I recently had an Owners Update. We own 67,000 mandatory S.O at Vistana Villages Bella.
I've had it for 20 years, and obviously found out after the recision deadline that we didn't buy enough, found TUG, resisted upgrades ever since, that's all a story for another day, and one that I think is familiar to many reading this.
So, at our meeting, I was told that we wouldn't be pressured into buying anything that day (that was something Starwood did), we would be given information about the exciting new programs and we would have until December to decide what we want to do..
Bottom line, they were trying to get me to upgrade (by selling my week to them ) and buying 81,000 S.O. at .78/ per Star Option, for a price in excess of $60,000. This was their offer and made with a straight face. They would credit me the $16,000 I paid in 2003, so final cost, somewhere about $45,000.
Or, I could accept an offer made to me that I rejected in ( 2015?) at .38/S.O and I could walk away, by paying roughly $16,000 to upgrade.
Only catch, the $16,000 offer was only good that day. Otherwise I could wait until December and the $45,000 would still be available. But hurry up, that .78/SO will be going up soon!
I had no trouble walking away.
The kicker? On the way out, I was offered a rental week at SVV for $1k plus Bonvoy Points. When I take that week, I was told I would be offered the upgrade again, at the .38/SO level, and they would deduct the $1K vacation. So now we are down to $15k. And....wait for it...I have two years to do all this. What happened to hurry up, today or nothing? What happened to no pressure? I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night.
I know, it's to be expected, but still.
I think my real choice is whether to pack it in and get rid of our timeshare or buy more and continue on. I'm leaning towards the former.
We've had 20 years of great vacations. I love the resorts and never had any real complaints.
I am very concerned that their vacation system will continually change and evolve, making more upgrades (beyond this one) needed. Not to mention the escalating annual fees.
But I'm tired of this.
Our meeting was designed to sell us Westin/Sheraton Flex. I was told the Hilton and Marriott timeshares would be included. And that if I had 81K star options, when the new system was in place, I would no longer have to worry about seasons, or location of resorts, I could use my options at the same level anywhere.
We had a two hour meeting. There was a lot of razzle dazzle with numbers and points and options, but this is basically the distillation of what was offered to us.
If I was on the ball, I would have asked them, "Can you just sell me 16,000 option for .78/SO to get me to $81,000 and take it from there?" I probably would have done that. Honestly, I'd be kicking myself, because I did not really understand, nor was it explained in any great detail, how I could use my option in Flex at places outside of Westin/Starwood. And that means, I probably couldn't. And I'd be making the same mistake I made in 2003.
Instead, I'm probably getting out. Just waiting for the right door to open.