Atlantis Harborside- difficulty booking using home float week and staroptions

[trook]

New to TUG and timeshares. Thank you to everyone who contributes their knowledge and experiences, I have been learning a lot and trying to fully educate myself before we dive in to timeshare ownership. Considering buying an atlantis harborside 3 bedroom lockoff resale unit.

My questions (among many) are:
1) How difficult have folks found it to book your desired week using your home location floating week (platinum plus) 12 months in advance? Do you always get it, or is it a battle?
2) If I were to have banked staroptions and wanted to go to my home resort for say 2 weeks in one year, at what timeframe am I able to book back-back weeks at my home resort using the current year allotment and prior year banked staroptions? (is it 12 months out, or do you have to wait till 8 months out, or is it a combo as in I can book the current years week at 12 months, but then have to hope the other adjacent week is still available at 8 months when able to use staroptions?)
3) If I wanted to split my usage at my home resort (say a 2 bedroom one week and then a single lockoff a different week), at what timeframe out am I able to book that? (am I booking at 12 months as my home resort, or would I need to convert to staroptions and thus have to wait until 8 months out?). And again, how difficult have folks found it to obtain their desired week?

4) Any links to other great resources specific to harborside and things you wish you knew before purchasing there would be appreciated.

Thank you everyone!! You are truly an awesome community.

 

[tschwa2]

weeks 51 and weeks 52 can be a challenge with floating only because some of the deeded weeks were fixed as event weeks.
Other than that you should be find booking at 12 months. Banked staroptions are the same as non home week and can only be booked at 8 months and you are competing with all VSN members. My 2BR is phase 1 so I am not sure about locking off and booking each side separately.

 

[alwysonvac]

4) Any links to other great resources specific to harborside and things you wish you knew before purchasing there would be appreciated.

Thank you everyone!! You are truly an awesome community.

Do a search using “Harborside“ to find previous threads.
Here‘s a few.

Harborside or not?

Hello, I am considering adding a Harborside unit to my portfolio and I have questions. This will be my first entry into Starwood. I would appreciate all answers and/or directions to previous post about this topic. I love Atlantis but have never stayed at Harborside. 1. Is is easy to rent out...

tugbbs.com

Harborside Atlantis - can’t give them away

Ive been considering adding a second time share recently and Harborside is one I was considering. I see on Redweek that there is a lot of weeks People are looking to give away for free and some even willing to pay the closing costs. There doesn’t seem to be any activity even with people offering...

tugbbs.com

Harborside deed back

Been an owner since 2003. I’ve greatly enjoyed my trips but not really able to use it anymore as the kids are older and schedules get in the way. Didn’t pay my MF fees during covid because I didn’t have access to my week as resort was shutdown. I received a letter at end of last year giving...

tugbbs.com

[ 2020 ] THE FINAL CHAPTER: Denial of Use Notice for Atlantis / Harborside

I have written extensively on Redweek about the HOA fees at Harborside, and also posted on a number Harborside HOA pages on Facebook. UPDATE: I have just received a Denial of Use Notification from Vistana Management, Inc. This is a result of my refusal to further fund the erroneous charges...

tugbbs.com

 

[DanCali]

New to TUG and timeshares. Thank you to everyone who contributes their knowledge and experiences, I have been learning a lot and trying to fully educate myself before we dive in to timeshare ownership. Considering buying an atlantis harborside 3 bedroom lockoff resale unit.

My questions (among many) are:
1) How difficult have folks found it to book your desired week using your home location floating week (platinum plus) 12 months in advance? Do you always get it, or is it a battle?
2) If I were to have banked staroptions and wanted to go to my home resort for say 2 weeks in one year, at what timeframe am I able to book back-back weeks at my home resort using the current year allotment and prior year banked staroptions? (is it 12 months out, or do you have to wait till 8 months out, or is it a combo as in I can book the current years week at 12 months, but then have to hope the other adjacent week is still available at 8 months when able to use staroptions?)
3) If I wanted to split my usage at my home resort (say a 2 bedroom one week and then a single lockoff a different week), at what timeframe out am I able to book that? (am I booking at 12 months as my home resort, or would I need to convert to staroptions and thus have to wait until 8 months out?). And again, how difficult have folks found it to obtain their desired week?

4) Any links to other great resources specific to harborside and things you wish you knew before purchasing there would be appreciated.

Thank you everyone!! You are truly an awesome community.

I own 2 weeks here and, despite the negativity, we are still pleased to own here and visit now more often than in the past.

To answer your questions - as others have mentioned, booking 12 months in advance is generally not a battle but some weeks are more popular than others and so you don't want to wait too long. If you're not booking your Platinum week for weeks 1-17 and are waiting another 9 months to get week 51 or 52, you may be unsuccessful and have to use Staroptions for that year since nothing will be available.

Booking at 8 months with banked SOs used to be extremely hard pre-pandemic, especially 2BR or larger units. It's been a little easier in the past couple of years, but may get harder again. The 2BR non-lockoff units that are part of the 3BR (as well as the 3BR itself) are much harder to get at 8 months simply because there are fewer units. Those units are only in Phase II and there aren't that many of them. You'd have more luck getting a 2BR lockoff unit than a 2BR or 3BR lockoff, but may not have the staroptions since it's more costly to book than a 2BR.

You can book your 3BR lockoff as either a 3BR, or split to 2BR and 1BR at 12 months out. The only restrictions are that it's 7-night bookings starting Fri, Sat, or Sunday (i.e., home resort reservations). At 8 months out you can book 1+ nights any day of the week.

IMO the 3BR lockoffs and its 2BR potion sometimes sold separately still offer tremendous value and are greatly underpriced right now. For example, the sole 2BR Deluxe Gold on Redweek right now (listed for $0) can be booked for July weeks in the summer and rented for $3500-$4000. The maintenance fees are about $2250. Even if you were to pay $7500 for it, you'd have a 5-6 year payback - so at $0 it's a steal if you plan of using it for the foreseeable future. Compare that to the 10-15 year payback on the Maui OF weeks that people are spending $40K on... The 3BR lockoff week is that 2BR deluxe + a small 1BR but with an actual balcony - so, similarly, that 3BR Gold on Redweek listed at $3000 is a great value. However, the fact that MFs for 2BR lockoff units is now $3500+ is a problem in general and many owners will simply find it hard justify and/or afford $500/night and that situation is not good for a resort. But if that concern is a problem, then it's problem in general for several resorts with MFs of $3000+, not just HRA.

 

[trook]

I own 2 weeks here and, despite the negativity, we are still pleased to own here and visit now more often than in the past.

To answer your questions - as others have mentioned, booking 12 months in advance is generally not a battle but some weeks are more popular than others and so you don't want to wait too long. If you're not booking your Platinum week for weeks 1-17 and are waiting another 9 months to get week 51 or 52, you may be unsuccessful and have to use Staroptions for that year since nothing will be available.

Booking at 8 months with banked SOs used to be extremely hard pre-pandemic, especially 2BR or larger units. It's been a little easier in the past couple of years, but may get harder again. The 2BR non-lockoff units that are part of the 3BR (as well as the 3BR itself) are much harder to get at 8 months simply because there are fewer units. Those units are only in Phase II and there aren't that many of them. You'd have more luck getting a 2BR lockoff unit than a 2BR or 3BR lockoff, but may not have the staroptions since it's more costly to book than a 2BR.

You can book your 3BR lockoff as either a 3BR, or split to 2BR and 1BR at 12 months out. The only restrictions are that it's 7-night bookings starting Fri, Sat, or Sunday (i.e., home resort reservations). At 8 months out you can book 1+ nights any day of the week.

IMO the 3BR lockoffs and its 2BR potion sometimes sold separately still offer tremendous value and are greatly underpriced right now. For example, the sole 2BR Deluxe Gold on Redweek right now (listed for $0) can be booked for July weeks in the summer and rented for $3500-$4000. The maintenance fees are about $2250. Even if you were to pay $7500 for it, you'd have a 5-6 year payback - so at $0 it's a steal if you plan of using it for the foreseeable future. Compare that to the 10-15 year payback on the Maui OF weeks that people are spending $40K on... The 3BR lockoff week is that 2BR deluxe + a small 1BR but with an actual balcony - so, similarly, that 3BR Gold on Redweek listed at $3000 is a great value. However, the fact that MFs for 2BR lockoff units is now $3500+ is a problem in general and many owners will simply find it hard justify and/or afford $500/night and that situation is not good for a resort. But if that concern is a problem, then it's problem in general for several resorts with MFs of $3000+, not just HRA.

Thank you very much for your feedback. I actually don't have a problem with the current maintenance fees (though I know they are steep). We are a family of 6, so anywhere we are going on vacation we need a lot of space so would be easily paying $5k+ for upscale accommodations at a nice resort regardless for a week.

I do share others concerns about the RATE that annual maintenance fees have been increasing. Do you know in the deed if it specifies anywhere if there is an annual cap as to how much they are able to increase it annually?

 

[DanCali]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I actually don't have a problem with the current maintenance fees (though I know they are steep). We are a family of 6, so anywhere we are going on vacation we need a lot of space so would be easily paying $5k+ for upscale accommodations at a nice resort regardless for a week.

I do share others concerns about the RATE that annual maintenance fees have been increasing. Do you know in the deed if it specifies anywhere if there is an annual cap as to how much they are able to increase it annually?

As far as I know, there are no caps at any Vistana or MVC resorts.

Actually, at HRA it's not the rate of annual increases, just that the LEVEL was always high.

When we bought in 2014, the maintenance fees for the 2BR (non-lockoff) were $1830. In 2023 the MFs are $2263. Over 9 years that's a growth rate of just 2.4%, which is much lower than other resorts. But if your fees on a 2BR lockoff went from $2900 to $3600, you don't really care that it was increasing at 2.4% a year - you care that it's $3600.

The ~20% increase from 2021 to 2022 is misleading because the MFs dropped in 2021 during covid (no Atlantis fee) and then jumped back up to their normal levels when everything reopened - over 2020-2022 the increase was about 1.3% annualized (albeit there was an 8% increase in 2023).

 

[trook]

As far as I know, there are no caps at any Vistana or MVC resorts.

Actually, at HRA it's not the rate of annual increases, just that the LEVEL was always high.

When we bought in 2014, the maintenance fees for the 2BR (non-lockoff) were $1830. In 2023 the MFs are $2263. Over 9 years that's a growth rate of just 2.4%, which is much lower than other resorts. But if your fees on a 2BR lockoff went from $2900 to $3600, you don't really care that it was increasing at 2.4% a year - you care that it's $3600.

The ~20% increase from 2021 to 2022 is misleading because the MFs dropped in 2021 during covid (no Atlantis fee) and then jumped back up to their normal levels when everything reopened - over 2020-2022 the increase was about 1.3% annualized (albeit there was an 8% increase in 2023).

Do you know what the timeframe now currently is for Harborside to utilize banked staroptions? I have been trying to educate myself as much as possible reading these forums and it seems that since Vistana merged with Marriott to Abound things may have changed (?). From what I've read it was previously 2 years. But also came across some forums talking about that within Abound depending on your status (select, executive are now only good banked for 1 year, presidential level good for 18 months, and chairman’s club good for 2 years) things are now different. But also read that Harborside is still not a part of Abound yet... so I'm not sure where there leaves Harborside owners with timeframe to use staroptions.

So as you may gather, I am very confused what Harborside currently is in relation to all of this in terms of timeframe for banking staroptions at this time. And re Harborside owners within the Abound system yet? Thank you for any help, advice, or direction to other helpful forums.

 

[DanCali]

Do you know what the timeframe now currently is for Harborside to utilize banked staroptions? I have been trying to educate myself as much as possible reading these forums and it seems that since Vistana merged with Marriott to Abound things may have changed (?). From what I've read it was previously 2 years. But also came across some forums talking about that within Abound depending on your status (select, executive are now only good banked for 1 year, presidential level good for 18 months, and chairman’s club good for 2 years) things are now different. But also read that Harborside is still not a part of Abound yet... so I'm not sure where there leaves Harborside owners with timeframe to use staroptions.

So as you may gather, I am very confused what Harborside currently is in relation to all of this in terms of timeframe for banking staroptions at this time. And re Harborside owners within the Abound system yet? Thank you for any help, advice, or direction to other helpful forums.

In VSN banked Staroptions were good for 2 years. The Vistana Elite level affected how late in the year you can bank, but the banked options were good for 2 years.

With the integration into Abound, this will now change and Banked staroptions will be good for 12, 18 or 24 months, depending on your Abound Owner Benefit Level. There will also be some changes to banking deadlines, with the biggest adverse impact being on Vistana 5-Star Elites that will have to now bank by Oct 31 instead of Dec 31 of the use year (3-Star and 4-Star lose a month). These changes are not immediate but will begin in 1-2 years (2025 IIRC)

Here is how the life of banked Staroptions and banking deadlines are advertised to work going forward: