I landed the Westin in Princeville with a Vegas "Select" Resort

[alanraycole]

Go figure. Since I had a dual request using a Hawaiian "Premier" resort, but that was ignored and I ended up getting it with a non-Hawaiian lesser resort, I can only guess that they figure if you are exchanging from outside Hawaii, you are more likely to buy a piece of the Westin while you are visiting.

Anyone else have other ideas why a lesser Vegas resort won the prize over a "Premier" Kauai resort?

Nevertheless, I now finally have my next trip to Hawaii all set. I'll be there three weeks in January, all on Kauai. Probably, in 2010 I'll be ready again for a week on the Big Island to go along with a couple of Kauai weeks.

 

[rickandcindy23]

There is a regional block on trades through II.

 

[barndweller]

I find the regional block when searching with my premium units. On the other hand, some lesser rated resorts see everything in Hawaii except the resort I own. Go figure. When I asked a rep at II about this they denied there was any block.

 

[jlr10]

Regional Blocks are set not by II but by the resort. When we purchased at Hanalei Bay we were advised that the only block was on the island of Kauai. Were you using your Hanalei Bay week? If so that might have been the reason.

 

[alanraycole]

No, the dual exchange request wasn't using HBR...

I was using my week at the Cliffs Club.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The regional blocks are a bad thing, in my opinion.

Some salespeople make phony claims about regional blocks, too. When we toured Embassy's Point at Poipu, they made a huge deal out of the regional block with RCI. He was trying to say that you couldn't buy a lesser resort and trade in, and then he showed us a long list of resorts that couldn't trade into Poipu Point. This was in 2000. Perhaps it has changed since then, but I could see all kinds of great stuff with my 1 bedroom Bali Hai week, including Poipul Point. I don't deposit that week anymore, but it made my Val Chatelle supertrader look like a dog trader.

What regional block? RCI doesn't have one, as far as I can tell.

But II has one in place, and I am not at all surprised you couldn't pull a Westin with your Cliff's Club. What resort did you use to get the week? Was it your Vegas week? Those are still pretty good traders, aren't they?

 

[potchak]

Regional blocks in Hawaii for II are based on islands. If you have Cliffs Clubs, you will not be able to pull any other resort on Kauai but cliffs Club with it, unless it is in the same membership club (ex Marriott). So with my Waiohai, I can either pull Waiohai or Kauai Beach Club, but no other resorts on Kauai with it.

 

[alanraycole]

I got it with my Jockey Club week.

I suppose inquiring minds want to know.

The Jockey Club is a "Select" resort, but the Cliffs Club is a "Premier" resort. Although I realize that the Cliffs Club is not the choicest of resorts, it does have II's highest rating... at least the highest external rating. Perhaps it has the rating, but not the demand... who knows what goes on internally within II.

I have been to a lot of timeshare presentations, but have never heard of this regional block.... learn something new every day. Since Cliffs is privately managed (not part of a larger system), I doubt that they would bother putting a regional block on themselves. If there is one there, it must be imposed by II. Cliffs is very owner friendly... the owners run things with no third party with any powers beyond what the owners grant them for management purposes... the developer is long gone and no one holds any kind of developer or management rights... purely owner controlled. (The only conflict with third parties is occasionally among the three independent HOA's that make up the resort... you have Cliffs Club, Cliffs Resort, and the board for the owners of whole units.) I'll have to run it by Cliffs to see what they say about this regional block.

 

[DeniseM]

Alan - Several Tuggers have visited the WPORV lately and there are a couple different slide shows you might like to see and some recent trip reports on the Starwood Board:

Slide shows-

1) http://travel.webshots.com/album/564925717tYGiGK

2) Click on the picture to start the slide show!

 

[alanraycole]

WOW! The pre-construction drawings didn't come close to doing it justice!

Thanks, for offering the link to the photos. Princeville just got a whole lot better. We have a world class timeshare resort now in my favorite vacation spot. I couldn't be happier