Westin St. John on ebay

[DavidnRobin]

You are correct - I mistyped - it was week 37 (even worse hurricane-wise). Hopefully, you will get it. There is someone renting a June 2006 week (on Tug) for a very good price - so you can at least check it out. Nice guy - we were corresponding by email on a few issues that he was able to help out on.

btw, if your bid is over 15K than you will need to be pre-verified on eBay. Do you think you will be able to get a 2Bd TH unit for 15K?

Hopefully - it will happen for you. There is a smaller unit currently under auction (has a reserve bid). Take care and good luck.

 

[skim118]

. That unit was deeded week 37. I would have bid higher if it was earlier in the season and not smack in the middle of September!

I don't understand why are you caring so much about "date of the deeded week"; as long as it is in same float period, I thought the actual date is irrelevant to the price of the timeshare.

 

[tomandrobin]

The amount of the bid was not a problem. Got the money, just need the right unit.

As far as the week of the unit, from what I know, it does matter for St. John. There was several other threads that clarifies how St John timeshares work.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18724

So, I think it is slightly important. I rather own any other month, except August and September. Of course if the price is right.....I'm there!

 

[mjs]

I was wondering how difficult it is to get a different week in you floating period at your home resort(st. John)--Summer(june or July)
Mark

 

[DavidnRobin]

I don't understand why are you caring so much about "date of the deeded week"; as long as it is in same float period, I thought the actual date is irrelevant to the price of the timeshare.

I am also wondering about this - and intend to get clarification from SVN/SVO.

I think it has to do with the WSJ units being fixed, but can float within a season (unlike WKORV, for example, where both the units and the weeks float). Since there are a limited number of each type of units, and they are fixed units, there could be a major inventory issue (in the extreme example) if everyone who owned unit 3333 in the week 21-42 season all wanted to go on week 21.

From what others tuggers have told me and has been discussed here - for WSJ you call 10-12 months out to get your fixed unit for your week, and after that from 8-10 months out a different week can be requested, then at 8-months, the SVN exchange can start.

Did I get this correct?

 

[skim118]

I think it has to do with the WSJ units being fixed, but can float within a season (unlike WKORV, for example, where both the units and the weeks float).

Thanks for your explanation.

These Ebay ads are highly misleading though.

 

[tomandrobin]

Its not so much that the ads are misleading, but Starwood makes some of the resorts complicated. Some have staroptions on resale, some don't. You can only get starpoints with developer buys, not resales. In St John's case, they have fixed weeks with a "in resort" float at 10 to 8 months.

 

[JillChang]

ok, I admit I am clueless, what is WKORV?

 

[caribbeansun]

WKORV = The Westin Ka‘anapali Ocean Resort Villas

 

[rickandcindy23]

The VERY HIGH MF's for Westins is a big turnoff for us.

I would love to bid on these St. John weeks, but I can't see us going there every year. Airfare is expensive. Can you imagine trading a timeshare with those high MF's to stay in Orlando? It would be such a waste. I can get to Orlando for $420 MF's + trade fee. That is our absolutely favorite vacation, anyway.

Now trading to Hawaii would be something that a person could do and not feel the money was wasted, but our Hawaii weeks have much lower fees of $586 and $822.

Why are the fees so high for Westins? I would like to try those heavenly beds, though it would probably not be more heavenly than our comfy top-of-the-line, SpringAir pillowtop.

 

[DavidnRobin]

I was bidding on the unit, but was not the high bidder. I stopped at $15,000. My user Id has has a zero feedback, haven't used e-bay for a few years and needed a new Id. That unit was deeded week 37. I would have bid higher if it was earlier in the season and not smack in the middle of September!

Still looking for my piece of St John!

It will happen......

It will happen!

Have you asked the WSJ seller what the reserve is? I see that it has yet to be hit. I agree with the posts that setting a reserve bid, or too high a minimum bid keeps the number of bidders down - which can be good for the buyer. Perhaps this will help you as long as the reserve is not too high.

There is a tactic for fishing for the reserve price since real estate auctions fal under different biding guidelines - you may want to attempt it right before the auction ends.

Also, sellers/buyers should be aware if the price is too low that the resort owner (SVO) may use their ROFR - make sure you get your deposit back if this were to happen (I put it in my contract)

Good luck - I will be watching.

 

[tomandrobin]

I would not get a St John unit to trade into Orlando either, but it will get you in Harborside and Hawaii with little problem.

I love St John and would have no problem going there every year or switching back and forth to Harborside.

 

[DavidnRobin]

$8K was the winning bid, and managed to get at around the reserve price since it had not been met just below ths bid. Amazing how someone's first bid hits right at (or slightly above) the reserve price - makes you wonder...

 

[caribbeansun]

It just means they were smart enough to ask what the reserve was - nothing wrong with that. I do it on every auction with a reserve and more times than not the seller tells me - it isn't exactly hard to demonstrate to a seller it's in their own best interest to disclose it.

 

[mjs]

The seller informed me that the reserve was $8000, but I decided not to bid on the studio. Most sellers will tell you the reserve.
mark

 

[DavidnRobin]

Interesting - I asked the seller what the reserve what the reserve price was - and received no response...

 

[xujoe]

Anyone watching this second auction? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4440471981&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

I can not comprehend why a newly registered user with 0 feedback will bid on such an expensive timeshare, what is going on?

And just why should not anyone who wants to bid on an Ebay item?



In the future, please address only the issue, and refrain from personal attacks. --Cat

 

[LauraS93]

Last month (01/06), I already confirmed I am using my villa next year. We own week 25 at the Westin St. John, which is June 24-July 1, 2007.

My advice is, if you know you are going to your own WSJ villa, let them know as soon as you can. I believe the website is www.spg.com.

 

[DeniseM]

The Starwood owner's website is www.mystarcentral.com