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

[Gypsie]

What if you already own some SOs from previous developer purchases? Look to see how many SOs you need to get to 5* (559,000). If it is less than 106,000 SOs, buy one of the Fountains weeks currently for sale for $12,500 and ask for the 30,000 phantom SOs. That right now is the cheapest way to add SOs via the developer. No retro will be allowed in this case (price under $20,000) but this is a great deal anyway for those last 100,000 SOs to get you to your goal.

Kath,
Thanks for all this great info. I wish I had known about this before I was only 53,000 SOs short of becoming 5*!

Anyway, one more question. Do you have to own something other than SVN weeks in order to be eligible for the phantom 30,000 SOs?

Thanks!

 

[clsmit]

Most excellent post, Katherine! I've printed it out for the DH to read.

As (I think) jerseygirl (really Cleveland southside girl ) has mentioned, considering the MFs in the total purchase is important in your overall purchase strategy. My DH has created a spreadsheet to calculate $/total cost, including purchase and MFs with some discounted cash flow stuff thrown in, to get a total cost/property. A cheap property isn't cheap if the MFs are high. Getting to 5* requires a chunk of cash; don't blow it with MFs you can't afford.

clsmit
(Cleveland east side chick)
PS lots of OH people on this board because the weather is SOOO bad in the winter we HAVE to leave!!

 

[Troopers]

Thanks SDKath for the cliff notes.

Robert

 

[ocdb8r]

Another clarification (thank so much for this thread). When I "upgrade" can I use the credit for the resort I am trading in toward the purchase of ANY resort, or only toward a higher purchase at the same resort I am trading in? (i.e. can I trade in a SBP toward a WKORV-N purchase?)

C.

 

[SDKath]

Only the same resort, or in the case of PGA, Cascades is it's "sister" resort.

And yes, it appears that at Fountains at least, they allowed me to combine 2 purchases of $12,500 to bet to over $20,000 and be able to retro a unit at the same time. I would also wonder if you owned a resale Fountains week, would you be able to "upgrade" it at the same time? This is something to ask the Starwood folks because I have a feeling the answer will be no due to the "special price."

Katherine

 

[DavidnRobin]

I currently have ~222K SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05K SOs)
and 243K SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15K SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384K SOs - and therefore shy by 175K SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465K SOs - and therefore shy by 94K SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

 

[GrayFal]

I currently have ~222 SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05 SOs)
and 243 SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15 SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384K SOs - and therefore shy by 175K SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465K SOs - and therefore shy by 94K SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

....nevermind

 

[pointsjunkie]

I currently have ~222 SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05 SOs)
and 243 SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15 SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384 SOs - and therefore shy by 175 SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465 SOs - and therefore shy by 94 SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

because of what you own the only thing that could possibly be upgraded is the WSJ which would cost mega bucks. there is no upgrade right now at WKV but that might change if they open the 3rd phase.

if you upgrade the wporv i wonder if they would let you requalify a unit at the same time.

the cheapest way is to buy at sheraton vistana beach club or the fountains(but you don't like going to sheraton timeshares). and the rule is buy where you want to go.

 

[DavidnRobin]

because of what you own the only thing that could possibly be upgraded is the WSJ which would cost mega bucks. there is no upgrade right now at WKV but that might change if they open the 3rd phase.

if you upgrade the wporv i wonder if they would let you requalify a unit at the same time.

the cheapest way is to buy at sheraton vistana beach club or the fountains(but you don't like going to sheraton timeshares). and the rule is buy where you want to go.

I wasn't looking to upgrade - just to purchase and requal. I agree with the cost of WSJ and WPORV upgrade (not to mention the MFs). We paid about $24K for WPORV (EOY) - based on duke's post - that same EOY may cost $12K more...)

btw, WSJ does not take a year to close (stated in OP) - ours took about 6 weeks (w/ a gentle push)

I would not buy Vistana Beach or Fountains to go there - only to use SVN/II or the SP conversion (if worth it).

 

[VacationPro]

Thanks Katherine!

This is a very informative post, even if I don't have any current plans to reach 5*.

How long did the whole process take from start to finish?

 

[SDKath]

I wasn't looking to upgrade - just to purchase and requal. I agree with the cost of WSJ and WPORV upgrade (not to mention the MFs). We paid about $24K for WPORV (EOY) - based on duke's post - that same EOY may cost $12K more...)

btw, WSJ does not take a year to close (stated in OP) - ours took about 6 weeks (w/ a gentle push)

I would not buy Vistana Beach or Fountains to go there - only to use SVN/II or the SP conversion (if worth it).

If you turn your WPORV EOY to EY, you can definitely requal something. As a matter of fact, it may exceed $40,000 and then you can requal a Hawaii property. Soooo if you have some spending cash and like Hawaii, I would pick a resale EY at WKORV or WPORV now, close on it, and then requal it simultaneously while upgrading your WPORV EOY to EY! That would get some really nice units into your ownership portofolio for at least a 50% savings.

Katherine

 

[SDKath]

Thanks Katherine!

This is a very informative post, even if I don't have any current plans to reach 5*.

How long did the whole process take from start to finish?

About 6 months. I started with nothing and just finished. K

 

[myip]

I currently have ~222K SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05K SOs)
and 243K SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15K SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384K SOs - and therefore shy by 175K SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465K SOs - and therefore shy by 94K SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

Another possibility is to upgrade WKORV to a Ocean view or Ocean front or a fixed week and unit in WPORV. YOur maintenance will be the same and yet you got another unit in the SVN. YOu really need a 148100 unit to requalify with. If you sell your mandatory 10K EACH (20k)... You get enough money to buy a volunteer resort and upgrade... I did mine for under $19K.- requalify a lakeside and upgrade SBP.

THe only other feasibile option is to buy SBP or Sheraton Vistana Village. 1 bedroom resale and requalify it with it....
-- cost around 30K
ie: 1 bedroom resale - $500
upgrade it to 2 bedroom - (old Phase )
upgrade it to 2 bedroom LO new phase (10K different)
upgrade it to 3 bedroom LO new phase...

You really have to look around and play with the $ .and make sure it is as 10K different. If it is under under K., I believe it can be done, you still have to pay $10K - and they will ask vp approval from starwood to sell the unit higher than list price.
-- total cost $30K approx to get you to 5*

Maria

 

[duke]

I currently have ~222K SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05K SOs)
and 243K SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15K SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384K SOs - and therefore shy by 175K SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465K SOs - and therefore shy by 94K SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

David:

You purchased your EOY WPORV recently. I believe you still have the option to purchase the other half for same price you paid ($24,000).

Use this other half (EOY) to requal another resale purchase. Best bet is WMH Platinum or SMV Platinum. You can get these inexpensively as resale and they are worth 148,100 StarOptions.

Sell your 2 - WKV because you can easily trade into them with the requaled resales.

So, you would have EY WKORV, EY WPROV, EY WMH and because you love you WSJ you could just purchase a cheep developer EOY to requal that.

I think that adds up.

duke

 

[DavidnRobin]

This is all very interesting...

Breakdown: (we own...)
SVO
WKORV, EY, 2Bd LO OF Dlx - 148.1K SOs {retro'd}
WPORV, EOY, 2Bd LO - 74.05K SOs {paid $24.2K}
Total SVO SOs = 222.15K

Resale
WKV, EY, 1Bd Prem/Plat - 81K SOs
WKV, EY, 1Bd Prem/Plat - 81K SOs
WSJ, EY, 2Bd TH/Gold+ - 81K SOs {recent increase form 67.1K SOs}
Total resale = 243K SOs

Total SOs = 465.15K SOs

Our EOY WPORV purchase was over 12 months ago (although the deed was not recorded until much later). I was not really looking to add another EOY to WPORV, but could always reconsider. The biggest drawback to WPOPRV is the MFs. I wonder if they would still allow us to buy the other EOY for $24.3K (and give use the ~100K SPs)?

We do not own any non-SVN VOIs - did you mean non-SVO VOIs (resales) like WKV - and sell these? I think I would rather try and retro these.

I don't think we would go the upgrade route - I am not inclined to buy more resales just to upgrade. We can't upgrade our WKORV OF Dlx - and for WPORV - only fixed is available for a pretty high cost.

I do think the idea of buying Fountains is interesting - if we could buy 2 Fountains for $25K and requal 2 of our 81K SO resales - this would get us to ~536K SOs - very close to the 559K SOs needed. Would phantom SOs play a role here?

Also - I am inclined to think they may give more concessions to requalifying resale Mandatory - since SVO is giving up very little since these VOIs are already in SVN.

thoughts?

 

[SDKath]

They have not given me any concessions to retro/requal units. They don't care if it's M or V. They don't care if I offer to pay $100,000 for a single OFD unit at WKORV. Their "new rules" are that there is 1 retro/requal PER purchase (whether it is 81,000 or 148,100 SOs) and the purchase price has to be over $20,000. Sooo, you could not buy 2 Fountains and retro 2 units. You can retro 1 only....

Duke's suggestion to upgrade WSJ is a good one too. If you find out how much that one costs originally, you can apply it to the purchase price of a nicer unit, either bigger or better season. While you do that, you can retro a resale too. You'd want to retro another 148,100 units. Perhaps sell your 81,000 SO WKVs and buy a 148,100 WKV EY Platinum on resale and retro that!

Starwood has gotten VERY inflexible recently with these rules from what I have seen. Good idea about trying to get the other 1/2 of your EOY WPORV though. You can defnitely requal a 148,100 property by buying the other half.

Just sharing my experience, not trying to be difficult. Katherine

 

[jerseygirl]

As (I think) jerseygirl (really Cleveland southside girl

Ah ........... this week I'm Westin St John girl and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I think I could give up Cleveland for this!!

Great post Kath -- a job very well done (both the purchases and the article) .... it's DEFINITELY sponge worthy!!

 

[dss]

Great post, thank you! We are in a somewhat similar situation to DavidnRobin in that we own WKORK-OFD (EY-already requalified) and now own WPORV EOY (developer purchase) with the option to purchase the other half, which we really don't have a ton of interest in doing. Right now we're sitting at the same 222 SO's as DavidnRobin but without any resale units to requal. It's a long shot for us right now but if there was a cheap way to make it to 5*, i'd love to hear about it.

It seems like WMH Platinum or SMV Platinum resale would be the best path and then requal by purchasing the other half of our WPORV (Locked in at $25k) but that would still leave us at 443k SO's. I would welcome any creative (an inexpensive) suggestions. Thanks

 

[pointsjunkie]

Great post, thank you! We are in a somewhat similar situation to DavidnRobin in that we own WKORK-OFD (EY-already requalified) and now own WPORV EOY (developer purchase) with the option to purchase the other half, which we really don't have a ton of interest in doing. Right now we're sitting at the same 222 SO's as DavidnRobin but without any resale units to requal. It's a long shot for us right now but if there was a cheap way to make it to 5*, i'd love to hear about it.

It seems like WMH Platinum or SMV Platinum resale would be the best path and then requal by purchasing the other half of our WPORV (Locked in at $25k) but that would still leave us at 443k SO's. I would welcome any creative (an inexpensive) suggestions. Thanks

you could buy 1 or 2 a sheraton beach club for $14000-$19000 depending on the season and get 85000 staroptions for the sale for each unit and/or then you you could buy eoy at the fountains or find a small 1 br at svv for the rest of the staroptions. at this point that is the least expensive way to go.

you would still have to buy the other half of wporv to get to 443k so"s.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Ah ........... this week I'm Westin St John girl and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I think I could give up Cleveland for this!!

Great post Kath -- a job very well done (both the purchases and the article) .... it's DEFINITELY sponge worthy!!

Everytime we are on STJ - the same feeling arises - how could we manage to stay there? But as the old saying goes - "How do you leave the USVI with a million dollars? ... come with 2 million..."

Our trip is less than 4-weeks away... save us some rum...

Yes - an excellent thread on getting to 5* - dss, you could try the upgrade route that SDKath used.
The other EOY for WPORV is anything but cheap - especially considering the MFs.

 

[GrayFal]

About 6 months. I started with nothing and just finished. K

:hysterical:

 

[jerseygirl]

Agree with Pat -- you're not finished!!!!

 

[capjak]

I currently have ~222K SOs from 2 SVO VOIs (EY WKORV 2Bd LO at 148.1K SOs, and EOY WPORV 2Bd LO at 74.05K SOs)
and 243K SOs from 3 resale VOIs (2x WKV at 81K SOs, and WSJ at 81K SOs)
for a total of 465.15K SOs.

If I requal 2 of my resales (162K SOs) - that would give me ~384K SOs - and therefore shy by 175K SOs.

If I requal 3 of my resales (243K SOs) - that would give me ~465K SOs - and therefore shy by 94K SOs.

Considering cost and MFs (along with SPs and SP incentives) - what is the cheapest entry for me to get to 5*/PFL?
How would these phantom SOs work?

{how many oranges will this get me?...}

I do not get the Math:

If you requal 2 x 81K you get 162 plus the new units used to requal I assume a 1 EOY Palm Springs and 1 EOY Cancun for instance would give you 310K plus the 222k for a total of 532K correct?

 

[myip]

I do not get the Math:

If you requal 2 x 81K you get 162 plus the new units used to requal I assume a 1 EOY Palm Springs and 1 EOY Cancun for instance would give you 310K plus the 222k for a total of 532K correct?

Ask for 30,000 phantom points. == 562K

 

[Sir Newf]

Question for SDKath-

Extremely well done SDKath!!!!!...I need to ask-what is your career? The skill sets required to create this research, data and then to implement are pretty significant......so what is/was your career (my guess- Mathametican, Analyst, Economist, or home-maker)?