Vistana: Blocking owners from booking during "Special Event Weeks"

[PlatinumElite4Life]

Hi! Has anyone else noticed that Vistana is now is blocking out availability for owners to book popular dates? For example, the portal shows a 3-night weekend Friday to Monday as unavailable but if you change to a 5-night or 7-night stay starting on the same Friday, magically the rooms show as available. The past few times we've been able to book for the 5-nights online and then get it fixed over the phone with Vistana reps but just now when I tried to do it I was told that there are now "5-night minimum special event weeks" set by Vistana and our home property which require mandatory 5-night bookings (of course to book the same weekends at the same resort through Bonvoy it's available to book for 1 or 2 or 3 nights). Does anyone have thoughts or advice on this? The special event weeks include things like Labor Day weekend and festivals such as Coachella which are by definition 3 night events so the only reason for them to have 5-night minimums is to block owners from using them.

 

[needvaca]

Sounds fair to me. And a way to allow more availability for all owners across the board (by limiting prime time weekends being all booked up, many likely to rent it out rather than use it)

 

[dioxide45]

Minimum length of stay isn’t necessarily new.

 

[vacationtime1]

They've been discussing this on the Marriott forum for months.

Think of it as another Marriott improvement.

 

[tha]

To needvaca, dioxide45, and vacationtime1 can I kindly and with only the warmest regards suggest you are all F'ing nuts. This is a substantial and prejudicial change to the reservation system which violates the 8 month out 1 night minimum reservation. This has been a part of the Vistana system since Day 1 (owning since 2001 I know). This also violates the terms they have for Chairman Club members. The next "improvement" is that we will not be able to change the name on a reservation within 30 days of arrival. They already have a warning about this in the FAQ. However I have seen nothing in writing about the new property defined totally random minimum stay "policy". I have however experienced it. I can not recommend MVC to anyone because their business practices are becoming totally shady and in the finest tradition of sleaze ball timeshares.

BTW at an "owner update" at POR on 8/25/24 we demonstrated this to the sales representative and she couldn't believe it or explain it. She thought it would be ripe for a lawsuit. I was hoping that someone higher up would get back to us about what is going on but of course that did not happen. Again, this reflects very poorly on MVC.

 

[Hindsite]

This is a substantial and prejudicial change to the reservation system which violates the 8 month out 1 night minimum reservation. This has been a part of the Vistana system since Day 1 (owning since 2001 I know).

If you've got it in your contract then pursue it as a formal complaint and get it fixed.

This also violates the terms they have for Chairman Club members.

No it doesn't. There is nothing to say that you can book 1 night at any resort at any time. The Abound exchange procedures even specifically state that min nights stay requirements can be introduced at their sole discretion.

The next "improvement" is that we will not be able to change the name on a reservation within 30 days of arrival. They already have a warning about this in the FAQ.

You can change the name within 30 days, just like you have been able to for over a year.

BTW at an "owner update" at POR on 8/25/24 we demonstrated this to the sales representative and she couldn't believe it or explain it. She thought it would be ripe for a lawsuit. I was hoping that someone higher up would get back to us about what is going on but of course that did not happen. Again, this reflects very poorly on MVC.

If you thought a salesperson was going to do something about this, you might want to recalibrate your expectations. Customer Advocacy are available for you to pitch these questions to and they do usually get answers. You might not like the answers, but you'll probably get them.

 

[alwysonvac]

To needvaca, dioxide45, and vacationtime1 can I kindly and with only the warmest regards suggest you are all F'ing nuts. This is a substantial and prejudicial change to the reservation system which violates the 8 month out 1 night minimum reservation. This has been a part of the Vistana system since Day 1 (owning since 2001 I know).

I don’t know if it appeared earlier but the minimum night requirement was documented when the Starwood online reservation system was launched in 2014.

The following is from a January 2014 thread titled “ SVN NEWS: Online booking now available at mystarcentral.com! [+ Resv. rules changes]” (link)

 

[alwysonvac]

I also found an older thread from 2010 quoting a minimum night rule (see below).

 

[ljmiii]

I also found an older thread from 2010 quoting a minimum night rule (see below).

I think we can safely say that this equine has expired and needs no further encouragement.

 

[sponger76]

I think we can safely say that this equine has expired and needs no further encouragement.

 

[tha]

I think you all are suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome". Truly unbelievable.

 

[Ken555]

This is a substantial and prejudicial change to the reservation system which violates the 8 month out 1 night minimum reservation. This has been a part of the Vistana system since Day 1 (owning since 2001 I know).

Hogwash. For many years after I bought it in 2005, I could not reserve anything less than a week at a time using StarOptions, and the reservation must start or end on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I could book more than a week, but not less. Then, in about 2014, as earlier noted, that changed, with the ability to book as little as one night at a time and start or end on any day of the week.

See https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/hawaiian-check-in-question.156470/ for details on the check-in day and https://advantagevacation.com/what-are-staroptions-and-starpoints-and-how-do-i-use-them/, which includes:

How far in advance do I have to call if I want to visit another resort in the Starwood Vacation Network?

You can reserve a week or more beginning on an established check-in day at any Starwood Vacation Network resort, including your home resort, in a different villa type and/or season than you own. You may request reservations beginning 8 months prior to your desired arrival date, during the Starwood Vacation Network Float Period. Vacations for more than seven days must begin or end on an established check-in day.

 

[tha]

You are conflating home resort usage and float usage (within 8 months). They are different and they have always been part of SVN. Live well. Owner since 2001.

 

[Ken555]

You are conflating home resort usage and float usage (within 8 months). They are different and they have always been part of SVN. Live well. Owner since 2001.

Your earlier comment was:

This is a substantial and prejudicial change to the reservation system which violates the 8 month out 1 night minimum reservation.

This implies a StarOption reservation since an owner reservation can be made up to a year in advance. Once again, SVN did not permit a single-night reservation eight months out via StarOptions until ~2014.

 

[hcarman]

Hi! Has anyone else noticed that Vistana is now is blocking out availability for owners to book popular dates? For example, the portal shows a 3-night weekend Friday to Monday as unavailable but if you change to a 5-night or 7-night stay starting on the same Friday, magically the rooms show as available. The past few times we've been able to book for the 5-nights online and then get it fixed over the phone with Vistana reps but just now when I tried to do it I was told that there are now "5-night minimum special event weeks" set by Vistana and our home property which require mandatory 5-night bookings (of course to book the same weekends at the same resort through Bonvoy it's available to book for 1 or 2 or 3 nights). Does anyone have thoughts or advice on this? The special event weeks include things like Labor Day weekend and festivals such as Coachella which are by definition 3 night events so the only reason for them to have 5-night minimums is to block owners from using them.

Marriott has been doing this at a lot of properties - and not just on special event weekends. There are some properties where I find there is very little to no availability for less than a 1 week stay when the booking window opens and even several months into the booking window. It really does take away from the flexibility of the program.

 

[tha]

Marriott has been doing this at a lot of properties - and not just on special event weekends. There are some properties where I find there is very little to no availability for less than a 1 week stay when the booking window opens and even several months into the booking window. It really does take away from the flexibility of the program.

Combine this with the Star Option to Abound haircut and you may not be able to get back what you gave Marriott. Presumably you are going elsewhere and that is why you converted but this makes that process more risky since you may not know what restrictions are in place. When we demonstrated this to our sales agent the booking restriction existed in both SVN and Abound for WDW and WMH throughout Apr 25. People need to realize the less flexible the product, the lower the resale value is going to be - which is a plus for Marriott. Win-win on their side, lose-lose on ours.