Newbie to Starwood

[MattK]

MattK--Check the fine print. I was able to cancel an Explorer Package that I purchased at Vistana Villages for only a $99 processing fee. I was given 7 days in which to cancel. Luckily I had found Tug (already bought 2 developer and wanted to buy a third) so it may be possible. I would not continue paying if you can get out of it. This resort is nice but is selling for pennies on the dollar. If possible, recind now, the starpoints and the couple of days of another vacation is not worth the $1950.

Good Luck,
Anita

The points were part of what enticed us...

BUT I read some find print and called them. I am able to rescind within 14 days of purchase and the only thing I lose which is non-refundable is the $198 deposit.

Since I'm in a condo on my honeymoon, of course there is no paper to write a letter to rescind to email and/or fax. Just what we want to be doing on our honeymoon. At least it will hopefully ONLY be a $198 loss.

I am still very interested in a time share or vacation home/ ownership down here in Myrtle, but of course looking for a deal now rather than paying full price through retail.

Thanks again everyone. I slept like crap last night agonizing over a possible mistake lol!!

I will be doing a lot of reading over the next few days!!

Matt

 

[hefleycatz]

Agree. Also, do you HAVE to go back to the same resort? Maybe you can go to another resort instead to check out another property.

Katherine

I know the package that we bought at Vistana Villages back in 2008 was good for there, Vistana Resort or SBP.

lee

 

[ekinggill]

Welcome Matt

No shame in being sold at the resort. The have you there, you are having the time of your life, and they are very persuasive. From what I've read, most people on this board have a timeshare-related misstep in their past.

You seem to be interested in getting a timeshare education and you found the right place to do that. Joining TUG, in my opinion, is the best timeshare investment you can make. (You can view most things as a guest, but I think the education is worth supporting the board.)

My other advice would be to be patient and make your purchase without a high pressure salesmen telling you that you will lose out if you don't buy today. Right now there are tons of rentals at most resorts that can be had for the price of the annual maintenance fee or less. Based upon that, you actually might have more flexibility to move between resorts from vacation to vacation if you are NOT an owner. (For example, it can be hard to trade into the Westin St. John, but renting a villa from an owner is very easy.) On top of that, as a non-owner if you want to skip a year, you pay nothing.

 

[DavidnRobin]

To be fair - the 50,000 (or 60,000) Starpoints that MattK will receive after going through the return sales presentation also have good value. At a conservative 2.5c per Starpoint thats worth $1,250 or $1,500. This combined with the four free nights make it a reasonably attractive package.... Just my opinion...

conservative 2.5c/SP???
I guess that depends on your definition.

At ~$2000 for the ExpPkg - which...
at 50K SPs = 4.0c/SP (you can buy them for 3.5c)
at 60K SPs = 3.3c/SP (still...?)
at 80K SPs = 2.5c/SP (perhaps... depending...?)

even at 2.5C/SP - which is considered by FT experts to be on the high side of average value (which is put between 2-2.5c/SP) - which is a number I tend to agree with from my experience of SP usage (~300K so far both in US and EU)
btw (tangent block) - I am not talking about SO-SP conversion here - as that brings in different variables.

ask yourself - would you buy them if they were offered to you at 2.5c/SP?

as stated before - SP value is based on how many you have. Those with lots of SPs (we still have ~300K) would be a lot less inclined to pay this price (IMO).
I would not buy SPs until they were less than half of this.

so... I am going to respectively disagree
let the fuzzy math argument begin...

 

[vss]

David, No funny math here but I did buy an Explorer package last year at WMH and the deal was two nights at WMH and 50,000 SPs for $1,300. I figured each night at WMH at peak season is at least $300+ (inc taxes & resort fees) which meant I was getting 50K SPs for around $700 or 1.4c/SP. Not too shabby....

Now we need to get the details on the package MattK bought...

If I had 300K SP I may not have bought the package but I am trying to accumulate SPs for a nice European vacation next year. As they say - one persons trash.........

Take Care!

 

[YYJMSP]

David, No funny math here but I did buy an Explorer package last year at WMH and the deal was two nights at WMH and 50,000 SPs for $1,300. I figured each night at WMH at peak season is at least $300+ (inc taxes & resort fees) which meant I was getting 50K SPs for around $700 or 1.4c/SP. Not too shabby....

We got a 5 nights + 70K SPG points package for $1700 at WMH last year, with an additional 30K SPG points for not returning -- I think the extra points thing is unique to Explorer West, and is not available with Explorer East. Not as good a $/SP ratio as yours, but we were going to purchase a developer unit anyways, so this was essentially 100K SPG points for free as the $1700 was applied against the purchase.

If I had 300K SP I may not have bought the package but I am trying to accumulate SPs for a nice European vacation next year. As they say - one persons trash.........

About 3 years ago, we did a month for 280K SPG points (staying in Paris, Monaco, Milan, Zurich, Vienna, Venice, Rome and Frankfurt), including a bunch of Specialty Select upgrades. If you haven't gone before, I would suggest booking the upgrades for the extra 1000 - 2000 SPG points/night, as the normal rooms are beyond tiny in most of those locations.

 

[DavidnRobin]

About 3 years ago, we did a month for 280K SPG points (staying in Paris, Monaco, Milan, Zurich, Vienna, Venice, Rome and Frankfurt), including a bunch of Specialty Select upgrades. If you haven't gone before, I would suggest booking the upgrades for the extra 1000 - 2000 SPG points/night, as the normal rooms are beyond tiny in most of those locations.

We used 225K SPs in just 16 days for London, Amsterdam and Paris in Sept'09.

I agree with using SPs for room upgrades upfront and do not depend on status - the rooms we got were incredible (esp London) - only SPG Gold.
Room videos on YouTube (blujahz).

 

[YYJMSP]

We used 225K SPs in just 16 days for London, Amsterdam and Paris in Sept'09.

To drag this further off-topic I called up SPG the other day to see about those over-the-water huts in Bora Bora, and they're only 105K/night at the Le Meridien and 140K/night at the St Regis. Of course, 5th night is still free on points...

Was seriously considering exercising some of the twelve "buy 80K SPG points for $1550" offers (from our recent WDW purchases) we have left that expire at the end of this month.

 

[djdavid79]

Was seriously considering exercising some of the twelve "buy 80K SPG points for $1550" offers (from our recent WDW purchases) we have left that expire at the end of this month.

We just received an update to this offer the other day, with a bonus 4,000 SPG points, for a total of 84,000 if I made the $1,550 purchase. We passed.

 

[YYJMSP]

We just received an update to this offer the other day, with a bonus 4,000 SPG points, for a total of 84,000 if I made the $1,550 purchase. We passed.

Got the same email a few days ago -- it prompted me to check in with our salesperson, and she looked up that we had 12 of those offers expiring end of this month, and another 6 of those offers expiring in a year.

 

[sui]

We got a 5 nights + 70K SPG points package for $1700 at WMH last year, with an additional 30K SPG points for not returning

Can I convert these SPG to AA miles at 1:1 ratio with 25% bonus? If so, that's the cheapest way to buy AA miles, turns out about 1.4cent/mile.

 

[YYJMSP]

Can I convert these SPG to AA miles at 1:1 ratio with 25% bonus? If so, that's the cheapest way to buy AA miles, turns out about 1.4cent/mile.

American Airlines AAdvantage is on the list of airline frequent flyer programmes you can transfer your SPG points to, the exchange ratio is 1:1, and you would get the 5,000 bonus for every 20,000 points you transferred.

 

[sui]

American Airlines AAdvantage is on the list of airline frequent flyer programmes you can transfer your SPG points to, the exchange ratio is 1:1, and you would get the 5,000 bonus for every 20,000 points you transferred.

Great, so I just attend one of the presentations, pay $1700 for the package, get 70k SPG on spot, and get another 30k for not returning? Can I let them know that I'm not returning on spot, and pocket a total of 100k right away? If I do so, will they block me for future explorer packeage? I'm planning to buy at least one package per year, will that bring any problem? BTW, is this the cheapest way to buy SPG?

 

[grgs]

Great, so I just attend one of the presentations, pay $1700 for the package, get 70k SPG on spot, and get another 30k for not returning? Can I let them know that I'm not returning on spot, and pocket a total of 100k right away?

YYJMSP didn't come back for the second visit and received the additional 30K points because he bought another unit. Unless you're buying a unit, I seriously doubt they would let you out of the return visit and give you the points instead. The purpose of the Explorer package (from Starwood's perspective) is to get another chance at a sale.

If I do so, will they block me for future explorer packeage? I'm planning to buy at least one package per year, will that bring any problem?

I have no idea if they track and limit Explorer package purchases, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Glorian

 

[Ken555]

Great, so I just attend one of the presentations, pay $1700 for the package, get 70k SPG on spot, and get another 30k for not returning? Can I let them know that I'm not returning on spot, and pocket a total of 100k right away? If I do so, will they block me for future explorer packeage? I'm planning to buy at least one package per year, will that bring any problem? BTW, is this the cheapest way to buy SPG?

If you do this, expect a hard sell during your time with the sales staff. I would consider this a waste of time, but if you need the points/miles you might find the value in it. I also agree that I doubt you'd get the extra 30k.

 

[sui]

Well, guess that's not a good idea then.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I used a west coast ExpPkg (same day) for EOY WPORV (incl. requal and 'Owner' price) and received 80K SP on top of 110K incentive SPs (and put on my SPG AMEX...)

We get our SPs from putting everything we can on our SPG Amex.

You can certainly find value in SPs - but their value is relative to how many one may have, and of course optimizing their usage (keeping in mind that vacationing cost money).

For us - probably worth buying at no more than about 1.3c/SP based on how many we have accumulated, and our annual vacation days and vacation spend.
just saying -ymmv (and probably does...)

 

[YYJMSP]

YYJMSP didn't come back for the second visit and received the additional 30K points because he bought another unit. Unless you're buying a unit, I seriously doubt they would let you out of the return visit and give you the points instead. The purpose of the Explorer package (from Starwood's perspective) is to get another chance at a sale.

Our deal was that you had to come back for a return presentation to get the 70K, or make a purchase within a year.

The 30K was for not returning -- nothing to do with our subsequent purchase.

However, if you didn't return and didn't make a purchase within a year, you would lose the 70K but would get the 30K.

I have no idea if they track and limit Explorer package purchases, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

You're allowed one per calendar year -- we tried to purchase a second, and they wouldn't let us...

 

[YYJMSP]

Great, so I just attend one of the presentations, pay $1700 for the package, get 70k SPG on spot, and get another 30k for not returning? Can I let them know that I'm not returning on spot, and pocket a total of 100k right away? If I do so, will they block me for future explorer packeage? I'm planning to buy at least one package per year, will that bring any problem? BTW, is this the cheapest way to buy SPG?

Doesn't work that way.

70K is for coming back for a return presentation OR for purchasing within a year. If you don't come back, and don't purchase, you forfeit the 70K.

30K is for not returning -- it's what they valued the return room as. It doesn't matter if you don't buy; however, it make absolutely no sense to do this, as you'd be paying $1700 for 30K.

You don't get the points on the spot -- you get the 70K after the return presentation or on purchase, and you would get the 30K after the package expires or on purchase without a return visit.

 

[YYJMSP]

I used a west coast ExpPkg (same day) for EOY WPORV (incl. requal and 'Owner' price) and received 80K SP on top of 110K incentive SPs (and put on my SPG AMEX...)

Back in February, we got 70K + 30K for the Explorer package, and another 65K + 15K incentives for our first WDW purchase, for a total of 180K. They wouldn't let us purchase a second Explorer package, so we only got the 65K + 15K incentives for our second WDW purchase, for a total of another 80K. If we'd understood the "one per calendar year" limit on the Explorer package, we would have done one of the purchases in Dec, and the other in Feb for an extra 100K.

So, grand total of 260K SPG bonus points for purchasing 2 WDW EOYs. We did it this way (2 EOYs, same unit/week) because we had 2 units to requalify.

I don't recommend you buy the Explorer packages personally, unless you're planning on buying a developer unit anyways, in which case it's essentially a whack of free bonus SPG points.

 

[grgs]

Our deal was that you had to come back for a return presentation to get the 70K, or make a purchase within a year.

The 30K was for not returning -- nothing to do with our subsequent purchase.

However, if you didn't return and didn't make a purchase within a year, you would lose the 70K but would get the 30K.

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I thought you bought an Explorer package and received 70K points + 5 nights for a return visit. Since you bought before going back for your 5 nights, I assume they let you convert the unused 5 nights into 30K additional points (and so you received 100K points total)? As they already sold you the unit, I would think they wouldn't care that much if you came back or not. That's exactly how it worked for us when we bought an Explorer package several years ago. Of course, the terms of Explorer packages may have change since then.

If you opted to not return or buy, they would still give you 30K for the unused nights? That seems strange to me, as I think their main goal is to goal is to make sure they get a second change to make the sale.

Glorian

 

[YYJMSP]

I think I wasn't clear in my original post. I thought you bought an Explorer package and received 70K points + 5 nights for a return visit. Since you bought before going back for your 5 nights, I assume they let you convert the unused 5 nights into 30K additional points (and so you received 100K points total)?

Sorry, maybe I wasn't quite clear in my explanation.

We purchased an Explorer West package at WMH during Christmas, giving us 70K + 5 nights within a year. We had to either return and consume the 5 nights, or purchase a developer unit, to receive the 70K.

As they already sold you the unit, I would think they wouldn't care that much if you came back or not. That's exactly how it worked for us when we bought an Explorer package several years ago. Of course, the terms of Explorer packages may have change since then

We hadn't bought the unit at the time of the Explorer package purchase.

We purchased the unit 2 months later (once we got things sorted out with regards to what we needed to complete our journey to 5 Star Elite), and then exercised the Explorer package for the 70K + an additional 30K for not returning. We did all of this through SVO Corporate. WMH wasn't involved in anything any more.

If you opted to not return or buy, they would still give you 30K for the unused nights? That seems strange to me, as I think their main goal is to goal is to make sure they get a second change to make the sale.

The 30K thing was mentioned to us during our long discussions with the WMH sales people, but was never in writing anywhere in the Explorer package, and we had to rely on their assurances, etc that it would actually work out as they said it would -- we got half-assed confirmations from WMH and SVO Corporate, who said that it was an Explorer West only thing.

Not sure about their logic, but that's how they offered it to us.

The 100K showed up in our SPG account as a single transaction about 2 weeks after we exercised the Explorer package (shows up as "SVO-EXPLORER EARLY CONVERSION").

The purchase incentives of 2x65K each showed up about another 10 days after that, and the remaining 2x15K showed up (after I reminded them a few times) about 3 weeks after that...

 

[grgs]

What you outlined above sounds about right for what happened with our Explorer package, so I think we're on the same page now.

We also bought one with the same terms I believe (70K + 5 nights). We then decided to purchase a unit before returning. They gave the 70K points + additional points in lieu of the 5 nights. I don't believe they offered this, but I asked for it and was given it.

Glorian

 

[vss]

About 3 years ago, we did a month for 280K SPG points (staying in Paris, Monaco, Milan, Zurich, Vienna, Venice, Rome and Frankfurt), including a bunch of Specialty Select upgrades. If you haven't gone before, I would suggest booking the upgrades for the extra 1000 - 2000 SPG points/night, as the normal rooms are beyond tiny in most of those locations.

Some off topic questions: Could you pls share your itinerary, hotels you stayed at etc; did you drive; how many months before the trip did you make the hotel reservations using SPs; can the rooms accommodate a family of four; any other advice? Thanks a lot.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I don't recommend you buy the Explorer packages personally, unless you're planning on buying a developer unit anyways, in which case it's essentially a whack of free bonus SPG points.

I agree here - the ExpPkg does have value if you are intent on buying from SVO - and that is the rub. Is it worth it to pay such a premium buying from SVO over resale? In most cases without other intent (5*/PFL w/ requals - for example...) - it is very hard to justify without creative math (fuzzy) to make oneself feel better about it.