Sheraton Flex - newbie resale questions

[snowandsandali]

Hi all! I'm a newbie and need some advice. We bought Sheraton Flex at Steamboat Springs and are going to be rescinding tomorrow (we bought for $26k: 67,100 options, they gave us 134,2000 options to be used in the first two years, and 6 certs to buy 330,000 Bonvoy points for about $2,200 each). Here's what I am trying to navigate - we like the Sheraton Flex program because we want to be able to book at Steamboat during the 8-12 month window. We only plan to book 3-4 night stays so the points system appeals to us. I understand that if we buy Sheraton Flex resale we will lose all the perks and only be able to book at the 8 home resorts. Knowing we can buy more options and save about $20-25k as opposed to our purchase I think buying Sheraton Flex resale will work (although I am sad that due to timing we won't be able to requalify - that would be a no brainer for us). Are there other resale options we should be looking at? Again we want the flexibility to book less than a week and want to book Steamboat Sheraton but have the flexibility of occasionally going elsewhere.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Hi all! I'm a newbie and need some advice. We bought Sheraton Flex at Steamboat Springs and are going to be rescinding tomorrow (we bought for $26k: 67,100 options, they gave us 134,2000 options to be used in the first two years, and 6 certs to buy 330,000 Bonvoy points for about $2,200 each). Here's what I am trying to navigate - we like the Sheraton Flex program because we want to be able to book at Steamboat during the 8-12 month window. We only plan to book 3-4 night stays so the points system appeals to us. I understand that if we buy Sheraton Flex resale we will lose all the perks and only be able to book at the 8 home resorts. Knowing we can buy more options and save about $20-25k as opposed to our purchase I think buying Sheraton Flex resale will work (although I am sad that due to timing we won't be able to requalify - that would be a no brainer for us). Are there other resale options we should be looking at? Again we want the flexibility to book less than a week and want to book Steamboat Sheraton but have the flexibility of occasionally going elsewhere.

Tried to break this down.
Paid $26,000 for 67,100 FlexOptions
(ouch)
Those 134,100 FOs are 2 years of FO usage starting now.
No mention of what the current annual
fee for the 67,100 FOs?

And 6 certificates for 330,00 BVs at $2,200 (I’ll let others comment - I personally would not take these unless I was planning major Marriott hotel travel)

Want:
Ability for Steamboat at 12 months out (short stays)
Can you do these non-high season and just use SOs at 8 months?
Going elsewhere? Where is that? VSN resorts?

The whole no longer can Requal is pure speculation. I wouldn’t worry about this

$26,000 !!! for 67,100 Sheraton FOs !!!
Repeat that to yourself.

You can get resale FOs for almost nothing comparatively. That alone should answer whether you should rescind.

How about get resale FOs for your Steamboat stays.
And buy resale Mandatory (for SO stays) or resale Westin FO (for Westin Flex stays), OR use the $25,000 you saved to travel by renting where you want to go.

Rescind
Research
Resale

don’t forget the 1st one…
Good luck


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[VacaSmart]

I’m with David on this one. Save the money and rescind immediately. You already know about resales so that’s great. Now you know owners like to rent as well. I would much rather rent from owners if I had knew what I know now about the Sheraton Flex I own. I won’t share how much I paid for it but I wouldn’t want others to go through the same annual fee plus remembering the 12 month booking window.

Use your money to rent from owners knowing you have all the flexibility you want every year!

Decide you want to go to Paris instead of Steamboat the next year? Just make a reservation like everyone else and off you go! No need to shift points here and search for places you’ll never go to.

 

[dioxide45]

If you buy Sheraton Flex resale, you can use those for home resort reservations starting at 12 months, not 8. If you buy a mandatory resale deeded week (not at Steamboat), then you can only use the StarOptions from the deeded week to book at Steamboat at 8 months.

 

[Pathways]

If you buy Sheraton Flex resale, you can use those for home resort reservations starting at 12 months, not 8.

Are you sure? The way I read the stickies is that resale is reduced to 8 months.

 

[tschwa2]

Are you sure? The way I read the stickies is that resale is reduced to 8 months.

resale mandatory resorts can book other resorts at 8 months. Home resorts whether mandatory or not mandatory can booked at 12 months.

 

[Pathways]

resale mandatory resorts can book other resorts at 8 months. Home resorts whether mandatory or not mandatory can booked at 12 months.

But we are not talking about mandatory resorts, we are talking about Sheraton Flex

This is what is in the Sticky: Note that for a developer or requalified resale package, the home resort preference period is 12 months to 8 months prior to arrival. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.

 

[dioxide45]

But we are not talking about mandatory resorts, we are talking about Sheraton Flex

This is what is in the Sticky: Note that for a developer or requalified resale package, the home resort preference period is 12 months to 8 months prior to arrival. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.

The key wording here is "can continue". They can make reservations 12-8 months and for voluntary they can continue to make them inside of 8 months with their home options.

 

[Pathways]

The key wording here is "can continue". They can make reservations 12-8 months and for voluntary they can continue to make them inside of 8 months with their home options.

So are you saying the first sentence needs to be changed to 'developer or any resale package' ?


'Note that for a developer or requalified resale package, the home resort preference period is 12 months to 8 months prior to arrival. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.'

 

[dioxide45]

So are you saying the first sentence needs to be changed to 'developer or any resale package' ?


'Note that for a developer or requalified resale package, the home resort preference period is 12 months to 8 months prior to arrival. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.'

I think the section isn't really clear but it is really just to differentiate the difference between HomeOptions and StarOptions. The previous question in the FAQ better indicates home resort usage for Flex.

It really should say something like;
Note; For Sheraton Flex, the home resort preference period is 12 to 8 months. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.

 

[tschwa2]

So are you saying the first sentence needs to be changed to 'developer or any resale package' ?


'Note that for a developer or requalified resale package, the home resort preference period is 12 months to 8 months prior to arrival. For resale Flex ownerships, which have not been requalified, an owner can continue making home resort reservations eight months or less prior to arrival.'

For a developer purchased sheraton flex at 8 months the flex options become SO's so if they book at their home resort it is no longer considered a home resort reservation it is considered the same as booking anything in the VSE/SVN system. Since a resale owner doesn't convert to SO's at 8 months, they continue to have flex/home options which can continue to book in the sheraton flex trust.

It isn't something that a requalified or developer purchase owner would know the difference, its just a difference noted here on TUG.

 

[cubigbird]

To my knowledge I don’t believe Sheraton Steamboat is abundant in Sheraton Flex. The OP mentioned wanting to book Steamboat. Will need to set expectations accordingly.

 

[Pathways]

Sheraton Steamboat Springs

• The East Tower, formerly operated exclusively as a hotel, appears to have been made a part of the Sheraton Flex trust and only reservable by Sheraton Flex owners

To my knowledge I don’t be believe Sheraton Steamboat is abundant in Sheraton Flex. The OP mentioned wanting to book Steamboat. Will need to set expectations accordingly.

Again, the above in the stickies - not sure how big the east tower is.

 

[rcv82]

Again, the above in the stickies - not sure how big the east tower is.

It’s much larger than the original timeshare building sold before Flex, so there should be plenty of Flex availability of it was all sold as Flex. You can check the Sheraton Flex disclosures and see how many weeks are in the trust. I don’t believe the disclosures break down by season however.


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[pchung6]

You probably can pick SVV 67100 points for almost nothing or $500. Or get SVV 81000 points for $2-3000 with $1300 annual fee.

 

[wjarcher]

If you need to travel in the ski season and/or book the mountain view rooms, buy the Sheraton flex resale (you can get them pretty cheap) so that you can reserve at 12month in advance.

Otherwise, buy SVV or WKV to use their staroptions to book at 8-month.

I don't recommend renting because you only need 4 nights.

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[vacationtime1]

Two ideas:

You figured out that Sheraton Flex will work for your ski trips and you figured out that you can save about 95% by buying it resale. So calculate out how many points you need for your ski needs, buy a Sheraton Flex resale package (there are many on www.redweek.com), and don't overbuy.

After a couple of years, if you really, really like timesharing, consider a WKV or SVV or whatever works better under the ever-changing rules. In the interim, use some of your $25,000 saved and rent for non-ski trips. Don't worry; resale prices aren't going up while you decide.

 

[snowandsandali]

Thank you all for the awesome advice. Working on my letter to rescind now using the template provided through TUG. Does anyone know when you rescind if the closing costs are also refunded? That doesn't affect my decision - but the letter references what you expect to be refunded. Should I just type we expect a full refund of $xx,xxx and applicable closing costs?

 

[dioxide45]

Thank you all for the awesome advice. Working on my letter to rescind now using the template provided through TUG. Does anyone know when you rescind if the closing costs are also refunded? That doesn't affect my decision - but the letter references what you expect to be refunded. Should I just type we expect a full refund of $xx,xxx and applicable closing costs?

Everything will be refunded. As if it never happened. You don't really need to specify what should be refunded, you could just say $x deposit & closing costs paid and provide a lump amount.

 

[TUGBrian]

congrats on saving 26k by finding TUG!

 

[remowidget]

Deleted

 

[dioxide45]

At 8 months, you can book your Sheraton Flex resorts using any vistana ownership bucket. So, there will be a lot more availability for you to book because now you can book out of the weeks owner bucket, assuming availability. If you want high demand weeks, it is likely they will not be available at 8 months.

For resale Sheraton Flex this isn't the case. You can never book out of the weeks inventory bucket. You will always be tied to reserving what is available in Sheraton Flex trust or exchanging through II.

 

[VacationForever]

Resale Sheraton Flex are given away for free or close to free. Since you want to book Steamboat Springs, resale Sheraton Flex will do.

 

[remowidget]

Resale Sheraton Flex are given away for free or close to free. Since you want to book Steamboat Springs, resale Sheraton Flex will do.

I think that cheap ones are being snapped up by Vistana. I have a friend who lost a $500 Aventuras to ROFR in January.

 

[remowidget]

For resale Sheraton Flex this isn't the case. You can never book out of the weeks inventory bucket. You will always be tied to reserving what is available in Sheraton Flex trust or exchanging through II.

Thanks for correcting me.