Lockoff Question

[Rancher]

Hello Starwood Experts
I have been tempted in the past to purchase a Starwood timeshare but just haven't as yet.
I have a question that might help me make up my mind. If I was to purchase say a SDO 2 bedroom lock off every other year timeshare could I lock off the unit and use ( or trade) the one bedroom side one year and the studio part the next year. This would in essence make it an annual timeshare.
I know I could buy a one bedroom annual and pay the same MF but this would give me the option of a 2 bedroom if I needed it.

Thanks

 

[Westin5Star]

You would have a couple of options to do this as I see it.

1. You could deposit half you unit in II and then trade in somewhere in off years.

2. You could bank you Star Options for half your unit and use it in off years.

Good luck and hope this helps. Others may have some other suggestions that I haven't mentioned here.

 

[Dsauer1]

Lock off issue

No. You own specific years ( odd or even). You need to use the two partial units each year of ownership.
It is possible to "bank" your star options into an ensuing year, though I have not done this. Check with SVO on this.

 

[Ken555]

Since the OP mentions SDO, keep in mind that resort is sold out and won't have StarOptions on resale purchase. The only way to use part of the ownership on off years is to deposit, II or RCI for this resort (I believe), and trade back in or to another resort those years. This should be a very doable plan. Good luck.

 

[DeniseM]

To confirm what Ken said - resales at SDO do not have Staroptions.

With an every-other-year timeshare, you can DEPOSIT it as early as 12 mos. before the first day of the use year, and as late as the last day of the use year. You can use the deposit for an EXCHANGE during the off-years, because the deposit is available for up to 30 mos. (All exchange assignments expire on June 30th two years after the use year.)

Example- SDO 2 Bdm. L/O - odd year usage:

-Jan. 1, 2012 - deposit both sides of the 2013 usage with II
-2012 - use Side A of the 2013 deposit for an exchange, or leave it "in the bank" until 2013
-2013 - use Side B of the 2013 deposit for an exchange.
-Jan. 1, 2014 - deposit both sides of the 2015 usage with II
-etc.

See the II FAQ at the top of the forum for all the details.

*SDO is also affiliated with RCI, and can be exchanged in a similar fashion, but because of Starwood to Starwood priority in II, most people think it has more trading power in II. With RCI you strictly get the allotted number of TPU (trading power units) which is mediocre with RCI - there is no SW-SW priority in RCI.

 

[vacationtime1]

Hello Starwood Experts
I have been tempted in the past to purchase a Starwood timeshare but just haven't as yet.
I have a question that might help me make up my mind. If I was to purchase say a SDO 2 bedroom lock off every other year timeshare could I lock off the unit and use ( or trade) the one bedroom side one year and the studio part the next year. This would in essence make it an annual timeshare.
I know I could buy a one bedroom annual and pay the same MF but this would give me the option of a 2 bedroom if I needed it.

Thanks

Your ideas are correct and sound.

I don't completely understand the previous posters' comments; it seems to me that your intent was to use it as an Interval trader, not as a StarOption trader, and that would work exactly as you describe. Your cost would be less than $1,000 + annual MF's of about $930 + trading fees.

You probably could buy SDO directly from Starwood and get StarOptions, but there is absolutely no reason to do so; you would pay $15,000+ and would lose over 90% of your "investment" as soon as the rescission period ended. If what you want is StarOptions, buy a resale Kierland for about the same cost; you can use it for StarOption trades, you can use it for Interval trades, and you won't take an equity hit immediately upon purchase.

 

[C30NY]

Were you bidding on the ebay auction that ended last night (or win it)? I was in early on it but was shocked at the final bid...for that price I figured I could just buy two small 1BR units at a fraction of the price so i dropped out much lower...

 

[daileyad]

this would give me the option of a 2 bedroom if I needed it.

Thanks

That's exactly what we did - we own an even year SDO 2 bedroom and it gives us lots of vacation opportunities, especially with bonus weeks through SFX.