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Upgrade from Westin Equity to Marriott Vacation Club Equity.

easytarget

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I used to own Westin Flex timeshares and have a booking in Marriott Vista Grande this week. They gave me a one time option to convert my Westin Equity to MVC equity so that everything gets into the same system and I have access to some of the newer features. As with before this required a minimum purchase of 2000 points and was costed at ~$4000. I was told that this is was a one time offer to convert Westin to MVC equity and upgrade to Presidential since I was so close (it comes with lifetime Bonvoy Titanium with lifetime status in United).

I did not purchase it and could not find a reason to purchase it. What am I missing or was this the correct decision.

I really wanted to get to presidential (along with titanium) would buying extra points on the secondary market not get me there?

They also said something that sounded off to me - at presidential level there are luxury properties that are not accessible to lower levels. Can someone confirm?
 
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DanCali

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These "upgrades" are never worth the cost and are often also "downgrades".

Good decision...!

As for buying resale, are those benefits worth the cost of the resale points? You'd lose at least $3/pt if you ever turn around to sell them.
 

LeslieDet

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It isn't "converting" your Westin equity to MVC equity. It is selling what you own and using those sale proceeds to pay a portion of the purchase price on buying MVC Trust points. Think of it like a car trade in at the dealership.

If you bought your Westin Flex from VSN then your Flex is already enrolled in the Abound program, and you already have the same access to MVC Trust Exchange inventory as you would have if you owned MVC Trust Points directly. There is no need to purchase MVC Trust Points in addition to owning the Westin Flex to be able to elect Club Points in lieu of using your VOI. If, however, you purchased resale, then yes, there is typically a minimum purchase in order to enroll the resale. But what you are saying makes no sense, because if you are selling your Westin Flex to only purchase MVC Trust points, then you would not still own the Flex, and thus, you would not need to qualify the resale. And there would not be any sort of "minimum" purchase. They would simply want you to purchase points in a quantity that is at a cost greater than the amount they are paying you for your Westin Flex trade in.

The question becomes do you really want to be presidential owner level? If so, how many more points do you need to qualify for the 10k threshold for presidential? You can buy MVC Trust Points resale and pay the activation fee of $3/point and thus be all in for around $7/point or so. Of course, when you buy resale MVC Trust Points, you don't get any of the purchase bonuses like extra BonVoy points or bonus points good for 2 years, but you also save a boatload of money.

As to the "luxury" properties, yes, there is access to third party rentals when you are presidential or chairman level. If you look at the owner benefit level chart, it is all there.
 

dioxide45

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Luxury properties (Ritz) are available to all owners but how early you can reserve will differ based on owner level. Villas of Distinction (vacation homes) are available to Executive and above.
 

dioxide45

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I've never seen any deal where trading in your current ownership for points is a good option. Keep what you have, it is far superior and has more access and flexibiity than just MVC Trust points.

WIth Westin Flex you can reserve within the Westin Flex resorts at 12 months, reserve VSN with StarOptions at 8 months, Elect MVC Club Points and reserve MVC and Vistana properties. With MVC Club points you only get the latter but the pool of inventory is different. Don't give up multiple usage rights options for just one.
 

sponger76

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I was told that this is was a one time offer to convert Westin to MVC equity and upgrade to Presidential since I was so close (it comes with lifetime Bonvoy Titanium with lifetime status in United).
I feel obligated to point out that you tecnically aren't getting "lifetime" status in Marriott or United. You have the Marriott status only as long as you own enough qualifying timeshare to be at the relevant Abound ownership level.If the requirements go up you'd *probably* be grandfathered. But if you offload some of your VOIs and fall below the requirements you will definitely lose the status. And the United sratus will only last as long as the Mareiott-United partnership that grants the status match. Unitedhas switched travel industry partnerships before.
 
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DeniseM

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Don't do it!
 

easytarget

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Well, I was told that I cannot access early bookings for
It isn't "converting" your Westin equity to MVC equity. It is selling what you own and using those sale proceeds to pay a portion of the purchase price on buying MVC Trust points. Think of it like a car trade in at the dealership.

If you bought your Westin Flex from VSN then your Flex is already enrolled in the Abound program, and you already have the same access to MVC Trust Exchange inventory as you would have if you owned MVC Trust Points directly. There is no need to purchase MVC Trust Points in addition to owning the Westin Flex to be able to elect Club Points in lieu of using your VOI. If, however, you purchased resale, then yes, there is typically a minimum purchase in order to enroll the resale. But what you are saying makes no sense, because if you are selling your Westin Flex to only purchase MVC Trust points, then you would not still own the Flex, and thus, you would not need to qualify the resale. And there would not be any sort of "minimum" purchase. They would simply want you to purchase points in a quantity that is at a cost greater than the amount they are paying you for your Westin Flex trade in.

The question becomes do you really want to be presidential owner level? If so, how many more points do you need to qualify for the 10k threshold for presidential? You can buy MVC Trust Points resale and pay the activation fee of $3/point and thus be all in for around $7/point or so. Of course, when you buy resale MVC Trust Points, you don't get any of the purchase bonuses like extra BonVoy points or bonus points good for 2 years, but you also save a boatload of money.

As to the "luxury" properties, yes, there is access to third party rentals when you are presidential or chairman level. If you look at the owner benefit level chart, it is all there.
That my Westing Flex VOI is transferrable to MVC points is what I remembered from my initial meeting with MVC. I had Westin Flex and as soon as I pay for the due (for the following year and convert it to points) I am able to book for everything. Today's meeting I was told that it cannot be done and I should buy in new points to "roll in" my VOI into MVC points and make everything MVC points. And in order to do that I had to purchase a minimum of 2000 new points.

Obviously, I came back home and checked and I was able to book everything.

As you suggested I could always buy outside but looking at the benefits, I really do not see much in terms of why I would go to Presidential.
 

easytarget

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I feel obligated to point out that you tecnically aren't getting "lifetime" status in Marriott or United. You have the Marriott status only as long as you own enough qualifying timeshare to be at the relevant Abound ownership level.If the requirements go up you'd *probably* be grandfathered. But if you offload some of your VOIs and fall below the requirements you will definitely lose the status. And the United sratus will only last as long as the Mareiott-United partnership that grants the status match. Unitedhas switched travel industry partnerships before.
Thanks for pointing this out. I was aware of it but a little bit of reenforcing never hurt. Also the united status is silver. With work travel I have delta gold status and I am much more of a delta fan than united fan anyway.
 

LeslieDet

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Well, I was told that I cannot access early bookings for

That my Westing Flex VOI is transferrable to MVC points is what I remembered from my initial meeting with MVC. I had Westin Flex and as soon as I pay for the due (for the following year and convert it to points) I am able to book for everything. Today's meeting I was told that it cannot be done and I should buy in new points to "roll in" my VOI into MVC points and make everything MVC points. And in order to do that I had to purchase a minimum of 2000 new points.

Obviously, I came back home and checked and I was able to book everything.

As you suggested I could always buy outside but looking at the benefits, I really do not see much in terms of why I would go to Presidential.
If you were being pitched to purchase MVC Trust Points because that would give you some sort of super duper access to different inventory that is invisible to you if you were to elect your Westin Flex VOI to Club Points, then, yes that was a lie. What threw me was you using the term "equity". Electing Club Points has zero to do with equity. You simply have a different way to use your Westin FlexOptions. That is it. You are already in the program if you bought from Westin and have the ability to elect Club Points. You do not need to buy any MVC Trust Points to add to your Westin FlexOption timeshare ownership, unless you want to actually own them and vacation more.

If you bought your Westin FlexOptions resale, then you weren't enrolled in Abound, and you don't have the ability to elect Club Points. Buying a minimum of 2000 is an expensive way to "retro" your resale Westin FlexOptions (if indeed they are not enrolled). You can do it another way for less money.
 

daviator

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If you were being pitched to purchase MVC Trust Points because that would give you some sort of super duper access to different inventory that is invisible to you if you were to elect your Westin Flex VOI to Club Points, then, yes that was a lie. What threw me was you using the term "equity". Electing Club Points has zero to do with equity. You simply have a different way to use your Westin FlexOptions. That is it. You are already in the program if you bought from Westin and have the ability to elect Club Points. You do not need to buy any MVC Trust Points to add to your Westin FlexOption timeshare ownership, unless you want to actually own them and vacation more.

If you bought your Westin FlexOptions resale, then you weren't enrolled in Abound, and you don't have the ability to elect Club Points. Buying a minimum of 2000 is an expensive way to "retro" your resale Westin FlexOptions (if indeed they are not enrolled). You can do it another way for less money.
I suspect that MVC sales may be using "equity" because it sounds important and official and most people have no idea what it means, especially with regard to their timeshare ownership. Just another way to confuse and manipulate people into spending more money with them.
 
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