questions re SVO

[LisaRex]

I'm still learning here, so bear with me, but I have a couple of questions:

1) Is your "view" transportable? In other words, if I'm an OF owner at my home resort, will I be the next in line to get an OF unit at another resort if I call 8 months out? Or is your view only applicable to your home resort?

2) If I call to book at an extremely popular week and the OF units are all taken, will my OF designation supercede folks with an OV unit? What if they called at 12 months out and I waited until 11 months?

3) As a 1 week 2 bdrm LO resale owner, am I ever able to forego using my unit one year in order to get 2 weeks the following year? I know that unused StarPoints expire after one year, but I wasn't sure if I could bank them.

4) If I would like to use my StarPoints towards another property (e.g. St. Johns (yeah, I know)), is there a timeframe where I have to "surrender" my home unit? Can I book my home resort at 12 months and then call at 8 months to check on the availability at another resort or will that screw up my original timestamp?

Thanks for your patience and knowledge. I'm learning a lot, but the whole process is very confusing, esp. since I never went to a sales presentation. Is there a number I can call with these questions? (I don't have my owner's manual yet as we still haven't completed the sale.)

 

[LisaRex]

Another question:

5) If I want to lock in my week, any idea how much that costs? Calling in every year at exactly 12 months out is a bit tedious.

 

[djp]

1. no
2. no
3.no
4. Yes you can book a week at your home resort and then cancel it to make another reservation at 8 mos out, you may be charges at $39 cancellation fee.

 

[LisaRex]

Thanks for the info, djp.

(Whine) I have to say, #1 and #3 I was kind of expecting. But #2 doesn't seem fair. OF owners pay upwards of a $20k premium for their view vs. OV and it seems that if OF units are all booked up, they should take first priority on the OVs. (/whine)

I guess that cements the need to call at exactly 12 months out. (Is Starwood reservations even open on Saturday? If not, I assume I call first thing Monday morning?)

 

[Catazog]

This is one reason why my husband and I bought our Island View 2 BR LO at WKORV rather than an OV (besides the fact that it was less expensive). 2 BR LO's, no matter what the view, are all worth the same number of StarOptions and Star Points. Since we didn't plan to go to Maui every year and wanted to trade for another SVO resort or sometimes convert to StarOptions for a European vacation this made sense to us. OF and IV both have the same trade value.

 

[djp]

reservations are open 7 days a week. IMO it only makes sense to pay a premium for view if you intend to go every year to your home resort.

 

[Transit]

[]

I'm still learning here, so bear with me, but I have a couple of questions:

1) Is your "view" transportable? In other words, if I'm an OF owner at my home resort, will I be the next in line to get an OF unit at another resort if I call 8 months out? Or is your view only applicable to your home resort?

2) If I call to book at an extremely popular week and the OF units are all taken, will my OF designation supercede folks with an OV unit? What if they called at 12 months out and I waited until 11 months?

3) As a 1 week 2 bdrm LO resale owner, am I ever able to forego using my unit one year in order to get 2 weeks the following year? I know that unused StarPoints expire after one year, but I wasn't sure if I could bank them.

4) If I would like to use my StarPoints towards another property (e.g. St. Johns (yeah, I know)), is there a timeframe where I have to "surrender" my home unit? Can I book my home resort at 12 months and then call at 8 months to check on the availability at another resort or will that screw up my original timestamp?

Thanks for your patience and knowledge. I'm learning a lot, but the whole process is very confusing, esp. since I never went to a sales presentation. Is there a number I can call with these questions? (I don't have my owner's manual yet as we still haven't completed the sale.)

1 Don't think so
2 Maybe at your own resort
3 You mean staroptions . Starpoints are for hotel stays.Starwood dosn't let you bank them but you can depost your lockoff with an exchange company
4 Again you mean staroptions .You can book your home resort 12 months out then see if there is something avalible 8 months out at another resort. The fee to change reservations at this point is 29 dollars. Some owners are reporting the are not being charged.
5 1-888-786-9637 good luck and congrats on yuor purchase

 

[Pedro]

3) As a 1 week 2 bdrm LO resale owner, am I ever able to forego using my unit one year in order to get 2 weeks the following year? I know that unused StarPoints expire after one year, but I wasn't sure if I could bank them.

You can't bank StarOptions for use at a later year, but you can borrow Staroptions from the following year and achieve what you want to do.

 

[Transit]

You can't bank StarOptions for use at a later year, but you can borrow Staroptions from the following year and achieve want you want to do.

This is a difficult option because to borrow staroptions from a future year they must be used in the 90 day reservation window(hard to do in some resorts/seasons) and you must pay the maintenace fees in advace.

 

[DeniseM]

Thanks for your patience and knowledge. I'm learning a lot, but the whole process is very confusing, esp. since I never went to a sales presentation. Is there a number I can call with these questions? (I don't have my owner's manual yet as we still haven't completed the sale.)

If you are saying that you bought resale - you won't ever get an owner's manual - just a welcome letter.

If you are saying you bought from the developer - YIKES! Rescind immediately and buy resale - you will save $10K!

Anyway, the owner's guide is online at www.mystarcentral.com, but you have to have your deed info. to register there (and you have to be registered to access.)

 

[LisaRex]

If you are saying that you bought resale - you won't ever get an owner's manual - just a welcome letter.

I bought resale and the owner said that she would send me the owner's manaul, etc., when the money goes into escrow. We're currently waiting for Westin to waive their first right of refusal. (Westin apparently operates on "island time.")