Opportunity to Buy Lagunamar Gold Plus - Please Advise

I have come across a 2br Westin Lagunamar EOY Gold Plus week for sale and would appreciate your guidance. I own many weeks at Marriott and Hyatt and understand the basics. I know Lagunamar is a voluntary resort and I will not get any Star Options for internal exchanges. No Newbie questions here, just trying to confirm how Starwood works.

My family vacations often in Cancun. We have stayed at Lagunamar and like the property, location and room layout. The studio has a little kitchenette and we could lock-off and stay in the 1br/studio for a two week stay. We usually travel in Gold Plus weeks 48-50 or 1-4.

My questions:
1. Can I expect inventory to make my reservations if I call 12 months ahead?
2. Can I roll an unused week to the following year? I have plans for week 50 already for 2016. I would like to go in 2017.
3. Starwood gives a preference for exchanges in II. Am I likely to get into Westin properties with an exchange. I would buy Lagunamar to use it or rent it, an exchange would just be a plus.


Please let me know any negatives about Starwood that would cause you to advise against.

Thank you to all the TUGGERS who generously share their knowledge and experience.

I think those weeks would not rent well. I am not sure about the trading power especially for the studio side.

You can not roll an unused week into the next year. You would have to use II and if you are using II, there are probably better Starwood exchangers.

I would think if you were looking to rent into the resort during those weeks you could do so for at or not much higher than MF;s. I don't know if I would take a week if that were the case.

1. Yes you will be able to book 12 months out no problem.

Though you can right now just as easily book those weeks 8 months out with star options.

Did you win the eBay auction today for the 2BR gold EOY week. It went for a good price. Congratulations if you did, you outbid us .

We are looking for a Lagunamar week to buy, or possibly a StarOption week that would get us in to Lagunamar. I know either option will work. Buying Lagunamar might be a little cheaper, but seeing the prices these seem to be selling for lately, I am not sure. Perhaps mandatory elsewhere is the way to go.

I wouldn't really buy it for a trader, if we owned, we would be going there every other year for two weeks using the lock offs. Or we would bring friends for a week and use the full 2BR unit. I think Lagunamar rents well for the peak season, but I wouldn't suspect you could rent a gold plus week for much more than the maintenance fees.

SMHarman said:

1. Yes you will be able to book 12 months out no problem.

Though you can right now just as easily book those weeks 8 months out with star options.

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This is what I thought too -- that Lagunamar is generally accessible 8 months out for most (all?) seasons -- is that not the case?

Sorry if I am hijacking your thread, but I always thought this was an accessible property with StarOptions.

Dioxide, I hope you get the next one!!

Best,

Greg

GregT said:

This is what I thought too -- that Lagunamar is generally accessible 8 months out for most (all?) seasons -- is that not the case?

Sorry if I am hijacking your thread, but I always thought this was an accessible property with StarOptions.

Dioxide, I hope you get the next one!!

Best,

Greg

Click to expand...

Greg, Thanks. I have tried to bid on a few lately and have lost them all. The one today I was the second highest bidder. Oh well. There are plenty out there. I still think an 81,000 SO week would be a better fit for us given that there seems to be lots of availability with SOs at Lagunamar. We could then have the flexibility to book at other resorts. I know that St John is a hard trade, but have read that SO availability there is a little looser now with the higher requirements.

I tried to rent in the past, peak times and didn't have luck. Just an FYI.

I don't use II often but the one time I put a studio in there I got a WKV for Christmas time.

Availability is not an issue most of the time at this resort. If you reserve at 12-10 months you should be good.

We own a Gold Plus week like yours..it's been good for us

We own an EOY Gold Plus 2BR week like yours, and it's been good for us. We use the 81,000 StarOptions for 13 nights in a 1BR during weeks 1-4. It's sorta like 2 weeks for the price of one...but you could do this with any other 81,000 Star Options as swell.

If we ever want 1 week in a 2BR, it's there or us...i.e., flexibility.

owning lagunamar

I just recently picked up a plat week EOY for a song. If you love the resort and plan on using, i think you will be happy. We have been going to Lagunamar since 2012 and love every trip. Construction and sales continue as they are not sold out as of this past March. Once they do finish selling, I think it will be harder to get into specific weeks(as I have already noticed in the months 2-4).
Good luck