Is it worth buying extra VOI to get to higher tier with Abound?

[vacaydreamer]

Hi, newbie here, just found this group! Wish I have found out about this group sooner.

Background:
My hubby and I bought Sheraton Desert Oasis in 2001 and we traded to other places (mostly Maui) for years. After kid came we stayed at home resorts for a few years. In 2018 we started going to Maui every year again so in 2020 we bought a two bedroom at Nanea to ensure we get to come back since we have more restrictions due to school. We love going there and it is our happy place.

Last Friday we had an owner's update to find out more about Abound. After presentation, hubby was gung-ho on buying extra points to take us from Select to Executive level (148k = 6265pts) In the end I was convinced to sign. But having second thoughts. I have till Friday midnight to rescind but hubby feels this is a great deal. With Encore package and a Marriott stay, it costs $13,706 to purchase 30k VOI points (1270 Club Points) with $551 MF.

Question:
Should I push my hubby to rescind? Hubby feels Executive level gives us more options. I am not convinced. We have never traded outside VSN so no idea how Marriott or other program works. He could be right so I want to find out what other owners think.

 

[rickandcindy23]

If you are planning to use your Westin Nanea week every year, then why do anything? It's not going to give you 13 months to book your week or anything like that.

What did they tell you?

 

[Antonio 8069]

We are in the same situation as vacadreamer.............
We paid our maintenance fees in December. In February we get an "invoice" for owner club dues. What is that?
I called the toll free number and was told about Abound and Westin Vacation Club. I did not sign up for either? The agent said it was as a result of a new program my association joined? The thing is I follow my association meetings and they did not agree to a + 23 % increase in my fees? What to do?

 

[cubigbird]

Rescind. You can buy Abound club points on the secondary market for about $7/point all in after all the junk fees. That’s a significant discount to what you would be paying.

 

[vacaydreamer]

If you are planning to use your Westin Nanea week every year, then why do anything? It's not going to give you 13 months to book your week or anything like that.

What did they tell you?

After going to Maui for 7 years in a row hubby wants other options and take a break from Maui. We were looking at Boston, NYC and maybe Paris with Marriott. I think we can just convert our current 148k VOI to Club Points instead of buying more.

 

[vacaydreamer]

Rescind. You can buy Abound club points on the secondary market for about $7/point all in after all the junk fees. That’s a significant discount to what you would be paying.

Interesting, I have not looked closely at secondary market. Good to know we can buy Abound points directly. Thank you.

 

[vacaydreamer]

Hi, newbie here, just found this group! Wish I have found out about this group sooner.

Background:
My hubby and I bought Sheraton Desert Oasis in 2001 and we traded to other places (mostly Maui) for years. After kid came we stayed at home resorts for a few years. In 2018 we started going to Maui every year again so in 2020 we bought a two bedroom at Nanea to ensure we get to come back since we have more restrictions due to school. We love going there and it is our happy place.

Last Friday we had an owner's update to find out more about Abound. After presentation, hubby was gung-ho on buying extra points to take us from Select to Executive level (148k = 6265pts) In the end I was convinced to sign. But having second thoughts. I have till Friday midnight to rescind but hubby feels this is a great deal. With Encore package and a Marriott stay, it costs $13,706 to purchase 30k VOI points (1270 Club Points) with $551 MF.

Question:
Should I push my hubby to rescind? Hubby feels Executive level gives us more options. I am not convinced. We have never traded outside VSN so no idea how Marriott or other program works. He could be right so I want to find out what other owners think.

Forgot to add that we traded in Sheraton DO in when we bought Nanea.
For this 30k purchase we also got a bonus 60k to use within the next 2 years.

 

[cubigbird]

Interesting, I have not looked closely at secondary market. Good to know we can buy Abound points directly. Thank you.

Check Redweek, TUG, EBay for active listings.

 

[sponger76]

After going to Maui for 7 years in a row hubby wants other options and take a break from Maui. We were looking at Boston, NYC and maybe Paris with Marriott. I think we can just convert our current 148k VOI to Club Points instead of buying more.

Electing your VOI into Abound on a year-by-year basis is always an option. You can also look at trading in Interval International to go to Marriott (and other) locations.

 

[vacaydreamer]

Hi, I'm reading other threads about rescinding and that the developer does not need to tell you they received the letter or in some cases the letter arrive a month later. In our case we were going to put the $13k on our AmEx so we didn't finance. If I send my letter out tomorrow and they don't process this within 30 days, do we get dinged by not paying?

 

[KACTravels]

Send your letter via Fed Ex Signature required and you’ll be fine. I also added another layer by scanning and sending to the sales rep and resort when we rescinded.

 

[grrrah]

1. Rescind Rescind Rescind

2. Only buy more if you can and want to take additional trips. Don't buy more just for benefit levels.

3. As you learned, secondary points will be much cheaper. Also know, Abound points have a pretty high annual maintenance fee. Some resorts are still selling other products like Sheraton Flex, etc. which will have a much lower annual maintenance fee but will be more up front. Not sure exactly the current Flex prices but MF on abound points is about $.69/point, and other VSN weeks are about $.48/point after exchange for abound).

Personally, I would stand pat and see how if you can get what you need from the Select level (I'm select and haven't had too much issue finding inventory). If you want more trips you can also rent points from other owners for about the cost of MF.

 

[vacaydreamer]

Thank you for the advice here. I sent in the rescind letter this afternoon. Will send the rest of the packet tomorrow.
Losing $895 processing fee is nothing compared to $13706 plus yearly $551 fee. I also feel much lighter.
Hubby is not too happy but he'll get over it.

 

[dms111]

Hi, newbie here, just found this group! Wish I have found out about this group sooner.

Background:
My hubby and I bought Sheraton Desert Oasis in 2001 and we traded to other places (mostly Maui) for years. After kid came we stayed at home resorts for a few years. In 2018 we started going to Maui every year again so in 2020 we bought a two bedroom at Nanea to ensure we get to come back since we have more restrictions due to school. We love going there and it is our happy place.

Last Friday we had an owner's update to find out more about Abound. After presentation, hubby was gung-ho on buying extra points to take us from Select to Executive level (148k = 6265pts) In the end I was convinced to sign. But having second thoughts. I have till Friday midnight to rescind but hubby feels this is a great deal. With Encore package and a Marriott stay, it costs $13,706 to purchase 30k VOI points (1270 Club Points) with $551 MF.

Question:
Should I push my hubby to rescind? Hubby feels Executive level gives us more options. I am not convinced. We have never traded outside VSN so no idea how Marriott or other program works. He could be right so I want to find out what other owners think.

It appears that different Vistana properties are given different values when converting to MVC Club Points. Your message indicates that you would get 6265 Club Points for 148K StarOptions. When I click on the link to convert my StarOptions to Club Points, I am being offered only 4930 Club Points for 148K StarOptions (we own Aventuras). That is a conversion rate of approx. .0033 vs. .0043 that you are getting. Are Aventuras StarOptions worth fewer Club Points than other StarOptions?

 

[sponger76]

It appears that different Vistana properties are given different values when converting to MVC Club Points. Your message indicates that you would get 6265 Club Points for 148K StarOptions. When I click on the link to convert my StarOptions to Club Points, I am being offered only 4930 Club Points for 148K StarOptions (we own Aventuras). That is a conversion rate of approx. .0033 vs. .0043 that you are getting. Are Aventuras StarOptions worth fewer Club Points than other StarOptions?

There is not a single ratio for all StarOptions when converting to Abound points. More desirable properties get better rates than less desirable ones. For the most part, specific property VOIs get better conversion rates than pure points VOIs. And when comparing pure points VOIs, Westin Flex and Westin Aventuras and Sheraton Flex all get different ratios.

 

[byeloe]

It appears that different Vistana properties are given different values when converting to MVC Club Points. Your message indicates that you would get 6265 Club Points for 148K StarOptions. When I click on the link to convert my StarOptions to Club Points, I am being offered only 4930 Club Points for 148K StarOptions (we own Aventuras). That is a conversion rate of approx. .0033 vs. .0043 that you are getting. Are Aventuras StarOptions worth fewer Club Points than other StarOptions?

The hawaii properties get the most allocation(for a 2BD) . Lagunamar is a distant second. I am not sure which is better on a $MF/point basis

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

The hawaii properties get the best allocation. Lagunamar is a distant second

Our Lagunamar (1BR Gold 44,000 SO 2,275 Abound points) is a better allocation than our Maui (WKORVN 2BR IV 148,100 SO 6,200 Abound points) at 19.34 v 23.89 conversion rates.

 

[DavidnRobin]

The hawaii properties get the best allocation. Lagunamar is a distant second

I don’t think this is correct.
I’ve seen WLR P+ conversion rates that are favorable.


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[YYJMSP]

I don’t think this is correct.
I’ve seen WLR P+ conversion rates that are favorable.


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it says it would be 4950 Club Points for our WLR PlatinumPlus unit, so that comes out to a lot more points per $MF than our WKORV i think

 

[byeloe]

I don't know the MF in Hawaii but the pplus WLR is about $1800 so only $0.36 per point which is very good

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

I don't know the MF in Hawaii but the pplus WLR is about $1800 so only $0.36 per point which is very good

That's a great rate.

The exchanges I mentioned above work out at about 49.2c per point on our 1BR Lagunamar Gold and 49.7c per point on our 2BR WKORVN IV based on 2023 MFs.

 

[grrrah]

The hawaii properties get the most allocation(for a 2BD) . Lagunamar is a distant second. I am not sure which is better on a $MF/point basis

The Maui properties in particular. In fact, exchanging and using club points for Kauai (except for very high demand weeks) is one of the few favorable uses of abound points for VSN resorts vs. Staroptions.