Vistana Now Part of Marriott Vacations Worldwide

[Henry M.]

I just received the following e-mail. I think the benefits were already pretty much known. The 25% hotel discount isn't much better than say AAA, web-site discounts, or corporate discounts. I think SPG had a similar discount (maybe even 35%), but I never found it to be better than what I could find online or get with my AAA membership.

Dear Owner,

In recent months, ILG — the parent company of Vistana Signature Experiences — announced its plans to combine with Marriott Vacations Worldwide to create a leading global provider of premier vacation experiences.

The combined company brings together several of the most coveted lifestyle vacation ownership brands under a single entity, including Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, Marriott Vacation Club, Grand Residences by Marriott, St. Regis Residence Club and The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, providing an unparalleled collection of world-class vacation ownership resorts and services.

I am pleased to share that the transaction is complete. Through this combination, we are excited to introduce new opportunities for Owners.


Owners in the Vistana Signature Network can now use their ownership to access Marriott hotels and resorts worldwide through the SPG program.

Previously, hotel loyalty points received in connection with your vacation ownership were only eligible to be used at SPG-branded hotels. Now, you have even more choices at over 6,500 hotels and resorts across 29 unique brands in 127 countries, including Marriott-branded hotels — all while continuing to receive preferred status recognition as a Platinum Elite member in the SPG program.

Receive expanded and enhanced discounts at Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, and Marriott Vacation Club resorts.

All Owners will now receive 25% off available nightly rental rates, as well as exclusive discounts on certain food, beverage and activities at participating outlets, at Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, and Marriott Vacation Club resorts, subject to applicable terms and conditions. To make a reservation or learn more, log in tovistana.com and select Owner Exclusives on your Owner Dashboard. Additional information may be provided at time of check-in.


We are extremely excited about the future. We want to assure you that this is only the beginning as we continue to work hard to determine whether additional benefits and services could potentially be made available in the future from our newly combined company. Our goals remain consistent: to provide the highest-quality vacation experiences and greatest flexibility for our valued Owners.

To view a list of frequently asked questions, please visit vistana.com/news. For the latest news regarding SPG and Marriott Rewards, visit members.marriott.com.

Best regards,

Steve Weisz
President and Chief Executive Officer
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation

Vistana Owners who also own with Marriott Vacation Club will receive separate announcement communications specific to their ownership.​

 

[DannyTS]

This email is very helpful to owners who have been sleeping for the last several months.

 

[WahooWah]

How does one now address the name of the company that runs a Westin or Sheraton Vacation Club?

Is it Marriott Vacations Worldwide?
Is it Vistana Signature Experiences? (Is this entity/name still valid? If so, does anyone know for how long?)
Is is Westin Vacation Club owned by Marriott Vacations Worldwide?

 

[TravelTime]

The CEO signed as Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation. So that must be the parent name. Many companies have sub-brands that are different than the parent company’s name. We usually have no idea of who owns who anyway. It is possible they will keep the Westin and Sheraton brand names and get rid of Vistana since it is no longer really needed as a name to link Westin and Sheraon, plus no one knows who Vistana is. I own a Westin timeshare and I never use the Vistana name to refer to it.

 

[Helios]

Time to change the forum's name.

 

[TravelTime]

On Facebook, one of the Marriott Vacation Club groups is letting timeshare owners from Westin, Sheraton and Hyatt join. I guess they have already assumed there will be full integration.

 

[PamMo]

...It is possible they will keep the Westin and Sheraton brand names and get rid of Vistana since it is no longer really needed as a name to link Westin and Sheraon, plus no one knows who Vistana is...

We can only hope! The Vistana brand was just confusing.

 

[PamMo]

[Duplicate post]

 

[DannyTS]

Time to change the forum's name.

Until a full integration (that may never happen), it would be a mistake IMO to merge the Marriott, Vistana forums on TUG since there are many details only specific with one or the other. I may have misunderstood your posting though

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

For what it's worth, we went to a Marriott presentation this weekend. We were told that Hyatt was on the back burner and Vistana was the primary concern because of the hotel merger. They said each Vistana property would be assigned a new point value based on similarity to Marriott resorts. Resale owners who bought within 10 yrs would need to spend 30,000 on new Marriott points to be able to exchange in the combined program. This was a manager but does he truly know the scoop? Time will tell .

 

[dioxide45]

For what it's worth, we went to a Marriott presentation this weekend. We were told that Hyatt was on the back burner and Vistana was the primary concern because of the hotel merger. They said each Vistana property would be assigned a new point value based on similarity to Marriott resorts. Resale owners who bought within 10 yrs would need to spend 30,000 on new Marriott points to be able to exchange in the combined program. This was a manager but does he truly know the scoop? Time will tell .

I suspect his lips were moving. The sales reps will know at about the same time we find out about it. He could be lucky and be right, but that doesn't mean he knew anything more now than we do.

 

[mjm1]

For what it's worth, we went to a Marriott presentation this weekend. We were told that Hyatt was on the back burner and Vistana was the primary concern because of the hotel merger. They said each Vistana property would be assigned a new point value based on similarity to Marriott resorts. Resale owners who bought within 10 yrs would need to spend 30,000 on new Marriott points to be able to exchange in the combined program. This was a manager but does he truly know the scoop? Time will tell .

I suspect his lips were moving. The sales reps will know close to about the same time we find out about it. He could be lucky and be right, but that doesn't mean he knew anything more now than we do.

I agree with dioxide45. Time will tell of course.

What the salesman may have been trying to say is that one may have to buy 3,000 points in the Marriott program to enroll a resale Vistana week in a yet to be announced combined program. That would be consistent with what Marriott week owners who bought resale after June 2010 have to do. If that is the case, the question will be what date they use as the cut off point for resale Vistana owners. One option would be anything bought after the effective date of the acquisition by Marriott (perhaps including any purchase that was in process before the effective date.) Going back 10years doesn’t seem to relate to anything. None of us, and likely none of the sales team, knows what will happen.

As an owner in both systems I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[Helios]

Until a full integration (that may never happen), it would be a mistake IMO to merge the Marriott, Vistana forums on TUG since there are many details only specific with one or the other. I may have misunderstood your posting though

I just meant change the name of forum, not merge them.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Thanks @Tusconadventurer for the update. Time will tell if his lips were moving.

IMHO...They will have to do a lot better than that if they want to attract resale owners to offer their property into the trust for others to use. For $30k we could buy 20 weeks at $1500/week with getaways, rentals, Airbnb and hotels. That's 10 to 20 years of vacations with zero capital upfront, no mandatory MF obligation, and no risk of exit barriers IN ADDITION TO using our existing WKORVN OF property. Not even sure we want to trade...but perhaps I don't understand the Marriott system.

 

[dioxide45]

All I can say, is Marriott better not mess with the beds at Vistana timeshares. We are staying at the Aruba Surf Club right now and the beds are so hard, they are horrible. We stayed a night at Vistana Villages before this and they were great. The hardness of the new beds is one reason we would stop going to Marriott timeshares, and if that happens it means it would be time to sell.

 

[mjm1]

All I can say, is Marriott better not mess with the beds at Vistana timeshares. We are staying at the Aruba Surf Club right now and the beds are so hard, they are horrible. We stayed a night at Vistana Villages before this and they were great. The hardness of the new beds is one reason we would stop going to Marriott timeshares, and if that happens it means it would be time to sell.

I am sorry to hear that. We haven’t had issues with the beds, but I agree that that would be unbearable. Hopefully you enjoy your trip.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[Carol C]

I wonder if all the Sheraton and Westin and other newly-affiliated resorts will be outfitted with a copy of the Book of Mormon in the bedside table.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

All I can say, is Marriott better not mess with the beds at Vistana timeshares. We are staying at the Aruba Surf Club right now and the beds are so hard, they are horrible. We stayed a night at Vistana Villages before this and they were great. The hardness of the new beds is one reason we would stop going to Marriott timeshares, and if that happens it means it would be time to sell.

Sorry to hear about the bed. It might be location specific. Our beds were fine at Ko Olina.

 

[DannyTS]

There is a certain pressure from the Marriott owners to have access to Vistana and Hyatt especially in areas where Marriott is not present.


From the conference call transcript, Stephen P. Weisz – MVC CEO& Director: “Turning to Slide 9. Not only will we benefit from the expanded portfolio, we will gain properties in areas that our guests and owners want to be.

With 4 vacation ownership resorts in Mexico and one on St. John, MVW will have the -- an important foothold in popular vacation destinations in Mexico and an expanded presence in the Caribbean. The addition of Hyatt Vacation Ownership also offers new destinations that will enhance our portfolio.”


The networks can be integrated the way the sales person suggested. The problem is that it is the slowest way, they would have to wait a very long time for any significant number of Vistana weeks to be enrolled. This route would certainly be preferred by the sales team but I am not sure that this is the best and fastest way to increase the bottom line of the group”


Marriott makes money with the DP, do not forget that the “skimming” is very lucrative for them. Why would they not give a good deal to Vistana owners to enroll their weeks in the DC? Or selectively to resorts where they have less of a presence?


According to the same conference call, ILG (I assume Vistana and Hyatt) has 250,000 owners. If they offer enrollment for say 1000 dollars a week, they would make a lot of money without spending anything. Their sales team would have to sell a lot of weeks to be able to replace that potential revenue. Also, do not forget that retail sales force is expensive for the company, I do not think that Marriott bought ILG just for some sales people to exceed their quotas.


Time will tell but I have a feeling that that sales manager will be disappointed.

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry to hear about the bed. It might be location specific. Our beds were fine at Ko Olina.

Perhaps, but we weren't great on the beds at Ko'Olina either. Perhaps we were in a recently remodeled unit. The beds years ago were fantastic, but we are finding that we don't like the new mattresses that they are putting in the units in the latest rounds of renovations. Beach Place Towers wasn't too bad for our single night there on Sunday, but the Surf Club isn't great. It will also take us nearly a week to figure out what light switches operate which lights. Though that is normal for most timeshares, but this one seems a little more bizarre. There actually is not a light in the master bathroom. There is one in the common entryway to the master bath, but the entry from the bedroom has the light switch way back away from the actual door. I will have to make a video about it.

 

[nuwermj]

From the conference call transcript, quote from Stephen P. Weisz – MVC CEO& Director: “Turning to Slide 9

Do you have a link to the trasnscript and the slides? I don't see them at the corporate investor relations site, nor on sites like SeekingAlpha. Thanks.

 

[DannyTS]

Do you have a link to the trasnscript and the slides? I don't see them at the corporate investor relations site, nor on sites like SeekingAlpha. Thanks.

please see attached. By the way, does anyone have the actual slides the CEO was referring to?

 

[nuwermj]

Thanks DannyTS. The text in the posted documents is from April 30, 2018. The slides are at this URL:

http://ir.marriottvacationsworldwide.com/static-files/67b0c3ff-d538-4d5f-82d3-4d125f821d3b

 

[DannyTS]

Thanks DannyTS. The text in the posted documents is from April 30, 2018. The slides are at this URL:

http://ir.marriottvacationsworldwide.com/static-files/67b0c3ff-d538-4d5f-82d3-4d125f821d3b

i am not sure that this is the slideshow mentioned by the CEO, slide 9 refers to new destinations for MVC owners and not to cost synergies. I am interested in that slide because i own at Westin Lagunamar in Cancun and the MVC leadership seems to be particularly interested in the Mexican Vistana resorts. Common sense tells me that if they were to make a selective offer to Vistana owners, places where MVC does not have presence would be included.

 

[dioxide45]

i am not sure it it the slideshow mentioned by the CEO, slide 9 refers to new destinations for MVC owners and not to cost synergies. I am interested in that slide because i own at Westin Lagunamar in Cancun and the MVC leadership seems to be particularly interested in the Mexican Vistana resorts.

Marriott for years has owned property in Cancun. The vacant land beside Live Aqua (which is beside Lagunamar) was slated for a MVCI property that never saw the light of day. Not sure what will happen with that land, they have been trying to sell it for many years, perhaps a decade now. I suspect that is still the plan.

The only real way that they have to integrate the Mexico properties (and Aventuras) in to the DC program is through the DC exchange program. Perhaps they will offer some method to enroll those weeks or Flex points in to the DC program. We will have to wait and see.