Starwood Gold Status for Resale

[atstpier]

I recently purchased a Vistana Villages week via resale. I asked Starwood about gold status and received the following email. What do they mean about "unauthorized resale?" Has anybody been given gold on a resale?

Thank you for your inquiry. When you purchase at an SVN property, you
are entitled to the Starwood Vacation Network however you do not have
access to Gold level membership within Starwood Preferred Guest. The unit
you purchased was not purchased directly from us and is considered an
unauthorized re-sale. Therefore your Starwood Preferred Guest membership
will remain at Preferred status.

 

[seenett]

I can 100% assure that no one has ever been given Gold SPG status with a re-sale. Don't worry about this being an "unauthorized" resale. From Starwood's point of view, THEY did not authorize it (i.e. did not get you to pay thousands more directly to them). Your resale is perfectly legal, but they are not going to reward you (or anyone else) for buying a resale with Gold SPG membership. Starwood would very much like everyone to think that Gold membership is worth paying the developer's premium price.

 

[DeniseM]

In another recent thread, someone posted terms from the Starwood "rules" that indicate that you do get SPG Gold on a MANDATORY resale.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18089

 

[Pedro]

In another recent thread, someone posted terms from the Starwood "rules" that indicate that you do get SPG Gold on a MANDATORY resale.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18089

However, the same rules (in the same section 4B.6) indicate:

Gold Membership and Starpoints cannot be transferred to a third party upon the sale of an Owner’s vacation ownership interest.

You can see the rules at: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/terms_conditions.html#6

 

[rocky]

I recently purchased a Vistana Villages week via resale. I asked Starwood about gold status and received the following email. What do they mean about "unauthorized resale?" Has anybody been given gold on a resale?

Thank you for your inquiry. When you purchase at an SVN property, you
are entitled to the Starwood Vacation Network however you do not have
access to Gold level membership within Starwood Preferred Guest. The unit
you purchased was not purchased directly from us and is considered an
unauthorized re-sale. Therefore your Starwood Preferred Guest membership
will remain at Preferred status.

Ok, but this totally begs the question, what are the terms and conditions of an "authorized resale"? ATSTPIER do you feel like emailing them back to ask how you can purchase a resale in an authorized fashion?

 

[spike]

Tell 'em you are gonna report them to your state Attorney General for an illegal tie-in in violation of the 1890 Sherman Anti Trust law. I slept thru that class so I have no idea if it applies, but it will make their in-house lawyer's sphincter contract.

 

[seenett]

Tell 'em you are gonna report them to your state Attorney General for an illegal tie-in in violation of the 1890 Sherman Anti Trust law. I slept thru that class so I have no idea if it applies, but it will make their in-house lawyer's sphincter contract.

I'm pretty sure you are joking. The developers have air-tight legal paperwork. Timeshares are a billion+ $$/year industry. They know what they are doing.

Ok, but this totally begs the question, what are the terms and conditions of an "authorized resale"? ATSTPIER do you feel like emailing them back to ask how you can purchase a resale in an authorized fashion?

Starwood will tell you that an "authorized" resale comes from Starwood only. As a buyer, you would never know if what you are buying from Starwood is a resale or not. They aren't going to tell you, and the price would be exactly the same as "new". Starwood does not have different prices for a "resale" or "new" interval - the price will always be the current developer's price.

 

[dcdowden]

We recently sat through a sales presentation at Desert Oasis. The sales rep said that once a resort is completely sold out that Starwood would then begin to act as a resale agent for customers that wanted to sell their ownership interest. They said that the resale price would be the same as the last retail price at that resort before they sold out. They said that Starwood took about a 15% commission on the sale. I asked them to show me something in writing about the 15% because I thought that number was much lower than I would have expected, but they couldn't show me anything. I am still curious whether anyone on this forum has heard anything similar to this. At the time, I thought that if this was true, then it might be a reason to buy from the developer and accept their offer of starpoints etc. because it had the potential to protect your investment.

Doug
Naperville, Illinois

 

[Courts]

However, the same rules (in the same section 4B.6) indicate:

Gold Membership and Starpoints cannot be transferred to a third party upon the sale of an Owner’s vacation ownership interest.

You can see the rules at: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/terms_conditions.html#6

It sounds to me, that when you become a member of the Starwood Vacation Network and/or Vistana Plus program (and in a mandatory resort you do become a member of SVN on a resale),
("Owners who are members of the Starwood Vacation Network and/or Vistana Plus program (collectively, the “Vacation Network”) will automatically receive Gold Membership.....")
you automatically become a gold member.

In a non mandatory resort I can see where the third party thing comes into play. Perhaps there are different interpretations within Starwood.
Of course I am not a lawyer (thank goodness).

 

[rocky]

The sales rep said that once a resort is completely sold out that Starwood would then begin to act as a resale agent for customers that wanted to sell their ownership interest. They said that the resale price would be the same as the last retail price at that resort before they sold out. They said that Starwood took about a 15% commission on the sale.

Well, that's great news! I often contemplate selling my WKORV 2bdrm lockoff as of late because I'm purchasing a villa in Puerto Vallarta. So WKORV is sold out, or almost sold out....... where is my information on Starwood facilitated authorized resales!

 

[vic714]

They said that the resale price would be the same as the last retail price at that resort before they sold out. They said that Starwood took about a 15% commission on the sale. I asked them to show me something in writing about the 15% because I thought that number was much lower than I would have expected, but they couldn't show me anything.

I have heard that smoke usually rises. When you walked out of the presentation did you feel like there was smoke coming out of your ears?

Sounds like BS to me, but if this is really true it would be GREAT news.

Victor