# Incorrect ebay ad



## skim118 (May 13, 2007)

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Westin-Miss...ryZ15897QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This Auction is for a 2 Bedroom 2 Bath, LCOKOUT UNIT, Annual Platinum Week at :

WESTIN MISSION HILLS RESORT & VILLAS
StarOptions (Yes, these Options will transfer, this is a Mandatory Resort). Use these Options to trade into other Sheraton and Westin resorts such as Vistana Villages, Harborside Resort at Atlantis, The Westin St. John Resort Villas, The Westin Kierland Villas and more.
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I know all Tuggers will avoid this auction;  I notified the seller, but received no response;  I just hope this seller does not get away with this false ad.

I guess the seller feels duped by SVN into buying this voluntary resort and now wants to trick someone else.  BTW the seller claims to be a licensed CA Realtor(sic).


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## RLG (May 14, 2007)

I also emailed the seller several days ago and also got no response.


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## Kay H (May 14, 2007)

What is a mandatory resort and a voluntary resort? TIA


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## Bill4728 (May 14, 2007)

When you buy a Starwood (westin) TS, you buy a deeded week at one of their resorts. 

When buying resale, if you buy a mandatory resort, you also get to use the Starwood vacation network (SVN) and do internal trading to other Starwood resorts. You don't get SVN when you buy a voluntary week.

Therefore voluntary resorts sell for much, much less than mandatory resorts on resell.


PS   maybe because the price is 3-5 times more than it should be, they will not get any takers.


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## gailo (May 14, 2007)

what the mandatory resorts - do they change?


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## DavidnRobin (May 14, 2007)

skim118 said:


> I know all Tuggers will avoid this auction;  I notified the seller, but received no response;  I just hope this seller does not get away with this false ad.
> 
> I guess the seller feels duped by SVN into buying this voluntary resort and now wants to trick someone else.  BTW the seller claims to be a licensed CA Realtor(sic).



It amazes me the number of bad and uninformed eBay ads out there - first they will never get this price, and it is not a Mandatory resort.  This seller may not know (or understand) the difference.  Recall, that when you buy from SVO you can be a SVN member, but when you buy a resale V resort you cannot be a SVN member.

Poor ebay ads can be a benefit to an informed buyer - we got our WSJ at a deal from a misinformed seller.

I have contacted a few misinformed sellers on eBay before by email, but usually they are met with skeptism {sp?} - and I can't really blame them since they probably think it is a scam.  Hopefully, after the unit goes unsold - they will do their research.  However, it may be an organization that just scams sellers (like TSs-By-Owner) into trying to sell a unit that someone paid them upfront to sell - with no obligation to really sell it. (sad)


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## capjak (May 14, 2007)

LOL.  I also emailed the seller


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## xanti (May 15, 2007)

*Mandatory Resort*

I am looking at buying at The Westin Kierland Villas.  As far as I know this is a mandatory resort.  As a resale can I change the staroptions into starwood points?  Also what things should I look for when possibly purchasing a resale at a westin or sheraton ownership resort.  I am new to this forum so sorry if this is post is in the wrong place.  Thanks.


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## Henry M. (May 15, 2007)

You cannot convert resale Staroptions into Starpoints. On the surface this is a nice option because if you don't use your property you have an easy alternate way of using your vacation. However, the exchange rate is very poor. If you owned a 2 BR lockoff at WKV in the highest season, you could have 2 bedrooms for a week or split it off into two weeks of vacations. If you converted to Starpoints you'd barely get a week (if that much) in a single hotel room that doesn't begin to compare to the resort rooms you purchased. Not a good deal. You'd be better off exchanging or renting out your unit.

For exchanging purposes you should get something with at least 81,000 Staroptions so you can get a 1BR at all the SVN resorts. 148,100 are needed for a 2BR in the highest demand places. Also watch out for mandatory vs. non-mandatory resorts. If you buy resale at a voluntary resort, membership in the Starwood Vacation Network (SVN) does not transfer and you cannot exchange with other SVN resorts. Kierland is mandatory, so you don't have this issue.


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## DavidnRobin (May 15, 2007)

xanti said:


> I am looking at buying at The Westin Kierland Villas.  As far as I know this is a mandatory resort.  As a resale can I change the staroptions into starwood points?  Also what things should I look for when possibly purchasing a resale at a westin or sheraton ownership resort.  I am new to this forum so sorry if this is post is in the wrong place.  Thanks.


WKV is a good resale purchase - make sure you get at least 81K SOs in order to get a 1Bd in Hawaii.  SO to SP conversion is not a good deal.  Do you research - they is a lot written here about WKV and buying SVO Mandatory resale.


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## mesamirage (May 18, 2007)

RLG said:


> I also emailed the seller several days ago and also got no response.


 
I emailed the seller and got the following response today:

You are right and we are wrong. Sorry a mistake on our part. Spoke to Joe Basset at the resort and he set us straight....


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## Bill4728 (May 19, 2007)

They have completely changed their ad. But still asking about twice the going rate.


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