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Only able to rent out Home Resort?

J

j59kim

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
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Location
SF Bay Area
When I called to change the name on a reservation that we sold a couple of days ago I was told by the rep that owners are only able to change the names at their home resort only. They stated that it was a policy that went into effect on 4/20 and that if you use star options to reserve at another resort you cannot change the names on those. I don't remember getting anything about this or hearing about it at any of the owner updates. Anyone have any additional info on this?

It doesn't affect us too much as we own OF at WKORVN and it wouldn't make sense for us to rent anywhere else to rent out and at the end of the day it may even be more beneficial to certain owners...
 
UhOh - this is going to cause a firestorm. Can't say I didn't warn folks that this was against SVO/SVN rules, and that eventually SVO/SVN would enforce.

This has been discussed here (in past and recently) - according to SVO/SVN CCRs (Owner's Manual) - this is correct. However, people have been abusing (some for profit motives…), and now it is finally being enforced.

However, I see a problem with this and that is legitimately for people giving these SO reservations to Family and Friends.
Let the vitriol begin...
 
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Its documented on MyStarCentral, apparently compliance is now being enforced.

Owner Rental Program
The Owner Rental Program is not currently offered for any Starwood Vacation Ownership resorts. As an Owner, you may reserve a Vacation Period at your Home Resort through Owner Services and arrange a private third party rental on your ownership account. The rental of a reservation by a Starwood Vacation Network Owner for reservations confirmed using StarOptions (other than a week reserved at the SVN Owner's Home Resort in the Villa Type and season purchased) is prohibited.* All renters must comply with the rules and regulations of your Home Resort and as the Owner, you will be responsible for the acts or omissions of your renter and their guests.

Once you have rented your Home Resort Vacation Period, please notify Owner Services of the arriving guest name to ensure their access to your reservation at check-in.

Owners should be current in all fees, including maintenance fees and taxes, associated with your Ownership prior to the arrival date.

* Villa Type does not apply to Coral Vista Owners


Sent from my iPad using the strange new version of Tapatalk
 
Clarification: The OP said you can't change the name on a Staroption reservation - that's incorrect, and if a Rep. told them that, they made an error. (Not uncommon.)

Reservations is still happy to change the name on a Staroption reservation for you, when you are transferring it to friends or family. If you are told otherwise, ask to speak to a supervisor.
 
The OP also said went into effect 4/20…
It will be interesting. Bottom-line: Issue has finally has shown up on SVO/SVN's radar.

I think SVO/SVN will eventually land on my suggestion to them - state the rules concerning this issue clearly on Reservation Confirmation. This will make a Renter much more cautious in paying a non-HomeResort Owner to rent SOs.
 
DeniseM said:
Clarification: The OP said you can't change the name on a Staroption reservation - that's incorrect, and if a Rep. told them that, they made an error. (Not uncommon.)

Reservations is still happy to change the name on a Staroption reservation for you, when you are transferring it to friends or family. If you are told otherwise, ask to speak to a supervisor.
Click to expand...

When I spoke with the rep since I had sold our unit I didn't even bother to ask about if it was ok if it was just being gifted to someone.

It will be interesting to see if it'll be more difficult from now on to make changes if it's not your home resort but thanks for the info everyone!

The rep I spoke to said it went into affect 4/20 but it may be that they are required to ask if it's gifted or sold to a third party. If so, I guess the correct answer every time should be gifted ;)

What I find funny is that when we we went to a owner's update in Palm Desert the sales person was pitching their low MF and how you can rent in Maui and resell for a profit...and this was less only a couple of weeks ago. They're so full of it...
 
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My last owner's update ... the salesman showed me his account where he booked Atlantis with his SMV options and was renting it out.

Nice!
 
Same here. Our sales person advised us about renting out with Staroptions. She even went on and on about how it didn't matter where you owned because you can make a reservation anywhere at 8 months. It was not the sales pitch for someone who owned at the more desirably resorts! But she was trying to sell the Flex program.

I don't like this policy because my parents like Arizona and I would like to give them SOs to go there. I like the properties I own and I'm not buying more just to send my parents to Kierlands every so often!
 
Just did a new reservation in to someone else's name, only question was if we were going to be there or not.

It was a single StarOptions booking for more than what we own in a single VOI at the property, but less than the total of the multiple VOIs we own at that property.
 
The Reps are all over the place on this subject. To avoid awkward conversations, you can just use the online function to make/change reservations.

I hate it when I have to call - it's obvious that the Reps. have been instructed to chat up the owners, and I dread their mindless "friendly chatter."

Recently when an owner made a reservation, one of the Reps. warned her not to swim in the ocean at WKORV, because there are sharks… :rolleyes:
 
I went to an update on the 21st and we talked about renting. The salesperson told me to book on maui with SO's and put it on VRBO to rent out. I informed her that doing that is against Starwood's policy. So if Starwood started enforcing their rules, their sales people missed the memo!
 
Time for Starwood to do what II Does

Charge a fee to gift a week to someone else. It is impossible to police who someone's friends and family are. So if they charged a $50 gifting fee, no one would squalk much and Starwood gets more money, like they did with the points carryover fee of $99. Very few owners have any idea how to rent out their week so it is not a huge issue. And I know of several cases where the renters ended up buying into the SVO program ( foolish though that may be) .
 
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