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Help with II..own at Starwood Vistana Villages Key West

karray34

newbie
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I own a two-bedroom lock-off at Sheraton's Vistana Villages Key West. I bought it in July 2006. In 2007, I deposited one week into II, the other week I traded within the Starwood network for a week at Harborside in October 2007 for my son and his new wife's honeymoon. I didn't have trouble doing so... however I do know that the week they wanted was during a low season in the Bahamas since it is Hurricane season... They went and has beautiful weather. I used my starpoints and stayed in an ocean front room in the Sheraton Oceanfront in Virgina Beach. In 2008, I was able to book the first week in May at Harborside and my husband and I and my twelve year old daughter went.. wonderful time! The previously deposited II week from 2007, my 2 married boys and their wives used and went to Los Cabos in Mexico and stayed at the Hacienda Encantada August 2008 (They said the place was just gorgeous!.. however they all got Montezuma's Revenge at some point during their stay).. I deposited my other 2008 week into II.

Now for my question:
I was looking to book something for the summer and I kept putting it off because we weren't sure where we wanted to go.. economy.. $$ flights and all.. So I started looking in II this past month..

1. I am not really sure what kind of trading power my Vistana Villages Key west weeks have... Can anyone help me out? The week that Starwood deposited into my account was a 1 BR limited kitchen March 2008 week from Vistana Villages, Key West.

I was searching basically the whole summer of 2009.
2. Is it really late to be searching the summer?

What was coming up when I searched with II with my previously deposited week that we were fairly interested in was 4th of July week at Lawrence Welk resorts in Escondito, CA..., a late August week in Aruba.. I forget the resort, a late august week in St. Maarten.. I believe Marriott but, I can't remember.., some Marriotts in FLA.. Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, .. The Vistana Beach club (Starwood property) in Jensen Beach.. for example..

I ended up booking the Vistana Beach Club (which is a 2BR for my 1 BR limited kitchen).. which I thought was pretty good since if I were going to trade within Starwood with Star Options, I would have had to use both my weeks to get one week... I really needed to book something with II since it was going to expire the beginning of April 2010 and I didn't think we would be going away again before then.. (kid still in school- kind of limited to school vacations now -in jr. high and really can't pull her out of school anymore)..
I also booked one of my 2009 weeks at my home resort 4th of July week since we were going to FLA anyway and my daughter wants to do all the theme park stuff.

Anyway.. now I have one more unused weeks left for 2009..
3. what should I do with it.. deposit with II.. if so, which week should I deposit.. the large 1 BR with full kitchen or the small 1 BR with Limited kitchen? or should I trade withing Starwood?

4. How late is too late to deposit with II? and how long can you hold onto your week before you have to book something with starwood?
I am so confused.

5. Is my week with Vistana villages able to get an accomodation certificate? and how does that work?

Since I booked the week at Vistana Beach Club in July.. when I go onto II, when I want to seach, it shows all my 2008 weeks.. (as a 2BR lock-off, as a 1BR full kitchen and as a 1BR limited kitchen.. i can search with any off them.. even though there is no week assigned to them.. even though I used the 1BRFK in harborside in may, even though I just booked the 1BRLK for Vistana Beach club. I cannot however look into 2010 was I could before when I had a the deposited week in there.. only till the end of 2009. Anyone know why?

6. What is an ongoing search and how do you do that? do you need to have something already deposited.. I am assuming that you do this over the phone as I didn't see anything about this on the website.

Sorry this is so long. It is so hard trying to figure this stuff out on your own. i appreciate any help that anyone can give me!
Thanks so much! :)
 

calgarygary

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I can answer some of your questions but to get the best info. I suggest that you get a mod. to move this thread over to the Starwood forum. Don't repost the same question as one of TUG's rules is no duplicate posting.

1. If they gave you a spring break week than you got a reasonable trader. However, you can request that Starwood deposit a non Orlando week to give you the ability to see DVC - this also improves trading power as Orlando is not always a good trader.

2. Yes it is late but not too late.

3. Only you know the answer, it begins with where you want to vacation and if Starwood has resorts there.

4. The earlier you deposit the better but you can often get Starwood to assign a better week than when you are depositing.

5. No - you can not get an AC when using SVN.

6. I believe that you must have a week deposited as II can not do a search if they do not know what they are searching with.
 

Bill4728

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
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Location
Lake Tapps, WA
6. What is an ongoing search and how do you do that? do you need to have something already deposited.. I am assuming that you do this over the phone as I didn't see anything about this on the website.

II will let you search for an instant online exchange with a "fake deposit" but if you want II to do an ongoing search, you must deposit a week.

A "fake deposit" is when you say that you have reserved a room (which you haven't reserved-fake) and used that room to search with. II may ask you your reservation number/room number, as long as you give the computer a number which could be valid, the II computer will let you search.

Hope that helps
 

DeniseM

Moderator
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Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
Welcome to TUG! :hi:

For a lot of info. about how Starwood works, I recommend the FAQ at the top of the page.

For a lot of info. about how Starwood and II work, I recommend this Exchanging Starwood with II article listed in Owner Resources at the top of the page listed under Exchanging.
 
Last edited:

James1975NY

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
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Location
Orlando, FL
I own a two-bedroom lock-off at Sheraton's Vistana Villages Key West. I bought it in July 2006. In 2007, I deposited one week into II, the other week I traded within the Starwood network for a week at Harborside in October 2007 for my son and his new wife's honeymoon. I didn't have trouble doing so... however I do know that the week they wanted was during a low season in the Bahamas since it is Hurricane season... They went and has beautiful weather. I used my starpoints and stayed in an ocean front room in the Sheraton Oceanfront in Virgina Beach. In 2008, I was able to book the first week in May at Harborside and my husband and I and my twelve year old daughter went.. wonderful time! The previously deposited II week from 2007, my 2 married boys and their wives used and went to Los Cabos in Mexico and stayed at the Hacienda Encantada August 2008 (They said the place was just gorgeous!.. however they all got Montezuma's Revenge at some point during their stay).. I deposited my other 2008 week into II.

Now for my question:
I was looking to book something for the summer and I kept putting it off because we weren't sure where we wanted to go.. economy.. $$ flights and all.. So I started looking in II this past month..

1. I am not really sure what kind of trading power my Vistana Villages Key west weeks have... Can anyone help me out? The week that Starwood deposited into my account was a 1 BR limited kitchen March 2008 week from Vistana Villages, Key West.

I was searching basically the whole summer of 2009.
2. Is it really late to be searching the summer?

What was coming up when I searched with II with my previously deposited week that we were fairly interested in was 4th of July week at Lawrence Welk resorts in Escondito, CA..., a late August week in Aruba.. I forget the resort, a late august week in St. Maarten.. I believe Marriott but, I can't remember.., some Marriotts in FLA.. Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, .. The Vistana Beach club (Starwood property) in Jensen Beach.. for example..

I ended up booking the Vistana Beach Club (which is a 2BR for my 1 BR limited kitchen).. which I thought was pretty good since if I were going to trade within Starwood with Star Options, I would have had to use both my weeks to get one week... I really needed to book something with II since it was going to expire the beginning of April 2010 and I didn't think we would be going away again before then.. (kid still in school- kind of limited to school vacations now -in jr. high and really can't pull her out of school anymore)..
I also booked one of my 2009 weeks at my home resort 4th of July week since we were going to FLA anyway and my daughter wants to do all the theme park stuff.

Anyway.. now I have one more unused weeks left for 2009..
3. what should I do with it.. deposit with II.. if so, which week should I deposit.. the large 1 BR with full kitchen or the small 1 BR with Limited kitchen? or should I trade withing Starwood?

4. How late is too late to deposit with II? and how long can you hold onto your week before you have to book something with starwood?
I am so confused.

5. Is my week with Vistana villages able to get an accomodation certificate? and how does that work?

Since I booked the week at Vistana Beach Club in July.. when I go onto II, when I want to seach, it shows all my 2008 weeks.. (as a 2BR lock-off, as a 1BR full kitchen and as a 1BR limited kitchen.. i can search with any off them.. even though there is no week assigned to them.. even though I used the 1BRFK in harborside in may, even though I just booked the 1BRLK for Vistana Beach club. I cannot however look into 2010 was I could before when I had a the deposited week in there.. only till the end of 2009. Anyone know why?

6. What is an ongoing search and how do you do that? do you need to have something already deposited.. I am assuming that you do this over the phone as I didn't see anything about this on the website.

Sorry this is so long. It is so hard trying to figure this stuff out on your own. i appreciate any help that anyone can give me!
Thanks so much! :)

- March weeks are good traders and as long as the week is not a "late deposit" you should do well. Be flexible.

- Not too late but again be flexible. For summer vacations (when just about everyone can travel) you should be looking around 12 months in advance.

- Think about what you want to do with the week. You can convert to points by 3/31/09 (if you did not convert that side to points in 2008), deposit it with II, use the week within SVN or rent a week that you reserve.

- Starwood works primarily on a bulk deposit system. This means that Starwood pre-deposits weeks into a Starwood II account and when an owner requests a deposit, they transfer the week from their account to yours. When the week is deposited into the Starwood account, this is the actual date that the week was deposited. So basically, you can still get good trade weeks even if you wait a little into the 2009 use year. I would not call to deposit any later than June or July of the same use year as the desirable weeks will become more limited towards the end of the year.

- I do not believe that you can deposit an SVV week with II and get an additional AC week.

- You can actually to a "request first" with II which means you do not have to have a week deposited to open an on-going search but when a confirmation (match to your request), II will then contact Starwood to get the week you had committed upon confirmation.
 
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