@LeslieDet pardon me if my statement came across as "ambiguous". I try to be as clear as possible when posting because I appreciate the information that all Tuggers have given me over the years. And I would like to pay it forward. In regards to your statements pertaining to what the future program "will or will not be", I am interested in whatever documentation you have to backup your statements. I am not saying that you are right or wrong but I don't believe anything until it is in writing (I'm weird like that). I think it would be beneficial to everyone if we stick to what we know to be factual. It is ok to speculate/hope for a program that suits our individual needs. But in the end Marriott will do whatever is best for the business and until we have an official announcement we should try to have as constructive a conversation as possible.
I read your OP and I added a comment, because it seemed to me that there was a lot of misinformation being provided to you by the MVCI sales rep. I was trying to help. You don't have to apologize to me for being ambiguous, but it was very coincidental that the 25k-35k range was what was said to me as to what my MVCI's will be valued at from Vistana's perspective. That is why I was speculating that perhaps the sales person was hearing numbers at a staff meeting and tossing them out to you. That is all.
As to what will happen in the future, I am simply evaluating the information as I receive it; part of my desire to attend the Vistana sales pitch was to ask from that side what was happening vis-a-vis the MVW acquisition of ILG. There is a way to "reverse engineer" what they are attempting to do, when one understands the MVCI program well. As I've said, I own 4 weeks plus DPs. I've been to 3 MVCI updates this year, and always stay informed. I understand the legal background of the DP program. I am aware of the legal differences between a merger and an acquisition. I'm not trying to push my view at all, I am simply commenting that if you pull together the FACTS, then you can start to draw the lines to connect how things work. That is what I did for a living for the past 35 years. That is all. I have identified various facts that I am relying upon. It is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture, you can still do it, you just have to figure out what fits together and makes sense.
What "fits" together in this circumstance is that both MVCI and Vistana have acknowledged that in the acquisition, only unsold inventory was acquired. The original Vistana resorts continue to exist, and the ownership in the USA is deeded to specific locations. I do not know how ownership was structured by Vistana for the non-USA locations. I know, as a Vistana owner in Hawaii, that I received a notice from my ownership association last year advising me that while there was a sale, everything was staying the same for my specific ownership and that Vistana was simply now being operated under the MVW umbrella, but I am to contact Vistana to deal with my ownership. I was to continue to book my StarOptions as usual. Then this year (2019), I received a notice from my Vistana ownership association that one single building at Nanea had been sold to the Westin FlexOptions program, and therefore, the units that corresponded to that particular building were no longer owned and subject to booking with the StarOptions that I owned, but the remainder of the property remained as originally sold and available for booking. Basically, they told me that they were now at 100% sale and occupancy for the old deeded ownership. So, that is one piece of the puzzle.
The next piece of the puzzle is that Vistana is now selling FlexOptions. These were created under the same FL statute as the DP program. The FlexOptions program was formed 1/4/18. That is the ONLY thing that Vistana is selling now (similar to what MVCI did when the DP program was created). If you understand the FL law for these land trusts, in order to be able to legally sell the FlexOptions (ie points), the FlexOption program must have a deeded ownership in real estate. The deeded ownership that exists is what was the "unsold" inventory at the time of the MVW acquisition. The FlexOptions program now has what they refer to as 8 "home" locations where the FlexOptions can book any of those 8 home locations exclusively at months 9-12, just like the old Vistana program allows owners at the deeded location to exclusively book their home resort months 9-12, and then at month 8, the entire system is opened up for booking with the StarOptions. So, the FlexOptions program having 8 "home" resorts, including one single building at Nanea, is yet another fact that is put into the puzzle. This itself confirms that the unsold inventory was transferred into the points based ownership (just like what happened when the DP system was formed in 2010). Those 8 home resorts in the FlexOptions program are all USA based.
Under the FL land trust statutes, ownership is not some mythical creature. There are specific locations owned, that directly relate to the number of points that can be sold. The quantity available for sale cannot be increased absent additional properties being added to the specific land trust. Just like how the DP system works. That is factual. Moreover, the deeds recorded for point ownership are real. It is not something that can simply be changed because MVW decides to change the program. It is real estate ownership. To alter or disband the points program is not something that is practical or realistic. It is not like a stock or mutual fund where the entity can force a redemption and go "private" by a controlling vote of the board.
More importantly, MVW cannot force anyone to sell their real estate ownership. Recall, prior to DPs, all USA based weeks that were sold by MVCI were deeded. The same is true with the Vistana ownership. The timeshare ownership interests in the USA based Vistana/Westin properties is reflected by a deed recorded in the county in which the timeshare is located. Neither MVC or ILG can force the individual owners to sell their week back. That is a legal fact. But what ILG can do is try and induce those deeded owners to sell their ownership back to ILG/Vistana by offering to credit that owner their full purchase price if they agree to purchase into the FlexOptions program (that is factual, that is the offer I received). What does that accomplish? It reduces the individual deeded ownership and transfers that week equivalent into the FlexOptions program.
Then, I factor in my experiences with the 3 MVCI owner updates I attended this year and the one Vistana update. It was pitched that there would be additional properties available, so buy DPs now, but no one could explain how the DPs would work at these new properties. It was pitched that MVW acquired Interval and Westin, so there would be so much more inventory, but when I asked why, on the Interval platform, a MVCI week deposit could not trade into a Westin location "free", like you can into other MVCI locations, it was admitted that they are separate companies and thus Interval will still charge a fee (and this is from my Interval DP based account, where MVCI to MVCI trades are "free").
The acquisition documents clearly establish that MVW is the parent corp of MVCI and ILG. The Vistana sales folks state that they now are employed under the "Marriott" umbrella, since MVW owns ILG. There has been published reports for investors that MVW is exploring a "cross-use" of the various timeshare brands under the MVW umbrella.
If there is going to be a cross-use, it makes sense that MVW is working to develop an "exchange" rate between the various brands. That will add value to all brands, if MVW can expand the accessible locations of the vacation destinations presently being booked by each brand by creating its own "currency". Thus, the sales folks for both brands are pitching that at some point in the near future there will be access between the brands. I do not believe that is just a BS pitch. I do believe that it what the sales managers are being told by corporate. That is why the sales folks are pitching buy now, because: 1) the cost to buy points (whether DPs or FlexOptions) will go up, and 2) buy now and lock in your owner level (MVCI - Select, Executive, Presidential, Chairman; or Vistana 3, 4 or 5 Star) because once the cross-brands are accessible to all sides, you'll have to be at a high owner level in order to get that benefit. I do not believe that the sales folks come up with that idea on their own, especiallly because the pitch is consistent among brands. Now, I don't know what that exchange rate will be, but I do believe that the concept has definitely been batted around otherwise the sale staff for both MVCI and Vistana would not be using a virtually identical pitch.
So, when I see folks saying that they are going to wait until the programs are merged, I look at the facts and say, that would be a very difficult, if not impossible process, especially given that the programs are running on parallel tracks. Do I believe that there will be some ability to exchange between them? Yes I do. Do I believe that the old Vistana deeded ownership will be enrolled into the DP system? Nope. Just like I do not believe that the unenrolled MVCI week ownership will be able to access the Vistana/Westin properties (outside of Interval). I believe that it will be quite possible that if enrollment is offered on the Vistana side, old Vistana ownership may be brought into the FlexOptions program, which then may be used as a currency to convert into DPs. Just like I believe DPs will be a currency that can be converted into FlexOptions. But I do not believe that there will be only one "universal" currency.
Hope that helps you understand where I am coming from. I, also, look forward to the investor statement in October.