# Westin Princeville



## duke (Mar 29, 2006)

Anyone have any thoughts about the design of the new Princeville resort and if it is a good buy pre-construction?


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## stevens397 (Mar 29, 2006)

If you like Kauai and want to go there every year (or every other year), then it's a good buy!  It will be a long time before there are any resales there and even longer until they are available at a good price.  By then, the developer price could be much higher, negating the savings.

It's a very personal decision.


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## DeniseM (Mar 29, 2006)

duke said:
			
		

> Anyone have any thoughts about the design of the new Princeville resort and if it is a good buy pre-construction?



Have you seen the floorplans and artist's rendering on the Starwood site?

WPORV 

A few thoughts on Princeville:

The floorplans and decor look very similar to the Westin Ka'anapali (positive)

The resort isn't directly on the beach. (Neg. for us)

That area of Kauai is cooler and wetter.  (Neg. for us)

There have been reports that Starwood is going to build in the drier, sunnier, Poipu area on Kauia as well.  (More attractive to us)

Do you particularly want/need Kauai?  You can probably save $10K buying resale at the existing Westin Maui (and have immediate occupancy) and occasionally exchange for Kauai.

Just my 2 cents...


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## temerson (Mar 30, 2006)

DeniseM said:
			
		

> There have been reports that Starwood is going to build in the drier, sunnier, Poipu area on Kauia as well.  (More attractive to us)




More attractive to us as well.  Have there actually been official reports for a new timeshare resort in the Poipu area?


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## DeniseM (Mar 30, 2006)

I think I read the Poipu Info. on Flyertalk, but might have been posted on TUG.


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## skim118 (Mar 30, 2006)

temerson said:
			
		

> More attractive to us as well.  Have there actually been official reports for a new timeshare resort in the Poipu area?



There is no official report on the Poipu resort;  Starwood did acquire Sheraton Poipu for $40 mil in March 2004 and maybe there is speculation that they may do the same as in Cancun (acquire the hotel/demolish it/build new timeshares).


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## duke (Mar 30, 2006)

DeniseM said:
			
		

> Do you particularly want/need Kauai?  You can probably save $10K buying resale at the existing Westin Maui (and have immediate occupancy) and occasionally exchange for Kauai.



Dinese:
Preconstruction price is $47,500 at Princeville and gets 86,400 starpoints if one chooses to exchange in a particular year.

Maui resale does not get starpoints and .....  Are there any resale OV units in the NEW North phase available yet?  I see only OV units in Old phase and these can be a problem from what I see with possible views of parking lot.  What price are actual resales going for??

Princeville is supposed to be "lower density" than Maui per the salesperson and will have use of the Hotel facilities (although a fee is included in the Maint charge).

So, given the above, would a pre-construction purchase be advised (given all the knowledge we have from TUG)??


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## smsavage (Mar 30, 2006)

duke said:
			
		

> Dinese:
> Preconstruction price is $47,500 at Princeville and gets 84,000 starpoints if one chooses to exchange in a particular year.
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## DavidnRobin (Mar 30, 2006)

smsavage said:
			
		

> duke said:
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## duke (Mar 30, 2006)

smsavage said:
			
		

> duke said:
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## smsavage (Mar 30, 2006)

It's been a long time since I've been to Princeville. We spent two weeks on that island and, while it's really a great place, I ran out of things to do. Of course, that was right after hurricane Iniki and they were rebuilding.

I'm biased toward Maui in that I like the mix of activities. There's plenty of hiking, biking and swimming etc. for playing outdoors, while there are decent restaurants to hit afterwards. The mix seems to work out well with the kids also.

Nonetheless, either island is better than my desk.


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## vic714 (Mar 30, 2006)

smsavage said:
			
		

> Nonetheless, either island is better than my desk.



And better than the Midwest in winter   

I'd rather have rain than snow anytime.


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## formerhater (Mar 30, 2006)

Starpoints, staroptions, resale, developer, which view...  as was stated before, I think the most important factor in deciding between these resorts is, "where do I want to spend my vacations?"  All the math in the world may point you towards one resort, but if you'd rather be at the other, it really doesn't matter.  I like Maui a lot, but I like Kauai (and the Princeville area) even more.  That's why I'm there.  I wouldn't buy at either until you paid them a visit, though.  Princeville and Kaanapali are both great, but very different places.

When we bought in the Fall (we initially bought KORVN while at Princeville, but have since switched to WPORV when it went on sale...), we did talk with the salesperson about other potential properties.  Poipu was mentioned, but he didn't really have any details.  I think he mentioned something about property adjacent to the Sheraton and/or the property where the tennis courts are.  He also mentioned that long term plans called for props on all of the major Hawaiian islands, but who knows...  He also said SVO owned prop in Europe (how specific) and California.


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## DeniseM (Mar 30, 2006)

duke said:
			
		

> Dinese:
> Preconstruction price is $47,500 at Princeville and gets 86,400 starpoints if one chooses to exchange in a particular year.


I personally don't think converting to Starpoints is a very good deal.  I would much rather spend 2 weeks in my roomy timeshare (one side of the lock-off at a time) than trade it for 6-10 nights in a hotel room (which is what 86,400 Starpoints will get you.)   

Some owners like to convert to Starpoints for the opportunity to use them at  an exclusive 5 star resort for a week, but quite frankly, I wouldn't pay $44K upfront and $1,500 a year to stay in ANY hotel for one week a year...  But that's just me. 

I like using Starpoints for airfare, and we have enough to get 2 award seats to Hawaii every year - but I earn them using my Starwood AMEX card, so they don't cost me a thing,  and I don't have to give up my week.

Do ALL the units at WPORV have the same ocean view?


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## duke (Mar 31, 2006)

DeniseM said:
			
		

> I
> Do ALL the units at WPORV have the same ocean view?



Good question.....Has anyone looked at the plan for each building?
Also, Do you feel that paying extra 20% to fix a specific unit is worth it?


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## duke (Apr 2, 2006)

Any comments about Princeville?


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## DeniseM (Apr 3, 2006)

duke said:
			
		

> Any comments about Princeville?



Hmmmm...there are 17 posts in this thread!     What exactly is it that you are looking for that hasn't been said?


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