Kierland Resort & Spa Sold

Ken555 · Aug 17, 2006

Email I received this morning from SVN:

Recently, the ownership group of The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa decided to sell the hotel to Host Hotels & Resorts. However, Starwood will maintain a long-term management contract at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

When you purchased your villa at The Westin Kierland Villas, it included the legal right to access the rejuvenating amenities not only at The Westin Kierland Villas but also at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa. You can rest assured these benefits remain fully intact. You and your family will still be able to enjoy the refreshing and relaxing amenities and the inspiring grounds. And, as long as the Condominium Association that governs The Westin Kierland Villas exists, so will your right to use the distinctive amenities at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.

As a valued Owner and part of the Starwood Vacation Ownership family, we wanted to address your possible concerns regarding the sale to Host. Again, your ownership at The Westin Kierland Villas will be unaffected. Starwood remains committed to providing you and your family with a lifetime of exceptional vacation experiences.

Sincerely,

Joel Pope
Senior Vice President
Customer Experience and Resort Operations

skim118 · Aug 17, 2006

Kierland was sold in May 2006 to Host Corp; Starwood has retained a 20-yr management contract to run the Hotel.

I still do not like the caveat in their statment:

" And, as long as the Condominium Association that governs The Westin Kierland Villas exists, so will your right to use the distinctive amenities at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa."

Also is the access to pools specifically guaranteed ?

Anybody who can pay $$ can always use the Kierland Spa in any case.

Ever since we were burnt in WKORV (Westin Maui pool access that was promised in 2002 and then reneged in 2005 ) we wanted to make sure that there is legal access to the resort pools in Kierland before we will ever buy in Kierland.

myip · Aug 17, 2006

skim118 said:
Ever since we were burnt in WKORV (Westin Maui pool access that was promised in 2002 and then reneged in 2005 ) we wanted to make sure that there is legal access to the resort pools in Kierland before we will ever buy in Kierland.

Is that mean you can't use Westin Maui pool? Is Westin Maui and WKORV are next to each other?

DeniseM · Aug 17, 2006

myip said:
Is that mean you can't use Westin Maui pool? Is Westin Maui and WKORV are next to each other?

Westin Villa owners and hotel guests all used to be able to use the pools at the Westin Hotel, Sheraton Hotel, and Villas. That policy changed about a year ago. The hotel pools are always far more crowded than the villas, so I think the cancellation of this policy is a good thing for TS owners. Otherwise, when the hotel pools get full, the overflow would come to the villas - and that's exactly why they changed the policy.

No, they are not next to each other. The two hotels are close to each other, but the Villas are about a mile away or about half a mile if you walk up the beach. There is a free shuttle that runs continously between the 3 properties.

Ken555 · Aug 17, 2006

skim118 said:
Ever since we were burnt in WKORV (Westin Maui pool access that was promised in 2002 and then reneged in 2005 ) we wanted to make sure that there is legal access to the resort pools in Kierland before we will ever buy in Kierland.

Is the pool a major factor in your choice of timeshare? Either way, I believe the Hotel and Villas are on different sides of the road from each other, and it's not easy to walk from one to the other (I'm making my first trip to Kierland in a few weeks, so I'm not certain about this...I bought my Kierland Platinum resale almost exclusively for the StarOptions, and with zero consideration of pool access...).

Ken555 · Aug 17, 2006

skim118 said:
Ever since we were burnt in WKORV (Westin Maui pool access that was promised in 2002 and then reneged in 2005 ) we wanted to make sure that there is legal access to the resort pools in Kierland before we will ever buy in Kierland.

Is the pool a major factor in your choice of timeshare? Either way, I believe the Hotel and Villas are on different sides of the road from each other, and it's not easy to walk from one to the other (I'm making my first trip to Kierland in a few weeks, so I'm not certain about this...I bought my Kierland Platinum resale almost exclusively for the StarOptions, and with zero consideration of pool access...).

taffy19 · Aug 17, 2006

I found an interesting web site a few days ago where you can read how many resorts are really owned by the same company. Cendant must be their competition?

I had no idea that this company owns so many of the well-known Hotel & Resort brands that we all know and appreciate but it is constantly changing! Very interesting. It looks like that some of the Marriotts and Westins are owned by the same company.

http://www.hosthotels.com/newsReleases.asp

skim118 · Aug 17, 2006

Ken555 said:
Is the pool a major factor in your choice of timeshare? Either way, I believe the Hotel and Villas are on different sides of the road from each other, and it's not easy to walk from one to the other (I'm making my first trip to Kierland in a few weeks, so I'm not certain about this...I bought my Kierland Platinum resale almost exclusively for the StarOptions, and with zero consideration of pool access...).

The Hotel pool is on par with the timeshare side; but the Hotel side has a nice waterslide & an excellent lazy river. It's just a 7 min walk and there is also a shuttle every 30 min. There are also golf-carts that will take you back and forth .

We have stayed in Kierland thrice (Amex SPG promo, Starwood Explorer package & thru II exchange) and love the timeshare, but we have not pulled the trigger on it yet.

tomandrobin · Aug 18, 2006

We bought Kierland for the staroptions (best bang for the buck) and the Lazy River.....lol.

wendywin · Aug 18, 2006

Kierland Hotel Sale

Ok, lets get back to the task at hand.....discussion of this sale.
I also rcvd the same e-mail as Ken. I am concerned. I have young kids and we DID consider the pools when we made our purchase. The Big water slide and esp. lazy river were big considerations. We were there in May/June of 2006 and participated in lots of activities at the Resort such as Smores and bonfire at dusk for the kids and The Movie night at the Pool (Dive in Movie)
We would be VERY sad for those things not to be available to us in the future. :bawl:

We bought Kierland, to frequent Kierland.
Your thoughts.....tuggers?????

Wendy

BradC · Aug 18, 2006

I'm not sure I understand why everyone is freaking out about this. The point of the note is that the hotel pool facilities ARE still available to villa owners, regardless of the hotel's ownership.

I really don't expect to see the villa condo association dissolving anytime soon.

Me thinks we're making too big of a deal about this.

saluki · Aug 18, 2006

BradC said:
I'm not sure I understand why everyone is freaking out about this. The point of the note is that the hotel pool facilities ARE still available to villa owners, regardless of the hotel's ownership.

I really don't expect to see the villa condo association dissolving anytime soon.

Me thinks we're making too big of a deal about this.

I agree. Why would the condo association ever dissolve?

This seems to be the key phrase of the e-mail:

"When you purchased your villa at The Westin Kierland Villas, it included the legal right to access the rejuvenating amenities not only at The Westin Kierland Villas but also at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa".

Kazakie · Aug 19, 2006

Host Hotels (formerly Host Marriott)

iconnections said:
I found an interesting web site a few days ago where you can read how many resorts are really owned by the same company. Cendant must be their competition?

I had no idea that this company owns so many of the well-known Hotel & Resort brands that we all know and appreciate but it is constantly changing! Very interesting. It looks like that some of the Marriotts and Westins are owned by the same company.

http://www.hosthotels.com/newsReleases.asp

Host Hotels (formerly Host Marriott) was spun off of Marriott International in 1993 with Marriott International focusing on managing properties and the brand and Host would manage the real-estate (there are also tax benefits of being a REIT which Marriott Hotels could not get but the Host REIT could). Since Host is a REIT, it's been diversifying to other properties (not just marriotts) as any good business should.

Starwood and Hilton have been moving this way as well, as the managing a hotel and a brand is far more lucrative and less risky (you get paid if the hotel is full or emplty) than real-estate & filling the hotel.

www.dcjobsource.com/hostmarriott.html

KOR5Star · Aug 19, 2006

DeniseM said:
Westin Villa owners and hotel guests all used to be able to use the pools at the Westin Hotel, Sheraton Hotel, and Villas.

It's important to note this single portion of the policy (Stay at one, play at all) was relatively short lived. It's not like this program was around forever, then taken away. They tried it for awhile, it had problems, it was canceled. We can still shop, spa, and dine at any of the Starwood locations and bill it back to our rooms.

DeniseM said:
That policy changed about a year ago. The hotel pools are always far more crowded than the villas, so I think the cancellation of this policy is a good thing for TS owners. Otherwise, when the hotel pools get full, the overflow would come to the villas - and that's exactly why they changed the policy.

Actually it was the other way round. The Westin Maui has the slide and the location right next to Whalers Village. The Westin Maui pool area was absolutely swamped with families from WKORV and guests from the Sheraton. I had the unfortunate experience of staying at the Westin Maui while this program was in effect during weeks 51 and 52 (My WKORV ownership excludes these weeks). It was pandamonium. Guests of the Westin Maui were absolutely livid! Quite literally, it was standing room only. It looked like people waiting on a subway platform... except a train never came to take them away!... it was that bad. The program proved to be a disaster at the Westin Maui. This is the reason the pool portion of the program was canceled.

taffy19 · Aug 19, 2006

Kazakie said:
Host Hotels (formerly Host Marriott) was spun off of Marriott International in 1993 with Marriott International focusing on managing properties and the brand and Host would manage the real-estate (there are also tax benefits of being a REIT which Marriott Hotels could not get but the Host REIT could). Since Host is a REIT, it's been diversifying to other properties (not just marriotts) as any good business should.

Starwood and Hilton have been moving this way as well, as the managing a hotel and a brand is far more lucrative and less risky (you get paid if the hotel is full or emplty) than real-estate & filling the hotel.

www.dcjobsource.com/hostmarriott.html

Thank you very much for your explanation as that explains it and makes a lot of sense. I could not understand why hotels & resorts were being bought and sold like that but they are REITs.

wendywin · Aug 24, 2006

BradC said:
I'm not sure I understand why everyone is freaking out about this. The point of the note is that the hotel pool facilities ARE still available to villa owners, regardless of the hotel's ownership.

I really don't expect to see the villa condo association dissolving anytime soon.

Me thinks we're making too big of a deal about this.

Brad,
Its not that i'm "freaking out" and think that the association is going to fold...Im just concerned about the quality of the hotel that i will be visiting. I bought Kierland t/s for "Westin" quality and its modern flair. Also, things like: smores and a bagpiper at dusk and the "dive in " movies. Im concerned that Host brand may not continue to upkeep the property as well, decreasing my trade potential, etc. and or quality activities we have become accustomed to

I'm still kind of a newbie at all this, I guess seasoned tuggers must not be concerned about those things.....since I'm the only one revisiting the issue

grgs · Aug 24, 2006

wendywin said:
Im just concerned about the quality of the hotel that i will be visiting. I bought Kierland t/s for "Westin" quality and its modern flair. Also, things like: smores and a bagpiper at dusk and the "dive in " movies. Im concerned that Host brand may not continue to upkeep the property as well, decreasing my trade potential, etc. and or quality activities we have become accustomed to

While I'm certainly no expert on the hotel industry, from what I've read it doesn't really matter who owns the hotel. What matters is who has the management contract. Since "Starwood will maintain a long-term management contract at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa," I think things should remain about the same for now. According to this thread from FlyerTalk, things may even get better:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=561138

Glorian

BradC · Aug 25, 2006

Basically, Starwood has decided to be less of a "real estate" company, and more of a "lifestyle" company, focusing more on managing hotel properties and building the value of their brand names, and less on actually owning the land underneath those hotels.

The sale of the Westin Kierland Hotel property was just one of a couple dozen properties that were all sold to Host in the same transaction (which also included the Westin Mission Hills).

Starwood will continue to manage the Westin Kierland hotel with a long-term contract, and will have the highest motivation to maintain the quality associated with the Westin brand.

Of course, that doesn't mean that particular hotel property won't cancel a particular program (like the dive-in movies) if they feel they're not adding value, but that would have been true regardless of who owned the real estate. But I have the highest expectation that the quality of the hotel property itself will continue to be as excellent as we currently know.

skim118 · Aug 25, 2006

I have no doubt about the quality of the amenities in the Kierland resort hotel & I am sure Starwood will do a great a job with the Kierland Resort.

As a prospective Kierland Villas owner my concern is regarding the "guaranteed" access to the resort pools & lazy river.

We visited Kierland during July 4th week in 2005 & in 2006. Granted they are busy weekends, but we were "advised" not to go to the Hotel pools in 2005 during the weekend. In 2006 the program activity sheet told us that we can go to the Hotel pools only after 4PM.

Granted our kids were able to use the pools earlier both years, and we did not mind coming to the lazy river at 5PM when the temp was at 105F still. In my mind as a Villa guest the Hotel is able to place restrictions on usage currently & I have no idea what they might do in the future during busy weekends when the Villas increase capacity.

Kierland Resort & Spa Sold

Ken555

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

skim118

myip

TUG Review Crew: Expert

DeniseM

Ken555

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

Ken555

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

taffy19

skim118

tomandrobin

wendywin

BradC

saluki

Kazakie

KOR5Star

taffy19

wendywin

grgs

TUG Review Crew

BradC

skim118