I have owned Marriott since 2001. It is hard to imagine that Marriott owners would have priority over Vistana owners - and the other way around. The premise of Vistana is that home resort resie is 12-8, Staroptions at 8 months. It’s highly unlikely Marriott owners would have access at 8 months. At 6 months, possibly.
But you just don’t know. It is all speculation at this time.
(note to moderator: responding to post in this thread but not really on WSJ topic so feel free to move if needed)
I don't think it would work like this. Just think of it as another exchange company. If you have a 2BR WKORV and decide to go somewhere else you can:
(i) use 148,100 Staroptions via SVN to try Colorado, Atlantis, Kauai etc, in which case your Hawaii week would become available to other SVN owners (in fact, in SVN any unit not reserved at 8 months out becomes available for exchange, which may force some owners to use SOs whether they want to or not)
(ii) Deposit in II, in which case your week would be available to other II exchangers or
(iii) exchange via the Marriott DC (using maybe 4600 DC points based on rumors), in which case only other Marriott DC members can book that WKORV week
In the latter case it would be subject to those Exchange Company rules. They could also conceivably allow you to covert to the DC points and make a trade even at 12 or 13 months out, in which case other DC members may also book WKORV at 13 months out, even before other WKORV owners making a home resort reservation. I do see that as a potential problem for home resort owners so I actually went and looked at what the formal documents say (this is from WKV Owner Information). Based on my reading, it seems to me that home resort reservations should at least be safe up to 10 months out but I am not a lawyer so I can't tell you how ambiguous it is. I highlighted what seem to be key some statements.
Required Reservation Periods. There must be at least one “Home Resort Reservation Period.”
(i) The Home Resort Reservation Period must permit an Owner having a Floating Vacation
Ownership Interest to request a reservation, without competition from anyone who does not
own a Vacation Ownership Interest in the Plan, for a Vacation Unit that is the same Unit Type
as the Owner’s Unit Type and for any Vacation Period in the same Season as the Owner’s Use
Week, provided that nobody else has reserved the Vacation Period and that no other persons
have the exclusive right to reserve the Vacation Period. The Reservation Period for Floating
Vacation Ownership Interests must last at least sixty (60) days.
(ii) The Home Resort Reservation Period must permit an Owner having a Fixed Vacation
Ownership Interest to have the exclusive right to reserve the Owner’s Use Week. The
Reservation Period for Fixed Vacation Ownership Interest Owners must last at least sixty (60)
days. During this Reservation Period, an Owner may only reserve a Vacation Unit that is the
same Unit Type as the Owner’s Unit Type.
(iii) Owners of Ultra Premium or Event Vacation Ownership Interests do not have a required
Reservation Period, as the Plan Operator will reserve a specific Use Week for the Vacation
Periods associated with the Vacation Ownership Interests of such Owners. However, the Plan
Operator may establish specific Reservation Periods during which Owners of either Event or
Ultra Premium Vacation Ownership Interests may give up their special reservation rights for
that Use Year and instead be treated as if the Owner had a Floating Vacation Period for that
Use Year, pursuant to Section 4.9.
(iv) The Reservation Period for Fixed and Floating Vacation Ownership Interest Owners
cannot begin more than eighteen months before the Check-in Day for any Use Period.
b) Other Reservation Periods. The reservation rules may create other Reservation Periods that are Home
Resort Reservation Periods.
c) Club Reservation Periods. “Club Reservation Period” means a Reservation Period when Club
Members may reserve a Use Period in any Club Unit (including a Vacation Unit in this Plan) that nobody
else has reserved and that no other persons have the exclusive right to reserve. There must be one or more
Club Reservation Periods at any time when the Club is no longer affiliated with an External Exchange
Program. There may also be Club Reservation Periods at times when the Club is affiliated with an External
Exchange Program. The Reservation Rules may give different names to the Club Reservation Periods.
d) Developer and Club Operator Reservations. The reservation rules may create one or more
Reservation Periods during which the Developer and/or the Club Operator may reserve any Use Period in a
Club Unit that nobody else has reserved and that no other persons have the exclusive right to reserve. This
means the Owners and Other Club Members may have to compete with the Developer and/or the Club
Operator for a reservation. This Reservation Period may not start more than sixty (60) days before the
Check-in-Day of a Use Period. It may overlap with other Home Resort or Club Reservation Periods.
e) Additional Reservation Periods. In addition to these reservation periods, there may be other
Reservation Periods. They may appear, for example, when the Developer creates a new Unit Type or a
new kind of Vacation Ownership Interest or when the Club Operator creates new kinds of Reservation
Periods as permitted by the Club Documents.
