We also recently attended an owners update at SVV (we were on a 4 night promo, including sales presentation). We originally purchased 81,000 options from developer SVV Bella, EOY, 2 bedroom lock off and then purchased another 81,000 options from the Home owners association resale EYO.
The pitch for FLEX was that we would get more FLEX options, lower maintenance fees, and more flexibility.
The offer: 110,000 FLEX options annually (which could convert to 57,200 spg points) for $38,500, less equity of our two EYO ($25,070), for new money of $13,430, plus the usual fees, and a bonus 60,000 spg points.
The benefits of FLEX we were told (we still have the comparison sheet "Old SNV Program" "New Sheraton FLEX") were in addition to receiving more flex options than star options for lower maintenance fees:
- we would have booking priority at any of the 6 home resorts 12 - 8 months, any season, any size, full week or short stay, any day check in, any day check out, 1 to 14 night reservations, as long as we had enough FLEX options.
- Any remaining FLEX options can be converted to spg points (in increments of 20k), or use in Interval or bank in Interval.
- In order to book any of the other resorts in SVN, it had to be through Interval. But we could deposit our Flex options up to 2 years in advance, and then get priority to book at places like Harbourside, etc.
- 1 FLEX option = 1 Interval point. In Interval, use only the amount of points needed to book the reservation (benefit of this is in old system, a week is a week and you maybe using a higher valued week to book a lower valued week, but with FLEX converting to Interval points, you only use the number of points necessary to book the time you want, saving Interval points for other reservations.
- interval points could be taken back into SPG or StarOptions
Basically we were told we were crazy to be paying such high maintenance fees for the low number of Star Options we have, that 83% of owners are switching to FLEX, and that there won't be anything left for us to trade into using Vistana network as so many owners are moving to FLEX. How could it not be a good deal, if so many owners are converting?
I don't have the proper wording here, but the pitch also seemed to be as much about Interval as it was Vistana - that Interval was investing significant amounts into timesharing, including buying Vistana, and that FLEX's relationship with Interval gave FLEX owners an advantage in Interval to gain access to book other Sheraton / Westin timeshares within Interval. That I would have a better chance of getting a reservation at Harbourside by depositing my FLEX options up to two years in advance in Interval, than I would using my 81,000 Star Options in the Vistana network at 8 months.
We were then offered an Explorer package, to be used at SVV, SVR or Sheraton Broadway Plantation, 7 nights, 2 bedroom villa, plus 70,000 SPG points (originally 60,000 spg points, but increased to 70,000 spg points, which could be converted to 210,000 Marriott points) for $2,695, plus $99 processing fee.
we did not buy FLEX or the Explorer pkg.