WSJ - What to do with week #35?

[katiestin]

we just returned from Westin St John last saturday. We rented so we could take our kids and go the same time with friends. I called all year to change to the week we needed but no luck. My week is 35 and I've called to see if we can change dates to later in the year...they said nothing was available at all for WSJ. Should I bank the points or put it in interval? they told me that if I do the points thing I have to use them this year. they didn't mention a waitlist to me. Maybe I should call back..? although we cant afford to go back this year.

 

[DeniseM]

we just returned from Westin St John last saturday. We rented so we could take our kids and go the same time with friends. I called all year to change to the week we needed but no luck. My week is 35 and I've called to see if we can change dates to later in the year...they said nothing was available at all for WSJ. Should I bank the points or put it in interval? they told me that if I do the points thing I have to use them this year. they didn't mention a waitlist to me. Maybe I should call back..? although we cant afford to go back this year.

I would think that you could have rented out week 35 - but isn't that only 2-3 weeks away? I'm sure if you had started advertising when you decided you couldn't use it, you could have rented it and made a nice profit, but it's kind of late now. You could always throw it up on the TUG Last Minute Rental board for a few days and see if you have any takers, but the Max you can ask is $700, which won't even cover your MF, I'm sure.

It's too late to convert to Starpoints - that had to be done by Mar. 31st.

It's too late to deposit it with II as well - somebody like San Francisco Exchange Co. might accept a late deposit of this quality.

Starwood might accept it in the rental pool, but there are no guarantees there.

If you convert it to Staroptions, you would have to make an exchange somewhere in the Starwood system by the end of the year. If you can't go on another vacation you could use the Staroptions to exchange for a popular week and then rent it out.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

 

[tomandrobin]

It's too late to deposit it with II as well - somebody like San Francisco Exchange Co. might accept a late deposit of this quality.

Its not too late to deposit the week in II. St John weeks are fixed, but can float within the season. Her season still has a bit to go.

 

[LisaRex]

Its not too late to deposit the week in II. St John weeks are fixed, but can float within the season. Her season still has a bit to go.

Acc. to the OP, she was told that nothing was available...

 

[tomandrobin]

Acc. to the OP, she was told that nothing was available...

Doesn't matter, both of my weeks were past thier check-in date. I asked if anything was available for the rest of the year and was told no. Then I asked to deposit my weeks and they did. Their reasoning was that sense my season was still in play, my weeks were "technically" still good.

 

[katiestin]

Thanks for the replys. Denise, I knew from January that we probably couldn't use it this year due to the timeframe of colleges starting plus our friends wedding. I started last year around October trying to trade it to the week we needed but no luck. Then I placed it on Redweek and tried to place it here (I'm not sure what I did here but it never went through). I also have it on craigslist plus with a real estate company in SJ. I thought about going for the long labor day weekend but due to some unexpected medical bills we won't be able to go.

About the Star Options. You think this is the best thing for me? The representative told me that I could do this and if I didn't use them before the year is up then I could convert them to II. If I do this how do I use them with II? I'm not very experienced with timeshares (as you can tell from my posts) lol.

Thanks for your replys and help.

 

[katiestin]

by the way..when we were down for the wedding I overheard several people talking about trading into Westin St John. The representative told me that this rarely happens because its always booked solid. Again, when we were there the staff told us they were at 80% capacity. So if they are "booked solid 24/7 365 then how do people trade into WSJ?

 

[tomandrobin]

by the way..when we were down for the wedding I overheard several people talking about trading into Westin St John. The representative told me that this rarely happens because its always booked solid. Again, when we were there the staff told us they were at 80% capacity. So if they are "booked solid 24/7 365 then how do people trade into WSJ?

Staroption exchanges and private trades. We are trading with a friend for next June. We gave him Harborside, he gave us St John.

 

[LisaRex]

Trades are rare, but you can get them. The new phase helped open up inventory, I'd imagine, as does high airfares.

But you need to be flexible with dates and persistent about calling. And, of course, you have to be prepared to go during low season.

 

[LisaRex]

Doesn't matter, both of my weeks were past thier check-in date. I asked if anything was available for the rest of the year and was told no. Then I asked to deposit my weeks and they did. Their reasoning was that sense my season was still in play, my weeks were "technically" still good.

So what did they end up depositing into II for you? WSJ or some other resort?

 

[DeniseM]

About the Star Options. You think this is the best thing for me? The representative told me that I could do this and if I didn't use them before the year is up then I could convert them to II. If I do this how do I use them with II? I'm not very experienced with timeshares (as you can tell from my posts) lol.

Converting to Staroptions and depositing with II are two completely different options.

If you convert to Staroptions, you will have until the end of 2008 to make an SVN reservation for another Starwood timeshare. You could then use that exchange yourself or rent it out. You could not deposit it in II, because you can only deposit the week you own in II - but not an exchange.

If you deposit the week with II, you would call up Starwood owner services and tell them you want to deposit the week with II. Then you would have 2 years to make an exchange with II.

 

[Henry M.]

I deposited a studio week at WKORV on December 29 of the use year. Of course by then Starwood was only able to give me an SDO week in April but it was a 1BR. Thus I had two years from the April date to use it (16 months from my deposit date). I subsequently traded that 1BR SDO for a 2BR in Germany, in the Bavarian Alps. All in all I was happy with the results. The resort I got (I believe affiliated with Sunterra) was not WKORV quality, but then I got a 2BR for a studio so it was a fair deal.