Questions difficult to find the answer... Vistana Flex to Abound

[aljw]

Hi everyone, I'm new here (but not new to the Vistana ownership).

We bought our sheraton flex ownership back in 2015, it was supposed to be 2 weeks every other year, but apparently for a 1 bedroom....
Last year we updated it to 2 bedroom 2 weeks every year, and they kept going on about the Abound system. Being that I like Marriott and Sheraton was "merging in" (I was told), it was a good plan.

We just went again this year a few weeks ago - they tried to get us to sit down again (which honestly ticked us right off... we JUST upgraded last year!) and we had 2 families with us. We turned down the meeting, but said they would teach us how to use the abound system and kept pushing us to flip our points.

We ended up leaving after 3 days as I got word my father passed away and we had to return home.

However - we're now trying to deal with them to get our points back from 9 unused nights, and they said they would (although they are HORRIBLE about returning calls)...

And before I take over dealing with this from my hubby - (I usually handle it anyway) - they told my hubby they would give us 1 week back at the Vistana OR abound points... but they weren't clear on that or how it works.

I've been trying to do research and it's been a struggle to find out WHAT we would actually get with Abound.

We have (usually) 70,000 flex points... How on earth do we calculate what that translates to in Abound?

I certainly don't want to flip to the abound points if we're only going to get 1 week somewhere... then I'd rather keep with the 70,000 where we can get 2 weeks usually in Florida.

Yes, I realize resorts have different points requirements... but if I am correct in what I could potentially figure out, we would have less than 4,000 points of abound, which is less than 2 weeks anywhere I could find for when we like to go.

Can anyone possibly help me figure out what we might have? Or is there a calculation? (I still have 44,600 for 2024, 114,600 for 2025, and then 70,000 each year after.

Thanks in advance. (No I am not a dummy, just a bit new to this and I hate that the sales process does NOT properly explain "what" we actually have when converted)

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry about your loss and troubles. Who promised to give you any of the points back because you had to leave the resort early? Policy is that once you have checked in, any cancellation or changes to the length of stay results in forfeiture of all the points you used for the reservation. So per the policy, you're not entitled to any points being returned.

If they were going to return any of the points it should be based on the number of points from the unused nights. So if those 9 nights cost (example) 67,000 StarOptions, then you should really only get back 67,000 StarOptions.

 

[aljw]

Yes we are aware of that they don't normally, but because of the loss they were willing. Unfortunately we keep getting a runaround reaching the supervisor, then promises to call us back which they don't do... then promises of the points but we had to decide - so that's why.

 

[dioxide45]

Yes we are aware of that they don't normally, but because of the loss they were willing. Unfortunately we keep getting a runaround reaching the supervisor, then promises to call us back which they don't do... then promises of the points but we had to decide - so that's why.

But who was it that promised the points back? Someone at the resort, or someone you talked with at Owner Services?

 

[aljw]

But who was it that promised the points back? Someone at the resort, or someone you talked with at Owner Services?

It was a manager at Owner services. They are going to do it, it's on file - we just need to choose do we want 1 week back or abound points.

 

[dioxide45]

It was a manager at Owner services. They are going to do it, it's on file - we just need to choose do we want 1 week back or abound points.

Okay. When they say they will give you a week back, what does that really mean? A deposit with Interval International?

 

[aljw]

Okay. When they say they will give you a week back, what does that really mean? A deposit with Interval International?

No, he said I think at the Vistana Resort itself where we were, 7 nights. We have to use it by sometime in November

 

[dioxide45]

You could take the StarOptions from the lost nights and divide it by 34.24 (the conversion rate for Sheraton Flex to Abound) to come up with the number of equivalent Abound Club Points. Then you can look at the Club Points charts to see how much time that would get you.

 

[aljw]

You could take the StarOptions from the lost nights and divide it by 34.24 (the conversion rate for Sheraton Flex to Abound) to come up with the number of equivalent Abound Club Points. Then you can look at the Club Points charts to see how much time that would get you.

Thank you!

 

[kozykritter]

Can anyone possibly help me figure out what we might have? Or is there a calculation? (I still have 44,600 for 2024, 114,600 for 2025, and then 70,000 each year after.

Sheraton Flex elects for Club Points at a 34.25 to 1 ratio. So take 70,000 home options and divide it by 34.25 which equals 2,044 Club Points. You have to elect in increments of 20,000 home options or the entire value of your ownership contract. You can only elect home options that are unbanked and not bonus options. Go to your Vistana dashboard and look on the left hand side in the second box down for Elect Club Points. That screen will show you which options are available for electing to Club Points in each use year. 2024 options had to be elected in September or October of 2023 so those are not eligible. Right now you can elect 2025 and 2026 home options.

 

[LeslieDet]

My condolences on your loss.

As to your ownership and your request to receive your FlexOptions back because you had to leave your reservation early, I am shocked that anyone promised you a refund of options for those 9 nights you lost by leaving early. As noted above, once you check in to a reservation, all points or options are deemed used. When you have to leave early due to unforeseen events, that is when the travel insurance can kick in to reimburse you for the lost maintenance fees associated with the lost nights.

Anyway, you referred to being upset that sales wanted to meet with you. Don't be upset. Sales always wants to meet with owners. They don't care that you bought a new VOI last year and increased your ownership from EOY to every year. And, they aren't pushing you to "flip" your points. They may want you to elect Club Points in lieu of using your owned VSN VOI, or they are most likely trying to sell you either more FlexOptions or MVC Trust Points. Your FlexOptions are already enrolled in the Abound program, thus, there is nothing to "flip." You are already there.

Regarding your question about you want to find out what you can get with Abound points if you do elect some of your VSN VOI into Club Points, the answer is it depends. It depends upon where you want to go and what size of a unit you want, and it will also depend upon the view selected. So, if you do elect Club Points and have 2000 of them, those points could get you close to 4 weeks on HHI in the winter time, or only a few nights on Maui in February. As to Orlando, it depends upon the spot and unit size. The MVC Point Chart is available for you to review on the Dashboard. You need to look at where and when you would want to go.

 

[aljw]

My condolences on your loss.

As to your ownership and your request to receive your FlexOptions back because you had to leave your reservation early, I am shocked that anyone promised you a refund of options for those 9 nights you lost by leaving early. As noted above, once you check in to a reservation, all points or options are deemed used. When you have to leave early due to unforeseen events, that is when the travel insurance can kick in to reimburse you for the lost maintenance fees associated with the lost nights.

Anyway, you referred to being upset that sales wanted to meet with you. Don't be upset. Sales always wants to meet with owners. They don't care that you bought a new VOI last year and increased your ownership from EOY to every year. And, they aren't pushing you to "flip" your points. They may want you to elect Club Points in lieu of using your owned VSN VOI, or they are most likely trying to sell you either more FlexOptions or MVC Trust Points. Your FlexOptions are already enrolled in the Abound program, thus, there is nothing to "flip." You are already there.

Regarding your question about you want to find out what you can get with Abound points if you do elect some of your VSN VOI into Club Points, the answer is it depends. It depends upon where you want to go and what size of a unit you want, and it will also depend upon the view selected. So, if you do elect Club Points and have 2000 of them, those points could get you close to 4 weeks on HHI in the winter time, or only a few nights on Maui in February. As to Orlando, it depends upon the spot and unit size. The MVC Point Chart is available for you to review on the Dashboard. You need to look at where and when you would want to go.

Thank you for your condolences.

Yes I am very aware of the terms. We did not get our flexoptions back... they gave us an alternative though in lieu of which I am happy with. Probably so they don't get inundated with requests, I won't post beyond that as to what they did give us.

Thanks for the heads up about the sales - in the past they didn't ask "every" time, so we weren't sure and were surprised this time. (Especially since we had friends with us, and we made it clear we didn't have time the first week - she kept pushing us, we said clearly we had plans / reservations for Disney EVERY day that week, and she STILL tried to get us in there. That was what was frustrating.)

But good to know now.

I'm honestly thinking I want to keep wiht the flex options. When I look at the points that the Abound program gives us, it's only a week at most places we would consider, where our flex options is specifically set at 2 weeks in a 2 bedroom deluxe. (Yes I am aware that it can be at various times of the year that can change of course). But I compared the exact same time frame between the two, and abound was less time, so not practical for me to change them.

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it.