Vistana Update from Marriott Insider

[DanCali]

Bullet 2 says if you are enrolled in VSN, the it is "possible" that your Owner benefit level could go up, based on total election value... So if I don't elect for that year, does my benefit level go down? Note that resale mandatory Vistana weeks are enrolled in VSN, this means that these are all eligible for election.

No - all this means is that your Elite level in Abound is determined by the points you have access to.

I am currently Presidential in MVC with DC points between 10K and 15K. I rarely elect points for my weeks, but that doesn't matter at all. Once my WKV weeks are eligible to enroll, I should move to Chairman level. But, again, this has nothing to do with actually electing points. Just having the weeks enrolled in the system is sufficient.

Given WKV rental value, if I don't use it and desire Abound points, I intend to rent out the week and use the cash to rent points from someone else. This gets me a whopping 60%-70% extra points. I'm pretty sure some WKORV/N OF folks will be on the other side of that exchange

 

[kozykritter]

The Abound Exchange documents have this provision which supports the mapping of VSN elite members to the MVC recognition levels as previously discussed in these forums. We just have to wait for Vistana to release all its equivalent information about how Abound will work on their end aka VSN Rules and Regulations:

"VSN Members may also achieve Select Member, Executive Member, Presidential Member or Chairman’s Club Member status by meeting the qualifications set forth in the applicable Vistana Signature Network Rules and Regulations. "

 

[rickandcindy23]

INSIDER:

• Anything purchased before 8/8 that was mandatory, [had Staroptions] will be put in Abound.

• It must be purchased and already in the Vistana system by 8/8. That part can take 45 days, if you have a deed before 8/8 but it wasn't registered with Vistana by 8/8 it would not count

• Voluntary deeds purchased before 8/8 would have had to be put in VSN meaning bought extra to get Abound. (Requalified before 8/8 or buy additional deeds from Marriott after 8/8.)

• So both of your Mandatory deeds, regardless of how you bought, will be in.

• I assume you didn't spend extra to put SDO in so it's not in Abound.

• The point is ANYONE who buys what they think is mandatory, after 8/8 even if they are in the process, will only be able to use home resort or resorts. VSN is no more. Madatory was a term for VSN, VSN is officially expired.

I don't know if I really care all that much, because I didn't really see any reason to be included in Abound anything with my Westin Ka'anapali oceanfront center weeks (two of them), but Vistana sat on the transfer of my Westins from the receipt date of 6/1 from the closing company, purchased through Syed Sarmad, and didn't get them transferred until 8/11. Just commenting on how ridiculous that delay was. Almost intentional on the part of Vistana/ Marriott, but they should know that I am nonplussed by Abound with those oceanfront units.

I have other weeks I can always consider enrolling into Abound with a purchase, but for now, I will just use II until it's no longer feasible.

 

[mjm1]

I don't know if I really care all that much, because I didn't really see any reason to be included in Abound anything with my Westin Ka'anapali oceanfront center weeks (two of them), but Vistana sat on the transfer of my Westins from the receipt date of 6/1 from the closing company, purchased through Syed Sarmad, and didn't get them transferred until 8/11. Just commenting on how ridiculous that delay was. Almost intentional on the part of Vistana/ Marriott, but they should know that I am nonplussed by Abound with those oceanfront units.

I have other weeks I can always consider enrolling into Abound with a purchase, but for now, I will just use II until it's no longer feasible.

I have seen examples where a transfer was in process, but wasn‘t completed in the MVC system until after a cut off date and they allowed it to be enrolled in the DC program. So you may want to pursue that if your units aren’t included. No harm in trying.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[TravelTime]

I have seen examples where a transfer was in process, but wasn‘t completed in the MVC system until after a cut off date and they allowed it to be enrolled in the DC program. So you may want to pursue that if your units aren’t included. No harm in trying.

Best regards.

Mike

Yes this happened with me. The junk fee went from $2 to $3 while I was in escrow. Marriott honored the $2 but it had to get approval and go up the chain a bit, of course.

 

[remowidget]

...

 

[Julian926]

I'm kinda excited about this coming from a sole 81k SO SVV (mandatory). The options to travel to other places is the icing. However, we do tend to go to Maui every so often and our ability to easily get a 1br Premium room would be something of concern. Would we be able to get that 1 BR WKORV? I guess that depends if there is an overlay or not.

 

[VacationForever]

I'm kinda excited about this coming from a sole 81k SO SVV (mandatory). The options to travel to other places is the icing. However, we do tend to go to Maui every so often and our ability to easily get a 1br Premium room would be something of concern. Would we be able to get that 1 BR WKORV? I guess that depends if there is an overlay or not.

You should still be able to get 1BR at WKORV through SOs but not with Abound points. Your SVV week will get you around 2725 to 2825 Abound points, which is not enough to book 1BR at WKORV in Abound.

 

[Julian926]

You should still be able to get 1BR at WKORV through SOs but not with Abound points. Your SVV week will get you around 2725 to 2825 Abound points, which is not enough to book 1BR at WKORV in Abound.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't know if there are going to be 2 types of Abounds : star options vs. marriott. I would guess that would mean an underlay is happening if true.

 

[VacationForever]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't know if there are going to be 2 types of Abounds : star options vs. marriott. I would guess that would mean an underlay is happening if true.

Remember "If you like what you have, you can keep it."? Hopefully this time around it is true.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I don't think anyone disagreed with you, thus they wouldn't place the bet. Most expected the "insider" was wrong.

Seemed more than just them.

Maybe the “Insider” will send me a DM - I am willing to go up to $1000…

Are you listening “Insider”?
put up, or…

Sorry, tired of all the misinformation spread here and on FB groups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jabberwocky]

Seemed more than just them.

Maybe the “Insider” will send me a DM - I am willing to go up to $1000…

Are you listening “Insider”?
put up, or…

Sorry, tired of all the misinformation spread here and on FB groups.

I think the sad part here is that this “insider” was given such credibility via the posting by a well-regarded TUG member (and mod to boot).

Had it been posted by anyone else I doubt there would have been such hand-wringing, but much of what has been posted from both (or is it just one) “insider” information has proved to be false or extremely stretched truth.

I’m not sure what the motives of these Insiders are, but unfortunately I think many people have spent a lot of money based on fear of missing out.

 

[controller1]

I think the sad part here is that this “insider” was given such credibility via the posting by a well-regarded TUG member (and mod to boot).

Had it been posted by anyone else I doubt there would have been such hand-wringing, but much of what has been posted from both (or is it just one) “insider” information has proved to be false or extremely stretched truth.

I’m not sure what the motives of these Insiders are, but unfortunately I think many people have spent a lot of money based on fear of missing out.

Here is some information from another insider. A person on Facebook states she is on the Board of a Vistana resort and received an email today from Marriott stating all owners would receive an email within the next few days with detailed information on Abound and a detailed FAQ.

Take it for what it's worth.

 

[JIMinNC]

Here is some information from another insider. A person on Facebook states she is on the Board of a Vistana resort and received an email today from Marriott stating all owners would receive an email within the next few days with detailed information on Abound and a detailed FAQ.

Take it for what it's worth.

That's probably going to be the same information that was posted today on the Marriott Vacation Club website, that includes several videos and an extensive FAQ.

 

[kozykritter]

That's probably going to be the same information that was posted today on the Marriott Vacation Club website, that includes several videos and an extensive FAQ.

Hopefully it will be tailored to Vistana owners the same way that the information on MVC's website was tailored to Marriott owners.

 

[JIMinNC]

Hopefully it will be tailored to Vistana owners the same way that the information on MVC's website was tailored to Marriott owners.

Yeah, if the emails do go out, I would expect MVC owners to get one tailored to MVC and VSN to get a VSN-tailored one.

 

[CPNY]

I don't know if I really care all that much, because I didn't really see any reason to be included in Abound anything with my Westin Ka'anapali oceanfront center weeks (two of them), but Vistana sat on the transfer of my Westins from the receipt date of 6/1 from the closing company, purchased through Syed Sarmad, and didn't get them transferred until 8/11. Just commenting on how ridiculous that delay was. Almost intentional on the part of Vistana/ Marriott, but they should know that I am nonplussed by Abound with those oceanfront units.

I have other weeks I can always consider enrolling into Abound with a purchase, but for now, I will just use II until it's no longer feasible.

Marriott most likely did this on purpose however, I’m sure if you have proof that the paperwork was submitted before that date, you can make a case to have it rectified. But yeah, I don’t trust Marriott employees at all

 

[dioxide45]

When Marriott rolled out the DC program. Eligibility was based on Deed Recording Date. Not the date it was transferred internally. Since internal transfer date is somewhat arbitrary, I would expect them to go with deed recording date for VSN Abound eligibility also.

Weeks purchased from third parties (i.e., not from Marriott Vacation Club International or its affiliates) with a deed recording date prior to June 20, 2010 (or prior to April 21, 2016 for Marriott Phuket Beach Club weeks) are eligible for this offer,

 

[timsi]

I think the sad part here is that this “insider” was given such credibility via the posting by a well-regarded TUG member (and mod to boot).

Had it been posted by anyone else I doubt there would have been such hand-wringing, but much of what has been posted from both (or is it just one) “insider” information has proved to be false or extremely stretched truth.

I’m not sure what the motives of these Insiders are, but unfortunately I think many people have spent a lot of money based on fear of missing out.

Probably some of these insiders were buying mandatory resorts head over fist while telling us mandatory resale would not be part of AbMV.

 

[dsmrp]

I think the sad part here is that this “insider” was given such credibility via the posting by a well-regarded TUG member (and mod to boot).

Had it been posted by anyone else I doubt there would have been such hand-wringing, but much of what has been posted from both (or is it just one) “insider” information has proved to be false or extremely stretched truth.

I’m not sure what the motives of these Insiders are, but unfortunately I think many people have spent a lot of money based on fear of missing out.

The 1st bit of "info" at soft launch about resales and mandatory being left out, got a lot of flex buyers, which meant that Marriott didn't have to carry MF for all those unsold non-prime flex points.

I think the soft launch 'insider' was a sales manager. Likely is same person for this last update. Could be the insider was passing on what Sales was initially told. And during period before final launch, the higher Marriott powers that be reconsidered their strategy to allow mandatories into Abound. They probably realized they would be missing out on a lot of Kierland and Maui weeks for Abound if they stayed on original course.

Also could be that all of it from the get go was the master plan to get more Flex sales which would tip owners into converting to Abound pts. Adoption of a new system by users/owners is also extremely important during the initial launch period. Surely they learned that with the DC since 2010.

Still I'm glad we didn't bite to buy flex, for the VSN reasons Sales was pushing.

 

[jabberwocky]

I think the soft launch 'insider' was a sales manager. Likely is same person for this last update. Could be the insider was passing on what Sales was initially told. And during period before final launch, the higher Marriott powers that be reconsidered their strategy to allow mandatories into Abound. They probably realized they would be missing out on a lot of Kierland and Maui weeks for Abound if they stayed on original course.

I’m not certain that it was higher levels pushing this narrative. I don’t think MVC leadership would be that smart or act with such malice.

We attended a presentation at the end of March, a few days after the soft launch and the morning after they had rolled out the software allowing sales to see the points allocated for each VOI in the system.

Our sales person, to his credit, told us that all of our intervals (even the resale) would be in the new system and we didn’t have to buy anything further, unless we wanted to top up our WFlex package. So something had been communicated to the sales staff at some point early in the process. Some just chose to lie.

Unfortunately, I was shouted down a bit here when I related this on TUG. But given my source was just sales (which I disclosed) it was not given much credibility.

 

[vacationtime1]

When Marriott rolled out the DC program. Eligibility was based on Deed Recording Date. Not the date it was transferred internally. Since internal transfer date is somewhat arbitrary, I would expect them to go with deed recording date for VSN Abound eligibility also.

Weeks purchased from third parties (i.e., not from Marriott Vacation Club International or its affiliates) with a deed recording date prior to June 20, 2010 (or prior to April 21, 2016 for Marriott Phuket Beach Club weeks) are eligible for this offer,

No. Eligibility was based on the date Marriott waived ROFR. This is based on personal experience in 2010; we bought a Kauai Beach Club VOI which cleared ROFR prior to the deadline but recorded afterwards. We were invited to enroll it in the DC program.

 

[DanCali]

Our sales person, to his credit, told us that all of our intervals (even the resale) would be in the new system and we didn’t have to buy anything further, unless we wanted to top up our WFlex package. So something had been communicated to the sales staff at some point early in the process. Some just chose to lie.

Unfortunately, I was shouted down a bit here when I related this on TUG. But given my source was just sales (which I disclosed) it was not given much credibility.

Did you act on that information? If I had that type of information back in March, and thought the source was credible enough, I totally would have picked up a couple of Maui weeks.

Considering you can use a week as points annually, picking up 6200 points for $15K with MFs of $0.45-$0.50 per points is a deal you won't see again - most likely ever. You can't get that price per point even without junk fees.

Looking at the crossed-out listings on RedWeek it looks like quite a few people acted on that information. I suspect quite a few were salespeople with actual inside info.

 

[dioxide45]

No. Eligibility was based on the date Marriott waived ROFR. This is based on personal experience in 2010; we bought a Kauai Beach Club VOI which cleared ROFR prior to the deadline but recorded afterwards. We were invited to enroll it in the DC program.

Perhaps. I was just posting the requirements as they have them on the website currently and as they were on day one.

 

[jabberwocky]

Did you act on that information? If I had that type of information back in March, and thought the source was credible enough, I totally would have picked up a couple of Maui weeks.

Considering you can use a week as points annually, picking up 6200 points for $15K with MFs of $0.45-$0.50 per points is a deal you won't see again - most likely ever. You can't get that price per point even without junk fees.

I thought about it. But there were a couple of problems even if I fully believed sales:

1) I was uncertain whether mandatory resales would qualify after the rollout date (which they were saying was May/June at the time). Given the long transfer times, it was too risky.

2) Divorce is expensive and would certainly swamp any potential savings off of this. I don’t want to get into renting given cross-border tax issues. TS is just a hobby for us and I have a portfolio that meets our needs for at least the next 8 years while our kids are in school. My wife already thinks we have too much