shearton vistana villages exchange power

I was wondering if the vistana villages has any exchange power with interval. I am thinking about buying at the villages but I would like to know how does it exchange

problem with anything in orlando is that there are SO many resort and lodging options now that it's too Saturated. we own a week there since 2000 and have not had that much luck exchanging.

hung5 wrote:

problem with anything in orlando is that there are SO many resort and lodging options now that it's too Saturated. we own a week there since 2000 and have not had that much luck exchanging.

Thank you so much for responding, are you part of II and what week do you own

Here's the scoop on exchange power. It actually has nothing to do with the saturation of resorts, rather a combination of 5 factors: location, season, size, quality and amenities. If you break any of these timeshare "rules", you will have difficulty with exchanges. Let's go over these briefly: 1) location is vitally important. If you own in one of the top three tourist destinations, you will have an easier time (3 is Hawaii, 2 is Las Vegas, 1 is Orlando) due to the demand. 2)The season in which you own is extremely important, because not only do you need a high or red time of year in which you own, you need a week that can be used as floating time throughout the year (be very leery of points based systems like Sheraton, marriott, dvc, fairfield, etc.). 3) SIZE, SIZE, SIZE of the unit you own has been playing a huge factor. According to II, in their catalog (2007/2008) on page 12, "a unit with more private sleeping areas yields more trading power", and this is becoming a big trend. 4) Quality: if you have something less than a 5 star or gold crown, you are making a huge mistake. 5) Amenities: in your unit and on the resort will yield a higher demand, if you have a plethera of stuff, not just a pool and a barbeque grill. You've made the right choice in orlando, now go find at least, a three bedroom unit (preferably not a lock-off which is somewhat hard to find) or a four bedroom in the land of timeshare. Remember, the big rule of timeshare is to trade equally or down. Don't ever count on trading up just because you own with a "big name" or you own in a points system. 'nuff sed....

saturation of resorts IS a factor. common sense. More resorts, more availability. People shopping to exchange or rent will have more choices in Orlando because of the number of resort options available. yes, your five factors are very important but to completely ignore the saturation of resorts in a destination would not be wise.

I am just speaking from experience of having this for six-plus years now. For example, there are much fewer resorts in Hawaii, and it is a very popular destination, so owning a week in Hawaii would have more power than owning a week in Orlando, because there are just many more places available. DESPITE the fact that Orlando is the top destination in the world. They rate Orlando No. 1 based on that, not trading power.

We have a week at the Vistana and have not been able to trade for anything desired. We went to Hawaii on a direct exchange, not RCI, through research and hard work online. Other than that, Las Vegas (12 miles out of town), Sedona, and Vacation Village in Orlando (not recommended) are the only places we have been able to get.

Ditto what hung said below.

hung5 wrote:

saturation of resorts IS a factor. common sense. More resorts, more availability. People shopping to exchange or rent will have more choices in Orlando because of the number of resort options available. yes, your five factors are very important but to completely ignore the saturation of resorts in a destination would not be wise.

OK, I'll grant you that saturation is somewhat of an issue, but not the way that you think, so read on...the problem is that there is saturation of units that break these "rules" of timeshare. If anyone has a problem exchanging their unit, they have "violated" one of these rules. I have a true three bedroom in orlando, 5 star and have no problem trading( last five years: hawaii, italy, vegas, hawaii again, puerto vallarta, booked this year for Kenya and Vegas). I also have a two bedroom and I have an awful time exchanging it, but I own during speed weeks in daytona(that was fortunate)... No one, who has a large group with them, wants to stay in a two bedroom lock-off (or lock out, however you'd like to say it), which sleeps six or eight uncomfortably, because of a pullout couch, rather, they would prefer a unit that has the beds to match the heads, hence more private sleeping area. Since 2001 this trend has become more prevalent, because families and groups of people tend to travel together. How does that translate to your ownership position? Well, think about what you have and where you want to go... You need a bargaining chip and no matter what anyone tells you, you need a big chip. Even if you're like me and travel with two people, it is in your best interest to have a larger unit, even if you are going into a smaller unit on vacation. You just have more trading power. To put it simply, 2 br lockoffs are bad, one bedrooms are awful, studios are even worse. There is a flood of these units in orlando and no one who does their homework wants to own them, no one wants to stay in them. Unfortunately, they are worthless. Since the inception of timeshare in the Orlando area, the big companies were too stupid to think out of the box, so they went with the building trend, more recently like vistana villages, marriott, and others, they built more lock-offs. They ignored the owners needs and lined their pockets. Unfortunately, people allowed and are allowing themselves to be duped into buying these units. When I puchased my second ownership in 1999, I learned from my purchasing mistakes of 1986. To look at the exchanging trends, go to the ARDA website, go to the Orange County Convention and visitors bureau, the Las vegas convention and vistors authority, the state of hawaii to look at the trends. Look, I can make a general blanket statement, but I won't because I live and work in the vacation industry every day. It was my fault to try to put things in laymens terms. It is my job to study the trends and the facts are: There is an incredible need for more, larger timeshare units in the greater Orlando area. The problem is that the mouse house has 43 square miles and companies are looking for places to build. For example, one company, Consolidated resorts, has moved part of their operation to the Orlando area and in order to set the trend, they are currently selling three and four bedroom, purpose built units, six miles from Mickey's place (no lock-offs). Their projected sell out date is mid 2008. I live in the Orlando aerea because of these statistics, I own timeshare in the Olrando area for the same reason, but you'll never see me stay in my unit! Your conclusions about Orlando is pure heresay, so here are the stats: Demand for units larger than two bedrooms increased over the last two years by 38%. Timeshare occupancy was up 18.8% in Orlando last year, but occupancy in hotels was down... To recover from the boon of timeshare occupancy, companies are forecasting an increase of purpose built units by 15.6% in 2007 and 2008. The fact is that as Orlando metro grows and as mickey grows, demand will continue to grow. There is no saturation of quality, functional units for the 15 year trend. Non-functional resorts such as Magic tree, fantasy world, Celebrity resorts spas (poinciana), and Grand Lake, are problematic, so you can always get into these resorts, because no one would send their enemies to these places... The conclusion that hawaii has more trading power is completely wrong: When you stated that hawaii was popular what did you mean by "popular"? You see, there are three TYPES of "popular resort areas", so which one of those did you mean? You still have to look at the demand factors and the timing trends. If your "common sense" approach worked everywhere, the resort area that has the highest demand would be in Cape Cod, but alas it is not, even though it is a popular resort area and has only a few resorts. The facts are that Hawaii has a good tourism rate, tourism projection increases are small, but demand for timeshare use is still high, although not as high as 6 other locations throughout the USA and Europe. Passenger traffic in hawaii has actually increased from asia, which is good, but the huge majority of those folks stay in hotels. It has become increasingly more expensive for American families to travel to hawaii (with regard to a family of four to include, airfare, rental car, meals, lodging, attractions and tours). The average american family stays in the lower 48 and the trend now is to drive or fly on a discount airline to get to their destination. Typically folks living outside of the US are only a small percentage of the travelers to US destintions for holidays...

OK, so lets recap: -There is saturation only in units with no demand in Orlando and those units are: 2's, 1's and studios. -The demand for useable timeshare increased in Orlando and will exponentially over the next 15 years. -If you have a problem exchanging, you have broken one of the "rules". -No matter what you own, it's yours, so enjoy it to your fullest. -The larger vacation companies, until recently, have ignored your needs. -Hawaii is not the highest in demand for exchanges, neither is vegas, cape cod, wisconsin dells or french lick. -No matter where you own, you need more private sleeping areas. -Smaller lock-off units are just gimmicks to get you to buy, especially biennial ownership. -3 and 4 bedroom units (whether purpose built or lock-off) are more advantageous for an owner.

We owned an October one bedroom timeshare at a gold crown resort in Kissimmee and we never had any problems getting any exchanges we wanted (into two bedroom units at that).

It's true that some Orlando resorts have greater trading power than others. I think it depends on the resort that you own in the Orlando area.

jayjay wrote:

We owned an October one bedroom timeshare at a gold crown resort in Kissimmee and we never had any problems getting any exchanges we wanted (into two bedroom units at that).

It's true that some Orlando resorts have greater trading power than others. I think it depends on the resort that you own in the Orlando area.

Don't forget there is one more factor in considering exchange - the timeline. I have a one bedroom unit in a non-popular region, but have traded to go to a two bedroom in Orlando and one bedroom in Smuggler's for two years. You have to deposit early and plan ahead. I deposited as soon as I could and got the units I wanted over a year before the travel date.

Also there is always extra vacation or last minute weeks you can purchase for a reasonable cost compared to staying in a hotel room. Use you homeresort or try to rent it out and buy extra weeks for travel elsewhere.

chrisj87 wrote:

OK, I'll grant you that saturation is somewhat of an issue, but not the way that you think, so read on...the problem is that there is saturation of units that break these "rules" of timeshare. If anyone has a problem exchanging their unit, they have "violated" one of these rules. I have a true three bedroom in orlando, 5 star and have no problem trading( last five years: hawaii, italy, vegas, hawaii again, puerto vallarta, booked this year for Kenya and Vegas). I also have a two bedroom and I have an awful time exchanging it, but I own during speed weeks in daytona(that was fortunate)... No one, who has a large group with them, wants to stay in a two bedroom lock-off (or lock out, however you'd like to say it), which sleeps six or eight uncomfortably, because of a pullout couch, rather, they would prefer a unit that has the beds to match the heads, hence more private sleeping area. Since 2001 this trend has become more prevalent, because families and groups of people tend to travel together. How does that translate to your ownership position? Well, think about what you have and where you want to go... You need a bargaining chip and no matter what anyone tells you, you need a big chip. Even if you're like me and travel with two people, it is in your best interest to have a larger unit, even if you are going into a smaller unit on vacation. You just have more trading power. To put it simply, 2 br lockoffs are bad, one bedrooms are awful, studios are even worse. There is a flood of these units in orlando and no one who does their homework wants to own them, no one wants to stay in them. Unfortunately, they are worthless. Since the inception of timeshare in the Orlando area, the big companies were too stupid to think out of the box, so they went with the building trend, more recently like vistana villages, marriott, and others, they built more lock-offs. They ignored the owners needs and lined their pockets. Unfortunately, people allowed and are allowing themselves to be duped into buying these units. When I puchased my second ownership in 1999, I learned from my purchasing mistakes of 1986. To look at the exchanging trends, go to the ARDA website, go to the Orange County Convention and visitors bureau, the Las vegas convention and vistors authority, the state of hawaii to look at the trends. Look, I can make a general blanket statement, but I won't because I live and work in the vacation industry every day. It was my fault to try to put things in laymens terms. It is my job to study the trends and the facts are: There is an incredible need for more, larger timeshare units in the greater Orlando area. The problem is that the mouse house has 43 square miles and companies are looking for places to build. For example, one company, Consolidated resorts, has moved part of their operation to the Orlando area and in order to set the trend, they are currently selling three and four bedroom, purpose built units, six miles from Mickey's place (no lock-offs). Their projected sell out date is mid 2008. I live in the Orlando aerea because of these statistics, I own timeshare in the Olrando area for the same reason, but you'll never see me stay in my unit! Your conclusions about Orlando is pure heresay, so here are the stats: Demand for units larger than two bedrooms increased over the last two years by 38%. Timeshare occupancy was up 18.8% in Orlando last year, but occupancy in hotels was down... To recover from the boon of timeshare occupancy, companies are forecasting an increase of purpose built units by 15.6% in 2007 and 2008. The fact is that as Orlando metro grows and as mickey grows, demand will continue to grow. There is no saturation of quality, functional units for the 15 year trend. Non-functional resorts such as Magic tree, fantasy world, Celebrity resorts spas (poinciana), and Grand Lake, are problematic, so you can always get into these resorts, because no one would send their enemies to these places... The conclusion that hawaii has more trading power is completely wrong: When you stated that hawaii was popular what did you mean by "popular"? You see, there are three TYPES of "popular resort areas", so which one of those did you mean? You still have to look at the demand factors and the timing trends. If your "common sense" approach worked everywhere, the resort area that has the highest demand would be in Cape Cod, but alas it is not, even though it is a popular resort area and has only a few resorts. The facts are that Hawaii has a good tourism rate, tourism projection increases are small, but demand for timeshare use is still high, although not as high as 6 other locations throughout the USA and Europe. Passenger traffic in hawaii has actually increased from asia, which is good, but the huge majority of those folks stay in hotels. It has become increasingly more expensive for American families to travel to hawaii (with regard to a family of four to include, airfare, rental car, meals, lodging, attractions and tours). The average american family stays in the lower 48 and the trend now is to drive or fly on a discount airline to get to their destination. Typically folks living outside of the US are only a small percentage of the travelers to US destintions for holidays...

OK, so lets recap: -There is saturation only in units with no demand in Orlando and those units are: 2's, 1's and studios. -The demand for useable timeshare increased in Orlando and will exponentially over the next 15 years. -If you have a problem exchanging, you have broken one of the "rules". -No matter what you own, it's yours, so enjoy it to your fullest. -The larger vacation companies, until recently, have ignored your needs. -Hawaii is not the highest in demand for exchanges, neither is vegas, cape cod, wisconsin dells or french lick. -No matter where you own, you need more private sleeping areas. -Smaller lock-off units are just gimmicks to get you to buy, especially biennial ownership. -3 and 4 bedroom units (whether purpose built or lock-off) are more advantageous for an owner.

what about these two bedroom deluxe that they have like at star island two bedroom with a third small room it is a five star resort do you think this will give me better exchange then vistana villages.

chrisj87 wrote:

Here's the scoop on exchange power. It actually has nothing to do with the saturation of resorts, rather a combination of 5 factors: location, season, size, quality and amenities. If you break any of these timeshare "rules", you will have difficulty with exchanges. Let's go over these briefly: 1) location is vitally important. If you own in one of the top three tourist destinations, you will have an easier time (3 is Hawaii, 2 is Las Vegas, 1 is Orlando) due to the demand. 2)The season in which you own is extremely important, because not only do you need a high or red time of year in which you own, you need a week that can be used as floating time throughout the year (be very leery of points based systems like Sheraton, marriott, dvc, fairfield, etc.). 3) SIZE, SIZE, SIZE of the unit you own has been playing a huge factor. According to II, in their catalog (2007/2008) on page 12, "a unit with more private sleeping areas yields more trading power", and this is becoming a big trend. 4) Quality: if you have something less than a 5 star or gold crown, you are making a huge mistake. 5) Amenities: in your unit and on the resort will yield a higher demand, if you have a plethera of stuff, not just a pool and a barbeque grill. You've made the right choice in orlando, now go find at least, a three bedroom unit (preferably not a lock-off which is somewhat hard to find) or a four bedroom in the land of timeshare. Remember, the big rule of timeshare is to trade equally or down. Don't ever count on trading up just because you own with a "big name" or you own in a points system. 'nuff sed....

A correction to a statement about points based systems.

My wife and I own 4 Marriott timeshare villas. The Marriott timeshares I am familiar with are not points based systems. Marriott sells variable weeks in seasons. Grande Vista in Orlando has at least Platinum (high demand winter months) and Gold. I think there is a third. West Palm Beach Marriott has Platinum, Gold and Silver. Marriotts in Hilton Head have Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze based on demand.

The Marriott points system is similar to point systems used by credit card companies and airlines. If you stay at Marriott hotels or use a Marriott credit card, you can earn points which can be redeemed for travel awards or merchandise. This is totally unrelated to timeshare ownership, however, if you purchase a timeshare from Marriott, you may deposit your week with Marriott for award points.

Tim

hung5 wrote:

saturation of resorts IS a factor. common sense. More resorts, more availability. People shopping to exchange or rent will have more choices in Orlando because of the number of resort options available. yes, your five factors are very important but to completely ignore the saturation of resorts in a destination would not be wise.

I am just speaking from experience of having this for six-plus years now. For example, there are much fewer resorts in Hawaii, and it is a very popular destination, so owning a week in Hawaii would have more power than owning a week in Orlando, because there are just many more places available. DESPITE the fact that Orlando is the top destination in the world. They rate Orlando No. 1 based on that, not trading power.

We have a week at the Vistana and have not been able to trade for anything desired. We went to Hawaii on a direct exchange, not RCI, through research and hard work online. Other than that, Las Vegas (12 miles out of town), Sedona, and Vacation Village in Orlando (not recommended) are the only places we have been able to get.

I cannot help with the Vistana problem but I would like to say that I was told that waterfront property had better exchange value than property that was not on the water. We were told that it is easier to exchange into Orlando than out of it for the same reason you mentioned, too much available accomodations.

Because we use our timeshare, we purchased a lockout villa to give us two weeks for the price of one. In other words, we "lock out" our Mariott villa when we select our vacation time within our season. We reserve the lockout for the first week and the 1 bedroom for the second. Our additional vacation cost is the lockout fee of $85. We have also been able to exchange our lockout for other Marriott timeshares withing a 60 day travel window when we had that flexibility.

You might consider that for exchanging. If you are an Interval International member, you can request an exchange as far in advance as you can without depositing your week. During the time you are waiting for what you want, you can also use the internet to check II for other locations you may be able to go to. My wife and I exchanged into a Marriott on Hilton Head a week in advance of the occupancy date. We also went to Marriott Newport a day or two before occupancy. We were planning to stay at a hotel when someone deposited the week with II and we were able to get it.

Tim

I am curious about the internal exhange within the Starwood system for those who own at the SV Villages. Did you have a problem exchanging to other Starwood resorts with your Star Options? I have owned at the Villages for 4 years now and have always gone back to the villages each time. I want to exchange next year for another property within the Starwood family. Possibly Hawaii, did anyone have difficulty doing this?

Ps. With so many resorts within the Starwood system why would you not use their resorts and skip the II or RCI fee.

As an added comment I do know for a fact that all property's are not rated the same. I own another Gold Crown resort in Orlando and can never get the resort that I want to exchange for. That resort is a 3 bedroom (no Lock-off), Gold Crown, Easter Week. I cannot get an equal 3 bedroom water front property. I had a search on with that property for 2 years in advance for Hawaii the best I could get was less than a Gold Crown 1 bedroom. I also did a search for a 3 bedroom in the Las Vegas area. The best I got was a 2 bedroom outside of Las Vegas and that fell in August.