- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
- Messages
- 32,062
- Reaction score
- 9,115
- Points
- 1,049
- Location
- The Centennial State
- Resorts Owned
- Wyndham Founder; Disney OKW & SSR; Marriott's Willow Ridge and Shadow Ridge,Grand Chateau; Val Chatelle; Hono Koa OF (3); SBR(LOTS), SDO a few; Grand Palms(selling); WKORV-OF ,Westin Desert Willow.
It was a decent presentation, kind of confusing for me. I feel that I am pretty knowledgeable but after this presentation, I am wondering about hidden costs.
Not even sure if 3* is even worth it anymore, but they said we could be that status. How does that equate in Bonvoy? I know our Bonvoy hotel points credit card pretty well.
The lady at the first part of the meeting was just a person who sells Westin and doesn't do any conversions and had nothing to offer. She kept saying that Marriott and Vistana will have an overlay. They have no idea how that will work, but she kept looking at a December week at Oceanwatch and compared it to my summer SBP weeks and said, "You will only be at about 1,200 points." She purposely looked at December low #'s and said our week was worth only that. I told her that our 2 bedrooms are 67,100 and our lockoffs are 81,000, but I told her we bought all of ours resale, so it's a voluntary resort and options didn't transfer to us at all. I also told her that the resort was originally not Sheraton, and she seemed aware of that. I love the way the salespeople feel about Sheraton in their system. I did agree with her that Vistana is a stupid name for the system. Absolutely is a stupid name.
Woman #1 was 100% sure that Vistana/ Marriott would be one system and that 600,000 Marriott and Vistana owners would be able to book Vistana at 8 months out. She kept saying she was 100% certain this will happen. I won't say her name here, but if you want to know via PM, I will disclose it. Nice woman, but I do not know if she was just making that up because my understanding from others' presentation experiences is that these systems will remain completely separate. Separate pooling of inventory; separate partly because a great week in Marriott might be 12,000 points, while a similar unit at Westin is 176,000 points. The hotel conversion didn't go well. I am still miffed but it's over and done.
She said II would no longer have any inventory. That was a strange statement. Certainly owners will want to travel out of the system to go to destinations not in the points' systems, and I agree that maybe owners should rent their easy-to-rent-over-maintenance-fee weeks and rent what they want, but II is alive and well and will always have at least the inventory from owners who choose not to move over to "flex." Although I never see SBP available for summer, so that is a tough get. So maybe no more Hawaii inventory will be on II in the future. Could happen.
The first woman was really unsure why we stopped in. Rick told her the $200. Well, I was curious what they would offer for a conversion and was mightily impressed with what the second woman had to offer, but Rick was not impressed and doesn't want to do it, but here it is:
The second woman, I also liked her, and she was very direct. I need that and told her I appreciated honesty. I noticed she glanced at the white board on the wall to see what we were told. The first woman had Marriott Vistana overlay on the board. I told the second woman that I am unsure about Marriott and Vistana combining as one. I heard they would always be separate. She said, "Well, our paychecks say Marriott, if that is any indication." I think she is unsure.
For $22,600 + closing costs, we could buy 67,100 flex options at Westin for around $1,600 in MF's annually. I had to ask about MF's because they very deliberately do not say. I understand why they don't say and that always has me questioning everything. Why not disclose the MF's upfront? That is a lot of MF's. In purchasing that week, which is only a small one bedroom (you can correct me on that, if you want), they would convert 3 of our 2 bed lockoffs, as long as they are annual and are weeks 24-32 to 81,000 points each. I have the paperwork.
We have the money to do it, but Rick is telling me this would be a big mistake and I would regret any decision to convert.
The third woman was trying to get us to come back for five nights in the future and told us the deal we saw was not good past today, if we didn't spend $1,500 for these 5 nights, but that $1,500 would apply to our purchase. I told her no. Rick was proud. I was irritated at her offer because we just stayed at Westin North in a studio and our kids were at Westin Nanea. It seemed like such a waste of our time.
Two hours and I am more confused than when I went in. Rick is just as adamant as he always is, but he does let me decide on things like this.
What does 3 star have to do with Marriott? That was strange. Especially when they talked about the credit card points. Are the salespeople confused, too?
Not even sure if 3* is even worth it anymore, but they said we could be that status. How does that equate in Bonvoy? I know our Bonvoy hotel points credit card pretty well.
The lady at the first part of the meeting was just a person who sells Westin and doesn't do any conversions and had nothing to offer. She kept saying that Marriott and Vistana will have an overlay. They have no idea how that will work, but she kept looking at a December week at Oceanwatch and compared it to my summer SBP weeks and said, "You will only be at about 1,200 points." She purposely looked at December low #'s and said our week was worth only that. I told her that our 2 bedrooms are 67,100 and our lockoffs are 81,000, but I told her we bought all of ours resale, so it's a voluntary resort and options didn't transfer to us at all. I also told her that the resort was originally not Sheraton, and she seemed aware of that. I love the way the salespeople feel about Sheraton in their system. I did agree with her that Vistana is a stupid name for the system. Absolutely is a stupid name.
Woman #1 was 100% sure that Vistana/ Marriott would be one system and that 600,000 Marriott and Vistana owners would be able to book Vistana at 8 months out. She kept saying she was 100% certain this will happen. I won't say her name here, but if you want to know via PM, I will disclose it. Nice woman, but I do not know if she was just making that up because my understanding from others' presentation experiences is that these systems will remain completely separate. Separate pooling of inventory; separate partly because a great week in Marriott might be 12,000 points, while a similar unit at Westin is 176,000 points. The hotel conversion didn't go well. I am still miffed but it's over and done.
She said II would no longer have any inventory. That was a strange statement. Certainly owners will want to travel out of the system to go to destinations not in the points' systems, and I agree that maybe owners should rent their easy-to-rent-over-maintenance-fee weeks and rent what they want, but II is alive and well and will always have at least the inventory from owners who choose not to move over to "flex." Although I never see SBP available for summer, so that is a tough get. So maybe no more Hawaii inventory will be on II in the future. Could happen.
The first woman was really unsure why we stopped in. Rick told her the $200. Well, I was curious what they would offer for a conversion and was mightily impressed with what the second woman had to offer, but Rick was not impressed and doesn't want to do it, but here it is:
The second woman, I also liked her, and she was very direct. I need that and told her I appreciated honesty. I noticed she glanced at the white board on the wall to see what we were told. The first woman had Marriott Vistana overlay on the board. I told the second woman that I am unsure about Marriott and Vistana combining as one. I heard they would always be separate. She said, "Well, our paychecks say Marriott, if that is any indication." I think she is unsure.
For $22,600 + closing costs, we could buy 67,100 flex options at Westin for around $1,600 in MF's annually. I had to ask about MF's because they very deliberately do not say. I understand why they don't say and that always has me questioning everything. Why not disclose the MF's upfront? That is a lot of MF's. In purchasing that week, which is only a small one bedroom (you can correct me on that, if you want), they would convert 3 of our 2 bed lockoffs, as long as they are annual and are weeks 24-32 to 81,000 points each. I have the paperwork.
We have the money to do it, but Rick is telling me this would be a big mistake and I would regret any decision to convert.
The third woman was trying to get us to come back for five nights in the future and told us the deal we saw was not good past today, if we didn't spend $1,500 for these 5 nights, but that $1,500 would apply to our purchase. I told her no. Rick was proud. I was irritated at her offer because we just stayed at Westin North in a studio and our kids were at Westin Nanea. It seemed like such a waste of our time.
Two hours and I am more confused than when I went in. Rick is just as adamant as he always is, but he does let me decide on things like this.
What does 3 star have to do with Marriott? That was strange. Especially when they talked about the credit card points. Are the salespeople confused, too?
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were out at 630 this morning. Watched them from my balcony. Good news is there is enforcement and staff is tagging chairs unattended for 1 hour. Staff have been removing items. Just saw and heard a lady screaming at him because here chair's are now gone. Feel sorry for the manager down there. He has been explaining to folks when they come looking for their items at the towel hut. Then he has to be calm and explain to them why their "items" were removed. Talk about the entitled mentality of these people. I have to admit, it is great people watching and listening to the rage of chair huggers.
