Princeville

[lcargnoni]

Will the new Westin Villas be a mandatory resort? I forgot to ask the sales person.

For those the purchased Princeville, what's your take on the lack of beach access? I trust that it didn't bother you too much since you purchased, but I'm curious.

After reading threads for the past hours, I wonder:
1. Purchase Maui resale.
2. Purchase Princeville new but only on the condition of getting Maui retroed...

Would the sales people at Maui balk at the retro?

Think it would work?

Larry C

 

[grgs]

Will the new Westin Villas be a mandatory resort? I forgot to ask the sales person.

As far as we know, it is NOT a mandatory resort.

After reading threads for the past hours, I wonder:
1. Purchase Maui resale.
2. Purchase Princeville new but only on the condition of getting Maui retroed...

Would the sales people at Maui balk at the retro?

Think it would work?

Larry C

This should work fine. The only condition is that as you're purchasing a Hawaii property, the new purchase will have to be a minimum of $40K.

Glorian

 

[capjak]

We just got back from Maui and from the Westin presentation.

Princeville is voluntary. I asked about a retro and the sales person stated that the developer purchase from Hawaii would need to be at least $40,000.

I believe you can retro at places in continental US for $20,000.

I would also say there is little to no advantage to retro a Westin KOR villa in Maui since the only thing that you get is to convert to starpoints and combine staroptions for trading. Seems paying an extra 20K plus to have the ability to exchange into starpoints doesn't make sense.

 

[DeniseM]

What Jack said - $20,000 would pay for an awful lot of hotel stays!

 

[SDKath]

At WKORV, the only reason to retro would be to start heading toward 5* status. If you have a lot of disposable income, a great plan would be to buy WKORV resale for about 1/3 the price and then retro it with Princeville purchase. Again, not good use of SOs or SPs for the Hawaii purchases due to the high MF and generally high cost of the resorts to purchase, unless of course you want to use these purchases to get to 5*. You'd need 2 more purchases (one from Starwood and one resale) for 148,100 each to do that.

BTW, there are now resales slowly coming up for WPORV on Redweek and other sites. So perhaps resales at both locations are good enough.


Katherine

 

[lcargnoni]

Thank you, folks, for your feedback....
I have seen the resell Princeville on redweek.

The logic is there - buy resell, use the week at the home resort.....

So why do I have that emotional tug (no pun intended) to purchase a least one high demand location from the developer in order to get the perks? Logic/this bbs seems to imply that the perks are not as valuable as the developer makes them seem....

 

[DeniseM]

Thank you, folks, for your feedback....
I have seen the resell Princeville on redweek.

The logic is there - buy resell, use the week at the home resort.....

So why do I have that emotional tug (no pun intended) to purchase a least one high demand location from the developer in order to get the perks? Logic/this bbs seems to imply that the perks are not as valuable as the developer makes them seem....

What perks do you think you would miss out on? Originally, the perks for becoming 5 Star Elite were better - especially automatic free upgrades to better views or larger units. Since Starwood has eliminated that perk, and devalued Starpoints on a yearly basis, becoming Elite is not as attractive as it once was to many of us. If you travel a lot, the Platinum SPG card for life does have some value, but the other perks are pretty minimal.

From the TUG Starwood article:

In 2005 Starwood introduced the Elite program, designed to encourage multiple week ownership. The idea being the more weeks you own, the better the additional benefits. The three membership levels and their corresponding benefits are summarized here:

Three Star Member *** must own 2 or more weeks worth at least 159,000 StarOptions

o Ability to convert to SPG points every year rather than every other year

o Avis Preferred Membership

o SVN Elite rate at TPC golf courses

o Exclusive “Owner Services” team

o StarPoint Referral of 30,000 StarPoints (if you refer someone who buys a week - normal referral is 20,000 StarPoints)



Four Star Member **** must own weeks worth at least 359,000 StarOptions

o All Three Star benefits above

o $99 StarPoint conversion fee waived

o 2:00pm villa check-in

o Welcome call

o StarPoint Referral of 35,000 StarPoints

o Ability to “wait list” for another reservation without having to cancel a confirmed reservation



Five Star Member ***** must own weeks worth at least 559,000 StarOptions

o All Four Star benefits above

o Annual SVN membership fee waived ($129)

o Automatic SPG Platinum membership

o Late villa check out (noon)

o Welcome letter from GM upon check in

o StarPoint Referral of 40,000 StarPoints

 

[Westin5Star]

I'm at HRA now. I was at SVR last week. In January, I was at WKORV. No welcome letter from any GM since my December stay in WKORV! I'm getting jipped

 

[saluki]

I'm at HRA now. I was at SVR last week. In January, I was at WKORV. No welcome letter from any GM since my December stay in WKORV! I'm getting jipped

What a travesty! You should make one of those protest hats!!!

 

[DavidnRobin]

...and make sure you write letters/emails with lots of misspellings and name calling - that always works to impress upon management that you are speaking from an intelligent, thoughtful and respectful viewpoint...

 

[LisaRex]

So why do I have that emotional tug (no pun intended) to purchase a least one high demand location from the developer in order to get the perks? Logic/this bbs seems to imply that the perks are not as valuable as the developer makes them seem....

Good question. I think it's because the name "elite" makes you feel like you will be treated differently/better than other owners. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing you'll gain, aside from some laughably minor perks*, is the title "elite" and a seriously depleted bank account.

*except, as DeniseM said, for the Platinum for Life privilege, which can indeed be a great perk, esp for international travelers. But you'd have to be upgraded to a lot of suites to make it worth the investment.

 

[Westin5Star]

Actually we are very happy that we made our purchases and became Elite. I really don't want a letter from a GM. I do want and have gotten upgrades at hotels and better rooms at the TSs.

So far in the past year we stayed at 7 different hotels and we were given 6 upgrades and / or suites plus extra perks such as lounges, spas, etc. The best was an upgrade to a corner suite at the St. Regis Aspen with a butler!

We have also been very happy with our villas. Since becoming Elite, we have stayed at and received the following:
HRA- traded in 3 months out- received top floor overlooking harbor
WKORV- OFD reserved at 9 months out- received top floor
WKORV- traded in 2 months out- received OV 4th floor close to ocean-
SVR- traded in 5 months out- received what I was told was the best room at the resort and upgraded to 2BR
HRA- 2BR LO reserved 10 months out- received 3rd floor overlooking harbor and Royal Towers (actually I'm looking out the window now)

Thank you Starwood!

 

[pointsjunkie]

we stayed at the sheraton wild horse last week and they could not do enough for us . there was wine and chocolates delivered to our room.

at the westin diplomat we were given ocean front rooms with balconies for all 4 rooms in my party and club floor and workout room access.

going again in 3 weeks to st regis monarch, will let you know what we get.

we did get early arrival and late check-out at sdo and there was a bottle of wine for us.

 

[SDKath]

You guys are making me drool! Stop it!!!!

K

 

[pointsjunkie]

I'm at HRA now. I was at SVR last week. In January, I was at WKORV. No welcome letter from any GM since my December stay in WKORV! I'm getting jipped

hi, are you getting late check-out? or do you have to wait till the last day to find out? hope you are having fun.

 

[Negma]

When we were at HRA last week, we received our GM letter the day after we checked in. In the letter it thank us, blah blah, but reminded us that as 5*we had a 12:00 check out: no call needed.

 

[Westin5Star]

We got early checkin at about 11:30am. We are leaving at 6am so we will not be seeking late checkout; sorry I couldn't help on this.

 

[leet]

I am new to the SVN info, if Princeville is a voluntary resort are the star options just usable at other voluntary resorts and not mandatory resorts?

I am assuming that star options at mandatory resorts at all resorts? or is just that Princeville is part of the SVN netwrok but on resale the star options do not transfer?

Thanks, lots to learn

 

[DeniseM]

Welcome leet! Have you had a chance to check out the FAQ at the top of the board? It's a good Intro. to Starwood.

Princeville is a Staroptions Voluntary Resort. That means that if it is resold to a new owner on the secondary market, the new owner cannot exchange it in the Starwood Vacation Network at all. They can still exchange though II, or any independent exchange company.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I am new to the SVN info, if Princeville is a voluntary resort are the star options just usable at other voluntary resorts and not mandatory resorts?

I am assuming that star options at mandatory resorts at all resorts? or is just that Princeville is part of the SVN netwrok but on resale the star options do not transfer?

Thanks, lots to learn

If you bought Princeville (a V resort) from SVO - then use can use StarOptions (SOs) to exchange via any SVN resort. If you buy resale (at any V resort) - the buyer cannot use SVN to exchange.

V resorts (upon resale) - SVN does not transfer
M resorts (upon resale) - SVN does transfer (and the SVN fee must be paid).

 

[LisaRex]

I am new to the SVN info, if Princeville is a voluntary resort are the star options just usable at other voluntary resorts and not mandatory resorts?

"Voluntary" means that the ability to exchange into other SVN resorts and/or Starwood hotels is only available to folks who buy from the developer.

If you are BUYING a voluntary resort, then you'll only be able to stay at the resort you bought or trade via II; you won't be able to trade to other Starwood resorts via SVN or convert to StarPoints.

***

StarOptions are SVN's trading currency. All SVN owners are able to trade into other SVN resorts, subject to availability and having sufficient StarOptions. It doesn't matter if that resort is mandatory or voluntary. See the stickies above to determine what your resort would be worth and what you can trade into with the amount of StarOptions you'll have.

The current SVN resorts are:

Sheraton Broadway Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC
Sheraton Desert Oasis, Scottsdale, AZ
Sheraton Mountain Vista, Avon, CO
Sheraton PGA Vacation Resort, Port St. Lucie, FL
Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas, Steamboat Springs, CO
Sheraton Vistana Resort, Orlando, FL
Sheraton Vistana Villages, Orlando, FL
The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert, CA
The Westin Ka‘anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Maui, HI
The Westin Ka‘anapali Ocean Resort Villas North, Maui, HI
The Westin Kierland Villas, Scottsdale, AZ
The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort, Cancun, Mexico
The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Villas, Rancho Mirage, CA
The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, Kaua‘i, HI
The Westin St. John Resort & Villas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Harborside Resort at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Lakeside Terrace, Avon, CO

 

[leet]

where in any of the information, purchase documents (I am in the rescind period), glad I found this site, or other documents does it talk about voluntary and mandatory resorts? I have looked at the documents and can't find anything about this.

The "sales manager" when I asked directly about the resale outlets in Lahaina, stated " if you buy resale, SVN will block the star options transfer ( this is at WkorN) and you can only use it at the one home resort".

Everything here on this board says otherwise, just trying to see where this policy on mandatory and volutary resorts is?

Thanks

 

[DavidnRobin]

where in any of the information, purchase documents (I am in the rescind period), glad I found this site, or other documents does it talk about voluntary and mandatory resorts? I have looked at the documents and can't find anything about this.

The "sales manager" when I asked directly about the resale outlets in Lahaina, stated " if you buy resale, SVN will block the star options transfer ( this is at WkorN) and you can only use it at the one home resort".

Everything here on this board says otherwise, just trying to see where this policy on mandatory and volutary resorts is?

Thanks

If you are talking about buying WKORVN from Starwood Vacation Ownership (SVO, Starwood) - RESCIND

The 'sales manager' who told you this is an idiot.

StarOptions are used to exchange throughout the SVN - and that ability use SVN is transferred upon resale deed changes - known as a Mandatory resort.
This is different than a Voluntary resort - where the ability to use SVN is not transferred (like Princeville).

The ability to convert StarOptions to StarPoints is lost upon resale (no biggee...)

WKORV is a Mandatory resort - you have to interpret the differences by comparing the Owners Manual between the two types of resorts to catch the nuances. It is not directly written - the OM does not mention these terms. It states this in a manner that does not forbid this ability to transfer SVN priviledges - where a V resort specifically states that this is not transferred.

I own both - WKORV (resale) and WPORV (from SVO).

 

[DavidnRobin]

Villas of Cave Creek, Cave Creek, AZ *
Vistana's Beach Club, Jensen Beach, FL *

* Do not exchange via SVN.

 

[SDKath]

I believe Vistana's Beach Club, like Fountains, will join SVN starting 2009 so we may need to update that sticky soon.

K