# Calling all Sheraton Experts - Please help!



## Crouching_tiger (Sep 10, 2007)

I recently purchased the Sheraton Explorer Program when I stayed at the Vistana Village.  From the research I did on TUG I knew before I went on their TS tour that they will offer me the Explorer Program after I pass on their offer. To my surprise, the price of my Explorer Program is more than what I have read here. It was $2,495 plus $199 admin fee; for this I will get 24 months to decide and a combination of Starpoints and free stay up to 7 nights at SVV. If I decide not to use the free night portion and want to purchase a TS from the developer, I would then get 100,000 Starpoints (this is verbal).

The only reason why I would purchase this program is to buy myself sometime to look for a Sheraton on the resale market and purchase it and then try and requalify when I buy another unit from the developer. My question is whether to purchase a mandatory or voluntary resort. It seems like the mandatory at resale will cost more. Which resort has low MF and give you good StarOptions. I understand that there risk here that Sheraton will not requalify this unit, but it is risk I am willing to take. Any help will be appreciated.


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## Westin5Star (Sep 10, 2007)

I don't think that I would recommend you buy the explorer package unless I am missing some details.  If you buy a mandatory resort, I really don't see why you would want to requal it.  The Elite benefits have been dramatically reduced and exchanging for StarPoints is a terrible deal.  I would recommend buying at Vistana Village (mandatory phase) or Kierland.  They both have decent prices on the resale market and low MFs.  We bought our Kierland 2BR LO Platinum for $21,500 and I believe that the MFs are about $1200 or so total.  Good luck with your decision.


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## oneohana (Sep 10, 2007)

There are different explorer packages available. If you are going to buy a week from the developer, this package that you got will give you the most *points available. Requalifiction rules have changed in the past couple of months. No one is sure what the exact policy is, not even the sales managers at the resorts. You need to make your own deals when it comes to requalification. I think the area they have the most flexiblity is in the amount of *points you can receive. I have heard of contracts that have been rejected by the corporate office because the sales team at the resorts promised something they could not deliver per corporate policy.

The two resorts that have the most *options available for the lowest mf's are Sheraton Mountain Vista and Sheraton Desert Oasis. For Sheraton Desert Oasis, the week must be a 1-21,50-52 float week. Not a 1-52 float week.

*wood will requalify your unit, but at what cost?


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## pointsjunkie (Sep 10, 2007)

if you want to requalify a resale you must spend $20000 for the developer week. as of right now the 2 br prime season is going for $24900. you will get additional starpoints as well as the 100000 sp for the explorer package. 

if you get a 2br l/o at sdo that will give you 81000 staroptions to requalify. keep checking ebay to see what they go for so you know what the highest bid should be. 

i am doing the same thing, i have all my requals bought and just waiting till next year to requalify.

good luck


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## tomandrobin (Sep 11, 2007)

pointsjunkie said:


> if you want to requalify a resale you must spend $20000 for the developer week. as of right now the 2 br prime season is going for $24900. you will get additional starpoints as well as the 100000 sp for the explorer package.
> 
> if you get a 2br l/o at sdo that will give you 81000 staroptions to requalify. keep checking ebay to see what they go for so you know what the highest bid should be.
> 
> ...




How many points away from 5 star elite are you now?

And to the OP, I would look to some of the other Starwood properties for requalifing purposes. Your best bang for the buck (factoring in MFs and total points) is Kierland, Mission Hills, Desert Oasis, Lakeside and Mountain Vista. Out of the above group only the Kierland is Mandatory. Using Vistana Village is fine for requalifing, just make sure its not the Amelia section. Also, you might want to look at Cancun EOY purchase


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## Crouching_tiger (Sep 11, 2007)

Thanks for all your help.

Why is Amelia section not a good choice; I think that is what they are selling now?


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## tomandrobin (Sep 11, 2007)

Crouching_tiger said:


> Thanks for all your help.
> 
> Why is Amelia section not a good choice; I think that is what they are selling now?



That section is voluntary, not mandatory like the older sections at Vistana Village.


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## DavidnRobin (Sep 11, 2007)

So... you purchased the ExpPkg - that essentialy gives you 100K SPs for $199 if used to buy from SVO (or you use for a VV stay) - and you are thinking of buying resale so you can requalify the resale when you excercise the ExpPkg.

First - what is the purpose of wanting to requal a resale (that you don't own yet)?  Elite Status?  Getting more SOs for less than if you bought 2 VOIs from SVO instead of one VOI?

If it is to climb the Elite status ladder - then perhaps Duke's method would be best - to buy Voluntary as cheap as possible that gets you the most SOs.

Personally - I would only buy where I wanted to go - based on where you live (Vancouver) - that would be on the West-Coast.  I would buy WKV (Mandatory) which flies in the face on the need to requal in the first place.  WKV would be great to own if circumstances change with you or the SVO/SVN program.

Overall - you are costing yourself more money if you buy from SVO no matter how you cut it (vs buying resale).  But since you seem to be on this path - consider what you want to get out of SVO ownership in the long run, and the value that it gives you.


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## pointsjunkie (Sep 11, 2007)

tomandrobin said:


> How many points away from 5 star elite are you now?
> 
> And to the OP, I would look to some of the other Starwood properties for requalifing purposes. Your best bang for the buck (factoring in MFs and total points) is Kierland, Mission Hills, Desert Oasis, Lakeside and Mountain Vista. Out of the above group only the Kierland is Mandatory. Using Vistana Village is fine for requalifing, just make sure its not the Amelia section. Also, you might want to look at Cancun EOY purchase



i have 229900 i own a resale at sdo worth 81000 that i will requalify with a 2 br svv and i own svv worth 95700 and will purchase a 2br in aruba when they ever start selling them. so that will get me to 5*. 

we use starpoints alot and i would love to be upgraded to nicer suites for using my starpoints on a standard room rate.


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## tomandrobin (Sep 12, 2007)

pointsjunkie said:


> i have 229900 i own a resale at sdo worth 81000 that i will requalify with a 2 br svv and i own svv worth 95700 and will purchase a 2br in aruba when they ever start selling them. so that will get me to 5*.
> 
> we use starpoints alot and i would love to be upgraded to nicer suites for using my starpoints on a standard room rate.



Very nice! I would love to but into Aruba too, but I am going to take the wait and see approach. Initial cost and maintenance fees might be too much for me to swallow!


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