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I own Westin Flex, want to increase StarOptions to be able to spend January in Hawaii

NanfromWA

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Hi, We own 243,000 Staroptions in Westin, Flex contract. Originally purchased Nanea 2 weeks in one bedroom, then was one extra week and switched to Flex because salesperson convinced us it is next to impossible to book a one bedroom in Nanea.
Our objective is to eventually be able to spend the month of January on Kaanapali beach, in a one bedroom with a view. What are your recommendations?
Also, if we buy resale time share staroptions, how do we book the timeshare, and is it a seamless booking process with Vistana? Thank you.
 

CPNY

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Resorts Owned
Harborside Resort at Atlantis
SVV - Key West/Bella
WKV
Regal Vista at Massanutten
Maybe @DeniseM can move this to the vistana forum. It will get more answers from those who know the ins and outs of flex ownerships.
 

rcv82

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Location
Colorado
Resorts Owned
SMV
WKORV (OFD)
Westin Flex
MVC Trust
GTL
GP8
CWA
I have dealt with the exact scenario you are describing. You have a couple options, neither of which are likely ideal.

The easiest (by far) would be to buy more Flex SOs. Even if you buy resale, they should work at any of the Flex home resorts just like if purchased from the developer, you just won't be able to use them in other resorts in VSN. But with Flex, you have a pretty good choice of home resorts where even resale maintains its "FLEXibility." There are two downsides: (1) There are supposedly no Oceanfront units in Flex. So this means at best you will have an "Ocean View." Since they assign rooms based upon confirmation date, if you book right at 12 months out, you will probably have a pretty good location. (2) Flex lets you book 1 to 14 nights at once. So you will have to make 2 or 3 reservations to get your month. But since there is quite a bit of Flex inventory, if you do this right at 12 months out you should not have an issue getting a reservation.

If you want an oceanfront unit, your best bet it to buy deeded oceanfront weeks at either of the WKORV or WKORVN. While these units are some of the more expensive on the resale market, the resale price is still way lower than an original developer purchase. These will allow you to book an oceanfront unit 12 months out, 1 week (and always a full week) at a time. So for a month, you would have to get on and do this 4 weeks in a row, and in popular times these units fill very fast. So there is a risk of not getting a unit at the time you want. Also note that at WKORV there are two types of oceanfront units, deluxe (on the corners) and the center units. The two types are separately deeded and you can only book the type you own at 12 months out. WKORVN has more oceanfront units, but many of the views are not as good. Both are also "mandatory" resorts, so you will also have SOs that can be used in the network at 8 months, just like an original developer purchase.

I actually have both options. I have the deeded oceanfront weeks that I use during the last half of April and early May (mud season in Colorado). That is a low demand period, so it is easy to get the reservations.
 

rcv82

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SMV
WKORV (OFD)
Westin Flex
MVC Trust
GTL
GP8
CWA
You're welcome. One more option, and it might even be the best. Instead of buying deeded oceanfront (as in my second option above), buy a couple deeded "oceanview" weeks. I know they have these at WKOVR, but I'm not sure about the north resort. If booked at a year out, it will gurantee you of having a pretty decent view (at least not a "mountain" i.e., parking lot, view). Since these types of units are also included in Flex, there is a good chance you might be able to combine with a Flex reservation and not have to move. These units have pretty reasonable prices on the resale market, athough the resort does have first right of refusal, so it's possible they could buy them out from under you to resell as part of Flex. And again, since it is a mandatory resort, you can also use the StarOptions anywhere in the network at 8 months.
 

capjak

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US
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DVC BC & SSR, Marriott GV+MVC Pts, WKORV & SVV, HGVC Flamingo
The North property has 3 views Island, Ocean and OceanFront. OceanFront converts to more Staroptions than Oceanview or island view for the same maintenance fee.
I use an oceanfront unit to stay 2 weeks by splitting the studio and 1 bedroom. I have also used star options to stay 3 weeks in the same unit for all 3 weeks in an island view (243,000 star options) using Oceanfront 176,700 star options plus a sheraton vistana villages mandatory Key West section of resort 81,000 staroptions (257,700 total) so have a few to book additional nights.

Expect to pay around 18,000 to 24,000 for OceanFront every year at the North and several thousand more at the South. The South has OceanFront units that are designated "deluxe" bigger units but higher MFs as well as the standard size OceanFront with less MFs.
 
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