Sheraton Flex resale general questions

[timetofly]

I started the process to purchase a Sheraton Flex resale with 44,000 points annually and a 419 maintenance fee. I'm a single parent with two kids so a 1br is generally big enough. My goal is to mainly use it for trips to FL or SC.

1. Is 44,000 enough points to book a 1br week maybe 3-6 months out?
2. Does Sheraton Flex Point accounts quality for the deedback program?
3. Is there a good run down on all of the pitfalls or things to watch out for with Sheraton flex resales? I am reading through this section of the forum, but I have not come across a comprehensive thread on this.
4. What's the current membership fee (club dues?) for Sheraton Flex Point owners? I am seeing $295 and $155 in different places. Are there additional fees with flex points that I should be aware of?
5. Has anyone found II or RCI useful with only 44,000 points to work with?

 

[byeloe]

For #1 you would need to book offseason somewhere as 44000 is what it takes. Check out this chart

https://vistana-web-static.s3.amazonaws.com/vistana-web/assets/pdf/charts/staroptions_value_chart.pdf

 

[EnglishmanAbroad]

There's this post discussing just down the page

Buying Sheraton Flex after market versus from developer

Hi all, Can you please point me to pros and cons of buying Sheraton Flex points aftermarket versus from developer? I understand the pricing piece but confused about different benefits/perks you get going directly with developer versus ones that are transferred or not transferred for resale...

tugbbs.com

 

[timetofly]

There's this post discussing just down the page

Buying Sheraton Flex after market versus from developer

Hi all, Can you please point me to pros and cons of buying Sheraton Flex points aftermarket versus from developer? I understand the pricing piece but confused about different benefits/perks you get going directly with developer versus ones that are transferred or not transferred for resale...

tugbbs.com

Thanks, I read through that thread and it does answer some of my questions. The terminology is confusing with home options and flex points being used interchangeably. If I understand correctly, I don't think I will have to pay an annual VSN fee since I won't get star options as resale. Is there a mandatory membership/club fee for resale flex contracts? This part is still confusing.

 

[LeslieDet]

I started the process to purchase a Sheraton Flex resale with 44,000 points annually and a 419 maintenance fee. I'm a single parent with two kids so a 1br is generally big enough. My goal is to mainly use it for trips to FL or SC.

1. Is 44,000 enough points to book a 1br week maybe 3-6 months out?
2. Does Sheraton Flex Point accounts quality for the deedback program?
3. Is there a good run down on all of the pitfalls or things to watch out for with Sheraton flex resales? I am reading through this section of the forum, but I have not come across a comprehensive thread on this.
4. What's the current membership fee (club dues?) for Sheraton Flex Point owners? I am seeing $295 and $155 in different places. Are there additional fees with flex points that I should be aware of?
5. Has anyone found II or RCI useful with only 44,000 points to work with?

I'd suggest to simply rent where you want to go; the Sheraton FlexOptions has basically a zero resale value. And, resale means you can only book what the Sheraton Flex owns, you won't have any StarOptions and you won't be part of the Abound program (absent an expensive buy in, which defeats the purpose of buying resale). You'll be paying Sheraton VSN dues, not Abound dues if you do buy the Sheraton Flex resale, so you won't have the Club Dues. IDK what the $155 fee is referring to, but the $295 is Abound Chairman level annual Club Dues which will not apply in the scenario you described. I honestly do not know the breakdown of the VSN fees you'll have to pay, and you'll need to cover your own II account. But honestly, you will most likely be disappointed with the Flex resale, unless those home resorts in the Sheraton Flex are where you are only ever going to want to stay. I'm sure there is a feed on TUG that lists those Sheraton Flex home resorts. I do not know them by name offhand.

 

[Hindsite]

You'll be paying Sheraton VSN dues, not Abound dues if you do buy the Sheraton Flex resale, so you won't have the Club Dues.

Do you pay VSN dues for a voluntary resale ownership that doesn't have access to using SOs in VSN?

 

[LeslieDet]

Do you pay VSN dues for a voluntary resale ownership that doesn't have access to using SOs in VSN?

I believe there are some fees. I loosely called them "VSN" dues, but I honestly do not know the details. It may be that it's back to the "a-la-carte" menu of cleaning fees, name change fees, cancellation fees, etc. Although I do not know the detail, I'm confident it will not be "free".

 

[Venter]

There are no fees when you own a non-mandatory(Voluntary) resort. All flex are voluntary and therefore there will be no club fees with Sheraton Flex. The Abound/VSN fee is to be able to use the internal trading system of the various 'clubs', which you will not be able to partake in, having a resale voluntary deed. The fees will be if you book more than twice with short stays and have to pay a cleaning fee which will not happen if you use all your points. There are probably other fees like for a guest certificate etc. but if you use this for yourself and for a week none will apply to you.

I had a look at the chart and you will be able to get a studio during high season and a 1 bedroom during mid season in Florida. At the SC resort you will be able to get a 1 bedroom during high season.

You can get an Interval International account and deposit your points to try and get an exchange to a 1 bedroom during high season. There is a fee ($119/year) to be an II member.

 

[sponger76]

It may be that it's back to the "a-la-carte" menu of cleaning fees, name change fees, cancellation fees, etc. Although I do not know the detail, I'm confident it will not be "free".

This. For a voluntary VOI resale there are no VSN dues, but you do pay certain ala carte fees, to include Interval International membership if you want access to that. Cleaning fee specifically only comes into play if you book more than one reservation per year using points from a given VOI.

 

[vacationtime1]

I started the process to purchase a Sheraton Flex resale with 44,000 points annually and a 419 maintenance fee. I'm a single parent with two kids so a 1br is generally big enough. My goal is to mainly use it for trips to FL or SC.

1. Is 44,000 enough points to book a 1br week maybe 3-6 months out?
2. Does Sheraton Flex Point accounts quality for the deedback program?
3. Is there a good run down on all of the pitfalls or things to watch out for with Sheraton flex resales? I am reading through this section of the forum, but I have not come across a comprehensive thread on this.
4. What's the current membership fee (club dues?) for Sheraton Flex Point owners? I am seeing $295 and $155 in different places. Are there additional fees with flex points that I should be aware of?
5. Has anyone found II or RCI useful with only 44,000 points to work with?

I suspect $419 is (or was) the MF for an every other year VOI; see http://www.tugmf.com/SVN/SVNQuery.aspx

If you are satisfied limiting your destinations to those within Sheraton Flex, it's not a terrible deal, although MF's are a bit high. If you want to trade in Interval, I would suggest that you consider buying a legacy week, probably a one bedroom that will trade with a Marriott or Vistana preference; it will cost less overall.

 

[sponger76]

I suspect $419 is (or was) the MF for an every other year VOI

I was thinking the same.

 

[timetofly]

So, I doubled checked with the seller. They say that's the correct amount for 2023. It's listed in the contract as annual points. I asked for a screenshot or photo of the maintenance fee to be sure. They sent me picture of a page from an estoppel done in July 2023 that shows a $419 maintenance fee and a matching contract number in the corner of the page. If this is really EOY then it does not match the contract. Is there a way to verify this with Sheraton? This is the original ebay listing https://www.ebay.com/itm/266529891343.

 

[vacationtime1]

So, I doubled checked with the seller. They say that's the correct amount for 2023. It's listed in the contract as annual points. I asked for a screenshot or photo of the maintenance fee to be sure. They sent me picture of a page from an estoppel done in July 2023 that shows a $419 maintenance fee and a matching contract number in the corner of the page. If this is really EOY then it does not match the match the contract. Is there a way to verify this with Sheraton? This is the original ebay listing https://www.ebay.com/itm/266529891343.

What does the "estoppel" look like? The real one (and I have seen fakes) is called a Resale Information Sheet.

Personally, I would not work with this seller. A 92.9% positive rating is worse than poor. They want payment in full immediately -- before they will give you an estoppel. There is a captive closing agent so I would have no confidence I could get my money back if the deal isn't as advertised -- and I am fairly certain that it is not.

 

[timetofly]

The eBay feedback is not 100% but the two negative comments are old. The most recent one is nonsensical, 'charged too much for shipping' looks like trolling rather than real feedback. There are a fare number of recent sales with positive feedback.
I received more information from their estoppel. First use was 2023, it says annual, and maintenance is listed as $419 for 2023. It looks like the company that prepared the estoppel or is involved with the sale is Flex Vacation Owners Association Inc.

 

[timetofly]

Does anyone know if the sheraton flex point maintenance fees are the same across all resorts? Is it possible maintenance fees could have been in the $400 - $500 range for a 44,000 annual contract in 2023? I expect a 10-20% increase in maintenance fees for 2024, but if the real maintenance fee is going to be $963 for 2024 then that's a 129% increase from $419. Has anyone had luck contacting Vistana directly to verify things like maintenance fees for resale contracts?

 

[dioxide45]

Does anyone know if the sheraton flex point maintenance fees are the same across all resorts? Is it possible maintenance fees could have been in the $400 - $500 range for a 44,000 annual contract in 2023? I expect a 10-20% increase in maintenance fees for 2024, but if the real maintenance fee is going to be $963 for 2024 then that's a 129% increase from $419. Has anyone had luck contacting Vistana directly to verify things like maintenance fees for resale contracts?

The Sheraton Flex maintenance fees are on a per point basis and are the same for all points. You may see some people include the VSN/Club Fee in the total maintenance fees, but those don't apply on resale.

 

[timetofly]

Thanks for replies. The seller has agreed to cover the 2024 maintenance fees to complete the sale since it was originally listed incorrectly. That seems like a reasonable offer to me. I asked for a screenshot to confirm the 2024 fees have been paid or that $963 has been placed in a trust account until the transfer is complete. Hopefully there will be no more surprises.

Update: Turns out by the time I started talking to the person that does the title work, it's actually an EOY contract. They did send a screenshot of 2024 maintenance fees paid ($491) but 44,000 every other year is tough to justify an II membership fee. I am going to keep looking for a 1 or 2 BR week or every year flex.

 

[kozykritter]

Does anyone know if the sheraton flex point maintenance fees are the same across all resorts? Is it possible maintenance fees could have been in the $400 - $500 range for a 44,000 annual contract in 2023? I expect a 10-20% increase in maintenance fees for 2024, but if the real maintenance fee is going to be $963 for 2024 then that's a 129% increase from $419. Has anyone had luck contacting Vistana directly to verify things like maintenance fees for resale contracts?

Sheraton Flex 2023 maintenances fees were 19.05 cents an option so 44K annual would have been $838. That was a 3.5% increase over 2022. Their quoted $419 would have been the maintenance fee on an EOY (50% of an annual) so hope you know for sure what you have.

2024 maintenance fees are 21.9 cents an option which gets you the $963 on an annual, around a 15.1% increase over 2023.

 

[timetofly]

After the eBay sale did not work out, I am looking at 1 or 2 br weeks versus flex, maybe a 81,000 flex EOY contract. I am not having much luck with finding a bella or key west resale for close to free, so I am also looking at lower maintenance fees voluntary week units. It looks like week contracts have to pay property taxes while flex points do not.

How well do these weeks trade in II compared to flex points? For example a 2BR lake or fountain section compared to 81,000 flex points?

and if I picked up two smaller flex contracts, say a 30,000 and a 37,000. Do these automatically combine into one account for use and banking on II?

 

[kozykritter]

Flex pays property tax too for all of its inventory but it's done at the property level (Vistana pays it) and then passed on to Flex owners as part of the annual maintenance fee per home option. It's just not as transparent as it is for a deeded week ownership.

 

[Hindsite]

How well do these weeks trade in II compared to flex points? For example a 2BR lake or fountain section compared to 81,000 flex points?

Weeks and points trading in II works slightly differently. If you buy a week to trade in II then the advice is to buy the highest demand season and then book the highest TDI week in that season. If you can buy a lock-off that is extra good as it adds to the flexibility of use in II.
For points there is a table of TDI vs unit size and number of points needed for each. The good bit is that if you want to travel low season you can get multiple weeks out of a weeks worth of points, the bad thing is that there is no ability to pay the unit size upgrade fee to get a larger unit, you use more points. You'd need to check the maint fee cost for your desired exchanges using flex vs the weeks. Its difficult to say definitively which is cheaper as it depends on where you want to exchange to and when.
@kozykritter may be able to post the II flex table for info so you can xref it to your desired unit size and TDI. Apologies, I can never find the table when I want to...

 

[sponger76]

Weeks and points trading in II works slightly differently. If you buy a week to trade in II then the advice is to buy the highest demand season and then book the highest TDI week in that season.

With Vistana (Sheraton/Westin) you can't book and deposit a specific week unless you own a fixed week. Unlike Marriott, for floating week ownerships Vistana chooses the specific week to deposit in II and you just get a blended trade value for the floating season that you own/deposit.

 

[timsi]

With Vistana (Sheraton/Westin) you can't book and deposit a specific week unless you own a fixed week. Unlike Marriott, for floating week ownerships Vistana chooses the specific week to deposit in II and you just get a blended trade value for the floating season that you own/deposit.

Even with a fixed-week contract, to the best of my knowledge the specific week isn't deposited into Interval. For example, some of my friends have deposited week 52 at Lagunamar at various times, including last minute, yet Interval availability for that week was never reported. Remember, the Vistana fixed weeks can be rescheduled within the season if the automatic reservation is canceled. This means that Vistana has the flexibility to use the canceled reservation as they see fit, while allowing them to deposit a different week.

 

[kozykritter]

@kozykritter may be able to post the II flex table for info so you can xref it to your desired unit size and TDI. Apologies, I can never find the table when I want to...

Yep, this table is from way back in 2015 when Flex debuted so it's tough to find anywhere...still valid today. This is for Home Options from Sheraton/Westin Flex, Aventuras, Westin Nanea and Coral Vista & Sunset Bay phases of Westin St. John. (StarOptions cannot be used in II, only the underlying week usage they are attached to).

 

[timetofly]

Thanks for the replies. I happy to say that I found a 1BR Bella EY available and I am working on purchasing that unit. The seller has some leftover starpoints from 2023. Can those be transferred with the ownership? How does Vistana handle that? Can unused Marriott club points transfer as well?