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Westin Ka'anapali Maui Villas North or South

Agreed. Going the SDO route does require flexibility (date, resort, type of unit, etc) and patience.



pacman said:
Just to repeat what Denise said, if you are going to go the II route, it would make more sense to buy at SDO, and not WKV. I own at SDO, and have had good luck trading into WKORV and WKORV-N over the years. It seems to be getting a little more difficult lately, but just did snag 2 consecutive weeks for November that I was looking for - 1 one bedroom, and one studio in the N side. BUT, if you do go the SDO/II route, you have to be very flexible, and very patient :).

pacman
Click to expand...
 
baf99 said:
So the SDO/II route is not recommended for February/March stays in Hawaii? I would be OK with 1 bedroom, or even a studio if necessary, and would probably not be going to Hawaii every year. I'm planning way in advance, since I don't have SDO or any other Starwood timeshare yet. I'm just thinking ahead to retirement in a few years.

Research first, buy later (or rent) using all the info I have been getting on TUG.
Click to expand...

If you put in your request very early with II, it's not impossible, but February/March stays are harder to snag, because with whale season and the President's holiday week, that's a very popular time. However, asking for a one-bedroom or studio increases your chances.

May, September, October, November, and early December offer more chances of a successful exchange. It's good that you are taking your time to plan for your retirement vacation strategies. Have fun!
 
For perspective, I've had a Starwood unit on deposit with II for WKORV (or -N) for well over a year for Dec 2014 and it was not matched. I recently changed the dates since I decided to go elsewhere in Dec. It has definitely been getting more difficult to get to WKORV than in years past via II (I recently made another 9-night stay via SVN for early next year without a problem, and I suspect I will be using more of my WKV SOs on WKORV again as opposed to the last few years). Fall and Spring are the easiest to obtain via II and anything else should not even be considered in order to keep expectation in line with reality (obviously there will be exceptions and you could be very lucky one year).


Sent from my iPad
 
baf99 said:
So the SDO/II route is not recommended for February/March stays in Hawaii? I would be OK with 1 bedroom, or even a studio if necessary, and would probably not be going to Hawaii every year. I'm planning way in advance, since I don't have SDO or any other Starwood timeshare yet. I'm just thinking ahead to retirement in a few years.

Research first, buy later (or rent) using all the info I have been getting on TUG.
Click to expand...

Barbara
A year ago, I would have recommended SDO/II, but now, I'm not sure. As I said, it has been much harder lately to get the Maui exchanges. I would say wait it out and see how things play out over the next 12 months.

pacman
 
pacman said:
Barbara
A year ago, I would have recommended SDO/II, but now, I'm not sure. As I said, it has been much harder lately to get the Maui exchanges. I would say wait it out and see how things play out over the next 12 months.

pacman
Click to expand...

It's been interesting watching Starwood's bulk deposits the past 10 months. The last really large bulk deposit was in September 2013. I received 2 exchanges into WKORVN using 1BD SDO units. Since September 2013 I have only seen very small deposits of Studios at various locations. It also appears that that very few 2015 units have been sent to II. Is it really possible Starwood could use up ALL their inventory with there new internal exchange program. I really doubt it. I'm at WKORVN right now and they seem busy, however, Lahaina appears to be less crowded than the past 2 years. If there is going to be a Maui bulk deposit for 2015 it's got be soon.
 
bastroum said:
I Is it really possible Starwood could use up ALL their inventory with there new internal exchange program. I really doubt it.
Click to expand...
no but of I check reserve a Wed to Wed booking at wkorvn for 148k points which I can now do at 8 month's that leaves two part weeks that cannot be deposited to II.
Before I could only reserve a f sa Su check-in for the week leaving the other deposit to II friendly.



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bastroum said:
Is it really possible Starwood could use up ALL their inventory with there new internal exchange program. I really doubt it.
Click to expand...

As I said in the other II thread, I believe Starwood is withholding inventory because they have a bunch of unused SOs sitting in people's SVN accounts. In year's past, everyone's SOs expired at the end of the year, so it was much easier to predict demand. Not anymore. They cannot in good conscience offer up the ability to bank SOs, without withholding inventory to match.

It's possible that they'll go back to bulk deposits once demand levels off and/or they gather enough data to allow them to better predict future demand. But until then, I think we can safely say that bulk deposits are on hold.
 
I concur. The deposits being seen are likely those required for owners doing an II trade.

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LisaRex said:
As I said in the other II thread, I believe Starwood is withholding inventory because they have a bunch of unused SOs sitting in people's SVN accounts. In year's past, everyone's SOs expired at the end of the year, so it was much easier to predict demand. Not anymore. They cannot in good conscience offer up the ability to bank SOs, without withholding inventory to match.

It's possible that they'll go back to bulk deposits once demand levels off and/or they gather enough data to allow them to better predict future demand. But until then, I think we can safely say that bulk deposits are on hold.
Click to expand...

Do you think that this explains why Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando has NO 2015 inventory showing on II. You can still book most (if not any) week in 2014, which displays the low demand for this property. So why no 2015 weeks? I still find that very strange less than 6 months until 2015.
 
SMHarman said:
no but of I check reserve a Wed to Wed booking at wkorvn for 148k points which I can now do at 8 month's that leaves two part weeks that cannot be deposited to II.
Before I could only reserve a f sa Su check-in for the week leaving the other deposit to II friendly.



Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Keep in mind that in the past most, though not all, bulk deposits for SVN are approximately a year or more before reservation. This was a big strange to me since even resort owners were not able to book directly yet when II had them available. There were some smaller deposits within a year, as well.

I think we're all correct in assuming that everything has changed in regards to SVN and II deposits. Time will tell. I'm not buying another week until this all settles.


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bastroum said:
Do you think that this explains why Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando has NO 2015 inventory showing on II.
Click to expand...

Yes. I think that they're depositing the bare minimum into II, and taking their time to gather and analyze the data before determining how to proceed. There's no need to do bulk deposits unless they feel that's it's their best (read: most profitable) option.
 
For WKORVN in the springbreak time frame, I reserved at midnight EST using staroptions and it seemed to be no problem, however by 8am the next morning there was no 1 or 2 bedrooms available, although they still had studios. So if you want 2 bedroom, higher demand weeks I think the future will be you need to own at WKORVN or be very prompt and flexible on your reservations
 
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