[update] Sheraton Flex upcoming changes

[cubigbird]

I attended an owners update today and heard some new things about Sheraton Flex that I have not seen discussed on this board. As usual take this with a grain of salt as it came from sales, but it was presented in writing. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures.

1) Effective 2017, Sheraton Flex Homeoptions will be able to be used to book Hyatt Residence Club properties now that VSE is part of ILG. Hyatt TS will not be a part of VSE but accessible with Flex HO. Westin resorts will not be able to do this. Only Flex.
2) New resorts will begin conversion or sales in 2017 in addition to the ongoing Nanea project. Most notable: St. Regis Residence Club in Aspen, CO, Westin Cabo. I didn't know St. Regis was part of this.
3) Sheraton Flex 67,100 and 81,000 points were being sold for approx $24,000 and $28,000 respectively.
4)Apparently 3-5 Star Elite is being "grandfathered" in and supposedly the 5 Star Elite requirement increased at some point in the past. It looks like Elite Sttaus will stay however could be subject to a higher requirement.
5)You will be able to deposit less than a week (of Flex Options) in II. Meaning you can exchange in increments of less than a week / a modification of the II "short stay exchange" program.

 

[VacationForever]

Great update. Thank you! The Hyatt piece is huge. Do you know if it is at 6 months and can they put in a request the way Hyatt owners do currently? Do you know if they will take an existing week, one that they are interested in, and apply 80% to the purchase price of Flex? Or if they still retro?

 

[cubigbird]

They ARE still allowing retros and the amount of new spening is still min $20k. They didn't give any indication that will go away. They REALLY REALLY wanted my SVR fixed July 4th week and there was no way I was going to trade that into Flex. Yes they will take trade in value and apply to Flex.

I did not find any additional details about Flex getting access to Hyatt or request timeframe, only that it will be eventually capable.

 

[The Haileys]

When we were there in May, they really, really, really wanted us to convert our existing EOY Flex with 81K SOs, and EOY WKORV 81K SO to 162K SO Flex - doubling our SOs, giving us full credit for both ownerships, costing "only" 18K to do so. They told us that Flex ownership would allow trading in II just like we trade SOs in SVN/VSE, instead of the current deposit system, where the trading value of the properties varies so widely. Being cynical, we figured that would devalue Maui rather than elevate the Flex properties.

They also were really pushing the Elite status. They said that the reservation tiering would be getting more stratified, almost to the point where there will be very few properties available for non-Elites to reserve outside of their home resort due to the influx of Hyatt owners being able to trade for VSE properties. They also mentioned that the required amount of ownership to qualify for Elite status would likely be increasing - they didn't know when or by how much. This was literally hours before the merger went final.

We just picked up 67.1K SOs at SVV Bella for the cost of closing ... I wonder if they'd still be interested in converting us? I'd kinda like to go with the lower MFs and get out of the Charlie Foxtrot going down in Maui.

 

[JudyS]

I would love to get access to the Hyatt properties. But buying Sheraton Flex, even resale, will have to wait until my finances improve.

Anyone have an idea what the "conversion rate" would be between FlexOptions and Hyatt Points?

 

[Cindybreeland]

All true

I attended an owners update today and heard some new things about Sheraton Flex that I have not seen discussed on this board. As usual take this with a grain of salt as it came from sales, but it was presented in writing. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures.

1) Effective 2017, Sheraton Flex Homeoptions will be able to be used to book Hyatt Residence Club properties now that VSE is part of ILG. Hyatt TS will not be a part of VSE but accessible with Flex HO. Westin resorts will not be able to do this. Only Flex.
2) New resorts will begin conversion or sales in 2017 in addition to the ongoing Nanea project. Most notable: St. Regis Residence Club in Aspen, CO, Westin Cabo. I didn't know St. Regis was part of this.
3) Sheraton Flex 67,100 and 81,000 points were being sold for approx $24,000 and $28,000 respectively.
4)Apparently 3-5 Star Elite is being "grandfathered" in and supposedly the 5 Star Elite requirement increased at some point in the past. It looks like Elite Sttaus will stay however could be subject to a higher requirement.
5)You will be able to deposit less than a week (of Flex Options) in II. Meaning you can exchange in increments of less than a week / a modification of the II "short stay exchange" program.

We bought the flex program three days ago and they told us the same thing .
We're on a every two year program and using their American Express to build our points.

 

[jabberwocky]

I would love to get access to the Hyatt properties. But buying Sheraton Flex, even resale, will have to wait until my finances improve.

I wonder if a Flex resale would be able to trade into the Hyatt properties? From the sound of it the Hyatt properties would not be accessible via SO (given non-access of Westin owners), so is there another points system coming in here with Flex HO that isn't affected by the mandatory/voluntary resale issue? That would be interesting and potentially help give some resale value to the Flex program.

Does anyone know if a Flex contract can be requalified?

Regardless, I won't be converting to Flex. They remind me too much of the subprime loan CDO tranches being sold last decade. Putting a bunch of poor quality properties in a different wrapper doesn't make it AAA.

 

[Ken555]

We bought the flex program three days ago and they told us the same thing .

We're on a every two year program and using their American Express to build our points.

Two completely different point programs...

 

[Helios]

Hyatt will/would be a nice addition for Sheraton Flex.

I had heard about the Elite increase (from Direct sales). I also heard that there was going to be a new level...

 

[GregT]

All,

This would be interesting to see, but I do not believe it will be as good as it appears. I have a similar exchange possibility between my Worldmark account and its sister program, Wyndham. But I can only book Wyndham properties 9 months out from check-in (and there is a $99 exchange fee), and Wyndham owners can start booking 10 months out -- so the best properties are gone before my window opens.

This would be similar to Hyatt owners being able to book Starwood properties 7 months before check-in -- sounds good, but we all know that the best stuff is booked at release right at 8 months before check-in.

We will see how it finally looks, but I don't think it will be that beneficial.

Best,

Greg

 

[lizap]

I agree with you Greg. If this turns out to be true, unless existing Hyatt owners are allowed to book Flex, this is not going to be good for us, as there will be more people competing for Hyatt resorts. Vistana, like Worldmark, should give existing Hyatt owners extra time to book other Hyatt resorts.

All,

This would be interesting to see, but I do not believe it will be as good as it appears. I have a similar exchange possibility between my Worldmark account and its sister program, Wyndham. But I can only book Wyndham properties 9 months out from check-in (and there is a $99 exchange fee), and Wyndham owners can start booking 10 months out -- so the best properties are gone before my window opens.

This would be similar to Hyatt owners being able to book Starwood properties 7 months before check-in -- sounds good, but we all know that the best stuff is booked at release right at 8 months before check-in.

We will see how it finally looks, but I don't think it will be that beneficial.

Best,

Greg

 

[heathpack]

All,

This would be interesting to see, but I do not believe it will be as good as it appears. I have a similar exchange possibility between my Worldmark account and its sister program, Wyndham. But I can only book Wyndham properties 9 months out from check-in (and there is a $99 exchange fee), and Wyndham owners can start booking 10 months out -- so the best properties are gone before my window opens.

This would be similar to Hyatt owners being able to book Starwood properties 7 months before check-in -- sounds good, but we all know that the best stuff is booked at release right at 8 months before check-in.

We will see how it finally looks, but I don't think it will be that beneficial.

Best,

Greg

I would assume as well that you'll need Hyatt owners buying in to whatever the new points system is as well. We all own deeded weeks and Hyatt just can't give them to Starwood owners to use. And if Hyatt owners are allowed in to the Starwood system, there will be more competition for the same Starwood properties as well.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I just attended a presentation for Hyatt at Pinon Pointe 3 days ago, and nothing at all was mentioned about a reciprocal arrangement. I am anxious to hear from Hyatt owners about this.

 

[YYJMSP]

I had heard about the Elite increase (from Direct sales). I also heard that there was going to be a new level...

That would be the 10-Star-Elite level, where both the husband and wife are each 5-Star-Elites. Probably comes with some new luggage tags...

Buy now! Limited supply! There're 5 sales going on in the next rooms who each just bought all their units starting from nothing, so you better buy too! Won't be available tomorrow! Now, now, now!

 

[YYJMSP]

Anyone have an idea what the "conversion rate" would be between FlexOptions and Hyatt Points?

I'm still thinking there will be some new universal points currency called IntervalOptions or something like that to let you trade between the systems owned by II.

 

[Denise P]

I attended an owner update at SVV two weeks ago. The desk was smothered in paper so it was very difficult to follow all of the scenarios but I left with the definite impression that Interval style points applies to Exchanges with Marriott (Hyatt not mentioned back then). The rep was keen to stress that the original deeded contracts would have a separate reservation pool to the Flex contracts so presumably Hyatt can only intrude on the Flex pool leaving the old SVN pool in contact for those of us that don't convert.

 

[Cindybreeland]

Flex Sheraton

We received this book (interval)when we bought into the flex program, basically you pay a 99.00 fee to access the resorts which opens up your choices if where to go
I can't figure out how to get the picture in the post

 

[Helios]

That would be the 10-Star-Elite level, where both the husband and wife are each 5-Star-Elites. Probably comes with some new luggage tags...

Buy now! Limited supply! There're 5 sales going on in the next rooms who each just bought all their units starting from nothing, so you better buy too! Won't be available tomorrow! Now, now, now!

I hear you about the 10* for husband and wife.

But, the way it was presented to me did not involve any sales. It was a simple perks discussion started from a courtesy call from my direct sales rep. I have about 250k options that are in the system (in excess of 5* requirements) which would help me get to this new level plus a couple other mandatory properties that are not retroed. I actually trust this direct sales rep who has never tried to sell anything I have not asked to buy/quote.

Of course, sales people at the resorts are a different story.

 

[Helios]

If this actually happens, it seems unfair that Hyatt can trade into Vistana but Vistana's non-Flex cannot trade into Hyatt.

There will continue to be II exchanges into Hyatt but those could get harder to get with this new program.

 

[cubigbird]

I attended an owner update at SVV two weeks ago. The desk was smothered in paper so it was very difficult to follow all of the scenarios but I left with the definite impression that Interval style points applies to Exchanges with Marriott (Hyatt not mentioned back then). The rep was keen to stress that the original deeded contracts would have a separate reservation pool to the Flex contracts so presumably Hyatt can only intrude on the Flex pool leaving the old SVN pool in contact for those of us that don't convert.

This was my impression as well, that this will be accessible from the Flex only and not a traditional owned week and you'd have to buy into the Flex if you want that Hyatt access. Original deed contracts are separate inventory and have to be because that week is guaranteed whereas in the Flex its only available based on availability with underlying weeks in the pool. This is where I still have problems with Flex, owning something and no guarantee of a week. My SVR is fixed and I plan to keep it that way. I own where and when I want to go.

 

[Helios]

2) New resorts will begin conversion or sales in 2017 in addition to the ongoing Nanea project. Most notable: St. Regis Residence Club in Aspen, CO, Westin Cabo. I didn't know St. Regis was part of this.

The St Regis part sounds like a sales lie, but that would be pretty nice if it is true. I imagine the number of SOs would make it prohibitive for some.

 

[cubigbird]

The St Regis part sounds like a sales lie, but that would be pretty nice if it is true. I imagine the number of SOs would make it prohibitive for some.

Surprisingly that was not verbally told to me rather shown to me in writing and included others that I can not remember other than Cabo, PV, Nanea etc. I was surprised too but if it is indeed true I think having a St Regis option would be nice. This particular resort is in Aspen, CO and is a beautiful resort with great service.

 

[Cindybreeland]

Upload of interval book

http://s962.photobucket.com/user/Cindy_Breeland/library/

 

[Helios]

Surprisingly that was not verbally told to me rather shown to me in writing and included others that I can not remember other than Cabo, PV, Nanea etc. I was surprised too but if it is indeed true I think having a St Regis option would be nice. This particular resort is in Aspen, CO and is a beautiful resort with great service.

My guess, if this actually happens, is that it would be virtually impossible to book a sky week. I would imagine Fall weeks will be likely. Hopefully summer weeks can be booked occasionally.

Hopefully, this would start adding other St Regis to the program.

Cautiously optimistic...

 

[Helios]

Has there been any mention about when the conversions will be open for reservations? I am interested in PVR and Cabo.