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Any benefit to owning multiple weeks?

Slinger

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I know this is such a rookie question and I feel like I should know better. I don't have that much expertise with the Vistana system however. Most of my time is spent in the Marriott world.

I know that you can book at 13 versus 12 months with Marriott by having multiple weeks. Is there any such benefit with Vistana properties?

Thanks for helping me figure this out. :)
 

GregT

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Marriott: Maui Ocean Club Lahaina Villas (3BRx5), Ko Olina, Shadow Ridge II, Willow Ridge, Aruba Ocean Club, DC Points HGVC: Flamingo, Sea World, I-Drive, Starwood Bella (x4), SDO, TradeWinds, Worldmark
I don't believe there is a Marriott-style benefit to owning multiple weeks from a reservations timing perspective. I know there are status levels (3 star, 4 star, 5 star) that are similar to the Executive/Presidential/Chairman but I don't really know what the perks because I believe they were direct purchases. I think is mostly banking and also wait listing privileges.

I'm sure you will get an answer from a long time owner.

Best,

Greg
 

VacationForever

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If you buy resale, there is no difference to benefits of booking window for multiple week owners. If you buy resale mandatory weeks, the network fees apply to the first week, hugely discounted for the 2nd week and free from the 3rd week onwards.
 

DeniseM

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Elite Owner Benefits:

https://www.vistana.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/elite-chart.png

-To qualify towards Elite status, your deeds must have been purchased directly from the developer, or, requalified with developer purchases.

-No one has an advantage when it comes to making reservations - the rules are the same for everyone.
 
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LisaRex

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If I understand correctly, deeded multi-week Marriott owners are allowed a one-month advantage in booking their home resort. However, it's capacity controlled (e.g. capped at no more than 25%), so that single week owners aren't completely squeezed out by the time the 12 month window opens.

I don't know how this advantage translates in their points system, if at all.

To answer your question, no, Starwood does not offer a similar advantage. It was one of the selling points for me when I first bought in Maui, because I had no interest in more than one week.
 

Slinger

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Thanks for the replies and info! Tug is THE best timeshare knowledge base in the world.
 

SueDonJ

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If I understand correctly, deeded multi-week Marriott owners are allowed a one-month advantage in booking their home resort. However, it's capacity controlled (e.g. capped at no more than 25%), so that single week owners aren't completely squeezed out by the time the 12 month window opens.

I don't know how this advantage translates in their points system, if at all.

To answer your question, no, Starwood does not offer a similar advantage. It was one of the selling points for me when I first bought in Maui, because I had no interest in more than one week.

With Marriott Weeks you can only use the 13-mos Reservation Window if you're booking multiple Weeks concurrently/consecutively. So if own multiples but you're only booking a single Week you still have to wait for the 12-mos window. They release 50%, not 25, of the inventory at the 13-mos window.

In the Points system the Reservation Windows (13/12/10-mos) are based on tiered ownership levels and subject to minimum nights per stay. For examples, the highest tier can book 1+ nights at 13-mos, while the lowest tier has to wait for 10-mos to book less than 7 nights. Similar to Weeks, they cap 13-mos inventory at 50% and open everything at 12-mos, which makes high-demand inventory extremely scarce at 10-mos.

Like Starwood, Marriott doesn't differentiate between direct- and external resale-purchases for purposes of booking owner stays. (There are, though, differences relative to exchanging timeshare ownership for Marriott Rewards Points and relative to the enrollment eligibility of Weeks in the Destination Club Points program.)
 
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LisaRex

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With Marriott Weeks you can only use the 13-mos Reservation Window if you're booking multiple Weeks concurrently/consecutively. So if own multiples but you're only booking a single Week you still have to wait for the 12-mos window. They release 50%, not 25, of the inventory at the 13-mos window.

In the Points system the Reservation Windows (13/12/10-mos) are based on tiered ownership levels and subject to minimum nights per stay. For examples, the highest tier can book 1+ nights at 13-mos, while the lowest tier has to wait for 10-mos to book less than 7 nights. Similar to Weeks, they cap 13-mos inventory at 50% and open everything at 12-mos, which makes high-demand inventory extremely scarce at 10-mos.

Thanks for the clarification. Question: Do multi-week owners every try and "game" the system by booking back-to-back weeks at 13 months out, only to drop one of the weeks? Or are there controls in place to prevent that?
 

SueDonJ

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Thanks for the clarification. Question: Do multi-week owners every try and "game" the system by booking back-to-back weeks at 13 months out, only to drop one of the weeks? Or are there controls in place to prevent that?

Multi-week owners get high-demand reservations all the time by taking advantage of the 13-mos window, booking multiple Weeks and later cancelling or depositing to II some of those intervals. A few years ago Marriott put out a revised Reservation Procedures document that appeared to give them the right to cancel all reservations if an owner made changes to any that were booked in a single transaction but they haven't enforced the restriction. At the time the reps started advising that if we waited until the 12-mos mark to make changes then we wouldn't be penalized, so most of us follow that advice, but there are plenty of reports that changes during that one month period still aren't incurring penalties.

As a multi-Week owner I like that advantage and have used it to get Memorial Day holiday intervals, depositing the ones I don't need in II. As long as they continue to allow it then I don't have a problem with owners doing it. BUT, I'd prefer that they enforce the restrictions so as to give all owners a more fair shot at high-demand/holiday intervals, so I won't complain if/when they start to enforce their rules as stated.
 
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