Just canceled online- StarOptions are restricted

[Coug79]

We just cancelled back to back to back reservations for March/April. All these cancellations resulted in restricted options. So we are going to be chasing a few weeks late in the year on short notice in all likelihood or would need to deposit what we can with II and pay II for each week that we can deposit. Hordes of people will be booking late in the year and many if not most will likely not find availability 60 days out. So who owns II and collects those fees? Marriott Vacations Worldwide. This is very self serving at our expense.

We are coming to the conclusion that vacation ownership is less and less about owner satisfaction and more and more about profit. Another recent situation involved the signing perk when we bought our WMH condo a few years ago. We are golfers and a significant incentive to buy was 50% off golf at the two WMH golf courses associated with the property. We were given laminated cards showing owners get 50% off and guests get 33% off. They no longer honor that as they claim the golf courses have been sold. I have worked enough negotiations to know they could have included a provision in the contract to honor their commitments to their owners but such considerations would have resulted in less profit for Marriott. Despite them taking pictures of our card and assuring us they would get back to us they have never gotten back to us. So there is plenty of incentive to take our business somewhere else.

 

[VacationForever]

We just cancelled back to back to back reservations for March/April. All these cancellations resulted in restricted options. So we are going to be chasing a few weeks late in the year on short notice in all likelihood or would need to deposit what we can with II and pay II for each week that we can deposit. Hordes of people will be booking late in the year and many if not most will likely not find availability 60 days out. So who owns II and collects those fees? Marriott Vacations Worldwide. This is very self serving at our expense.

We are coming to the conclusion that vacation ownership is less and less about owner satisfaction and more and more about profit. Another recent situation involved the signing perk when we bought our WMH condo a few years ago. We are golfers and a significant incentive to buy was 50% off golf at the two WMH golf courses associated with the property. We were given laminated cards showing owners get 50% off and guests get 33% off. They no longer honor that as they claim the golf courses have been sold. I have worked enough negotiations to know they could have included a provision in the contract to honor their commitments to their owners but such considerations would have resulted in less profit for Marriott. Despite them taking pictures of our card and assuring us they would get back to us they have never gotten back to us. So there is plenty of incentive to take our business somewhere else.

I know there is still a discount but not significant. Did that change again? We just got "discounted" owner rounds back in January.

 

[Coug79]

I know there is still a discount but not significant. Did that change again? We just got "discounted" owner rounds back in January.

They give a smaller discount... about 25%. Not much different than if you were to book through GolfNow.

 

[controller1]

I am not aware of any Vistana timeshare closure.

The WDW @The Haileys abbreviated is not Westin Desert Willow but is Walt Disney World.

 

[GregT]

Greg - maybe you should change the subject line of your post. It give us hope to not have restrictions, to see it the way its written.

Excellent suggestion - just done -- thank you

 

[fasha39]

I just called for a reservation that begins in 13 days. Got the standard reply, fees are waived, but staroptions will be restricted. I wrote a very lengthy email to ownerres@vistana.com I would suggest that everyone does the same thing to voice our displeasure. We have have 2 weeks in Hawaii and don't want to go and are also afraid that we will get stuck there, who knows what will happen in 4 weeks from now.

I sent an email as well - When I expressed my disbelief about the options being restricted to the agent the response was that it is the direction they have received from the leadership team. Leadership would be thanking owners for their continued support of the network, waving fees and placing zero restrictions on options. This would encourage everyone to actively start planning future vacations in spite of the current fear, travel concerns & restrictions due the virus. This would help Vistana`s ability to more accurately project future revenue, demonstrate to all staff members that they are actively trying rebuild confidence in travelling which would give them greater job security.

 

[jimwu921]

I called in last Friday and got the reservation (3/21 check-in) cancelled, fee waived and options unrestricted back to my account. Initially the rep only allowed me to pick either fee or unrestricted options. Then he found out I was a good boy for last 12 months (probably no cancellation other than this) and gave me both.

 

[Julian926]

Just called. I am within the 30 day window. They will waive the fees but they will not unrestrict the star options.

 

[The Haileys]

I am not aware of any Vistana timeshare closure.

The WDW I am referring to is Walt Disney World. We have booking at Vistana Resort in Orlando. There is rumor that the current closures may extend to late April now, and could extend further with the latest CDC recommendation of 8 weeks of no public gatherings over X number of people.

 

[DTD1990]

I actually cancelled my Sheraton Steamboat reservation after we arrive on 3/14. We literally checked into the resort and 30 minutes later Alterra (the owner of Steamboat) closed the mountain. I had to scramble to get a flight back home. Vistana returned my Sheraton Flex points minus the one-night stay and they are in the system as "Staroptions" which I guess means they are restricted as others here have received.

My question is what does restricted mean - it appears that I can bank them to next year -2021. Does anyone know if you can convert restricted shares to Bonvoy points? I'm 3-star Elite so I can convert annually, but I have never done so.

 

[oneohana]

In your account they would say if they are restricted.
The only thing you can do with restricted options is either use them in the 60 day window or bank them in II.

 

[mjm1]

We cancelled our stay at WSJ with less than 60 days to go, so our SO’s are restricted. Disappointed that we won’t go, but better safe than sorry.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[YYJMSP]

I actually cancelled my Sheraton Steamboat reservation after we arrive on 3/14. We literally checked into the resort and 30 minutes later Alterra (the owner of Steamboat) closed the mountain. I had to scramble to get a flight back home. Vistana returned my Sheraton Flex points minus the one-night stay and they are in the system as "Staroptions" which I guess means they are restricted as others here have received..

we just had to do something similar (leaving a few days after arriving) with a normal home resort week booking, and they would not give back anything for the unused days.

 

[VacationForever]

I have a question. Our friends cancelled their Princeville home week reservation within 60 days. They are swimming in Star Options and have no use for these restricted Star Options for this year. They have never used II but want to deposit the week into II. I do not know if their II deposits will be considered Flexchange (<60 days) or not, because Vistana's deposit for floating season weeks are blended.

 

[DeniseM]

I don't think you can deposit restricted Staroptions.

 

[VacationForever]

I don't think you can deposit restricted Staroptions.

But in Vistana system, I think you can deposit the underlying week as long as the restricted StarOptions are from a home week. I know that if a voluntary week without SOs is canceled up to the day before you can still deposit it into II. The same should apply to a home week, regardless of whether it has SOs associated with it.

The rep told her that she could deposit into II. I just don't know if the week will be treated as Flexchange/restricted. The fact that Princeville is a floating week makes me think that it should not be restricted.

 

[DeniseM]

With Vistana there are no flexchange deposits, because you can't deposit an actual reservation, unless it's a true fixed week. With floating week reservations they cancel the reservation and deposit a "credit" into II.

 

[celica7101]

I just called about this to try and unrestricted my Star Options for the week that I had to cancel in April. She said that she couldn't unrestrict them (given their magnanimity to *waive the fees!*) so I should look into exchanging them with II. she did confirm that i could deposit the whole week (even though now restricted) into II.

I didn't want to yell at her and try and push it since I'm sure she's getting many of these calls already, but I hope Vistana changes their minds about unrestricting the points and bankability.

 

[SeattleJohn2]

I just called about this to try and unrestricted my Star Options for the week that I had to cancel in April. She said that she couldn't unrestrict them (given their magnanimity to *waive the fees!*) so I should look into exchanging them with II. she did confirm that i could deposit the whole week (even though now restricted) into II.

I didn't want to yell at her and try and push it since I'm sure she's getting many of these calls already, but I hope Vistana changes their minds about unrestricting the points and bankability.

Companies now need to be in crisis mode, which means prioritizing customer goodwill over short term profits (or minimizing losses). Large companies Like Vistana will survive and screwing customers now will only negatively impact loyalty in the future.

How can Vistana expect customers to be able to use these restricted SOs by the end of the year? Let's assume we have three full months of cancellations with restricted SOs, there's simply not enough supply to accommodate the demand. A lot of SOs are going to go unused and expire. And as far as the II deposits go, I've never done that before so have no idea even where to begin. That's unfortunate because we have a reservation at SDO for next month that we are likely to cancel and I don't see an opportunity to use the points by the end of the year. This is definitely a first-world problem and there are bigger issues going on today. Nonetheless, I hate to see my hard-earned money go disappear.

Sigh... time to shelter-in-place and take care of my family.

Be safe my friends!

 

[Negma]

I think they are in a no win spot. Unlike hotels, if everyone had these as unrestricted options, there would be no availability end of this year and next year as we would have a ton of options dumped into the system. The math of options in the system would way out number the number of rooms available and you would probably double the unhappy owners.
I have gone through the same with a cancellation and had options restricted. I think they could have come up with a better compromise that allowed to use them some time this year, maybe book at six months out but expire in 2020. Their communication in this is inexcusable. Let’s all hope this is a short term issue, if not, this will be the least of our problems.

 

[pacman777]

I think they are in a no win spot. Unlike hotels, if everyone had these as unrestricted options, there would be no availability end of this year and next year as we would have a ton of options dumped into the system. The math of options in the system would way out number the number of rooms available and you would probably double the unhappy owners.
I have gone through the same with a cancellation and had options restricted. I think they could have come up with a better compromise that allowed to use them some time this year, maybe book at six months out but expire in 2020. Their communication in this is inexcusable. Let’s all hope this is a short term issue, if not, this will be the least of our problems.

They could at least give everyone a fair chance to try and use these StarOptions in the next 2 years by unrestricting them. Whether there is availability or not is another issue. Nothing off Vistana’s back for allowing this. I’m sure given the downturn in economy there will be lots of defaults and availability opening up for everyone to book

 

[rickandcindy23]

Disney is not doing any better for owners right now. There is a person on the DVC FB group that borrowed points from her next use year, which is May. She had several nights at Paradise Pier for the time Disneyland is closed, and her points from next year will stay in this year's use as borrowed points. She will lose those points completely. People are telling her to buck up and accept the loss. I think that is awful.

 

[needvaca]

Does anyone know what exact time is the cancellation deadline? Is it 5pm ET? or noon?
I have a renter who may be cancelling 1 day ahead of the reservation and I'll give them the restricted staroptions. But I can't miss the cutoff deadline.
anyone know?

 

[okwiater]

Yeah, I think the restricted options thing is BS. They’re packing 3 months of reservations network-wide into the remainder of the year. And worse, 60 days is the threshold that Vistana/Marriott get to mop up all the desirable weeks for their own use instead of leaving them for owners who paid to maintain the place. I will definitely attend my next owners update, and the first words out of my mouth will be that I will never consider buying another unit based on their mishandling of this situation.

 

[celica7101]

Yeah, I think the restricted options thing is BS. They’re packing 3 months of reservations network-wide into the remainder of the year. And worse, 60 days is the threshold that Vistana/Marriott get to mop up all the desirable weeks for their own use instead of leaving them for owners who paid to maintain the place. I will definitely attend my next owners update, and the first words out of my mouth will be that I will never consider buying another unit based on their mishandling of this situation.

They might change their minds later.