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Officially an owner!

jarta said:
Lisa, ... October 1 deadline for converting to Staroptions to Starpoints if you are 4 Star or 5 Star Elite. If you are 3 Star Elite, July 1 deadline. :) ... eom
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks, jarta. For everyone's information, the deadline for non-elite owners is 3/31, not 3/1.

The SPG Conversion Window extends from: October 1 (prior to the Use Year being converted) through March 31 (of the actual Use Year being converted).
 
I think we figured out what we're going to do with those extra SP's. We're going to the Westin Verasa Napa in April for 5 nights. With the airfare and hotel (which is actually a studio), we'll spend about 80-90k SP's. We're just trying to figure out the best use for the SP's to get us the airfare.

Also, I don't know if anyone can answer this, but with the 5th night free deal, do the first 4 nights have to be at the same hotel? I was wondering if we could do 2 nights at the W in San Francisco and 2 nights at the Westin in Napa and get the 5th night free. I'm guessing that's not the case, but maybe someone has been able to do it?????
 
Joshadelic said:
I think we figured out what we're going to do with those extra SP's. We're going to the Westin Verasa Napa in April for 5 nights. With the airfare and hotel (which is actually a studio), we'll spend about 80-90k SP's. We're just trying to figure out the best use for the SP's to get us the airfare.

Also, I don't know if anyone can answer this, but with the 5th night free deal, do the first 4 nights have to be at the same hotel? I was wondering if we could do 2 nights at the W in San Francisco and 2 nights at the Westin in Napa and get the 5th night free. I'm guessing that's not the case, but maybe someone has been able to do it?????
Click to expand...

Same hotel, same stay.
 
fabulous

That is really impressive.

It was dizzying just to to read all the deals.

How on earth did you pick up weeks for less than a $1000.

I may ask Starwood if they would requalify weeks anyway even though we are elites now.
Just so we can have extra weeks, for freinds or trade.

I think what you have accomplished, and the help other TUG members have given you is really fantastic. I wish I had heard of TUG before we bought.

At least we bought so long ago the units were much cheaper from the developer.

Scott
 
Scott & Laura said:
That is really impressive.

It was dizzying just to to read all the deals.

How on earth did you pick up weeks for less than a $1000.

I may ask Starwood if they would requalify weeks anyway even though we are elites now.
Just so we can have extra weeks, for freinds or trade.

I think what you have accomplished, and the help other TUG members have given you is really fantastic. I wish I had heard of TUG before we bought.

At least we bought so long ago the units were much cheaper from the developer.

Scott
Click to expand...

The resale weeks I bought came from EBay. If you look very closely and know how to use their search engine to your advantage, you will sometimes find weeks for sale that are advertised VERY poorly. For example, the SDO week I bought didn't even have the word Sheraton in the title. It just said "Arizona timeshare for sale" or something like that. There are at least 2 sellers on EBay that do this ALL THE TIME!

As far as just asking Starwood to retro something for you, they will absolutely not do that unless you purchase a new week.

~Josh
 
Retro

Lisarex asked a good question.

I see this as a goodwill gesture for Starwood.

Those weeks are going to be sold anyway.
Selling outside of the system creates an abundance of new owners. The more owners the more service they need. owners who overpaid for their weeks are usually a little more stable I would speculate. Not flipping the property.

By allowing existing owners such as a 5 Star to purchase up the cheap aftermarket weeks, it consolidates them and is a reward.

Too allow people to by the weeks and retro in to SVN is a slap in the face to us who actually bought from the Developer and did not Retro in. It also insures that we tell everyone not to buy from the developer if you don't have to.

I would like to be able to thank and believe there is a modicum of benefit from buying from the developer but in fact you are finacially punished - as it where- frombuying all your properties from the developer. The truth is buy aftermarket, and retro in the weeks.

After writing this i feel like W.C.Fields, I need to go kick a kid for buying from the developer.

Scott
 
By allowing existing owners such as a 5 Star to purchase up the cheap aftermarket weeks, it consolidates them and is a reward.
Click to expand...

Existing 5 star owners absolutely will not get this benefit. The vast majority of people cannot/will not purchase a timeshare from Starwood for tens of thousands of dollars. People who have proved they are willing to do that once are vastly more likely to do so again. To allow them to purchase resales and add them to SVN for free would remove the significant incentive these existing customers have to purchase again from Starwood.

Best regards,

Michael
 
I don't think there is an ounce of good will on Starwood's behalf. They are all about the bottom line (as most businesses are these days). They chipped away at any final good will gestures when they raised 5* requirement and took away the guaranteed upgrade room for 5* (about the ONLY thing being 5* is good for!).

Mark my words, this whole retro/requal business will be done away with soon enough too. My advice for anyone trying to become elite is to do it NOW because it is only a matter of time before they stop this little benefit and then we will all have to spend over $150,000 to get to 5*.

Katherine
 
ever thought about calculating the difference if you bought all that new, vs your total resale investment? =)
 
Well, let's see. It is 649,000 SOs for 5*. To make it simple, you would need 148,100 x 4 units plus 67,100 SOs approximately.

SO the cheapest 148,100 is probably Lagunamar right now 2BR LO just under $40,000 per week.

So it would be $160,000 to buy 4 WLR and let's say an Orlando week for about 67,100 SOs ($19,000 for SVR Falls/Springs)

= $180,000

PM me if you want to know how much I paid for my 5*. I am too scared to post it on this board. Katherine
 
TUGBrian said:
ever thought about calculating the difference if you bought all that new, vs your total resale investment? =)
Click to expand...

If SDO were still in active sales, I'm assuming the small 1br platinum I bought would cost around $20k. The SVV 2br LO platinum I bought was $29,900. So I would have spent around $50k to buy directly from Starwood. I'm very happy paying over $40k less than that (and being given 105,000 Starpoints)!!!

:whoopie:
 
"SO the cheapest 148,100 is probably Lagunamar right now 2BR LO just under $40,000 per week." by SDKath

Really? I thought traditional advise was Westin Kierland Villas in Scottsdale? If you wanted into the Staroptions.
 
Garnet, ... The context of of SKath's statement was retroing to get to Five Star Elite.

To retro staroptions from a purchase on the secondary market so that they count towards Five Star Elite, you also must make a developer purchase.

SKath's conclusion is to buy on the secondary market at Kierland and then buy from Starwood at Lagunamar and retro in the Kierland staroptions if you want to get to Five Star Elite. (I agree that Lagunamar is probably the place to make the Starwood purchase. I, personally, think it is more desireable than Desert Willow - which is selling at a comparable price. But whenever you buy from the developer, it's not really based solely on economics.) However, if all you care about is retroing staroptions to get to Five Star Elite, you can buy 148,100 staroptions cheaper at WMH or SDO than at Kierland. But, Kierland has other advantages.

The "traditional advice" is to buy at Kierland because it is a mandatory resort and the cheapest staroptions available at a mandatory resort. The mandatory staroptions can be used/spent at any Starwood timeshare. There is no need to retro them. And, the value at Kierland may hold up better than a comparable staroption timeshare at WMH or SDO because of the mandatory nature of the resort.

But, I also believe you should buy where you want to go in the season you want to go there. Kierland has wonderful amenities, is inexpensive to get to, is located near/in a large metropolitan area, is warm in the Winter, and Kierland has relatively low MF. Thus, even if you never retro the purchase to get to a higher Starwood elite status, Kierland is a popular buy for TUGgers. I bought there myself and retroed in the 148,100 Staroptions when I later bought at Lagunamar. (Same procedure with my 196,900 options from my Harborside secondary market purchase.)

It was not the absolutely cheapest way to get to Five Star Elite. Overall, for the money spent, I am happy. ... eom
 
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