Call to Starwood about new system

[Twinkstarr]

I can't see where this is doing much of anything for owners at SDO. I closed on my unit in July and had my pick of pretty much any week I wanted to reserve (ended up with weeks 12 and 13). That's a lot better than a lot of owners in other systems have it as it pertains to competition to make prime reservations. I've not seen any reports on here of SDO owners not being able to reserve prime weeks for their own use with adequate advance notice.

Pure speculation on my part, but I think the change is driven more by *wood wanting to open up more prime inventory to SVN members using *options. If they're doing this to increase unit availability for SVN members, that stinks for us non-SVN members as we're giving up prime weeks to non-owners without the option to join the network ourselves.

I have Lakeside Terrace and I've never not gotten the week that I have wanted(either for use or trade). It's so easy I usually just email Starwood my request and get my week. And this is ski season! Now I'm on it at the 12 month mark.

My take on this whole thing meshes with yours, using our inventory(non-svn) to bolster units for the SVN network.

 

[DeniseM]

I just wrote my letters to Starwood and II - I wanted to wait until I had the trade test information to include in both letters.

If you'd like to see my letters for references or a model, please click on my name and send me an email (I can't attach a letter to a pm, so I need your email addy.)

*Even if you only own SVN weeks, you have still lost the valuable right to do a "Request First" (hold a current reservation at your home resort, while requesting an exchange) so all owners have a stake in this - both SVN and non-SVN owners.

It's really important that all Starwood Owners send letters to II and SW, so please speak up if you need some help with your letters.

THANK YOU!

 

[zcrider]

starwood/II compaint

Starwood is screwing the owners here. We can't search first, we don't get the extra II voucher week included for deposit we used to get and we have to call starwood and give them our good reservation week for them to rent for profit and if we don't find a suitable II exchange we can pull out the look and pick from the left over week nobody wanted at our home resort that we pay good money to own at!!!!! Starwood must think we are totally stupid to say that this is better for us b/c we can wait until Dec. 31st. to deposit our week in II and still have the same trading power as the old way. Who cares about that in comparison to what you took away!
Starwood why don't you try doing something good that makes people want to own more starwood properites instead of trashing your reputation and the product and making your owners hate you and turn on you like you are doing to us! Count me in to fight back!!!!!!!! We want what we bought and our ability to travel to other destinations easily without penility.
I am so disappointed with my starwood timeshare now.

 

[DeniseM]

Thanks for posting, zcrider, but just to clarify, as far as I know, Starwood's timeshares have never received AC's, although I've never heard an explanation of why that is. It certainly seems like they should!

 

[DeniseM]

I did get my response letter from Starwood and it was disappointing. The first paragraph appeared to be directed to me, but the rest of it was boiler plate. They actually did not respond to any of my questions. I was disappointed to get a canned response that just promoted the party line.

To give II credit - at least they sent me a personal response that addressed the questions in my letter AND revealed that true fixed weeks do not fall under the new rules.

 

[l2trade]

Starwood is screwing the owners here. We can't search first, we don't get the extra II voucher week included for deposit we used to get and we have to call starwood and give them our good reservation week for them to rent for profit and if we don't find a suitable II exchange we can pull out the look and pick from the left over week nobody wanted at our home resort that we pay good money to own at!!!!! Starwood must think we are totally stupid to say that this is better for us b/c we can wait until Dec. 31st. to deposit our week in II and still have the same trading power as the old way. Who cares about that in comparison to what you took away!
Starwood why don't you try doing something good that makes people want to own more starwood properites instead of trashing your reputation and the product and making your owners hate you and turn on you like you are doing to us! Count me in to fight back!!!!!!!! We want what we bought and our ability to travel to other destinations easily without penility.
I am so disappointed with my starwood timeshare now.

I agree with you, but you lost me on the last part. I don't think we are worried about that, are we? I'm not very good with urban slang, so I had to go look that one up: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Penility

 

[James1975NY]

Thanks for posting, zcrider, but just to clarify, as far as I know, Starwood's timeshares have never received AC's, although I've never heard an explanation of why that is. It certainly seems like they should!

This is because they want to promote the use of the SVN program. If owners were incented to deposit their weeks with II, then there would be less inventory available for owners to reserve through SVN.

I could be wrong on this next bit, but I also recall that AC weeks would apply to owners that deposited NEW inventory and these certificates would not apply to bulk deposits. Make sense?

 

[levatino]

My letter to Starwood Management

After my last post about my recent purchase and regrets I sought the address of someone to put my comments in writing. Below is a copy of a letter sent to Sergio Rivera and Frits.... I hope other owners will take the time to express thier opinion in writing.


Mr. Frits van Paasschen
Chief Exec. Officer, Pres
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
1111 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604

Dear Mr. van Paasschen;

I am writing this letter under the hopes that you will do something to correct the decline of Starwood vacation ownership value in my purchase at Vistana Villages, Orlando, Florida. I was introduced to Starwood through an RCI exchange when I stayed at the Vistana Resort with my family in January 2009. During this stay I considered vacation ownership with Starwood after being a 2-property Wyndham owner.

Several months later I decided to pursue purchase at Starwood. I enlisted the help of several resale real estate individuals who helped me navigate the popular timeshare programs and properties. When I expressed interest in Starwood I was repeatedly told how mismanaged they believed Starwood was and advised against this purchase. More than one real estate professional mentioned the implementation of the recent special assessment fee at Vistana Resort as an example of the seeming disregard and lack of consideration that Starwood has when making decisions that impact their owners. This bombastic one-year implementation of a special assessment was contrasted with a recent refurbishment conducted by Hilton in Las Vegas and that fee being spread across a longer period of time to make the burden more manageable on families. Regardless of the advice I was offered, I decided to trust Starwood and buy at Vistana Villages.

Now we are in November of 2009 and after purchase my initial greeting to Starwood maintenance fees: Upon receipt of the 2010 bill I was greeted with a 29% increase over the previous year. In light of the fact that my two Wyndham properties have increased by 5-8% in 2010, the increase implemented by Starwood seems particularly excessive and, unfortunately, in line with the lack of company foresight and attention to owner satisfaction that the timeshare professionals I consulted with referred to. I understand that inflation increases and that there is a need for a business to stay solvent in the face of delinquencies. However Starwood can do a better job of navigating business decisions with that of owner satisfaction. The erratic nature of these fees appears to be a barometer of management’s skill, stability and lack thereof.

Unfortunately, my ownership beginning with Starwood has been tarnished. Like strong families in a harsh economy, strong business management must creatively adapt and organize their organizations to thrive. As a parent, I have had to make decisions that balance the needs of my family, while providing for my children’s long-term well-being. My observation is that if Starwood management were running my family they would tell my children to drop out of school to go and work down the street at the neighborhood mill to make some temporary cash, blind to the impact this decision would have on their future. I hope, upon review, that you will agree that Starwood can manage better to match the wonderful qualities of its resorts and program and not lurch precariously on the lynchpin of exorbitant and insensitive implementation of fees that ultimately undermine Starwood’s value and limit owners’ trust in Starwood.

I look forward to better times for Starwood management and its owners.


Sincerely,



Paul Levatino

My fear with this being moved to a 307 reply post is it is going to get lost and as a result immobilize no one to write to Starwood...

 

[Joshadelic]

If you're holding your breath for something other than a canned letter written by Starwood's legal department, or even worse, one that was written by an owner services rep who doesn't know how to use spell-check or proper grammar, then I hope blue is your color!

 

[DeniseM]

My fear with this being moved to a 307 reply post is it is going to get lost and as a result immobilize no one to write to Starwood...

Paul - even thought there are 307 posts in this thread, adding your post to the thread brings it to the top of the forum, and people who are interested in this topic will definitely see it and read your new post. It just isn't practical to start a new thread with every new post, and for the sake of continuity, it's better to keep posts on the same topic together.

Tugger gmarine, among others, has organized a letter writing campaign that has been going on for a couple of months now, and many of us have written to Starwood and II - I am glad to see that you have written to Starwood, too. Unfortunately, Starwood has chosen to respond with "canned" letters that don't even address the questions asked. (See my post above.) Even though that's pathetic on their part, it's still important for owners to write those letters, and I'm sure it is making an impact.

Thanks for writing!