[2008] SDKath's guide to 5* platinum [merged]

[DeniseM]

I would like to pick up a 148 somewhere and requal it with a cheap developer purchase to get to 4*.

Minimum developer purchase is $20K, or $40K in Hawaii. I don't know how much you hoped to pay, but I think $20K is a lot to pay for 4 Star Elite.

Why do you want to reach 4 Star? - https://www.mystarcentral.com/elite/chart.html

 

[SDKath]

Been out of the loop for a bit.
Just got back from WKV in June HOT (105 everyday).
Did the owners update.
Was told you can only requal up to gold level but I believe the example was for a SDO platinum it would only go to gold.
Anyone know if requals are still working the way they did in the past?
I would like to pick up a 148 somewhere and requal it with a cheap developer purchase to get to 4*.
We have 162K SO and trying to get to 359K for 4*. So I think I could buy a 148K and would only need 49k SO.
Was offered 30K Phantom for our Marriott TS
So would only need 19K. Can't see them allowing me to buy a studio or EOY and requal 148 + 30K phantom but maybe you guys know.

Also was offered the explorer package but didn't buy. Can you buy that after the fact? i.e week later.

FYI
Didn't get the 4* is going up pitch.
Also was told upgrading is no longer an option.

Thanks for the help.

Sounds like things are a bit confusing. An SDO 1-52 "platinum week" turns into a gold week when you retro it. I think that's what they mean above. A true platinum (1-21 float, which is VERY hard to find these days) turns into a TRUE platinum week worth 148,100 SOs when you retro it.

Backing up a bit though...

If you are going to buy a TS to retro, you should find something for cheap (under $5000) for as close to 148,100 SOs as you possibly can. That pretty much means WMH platinum EY weeks since SDO is impossible to find these days as a true platinum (1-21 floating week) and the other platinum weeks are more money (such as WKV, which is going for over $10,000 for a platinum EY week).

Once you have your week to retro (and it's in your name), you need to buy direct from Starwood a week that is at least $20,000. That's the rub, and the most expensive part of this process now. That could be an EOY someplace like WLR, which is right around $20k right now. But it has to be $20k... So no "cheap" weeks when it comes to buying from Starwood if you want to retro too.

TIP: if it's close to $20k, they usually don't let you retro a week. BUT, you can ask them to "fix" the week or the unit number you ae buying from the developer, and that will cost you an additional $1500ish, usually pushing you over the $20k needed to do your retro.

By retroing a cheap resale week, you are basically maximizing your $20k investment by bringing another (resale) week into the SVN system, allowing you to travel using SOs or SPs from both the Starwood purchase AND your resale purchase. For me, that is a very valuable and wonderful perk. But some folks don't think it's worth it. I think that's a totally personal decision. I have to say since I have been 5*, I have not paid for a single airline ticket for any trip for anyone in my family. Also, we now always fly first class. And the majority of our hotel stays are on SPs so they are free. It makes those trips to Chicago in the winter to visit the inlaws WAAY more bareable. :ignore:

Katherine

 

[DJmonkey]

You ladies are the best.
I am looking for 4* for the point conversion premium in addition to the other small stuff people like. I travel to NYC for work for or 5 times per year.
If I pay for my starwood hotel rooms the cost would far exceed my MFs for weeks I convert and use to book via spg.

That said I am not spending another 20K with SVN. However it sounded like they were willing to sell any WLR unit to get the sale but I'm sure the story could/would change.

That was my initial question, are the requal requirements still the same? And it sounds like yes. $20k min purchase.

Do you know if they are still upgrading and if I could upgrade my WMH gold to platinum?

Any good reps to talk to that you could recommend?

FYI
Someone sent a PM to me about a true SDO platinum EY 2 Bed but considering I am not sure I will be buying anything else from the developer, I think I should be looking for a Mandatory resort resale.
I would be happy with a 81K platinum 1 bed but those are impossible to find. (seems like a better deal than 2bed resale for 20K)

 

[hypnotiq]

I've read through this thread a couple times and don't know that I know the answer to my question definitively so I'm going to ask.

Do you need to have 649k StarOptions every year? or just a total of 649k StarOptions in your portfolio?

I'm trying to figure out whether picking up an EOY 148k voluntary unit to retro is going to work

 

[DavidnRobin]

Blast from the past - a classic thread worth reading.
It is keeping VOIs that have a total value of 649K SOs (used to be 549K) in your portfolio - for an EOY you get one half the SO value of that VOI (148.1/2 = 74.05 SOs)

 

[SMHarman]

Blast from the past - a classic thread worth reading.
It is keeping VOIs that have a total value of 649K SOs (used to be 549K) in your portfolio - for an EOY you get one half the SO value of that VOI (148.1/2 = 74.05 SOs)

The flip side math is the one to look at. Buy an EY 148k and retro with $20k off New money for an EOY. Usually WLM.

That gets you an averaged 222k SO a Year.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

 

[tomandrobin]

Blast from the past - a classic thread worth reading.
It is keeping VOIs that have a total value of 649K SOs (used to be 549K) in your portfolio - for an EOY you get one half the SO value of that VOI (148.1/2 = 74.05 SOs)

Correct....Starwood counts 1/2 of the EOY staroptions every year toward the total elite levels. That is how our staroptions work.

 

[hypnotiq]

So then you'd never want to retro a EOY 148k w/a EY purchase (unless it was something you already owned).

 

[Westin5Star]

So then you'd never want to retro a EOY 148k w/a EY purchase (unless it was something you already owned).

Correct. I will also add that those that had 5* before they increase the requirements (from 550k to 650k SO) are grandfathered in. I actually had 740k SO up until last year. I sold 148k SO so I now only have 592k. Because my paperwork says 550k and I obtained that before the increase, I am still 5*. If I drop below the 550k then I will lose my 5* status. I have this in writing from Starwood and they were very helpful in providing it to me when I was selling my 148k SO last year.

Thank goodness I got to keep my 5* as I wouldn't want to change my screen name and cause all kind of TUG confusion.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Buy EOY and requal resale EY (obtaining the most SOs as possible)
And it is better to requal a V vs. M resort due to SOs already coming with the M resort.
And get same-day ExpPkg...

rules can and do change

 

[SMHarman]

Buy EOY and requal resale EY (obtaining the most SOs as possible)
And it is better to requal a V vs. M resort due to SOs already coming with the M resort.
And get same-day ExpPkg...

rules can and do change

And trade in a another week for the original purchase price. They do this on the SBP weeks I think

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[YYJMSP]

And get same-day ExpPkg...

rules can and do change

When we did this, they had just introduced a limit of one Explorer per calendar year, and a max of two over your lifetime...

Still, 200K+ SPG points for pretty much nothing.

 

[VacationForever]

And get same-day ExpPkg...

I have not of this before. Would you please elaborate? Thanks.

 

[SMHarman]

I have not of this before. Would you please elaborate? Thanks.

When you buy the explorer you get to credit the $$$ against a purchase so buying the explorer gets you another vacation as part of the acquisition costs. Effectively for 0 dollars. Spend $1500 on an explorer and get $1500 off the TS purchase and a vacation.
That explorer may even count toward the $20k of New money.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

 

[VacationForever]

When you buy the explorer you get to credit the $$$ against a purchase so buying the explorer gets you another vacation as part of the acquisition costs. Effectively for 0 dollars. Spend $1500 on an explorer and get $1500 off the TS purchase and a vacation.
That explorer may even count toward the $20k of New money.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

Makes sense. Thanks.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I have not of this before. Would you please elaborate? Thanks.

The wink was for... back in the day (ok - not so long ago - see duke's requal thread) - I purchased an EOY WPORV (pre-construction) during our first visit to WKV (resale from SmartChoice). Yes, I did know about the resale market...

During this 'deal' [Note: probably better value to have bought the WPORV resale - but would prefer this over exchanging in... another topic...] - I was able to work in an Explorer Package that could be used as part of the contract being purchased - as I walked out on the original - the 'Closer' - ExpPkg person - threw in the same day use of the ExpPkg. They also requaled our WKORV (most SO even though M resort) - allowed a EOY to requal a EY (unknown at the time), gave me the Owners price (was not officially a SVO Owner as our weeks were all resale) of $24.3K instead of $36K, allowed for first usage in 2009 instead of 2008 (almost a deal breaker), and had something like 100K incentive SPs - put in on SPG AMEX for more SPs - and ended up with 225K SP - and also 3* Elite

 

[dss]

I just want to thank David once again for sharing his experience as I did the exact (and I mean exact - WKORV EY OFD retro when purchasing WPORV EOY at owner pricing) same thing just a few months later. I tried doing it while onsite at WKORV and they looked at me like I was from another planet. Wound up doing the whole thing while at WKORV but through the long gone central office and it worked smoothly, while they played along, they did laugh at the notion of the "instant explorer" redemption.

Best part is I used some of the "extra" SPG points to top off my AA account and made Lifetime Plat (right before they changed the rules) and got 4 eVIP upgrades (good anywhere AA flies) which are worth roughly $2k alone in addition to AA lifetime plat benefits.

 

[hypnotiq]

Thanks everyone for the info/feedback.

 

[LobsterHunter]

Regarding the limit of 2 explorer packages, I ran into the same problem when trying to do a retro, even though we had already upgraded off both our explorer packages. This is apparently ONLY a WEST COAST rule. We were able to purchase additional explorer packages through Orlando. So far, they will sell you as many explorer packages as you want....as long as you are actually upgrading with a purchase on them. If you are interested, send me a pm & I can give you the contact info for the person I use & you can do the entire explorer package purchase over the phone/mail.

 

[czar]

Sounds like things are a bit confusing. An SDO 1-52 "platinum week" turns into a gold week when you retro it. I think that's what they mean above. A true platinum (1-21 float, which is VERY hard to find these days) turns into a TRUE platinum week worth 148,100 SOs when you retro it.

Backing up a bit though...

If you are going to buy a TS to retro, you should find something for cheap (under $5000) for as close to 148,100 SOs as you possibly can. That pretty much means WMH platinum EY weeks since SDO is impossible to find these days as a true platinum (1-21 floating week) and the other platinum weeks are more money (such as WKV, which is going for over $10,000 for a platinum EY week).
Katherine

For SDO - other than a seller knowing to list it the right way (1-21, 51,52), how can you tell if it's a true plat week? If it is a fixed week during that timeframe (e.g., fixed week 10), is that an indicator?

 

[SMHarman]

For SDO - other than a seller knowing to list it the right way (1-21, 51,52), how can you tell if it's a true plat week? If it is a fixed week during that timeframe (e.g., fixed week 10), is that an indicator?

If the Owner owns one of these

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=512371&postcount=8

To be a true Platinum week at Sheraton Desert Oasis the unit number must be in this range-

1064, 1072, 1081-1100, 2064, 2072, 2081- 2100, 3064-3072, and 3081-3100

AND

the deeded week must be in this range: 1-21, 50-52

*9/29/11 - added info. - DeniseM

Then it is Plat Plus / True Plat.

 

[czar]

If the Owner owns one of these

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showpost.php?p=512371&postcount=8

Then it is Plat Plus / True Plat.

Thank you!

 

[czar]

To be a true Platinum week at Sheraton Desert Oasis the unit number must be in this range-

1064, 1072, 1081-1100, 2064, 2072, 2081- 2100, 3064-3072, and 3081-3100

Wow, looking at the number of actual units, now I understand why it is so touch to find one of these. I missed getting one that a Tugger let me know about recently - it's no longer listed now - as I waited too long. Looks like there are 70 units that qualify, and 24 weeks total, so 1680 total true platinum weeks? Is that right?

 

[SMHarman]

Wow, looking at the number of actual units, now I understand why it is so touch to find one of these. I missed getting one that a Tugger let me know about recently - it's no longer listed now - as I waited too long. Looks like there are 70 units that qualify, and 24 weeks total, so 1680 total true platinum weeks? Is that right?

Possibly, also remember some were sold as 1Br or Pr1Br and some were sold as EOY contracts so if you are looking for a 2BR EY with 148,100 SO to requal then the pool of available contracts is lower still.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Wow, looking at the number of actual units, now I understand why it is so touch to find one of these. I missed getting one that a Tugger let me know about recently - it's no longer listed now - as I waited too long. Looks like there are 70 units that qualify, and 24 weeks total, so 1680 total true platinum weeks? Is that right?

Based on your situation (iirc) - you should just buy one that you can find at a reasonable amount. Try RedWeek over eBay.