Are 500,000 spg pts worth 16,000.00?
Actually, the answer is yes, in round numbers. However, that reason alone is not the reason to buy 480,000 Starpoints for $9,300.
Starwood would normally sell you (within yearly limits) Starpoints at 3.2 cents per Starpoint. 480,000 Starpoints would cost you $15,360.
So, the savings is $6,060.
The worth (as opposed to cost) of the Starpoints comes from your level of Starwood Elite membership, how you use the Starpoints and how effectively you can use the Starpoints to reduce the cost of how you would travel anyway. If are 4 or 5 Star Elite, if you make good use of Starpoints and if you travel first class a substantial portion of the time you travel, the worth can be far in excess of $16,000.
If you are not 4 or 5 Star Elite, if you make poor use of the Starpoints or if you do not travel first class often or at all, the Starpoints are not worth $15,360. But, with a little effort, you should at least get $9,300 of value in return for $9,300 expended.
It's like all things in life. Worth differs by each user and to each user. I'd explain how I use my Starpoints, but you might not use them like I would.
And, as I said at the beginning, the Starpoints alone are no reason to buy a timeshare from the developer.
You have to have a more developed-plan for total use of your timeshares than that. For example, Last Winter I bought a Plat WMH 2-br EY for $3,000 and retroed it as part of upgrading a Plat 2-br EOY at Lagunamar into a Plat OS 2-br EY at Lagunamar. I also got the 480,000 Starpoints for $9,300 included in the price along with the normal inclusion of 80,000 Starpoints for the OS buy. GLTY! ... eom