New Owner WPROV

[schubes]

We are recent purchasers at WPROV. I did not find this site until this week, and have learned a few things but need to learn a lot more. We have a 2 bedroom floating week. One thing I wish I had known was to ask about an Every Other Year as that would have suited us MUCH better. It is really expensive to fly to Kauai (from Chicago) and is a really long and tiring trip.

Anyway, what top important tidbits do you think I should know right off the top? I have read the sticky at the top about SVN.

One question I have right away is about renting your week to someone else or a portion of the 2 bedroom week. What is the best means to do this without trading for another resort. I gather from reading that depositing with II is NOT a good thing, still don't really understand why tho. The salesman made it sound so simple to just do this in order to retrieve it another year. It sounded good to us, but now I read that it is a bad idea to do so.

Thanks for reading and feel free to help me out. I feel overwhelmed right now.

 

[djp]

it is generally thought that depositing a high end starwood week into II is a bad idea because of the cost paid for the week and the costs of maintenance fees an the low odds of getting a comparable exchange in terms of resort quality. If your salesman made it sound like it would easy to deposit your princeville week into ii, in order to trade it for a princeville week next year, if he said that he was stretching the truth. It will not be that easy. I imagine there will be little to no princeville weeks deposited into II. IT is a much smaller resort than Maui, and the weeks not used by princeville owners I imagine will be saved for internal SVN exchanges. Your best bet (which probably wont work, but is worth a try) would be to call the sales manager at princeville and beg him to allow you to change your week from an annual to 2 eoy weeks so eoy you could spend 2 weeks at princeville, thus cutting your air travel costs.

In terms of renting out your week you can place an ad here on TUG, and also redweek and others. I imagine a 2br in prime time could probably rent for around $4000 for the week, maybe more.

 

[Bill4728]

Your best bet (which probably wont work, but is worth a try) would be to call the sales manager at princeville and beg him to allow you to change your week from an annual to 2 eoy weeks so eoy you could spend 2 weeks at princeville, thus cutting your air travel costs.

I was going to suggest this as well. I'd have high hopes that Starwood would do this for you. I can't see why they wouldn't.

 

[DeniseM]

My first comment, is that if you are still with-in the recissions period, you should rescind immediately.

First of all, you can buy a unit at this resort on the resale market for thousands less than what you paid for it.

Secondly, you were mislead about the ability to exchange for 2 units the same year through II - this is going to be next to impossible. (You might get lucky 1 out of 10 years.)

There are directions in your purchase materials for rescinding - if it's not too late, rescind immediately, following the instructions exactly, and then take your time and do your homework, before you buy. After doing your homework, if you decide down the road that you still want to make your original purchase, it will still be there next month, next week, next year - you have nothing to lose by rescinding, no matter what the salesman told you!

We bought at the Westin Maui, before it opened, and paid about $45K - now that same unit is selling for less than $30K on the resale market. This was "pre-TUG," so we didn't have the knowledge to rescind, but I sure wish we had.

If it's too late to rescind, then contact your salesman and tell him you want to change to 2 EOY weeks. An alternative to this is to pay the second year's maintenance fees in advance, and use the Staroptions to reserve two units during the first year.

I don't believe that you will be able to rent the 2 bdm. for $4,000 a week. Yes, you will see Ads where people are asking that much, but as an owner of a Starwoood Maui resort, I don't think they will get it. I would say that between $3,000 and $3,500 is more accurate. Because this resort is not right on the beach, it won't appeal to as many people.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes and ask questions. If you can't rescind - join the crowd, most of us bought from the developer and spent to much the first time, but we still love timesharing and we have learned to get the most out of it here on TUG.

 

[djp]

[QUOTE=DeniseM;355811]My first comment, is that if you are still with-in the recissions period, you should rescind immediately.

I don't believe that you will be able to rent the 2 bdm. for $4,000 a week. Yes, you will see Ads where people are asking that much, but as an owner of a Starwoood Maui resort, I don't think they will get it. I would say that between $3,000 and $3,500 is more accurate. Because this resort is not right on the beach, it won't appeal to as many people.

I would echo Denise and say rescind if you can, but the way post began it sounded like maybe some time had passed.

I think $4,000 should be doable. Today the price for an ocean view room at the princeville hotel is $750 per night, and that price will only go up once all the renovations are complete. Once the renovations are complete and it is a St. Regis I imagine it will go close to $900 during peak time for a standard hotel room!!! I imagine starwood will be renting 2brs at the new timeshare for close to $1200 per night (or more)...or $8400 per week, plus tax!!! Over $9,000. That plus the smaller number of units will probably result in fewer rentals, so I think $4,000 should be doable for an individal.

 

[TheUnitrep]

I think $4,000 should be doable.

You would be extremely fortunate to rent the unit for $4K. (I didn't come close to that amount for my last rental at WKORV). I can't imagine WPORV being that different, but you never know.....


Jerry

 

[Denise L]

Welcome to TUG!

Congratulations on joining us on TUG and entering the world of timesharing ! Just a warning that timeshares are addictive (especially if you spend a lot of time on TUG ), and you may never be able to stay in a hotel room again.

We bought our first timeshare from the developer (Starwood) and are very happy with it. We paid $45K, even after reading TUG for six weeks. We knew that we would use that resort every year. There were no resales available at the time, so we took the plunge and got our Starpoint incentive. How many Starpoints did you get with your purchase?

If you are in the rescind period and feeling remorseful, then it would be best to follow the advice of others and rescind. If you are no longer in the rescind period, then you can just start planning how to enjoy your timeshare!

There are ways that you could spend two weeks on Kauai in a two-bedroom EOY, or two weeks on Kauai and Maui EOY. You could rent your EOY week out and use the proceeds to rent from another owner for the same year you will be traveling, you could switch with a Maui owner who also wants to do what you are doing, etc. You can be creative. I have no doubt that you should be able to rent your week out to cover at least the MFs, and most likely you could get more.

I agree with others that if you can, ask the saleperson to switch you to 2 EOYs for even or odd. That would make your planning easier.

You will probably never need to use II for an exchange. If you want to travel elsewhere, exchange through SVN or via a private exchange, or rent your villa out and use the proceeds to rent what you want. You'll have a lot more control if you don't deposit your week with II, and you'll avoid exchange fees.

Once you've mastered the system, I wouldn't be surprised if you buy another and another and another....

 

[schubes]

Wow. Ok so I should try to rescind if possible......we just returned from Kauai last Friday and purchased on 6/23. This means 2 weeks ago today. We have only made the deposit at this time, and plan to pay in full on SPG card.

Where would I find the recsind info timeframe in the contract?

 

[Denise L]

Wow. Ok so I should try to rescind if possible......we just returned from Kauai last Friday and purchased on 6/23. This means 2 weeks ago today. We have only made the deposit at this time, and plan to pay in full on SPG card.

Where would I find the recsind info timeframe in the contract?

I think you would only have 7 days to rescind? Or maybe 10? So it sounds like you are outside of the rescind window. You may be able to switch to two EOYs though, if you call your sales executive.

So enjoy your purchase! I hear that WPORV will be a beautiful resort, and you will have all of the Starwood Vacation Network resorts to try and exchange into. Resales at WPORV in the future will not have SVN exchange capabilities, or Starpoint incentives, or Starpoint conversion (not a good idea, but okay as a last resort).

Plus we are here to help you make the most of your purchase.

 

[schubes]

The very last page of the document pack stated no later than midnight June 30 for cancellation.

So I am an owner. Now, do you think it is at all possible they would consider changing this to EOY? What kind of tact should we take to make our request.

Or do you think we should not even bother. Trading into some of the other resorts looks good, too. This leads me to another question which I will start a new thread for.

Thanks.

 

[schubes]

What would 2 EOY be....2 weeks in the same year btb?

 

[Denise L]

What would 2 EOY be....2 weeks in the same year btb?

Yes, you could get two deeds for EVEN or ODD years. It costs a bit more in administrative fees per year. We own two EOYs (EVEN and ODD) and it is $40 more per year plus a $31.30 SVN fee for the 2nd interval = $71.30 more per year in MFs.

If this sounds like something you are interested in, you should call and inquire. If the paperwork isn't past the point of no return (deed), what do you have to lose?

 

[grgs]

The very last page of the document pack stated no later than midnight June 30 for cancellation.

So I am an owner. Now, do you think it is at all possible they would consider changing this to EOY? What kind of tact should we take to make our request.

Depends--would you want (or be able) to stay for a two week stretch EOY? If so, it wouldn't hurt to ask. When making the request, I'd be polite and ask if they can help you make the ownership work a better for you. It would give Starwood an opportunity to show some goodwill to a new owner without much cost to them.

Or do you think we should not even bother. Trading into some of the other resorts looks good, too. This leads me to another question which I will start a new thread for.

Thanks.

If you won't really be able to stay for a two week stretch, there's probably no reason to ask them to change it. In that case, you should probably just leave it as is and exchange or rent in the years you don't want to go.

Best of luck!

Glorian

 

[djp]

What would 2 EOY be....2 weeks in the same year btb?

yeah 2 weeks one year, and none the next year...a great idea to avoid costly airfare