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Good Combination Memberships with Vistana

zjhasan1976

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For those folks who own Vistana and one or more other timeshares, in your experience, what has been a good combination membership with Vistana (e.g. Marriot, Hilton etc)?

In terms of criteria, it would be a resort provider of similar quality as Vistana and perhaps a different choice of locations?

MFs and Resale prices obviously should also be comparable to Vistana properties.
 

DeniseM

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It's really all about where you want to go. I would start by determining what areas you would like to visit that don't have Vistana resorts, and then use the TUG Ratings and Reviews (Resort Reviews at the top of the page) to browse through the top resorts in those areas, to see which systems have resorts in those areas.
 

zjhasan1976

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I think Vistana covers the usual areas like Florida, Hawaii, California etc. So, something with more international locations (Europe, Asia etc) would be desirable. Just curious of Vistana/Marriot or Vistana/HGVC and whether folks felt, in hindsight, whether would have gone one way or another.
 

tschwa2

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Hilton has a few locations in Scotland and I think one in Tuscany. Marriott has a few locations in Spain and Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok) . There really aren't any systems with good coverage in Europe or Asia at least that are marketed or generally available in the US. Worldmark may have some Australian and pacific locations but you have to buy into the Pacific Club not the US club which I am not even remotely familiar with. I know India and Spain have some vacation clubs but I know nothing about what they involve.
 

CalGalTraveler

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In addition to Scotland and Tuscany, Hilton has Portugal (limited availability), and partnerships with Antarra for Thailand (Bankok and Phuket) and NZ (I've never used so cannot vouch); Fiesta Americana for Mexico locations and Japan (but must speak Japanese); I believe Japan properties are intended to provide local options to their Japanese customers. Hilton also has great presence in NYC (3 properties) and DC. We own HGVC and are planning to buy Vistana because the locations mostly complement each other e.g. Kaanapali, Kauai, Caribbean, Steamboat.
 
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jhac007

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In my situation Marriott/Vistana has worked good for me. I go to Hawaii every other year odd, I purchased Marriott Ko Olina on Oahu and Marriott Waiohai on Kauai for not a lot of money resale (considering). Maui I did not want to purchase because of higher resale prices. Therefore I purchased a Westin Kierland (again a decent resale price), trade into a Maui Westin (with star options) on the odd years and go to Scottsdale (Kierland) on the even years. This gives me at least three weeks in Hawaii on the odd years and the planning works out good without a lot of effort. BTW, my Hawaii trip is not usually prime times!
 

Tucsonadventurer

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For those folks who own Vistana and one or more other timeshares, in your experience, what has been a good combination membership with Vistana (e.g. Marriot, Hilton etc)?

In terms of criteria, it would be a resort provider of similar quality as Vistana and perhaps a different choice of locations?

MFs and Resale prices obviously should also be comparable to Vistana properties.
As far as quality and price I think Hyatt and Marriott are good choices. We own Hyatt and are new Vistana owners. Marriott we liked because of the variety and number of resort but there is not the flexibility of trading within the system with resale as there is with Hyatt. You have to trade within interval and although you get priority trading we have had good luck in interval using our Hyatt points to trade into Marriott. Hyatt points go far in interval as well, better than Vistana, so we will use Hyatt for trades in II when we see something we like. I have not been as impressed with the Hiltons we stayed in but many love it and it is personal preference. Good luck! Let us know what you decide. If we get another one, it will most likely be another Vistana.
 

tperez

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The combination that has worked for us, which is a bit different, is with Diamond Resorts (DRI). While staying at WKORN one year we walked up to the pink palace to check it out and ended up purchasing. The big appeal is the number of resorts, how spread out they are, the ability to use points for stays as short as 2 days, and 50% discounts on reservations under 30/60 days. We use Vistana for the longer vacations, and use DRI for the short getaways. From our home in San Diego, DRI resorts in Palm Springs, Southern Cal, Las Vegas, Arizona, are an easy drive away and are very nice.

Similar to Vistana, there are benefits that you can only get buying from the developer. So we have some developer purchased as well as "resale", if you can call it that. It was pretty easy to find someone on ebay who paid us to take over their DRI points in the US trust.

One caveat about DRI is that they have the worst salespeople and are the hardest sell. We own both Vistana and Marriott and their sales people do not even come close to what we've experienced with DRI. But we just avoid the owner's updates and its fine.
 

blondietink

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We have a different combination than most. We purchased Disney Vacation Club first and used it primarily at WDW. We then expanded to include Starwood/Vistana. We are very happy with the combination and love combining DVC Aulani resort on Oahu with a Staroptions exchange on one of the other Hawaiian islands every other year or so.
 

Helios

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I own with Vistana/Marriott/Hilton and that gets me well covered in HI and SC.
 

zjhasan1976

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I own with Vistana/Marriott/Hilton and that gets me well covered in HI and SC.

If you could choose between a Hilton/Vistana or Marriot/Vistana, what would you say is a better combo in the long run (20-25 years). Factors to consider would be currently small kids but they will grow up in 10 years, international travel, ease of booking and flexibility.
 

CalGalTraveler

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With the pending acquisition of Vistana by Marriott, over 15 to 20 years the systems will most likely operate similarly (if not merge club programs) with a common management structure. You can gain access to Marriott and Hyatt via II today so adding Marriott (unless there is a property during prime season that you desire) would not add much more than what you already have.

Hilton is part of RCI which gives access to (periodic) Disney, and Windham/Worldmark which may provide more location choices and cash vacation getaway options to your existing Vistana/II.

On average, quality of Hilton and Marriott resorts are on par but depending on the locations one may be better than the other. This is like comparing Mercedes to BMWs to Volvos - all high quality with slightly different attributes. IMHO Hyatt tends to be higher quality but fewer locations and much less flexible.

Hilton's points system is perhaps the most flexible program out there where you can upgrade to much more than you own (e.g. penthouse unit) with shorter stays, and borrowing from future years. We can book long weekends very easily, thus stretching our annual points to 2 - 3 shorter vacations per year. With the exception of prime summer in Oahu, ski weeks, and NYC, most resorts have availability during the club trading window at 9 months because most owners do not use their home week opting for the flexibility of point stays during the club window.

After shopping the Marriott weeks system, we decided our next purchase to complement Hilton will be Vistana mandatory because it offered more flexibility with SOs in resale. We also heard Marriott owners complaining that they could not get their weeks in Hawaii unless they purchased another Marriott to get 13 month priority (which greatly increases the cost of buy-in and maintenance fee). Coming from Hilton, we also were surprised by how inflexible the Marriott system was for trading for resale buyers.
 
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zjhasan1976

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With the pending acquisition of Vistana by Marriott, over 15 to 20 years the systems will most likely operate similarly (if not merge club programs) with a common management structure. You can gain access to Marriott and Hyatt via II today so adding Marriott (unless there is a property during prime season that you desire) would not add much more than what you already have.

Hilton is part of RCI which gives access to (periodic) Disney, and Windham/Worldmark which may provide more location choices and cash vacation getaway options to your existing Vistana/II.

On average, quality of Hilton and Marriott resorts are on par but depending on the locations one may be better than the other. This is like comparing Mercedes to BMWs to Volvos - all high quality with slightly different attributes. IMHO Hyatt tends to be higher quality but fewer locations and much less flexible.

Hilton's points system is perhaps the most flexible program out there where you can upgrade to much more than you own (e.g. penthouse unit) with shorter stays, and borrowing from future years. We can book long weekends very easily, thus stretching our annual points to 2 - 3 shorter vacations per year. With the exception of prime summer in Oahu, ski weeks, and NYC, most resorts have availability during the club trading window at 9 months because most owners do not use their home week opting for the flexibility of points so tend to use the club window.

Thank you. Yes, this makes sense. In terms of Apples to Apples comparison, if I have 81,000 points in Platinum Season with Vistana in Vistana Villages - Bella; what is a comparable number of points with Hilton?
 

CalGalTraveler

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I don't know the exact comparison because we are new to Vistana. Rule of thumb is that 7000 points annually in HGVC will get you a 2 bedroom in most locations for one week during platinum season. However, some people do fine with 4,800 points. Oceanfront or Penthouse in Oahu for 1 week during summer starts at 9,600 points. However you can book a shorter stay, borrow from future years to get to 9,600+, or stay in an OV or Garden unit or 1 Bdrm/studio for 7k or less. It is a very flexible system.

Perhaps the best way to determine what you need is to check out the points charts for the Hilton locations that interest you the most.
 

Helios

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If you could choose between a Hilton/Vistana or Marriot/Vistana, what would you say is a better combo in the long run (20-25 years). Factors to consider would be currently small kids but they will grow up in 10 years, international travel, ease of booking and flexibility.
If you are buying resale, the best combo for flexibility would be Vistana (Mandatory)/Hilton.

If you want more locations then Marriott/Hilton. But Marriott is very restrictive if you are a resale buyer.
 

Helios

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With the pending acquisition of Vistana by Marriott, over 15 to 20 years the systems will most likely operate similarly (if not merge club programs) with a common management structure. You can gain access to Marriott and Hyatt via II today so adding Marriott (unless there is a property during prime season that you desire) would not add much more than what you already have.
Are you referring to Marriott's ILG bid?
 

Helios

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Are you referring to Marriott's ILG bid?
Just did some research, it seems like you are talking about VAC buying ILG...

I think this would be good if the systems get fully integrated at some point. I would be looking forward to keeping the Plat Status in the new merged hotel system as the best perk of the 5* Elite followed by the ability to convert to hotel points. Combining my MKO 2 BRLO with my Vistana VOIs would be sweet as well. One can dream occasionally. :cool:
 

alexadeparis

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Thank you. Yes, this makes sense. In terms of Apples to Apples comparison, if I have 81,000 points in Platinum Season with Vistana in Vistana Villages - Bella; what is a comparable number of points with Hilton?

81k in Vistana is One bedroom Platinum so the Hilton equivalent for most resorts is 4,800. However, some of the Newer resorts are 6,200 I think. The general Hilton default point scheme is 4800(1 bed)/7000(2 bed)/9600(3bed) compared to Vistana which is 81,000/148,100/176,700

I own Hyatt, Hilton, Vistana and Wyndham/Shell (waiting for Rofr on Marriott). Personally, I would consider a Wyndham if I were to only have two, which ironically were the first two I had to begin with.

Hilton IS great, I love the rooms, but locations are very concentrated. Unless you love Hawaii Vegas and Orlando, the other locations are harder to get into, and are few and far between. They have bought up some good ones,though, like the Sanibel/Captiva locations.

Hyatt has a higher level of decor and furnishings than Vistana, and also has limited locations, but some of those locations are EPIC. Key West, Sedona, Carmel! Wish they would add more. Expensive MF.

Wyndham is cheap to buy and decent MF but if you have a lot of points and get the Presidential units the rooms are on par with Marriott/ Hilton/ Vistana. The most locations. Trades in RCI. Would be the best of both worlds. If I were to pare down again, I would keep Wyndham and Vistana.
 
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zjhasan1976

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81k in Vistana is One bedroom Platinum so the Hilton equivalent for most resorts is 4,800. However, some of the Newer resorts are 6,200 I think. The general Hilton default point scheme is 4800(1 bed)/7000(2 bed)/9600(3bed) compared to Vistana which is 81,000/148,100/176,700

I own Hyatt, Hilton, Vistana and Wyndham/Shell (waiting for Rofr on Marriott). Personally, I would consider a Wyndham if I were to only have two, which ironically were the first two I had to begin with.

Hilton IS great, I love the rooms, but locations are very concentrated. Unless you love Hawaii Vegas and Orlando, the other locations are harder to get into, and are few and far between. They have bought up some good ones,though, like the Sanibel/Captiva locations.

Hyatt has a higher level of decor and furnishings than Vistana, and also has limited locations, but some of those locations are EPIC. Key West, Sedona, Carmel! Wish they would add more. Expensive MF.

Wyndham is cheap to buy and decent MF but if you have a lot of points and get the Presidential units the rooms are on par with Marriott/ Hilton/ Vistana. The most locations. Trades in RCI. Would be the best of both worlds. If I were to pare down again, I would keep Wyndham and Vistana.
How many points do you need to get into the Presidential units?
 

alexadeparis

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Sorry, I just realized that these will vary by resort. Are they typically limited in availability?

It's hit or miss, some of the inventory is reserved for Presidential points people, but at a certain window anyone can book them.

If your focus is on location rather than level of decor, you will be fine with the regular units. My husband has become a bit of a unit snob, but I think the regular Wyndham units are just fine.
 

cubigbird

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As mentioned before this is very subjective because it all depends on where you want to go. I think HICV is quite an opposite of VSE because other than OL in Orlando & Scottsdale, there is essentially no location overlap. HICV has locations such as Gatlinburg, Galveston, Panama City, Marco Island, Brandon, Lake Geneva, Williamsburg, Vegas, Vermont.
 
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