How to best liquidate 2018 StarOptions

[Stephen Tilley]

Greetings from Alberta.

I am a new owner of a week a Westin Kierland in AZ. We love the resort so decided to buy. Bought it on resale market. I have 81,000 StarOptions EY. Purchase included 2018 usage. We can't use them this year due to schedule issues. I thought I'd be able to bank them for next year, however it turns out I missed the July 1 cutoff (I should have paid more attention).

Anyhow, now I have 81k 2018 StarOptions that I need to liquidate.

What is the best way of doing this?

All tips appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

 

[canesfan]

Deposit them into II for future use.


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[LisaRex]

Book a unit at your home resort and try to rent it out. Or donate the week to a worthy charity.

 

[taterhed]

But of course......to rent the unit, it must be exactly what you own: same resort, same size, same view cat etc....
You can not rent SO reservations.....just what you own.

Deposit in Interval.

 

[grab]

But of course......to rent the unit, it must be exactly what you own: same resort, same size, same view cat etc....
You can not rent SO reservations.....just what you own.

Deposit in Interval.

I definitely agree same resort and same size but I thought that was it for the rental restriction. I may be wrong of course.

 

[taterhed]

I thought we were discussing rentals. Donating to charity is a rental as well.

This is the statement: Rental of units reserved using StarOptions® (other than a vacation period at your Home Resort) is prohibited. Violation may result in the suspension of an Owner’s right to reserve within the Vistana Signature Network™ until compliant.

It is widely debated whether ANY staroption reservation is legal to rent. Most interpret that reservations made at your home resort (what you own) using staroptions from your home resort are home resort reservations, and thus can be rented. Of course, any reservation made inside of 8 mos is a staroption reservation and will NOT say 'home resort.'

Apparently VSE is stuck in don't ask don't tell land with this one and isn't enforcing.

Pretty sure this is right, but hey.....educate me.

 

[taterhed]

Perhaps you were discussing the Interval deposit.

In that case, I believe you just contact VSE or deposit via dashboard on the SVN. I believe that VSE will deposit a generic week with assigned trade power etc... and will deposit an actual week until exchange is made. I believe you'll only see a 'holder.'
There is no need to make a reservation AFAIK.

I haven't researched this.......perhaps others will reply.

 

[LisaRex]

It was my understanding that if you donated an exchange to charity, that was kosher because you weren’t making any money on the transaction. I thought that the purpose of the law was to prevent people from profiting on exchanges. That is why I believed a direct exchange or a donation were 2 ways that you could use an SO exchange without violating the restriction. I could be wrong but I’m too lazy to look up the exact wording.

 

[DeniseM]

Fall is the worst rental season of the year (demand is poor) - your best option is to deposit it with II or RCI and use it for a future exchange.

 

[dioxide45]

Keep in mind, you aren't depositing the 81,000 StarOptions in to II, you would be depositing the underlying week in to II.

 

[taterhed]

I'm not certain about SVN, but when you 'donate' a week to charity, you lose control of that week (basically).
However, if bad things happen.....I'm pretty sure your name will be the first on the list.

I suspect that grabbing any old staroptions week for the specific use by someone who is not the owner and MAY be used to generate revenue for the charity.....(rented by any other name) is not in the spirit.

I have no idea on the legalities and understand that SVN is not monitoring this....

back to the subject: deposit in II

 

[DeniseM]

You cannot deduct a timeshare week that you donate to charity from your taxes (see TUG tax article for more info.)

Also - it will be far more trouble than depositing it with II, because the owner has to handle all the reservation details - the charity cannot do it.

 

[dioxide45]

Even if you could donate it to charity, it seems that the 2018 usage was free anyway? So what amount would you use for the deduction?

 

[taterhed]

My thought was it was a 'nice gesture' and not a financial transaction (deduction).
If you were trying to use it for a business or other deduction (which would be sketchy on the accounting side...) then it would be commercial and violating the rules, right?

I always laugh when somebody says 'donate to charity' like it's a big beneficial gesture. The last school fund raiser that had a silent auction for a 'vacation in paradise' (aka timeshare week donation) nearly drove the owner/donor nuts trying book a week for the winner (not much donated money either) and having to explain why they couldn't make a certain reservation.....New Years in Vegas or something.

I think that pretty much cured that owner from 'donating' any more

 

[Stephen Tilley]

Thanks all. Options considered....

Could have taken out a week at WKV of what limited inventory remains in 2018 and tried to rent out - but not worth the opportunity cost in terms of my time.

Would have been happy to donate to charity but not sure on tax deduction status since I am in Canada.

With above in mind, just deposited to II.

Thanks again
Steve

 

[taterhed]

Smart Man.

 

[pgizzi]

Keep in mind, you aren't depositing the 81,000 StarOptions in to II, you would be depositing the underlying week in to II.

I am trying to learn as I am new to the idea of owning a time share and also new to tug. Would you be able to elaborate on how 81,000 Star options works within II? What does underlying week mean? We liked nanea and are considering purchasing, but want to really understand. Tug has been great so far.

 

[seagila]

I am trying to learn as I am new to the idea of owning a time share and also new to tug. Would you be able to elaborate on how 81,000 Star options works within II? What does underlying week mean? We liked nanea and are considering purchasing, but want to really understand. Tug has been great so far.

You may have missed the Vistana FAQs sticky. It'll answer your questions and then some. Welcome to TUG!

 

[DeniseM]

We liked nanea and are considering purchasing, but want to really understand. Tug has been great so far.

DON'T buy Nanea:

Your best deal is buying at the original resort (WKORV-South) on the resale market (if you want to own in Hawaii.)

Or Vistana Villages or Kierland, if you want the best value (then use the Staroptions to trade into Maui) for a fraction of the cost of buying at Nanea - and a better product long run.