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Any concerns about buying more 2br platinum weeks at WKV (Kierland)?

tourproto

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So getting closer to retirement and looking at adding more weeks at WKV. We have 2 platinum weeks with 148,100 points now. Never converted to Abound (it made no sense to me).

My current plan/strategy has been to book back-to-back weeks with 1bd premium (81,000 x2), and then at 8 months out either book a 3rd week at WKV or a week at Princeville (also a 1br premium). And with the points left over, book some getaways at the Westin Desert Willows. Has worked out great for a decade, and if we can't go, we just list the weeks on Redbook, and I almost always get 2x the value of the MFs. Really hasn't been a problem to book the weeks I want. I have loved the flexibility of my WKV timeshares.

Gonna pull the trigger on retirement this year or next, and looking to buy more to actually use them and snowbird from the PNW. I don't have time (yet) to keep up on all the shenanigans that Marriott is constantly doing with Vistana, so my question is pretty simple. If I just want add more 148,100 platinum weeks, like the ones I already own, is there any reason not to do so?

Just checking to see if Marriott has put some stupid "speed bumps" to make this less desirable for those of us buying on the secondary market. I may need to rent some weeks for another year, and I just don't want to get hosed by some new "rules" that Marriott has put into place.

I never use Interval. I either use the week or rent it out.

TIA!
 

tomvc

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There were some discussions about the need to pay a separate Vistana club fee (in addition to Abound club fee) since new mandatory resale weeks are eligible for StarOptions, but are not enrolled in Abound.

Can anyone who recently purchase mandatory Vistana confirm that your weeks are held in a separate Vistana account and you have to pay the old Vistana club fees.
 

tourproto

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So Vistana is dicking with me (for the last several years) and my 2 timeshares are indeed in 2 separate accounts, BUT I only pay one club dues ("executive dues" on my statements). So I use that data point that I will have yet a 3rd account for my 3rd timeshare but still only pay one Club Dues.
 

Hindsite

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As you pay for an II account already, you could use the pre retirement time to start watching getaway inventory and see if any of that is of interest.
You can set getaway alerts on the II app for locations and dates that are of interest. You can do upto 14 separate alerts so grouping them by date range and location can be useful. You can set alerts for any 90 day window.

Assume that your new Kierland purchase would need to pay the VSN dues as it's mandatory but not eligible for Abound.
 

vacationtime1

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To answer OP's question, I know of no new developments which affect my use of my own Kierland weeks. I have been an owner there for nearly twenty years.

Remember: Marriott does not have an ROFR on Kierland units.
 

dioxide45

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It sounds like your current two deeds might be titled differently. Meaning different names on the deeds. Perhaps in a different order or some including middle initial and the other one doesn't. It is imperative that any new deeds are deeded exactly like the other ones.
 

iftravel

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Do
So getting closer to retirement and looking at adding more weeks at WKV. We have 2 platinum weeks with 148,100 points now. Never converted to Abound (it made no sense to me).

My current plan/strategy has been to book back-to-back weeks with 1bd premium (81,000 x2), and then at 8 months out either book a 3rd week at WKV or a week at Princeville (also a 1br premium). And with the points left over, book some getaways at the Westin Desert Willows. Has worked out great for a decade, and if we can't go, we just list the weeks on Redbook, and I almost always get 2x the value of the MFs. Really hasn't been a problem to book the weeks I want. I have loved the flexibility of my WKV timeshares.

Gonna pull the trigger on retirement this year or next, and looking to buy more to actually use them and snowbird from the PNW. I don't have time (yet) to keep up on all the shenanigans that Marriott is constantly doing with Vistana, so my question is pretty simple. If I just want add more 148,100 platinum weeks, like the ones I already own, is there any reason not to do so?

Just checking to see if Marriott has put some stupid "speed bumps" to make this less desirable for those of us buying on the secondary market. I may need to rent some weeks for another year, and I just don't want to get hosed by some new "rules" that Marriott has put into place.

I never use Interval. I either use the week or rent it out.

TIA!
2bd MF is close to 2500. which weeks can rent for 5k? Honestly if renting out is easy, the buy in price at 15k isn't a big deal - only take 6 years to recoup. If you are already doing it (and successfully), the extra work is very mininum and pays for itself. It gives you a lot of options too use vs rent.

Another thought is to take on a cheap and useful Vistana / Marriott trader, and use it opportunistically - i mean for some places that you can exchange with this cheap trader, you save a WKV week for rent.
 

CalGalTraveler

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We own WKV and bought it to have extra SOs for trading Vistana. So far so good although MFs have risen sharply in recent years. WKV SOs may be our replacement for Enrolled Abound deed in Kaanapali. Will miss the prioritized OF view but IMO I can get better views in Cabo and elsewhere. If I really want OF I can use SOs. I can trade our SDO trader in II for MVC as an Abound substitute.
 
Last edited:

tourproto

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To answer OP's question, I know of no new developments which affect my use of my own Kierland weeks. I have been an owner there for nearly twenty years.

Remember: Marriott does not have an ROFR on Kierland units.
I just found that out! Never knew that.
 

tourproto

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Do

2bd MF is close to 2500. which weeks can rent for 5k? Honestly if renting out is easy, the buy in price at 15k isn't a big deal - only take 6 years to recoup. If you are already doing it (and successfully), the extra work is very mininum and pays for itself. It gives you a lot of options too use vs rent.

Another thought is to take on a cheap and useful Vistana / Marriott trader, and use it opportunistically - i mean for some places that you can exchange with this cheap trader, you save a WKV week for rent.
I love WKV not just for staying there (spring training baseball and golf) from mid-Feb to mid-March.

I rented 2 weeks this year (1 bedroom premiums) for $2500 each week. I have never seen a 2 bedroom lockoff sell for less than $4K in the Jan-Mar timeframe. I have been doing this for 10 years, and I have recovered around ~70% of my purchase price for both over time, because I don't rent my weeks every year, I actually use them.

I have had "not good" experiences with Interval so I no longer use them at all. I either use my weeks or rent them. I find that everytime I try to trade in Interval, I get less value back for what I put into it (my WKV weeks). I know others say great things about Interval, and maybe I don't know how to "game" the system in the right way, all I can say is that I don't like what I have gotten from Interval and don't use them anymore.
 

vacationtime1

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I love WKV not just for staying there (spring training baseball and golf) from mid-Feb to mid-March.

I rented 2 weeks this year (1 bedroom premiums) for $2500 each week. I have never seen a 2 bedroom lockoff sell for less than $4K in the Jan-Mar timeframe. I have been doing this for 10 years, and I have recovered around ~70% of my purchase price for both over time, because I don't rent my weeks every year, I actually use them.

I have had "not good" experiences with Interval so I no longer use them at all. I either use my weeks or rent them. I find that everytime I try to trade in Interval, I get less value back for what I put into it (my WKV weeks). I know others say great things about Interval, and maybe I don't know how to "game" the system in the right way, all I can say is that I don't like what I have gotten from Interval and don't use them anymore.
My renting experiences are similar. I have rented my one bedroom premium unit for several years to the same renter; the rent is currently $2500 which I believe is below market (but worth it under the circumstances).

I have never used Interval to exchange Kierland Plat+ units. I find StarOption exchanges to provide more value with less uncertainty.
 

iftravel

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I love WKV not just for staying there (spring training baseball and golf) from mid-Feb to mid-March.

I rented 2 weeks this year (1 bedroom premiums) for $2500 each week. I have never seen a 2 bedroom lockoff sell for less than $4K in the Jan-Mar timeframe. I have been doing this for 10 years, and I have recovered around ~70% of my purchase price for both over time, because I don't rent my weeks every year, I actually use them.

I have had "not good" experiences with Interval so I no longer use them at all. I either use my weeks or rent them. I find that everytime I try to trade in Interval, I get less value back for what I put into it (my WKV weeks). I know others say great things about Interval, and maybe I don't know how to "game" the system in the right way, all I can say is that I don't like what I have gotten from Interval and don't use them anymore.
My renting experiences are similar. I have rented my one bedroom premium unit for several years to the same renter; the rent is currently $2500 which I believe is below market (but worth it under the circumstances).

I have never used Interval to exchange Kierland Plat+ units. I find StarOption exchanges to provide more value with less uncertainty.
Thanks for sharing. The StarOption does come with a free (or how much) II account, right? If I have WKV, I would at least try Request First for something like Hawaii. Perhaps use 1-bed small to trade up to 2-bd etc. No luck?
 

vacationtime1

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Thanks for sharing. The StarOption does come with a free (or how much) II account, right? If I have WKV, I would at least try Request First for something like Hawaii. Perhaps use 1-bed small to trade up to 2-bd etc. No luck?
A StarOption account does come with a free II membership, although there are still exchange fees, e-plus fees, upgrade fees, etc.

Vistana stopped depositing two bedroom units into II, so tradeups size-wise are unlikely (at least for Hawaii resorts and Somewhere in Hawaii is our typical destination). However, your concept could work if you limited your II searches to resorts that only have two bedroom units (Waiohai, Newport Coast, etc).
 

mauitraveler

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A StarOption account does come with a free II membership, although there are still exchange fees, e-plus fees, upgrade fees, etc.

Vistana stopped depositing two bedroom units into II, so tradeups size-wise are unlikely (at least for Hawaii resorts and Somewhere in Hawaii is our typical destination). However, your concept could work if you limited your II searches to resorts that only have two bedroom units (Waiohai, Newport Coast, etc).
As vacationtime1 mentioned, Vistana generally doesn't deposit 2BR units into I.I.. However, we've been able to exchange into the 2BR units at Nanea three times. I think that Vistana wants to offer the 2BR units to exchangers, in hopes of having more exchangers think about adding Nanea to their portfolios.
 

dioxide45

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As vacationtime1 mentioned, Vistana generally doesn't deposit 2BR units into I.I.. However, we've been able to exchange into the 2BR units at Nanea three times. I think that Vistana wants to offer the 2BR units to exchangers, in hopes of having more exchangers think about adding Nanea to their portfolios.
The difference with Nanea is that it doesn't have lock off units and the 1BR units are in short supply. Thus why you see more 2BR units there. At WKORV and WKORVN the 2BR units lock off and they lock off before depositing. It provides more deposits to II with more potential exchange fee revenue.

We have seen some 2BR deposits in Palm Desert and Scottsdale where the resorts also only have 2BR lock off units. But primarily it is still them depositing the large and small 1BR into II.
 

VacationForever

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As vacationtime1 mentioned, Vistana generally doesn't deposit 2BR units into I.I.. However, we've been able to exchange into the 2BR units at Nanea three times. I think that Vistana wants to offer the 2BR units to exchangers, in hopes of having more exchangers think about adding Nanea to their portfolios.
Nanea 2BRs get deposited because they don't lockoff.
 
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Nanea 2BRs get deposited because they don't lockoff.
True and it seems they are readily available. I'm not an often frequenter of II but seem to recall nearly every time I've looked I've been offered a 2BR Nanea in exchange for our 1BR Lagunamar Gold Season. A bargain at 148,100 SO v 44,000 SO.
 
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