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How bad are Flexoptions as a resale product? The prices are unbelievably low on Redweek

rickandcindy23

rickandcindy23

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Wyndham Founder; Disney OKW & SSR; Marriott's Willow Ridge, Shadow Ridge and Grand Chateau; Val Chatelle; Hono Koa OF (3); SBR(LOTS), SDO a few; Grand Palms(SOLD); WKORV-OFC-4 ,Westin Desert Willow.
I have considered Flex for a while but know very little about it. Salespeople talk it up like it's the best thing Westin offers. What I see is a bunch of people wanting out.

Why do people not like Flexoptions? is it really that bad? Is availability extremely limited? What resorts are included in Flex?
 
rickandcindy23 said:
I have considered Flex for a while but know very little about it. Salespeople talk it up like it's the best thing Westin offers. What I see is a bunch of people wanting out.

Why do people not like Flexoptions? is it really that bad? Is availability extremely limited? What resorts are included in Flex?
Click to expand...

We don't own these so I'm hardly an authority, but I believe the maintenance fees are relatively high (not unlike Abound points) and the resale product is highly restrictive (as to where you can book) compared to say a mandatory resort like Kierland or WKORV. For example, a resale Westin Flex can only book at the Westin resorts in that trust (I don't think it includes WSJ), but not the other 15+ resorts that are not in the trust. And since 4 of them are in Hawaii, the MFs are relatively high. Similar restrictions would apply to the other "Flex" products (Sheraton Flex and Aventuras) .

The following may be a good place to start:

tugbbs.com

Updated Flex FAQ

This FAQ has been built upon the previous Flex FAQ by okwiater from 2016 and makes updates to include the Westin Flex and Aventuras Flex systems, as well as some other recurring questions that arise on TUG. I did invite the original author to collaborate on this revision; however, the offer was...
tugbbs.com tugbbs.com
 
This thread up in the pink posts gives a good overview: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/updated-flex-faq.309193/. When purchased resale they will not convert to StarOptions which allow Westin Flex to be used at 8 months out for Sheraton Flex and other “Vistana” properties, and vice versa. Likewise purchased resale they cannot be converted to Abound points. I don’t think if you buy these resale today there is any way to make them whole with MVC with a developer purchase (but I might be wrong on that).

But using them in the Flex systems they are just fine, as long as you can accept the maintenance fees and limited list of usable properties.
 
There are times when I need additional inventory at Sheraton Broadway Resort, and all I see is availability with SO's because we own SO's, but I am not going to book Sheraton with our valuable SO's, and that was the reason I was asking. I wonder if I owned Flexoptions if I would see the same inventory for those.
 
rickandcindy23 said:
There are times when I need additional inventory at Sheraton Broadway Resort, and all I see is availability with SO's because we own SO's, but I am not going to book Sheraton with our valuable SO's, and that was the reason I was asking. I wonder if I owned Flexoptions if I would see the same inventory for those.
Click to expand...
I believe the availability for SOs and FOs is different, similar to how the availability for SOs and Homeweeks is different.
 
rickandcindy23 said:
There are times when I need additional inventory at Sheraton Broadway Resort, and all I see is availability with SO's because we own SO's, but I am not going to book Sheraton with our valuable SO's, and that was the reason I was asking. I wonder if I owned Flexoptions if I would see the same inventory for those.
Click to expand...
FlexOptions are not StarOptions. When Flex is purchased resale, FlexOptions do NOT become StarOptions at 8 months prior to check in, they NEVER become StarOptions. You never have StarOptions with resale Flex. So your booking options are limited to the eight Westin properties in the Flex trust. And it’s worth noting that some of those properties, like Riverfront, don’t have much inventory in the Flex Trust and can be hard to book.

I think it IS possible to requalify a resale Flex purchase with another developer purchase, but I’m not sure this would be a good deal.
 
Aside from the high maintenance fees, if you can get Flex resale cheap it’s pretty useful as long as you’re happy going to one of the home properties; it’s far more flexible than a standard week at a voluntary resort and probably way cheaper than most good weeks at mandatory resort (where you get StarOptions on resale).

Sheraton Flex works good for the east coast, Kauai, and skiing in Colorado. Westin Flex works well for Maui, Kauai, and Palm Desert (but not for Colorado skiing).


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
So...a slightly different question. Does it make any sense to 'buy' (or accept for $1 + closing costs) resale Sheraton or Westin FlexOptoins for use in II? As near as I can tell II is one of the few ways resale FlexOptions are just as useful as StarOptions. Or are the MFs just too high?
 
ljmiii said:
So...a slightly different question. Does it make any sense to 'buy' (or accept for $1 + closing costs) resale Sheraton or Westin FlexOptoins for use in II? As near as I can tell II is one of the few ways resale FlexOptions are just as useful as StarOptions. Or are the MFs just too high?
Click to expand...
All of the flex programs work the same in II, so Aventuras is probably the cheapest since it has the lowest maintneenace fee. Westin Flex is most expensive. Sheraton Flex is probably the most prolific on the resale market.

They can actually be better in II than mandatory weeks since certain times of the year are fewer HomeOptions to exchange than using the equivalent mandatory week. Another benefit of Flex in II is you don't need to worry about trade power. Points can see everything. If you need a bigger unit or more TDI, it just costs more points. With a voluntary resale week, you might be blocked out of the trade altogether due to not enough trade power of your deposit.
 
ljmiii said:
So...a slightly different question. Does it make any sense to 'buy' (or accept for $1 + closing costs) resale Sheraton or Westin FlexOptoins for use in II? As near as I can tell II is one of the few ways resale FlexOptions are just as useful as StarOptions. Or are the MFs just too high?
Click to expand...
I guess the question is how many flex options does it take to reserve the prime time weeks Cindy wants at SBR?
What is that Flex MF versus float week MF.
 
GrayFal said:
I guess the question is how many flex options does it take to reserve the prime time weeks Cindy wants at SBR?
What is that Flex MF versus float week MF.
Click to expand...
I suspect it will cost much more for a prime season 2BR unit. Those weeks cost 81,000 HomeOptions to reserve. Best I can tell, since it wasn't reported for 2025, is that the Sheraton Flex HomeOption MF is 0.02635/point. If accurate, that is almost $2,150. I suspect the maintenance fees for a deeded 2BR are $1500 or lower.
 
I like the resorts I can go with flex, deterrent is the maintenance fees are high. But since you have so many timeshares that may not be an issue for you. There are many on eBay and even timesharenation
 
There are videos on you tube that talks about it. For me it’s just the MF sounds a lot.
 
Flex HomeOptions can make sense when trading through II in some situations. There are quite a few oddities in the II chart for Flex where it costs less HomeOptions in II than it does HomeOptions or StarOptions through VSN.
 
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