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Interval Leisure Group buys Starwood, then Starwood and Marriott merge. Means what?

lizap said:
Oops, of course. I can see some Sheratons being changed to Marriotts, especially those in large urban areas..
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What do you thing the NYC Sheraton's' would be changed to?

The one thing that sticks out about the Sheraton that we stayed in a number of years ago, I think on 7th Avenue, was how very small the room was.
 
Ron98GT said:
Just do a Google search. There are a number of news articles that specifically state that "a number of" units will be converted to timeshares. I couldn't find the one that stated that no OF units will be converted to TS's though.

http://honolulu.suntimes.com/hnl-news/7/100/50782/kauai-sheraton-plans-conversion-to-timeshares

http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com/blog/sheraton-kauai-resort-converted-timeshare/

http://www.staradvertiser.com/hawaii-news/kauai-sheraton-plans-conversion-to-timeshares/


UPDATE: I found it (red highlite added my me):

“Currently, the proposed plan includes keeping the ocean wing as a hotel, while converting the garden wing and undeveloped land adjacent to the property to Starwood Vacation Ownership product,” Chan said ...

http://advantagevacation.com/starwood-timeshare-plans-for-sheraton-kauai/


Hmmm, I don't remember the vacant property next door to the Sheraton, although I was only on the beach down from the Marriott, but Starwood reserved the right to build a TS on the vacant land. Interesting.
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Very interesting... hadn't seen that previously!
 
Awesome Possum!

An alternative to MAW for me!
er...better yet, 1 week in each!
 
taterhed said:
Awesome Possum!

An alternative to MAW for me!
er...better yet, 1 week in each!
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That's a real nice beach down by the Sheraton, which is why I walked down there from MAW: I could snorkel without my chest scraping rocks.
 
Yeah, we love that trail, I think its called heritage, it's our favorite walk all the way out to the cliffs

sent from my cell phone...
 
^^^^ good read ^^^^

Unfortunately, our SPG usage/status is going to get hurt in these scenarios. Especially since the eventual combining of the program can only devalue the SPG program to match Marriott. SPG cost to us has already skyrocketed 50% for us in last couple of years, and has already become of marginal value to accumulate (and losing Costco AMEX).

I am not a fan of the foreign purchase of US companies - but this is an instance that it could be better than the merger for customers like us (sorry to say).
IMO YMMV

We are down to 120K SPs - one last trip?
be interesting to see how it unfolds...
 
Concur. We get most of our points via Amex spending. We've planned it out to have enough to get a week at the Sheraton Kona Resort to go along with a Villa week in Kauai, and upgrade our flights to first class, at least the west coast to Honolulu leg ... in addition to weekend getaways.

I've got a bad feeling about this ...
 
DavidnRobin said:
^^^^ good read ^^^^

Unfortunately, our SPG usage/status is going to get hurt in these scenarios. Especially since the eventual combining of the program can only devalue the SPG program to match Marriott. SPG cost to us has already skyrocketed 50% for us in last couple of years, and has already become of marginal value to accumulate (and losing Costco AMEX).

I am not a fan of the foreign purchase of US companies - but this is an instance that it could be better than the merger for customers like us (sorry to say).
IMO YMMV

We are down to 120K SPs - one last trip?
be interesting to see how it unfolds...
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Interesting. Redemption options and value will go down definitely. Elite perks will be seriously diluted. Sad to think about this while using an award of 30k SPs for 3 nights that gave us an upgrade to an 18th Floor Ocean Front Renewal Suite with Club Floor Access at the Westin Playa Bonita Panama. Just before this, we got really Plat perks at Westin Playa Del Conchal in CR.

I don't like the Chinese people buying Starwood idea. However, being selfish, I think that will be the best option for my situation (and probably any SPG loyal). They don't have a rewards program and would bring several very nice properties with them. I would assume they would keep SPG Status Quo. So sad to think about the end of SPG.:(:mad:
 
The Haileys said:
Concur. We get most of our points via Amex spending. We've planned it out to have enough to get a week at the Sheraton Kona Resort to go along with a Villa week in Kauai, and upgrade our flights to first class, at least the west coast to Honolulu leg ... in addition to weekend getaways.

I've got a bad feeling about this ...
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Same here about earning SPs. Costco is a big source but I can deal with losing it. I love Amex and have started to look for an AMEX replacement. I have a Visa and a MC for other programs.

My bad feeling makes me sick just to think about Marriott killing SPG.
 
Recently spoke with a few friends who travel extensively and tend to stay at Marriotts. They are salivating at the notion of staying at Starwood properties. I don't personally know any SPG member saying the same about Marriott.

I've still got two SPG AMEX cards, but I've primarily replaced them with others already...depending what happens this year I can easily see myself converting them to different AMEX affinity cards (since I like AMEX as a consumer...been a cardholder a long time and see no reason to jettison AMEX with this change).


Sent from my iPad
 
We will probably convert a lot of our Starpoints into airline miles, then sometime after the merger get whatever card Marriott offers. I'm sure they will have some kind of promotion to join their program. Then we will dump our SPG American Express card that we generally use at Costco, since they are going over to Visa. Of course, if we close the Amex Card, it will hurt the credit rating, but I don't feel like paying the yearly $95 fee just to have it open, unless Amex give us some kind of incentive to keep it.

We mostly stay in small cities, so having the ability to use Marriott is fine with us. I think we have stayed in a Sheraton hotel twice since we joined Starwood 7 years ago.
 
I was initially more positive about the merger, because I thought that it could be an opportunity for Marriott to position itself with leisure travelers against encroachment by Airbnb, Hotel Tonight, pack up + go, etc. by offering more consistency and variety as well as rewarding loyalty. However, these latest comments suggest that Marriott still isn't thinking much beyond the business traveler.

My prediction is that SPG Gold will be converted to Marriott Silver, and SPG Platinum will be converted to Marriott Gold. Combined with a points devaluation -- notwithstanding that Arne has stated flat out that they are not interested in devaluing points, for whatever that's worth (not much) -- that would be a pretty significant kill shot for the program as a Vistana/ILG perk.
 
Interesting article with very valid points. I'm very worried about Marriott's conversion of current starpoints. They categorize their hotels much less generously than Starwood, with lower brands like Courtyard and Fairfield suites dominating most of cat 1-7 in desirable locations, and of course the Ritz Carlton's are in an entirely different tier which costs more points. There are cases where even a 1 to 4 conversion, which I highly, highly doubt they would do, wouldn't provide enough points to stay in a similar (or worse) Marriott property in the same location. This then makes me nervous regarding the timeshare conversion rates, which are already not great with SPG's system.

I would definitely be disappointed if they converted SPG Gold to silver, which has basically no value and can be obtained by simply getting the Marriott credit card. I would hope that they might restructure the program a bit to make a level more similar to SPG Gold. Although many say SPG Gold has no value, I have gotten several nice room upgrades with it, and the 4pm late checkout and higher earning rates have definitely been appreciated and used.

Also, I don't love the fact that Marriott Rewards and Ritz Carlton are different programs and you can't sign up for both.

If things really go badly, I'm prepared to transfer stays to Hyatt's program, although I am a bit stuck as I convert a week to points relatively often. If only Hyatt could have acquired Starwood!
 
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djp said:
I can't help but wonder if in next year or two if ILG will acquire Marriott timeshare biz- it just seems to make sense- a giant Marriott hotel biz that includes Starwood in strategic partnership with ILG on the timeshare side, and in effect the Starwood and Marriott timeshares are under one umbrella under ILG.
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I can think of a few reasons why an MVCI/ILG merger would make sense for both entities:

- Both businesses would be roughly the same size once ILG has combined with Vistana

- If ILG is building a multi-brand timeshare franchise, then adding MVCI will only make its platform more valuable and will establish it as the leader in the premium timeshare segment. It would also secure Interval's premium positioning vs RCI in the exchange business.

- MVCI shareholders would gain better diversification of revenues thanks to Interval's recurrent membership and fee income streams. MVCI is today very dependent on sales and financing, which makes it a more risky proposition in case of another economic downturn, or changes in timeshare sales and marketing regulations.

- Having both Starwood and Marriott brands under the same roof would also solve some operational and marketing headaches if the Marriott/Starwood merger goes through.
 
vistana101 said:
This then makes me nervous regarding the timeshare conversion rates, which are already not great with SPG's system.
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I'm hopeful that conversion feature remains, but given it's part of the SVN "club" features, and not a deeded right, so subject to change without notice, and SVO turning in to VSE and being merged with ILG leaving it separated from SPG, and SPG being effectively swallowed by Marriott, all those moving pieces headed in different directions with different drivers leaves me cautious about this surviving in its current form in the long run...

vistana101 said:
I would definitely be disappointed if they converted SPG Gold to silver, which has basically no value and can be obtained by simply getting the Marriott credit card.
Click to expand...

There are lots of ways of getting SPG Gold with minimal stays, so I personally would be fine with it matching "downwards" and hopefully leaving the various forms of SPG Platinum with better status level matches.
 
YYJMSP said:
There are lots of ways of getting SPG Gold with minimal stays, so I personally would be fine with it matching "downwards" and hopefully leaving the various forms of SPG Platinum with better status level matches.
Click to expand...

The problem I see is that the two programs don't have a similar scale for benefits based on status level. Silver in Marriott is basically worthless and Gold in SPG has some value, mainly because of the room upgrade feature IMO. The SPG Plat levels would be hard to equate Marriott and keep SPG loyals happy. I think the low SPG Plat would have to be Mariott Gold, and the mid and top SPG Plat would be Marriott Plat.

Redemption levels is the big problem I see.
 
Blurrgghh ... whatever. We're going to use up our cache of points as fast as we can. :eek::annoyed::ponder:
 
I have a question for Starwood owners. We own Marriotts, and extensively use free nights on road trips to stay at Residence Inns, TownePlaces, etc. on the way to timeshares located a few days drive away.

I have absolutely no complaints about this part of the Marriott system - it's great to get all free stays enroute, and the quality of the rooms and properties are generally fine with us. It would be nice to add more locations via Sheraton/Starwood, but the quality of their units or their rewards plan is not too important to us.

The most important thing is that a kitchen with a full sized refrigerator be available in the unit, as we start out our multi-week timeshare trips with a carload of food and drinks and prefer to store that in a full refrigerator each night enroute to the timeshares.

So - do many of the Starwood hotel units that would be included in the rewards plan for free night stays have fully equipped kitchens? If so do they charge a reasonable amount of reward points for these types of units?

Thanks for any info on this....
 
vikingsholm said:
I have a question for Starwood owners. We own Marriotts, and extensively use free nights on road trips to stay at Residence Inns, TownePlaces, etc. on the way to timeshares located a few days drive away.

I have absolutely no complaints about this part of the Marriott system - it's great to get all free stays enroute, and the quality of the rooms and properties are generally fine with us. It would be nice to add more locations via Sheraton/Starwood, but the quality of their units or their rewards plan is not too important to us.

The most important thing is that a kitchen with a full sized refrigerator be available in the unit, as we start out our multi-week timeshare trips with a carload of food and drinks and prefer to store that in a full refrigerator each night enroute to the timeshares.

So - do many of the Starwood hotel units that would be included in the rewards plan for free night stays have fully equipped kitchens? If so do they charge a reasonable amount of reward points for these types of units?

Thanks for any info on this....
Click to expand...

I think that this early in the process it's impossible to get the specific answers you're looking for. Starwood is still entertaining offers and it's far from certain that Marriott is going to end up the winning suitor. On top of that Marriott's CEO has been very clear that should Marriott win the bid, they don't know how the Marriott Rewards and SPG programs will integrate or how long it will take.

Although, I suppose you could at least learn right now which Starwood properties have full-size refrigerators?
 
The only Sheraton we have stayed at that had a refrigerator was in Plantation Florida and it only had a mini fridge. I have looked at and stayed at other Sheraton's and most do not have any refrigerator at all. They are hotels, not resorts.
 
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