Thread Dedicated to the Upcoming/Anticipated Integration of Vistana and Marriott Ownerships

[daviator]

I agree that 8300 DPs will generally get you farther than 176,700 SOs. WKORV was either undervalued in SVN or is overvalued in the DC exchange, and most owners who plan in advance and who do not use their home resort will choose DPs over SOs.

But if you think of cash as the ultimate equalizer, the difference is not always as vast which causes some weird incentives for non-Maui owners. If you ascribe values of $0.68/DP (approximate actual rental value) and 3 cents per Staroption (approximately what it's worth to me as a rental at WKV) the difference favors 8300 DP, but it's only by a small margin (certainly not "far more"). I imagine your 2BR OF can rent for $5000-$5500 so the value I use for SOs probably also applies to you as well, give or take a bit.

One can argue that this makes WKV Platinum and Maui more or less equivalent (which they were in SVN) but they certainly are not equivalent in the DC exchange. Everything, with the possible exception of Lagunamar, got very undervalued relative to Maui. Therefore, I suspect many of the savvier WKV owners will either stay in the SO world or, using cash as the equalizer, will rent out their week for $4500-$5000 and use that cash to rent 6400-7100 DPs from the WKORV/N owners

Good analysis.

But I think one of the things that the developer counts on is that the percentage of owners who are "savvier" is a pretty small piece of the pie.

 

[CPNY]

The point cost in June when I am going is very low. About the same as staying at the Marriott Frenchman’s Cove. I think the beach at Westin St John is meh too. You need to have a rental car to drive to the public beaches that are nice.

To me, paradise in St John was destroyed with the hurricane. If you ever stayed at Caneel Bay, it was amazing. I have never been to such an amazing resort. I hope it reopens. We stayed there for 8 days a few years before the hurricane. I wanted to go back but it was too late.

Caneel Bay Resort | St John, USVI Beachfront Resort

The resort remains closed through 2022, with the exception of VI Ecotours at Honeymoon Beach and ZoZo’s Restaurant at Caneel Bay.

www.caneelbay.com

I would stay at Westin St John too with my SOs if I could get a booking there. It is pretty hard to get at the 8 month mark. Not impossible if you check a lot but hard. We are staying at Ritz St Thomas for 15 nights in June. If I could have gotten something to combine it and split the time on each island, I would.

We will visit St John at least 3-4 times on our upcoming trip. Most of those times will be by boat. One time, we may take the ferry over and go to Honeymoon Beach, which is one of Caneel Bay’s beaches. I need to see if it is open to the public. I think this beach rents cabanas, which is important for me due to my light skin and recent skin cancer surgery. To me, taking the ferry over to St John and then a taxi to the beach is not all that much more complicated than staying at Westin St John and driving over to the beaches. Westin St John is on the wrong side of St John. If it were on a beach like Caneel Bay was, I would own there for sure.

Do you have any advice about getting around St John? Which are the best beaches? Which beaches have chairs and umbrellas for rent?

There has been plenty of 8 month reservations at WSJ. I just booked 8 nights in a pool villa for Memorial Day week. There are still plenty of 2 bedrooms available