What should I buy? Maui - Deeded vs points

[frogs]

Hello! We're just finishing up a trip at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas in Maui and we nearly just bought 2500 MVC points but eventually declined. $35k saved!

We love Maui and we're interested in resale options. I've done some research and found both MVC points and deeded weeks for sale. A deeded week at WKORV for a 2 bedroom lock off seems like a pretty good option for us. The MVC points needed for a comparable unit (7500+) seems a bit crazy to start, especially considering the maintenance fees.

I haven't done any research yet on other platforms besides Marriott and Vistana.

II and their getaways look really interesting for us. Of the other 24 Vistana / StarOptions properties those in Orlando, Cancun, and Bahamas look most promising for us. But maybe another program with more options might be better? I'm not sure what that would be.

We have a decent budget below and I'd like to buy into something that our family can use for many years to come. Thanks for any advice!



1) Is there a vacation destination you wish to visit most of the time or on a regular basis? if so where?
Hawaii, Maui in particular

2) Do you want to visit your home resort at least half the time, or do you want to trade more than half the time?
Home more than half

3) What are your 5 top trade destinations?
Tropical / beach / dive spots near the west coast USA, Mexico
Australia / New Zealand
Europe - Mediterranean, and Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavia
Disney
Canada

4) How many people do you usually travel with - total, including yourself?
2 adults, 2 young children. More friends/family as the kids get older.

5) Can you travel any time, or are you locked into the school schedule?
School schedule

6) Can you make firm plans 12 or more mos. in advance?
Yes

7) Can you vacation for a full week at a time?
Yes

8) What level of accommodations do you prefer on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?
4-5 star

9) How much can you afford to spend upfront, without financing?
50k

10) How much can you afford to spend every year for a maintenance fee that will come due right after Christmas, and increase each year?
5k

11) Are you a detail oriented planner?
Yes

12) Do you understand that once you buy a timeshare, it may be very difficult to sell or give away, and you are responsible for all fees, until you do?
Yes

 

[frogs]

Bump? I’d love any help, thanks!

 

[jabberwocky]

Ok - I’ll bite. First of all, congrats on avoiding the Abound purchase. What they offered isn’t nearly enough to get you what you want and is much higher in terms of maintenance fees relative to owning a resale week.

If you liked the resort I think starting with a resale Vistana WKORV or WKORVN week would work well for you. Both of these are mandatory resorts, which means the StarOptions transfer with ownership. Resale prices have been fairly steady and you can likely exit your ownership easily in the future when it comes time to sell.

MOC is a nice property as well, but the older towers are really hotel conversions. With Marriott you’d be stuck with just a home week reservation (no points) and may be at a disadvantage owning only one week as multiple week owners can start booking at 13 months relative to your 12 month window.

You have a very good and realistic budget and can afford pretty much anything at one of the Vistana resorts (fixed weeks 51 and 52 excepted). So your decision comes down to which resort/view designation do you want.

I’d aim for an Oceanfront villa (in addition to outstanding views they have good rental potential for years you can’t go). The Vistana forum has good overviews of the villa types (pros/cons)- so I’d check there for details. Some quick highlights.

WKORV (aka South or original phase):
- avoid island view. Many of these overlook a parking lot or worse
- deluxe ocean front have beautiful light and are larger, but have more expensive MF relative to center OF units. The studio side of the deluxe lockoff is also on the side - but the 1BR side faces the ocean directly.

WKORVN (aka North phase)
-OF units are cheaper than those at the south phase in terms of initial cost
-island view and ocean view are all decent so you won’t have a parking lot view
-OF units are slightly angled to the ocean and some of them will overlook the pool or food truck (booking early you should get good placement and not have this issue)

If you would like some help Syed with Advantage Vacation is reputed to be a good source and can walk you through the process (as well as let you know what prices will pass ROFR).

Good luck!

 

[rickandcindy23]

We bought a couple of oceanfront center Westin Ka'anapali south, and the fees are about $2,800 for each 2 bedroom lockoff. We paid $39K resale for each week. We bought through Syed at advantagevacation.com Great advice by Syed, he knows the threshold for ROFR and usually has good inventory. If you like the idea of oceanfront, either the deluxe oceanfront or the oceanfront center are the way to go, but the deluxe units are bigger and have higher fees. I don't really understand why, but they sure do. We use our one bedroom and rent our studios to pay the fees, and it's worked two years in a row, so I am of course very happy that it worked well for us.

I am considering the purchase of a few more from Syed, but he has nothing available right now.

 

[frogs]

Thank you both! I'm leaning towards purchasing a resale week at WKORVN (two bed lockoff) and I have a few remaining questions. I'll put them here and can also put them in the Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Timeshares forum if that makes sense?

1) How does booking a deeded week work? I read 8-12 months out (home resort priority period) - what happens if I prefer something sooner? Is availability guaranteed only during that 8-12 month period? Or is it ever "guaranteed" at all? I'd just hate to purchase a week and then not be able to book what I want.

2) If I want to book with StarOptions instead, that opens up 8 months out? If WKORVN comes with around 148k points, based on the point chart it looks like that's an even swap for a 2-bedroom lock-off nearly anywhere else. (Everywhere but St John). What if I want to split the lock-off and use one and convert the other to points, does that work? And then use or bank those points for next year? But maybe it would be better to split and deposit that other week to Interval?

3) If I'm interested in depositing the week to Interval and trading for say, a Disney resort - when can I do that? Upon the calendar year renewal of the resale week - whenever that is? I assume a week at WKORVN would give a pretty high trading power value in Interval, however that works?

I found some info here, but not exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

 

[vacationtime1]

Thank you both! I'm leaning towards purchasing a resale week at WKORVN (two bed lockoff) and I have a few remaining questions. I'll put them here and can also put them in the Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Timeshares forum if that makes sense?

1) How does booking a deeded week work? I read 8-12 months out (home resort priority period) - what happens if I prefer something sooner? Is availability guaranteed only during that 8-12 month period? Or is it ever "guaranteed" at all? I'd just hate to purchase a week and then not be able to book what I want.

2) If I want to book with StarOptions instead, that opens up 8 months out? If WKORVN comes with around 148k points, based on the point chart it looks like that's an even swap for a 2-bedroom lock-off nearly anywhere else. (Everywhere but St John). What if I want to split the lock-off and use one and convert the other to points, does that work? And then use or bank those points for next year? But maybe it would be better to split and deposit that other week to Interval?

3) If I'm interested in depositing the week to Interval and trading for say, a Disney resort - when can I do that? Upon the calendar year renewal of the resale week - whenever that is? I assume a week at WKORVN would give a pretty high trading power value in Interval, however that works?

I found some info here, but not exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

I'll take the easy question -- your #2.

Yes, you may do any of those things; you may also rent all or some of your unit. But you should never deposit a WKORVN week to Interval; your exchange will almost certainly be to an inferior property.

 

[frogs]

Yes, you may do any of those things; you may also rent all or some of your unit. But you should never deposit a WKORVN week to Interval; your exchange will almost certainly be to an inferior property.

Oh interesting, thanks. Is there basically nothing else that regularly rents at that price in Interval? What about StarOptions?

If we don't want to use a week in a given year, are we better off booking a week and renting for cash on RedWeek / VRBO?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Oh interesting, thanks. Is there basically nothing else that regularly rents at that price in Interval? What about StarOptions?

If we don't want to use a week in a given year, are we better off booking a week and renting for cash on RedWeek / VRBO?

Not VRBO for me, but I do use Redweek and go-koala.com, both are timeshare rental site. I use Redweek verified/ protected, and it's $59 to list, $99 once it rents. Koala is no fee to list but costs on the backend. I like the site a lot and wish there were more renters.

 

[thestinkys]

Thank you both! I'm leaning towards purchasing a resale week at WKORVN (two bed lockoff) and I have a few remaining questions. I'll put them here and can also put them in the Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Timeshares forum if that makes sense?

1) How does booking a deeded week work? I read 8-12 months out (home resort priority period) - what happens if I prefer something sooner? Is availability guaranteed only during that 8-12 month period? Or is it ever "guaranteed" at all? I'd just hate to purchase a week and then not be able to book what I want.

2) If I want to book with StarOptions instead, that opens up 8 months out? If WKORVN comes with around 148k points, based on the point chart it looks like that's an even swap for a 2-bedroom lock-off nearly anywhere else. (Everywhere but St John). What if I want to split the lock-off and use one and convert the other to points, does that work? And then use or bank those points for next year? But maybe it would be better to split and deposit that other week to Interval?

3) If I'm interested in depositing the week to Interval and trading for say, a Disney resort - when can I do that? Upon the calendar year renewal of the resale week - whenever that is? I assume a week at WKORVN would give a pretty high trading power value in Interval, however that works?

I found some info here, but not exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

Hello, I noticed this post is already a year old, but im new to the TS world and asking the same questions to myself. Did you find out which was better, points or deeded week? Did you find out it is easy to book further out or sooner? I currently work tied to a school and sometimes have the chance to work summer if needed but its never promised so I am uncertain how i can make floating week or assigned week work for me. I will make one of them work regardless because i need vacation time but i have the same questions. hopefully you have experience now and could educate me on these topics.

 

[jp10558]

Hello, I noticed this post is already a year old, but im new to the TS world and asking the same questions to myself. Did you find out which was better, points or deeded week? Did you find out it is easy to book further out or sooner? I currently work tied to a school and sometimes have the chance to work summer if needed but its never promised so I am uncertain how i can make floating week or assigned week work for me. I will make one of them work regardless because i need vacation time but i have the same questions. hopefully you have experience now and could educate me on these topics.

Better is really subjective IMHO. While I can't speak to Vistana etc, I have used HGVC, Wyndham, and now have a traditional fixed week fixed unit at Fox Run, as well as a a bunch of RCI Extra Vacations, one RCI Exchange, and one user to user rental.

Have you considered doing the "What should I buy" post following the sticky in the forum?