Starwood vs Marriott

[clsmit]

We also have DVC. We are heading to Beach Club next month. But we will like sell those points as the kids get older (they are 8 and 3 now).

Katherine

Oh, not so fast! I think you all will keep going even when they are teenagers! They'll need to keep going to WDW at least until they're big enough for the Rock N Rollercoaster and the Tower of Terror. Then back for Spring Break with their friends in college. We'll be at Vistana, and going to the parks (mine are 9 and 12), at Thanksgiving! (I will NOT let the DH go to the DVC presentation, however. Ever.)

 

[Henry M.]

My kids are 17 and 21 and they still like to go. I also know several childless couples in their 40s that go even though they don't have kids at all!

 

[pointsjunkie]

i need my disney fix at least once every two years.

 

[tomandrobin]

Are kids are 15,17, and 23......thay are so excited that we are going again for Halloween. The 23 year old is the worse with needing his Disney fix. As the kids get older, the things you do and see change.

 

[James1975NY]

But remeber that neither conversion to Hotel points (Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Geuest) or internal trading system with Starwood (at least for voluntary resorts) do not come with resale purchases.

Are the hotel points really that equitable of a trade?

 

[Fredm]

Are the hotel points really that equitable of a trade?

Equitable? Not really.
What they are is an alternative use that some like to have.
Value depends on how they are spent.

The important thing to remember is that the points received in lieu of occupancy are fixed. What they will buy is not. They will be devalued over time.

Most would agree that they are not worth the difference in price between a developer and resale purchase.

 

[susiequeve]

Bongo & Pointsjunkie: Just as an FYI, boy did they tell a big fib at the presentation in Aruba. I own in Orlando (Cypress Harbour) and have traded to their properties, Surf Club & Ocean Club 4 times. 2009 I got the 4th of July at the Ocean Club. Took 2 months after a put in my request with II :hysterical: I also own a starwood property (WKV) and am quite happy with that property also. I just did an internal trade to Harborside for next May.

 

[Cathyb]

robtD-- totally disagree with you and we own at both groups. For highly desired resorts in BOTH programs, it is very difficult to get the high priority weeks like when school is out or holiday season. Been in timeshares for over 20 yrs so I think my responses have some validity!

 

[Cathyb]

we have Disney about 45 minutes away (Disneyland) and maybe we visit it once every 20 years -- to each its own.......

 

[SDKath]

i need my disney fix at least once every two years.

Same here. Beach Club in 1 week!

Katherine

 

[clsmit]

October, IMHO, is the best time to go to WDW!!! Have a great time!

 

[Robert D]

Cathy, we are not in the Starwood Vacation Network and the Starwoods we own are Vistana Resort and Desert Oasis, which both float weeks 1-52. So we're just making a reservation at our home resort, not trying to trade within the SVN. We've never had a problem getting a reservation for any weeks at these two resorts, and I'm not talking about calling a year in advance, but more like 5-8 mos. in advance. This includes prime spring break or Easter weeks in Orlando and prime spring training or week 52 in Scottsdale. I assumed that this was because Starwood determines the weeks to be deposited to II and they almost always keep the best weeks for their owners. What Starwood resorts have you had problems reserving and how far in advance did you call?

 

[Troopers]

Buy where you want to go.

 

[LisaRex]

Buy where you want to go.

If I could live without my OF view, I'd buy the cheapest mandatory resort I could find and trade into WKORV. The disparity in purchase price and MFs makes trading into Hawaii a bargain.

I really need to lower my standards.

 

[ondeadlin]

... you want to ski Park City, go with Marriott. You want to ski Colorado, the choice is Starwood.

I'd strongly disagree with this statement.

If you want to ski Colorado? Go Hyatt -- Breckenridge (ski-in/ski-out), Beaver Creek (ski-in/ski-out) and Aspen (ski-in/ski-out).

Marriott has one ski-in property (Breckenridge, dated, 1BRs and studios only). Starwood has one (Steamboat, which ain't easy to get too). None of the Marriott/Starwood properties are on par with the Hyatts, although the Westin Avon might come close (but, again, will only be on the gondola, not ski-in, ski-out).

 

[Pit]

I'd strongly disagree with this statement.

If you want to ski Colorado? Go Hyatt -- Breckenridge (ski-in/ski-out), Beaver Creek (ski-in/ski-out) and Aspen (ski-in/ski-out).

Marriott has one ski-in property (Breckenridge, dated, 1BRs and studios only). Starwood has one (Steamboat, which ain't easy to get too). None of the Marriott/Starwood properties are on par with the Hyatts, although the Westin Avon might come close (but, again, will only be on the gondola, not ski-in, ski-out).

I agree with your Hyatt recommendation, but I will point out that the OP was comparing Starwood vs. Marriott (see thread title). Hyatt was not part of the OP question.

Marriott has two decent TS properties in PC (Summit Watch and Mountainside), Starwood and Hyatt have nada. In CO, Starwood has Lakeside Terrace, Mountain Vista, Steamboat, and soon to be Westin Riverfront (that's four properties).

 

[Troopers]

If I could live without my OF view, I'd buy the cheapest mandatory resort I could find and trade into WKORV. The disparity in purchase price and MFs makes trading into Hawaii a bargain.

I really need to lower my standards.

Hey LisaRex,

In theory, I think that works great. However, in reality, it doesn’t work as great as it seems.

I first started looking into timeshares here on TUG two years ago. I too was deciding between Marriott and Starwood. It was apparent to me that in both systems, “work” was required for reasonable trading or exchanging. This is true for most TS programs. Some people refer the “work” as a hobby. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to pay $10ks and have to “work” the system. Thus, I abide by the “buy where you want to go” (to the OP, I wanted Maui and decided with the Starwood Westin over the Marriott because of the quality of the resort and rooms). Both systems have flexibility in the programs, but that’s a secondary option to the home resort. Preference is always given to the home resort. When trading and exchanging, I believe one should expect a resort/season/room/etc on par with one’s ownership.

IMHO, I believe there’s lots of frustration and complaints on these boards (not limited to Starwood and Marriott) because of owners’ unrealistic expectations from trading/exchanging. One can pay the cheapest resort and trade but will probably complain in a year or two when they forget that they paid cheap and expect to trade to the prime resorts in a prime season in the top floor with the best views. There are certainly success stories but human nature dwells on the negative.

 

[Cathyb]

RChen: It could be true when those people are picking up the timeshares cheap -- but what about those who bought new, paid good money and were led to believe the internal exchange system was a foolproof way to get to other hard-to-get timeshare locations like Harborside or St. John -- then they change the rules?

 

[ondeadlin]

I agree with your Hyatt recommendation, but I will point out that the OP was comparing Starwood vs. Marriott (see thread title). Hyatt was not part of the OP question.

Marriott has two decent TS properties in PC (Summit Watch and Mountainside), Starwood and Hyatt have nada. In CO, Starwood has Lakeside Terrace, Mountain Vista, Steamboat, and soon to be Westin Riverfront (that's four properties).

Understood, but if you want to ski, maybe the conversation expands.

Better to point that out than risk the misconception that if you want to ski Colorado, your conversation begins and ends with a comparison of Marriott v. Starwood.

 

[Troopers]

RChen: It could be true when those people are picking up the timeshares cheap -- but what about those who bought new, paid good money and were led to believe the internal exchange system was a foolproof way to get to other hard-to-get timeshare locations like Harborside or St. John -- then they change the rules?

Cathyb, I'm not familiar with the rule change...can you expand? I'm not suprised that SVO sales personnel overstated the flexibility of the system. That's what sales people do...overstate the product.

 

[Vacationlvrs]

I agree with RChen, we purchased an EOY at WKORV-N in August without knowing anything about TS because we loved our intro vacation there and figured we'd be happy to go there EOY if we didn't do anything else.

Just last week I was able to book a WKORV-N studio for Easter week 2009 and still have the 1-BR to use another week later in the year.

In addtion to that, we've used the Starwood "cash & points" to reserve great Westin rooms in Boston, SF, and Minneapolis for some short weekend trips at $60 per night. (We had been paying over $200 per night for lesser quality venues (i.e. Courtyards) on the outskirts of those cities for the past few years!)

SPG service has been great and we are very happy with our choice!

 

[stevens397]

We too were among the easy marks in our pre-TUG days! Purchased Marriott Fairway Villas in NJ after being shown beautiful posters of all of their locations and how easy it was to trade into them. Here I am, 6 years later, and I've learned a lot. I felt totally scammed. It's work, it's luck, waiting for trades makes it harder to get good flights on points.....

Of late, we've had some very good trades (Marbella and Newport Beach) but the first few years were awful.

As for me, while there are issues with Starwood, I prefer their system. I still get II but I have the option of also trading in-house for properties that rarely make it to II. And I know I was ridiculously lucky, but my first year I got a 3BR at St John and the second year we got Harborside!

 

[tomandrobin]

We are still loving our Starwood timeshares. We will see how WKORV trip goes in 10 days, on whether we will keep on loving Starwood!

 

[ciscogizmo1]

Cathy, we are not in the Starwood Vacation Network and the Starwoods we own are Vistana Resort and Desert Oasis, which both float weeks 1-52. So we're just making a reservation at our home resort, not trying to trade within the SVN. We've never had a problem getting a reservation for any weeks at these two resorts, and I'm not talking about calling a year in advance, but more like 5-8 mos. in advance. This includes prime spring break or Easter weeks in Orlando and prime spring training or week 52 in Scottsdale. I assumed that this was because Starwood determines the weeks to be deposited to II and they almost always keep the best weeks for their owners. What Starwood resorts have you had problems reserving and how far in advance did you call?

I disagree with you... While I truely believe we should buy where you want to stay, I do think we buy into the companies resort program. We buy into the resorts other locations, quality, hotel point systems, the perks like Elite, etc... We buy so we have the inside for trading into the popular places. And, not to burst your bubble but timeshares are a dime a dozen in Orlando so, it is very easy to go to Orlando. Just pull up a II account and you'll find lots of availability.

Many owners lose their view category after the 8 month window at WKORV & WKORV-N. Reserving at these resorts at 12 months insures you'll get a better unit location. They do a timestamp process where the 1st caller gets their most desired room location request. It has to do with how the resort was design. This isn't the issue at many of the other resorts as they don't have view categories.

I do agree there is more availability in Starwood longer because Starwood determines which weeks are deposited into II. While I like this one hand, I don't when I want to trade. For me it depreciates the value of the timeshare for me. I enjoy seeing new places once in awhile, etc.. Now, if I wanted to go to the same place year after year I would just buy a vacation home not a timeshare. We had made the decision to purchase a timeshare over a vacation home because we didn't want to deal with maintenance and we wanted to visit other places.

 

[Robert D]

We've stayed in different TS's other than where we own but have done so by renting the TS we wanted to stay either from an owner or an II getaway week (did a getaway at Grand Vista in Orlando for less than M&T's and rented Worldmark Depoe Bay summer week from an owner) and then rented the TS we own that we didn't want to use that year to someone else. The Starwood system works great from a rental standpoint in that we've always been able to get the peak weeks and then rent them. Although a member of II, I've never done an exchange.