• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Westin Purchase, Points ???????????

WeLv2Ski

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Lido Beach, New York
Everytime I start reading about the Starwood points program, my eyes start to glaze over. (Between mandatory resorts, SVO...blah, blah, blah) Is there any way to explain to me in very simple terms how it works? Assuming we want to purchase a 3 bedroom on St. John for travel in November:confused: --what do I need to know?


Thank you, thank you, thank you....Erica
 

stevens397

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
808
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
NJ
Like most programs, it's really not that confusing.

First, read this article on TUG - it tells pretty much everything about the program and is always the best place to start:

http://www.tug2.net/advice/Starwood_Vacation_Network.htm

Second thing to know is that if you want a 3 bedroom in St. John in November, bring lots of money! You'll get lots of differing responses but here goes:

With the recent devaluation of Starwood points (those are the ones you can trade your unit for to get hotel rooms, etc), it's not a great deal to purchase through the developer. St. John has two sections. The first is completely built and sold and only available as resale. If you can find one of these, that's the way to go. Those villas are amazing and include a private pool. Check out www.redweek.com, the TG classified, www.myresortnetwork.com and any others that people lead you to.

The new section is closer to the resort and the beach but the three bedroom units don't have the private pool. There will be no resales available there for some time so you would have to pay list price to the developer.

Finally, it doesn't travel well! Due to the medium of exchange within Starwood properties, if you trade for another Starwood you can pretty much count on getting a two bedroom for your three bedroom, and the fact that you would be trading a top, top property would not matter.
 

Cathyb

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,935
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Location
Carlsbad, CA
Before you start reading the xlnt recommended site, separate in your mind the following:
StarOptions- deal with the timeshare whether it is obtaining your week or exchanging to another Westin property
StarPoints- deal with hotels, airline tickets, etc.
 

WeLv2Ski

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Lido Beach, New York
Finally, it doesn't travel well! Due to the medium of exchange within Starwood properties, if you trade for another Starwood you can pretty much count on getting a two bedroom for your three bedroom, and the fact that you would be trading a top, top property would not matter.

Can you explain this a little better for me? What do you mean by the medium of exchange within Starwood properties?

I'm sorry if I sound really naive...I promise I have been reading all the boards throughout TUG. For some reason, I seem to have a big mental block with this.

CathyB--thank you. You've already cleared up some of my confusion!


By the way, what is a mandatory resort?
 

Henry M.

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
2,454
Reaction score
669
Points
473
Location
Austin, TX
Within Starwood there are StarOPTIONS and StarPOINTS. The options are used to exchange within the Starwood Vacation Network (SVN), the points are for hotels and can be converted to airline miles too. Most people think converting Staroptions into Starpoints is a poor value since you can stay less than a week in a nice hotel in exchange for a week (or more at some resorts) in a much larger room at a nicer resort.

There are resorts where SVN membership is mandatory and others where it is voluntary. At voluntary resorts, when you purchase resale you don't get SVN membership and can't get it unless you later buy something from Starwood. At mandatory resorts the membership comes with the purchase.

Each unit size and location is given a value in terms of Staroptions. You exchange within SVN by using Staroptions. A 2br oceanview in Maui is worth the same number of Staroptions as the 3BR in St. John. Thus if you wanted to trade your 3BR within SVN into Maui, you'd only get a 2BR.

Because of the uneven exchange, and because St. John has relatively few units and has only fixed weeks, it is very difficult to get an exchange into St. John. Most people use their weeks there or rent them out directly rather than put them into the SVN program.

If you are buying this to mostly use it every year in your assigned week, all of the above doesn't matter. You'll have a great time there. Starpoints, Staroptions, SVN, etc. only matter when you want to go somewhere other than where you bought.
 

WeLv2Ski

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Lido Beach, New York
Wow. Thank you, that really clarifies things. I'm actually very disappointed. I didn't realize that St John was only fixed weeks although I should have had a clue as all the resales I saw never mentioned floating. I don't think we would be interested in a fixed week as we already own a fixed week through Marriott. This would be our 2nd ts purchase and the goal is to find a resort we love and be able to float our vacations around when we can. Also, we eventually would love to exchange to other properties within the system.
Guess, its time to analyze Disney!?!?!?
 

Loriannf

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
260
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Holland, OH
The newer St John units float

Erica:

The Bayview St John units float; although the 3 bedrooms don't have pools. Also, a 3 bedroom St John doesn't guarantee you a 2 bedroom Maui with StarOptions - only a 3 bedroom Platinum Plus season is worth 148,000 Star Options. Our 3 bedroom, with a pool, is only worth 95,700 Star Options - which is why we would never be able to trade for a 2 bedroom Maui unless we did a direct exchange with an owner.

Westin St John is very popular so even though a resale ad may state that the week "floats", the Hillside (older units) are fixed weeks. They can "float within their season; ie. a week 17 owner can request any where from week 16 - 20, 43-50, but will only get that change if the owners of the desired week want to change their week for something else. We have, a couple of times, managed to get week 16 for week 17, but it's hard.

I think Starwood is a much better option for you than Disney, especially since you want St John - you'll find it hard to get there unless you can do a direct exchange. I'd only consider trading my WSJ three bedroom for a 3 bedroom at Disney on a holiday week. There are a few November resales out there, and they may still have a few weeks at Hillside left (they weren't sold out of all units last time I checked, though it may have changed).

As a WSJ owner, I'd be happy to answer any further questions you may have if you'd like to email me.

Lori
 

Henry M.

TUG Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
2,454
Reaction score
669
Points
473
Location
Austin, TX
I think the new section in St. John may offer floating weeks but you'd have to buy from the developer there.

I actually like Starwood a lot and I have been a happy owner in Maui for many years. I prefer floating weeks too, but there are people that like fixed weeks. I think most of the locations outside St. John float. I don't know why St. John is the way it is. With any other property you can float your weeks and get decent exchanges, although your best bet is to try to find a direct exchange - but that's probably the case anywhere.
 

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
57,672
Reaction score
9,091
Points
1,849
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
You've received a lot of good info. here but I think this needs to be emphasized -

#1 You can save THOUSANDS of dollars buying resale, instead of from the developer.

#2 Don't be in a hurry - take your time, do your homework, and make sure you understand the product, BEFORE you buy.

Good luck! :hi:
 

DavidnRobin

TUG Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
11,813
Reaction score
2,224
Points
698
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Resorts Owned
WKORV OFD (Maui)
WPORV (Kauai)
WSJ-VGV (St. John)
WKV (Scottsdale)
While WSJ Hillside (Virgin Grand) units are fixed - they can float in their season - it is just very difficult even for owners to exchange within their season because of this model.

The WSJ BV villas can be bought float or fixed - WSJ is only allowing a certain amount to by brought fixed - to get away from the situation that occurs with the HS units.

As to StarOptions (SO) and StarPoints (SP) - as stated above - SP = TS exchanging; SP = hotels. There are different entities. The only connection between SO-SP is that you can convert SOs to SPs (only if you buy from SVO-Developer). Many (including us) do not consider it a good conversion (in most cases).

DeniseM recently wrote about the key differences between Mandatory and Voluntary when buying from SVO or resale. Be aware that if you buy resale you cannot combine SOs (but can use part) - so if buying Mandatory resale it is worth considering buying a SO amount that can be used for SVO exchanges.

btw, we own 3 SVO resale weeks - all Mandatory.
 

stevens397

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
808
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
NJ
Denise also said that you can save thousands by buying resale here. I think in St. John, it may be more correct to say "tens of thousands!" Really.
 
Top