Need advice on current offer to upgrade to Westin Flex and to "retro" a resale

[DaffyTraveler]

Hi all, I know there are some real pros here on Vistana ownerships. I'm at Westin Kierland and the vacation club sales team made us an offer and also gave us a day to think about it. Due to COVID, it sounds better than other offers I've heard in the past, but I am still cautious.

We currently own the following:
Westin Lagunamar 37000 annual and 37000 biennial (both purchased from developer)
Sheraton Vistana Villages 81000 annual (purchased resale)

They are offering the following:
Upgrade both Lagunamar to an 81000 Westin Flex
Retro SVV to show as purchased from the developer
Qualify for 3 Star Elite with now new total StarOptions of 162000

Cost: With discount and fees included - $10,700

With a lot of question marks about how the Marriott merger would impact ownership, they are using the retro and 3 Star as a hook for why this makes sense. Would appreciate any thoughts or guidance pro or con for this offer. Thank you!

 

[jabberwocky]

Run, run as fast as you can. Unless you want 3* REALLY bad this is a horrible deal. You would be getting a grand total of 25,500 more annual equivalent SO than you currently have and paying $10k to boot. That's about $0.39/SO which is on the high end - not sure what "discounts" they included, but it's not much after considering your trade-in value.

Also - do you use your Lagunamar at that resort (as a home resort booking) or do you use them primarily as SO to go to other Westin resorts? Lagunamar isn't in Westin Flex, it's an Aventuras Flex program, so you wouldn't get the 12 month priority there. Only mainland US and Hawaii Westin's are in WFlex, the Mexican resorts are in Aventuras, which works the same way, but is a different program.

Retroing your SVV doesn't make sense as it's mandatory and you already get SO. Only benefit of having it show as authorized resale is that it will count towards elite, and you can exchange for Bonvoy points (bad deal anyways).

I did purchase a developer WFlex package last summer, but that was partly to add on a few extra vacation days and I was also able to bring my voluntary SDO plat unit which didn't have SO before. That added around 108,000 annual equivalent SO to our account for around $13k all in and we didn't have to trade anything in.

 

[andysnovel]

The whole problem here is pure speculation on the transition from Vistana to Marriott. If Vistana developer purchased units had priority, or cheaper conversion rates, or no conversion fees at all, that resale 81,000 conversion to developer purchase might be worth the $10,700 price, but nobody knows what is going to happen, the sales folk will say anything to get a deal done. Normal guidance on here would be to walk away from this, it’s hard to spend hard earned money on what if’s or maybes. Suppose Marriott decides to charge the same conversion rate for staroptions, resale and direct buy treated the same, you will have to shell out more money on top of the 10 grand??? Run for the hills lol

 

[BA21]

That only sounds like a good deal for the sales staff making a commission. I am assuming your 81,000 SVV resale is a mandatory resort Bella or Key West phase. If so there is no need to retro as the only added benefit is the ability to convert to bonvoy points which is usually not a good deal. The 3* benifits also have litttle value. You need to also consider the new mainenance fees for the 81,000 Westin Flex compared to the current Lagunamar unit fees you are paying.

Keep your current ownership and purchase addtional mandatory resale if your goal is to add more points.

 

[dioxide45]

3* has very little value and all of your weeks are in VSN, so there is no real need to "upgrade" or retro anything. Your 81K at SVV are as good as developer StarOptions with a couple slight exceptions like converting the week to Bonvoy. Don't bother with this offer.

 

[DeniseM]

Don't do it - with Westin Flex, Vistana just figures out how to repackage undesirable resorts and sell them as something new and special.

 

[CPNY]

Hi all, I know there are some real pros here on Vistana ownerships. I'm at Westin Kierland and the vacation club sales team made us an offer and also gave us a day to think about it. Due to COVID, it sounds better than other offers I've heard in the past, but I am still cautious.

We currently own the following:
Westin Lagunamar 37000 annual and 37000 biennial (both purchased from developer)
Sheraton Vistana Villages 81000 annual (purchased resale)

They are offering the following:
Upgrade both Lagunamar to an 81000 Westin Flex
Retro SVV to show as purchased from the developer
Qualify for 3 Star Elite with now new total StarOptions of 162000

Cost: With discount and fees included - $10,700

With a lot of question marks about how the Marriott merger would impact ownership, they are using the retro and 3 Star as a hook for why this makes sense. Would appreciate any thoughts or guidance pro or con for this offer. Thank you!

LOL a day to think about it LOL.

DOWNGRADING LAGUNAMAR TO FLEX KEEPS YOU OUT OF LAGUNAMAR UNTIL 8Mo LOLLL These people.
Retro a SVV that’s already enrolled in the VSN?! Gotta love these sharks.

forget the MVC/VSE acquisition. If you can play in the pool you can, if not oh well. That’s how I’m looking at it. If you wanted MVC you would have purchased MVC. If you can’t play in the new pool then it’s business as usual. I don’t think a new program is coming yet anyway. People aren’t spending yet on travel like they did before the pandemic (my guess, i May be wrong) I think they will hold off until people are traveling and can see a future of using timeshares.

in summary.... RUN and LAUGH as you do.

 

[jabberwocky]

Don't do it - with Westin Flex, Vistana just figures out how to repackage undesirable resorts and sell them as something new and special.

This is the first time I've heard Denise describe WKORV, WKORV-N and Nanea as undesirable.

 

[DaffyTraveler]

Run, run as fast as you can. Unless you want 3* REALLY bad this is a horrible deal. You would be getting a grand total of 25,500 more annual equivalent SO than you currently have and paying $10k to boot. That's about $0.39/SO which is on the high end - not sure what "discounts" they included, but it's not much after considering your trade-in value.

Also - do you use your Lagunamar at that resort (as a home resort booking) or do you use them primarily as SO to go to other Westin resorts? Lagunamar isn't in Westin Flex, it's an Aventuras Flex program, so you wouldn't get the 12 month priority there. Only mainland US and Hawaii Westin's are in WFlex, the Mexican resorts are in Aventuras, which works the same way, but is a different program.

Retroing your SVV doesn't make sense as it's mandatory and you already get SO. Only benefit of having it show as authorized resale is that it will count towards elite, and you can exchange for Bonvoy points (bad deal anyways).

I did purchase a developer WFlex package last summer, but that was partly to add on a few extra vacation days and I was also able to bring my voluntary SDO plat unit which didn't have SO before. That added around 108,000 annual equivalent SO to our account for around $13k all in and we didn't have to trade anything in.

Thank you for the insights. We have never used the Lagunamar, so don't need the 12 months booking priority. We also had heard about Lagunamar not owning the property and it was leased, so that was a longer-term concern for us. We only used the Lagunamar for the SO within SVN or occasionally exchanged into II. The sales team was calling the trading of both Lagunamar into Westin Flex an "upgrade" since all the resorts within Westin Flex (we like Hawaii) would give priority booking. I agree that the 3* is not too attractive since the points equivalent with Bonvoy is a bad deal. Appreciate your comments and thoughts. I should mention they offered 62000 StarOptions one-time bonus with this deal.

 

[DaffyTraveler]

The whole problem here is pure speculation on the transition from Vistana to Marriott. If Vistana developer purchased units had priority, or cheaper conversion rates, or no conversion fees at all, that resale 81,000 conversion to developer purchase might be worth the $10,700 price, but nobody knows what is going to happen, the sales folk will say anything to get a deal done. Normal guidance on here would be to walk away from this, it’s hard to spend hard earned money on what if’s or maybes. Suppose Marriott decides to charge the same conversion rate for staroptions, resale and direct buy treated the same, you will have to shell out more money on top of the 10 grand??? Run for the hills lol

Thank you! Needed someone to knock some sense into me!

 

[DaffyTraveler]

That only sounds like a good deal for the sales staff making a commission. I am assuming your 81,000 SVV resale is a mandatory resort Bella or Key West phase. If so there is no need to retro as the only added benefit is the ability to convert to bonvoy points which is usually not a good deal. The 3* benifits also have litttle value. You need to also consider the new mainenance fees for the 81,000 Westin Flex compared to the current Lagunamar unit fees you are paying.

Keep your current ownership and purchase addtional mandatory resale if your goal is to add more points.

Great feedback and recommendation. My instinct is the same about purchasing additional mandatory resale, since I was careful to buy the SVV KW to ensure I could use SO within SVN.

 

[DaffyTraveler]

3* has very little value and all of your weeks are in VSN, so there is no real need to "upgrade" or retro anything. Your 81K at SVV are as good as developer StarOptions with a couple slight exceptions like converting the week to Bonvoy. Don't bother with this offer.

Thank you very much!

 

[DaffyTraveler]

LOL a day to think about it LOL.

DOWNGRADING LAGUNAMAR TO FLEX KEEPS YOU OUT OF LAGUNAMAR UNTIL 8Mo LOLLL These people.
Retro a SVV that’s already enrolled in the VSN?! Gotta love these sharks.

forget the MVC/VSE acquisition. If you can play in the pool you can, if not oh well. That’s how I’m looking at it. If you wanted MVC you would have purchased MVC. If you can’t play in the new pool then it’s business as usual. I don’t think a new program is coming yet anyway. People aren’t spending yet on travel like they did before the pandemic (my guess, i May be wrong) I think they will hold off until people are traveling and can see a future of using timeshares.

in summary.... RUN and LAUGH as you do.

Love the humor and appreciate your comments. Agree that no matter what the benefits within SVN will stay the same and we enjoy the network currently as is. Speculating on what may or may not be included in MVC is tough and I think (as you do) we are far from normal travel. COVID's full impact on travel and timeshares needs to run its course before anything drastic happens. Thank you for being blunt.