Beefnot
TUG Member
SBP is a nice resort but it is not on the beach. It is about a mile from a beach access which is why the price was probably so low. It does have a cute lazy river and it is right next to Broadway at the Beach. The rooms were nicely redone when we visited there this past August, but the MFs for what you get seem high to me. I much enjoyed our stay at Marriott Oceanwatch since all we had to do was a 3 minute walk from our villa to the beach. The pools were nicer too than SBP. I had an option of getting a summer SBP for free and I passed as I discovered I liked more upscale amenities. The staff were great though and they did have lots of activities going on all throughout the day so that was fun, but as far as a Starwood resort, I would say it is okay.
Anita
The facts that this unit floats 9-43 + high maintenance was a deterrent for me. If you manage to reserve weeks 25-32... great! Otherwise, it's not worth it.
You can trade into SBP during in the shoulder seasons for very few TPUs.
Reserving a summer week at SBP is not difficult. There is no deed to wake up early to call twelve months out; calling a few months in advance is usually sufficient.
SBP has this funny attribute that you may reserve your deeded week 12-24 months in advance. We own a deeded week 32 and grab it a year or two in advance so that is never an issue. If we later decide to trade it, no problem; Starwood reassigns us a generic week which trades well in Interval (I don't know about RCI).
I agree that the MF's are too high; if you would be buying it to use as a Starwood trader, SDO is probably a better bet at this point.
I was checking my 2br non-lockoff SBP's Trading power in RCI earlier today, just to get an idea, it looks like MOST weeks get 31 TPU, it was strange it seemed like alot weeks got 31, even weeks i'd consider off season...seems like an *average* trader in RCI, considering the MF's are over 1100, its not a great trader...
But i bought to use, so trading isn't an issue for me...and i'm scared to buy right on the beach because of the extra maintenance involved from the salt water spray...