Starwood changed 5* Qualification without notice

[Maui_ed]

Has anyone been able to verify this information independently? My brother is currently 5-Star elite and I would like to be able to tell him for sure if his status will remain intact or not. He will be travelling to Maui in about a month and might want to take the matter up with the on-site sales folks.

 

[Westin5Star]

We are considering selling WPORV for many reasons. They are not in any particular order:

1. The construction of the property is sort of cheap compared to other newer hotels / resorts that we have stayed at. The walls are very thin. Even with pretty quite neighbors you can hear them pretty easily. Smells (food, mouldy towels, passing gas / restroom) move from room to room very often; I do not think that our neighbors were particulary loud or smelly it was just the way things were built. The fixtures and lights have sort of a cheap feel to them (in my opinion).
2. The air conditioning units are way too loud. They often woke my wife and I up and we don't sleep well with the windows open. Maybe we would be better off on the 1st floor which might not have so much heat come into the room.
3. While we like how spread out the resort is, the landscaping and feel of the resort just seemed ok. This might change somewhat once the landscaping gets more mature but I don't think that we will ever really love it.
4. The food is just ok and I don't really like driving to go get meals all the time or taking a shuttle to the St. Regis. I have come to appreciate the options and variety from the shuttle in WKORV, the options at HRA, and WLR. I assume that the menu will develop overtime but we just didn't really care for the food.
5. I knew that beach access was an issue at this resort before we bought it. I didn't realize that it would bother me as much as it did. There are many nice beaches on Kauai that you can hike or drive to but I guess I just prefer it being easier to get to.
6. There is no swim up bar; I had to throw that in.

When I go on vacation, I like to feel as if we are in at least as nice a place as our house. I would rather be at my house as far as quality, fixtures, landscaping, etc. than at WPORV. We visited some friends last week at the Grand Hyatt Poipu and we were so impressed with the quality and feel of the resort, the food variety and quality, beach access, etc. Most of the items that are an issue for us at WPORV cannot realistically ever be improved at the resort.

The MF at WPORV are very high. This would not be a big factor if we planned on visiting the resort every year. Unfortunately, I think we would end up exchanging our SO from the resort most of the time. If I am going to own something to exchange in the Starwood system, then I have much better alternatives.

Hopefully this post will not sour anyone on WPORV as it is a decent resort. We all have different preferences and these opinions / observations are just mine. With that said there were many positives at the resort that I did not point out here but the positives just do not outweigh the negatives enough IMO.

 

[Maui_ed]

Great information, Westin5Star. We bought an EY WPORV over a year ago and have yet to visit the resort. We have kind of fallen for Maui, and have used WPORV to exhange into WKORV and WKORVN. Fortunately the exchanges have gone well for us. We plan to visit Kauai next fall, possibly. We feel that we should go to one of our home resorts at least once.

Then again, as easy as it has been to trade within the Starwood system...

 

[DavidnRobin]

My DD saw it in Los Angeles last month! Great production! K

There is a presale going on right now for Wicked in SF before tix go on sale to the public - the passcode is 13Green (via Ticketmaster) - enjoy. We saw it when it was here in SF last time - bought scalped tix via CL - fantastic show and great story line.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Sorry to hear about your bad review (Westin5*) - as we tend to think alike - I am glad we only got an EOY. Your #1 and #2 points would bother me also.
I hope you passed on this info to WPORV management...

 

[jarta]

5* Grandfathered

I am at Mountain Vista now (nicer place than I thought it would be).

Last Sunday, my wife and I purchased 2 2-br Platinum lockoffs at Lagunamar for $21,450 each (one even; one odd) and used them to retro our 2 non-developer purchases at Kierland (148,100 options) and Harborside (196,900 options) - and to achieve 5* status at the old, 559,000 level.

Since the announcement came out yesterday, I immediately ran upstairs to the sales office today and asked about being grandfathered. I was directed to a document entitled: Starwood Vacation Network Elite Level Enrollment Form - which states that as of September 14, 2008 we are Five Star SVN Elite Members. I was told that because of the dates on the agreements and because the document had been issued on that date, we were grandfathered.

If there is any problem at a later time, we intend to use these documents as proof of the date we became 5*. I believe that anyone who earlier achieved 5* was given a similar document in the purchase package. So, I don't expect problems, but we'll just have to see.

 

[tomandrobin]

Jarta

Congrats for making 5* elite by 3 days!

 

[Henry M.]

Has anyone been able to verify this information independently? My brother is currently 5-Star elite and I would like to be able to tell him for sure if his status will remain intact or not. He will be travelling to Maui in about a month and might want to take the matter up with the on-site sales folks.

I don't know what you mean independently verified but several people, including me, have said they talked to member services and they verified that this only applies to new people reaching 5* and that those that had it before the effective date are all grandfathered in. Your brother should be OK.

 

[capjak]

I am at Mountain Vista now (nicer place than I thought it would be).

Last Sunday, my wife and I purchased 2 2-br Platinum lockoffs at Lagunamar for $21,450 each (one even; one odd) and used them to retro our 2 non-developer purchases at Kierland (148,100 options) and Harborside (196,900 options) - and to achieve 5* status at the old, 559,000 level.

That's a great deal did you get starpoint incentive as well?

 

[Denise L]

Wow!

Congrats to Jarta on making 5* with the retroing and EOY purchases!

I am still sad sometimes that with our $45,000 purchase so long ago, the 3-5* levels had never been "invented" by Starwood, and therefore we never knew that such a level of service was possible. If we had not purchased then, we could have achieved 5* by buying two resales and two developer weeks for about the same price.

Oh well. Since we don't have a crystal ball, who could have known? Ya think there would be some perk for folks who bought early at full freight....

 

[oneohana]

Congrats Jarta.

 

[SDKath]

I am at Mountain Vista now (nicer place than I thought it would be).

Last Sunday, my wife and I purchased 2 2-br Platinum lockoffs at Lagunamar for $21,450 each (one even; one odd) and used them to retro our 2 non-developer purchases at Kierland (148,100 options) and Harborside (196,900 options) - and to achieve 5* status at the old, 559,000 level.

Since the announcement came out yesterday, I immediately ran upstairs to the sales office today and asked about being grandfathered. I was directed to a document entitled: Starwood Vacation Network Elite Level Enrollment Form - which states that as of September 14, 2008 we are Five Star SVN Elite Members. I was told that because of the dates on the agreements and because the document had been issued on that date, we were grandfathered.

If there is any problem at a later time, we intend to use these documents as proof of the date we became 5*. I believe that anyone who earlier achieved 5* was given a similar document in the purchase package. So, I don't expect problems, but we'll just have to see.

CONGRATULATIONS. Can I ask about the Math though for 559,000?

WKV = 148,100 retro'd
Harborside = 196,000 retro'd
Lagunamar = 148,100 (EOY E and O)

My math tells me that is less than 500,000 SOs. Did you own something else before?

Thanks!

Katherine

 

[tomandrobin]

CONGRATULATIONS. Can I ask about the Math though for 559,000?

WKV = 148,100 retro'd
Harborside = 196,000 retro'd
Lagunamar = 148,100 (EOY E and O)

My math tells me that is less than 500,000 SOs. Did you own something else before?

Thanks!

Katherine

I think they had bought a Lagunamar previously.

 

[jarta]

capjak, ... "That's a great deal did you get starpoint incentive as well?"

Yes, we got starpoint incentives for both new purchases at Lagunamar. As for getting a great deal, We're still out about $43K. Given the volatility of the markets this week, such a deal? lol (I think)!

The 2 purchases (with retros) were added to our earlier developer purchase at Lagunamar of an annual 2-br Platinum lockoff. I figure my membership in TUG has saved us about $40K. Thanks, TUGers.

 

[Ken555]

I figure my membership in TUG has saved us about $40K. Thanks, TUGers.

Nice! Time to buy a TUG membership then?

 

[tomandrobin]

capjak, ... "That's a great deal did you get starpoint incentive as well?"

Yes, we got starpoint incentives for both new purchases at Lagunamar. As for getting a great deal, We're still out about $43K. Given the volatility of the markets this week, such a deal? lol (I think)!

The 2 purchases (with retros) were added to our earlier developer purchase at Lagunamar of an annual 2-br Platinum lockoff. I figure my membership in TUG has saved us about $40K. Thanks, TUGers.

640,300 staroptions, throw in some phantom staroptions and you make it to 5* elite either way! Again, congratulations!

 

[jarta]

Ken555, ... "Nice! Time to buy a TUG membership then?"

Sorry, Ken, I'm already a TUG Member. I paid up and joined in February before I ever posted here. My TUG Member password is TUG193**. I'm not a Guest; I'm a Member. The problem is that TUG administration never has gotten it right, and I never thought I'd get ragged on because of their error.

So, now that you and administration at TUG know, would someone please change my "Status" to the proper one?

Still, purchasing my membership in TUG was the best investment I ever made. Jim Rooney

 

[Ken555]

Sorry, Ken, I'm already a TUG Member. I paid up and joined in February before I ever posted here. My TUG Member password is TUG193**. I'm not a Guest; I'm a Member. The problem is that TUG administration never has gotten it right, and I never thought I'd get ragged on because of their error.

So, now that you and administration at TUG know, would someone please change my "Status" to the proper one?

Excellent. Read this and follow the directions.

 

[jarta]

Ken, ... "Excellent. Read this and follow the directions."

Thanks for the orders, but at the risk of being dense, the instructions don't work for me.

Here is what TUG sent me about my member password earlier this month.

"TUG Password‏
From: tug@tug2.net
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafe
Sent: Sat 9/06/08 8:42 AM
To: james_rooney@msn.com

Hello from Timeshare Users Group, here is your password to log into the TUG MEMBER ONLY section. Here is your current username and password:

Username: jarta
Password: TUG193**"

Here's what comes up when I follow the instructions and try to enter the Member code in the BBS profile:

"jarta: You have an unrecognized value entered in the BBS Member Code field of your bbs profile. Your entry, 'TUG193**', is not the current BBS Member Code. This is why the bbs shows your status as Guest rather than TUG Member."

Of course, I replaced the last 2 numbers with **.

So, I guess I'll just have to run the risk of continually being ragged upon for being a "Guest" - but TUG knows better because it has the money. Jim Rooney

 

[Ken555]

Thanks for the orders, but at the risk of being dense, the instructions don't work for me.

Wow. Are you purposefully intending to insult me...now twice?

Mod, please chime in here.

 

[DavidnRobin]

It is not the BBS password you received - it is the other one - I fear you are putting that password into the wrong location. these are two separate things

try this one...

http://tug2.com/TUGMembers/Login.aspx

OR...

The Tug Moderator responsible hasn't gotten around to it.

 

[gumbert 2]

Starwood and Vistana Resort

Starwood is getting mighty greedy. they are increased points, requirements, and owners are getting less. We own 2 wks at Vistana Resort, Spas section, and we just got our assessment fees. This is rediculous, I thought that is what our maintenance each year was supposed to be for. We have owned since 1985 so I figure I have more than paid for the remodeling of those units. And who cares if your room has granite countertops, pewter fixtures, and fancy tile. We aren't in the rooms that much and where they came up with $96,500 to redo each and every unit I will never know! Anyone interested in a mutiny????????? haha class action??????? something??????? hahaha

 

[jarta]

DavidnRobin, "It is not the BBS password you received - it is the other one."

I assume the "other one" is the Member password. The email I posted gave the Member password as "TUG193**. My BBS password is something completely different. I entered the Member password.

It's not for lack of trying that I am listed as a "Guest" and urged to ante up and join TUG (with a wink). I am a very, very thankful TUG Member. It's a great web site.

 

[Westin5Star]

Sorry to hear about your bad review (Westin5*) - as we tend to think alike - I am glad we only got an EOY. Your #1 and #2 points would bother me also.
I hope you passed on this info to WPORV management...

Don't worry David, as I said there are many very nice and good things about the property. Kauai is an amazing island and I think the island has the nicest people in all of Hawaii. The service staff was always very helpful and polite and it didn't feel like they were just faking it. The interior and exterior colors are nice. The views are better than I expected from most rooms and from the main parts of the resort itself. The resort is pretty good; its just that I personally really don't like the negatives that I listed. My preference would just most likely to pick somewhere else to travel to more regularly and then to try to exchange in when I want to visit WPORV. I will look to hear your opinions when you visit next year.

 

[DavidnRobin]

DavidnRobin, "It is not the BBS password you received - it is the other one."

I assume the "other one" is the Member password. The email I posted gave the Member password as "TUG193**. My BBS password is something completely different. I entered the Member password.

It's not for lack of trying that I am listed as a "Guest" and urged to ante up and join TUG (with a wink). I am a very, very thankful TUG Member. It's a great web site.

Send a PM to TUGBrian...