It’s no secret that timeshare resales offer a great way to get into a Vistana property. When purchasing a Vistana timeshare on the resale market, there are some differences between buying a retail timeshare directly from Vistana. In this article, we will cover all the differences between buying resale and retail, then walk you through a completely developer-accepted way of making a resale purchase get all the same benefits you would receive if you purchased it directly from Vistana. However, there is a process that is required in order to receive these benefits that’s called “requalifying” your resale purchase.
Not only do you get all of the benefits of full retail ownership when requalifying (also referred to as retro’ing), but you can also save thousands of dollars on the purchase price. Read on to find out what requalifying is and how to go about it. Let’s get started!
What Is Requalifying?
Requalifying describes when a Vistana timeshare buyer has purchased their ownership on the resale market, then makes a subsequent purchase directly from the developer. Doing so can enable the previous purchase to be “requalified”, which restores all benefits lost by buying resale, and makes the buyer’s previous resale purchase as if it was purchased directly from Vistana.
There are a few key points to make sure this can be successfully done that we will explore later in the article, but this is the basic premise of requalifying a Vistana resale purchase.
Retail Vs Resale Vistana Benefits
There are a few benefits that do not transfer to Vistana buyers on the resale market, so let’s first explore what you stand to gain by requalifying your resale purchase.
Elite Benefits
Vistana resale purchases do not count towards qualifying for Elite Level benefits. If you already have Elite benefits, a resale purchase will not effect your existing benefits, but it will not count towards qualifying for a higher Elite benefit level.
Mandatory vs Voluntary Resorts: StarOptions
The use of StarOptions does not transfer to the resale market if you are purchasing at a voluntary resort. If you choose to purchase at a resort that is a mandatory resort, StarOptions benefits will transfer on the resale market. Depending on which home resort you choose to purchase, requalifying your purchase could restore the ability to use StarOptions after your purchase.
If you’d like to learn more about which resorts are voluntary and which resorts are mandatory, you can read our in-depth article on the subject here: Vistana Mandatory vs Voluntary Resorts: Westin & Sheraton Resale.
Converting StarOptions Into Bonvoy Points
With Vistana, resale owners will not be able to convert their StarOptions to Bonvoy points, which are used to book stays at hotels outside of the Vistana Signature Network of resorts.
How To Requalify A Vistana Resale Purchase
Let’s breakdown exactly how you can accomplish this step by step:
- First off, you need to make the resale purchase of your choice, then have it recorded.
- Get in contact with a Vistana salesperson who works for the resort you want to buy from the Vistana directly. Get all the details of purchasing your desired vacation ownership interest in a contract form.
- At this point, it is imperative to ensure that the contract states the sale of the new property is contingent on the requalification of your previous resale purchase. Ensure the verbiage states that you are to receive all retail benefits, this can be accomplished with an addendum to your purchase agreement. It’s also wise to ensure that the number of StarOptions your resale purchase will qualify for is detailed in the contract so there are no surprises later on.
- Ensure you are provided with copies of all the documents used by the original owner of the resale with your legal name, which you will need to sign at the same time as your new direct retail purchase. These documents include; SVO Notification, SVN Owner Membership Agreement, StarPoints Disclosure Statement, II Membership Application, and SVN Elite Level Enrollment Form.
Restrictions For Requalifying
It’s important to note that there are a few restrictions for what you need to purchase in order to get your previous resale purchase to be requalified. Let’s explore:
- You must purchase the same annual usage as your existing resale ownership. If your previous resale ownership is an annual usage, you must purchase an annual usage ownership directly from Vistana to have your previous resale purchase requalified. If you have an every other year usage ownership, you can purchase another every other year usage ownership.
- You must already have transferred the first resale purchase, and ensure the deed has been recorded of your resale purchase. There are cases of people claiming to have future resale purchases requalified (buying direct first, then buying resale), but in practice there are mixed results with using this method. With such a large purchase it’s highly recommended not to leave requalification to chance. Once you have already purchased a retail ownership, you’ve lost all leverage in the process of having a resale purchase requalified.
- There are no restrictions as to which resort, or a minimum price, that you must purchase from the developer in order to requalify a previous resale purchase. In order to save the most money overall, it would be wise to buy as much usage as possible with the initial resale purchase, then purchase a smaller vacation ownership interest directly from Vistana.
Verifying Your Resale Purchase Has Been Requalified
Once your new retail purchase has been recorded, you can login to vistana.com/dashboard, and verify that your previous resale purchase has been requalified by seeing the number of StarOptions shown in the “Account Balance” section of your dashboard.
Learn More About Vistana Signature Network
So, there you have it! We hope this article has given you the education and confidence to purchase whatever Vistana property you’d like on the resale market, without worrying about missing out on any benefits. This method does require an additional purchase from the developer, but when averaging the costs of doing this, you are able to get much more vacation time for a lot less money.
If you’re interested in learning more about Vistana timeshare, you can always read our back catalog of Vistana articles that cover a wide array of topics from using your timeshare to which Vistana timeshare may be the best to buy on the resale market for you.
If you’d like any assistance in shopping for the perfect Vistana property for you, whether that’s at a Westin or Sheraton property, feel free to contact our team of Licensed Real Estate agents, and we can walk you through the process.
