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Need Advice - Westin St. John

WestinOwner

WestinOwner

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Jun 11, 2011
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Anywhere but home, as often as possible.
Hello Everyone:

I am here in rainy Orlando (SVV) and attended the Owner's Update.

I was made the following offer, and thought I would try to see if anyone had insights / opinions as to the value of the deal being proposed.

Firstly (and important), I currently have a 148,100 SDO resale that needs to be requalified, and this transaction will put me up to 5* Elite. I know there are many pros and cons of attaining 5*, however we have decided it is right for us.

Here was the offer:

- 2 bedroom at Westin St. John - Bay Vista - 148,100 Platinum Plus floating week --- EOY (odd).

- Price is $27,500.

- They have waived the requirement to spend $40,000 and so will requalify the SDO 148,100 in this deal.

- 70,000 SPG points as an incentive for purchasing.

What does everyone think?

Did anyone take a sales presentation lately where WSJ was offered? What were the prices? What were the incentives?

We have wanted to buy at either Harbourside or Westin St. John, however we found the $40,000 minumum buy-in prohibitive. We made an offer at Harbourside in August to buy, requalify the SDO, and waive the $40,000 minimum purchase, but they wouldn't budge.
Within the Starwood Network we own 1 x WKV (148,100) and 2 x SDO(148,100), and so although WKV is the best 'value', we wanted something different (and not in Arizona).

My understanding is that WSJ has had various problems/issues, but they are, for the most part, limited to the Hillside phase? Any comments on that? Any input on pros / cons / experiences with Bay Vista (or WSJ generally) would also be greatly appreciated.


Thank you to everyone in advance! Your advise, experience and input is truly appreciated.

Cheers!

WestinOwner
 
If getting to 5* is your goal, and money is no object, then I would take it. WSJ is a wonderful place and, for now, BV phase maintenance fees are reasonable (don't expect that to last -- but you know that, I'm sure).

I'm sure you can buy the same thing on the resale market for $5 - $10K, but paying $20K for the perks doesn't seem like a horrible deal if you've gone this far already.
 
Any chance of getting an explorer package as part of the deal? I started with an EOY purchase. Once I knew for sure that I was going to buy the other half, I bought an explorer package first and essentially got a free week's vacation, ferry tickets, extra SOs (the price of the explorer package was deducted from the purchase price). I think there was an option to forego actually using the explorer package week for even greater $$ savings, but we wanted to use it and enjoy two weeks on the island instead of one.
 
WestinOwner, ... "What were the incentives?"

Unless your 2-br Platinum BV is a resale of a foreclosed property (don't know how you would tell), you should be able to get 4-6 blocks of 80K Starpoints for a purchase price of $1,550 per block (under 2 cents per Starpoint).

You will learn to appreciate being 5* Elite. Enjoy! ... eom
 
jarta said:
Unless your 2-br Platinum BV is a resale of a foreclosed property (don't know how you would tell), you should be able to get 4-6 blocks of 80K Starpoints for a purchase price of $1,550 per block (under 2 cents per Starpoint).
Click to expand...

Ok...You lost me on the 4-6 blocks of 80k Staroptions......

Enlighten me please!
 
tomandrobin said:
Ok...You lost me on the 4-6 blocks of 80k Staroptions......

Enlighten me please!
Click to expand...
I believe he's referring to the "certificates" that often accompany a developer purchase, which entitle the bearer to purchase a "block" of 80k Starpoints for $1,550. Usually you get 4-6 of these certificates, so you can purchase nearly half a million Starpoints for not too bad of a cost.
 
okwiater said:
I believe he's referring to the "certificates" that often accompany a developer purchase, which entitle the bearer to purchase a "block" of 80k Starpoints for $1,550. Usually you get 4-6 of these certificates, so you can purchase nearly half a million Starpoints for not too bad of a cost.
Click to expand...

When did they start that....I am not sure how I missed that stuff. I knew about the explorer package.
 
Starpoint Promos

tomandrobin said:
When did they start that....I am not sure how I missed that stuff. I knew about the explorer package.
Click to expand...

It has been that way for a few years. If you give up a use year (and delay the Mx fees) - they will normally give you 6 promos and if not 4 promos.

Each promo is 80,000 SP.s for $1,550 cost which of course you put on your SPG AMEX and get 1,550 more SP's plus the 50% or Plat 100% bonus!!!
 
Last edited:
ValleyGirl said:
It has been that way for a few years. If you give up a use year (and delay the Mx fees) - they will normally give you 6 promos and if not 4 promos.

Each promo is 80,000 SP.s for $1,550 cost which of course you put on your SPG AMEX and get 1,550 more SP's plus the 50% or Plat 100% bonus!!!
Click to expand...

Well, Its been a few years since we bought anything.....I guess I just "glazed" over that in reading posts.
 
If you are looking to get to 5* (and are aware of pros and cons) and wantan EOY in the BV section of WSJ - I think it is reasonable. You may want to squeeze more SPs out of them. I think 5* works well for some - just want awareness of the math involved in justifying - like TSing - it is an investment in vacation (for most) and not-so-much a financial one even though it may lead to financial benefits.

As to the certificates - I was offered same thing when I was considering fixed villa at WPORV. Again - like 5* value - it comes down to whether 2 cents/SP has value to you and vacation needs - money and time, and something I think is often missed - and that is how many SPs you already have available to you.

Caveat - we love our STJ and WSJ vacations

Besides - someone has to keep the boat afloat.
 
Why would anyone buy from Starwood when you can get a resale at a fraction of the cost. With the money they save they can use it to rent at the same place they would use the staroptions for? I don't get it....
 
"Enlighten me please!"

Done already by others! Thank you.

The cost is less than 2 cents per Starpoint. The value is what can be done with the Starpoints with some attention to detail and knowing when and how to use them. Overall value depends on how well you use the Starpoints. ... eom
 
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