Westin / Sheraton properties are now available to book for MVC owners! [MERGED]

[Mikieg]

Aren't there any properties in Key West?

 

[Steve Fatula]

Aren't there any properties in Key West?

Don't think so but Hyatt does.

 

[Venter]

Nice! No Harborside though.

No Westin Riverfront either.

 

[frank808]

Booked KAA for a few days in July. I am surprised at so much inventory for all of July. Splurged on an oceanfront unit as have only been here on II exchanges.

Also noticed I can only book using Trust points. The system does not show any of my elected points. Did anyone else notice this? Thanks

 

[Lv2Trvl]

Aloha Frank808
Last visited with you at Ko'Olina this spring.
I just used a bunch of points from elections no problem. Even borrowed from 2024. I was able to get some 2beds to replace some 1 bed res. Have to call in morning to cancel the ones.
We are at Waiohai. Spent last week at Waikoloa. Left 24 hours before the fireworks started.
Alice

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[dougp26364]

Many of the Westin resorts are wide-open for booking between Jan 1, 2023 through December 2023. The volume of availability is surprising to me, to the point where I fear this might be another massive MVC IT debacle. Might the MVC site be showing lots of availability that is not truly available? When I looked about an hour ago, Westin Kierland was available for check-in for a 5-night stay every single day from January 1 through December 15, 2023, including the prime Spring Training season. Similar availability was present for Westin Lagunamar and another couple Westin resorts I looked at.

Perhaps they held some units back just for this release, hence the widespread availabilty on "opening day" today... Or perhaps this is another IT disaster.

We didn’t wait on MVC and had all our vacations booked for 2023. Even if they had their act together and had availability ready earlier, my plans were to stay within the MVC family of resorts. Since there’s been so many issues, I wanted to take the least risk as possible.

This isn’t to say they couldn’t have screwed up all inventory. It’s still possible that even MVC inventory is ghost inventory that’s not really available. While I like the MVC product, it seems lately, if they can screw it up, they will.

I’m taking a conservative approach for a little while until I feel a little more secure about the system. After all, I can’t pay my MF’s using my iPads. Right now I’m having serious trust issues.

 

[Bodie]

Didn’t see any of the Bahamas properties on the updated menu. Is there a specific search word?

 

[Bodie]

Also Hotel and Luxury Residences not populating.

 

[jwalk03]

Didn’t see any of the Bahamas properties on the updated menu. Is there a specific search word?

Harborside is not included at launch, and that is the only Bahamas property.

 

[jwalk03]

Aren't there any properties in Key West?

No. Neither Vistana or Marriott have Key West properties. Hyatt has 3 that you can trade into via Interval though.

 

[Fasttr]

The wide open availability yesterday at Westin Kierland for Jan-April 2023 is now gone.

Another data point worth mentioning is that they had a 5 night minimum on that Kierland inventory when it went live.

Amazing how the availability changed in 1 day.

Glad to be a TUGger to get the early scoop...and thanks to @craigc for posting the new inventory availability yesterday morning.

 

[CPNY]

I just booked Westin Kierland Villas for 7 nights in Feb 2023.

I hope these are real ressys as there was a ton of availability which surprised me a bit.

It’s amazing…. I couldn’t get any dates in Feb during the home resort period or after the 8 month mark….. yet here it is in Abound lol.

 

[Fasttr]

It’s amazing…. I couldn’t get any dates in Feb during the home resort period or after the 8 month mark….. yet here it is in Abound lol.

Curious if they moved it back, or if it all got snatched up in Abound yesterday/today, cuz its gone now.

 

[CPNY]

Curious if they moved it back, or if it all got snatched up in Abound yesterday/today, cuz its gone now.

It could be that the inventory wasn’t supposed to be there. Lucky for people who made reservations if that’s the case! I have no skin in the game. I have a ton of used Star Options in 2023.

 

[Fasttr]

MVC IT still doesn’t seem to have a total handle on things. Today, 12/2, I see various Dec 2023 Westin/Sheraton availability through check in date of 12/14/23. But if I look at the “When can I Reserve” tool, it says I should not be able to book Westin/Sheraton resorts for 12/14/23 until Tuesday Dec 20th….18 days from now.

As I understand it, there is no 13 month window for booking Westin/Sheraton properties, correct?

 

[ocdb8r]

As I understand it, there is no 13 month window for booking Westin/Sheraton properties, correct?

Officially no; however on day 1 it appears some were able to book 13 months out. I suspected this may have been a glitch and perhaps that's the case it's it's semi-resolved (clearly the exact message you're getting above isn't correct on timing).

 

[frank808]

Aloha Frank808
Last visited with you at Ko'Olina this spring.
I just used a bunch of points from elections no problem. Even borrowed from 2024. I was able to get some 2beds to replace some 1 bed res. Have to call in morning to cancel the ones.
We are at Waiohai. Spent last week at Waikoloa. Left 24 hours before the fireworks started.
Alice

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

HI there again. When will you get back to MKO in 2023?

From your reply, I called and spoke with MVC IT. They warned me that there has been some glitches in the system first. Rep looked into it and said that it was a weird that they could not use elected points on my account. Opened up a ticket and to wait till 24 hours to see if glitch is fixed. Just checked and now I am able to use elected points for reservations. Thanks for you reply.

 

[rthib]

[Moderator Note: Threads merged.] <-- SueDonJ

[Why isn't Harborside included?]

I know it's not right now but have they ever given a reason why? One of those I don't need to know but now that I don't know I want to know.

 

[Fasttr]

This is what it said at the bottom of the email the Vistana owners received in the last day or two announcing the new options....

Owners of Vacation Ownership Interests (VOIs) at The Westin Riverfront Mountain Villas and Harborside Resort at Atlantis will not initially have the option to elect to receive Club Points when it becomes available to VSN members. That option will be available only after their reservation systems are upgraded, which we anticipate will occur in 2023. Until that time, other Owners may not reserve stays at these resorts using Club Points.

 

[klpenny]

I was at an owner's update there in November. Harborside is half owned by Atlantis and there are systems and things to integrate. Thus taking more time.

 

[alexadeparis]

I know it's not right now but have they ever given a reason why? One of those I don't need to know but now that I don't know I want to know.

In my opinion for both places it has to do with other ownership entities owning part of the resort - i was told several times in different presentations that while they are hopeful, they may not ever be able to reach an agreement on those properties.

 

[ocdb8r]

I think this is about half the story (or maybe just a simplification). It's not about "ownership" per se, as all the people who bought weeks there are owners. This is about these being "co-developed" resorts. The other half of the developer (Kerzner at Atlantis...and I can't remember who at Westin Riverfront) retained some special rights in the HOA documents that require their approval in regards to certain resort affiliation matters. As those documents were only drafted to permit affiliation in the Vistana Network, permitting them to also participate in Abound requires the co-developer to approve. My pure speculation is both developers are looking for some sort of "fee" to grant their approval....and MVC is just waiting them out, looking at legal posturing to push it through or hoping owners at those resorts raise enough of a fuss that the co-developer gives in (or MVC may abandon the idea altogether and leave them just in VSN).

I should qualify the above, I have only looked closely at the Harborside documents but assume given the co-developer states of Westin Riverfront and similar problem getting it into Abound, the contractual problem is similar to what I describe above based on the Harborside docs.

 

[kozykritter]

I think this is about half the story (or maybe just a simplification). It's not about "ownership" per se, as all the people who bought weeks there are owners. This is about these being "co-developed" resorts. The other half of the developer (Kerzner at Atlantis...and I can't remember who at Westin Riverfront) retained some special rights in the HOA

East West Development Company. They own the entire Westin Riverfront Hotel/Residences/Timeshare complex plus several buildings they recently built on adjacent land Marriott sold them a few years ago.

 

[TravelTime]

One thing I did not check into before electing my Vistana points is whether it is still possible to bank 2023 points. I should have asked or I guess I will need to rent them. Does anyone know if there is an extended deadline for banking like they did for electing?

Another question. I am confused by looking at which points were used for my existing reservations. For example, for Crystal Shores next year, it says:
Points Applied: 6,600
2023 use year

So if they are banked points are they really 2022 points being used in 2023 since I am making the reservation for 2023?

 

[SueDonJ]

One thing I did not check into before electing my Vistana points is whether it is still possible to bank 2023 points. I should have asked or I guess I will need to rent them. Does anyone know if there is an extended deadline for banking like they did for electing?

Assuming elected points from Vistana ownerships have the same calendar-year JAN1-DEC31 Use Year as elected points from Marriott ownerships, then the last day of the Use Year would be 12/31/23. Banking deadlines are either 6 months (Owner, Select, Executive) or 4 months (Presidential, Chairman's Club) prior to the end of the Use Year, so either 6/30/23 or 8/31/23. You have plenty of time to decide if you want to bank 2023 points.