Electing Fixed Vistana Week to Abound

[travelhacker]

I have a fixed week 52 at Lagunamar that is enrolled.

Sadly, if I elect Abound points, I just get the standard platinum number of points (4950 instead of 8300....I think that's gotta be a record for skim). We're tied to the school year for the next 10+ years and it was worth the bit of a price premium to me to always have that week. We will likely use the reservation most years, but I don't see it happening in 2025.

Anyways, I just wanted to confirm my understanding on how to elect Abound points:

Right now I have a confirmed reservation for week 52 in 2025. If I want to elect Abound points, I will need to first cancel my 2025 week reservation. Once that's complete, I should be able to elect Abound points. Is that correct?

Second, it sounds like if I cancel my reservation, I will no longer be able to confirm week 52 -- I've essentially given that up, but I could still make a Home Resort Reservation. Is that right?

I'm a little bit hesitant to cancel, because if there's something weird and I can't elect Abound points, it would stink to have given up the Week 52. I own Kierland 1 bedrooms, and since I never had a reservation, I've always just elected, and never had to cancel.

I can still get plenty of value out of the staroptions. In a lot of cases, I'd prefer to keep the staroptions, but for my usage over the next 18ish months, I think Abound points makes the most sense.

Lastly, if you were me would you try to rent out the reservation, and use the proceeds to rent in Abound points?

I have previously rented out some great weeks with Redweek, but it just seems like there's so many listings and we're so far away that I just don't see it moving anytime soon.

Thanks!

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

I just own 'floating' weeks at WKORVN and Lagunamar and contrary to what seems to be the majority opinion I'm managing to get (in my eyes) plenty of benefits out of electing to Abound. However, in your case it would seem wasteful to have bought a premium week and not to be getting perceived value for it. Having said that, for just over the 4950 points you quote (5,400) I just booked 2x2BR for a week (sleeps 12 in total) in France next September for a family vacation to celebrate my 65th birthday.

Like you mention, I'm finding the rental market to be saturated and it seems quite difficult to sell weeks so far in advance.

 

[timsi]

I have a fixed week 52 at Lagunamar that is enrolled.

Sadly, if I elect Abound points, I just get the standard platinum number of points (4950 instead of 8300....I think that's gotta be a record for skim). We're tied to the school year for the next 10+ years and it was worth the bit of a price premium to me to always have that week. We will likely use the reservation most years, but I don't see it happening in 2025.

Anyways, I just wanted to confirm my understanding on how to elect Abound points:

Right now I have a confirmed reservation for week 52 in 2025. If I want to elect Abound points, I will need to first cancel my 2025 week reservation. Once that's complete, I should be able to elect Abound points. Is that correct?

Second, it sounds like if I cancel my reservation, I will no longer be able to confirm week 52 -- I've essentially given that up, but I could still make a Home Resort Reservation. Is that right?

I'm a little bit hesitant to cancel, because if there's something weird and I can't elect Abound points, it would stink to have given up the Week 52. I own Kierland 1 bedrooms, and since I never had a reservation, I've always just elected, and never had to cancel.

I can still get plenty of value out of the staroptions. In a lot of cases, I'd prefer to keep the staroptions, but for my usage over the next 18ish months, I think Abound points makes the most sense.

Lastly, if you were me would you try to rent out the reservation, and use the proceeds to rent in Abound points?

I have previously rented out some great weeks with Redweek, but it just seems like there's so many listings and we're so far away that I just don't see it moving anytime soon.

Thanks!

Are you 100% sure you're not getting more points? Perhaps something is not correctly set up in the system. I would argue with them about that. Structurally, they should have a problem with all their deposits, especially at Lagunamar, if all the deposit rights aren't transferred to Abound. They can't have it both ways: on one hand, pretend that Abound members can book Vistana resorts at 12 months because all the rights are transmitted, and on the other hand, give you 4900 points as if it were a regular platinum week.

 

[travelhacker]

Are you 100% sure you're not getting more points? Perhaps something is not correctly set up in the system. I would argue with them about that. Structurally, they should have a problem with all their deposits, especially at Lagunamar, if all the deposit rights aren't transferred to Abound. They can't have it both ways: on one hand, pretend that Abound members can book Vistana resorts at 12 months because all the rights are transmitted, and on the other hand, give you 4900 points as if it were a regular platinum week.

I am 100% sure that’s what I get if elect abound points.

For some reason some event weeks (like week 51 and 52 at the kaanapali resorts) get more than the platinum equivalent and others do not.

I’d love to get the reasoning, and like even more to get something closer to the abound points value, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

 

[YYJMSP]

Perhaps "fixed week 52" is not the same as "event week 52"?

Everything at WKORV/N week 52 was sold as event weeks, and not available to the floating pool.

I think think only 50% of WLR week 52 were sold as fixed, but everyone in the same season can still float in?

 

[travelhacker]

Perhaps "fixed week 52" is not the same as "event week 52"?

Everything at WKORV/N week 52 was sold as event weeks, and not available to the floating pool.

I think think only 50% of WLR week 52 were sold as fixed, but everyone in the same season can still float in?

It is an event week 52 at WLR.

My understanding is the same as yours:

About half of weeks 51/52 sold at WLR were event weeks, and the others are floating.

I believe I can float to other weeks. I believe WKORV/N owners can float to other weeks as well.

Perhaps the difference is that MVC doesn’t need to give me a premium because they can always use other platinum weeks at WLR to get week 52 in the abound inventory. Whereas at WKORV/N, people MUST elect into abound to make week 51/52 available to abound (unless the trust owns those weeks).

 

[timsi]

I’d love to get the reasoning, and like even more to get something closer to the abound points value, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.

As this is not a customer service issue, you would need to escalate it, as contacting customer service would be a complete waste of time.

The effort is worth about 3,000 points a year and clarifies what rights are actually transferred to Abound when owners deposit their weeks. In my opinion, they should give you close to 8,000 points, or else there are even bigger issues with how they structured the booking process at 12 months during the home resort reservation period. IMO, at Lagunamar they have that problem anyway, but by giving event weeks their true value, they would at least make their position more consistent.

 

[LeslieDet]

If you elect Club Points in lieu of using your 2025 VOI, any reservations are automatically cancelled by the system.

 

[timsi]

If you elect Club Points in lieu of using your 2025 VOI, any reservations are automatically cancelled by the system.

I don't believe that's what's happening in practice, as Abound received a large allocation of Christmas and New Year's weeks, presumably originating from even-week owners depositing into Abound.

 

[okwiater]

I don't believe that's what's happening in practice, as Abound received a large allocation of Christmas and New Year's weeks, presumably originating from even-week owners depositing into Abound.

Actually, Abound received a large allocation of New Year’s weeks by blocking the week from being booked by actual WLR owners.

 

[travelhacker]

Below is my experience, in case it's useful for anyone.

I had my reservation for Week 52 in 2025. I didn't have an option to elect Abound points with the reservation active.

Since I decided that I wasn't going to use my reservation for 2025 and I didn't want to rent it, I cancelled it. I wanted to do some experimenting, so this is what I found:

Once the reservation was cancelled it appeared that I could use my ownership to book a home resort reservation or make a Staroptions reservation, but I could NOT book week 52.

It would be nice to be able to cancel the week, and have a few months (until 12 months from check in) to decide if I was going to use the fixed week (i.e. keep it unless I got a good Staroptions reservation), but it wasn't available.

I was able to elect the week to abound points, and can confirm that I received 4950 points. Disappointing, but I can get A LOT out of those points.

 

[ocdb8r]

I have a fixed week 52 at Lagunamar that is enrolled.

Sadly, if I elect Abound points, I just get the standard platinum number of points (4950 instead of 8300....I think that's gotta be a record for skim). We're tied to the school year for the next 10+ years and it was worth the bit of a price premium to me to always have that week. We will likely use the reservation most years, but I don't see it happening in 2025.

I just want to confirm your experience is indeed the case. I had this conversation with Marriott when I enrolled (as I own a week 51 event week at Lagunamar). They confirmed that they had made the determination at that time (when Vistana enrollment into Abound was launched) not to provide any extra/separate point valuation to event weeks at Lagunamar, despite doing so for other Vistana resort event weeks. I was told they may revisit that determination after operating the program for a couple of years, depending on owner feedback. As such, I have emailed each year that I believe the Lagunamar event weeks should be given a point premium, in line with the point chart in the hopes this decision is reconsidered.

I'll just add that they are not "skimming" this specific week any more than others. "Skim" is the average across the whole resort for the season - the sad reality is that the few Lagunamar event week owners are contributing to higher points values for the remaining regular platinum week owners.

 

[travelhacker]

I just want to confirm your experience is indeed the case. I had this conversation with Marriott when I enrolled (as I own a week 51 event week at Lagunamar). They confirmed that they had made the determination at that time (when Vistana enrollment into Abound was launched) not to provide any extra/separate point valuation to event weeks at Lagunamar, despite doing so for other Vistana resort event weeks. I was told they may revisit that determination after operating the program for a couple of years, depending on owner feedback. As such, I have emailed each year that I believe the Lagunamar event weeks should be given a point premium, in line with the point chart in the hopes this decision is reconsidered.

I'll just add that they are not "skimming" this specific week any more than others. "Skim" is the average across the whole resort for the season - the sad reality is that the few Lagunamar event week owners are contributing to higher points values for the remaining regular platinum week owners.

Thanks! Could you message me the email address that you have contacted?

 

[ocdb8r]

Thanks! Could you message me the email address that you have contacted?

customer.advocacy@mvwc.com

 

[Hindsite]

I was told they may revisit that determination after operating the program for a couple of years, depending on owner feedback. As such, I have emailed each year that I believe the Lagunamar event weeks should be given a point premium, in line with the point chart in the hopes this decision is reconsidered.

That'll be an interesting one to watch. There are resorts were the election points values were reduced and owners got some compensation for that loss, but I've not seen anything about election values increasing.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

If you elect Club Points in lieu of using your 2025 VOI, any reservations are automatically cancelled by the system.

That's not what I saw when I did this recently. I had no election available for 2025 until I cancelled my VOI reservation.

 

[travelhacker]

If you elect Club Points in lieu of using your 2025 VOI, any reservations are automatically cancelled by the system.

The difference is that I could not elect points until I cancelled my reservation.

Perhaps it works different in Marriott than Vistana weeks.

 

[LeslieDet]

That's not what I saw when I did this recently. I had no election available for 2025 until I cancelled my VOI reservation.

Perhaps it’s different if you’re starting with a Westin or Sheraton VOI vs a MVC deeded week?

I have an enrolled deeded week with MVC. I went to the elect points process to test and it walked me through the steps and then brought me to a page where it says I have an existing reservation and I had to check the box to acknowledge that reservation would be canceled if I elected the points.

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

Perhaps it’s different if you’re starting with a Westin or Sheraton VOI vs a MVC deeded week?

I have an enrolled deeded week with MVC. I went to the elect points process to test and it walked me through the steps and then brought me to a page where it says I have an existing reservation and I had to check the box to acknowledge that reservation would be canceled if I elected the points.

Sorry. I'd assumed that is what you'd started with as this is the Vistana/Sheraton/Westin board.

 

[LeslieDet]

Sorry. I'd assumed that is what you'd started with as this is the Vistana/Sheraton/Westin board.

yes, it’s a Westin / Sheraton board, and I actually own both Westin and MVC. My mistake for assuming that the process was the same given that it’s dealing with electing Club Points in the Abound program. I don’t have a pending reservation with my Westin ownership, so I tested it with my pending MVC deeded week reservation.