I suspect those would pop up when you went to actually elect points for the first time and "activated" your enrollment.
They key difference with enrollment is that single VOI owners and even some multi VOI Vistana owners will have higher Club Fees with Abound than they do in VSN. They will need to make sure the owners acknowledge that and that the fees are clear. I don't see it as part of the process of electing points for the first time but rather a separate step upfront like it is with Marriott today.
RIght now with Marriott DC inventory, you can see if a night has something available at a resort. Though you can't see how many points it costs (without looking at the charts) and you can't see what unit sized might be available. An example. I have 200 points in our account. If I search for a signle night I can see that there is studio and 1BR availability but because a 2BR is more points than I have, I can't see if a 2BR is available to book. Of course, they are overhauling their website, so it may work differently once they roll out Abound.
That's assuming the higher club fees are associated with enrolling in Abound. Multiple sources have said they're actually tied to anyone enrolled in VSN regardless of participation in Abound. Hopefully all will be revealed shortly.
I got the impression too that the new club fee will apply to all enrolled in VSN; regardless of Abound eligibility.
I don't foresee them unilaterally increasing the VSN fee for everyone.
Differing perspectives is what makes this chat board interesting.
Why not? It would likely net increase revenue and give them a sales angle - “you’re already paying the fees, why not unlock all of the benefits by upgrading to Abound?”
But the fee also eliminates all the other fees. It could be also be a net loss in the end or they could break even. They also have different sets of fees on the Marriott side, so they have no issues charging a la cart fees along side a consolidated fee. I am just saying that I don't see it happening. I may be right or I may be wrong. Just going by reading between the lines from their Investor Day webcast.
So, you don't think this is legit?
Nice work! They will likely also apply the Marriott recognition levels across Vistana at the same time, again for the purpose of simplifying administration of the two programs in one IT system without having to create more customization. You'll notice on that VSN consolidated club fees paper that the recognition levels at the top of the right-hand column were matching Marriott levels, not the existing Vistana ones. They will have to come up with some type of criteria for assigning the Select level since there is no existing recognition level in Vistana between owner and 3*.
Perhaps. But I ultimately beleive there will be a required enrollment or opt in process for Vistana owners and this structure will only apply to those that enroll. Perhaps they will just automatically enroll everyone? Some people though would see a near 40% increase in their VSN/Club Fee.
We were shown the same fee chart back in late June and told it would be implemented across the board on everyone.
The select owner level will be based on the current Marriott point levels based on number of Abound points owned/assigned; 4,000-6,999 Abound points. A Vistana owner can qualify for Abound Benefit levels in one of two ways, through their 3*, 4* 5* level or based on how many Abound points they have as they convert from their Vistana ownership. This could mean that some no star VSN members could end up with Select or higher benefit level.
Are you comparing Marriott weeks ownership with Vistana?
That last sentence is also exactly something we were told at our update in late June.
Not every ownership in the VSN will be eligible to enroll in Abound so I would think they will have to set some type of StarOption-based criteria for Select level within Vistana once those recognition levels are applied internally. They aren't going to exclude those ownerships entirely.
Vistana weeks will be assigned point values in much the same way that Marriott weeks are. They are just using some silly 32.11234223 to 1 SO to Abound point ratio to make it easier for VSN owners to absorb since VSN owners know StarOptions.
I doubt it will be StarOption based. VSN VOIs will have an Abound point value assigned to them. Say my SVV week gets 2,500 Abound points. That would put me at the Owner level. Perhaps along with my 1BR SVV week it would put me over 4,000 Abound points? Then I would be Select.
We are just working from two different assumptions so we could go on and on like this. Let's agree to disagree on this. Your assumption is based upon conversion to Abound points being the criteria for assigning recognition levels within Vistana. I'm saying from my perspective the application of existing Marriott recognition levels in name only across Vistana will have nothing to do with Marriott itself. It will be based upon Vistana ownership only for functioning within the Vistana system. We already know that they will set 3*, 4*, 5* at Executive and higher. Select criteria and benefits within VSN will have to be set and anyone below that will be Owner. If a Vistana owner that is eligible decides to participate in Abound, then most likely those recognition levels will carry over to Abound and perhaps be enhanced by any MVC ownership that they have as well if a dual owner. Let's just hope they give us all the details soon so we can stop speculating and then start complaining about it for real
106 achieved! Thank you Marriott for dragging this hard launch out longer...and longer...and longer...
I don't think it's purely an "agree to disagree". I'm not sure your assumptions are necessarily correct. Based on what we've heard, any VSN week currently eligible for VSN status levels will automatically be eligible for "Abound" (i.e. those weeks purchased direct or otherwise "requalified"). If that's the case, no need to continue VSN specific status levels. It doesn't even require someone to actually participate in (or agree to participate in) "Abound" as they could just as easily indicate your status is based on Abound "eligible" point levels (whether actually participating or not). Further, while VSN is written into some of the HOA docs, the VSN elite levels are not. Why continue offering a separate/distinct "VSN elite" program if a) you're given all current elites the option to continue to receive their existing (or new) benefits if they participate in Abound and b) there is nothing obligating you to continue to administer it?
