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how to buy at resale?

schenriq

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Is there a way to calculate how many StarOptions will be granted from a resale purchase at Sheraton Desert Oasis two bedroom lock-out for a week.

Didn't mean to disappoint you but the answer, if you purchase SDO resale, is zero StarOptions. The value of a resale SDO week is exchanging to other Vistana properties with Vistana preference.
 

jabberwocky

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Ski-dad - Great information! Thank you.. Looking at Sheraton Desert Oasis i see a few resale options. If you purchase a timeshare will the points be deposited into your Vistana account? Is there a way to calculate how many StarOptions will be granted from a resale purchase at Sheraton Desert Oasis two bedroom lock-out for a week.

Thanks Mark

SDO is a voluntary resort so SO would not transfer to the new buyer. The unit could be retroed into the system with a min $10k purchase and then it would get SO. A 2 BR that trades 1-52 will get 81k SO. Stay away from gold and silver weeks as those are worth less. Plat units would be 148,100 - but those are rare.
 

SteelerGal

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Unfortunately, no SO but the trading preference is worth. I own “weeks” there and can upgrade via II to Westin’s, Marriotts and Hyatt’s. Even adding the exchange fees as well as upgrade fee, it still comes out cheaper than annual MF.
And it’s a nice property so how can see why ppl like it. We go to the area annually and have stayed at the Hilton(RCI property) so know the area well. SDO is behind Hilton and the Diamond Resorts.
 

CPNY

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Ski-dad - Great information! Thank you.. Looking at Sheraton Desert Oasis i see a few resale options. If you purchase a timeshare will the points be deposited into your Vistana account? Is there a way to calculate how many StarOptions will be granted from a resale purchase at Sheraton Desert Oasis two bedroom lock-out for a week.

Thanks Mark
Sounds like you are looking for a lockout within a mandatory resort. You want to look at the mandatory properties as SDO will not give you star options on resale.
 

BK2019

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I am looking for a Westin resale on Maui at a mandatory resort. I've read some articles saying that if you book a floating week or with StarOptions. You have to book a full week and it needs to begin on a Friday. I was hoping to be able to book any day of the week and for less than 7 nights.
 

SteelerGal

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I am looking for a Westin resale on Maui at a mandatory resort. I've read some articles saying that if you book a floating week or with StarOptions. You have to book a full week and it needs to begin on a Friday. I was hoping to be able to book any day of the week and for less than 7 nights.
Then you should look into Westin Flex.
 

DavidnRobin

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I am looking for a Westin resale on Maui at a mandatory resort. I've read some articles saying that if you book a floating week or with StarOptions. You have to book a full week and it needs to begin on a Friday. I was hoping to be able to book any day of the week and for less than 7 nights.

Only the Home Resort needs to be 7 days (Fri-Sun) from 12-8 months out. StarOptions can be used for any day (and length - generally) at 8 months out.

I often use the SOs from our studio side at WPORV (67.1K SOs) to book a 1Bd for 6 nights at 8 months out.

If you do not need high season weeks in Maui, consider using SOs from a Mandatory VSN resale (WKV of SVV) to meet your needs.

Also - TimeStamp Matters.


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BK2019

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Thanks for the advice, we are much more likely to book at 8 months out than at 12 months out. It sounds like WKV and SVV would be a better option for us since the MF would be lower.
 

TUGBrian

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congrats on starting your timeshare journey by discovering resale ahead of time!

we hope the savings will result in you having even better vacations for you and your family for years to come!
 

mvmess

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Apologies for the noob questions here but I'm currently staying at Westin Nanea on a timeshare offer ( 5 nights for $798) and went to the sales pitch.

I had done some research and am in sales so I'm comfortable saying 'no' and was trying to get out of the pitch quickly.

Honestly, the pitch was pretty good. They hit the emotional, financial aspects and maintained a professional and friendly tone. I said no, they brought in the manager - we discussed the deal, said no again. Then they brought in 'corporate' and offered another 5 nights in a 2br for $2K, 100K Bonvoy points but required another pitch.

I had done some research here - I'd rather put $2K toward a resale purchase than buy another sales pitch.
1) do I buy on ebay, or where?
2) how do I know what comes with the purchase ? ( offer at retail had star options, hotel points, gold status - does any of that transfer over in the secondary market)?
3) I saw a flyer at whaler's village tonight for a timeshare resale service - they had a printed page of their current offers - are these any different from what i'd find on ebay?
For what it is worth, I have purchased two resale weeks, one on Maui and one on Kauai, on Redweek. Paid under $4,000 each. I also found that sellers ARE motivated. Consequently, paid no closing costs. BTW, these were Marriott properties.
 

clsmit

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SDO is a voluntary resort so SO would not transfer to the new buyer. The unit could be retroed into the system with a min $10k purchase and then it would get SO. A 2 BR that trades 1-52 will get 81k SO. Stay away from gold and silver weeks as those are worth less. Plat units would be 148,100 - but those are rare.

I was at SVV last week and did the Owner's Update. No more retros, at least not there. It's likely they aren't doing them at all any more.
 

byeloe

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I was at SVV last week and did the Owner's Update. No more retros, at least not there. It's likely they aren't doing them at all any more.
they offered to retro all my Lagunamar voi's, if I made the appropriate Mexican Flex purchase. this was roughly 2 weeks ago
 

vacationtime1

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I was at SVV last week and did the Owner's Update. No more retros, at least not there. It's likely they aren't doing them at all any more.
they offered to retro all my Lagunamar voi's, if I made the appropriate Mexican Flex purchase. this was roughly 2 weeks ago

You gotta admire Vistana's consistency.
 

SteelerGal

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Yes, WKV is still selling weeks and not Westin Flex. Some ppl still are offering Retro w/ purchase of Flex. I think it truly depends on the market..
 

Mroze

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We purchased Westin Aventuras [95700-Star-Options EOY for $20K] Flex on Dec 24th, 2019 at Los Cabos and they retro'd 3 x WKV 2BR-EY Platinum+ [148.1K x 3 = 444300-Star-Options] making us 5-Star-Elite + Platinum [Bonvoy]. Yes it was very expensive but we did it for the retro. The WKV's were purchased resale on RedWeek for ~ $12K each.

Vistana [corporate] informed me that they only retro 1-Contract for 1-Purchase. However, the Los Cabos sales informed me that this was a special offer [promoting Flex] that was ending in a week [I believe Jan 2nd, 2020]. Also informed me that Vistana was no longer selling Weeks and there were only 3-Options
  • Sheraton-Flex [mostly East-Coast]
  • Westin-Flex [mostly West-Coast]
  • Aventuras-Flex [only Mexican-Resorts]
The promotion was:
  • $10K=1-Retro
  • $15K=2-Retros
  • $20K=3-Retros
  • $25K4-Retros
  • $30K=5-Retros and so on.
FLEX Maintenance-Fees
  • Aventuras-Flex has the lowest MF [due to the Peso] but only has 3-Resorts.
  • Sheraton-Flex has average MF including 6-Resorts.
  • Westin-Flex has the most expensive MF with 7-Resorts as it includes Hawaii, WKV, Palm-Desert & Riverfront-Avon.
Maintenance-Fees on all Flex-Programs is higher than Deeded-Weeks. Example below.
  • WLR: $0.0101/Star-Option [$1490/148.1K/Year]
  • WKV: $0.0111/Star-Option [$1645/148.1K/Year]
  • Aventuras-Flex: $0.0147/Star-Option [$1402/95.7K/Year] [almost 50% Higher]
 
Last edited:

DavidnRobin

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We purchased Westin Aventuras [95700-Star-Options EOY for $20K] Flex on Dec 24th, 2019 at Los Cabos and they retro'd 3 x WKV 2BR-EY Platinum+ [148.1K x 3 = 444300-Star-Options] making us 5-Star-Elite + Platinum [Bonvoy]. Yes it was very expensive but we did it for the retro. The WKV's were purchased resale on RedWeek for ~ $12K each.

Vistana [corporate] informed me that they only retro 1-Contract for 1-Purchase. However, the Los Cabos sales informed me that this was a special offer [promoting Flex] that was ending in a week [I believe Jan 2nd, 2020]. Also informed me that Vistana was no longer selling Weeks and there were only 3-Options: Sheraton-Flex, Westin-Flex & Aventuras-Flex.

If I understand correctly, you paid $20K to take on EOY Mexican FlexOptions (that has little/no resale value) and the additional MFs to essentially attain 5*/BV Plat.

As WKV is already VSN Mandatory, and worth at least (and likely more) what you paid for them, the retro effectively only gives you the ability to convert the WKV VOIs (that has the best SO/MF in VSN) to BV points (+10% being 5*).


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sjsharkie

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If I understand correctly, you paid $20K to take on EOY Mexican FlexOptions (that has little/no resale value) and the additional MFs to essentially attain 5*/BV Plat.

As WKV is already VSN Mandatory, and worth at least (and likely more) what you paid for them, the retro effectively only gives you the ability to convert the WKV VOIs (that has the best SO/MF in VSN) to BV points (+10% being 5*).


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I was about to say the same thing...

The only advantage of retroing was gaining the 5* benefits since the WKV weeks are already mandatory. If that's worth it to the OP, then great... but I think most would find it extremely expensive for what you are getting.

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DavidnRobin

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I was about to say the same thing...

The only advantage of retroing was gaining the 5* benefits since the WKV weeks are already mandatory. If that's worth it to the OP, then great... but I think most would find it extremely expensive for what you are getting.

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Not only that, but they could use their WKV SOs to stay 50 nites within VSN (or 42 days of their villa types, and 8 Marriott stays) and get BV Plat using 50 nite stay credits.

And not pay $20K and not take on the Flex obligation.


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controller1

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FLEX Maintenance-Fees
  • Aventuras-Flex has the lowest MF [due to the Peso] but only has 3-Resorts.
  • Sheraton-Flex has average MF including 6-Resorts.
  • Westin-Flex has the most expensive MF with 7-Resorts as it includes Hawaii, WKV, Palm-Desert & Riverfront-Avon.

Westin Flex has 8 resorts and Sheraton Flex has 9 resorts.
 

pacman777

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We purchased Westin Aventuras [95700-Star-Options EOY for $20K] Flex on Dec 24th, 2019 at Los Cabos and they retro'd 3 x WKV 2BR-EY Platinum+ [148.1K x 3 = 444300-Star-Options] making us 5-Star-Elite + Platinum [Bonvoy]. Yes it was very expensive but we did it for the retro. The WKV's were purchased resale on RedWeek for ~ $12K each.

Vistana [corporate] informed me that they only retro 1-Contract for 1-Purchase. However, the Los Cabos sales informed me that this was a special offer [promoting Flex] that was ending in a week [I believe Jan 2nd, 2020]. Also informed me that Vistana was no longer selling Weeks and there were only 3-Options
  • Sheraton-Flex [mostly East-Coast]
  • Westin-Flex [mostly West-Coast]
  • Aventuras-Flex [only Mexican-Resorts]
The promotion was:
  • $10K=1-Retro
  • $15K=2-Retros
  • $20K=3-Retros
  • $25K4-Retros
  • $30K=5-Retros and so on.
FLEX Maintenance-Fees
  • Aventuras-Flex has the lowest MF [due to the Peso] but only has 3-Resorts.
  • Sheraton-Flex has average MF including 6-Resorts.
  • Westin-Flex has the most expensive MF with 7-Resorts as it includes Hawaii, WKV, Palm-Desert & Riverfront-Avon.
Maintenance-Fees on all Flex-Programs is higher than Deeded-Weeks. Example below.
  • WLR: $0.0101/Star-Option [$1490/148.1K/Year]
  • WKV: $0.0111/Star-Option [$1645/148.1K/Year]
  • Aventuras-Flex: $0.0147/Star-Option [$1402/95.7K/Year] [almost 50% Higher]
What a waste retroing WKV when you already have StarOptions with them. I would’ve bought some cheap Non mandatory SVV, SBP or SDO platinums and retro those.
 

Mroze

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What a waste retroing WKV when you already have StarOptions with them. I would’ve bought some cheap Non mandatory SVV, SBP or SDO platinums and retro those.

Agree that retroing WKV is a waste as we already had access to internal VSN inventory at 8-Months. But that's all we had in our portfolio.
We have 5 x WKV-EY-2BR [148.1K] but only retro'd 3 [minimum to get to 5-Star] to get the benefit of converting to Bonvoy since we accrue over 1M Star-Options/Year.
They also offered 70K Marriott-Bonvoy [Presentation-Incentive] + Option-To-Purchase 6 x CERTS [330K-Bonvoy] @ $2275 within 5-Years.

This purchase results in an additional $701/Year in MF [47850-SO/Year] which is about 5% of our portfolio.
In 2019 we rented 10 x WKV-Weeks [mostly 1-BR-Premium] for an average $2250/Week for the upcoming 2020 Feb/Mar/Apr Peak-Season.
Being 5-Star saves on Lower-Guest-Certificates, Zero-Banking-Fees, Extended-Dates. Since I have Titanium through our MVCI [Chairman's-Club] Ownership, my wife gets Platinum via VSN.

Totally agree that a better value would have been to retro Lower-Value [Non-Mandatory] weeks.
 
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