resale or new

[norag]

I am heading down to Vistana Village for a time share meeting. We went last year and bought the explorer package as we were interested in the concept of a timeshare yet were not convinced to purchase. After reading these threads it seems a waste of money to buy new, so I am leaning towards a re-sale even with the explorer package going towards purchase price. My question is how hard is it to trade into the system? It worries me a little that as more and more people opt for these time shares the exchanges will be more dificult and you'll be stuck into going to the same resort forever (not an option). Also I thought that you could save up your star options and use it the next year. There seems to be a lot of rules that the sales agents fail to elaborate on like the 90 day only rule for buying a years options ahead of time. Can you even get an extra week with such a shor time frame??
Sorry for all the questions however I'm just learning all of the ins and outs of this.
Great site by the way

 

[Bill4728]

The key to buying Starwood is to buy in a "Mandatory" phase of a resort (like the 1st two phases of Vistana Village). If you buy a resale in the key west & Belle phases of Vistana Village, you will still be a member of the Starwood Vacation network and will still get staroptions to use when doing internal trading with Starwood.

If on the other hand, you buy at a voluntary resory ( like the Vistana resort or the amelia phase of Vistana Village ) you are buying only at that resort and can not do internal trading with starwood.

Hope that helps

 

[pointsjunkie]

I am heading down to Vistana Village for a time share meeting. We went last year and bought the explorer package as we were interested in the concept of a timeshare yet were not convinced to purchase. After reading these threads it seems a waste of money to buy new, so I am leaning towards a re-sale even with the explorer package going towards purchase price. My question is how hard is it to trade into the system? It worries me a little that as more and more people opt for these time shares the exchanges will be more dificult and you'll be stuck into going to the same resort forever (not an option). Also I thought that you could save up your star options and use it the next year. There seems to be a lot of rules that the sales agents fail to elaborate on like the 90 day only rule for buying a years options ahead of time. Can you even get an extra week with such a shor time frame??
Sorry for all the questions however I'm just learning all of the ins and outs of this.
Great site by the way

hi,welcome to tug, i have bought developer and resale and there are benefits to both. i am a huge proponent for starpoints so buying from the developer was beneficial for me.

i hope you have the amex starwood card. it is very great way to acquire starpoints. if you decide to purchase from the deveoper make sure you purchase it with the starwood amex card it will give you double starpoints.

everyone on this site will tell you only to buy resale. i thought i would give you both sides, since i have experience with both. because i purchased from the developer and got the first day incentive and explorer starpoints as well as the amex starpoints for some of the purchases my famliy has gone on some amazing vacations at starwood resorts (where there is no timeshare). i like that part of the program.

i would not use my harborside or if i owned in hawaii ot st. john to trade to starpoints because the MF's are so high and it does not pay. but i use the others to convert.

when you purchase from a developer you know that you are not purchasing a new timeshare it is used. the new section at SVV is the amelia section which is new. so the first time you go there you will be able to say it is new other than that they are used. the amelia section is not mandatory, that means when you go to sell the timeshare the benefits to trade into the starwood system and converting to starpoints will not be given to the new owner.

the other 2 sections are mandatory so the starwood vacation network goes with the resale.

but buying resale at SVV is also a great idea. if you purchase in bella or key west you will still have the starwood vacation network so you can trade into the resorts. i trade all the time. at the 8 month time period except for st john, i have not had any trouble. the amount of staroptions you need is 81000 staroptions so you can trade into every resort.

so now you have heard both sides, good luck with your decision. buying resale will save you money without a doubt. i saved $10000 by purchasing resale one of my SVV units.

 

[norag]

Thanks for the info.. it does help. I want to buy a mandatory unit no less than 81,000 star options. Are these hard to trade within the system??

 

[calgarygary]

I am heading down to Vistana Village for a time share meeting. We went last year and bought the explorer package as we were interested in the concept of a timeshare yet were not convinced to purchase. After reading these threads it seems a waste of money to buy new, so I am leaning towards a re-sale even with the explorer package going towards purchase price.

Do not lean, do not buy from the developer especially at VV. There is absolutely no advantage, other than star points (not options) that are devaluing year after year in buying VV from starwood.

My question is how hard is it to trade into the system?

There is no difference between developer and mandatory resales in trading within the system.

It worries me a little that as more and more people opt for these time shares the exchanges will be more dificult and you'll be stuck into going to the same resort forever (not an option).

Many will tell you buy where you want to go but at least for now, Starwood expansion should keep alternatives available. However, review the options chart in the sticky above to make sure you are getting sufficient options when you buy to allow for your exchanges.

Also I thought that you could save up your star options and use it the next year.

No!

There seems to be a lot of rules that the sales agents fail to elaborate on like the 90 day only rule for buying a years options ahead of time. Can you even get an extra week with such a shor time frame??Sorry for all the questions however I'm just learning all of the ins and outs of this.
Great site by the way

Do not believe sales agents, ever! Their job is to sell not inform.

 

[Leslee]

I am heading down to Vistana Village for a time share meeting. We went last year and bought the explorer package as we were interested in the concept of a timeshare yet were not convinced to purchase. After reading these threads it seems a waste of money to buy new, so I am leaning towards a re-sale even with the explorer package going towards purchase price. My question is how hard is it to trade into the system? It worries me a little that as more and more people opt for these time shares the exchanges will be more dificult and you'll be stuck into going to the same resort forever (not an option). Also I thought that you could save up your star options and use it the next year. There seems to be a lot of rules that the sales agents fail to elaborate on like the 90 day only rule for buying a years options ahead of time. Can you even get an extra week with such a shor time frame??
Sorry for all the questions however I'm just learning all of the ins and outs of this.
Great site by the way

Hi Norag, I too just came back from vistana villages and stayed in the keys section. We loved it. I too purchased the explorer package. And I too am still very confused, We do want to purchase a timeshare here but not 25,900.0 dollars worth. My sales manager didnt answer all of the questions i still have either. Leslee

 

[norag]

Thanks, this info helps a great deal!

 

[tomandrobin]

Unless you are going for elite status, buy resale. Buy Mandatory, with enough staroptions to trade for the unit size you want to stay.

Using Staroptions are hit and miss. It is very unlike to get an Event week at one of the "big 3" resorts. You will not get Atlantis or St John during the summer. Actually, St John you maight not get at all, except for maybe in the fall (Sept/Oct).

I have had success getting Atlantis the past two years in early June, May and September. Hawaii is becoming easy to use Staroptions to exchange in, you probably will get a lousy view though.

We have used II for some great trades too.

 

[LisaRex]

The ability to convert StarOptions to StarPoints was the only substantial perk that Starwood had in its favor to sway people to buy a mandatory resort from the developer. Until they fix this broken system, they continue to shoot themselves in the foot. The Starwood/SVO relationship has the potential to be a great symbiotic relationship. Certainly Starwood is capitalizing on it by allowing SPG members to book our great villas when available. It's time they returned the favor and allowed SVO members to book great hotel rooms. We're not asking for special treatment, but merely equitable treatment.

It simply doesn't make fiscal sense to purchase a mandatory resort from the developer for your first purchase. Subsquent purchases might make sense so that you can requalify the initial purchase and be able to combine the StarOptions from both units.

 

[calgarygary]

Hi Norag, I too just came back from vistana villages and stayed in the keys section. We loved it. I too purchased the explorer package. And I too am still very confused, We do want to purchase a timeshare here but not 25,900.0 dollars worth. My sales manager didnt answer all of the questions i still have either. Leslee

Leslee, if the sales manager didn't answer your questions, it may be that the answer would have kept you from buying from starwood. If you still need the questions answered this is a great forum to do it in. BTW, 25900 is 15-20K too much for VV.

 

[saturn28]

Can someone tell me if paying $4500 for 67,100 star options at the Sheraton Vistana Villages is a good price. Would I be able to trade into Atlantis.

Thanks

 

[DavidnRobin]

Can someone tell me if paying $4500 for 67,100 star options at the Sheraton Vistana Villages is a good price. Would I be able to trade into Atlantis.

Thanks

I don't know much about VV, but I would consider 81K SOs instead of 67.1K SOs because of the increased flexibility of using 81K SOs. Resale SOs cannot be combined for SVN exchanges, but they can be broken up. Mandatory resorts can be exchanged via SVN into the SVN Network - so that exchange can be made, but some are difficult depended on resort and week desired.

 

[SDKath]

I would not purchase less than 81,000 SOs ever. That way you have enough SOs for a 1BR just about anywhere (including Hawaii...).

Good luck. Katherine

 

[DeniseM]

Can someone tell me if paying $4500 for 67,100 star options at the Sheraton Vistana Villages is a good price. Would I be able to trade into Atlantis.

67,100 Staroptions is enough for a 1 bdm. at Harborside Atlantis, but it's not an easy exchange. If you are flexible and can go off-season - yes.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Can someone tell me if paying $4500 for 67,100 star options at the Sheraton Vistana Villages is a good price. Would I be able to trade into Atlantis.

Thanks

Also - in the spirit of the eBay thread - you can check out completed sales on eBay - by going into the TS finder, putting Sheraton (or Vistana?) in as the key search term and clicking completed sales - this will give you everything in the last 30 days - there are quite a few for Sheraton TSs.

PS - for example someone that a 67.1K SOs at VV (2Bd) was worth $4850
http://cgi.ebay.com/SHERATON-VISTAN...ryZ15897QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and another at $5200
http://cgi.ebay.com/SHERATON-VISTAN...ryZ15897QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

so to answer your ? - perhaps yes.