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

[vistana101]

Maybe you should try SBP in Myrtle Beach-they might have some sales in the newer phase, Palmetto. For 81,000 SO (2 bedroom platinum), your MF would be:

$634--from 2011 MF thread, w/o ARDA or SVN Fee

I own the same type of unit at SVV and our MF our 1,021 for that unit.

 

[ketamine]

my reasons to go to 4*

I'm not sure 4* is that worthless. The perks that I really value are the 9/30 StarPoint conversion deadline, the waiving of the $99 conversion fee and the 10% StarPoint bonus. Those $99 conversion fees can add up pretty quickly if I need to convert a bunch of unused studio sides from my 2BR units.

I agree, as did others, with pathways25.

In addition the $99 conversion has just gone up to $115.

Yes, Points can be a relatively better or worse value.... depending.

We like European travel and adding several 5 for 4 nights in selected luxury hotels, is an otherwise unafforable treat; plus spg.com for airtravel has been good when 20K =25K and you still earn your milage points.

Holding one resevation while on wait list for another I find a good addition to 3* as well.

Finally I'm only 56K away ....
The reason for my inquiry was to "look at" options as to how I might best get to that 56K.

Now the difference between 4* and 5* is huge over 300K....whew! I was told at the oiwner update yesterday that Starwood is planning an increase in the requirements for 4*.... so for us, if we are going to do it at all, it's now or never.

So to get that 56K SO.... Does it make any sence to do a resale and then an EOY retro or just to do an inexpensive MF purchase (maybe an EOY) as suggested by Vistana101.

Thanks so much for all the good input and food for thought.
k

P.S. we are really enjoying Princeville. it is a great proiperty.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I say go for 5* - using the all these great arguments for buying even more SVO VOIs to increase those prestigious Elite levels - 5* appears to be even a better bargain...

besides - SVO needs more of this type of logic to keep the SVO boat afloat... you know... the one we are all passengers on (although most of us are in steerage) - otherwise it could be sink or swim... wtf - my life-vest appears to be missing! I sure hope there are enough rafts...

 

[YYJMSP]

I was told at the oiwner update yesterday that Starwood is planning an increase in the requirements for 4*.... so for us, if we are going to do it at all, it's now or never.

Standard salesperson ploy -- "buy today, or it will cost more tomorrow"

 

[jerseygirl]

I wouldn't take on two maintenance fees just to save a little bit of upfront money ... if you're going to do it, buy an EOY platinum plus or platinum unit somewhere that will get you the 56K you need. Maybe they'll even throw in some phantom SOs just to get you to 4* and you won't have to buy the full 56K.

If you spend $20K, that's 173 conversion fees. If you convert 4 a year, you'll make up those fees in 43 years. Just saying ....

 

[capjak]

Standard salesperson ploy -- "buy today, or it will cost more tomorrow"

In most cases I would agree, however, a few years back a starwood salesperson said the 5 star was going up and guess what he was actually correct...it did go up when he said it was going too...

Bottom line do not buy out of fear of going up, buy because you have the disposable cash and you really want the 4 star benefit.

Face it a timeshare is a Emotional Purchase for the most part

 

[DeniseM]

This is being actively discussed in this thread - start at post #155.

(I merged this thread with that thread.)

 

[RoshiGuy]

We like European travel and adding several 5 for 4 nights in selected luxury hotels, is an otherwise unafforable treat; plus spg.com for airtravel has been good when 20K =25K and you still earn your milage points.

So to get that 56K SO.... Does it make any sence to do a resale and then an EOY retro or just to do an inexpensive MF purchase (maybe an EOY) as suggested by Vistana101.

Retroing a resale as part of this process can get you additional SOs/SPs, for negligible extra upfront cost, and might be useful given your European travel interests. The downside is that you're adding a few months to the process.

Unless you feel you don't need the extra SOs/SPs, I would suggest retroing a resale. Since you're thinking of doing the developer purchase anyway, the resale will add under $3K in upfront costs and around $1000-$1300 in MF. Those numbers look pretty good to me even if the primary use of this will be for SP conversion (you'll get 10% bonus as a 4*).

 

[YYJMSP]

Good question. No idea! Hopefully they would "work" with you and grant an exception. A few years ago when I retro'd something, I was short $500 and they said sorry. But things change...

Sounds like the party line is if you're $100 short, they might give an exception. Anything more, forget it... And they can't change the prices.

Yesterday's prices (subject to availability):

- WDW 2BR LO Platinum+ EOY $22,900 ($19,900 if you already own something else)
- WMH 2BR LO Platinum+ EOY $20,900 ($17,900 if you already own something else)

Current promotional incentive is 55K SPG points for either of those.

 

[YYJMSP]

Sounds like the party line is if you're $100 short, they might give an exception. Anything more, forget it... And they can't change the prices.

Yesterday's prices (subject to availability):

- WDW 2BR LO Platinum+ EOY $22,900 ($19,900 if you already own something else)
- WMH 2BR LO Platinum+ EOY $20,900 ($17,900 if you already own something else)

Current promotional incentive is 55K SPG points for either of those.

They allowed the exception to retro units with a $19,900 purchase (instead of $20K). It takes 4 signatures to do so, and took almost a week to secure them all.

They also increased the promotional incentive from 55K SPG points each for the EOY's to 65K SPG points each.

For those trying to maximize bonus points, best thing to do is purchase an Explorer West package, pay for it, use the purchase price towards the purchase of the developer unit, and you get an extra 100K SPG points (70K for doing a purchase, and 30K for not returning to the source property).

We tried to purchase 2 Explorer packages (to get another 100K SPG points), but they won't let you -- only allowed to have one per 12 month period.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I hope you find it worth the cost in the long run (even with the incentives)- and the Elite rules don't change on you. IMO - I find the cost:benefit not worth it in the SVO world today (vs when KathD started this thread), but hopefully YMMV.

 

[YYJMSP]

I hope you find it worth the cost in the long run (even with the incentives)- and the Elite rules don't change on you. IMO - I find the cost:benefit not worth it in the SVO world today (vs when KathD started this thread), but hopefully YMMV.

We made sure to purchase in places/seasons that we would actually go to, etc. This probably made for a more expensive path to 5* Elite than some (I'm estimating our MFs will be ~$8500 for ~686K SOs / ~390K SPG points), but we're happy with how we've used the ownerships to date, the value we've gotten, and our plans for the next 2 or 3 years...

 

[DavidnRobin]

I like the idea of buying where you want to go - and I am sure you realize that it is more than the $MFs, the SOs, and the SPs upon SO conversion (plus incentives), but also the upfront cost - the value in the long-term - as well as the cost of vacationing in both terms of time and $$$ (our biggest hit).

besides... w/o people buying from SVO (even to requal) - how else will this house of cards stay upright? LOL

best of luck.

 

[capjak]

Offered retros of WKORV-North 2 bd annual by purchasing a EOY 2 bdroom platinum season WLR oceanfront for $24900. 110,000 Starpoints incentive and option to purchase 4 packages for 80,000 starpoints each at $1550.

Just wanted to give some recent data on retros, did not do this.

 

[duke]

(vs when KathD started this thread), but hopefully YMMV.

Hey, don't forget about me..........duke

 

[DavidnRobin]

Hey, don't forget about me..........duke

How could we possible forget about you? The man who originally wrote the requal thread - whereas the rest of us are mere followers. But it was SDKath who wrote the guide to 5* platinum that caused SVO to change their rules in so many ways.
but... you still 'the man'.

I did notice that SDKath did not give you credit in post#1 - shame. shame, shame...

 

[duke]

but... you still 'the man'.

Love you man!

 

[clsmit]

Offered retros of WKORV-North 2 bd annual by purchasing a EOY 2 bdroom platinum season WLR oceanfront for $24900. 110,000 Starpoints incentive and option to purchase 4 packages for 80,000 starpoints each at $1550.

Just wanted to give some recent data on retros, did not do this.

They clearly still have a ton of WLR inventory they want to get rid of! That's a pretty typical requal arrangement.

 

[jimgior]

Offered retros of WKORV-North 2 bd annual by purchasing a EOY 2 bdroom platinum season WLR oceanfront for $24900. 110,000 Starpoints incentive and option to purchase 4 packages for 80,000 starpoints each at $1550.

Just wanted to give some recent data on retros, did not do this.

Odd - I was offered EOY 2BRLO WLR Plat. for 19900 - 1795 of my explorer package, 130,000k star points, and the 4 x 80k points for 1550.00. I didn't have a timeshare to retro at the time.

 

[VacationForever]

Starwood has pricing differential for existing Starwood owners and non owners for the lower tier seasons or units. Last time when I was at WLR, the sales person was trying to sell us 1br or 2br Eoy gold plus and gave my friend and I separate pricing and when we told him that if we were to buy it would be for 2br ey and there was no owner's discount for the EY 2br.

The other thing is pricing and incentives change through time. The pricing that was offered to me was lower than that posted by another Tugger several months before.

 

[grgs]

Odd - I was offered EOY 2BRLO WLR Plat. for 19900 - 1795 of my explorer package, 130,000k star points, and the 4 x 80k points for 1550.00. I didn't have a timeshare to retro at the time.

I'm guessing $19,900 is for an OV unit, not OF (or OS--Ocean Side, which how the refer to the OF units at WLR).

Glorian

 

[grgs]

Offered retros of WKORV-North 2 bd annual by purchasing a EOY 2 bdroom platinum season WLR oceanfront for $24900. 110,000 Starpoints incentive and option to purchase 4 packages for 80,000 starpoints each at $1550.

Just wanted to give some recent data on retros, did not do this.

Just confirm--this was for an Ocean Side unit as opposed to Resort View, right?

Glorian

 

[jarta]

glorian, ... Last Spring I purchased an annual Plat. 2-br WMH on the resale market. While staying at WKV last Fall, I was looking to retro the WMH unit.

I already owned an EOY Plat 2-br at Lagunamar. When I looked to upgrade that EOY week so that I could include the retro of the WMH week as part of the transaction, I found that upgrading the EOY 2-br to an annual would cost $19,900. That would have been too little to include the retro of the WMH. You need $20K for Mexico and the mainland US. However, upgrading the Plat 2-br EOY to an an annual Plat 2-br OS unit at Lagunamar would cost $21,500.

There are only regular Lagunamar weeks and OS Lagunamar weeks that are sold. The OS units are located in buildings 1,9 and 14. They are the last tier of 2-br units of each of those buildings and are closest to/right on the beach. (Also got 80K Starpoints and 6 options to buy 80K Starpoints each for $1,550 each.)

I bought the 5th Floor OS 2-br in Building 1. But, I made sure I bought the deeded week 7 - in case I decide to up the week to Ultra or Ultra Permium at a later time. Salty

 

[jimgior]

Just confirm--this was for an Ocean Side unit as opposed to Resort View, right?

Glorian

I didn't pay attention because we were not doing it. If we did it would have been more for options than wanting to go there

 

[DJmonkey]

Need Clarification

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.