Sheraton Vistana Orlando good for trading? (Starwood)

[tenthousandvolts]

I am thinking about buying a 2bdrm here for about 50% use and 50% trading. It is deeded as week 45 but the resale site says that is for contract purposes and it is a floating red week- you can use 1-52.

Also- does anyone know if I want to give my sister a week here as a gift, would that be a problem? Also, can you rent your week if you don't want to trade or use it?

In your expert opinions- what are the best values for trading?

 

[arlene22]

There are many sections of Vistana Resort. There are huge differences among the different section. Do you know which section you want? Many of them are undergoing special assessments/refurbishments right now. The ones that aren't, probably will soon. So be aware of that.

Have you thought about where you will want to trade? Also, you will not be able to trade back into Orlando (other than VR) due to II's regional block, but it is very easy to trade into Orlando with anything else. If you want to go to Orlando, then an Orlando trader may not be the best choice.

You can give the use of a week to someone else, no problem. You can try to rent it, but Orlando has a lot of timeshares and a lot of hotel rooms, so you may not get as much as you think for it.

 

[DeniseM]

Welcome to TUG!

Since this is a Starwood Resort, I moved it to the Starwood Board. You will want to read the Trading with II Article posted in the Owner Resources sticky.

The Starwood FAQ is also required reading for potential owners.

YES - You can rent it.
YES - You can let family or friends use a week.

Note that with a resale at Sheraton Vistana RESORT, you will be able to exchange with II, but not with the Starwood internal exchange program.

With Sheraton Vistana VILLAGES, you can exchange with Starwood.

Which resort/section are you considering?

HTH!

 

[tenthousandvolts]

There are many sections of Vistana Resort. There are huge differences among the different section. Do you know which section you want? Many of them are undergoing special assessments/refurbishments right now. The ones that aren't, probably will soon. So be aware of that.

Have you thought about where you will want to trade? Also, you will not be able to trade back into Orlando (other than VR) due to II's regional block, but it is very easy to trade into Orlando with anything else. If you want to go to Orlando, then an Orlando trader may not be the best choice.

You can give the use of a week to someone else, no problem. You can try to rent it, but Orlando has a lot of timeshares and a lot of hotel rooms, so you may not get as much as you think for it.

Thanks for all this info- very helpful.

I forget the name of the section- but I think it is in one of the recently refurb because closing costs include 2008 MFs and another (approx) $600 for a 2008special assessment. I would not need to trade back into Orlando- we own points at Disney (DVC) and will always use our dvc points at a Disney resort- we might use our Vistiana week to tack on a nice cheap week before or after our DVC trip. So the no-trading-into-Orlando rule is not a problem.

As far as where we would like to trade- we would like to visit the Caribbean, Mexico, Key West, Sanibel, at some point the Grand Canyon... I am not sure where else- but we have kids in school so we normally travel when school is out. That probably means we need something with decent trading power- right?

 

[DeniseM]

Knowing which resort and section is critical - we can give you a lot more help if you post that info.

 

[arlene22]

One good thing: all Starwood resorts benefit from a Starwood priority in II, so you will have a better shot at trading into other Starwoods via II. For the first three days or so, only Starwoods can "see" newly available Starwood deposits.

 

[tenthousandvolts]

Is Fountains 1 the section?
It is listed as unit #XXX Fountains I, Sheraton Vistana Resort

 

[DeniseM]

Yes, Fountains is the section, and since it's Sheraton Vistana Resort, you will have the ability to exchange with II, but not Starwood.

If you join TUG, you will be able to access the Member's Only TUG reviews for this resort. Tuggers rank it 8.56 on a scale of 1 to 10, and 19 out of 84, among Orlando Timeshares. There are 48 reviews for the resort in the TUG Review Pages.

 

[SDKath]

Look for Lakes or Cascades. They are nicer and newer and they participate in the Starwood system, which is a huge plus as you can get the 3 day II priority for Starwood.

Check out eBay. There are always many for sale for very little money.

Katherine

 

[water-dog]

OK What is a 3day priorty

 

[DeniseM]

OK What is a 3day priorty

It is explained in the Starwood/II article that I posted a link to, above.

 

[tenthousandvolts]

Yes, Fountains is the section, and since it's Sheraton Vistana Resort, you will have the ability to exchange with II, but not Starwood.
.

Confused- does Vistana Resort have the 3 Starwood day priority with II?

 

[DeniseM]

Confused- does Vistana Resort have the 3 Starwood day priority with II?

YES - all Starwood resorts do.

 

[Robert D]

I agree that you should buy in Cascades are Lakes. Lakes has a special assessment going on too. From what I've seen, you can buy into Vistana pretty cheap, even the Lakes and Cascades sections if you watch Ebay closely, so there's no reason to buy any sections other than Lakes or Cascades. However, I don't think Vistana will be a very good trader. First, Orlando is not a good trader in general because of the huge supply and second, with any Starwood resort, Starwood determines the week they deposit for you to II, and you can bet that they won't deposit a really high demand week like week 52 or spring break. I'd look elsewhere for a trader but Vistana is a very nice resort for the money if you were going to use it. One good thing about Starwood's bulk deposit method is that they save the best weeks for the owners and it's not that hard at Vistana for an owner to reserve a week 52 or spring break or other really high demand week, unlike Marriott where you have to call at 8:00 a.m. 12 months in advance.

 

[capjak]

I think you might be better off with a Sheraton Desert O in Phoenix. You would be able to trade into Orlando (Marriott/Starwood and even DVC sometimes) and I believe it trades with both II and RCI, but I'm sure someone else knows better than I for about the same cost.

Just a thought

 

[Iwant2gonow]

I am am owner of a lakes/cascades floating week. It is a beautiful resort with many things to do. That being said I would not purchase again at any price because
1. Yearly fees keep going up. You could easily rent any week you would like at Vistana or elsewhere in Orlando. There are just too many timeshares there....which leads me to reason number
2. Trades used to be extremely easy before Sheraton took over.
Now when you deposit a week for trade they don't even deposit your own week...meaning not so great trading power.
There are many places with better trading power. For the price of the yearly fees and the price of exchange fees, I would just rent.
Good Luck

 

[lprstn]

I own in the Fountains section at Sheraton Vistana, and if I had to do over I would not purchase there. It allows you a floating week that can be used at both Sheraton Vistana and Jenson Beach club (you can stay 1/2 time at either resort) The Starpoints were not so important to me as I have 4 kids and would not stay in a hotel if I had a choice. Now I just trade my Vistana into the Wyndam system as I get better usage of it. Yes, my MF are higher than if I purchased somewhere else. I would say you would do better adding another point system on top of your Disney that would open up tons of other locations to you and you can bank a small number of your points to trade into FL. As well as if you wanted a huge unit for your family you can get one pretty easily.

 

[tenthousandvolts]

Thanks for all the feedback- I need to learn a whole lot more before I can make a decision- I really appreciate the feedback - especially from present owners who have so openly shared the drawbacks of ownership.

I am most worried that the yearly fees could eventually surpass the value of one week's accomodations. Do the timeshare regulations keep that from happening in most regular circumstances (meaning barring special assessments and natural disasters...) or is that a common occurance (fees growing to be higher than value).

 

[tomandrobin]

I would suggest Desert Oasis or better yet Westin Kierland for internal SVN trading and II trading. I have had great success thru SVN and II.

 

[DeniseM]

Hi Tom - SDO isn't mandatory, but the OP could use it for II trades.

 

[tomandrobin]

I would not buy Orlando, unless you plan on using it. However II trades into Orlando are ridiculous easy. I can trade a small off season Kierland for a 3 bedroom in Orlando.

 

[DeniseM]

Thanks for all the feedback- I need to learn a whole lot more before I can make a decision- I really appreciate the feedback - especially from present owners who have so openly shared the drawbacks of ownership.

I am most worried that the yearly fees could eventually surpass the value of one week's accomodations. Do the timeshare regulations keep that from happening in most regular circumstances (meaning barring special assessments and natural disasters...) or is that a common occurance (fees growing to be higher than value).

I would expect the fees to continue to increase 5-10% every year. Maybe they won't, but that's been my experience with SVO.

 

[tomandrobin]

Hi Tom - SDO isn't mandatory, but the OP could use it for II trades.

I know, but his orginal post was about Vistana Resort, so I figure I mention both a V and M resort.

 

[Darlene]

I spoke with an owner at Vistana last October. They own in one of the older sections, and that is where they hace to stay when they visit the resort. They said all the newer units in the Cascades, and Fountains are either rented by the resort or go to owners who bought in that section.
Darlene

 

[Robert D]

I think Fountains is better than most of the other sections but the newest and best sections are Lakes and Cascades. These are the only sections in the SVN. My understanding is it's very difficult to get into Cascades or Lakes if you don't own in one of those sections and most all the exchangers don't get into these sections.