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Platinum

elizfield

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The post on "path to platinum" (or something like that) has the comment below about using the Starpoint system. Having used Starpoints to stay at the Westin in Whistler for 5 nights (with two beautiful slope side rooms) and in European hotels that normally would be $300+ a night, I appreciate this feature. But I thought the Starpoint system was only available to people who buy from the developer.

Also, does anyone know about the benefit of using 20k points to get 25k miles? I travel a fair amoun in the starwood hotels so I'm interested in this.

2) I want to travel the world, I like the StarPoint system. Many folks here on TUG say this is a bad reason to go after 5* but I completely disagree. Using SPs to travel via the vast Starwood hotel network is a fantastic opportunity. You can stay as many days as you want, unlike the 7 day fix with TSing. You will be upgraded MOST of the time (no guarantees anymore) and some world class hotels are at your fingertip year after year. Europe is also well represented and going to Europe on US$ is not cheap these days! Plus, for every 20,000 SPs, you get 25,000 frequent flier miles. And as 5*, your SP conversion gets an automatic 10% bonus. That’s a great deal! In this case, get to 5* with the cheapest resorts possible (like me) and then convert to SPs or SOs. Look at the chart in the owner’s sticky of the current developer prices. It has the SPs listed. Some Orlando units come with very few SPs so try avoid those if this is your goal. I use the rule of thumb that about 20,000 SPs is one night of stay in a nice hotel. Some are more, some are less, but this is a good estimate.
 

LisaRex

TUG Review Crew
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Used to own: WKORV-N; SVV - Bella
The path to platinum involves buying a Starwood resale first and then pursuing a more expensive unit from the developer. You basically tell them that you won't fork out the cash unless they agree to retroqualify your resale purchase. This gives your resale unit all the perqs of having bought from the developer, including converting to StarPoints.

As far as converting from StarPoints to airline miles, it's very easy. (I assume you are an SPG member.) Once you've accumulated 20k miles, you go to SPG.com, "Redeem Miles" and it will walk you through the simple process to convert them to the airline miles of your choice. The transfer takes a few days to a week usually. Not every airline earns a 1:1 ratio though, so check out SPG.com to find out the conversion ratios.

If you don't have the Starwood AMEX, that's also a good way to earn extra miles both when paying for stays and for everyday purchases.
 

DeniseM

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WKORV, WKV, SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim) NEW: 3 Lawa'i Beach Resort!
Some Starwood terms:

1) Starwood Elite Status - this is for Timeshare owners only and is based on the number of Timeshares/Staroptions you own.

2) SPG Platinum Status - This is a Starwood Hotel perk and is open to anyone - SPG hotel members AND timeshare owners. You can earn it with X number of hotel stays in a year OR by owning enough timeshare units to reach Starwood 5 Star Elite Status.

3) Staroptions - Each Starwood timeshare is assigned a number of Staroptions which is it's trading value within the Starwood Timeshare system. They have no other value and cannot be bought or sold separately from the timeshare week. Only a few Timeshares have Staroptions when they are resold.

I would never convert our TS to Starpoints, but we use our Starwood AMEX for everything to earn "free points" and earn enough points every year for 2 round-trip tix to Hawaii.

For lots of info. about how Starwood works, see the FAQ at the top of the board.
 
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