, their guests, and neither Members nor guests may use the Network or RCI Points for commercial purposes or monetary or other consideration, including, without limitation, auction, barter, rental, raffle or sale of RCI Points, Confirmed Exchanges or Guest Certificates for example, and RCI reserves the right to limit the number of Transactions by a Member.

The problem is that these exchange systems would view allowing use of exchanged weeks in other exchanges as competing with their product, so they do what they can to prohibit doing that. There are other mini-systems where it's not something the operators really like, but the terms and conditions are set up to allow it (e.g., WorldMark, where there isn't ownership of individual resorts, with certain exceptions, and any member is specifically allowed to rent out their usage in any resort so long as it's not being done "commercially"). It's not absolutely clear to me where Vistana is as far as that issue goes, but depositing an SO reservation with a third party exchange seems a bit of a gray area where I'm not comfortable going personally, but you're likely able to get away with it at present.
 

TravelTime

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I saw this on a reservation I made: Rental of units reserved using StarOptions® (other than a vacation period at your Home Resort) is prohibited.

It sounds like as long as you have a reservation at your home resort, even using StarOptions, that you can rent it. Since you can rent it, I assume you can deposit into II or ThirdHome.

Any thoughts on this?
 

tschwa2

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I saw this on a reservation I made: Rental of units reserved using StarOptions® (other than a vacation period at your Home Resort) is prohibited.

It sounds like as long as you have a reservation at your home resort, even using StarOptions, that you can rent it. Since you can rent it, I assume you can deposit into II or ThirdHome.
Any thoughts on this?
I don't know how thirdhome works but with II you don't deposit a unit. You have to have home usage available for the current use year. So you have to have never reserved anything or you could have reserved your home week and then cancelled but as soon as you reserve something with staroptions I think you lose the ability to deposit with II.
 
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