Thinking of purchasing Westin St. John on resale.

[Blueboyz79]

I am thinking of purchasing my 3rd timeshare at the Westin St. John. I have a few questions.

1) What company was the resort with before Westin acquired it?

2) Are most of the weeks on the resale market with the previous company?

3) If I buy a week and it is with the previous company, would I be able to use Starwood points?

Thanks.

 

[Helios]

Someone more knowledgeable will probably correct me, but I think it was Hilton. All units are Starwood affiliated as far as I know. This of course only applies to the original phase (virgin grand or hill villas as some people call them). BV and CV were retrofitted by Starwood.

 

[DeniseM]

3) If I buy a week and it is with the previous company, would I be able to use Starwood points?

Thanks.

Resales do not have Starpoints (hotel points) but they do have Staroptions (timeshare points.)

 

[DavidnRobin]

I am thinking of purchasing my 3rd timeshare at the Westin St. John. I have a few questions.

1) What company was the resort with before Westin acquired it?

2) Are most of the weeks on the resale market with the previous company?

3) If I buy a week and it is with the previous company, would I be able to use Starwood points?

Thanks.

The previous company is a complete non-issue - Starwood owns WSJ (and has since ~1999) - there are no previous weeks owned by Hyatt.

Incomplete Info above.

WSJ-VG (Hillside) is all fixed week (including checkin day) and fixed villa - this is very important - if anyone tells you otherwise they are misinformed. WSJ has 3 seasons that are not aligned with other Phases (BV and CV).
WSJ-VGV is a SVN Mandatory - so comes with SOs.

WSJ-BV can be either float or fixed (3 seasons). BV is SVN Voluntary - so no SOs upon resale.

WSJ-CV is still being sold by SVO - so no resales for a while. The seasons and usage are not deeded - a trust is used that creates MFs based on number of SOs (aka HomeOptions). Also, SVN Voluntary - so no SOs upon resale.

None of these resales will come with SPs (converted SOs for SPG Hotel usage) - regardless, a very poor conversion because of the very high MFs.

 

[LisaRex]

FYI, here are the seasons and SO allotment for the Virgin Grand phase. It's critical to know what week you are buying and how it translates into StarOptions. Many people will advertise their week as being "high" or "red" season, which doesn't really exist in Starwood lingo, and doesn't necessarily translate to Platinum Plus season. So make sure you cross reference the week and the season.

Westin St. John
Virgin Grande phase

StarOption allotment, per day (as of 8/10/15)
MONDAY, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY OR SUNDAY
FRIDAY OR SATURDAY
WEEKLY

Platinum Plus Season (Weeks 1-15 and 51-52)
3-BEDROOM
25,770
38,655
51,540
257,700

2-BEDROOM (including lofts)
17,670
26,505
35,340
176,700

1-BEDROOM PREMIUM
9,550
14,375
19,150
95,700

STUDIO
8,100
12,150
16,200
81,000

Platinum Season (Weeks 16-20, 43-50)
3 BEDROOM
19,700
29,525
39,375
196,900

2 BEDROOM (including lofts)
14,800
22,225
29,625
148,100

1 BEDROOM PREMIUM
8,100
12,150
16,200
81,000

STUDIO
6,700
10,075
13,425
67,100

Gold Plus Season (Weeks 21-42)
3 BEDROOM
12,500
18,750
25,000
125,000

2-BEDROOM
9,550
14,375
19,150
95,700

1-BEDROOM PREMIUM
5,150
7,775
10,350
51,700

STUDIO
4,400
6,600
8,800
44,000

 

[Blueboyz79]

Thanks for all your answers.

Sounds like you guys are giving a green light for
Virgin Grand Villas (VGV).
I guess Platinum Season will be what I will be looking for.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Thanks for all your answers.

Sounds like you guys are giving a green light for
Virgin Grand Villas (VGV).
I guess Platinum Season will be what I will be looking for.

Just remember that these are fixed week (incl checkin - Fri, Sat or Sun) and fixed villa. It is possible to float within season at 8-10 months based on availability (rare). Also, need confirm your VGV week by 10 months out. They have confirmed ours (in June) as much as 18 months in advance.

If you do not want a fixed week - then you will need to buy BV (but does not come with SOs upon resale). Some people prefer BV - while others prefer VGV.

Also - store up on AA miles as AA offers best flight options to STT from west coast. We picked up an AA MasterCard that gave a bunch of miles with minimum purchase. We just booked next June using AA miles. Actually got a deal of 30K pp one-way in 1st class for our return. Also, AA just gave a bonus (may still be going) to convert SPs to AA miles (20K SPs = 30K AA miles)

 

[Henry M.]

You might also consider exactly which week you pick. The highest demand week will also mean the highest airfares or most difficulty in using frequent flyer miles.

I guess you already know what you need, if you're getting your third timeshare on the island. For others reading, for me, fixed weeks don't work. I have too much of an erratic work schedule. I needed the flexibility to choose a week within a season. For others, a fixed week is a godsend, so think your situation through. Also, many restaurants and businesses on the island close down during Gold Plus (hurricane) season, so that could be very inconvenient, depending on what you like to do, aside from the possible weather issues during that time.

 

[okwiater]

Just remember that these are fixed week (incl checkin - Fri, Sat or Sun) and fixed villa. It is possible to float within season at 8-10 months based on availability (rare).

I have owned my VGV for 2 years and have floated both years. While you cannot expect to have your pick of dates, in my experience it has been possible to select one of several alternate weeks.

 

[ekinggill]

My two cents...buy here only if you want to come here. VGV have high maintenance fees, so you are overpaying unless most years you are here. Keep in mind even if you never intend to trade out of your week, VGV is a mandatory resort, so you pay the fee for the SVN fee every year.

Bay Vista is newer, has lower maintenance, and won't have the SVN fee, but I've heard resale units are harder to come by. I have no idea on relative resale prices.

Coral Vista is still selling but is nearly sold out.

Owner update this week said an announcement that the fourth and final timeshare construction phase will be made and will start this fall. By this time next year no hotel rooms will be left.

For point of reference, low season 1br VGV quoted at $11,900 from the Westin.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I have owned my VGV for 2 years and have floated both years. While you cannot expect to have your pick of dates, in my experience it has been possible to select one of several alternate weeks.

You own VGV Plat+ weeks and were able to float them at 8-10 months out - is that what you are saying? have examples?

 

[okwiater]

You own VGV Plat+ weeks and were able to float them at 8-10 months out - is that what you are saying? have examples?

Yes. I own a VGV pool villa fixed week 15 with Sunday check-in.

My 2015 week would have been April 12-19. During the fixed-to-float period I booked a March 7-14 week instead. This was correctly designated as a "Home Resort Reservation" on the SVO Villa Finder.

My 2016 week would have been April 10-17. During the fixed-to-float period I booked a March 26-April 2 week instead.

So, although I have only owned it for 2 years, I have yet to reserve/use my fixed week.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Yes. I own a VGV pool villa fixed week 15 with Sunday check-in.

My 2015 week would have been April 12-19. During the fixed-to-float period I booked a March 7-14 week instead. This was correctly designated as a "Home Resort Reservation" on the SVO Villa Finder.

My 2016 week would have been April 10-17. During the fixed-to-float period I booked a March 26-April 2 week instead.

So, although I have only owned it for 2 years, I have yet to reserve/use my fixed week.

Interesting...did you end-up in same villa number?

I think you are the 1st (or maybe 2nd) to have reported doing this. Certainly no one in Plat+ season. This would mean that someone is giving up their week as a SO exchange (with >$3000 in MF - ouch...)

Regardless, I would never recommend buying VGV with expectation that this is common (as some people reselling VGV imply). I tried it once years ago w/o success. Of course, I am a lowly 3* and cannot waitlist.

As I book our flight 331 days in advance (using AA miles) - this would not work for me. Plus, I like our villa location (1st floor - closest to pool). But will remember for use beyond 2016.

 

[okwiater]

Interesting...did you end-up in same villa number?

No, a fixed-to-float booking will find any available villa of the same type. Also, in both cases I switched from Sunday check-in to Saturday check-in, so the villa was guaranteed to be different.

I think you are the 1st (or maybe 2nd) to have reported doing this. Certainly no one in Plat+ season. This would mean that someone is giving up their week as a SO exchange (with >$3000 in MF - ouch...)

A Plat+ 3br Pool Villa was only $2,841 this year (plus taxes, which brought it up to about $3,100). Since it's worth 257,700 StarOptions, it's actually one of the cheapest mandatory SVN traders. Also, keep in mind that someone is not necessarily giving up their week for SOs -- they may be floating their week as well. (Since I booked someone else's week, my week became available in the fixed-to-float pool.)

Regardless, I would never recommend buying VGV with expectation that this is common (as some people reselling VGV imply). I tried it once years ago w/o success. Of course, I am a lowly 3* and cannot waitlist.

A couple of comments:

(1) If you were very specific about the dates you tried to float to, then you are correct that you would be unlikely to have success. There are very limited numbers of units to begin with, and there may be one or even zero units in the float pool for a given set of dates. So while I would never set an expectation that this is functionally similar to a deeded floating unit, I think it is highly likely that you would have at least one or two alternate weeks available to you in the case that your fixed week can't be used. The fact that it is mandatory and has a favorable StarOptions allotment is a solid backup plan for other years that you are unable to use your fixed ownership.

(2) The villa finder supports fixed-to-float searching, so if you tried this years ago when you had to play a game of "that's not my rock" with the phone rep, the experience is MUCH improved now. It was easy for me to find several weeks available in the float pool, and it did not require waitlisting.

 

[GrayFal]

WSJ-CV is still being sold by SVO - so no resales for a while. The seasons and usage are not deeded - a trust is used that creates MFs based on number of SOs (aka HomeOptions). Also, SVN Voluntary - so no SOs upon resale.

.

Just wanted to clarify, you are able to reserve in your season and that's it. Sort of like floating weeks elsewhere. But you are allowed to reserve say a two bedroom for 4 nights and a studio for 6 nights as long as you have the correct number of HomeOptions in your season?

And since StarOptions(at 8 months) do not transfer, there is no additional SVN Fee?
And Real Estate taxes are included?

Thanks