Any DVCer who also owns at Vistana Village or Other Starwood Properties?

[luckytso]

We are scheduled to do a tour during our coming August trip. Originally I was only interested in the 10,000 pt Starwood offer. However, looking into it further, the program seems pretty good, with lots of flexibility and plus we love the Westin resorts.

I am wondering if anyone here bought a week there and what your thoughts are.

I am not sure we would use it to stay there much. In Orlando, we would rather stay either on Disney property or Universal property depending on which park we are visiting.

However, I would like to use it to trade into Starwood's other properties at various times or convert to Starwood points (so I guess I have to buy from the developer to get the pt. conversion capability).

Thanks

 

[Tinkerbelloncapecod]

Hi,

My first reaction is NOT to buy from a developer....too much $. Please go to to this site and join: http://www.tug2.net/ It will be the best $15 you have ever spent. Do some research before buying.

I own a Vistana timeshare and have not joined the Starwood. I just use it to trade off in RCI. I'm like you...I would much rather stay and use my DVC points and stay on property than stay somewhere else in Orlando while going to Disney and it's theme parks. But that's just my opinion. I guess if I was to go to Universal for the week and not go to a Disney park then I might stay at Vistana instead of using my points. But I mainly bought the timeshare to trade out to other places.

My first trade will be this August in Nashville. I have a two bedroom, wk 51 in Vistana, Palm Unit.

I hope this helps you.

 

[KNWVIKING]

Funny you should ask.

We used Starwood points,earned thru SPG Amex card useage, to book two studios,six nites each, at the Sheridan Universal Studios hotel on I-drive starting June 16th. Tuesday nite I got a phone call from Starwood,stemming from this booking, asking me to do the 90 min presentation at their new location on I-drive,just below SW. There were a few perks to choose from, but the one I think I'll take is the 8000 pts they offered. If I remember and can relocate this thread, I'll post the details of the program.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I own at Vistana and I'm also a DVC Member. I bought into Vistana with a family member originally in '94. We have since taken over the deed completely because said family member does not travel that much any more. When we bought Vistana, Starpoints were not even an issue. Starwood didn't take over until about 1999/2000. We do use our week there every year---I own in the Fountains section and have the opportunity to do an internal Sheraton Vistana trade to the Beach Club villas on Hutchinson Island in southeast FL. This resort is right on the beach. We have been very pleased with Vistana---no major complaints.
I can honestly say I love the DVC a little more, but I don't have enough points to stay in a 2 bedroom for 7 nights in summer months. The most I can do is 4 or 5 depending on the resort. I can stay longer if I go in off-season of course. But because the weekend points are so high, I tend to stay at Vistana for 7 nights and then move over to DVC using the lower Sun-Thurs points.
I do have the option to convert my Fountains week at Vistana into Starpoints for a price. You can check that out here : http://www.starwoodvo.com/enroll/vistanaplus/
I just haven't committed to this yet. But my suggestion would be to join TUG, as Tinkerbelloncapecod suggested. Best $15 I ever spent and yearly renewals are only $10. If you plan on buying Vistana mostly for trades, just know that most Orlando timeshares don't trade that well. When we bought Vistana, it was something we knew we'd use in FL. I have many family members within a 1-2 hour drive of WDW, so it made sense for us. But as a trade, there are better timeshares out there for that purpose. Orlando is just so over-developed with timeshares, thus making it fairly easy for people to trade into. If you really want to stick with Vistana and Starpoints for trade, see if you can make Harborside, Atlantis on Paradise Island your home resort. Not sure if they're sold out or not. But I know this is an easy internal trade within the Starpoints program.
If you just want a cheap, easy week for trading, also consider South African, Carolinas beach resort, Hawaii......these all usually have much stronger trading power than Orlando weeks. Again, please consider TUG---wealth of information there. Wish I had known about it before I bought. I'd say buy Vistana resale if you can and then convert into Starpoints for the fee if this is what you really want. Good luck.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Another vistana owner here, we bought from the developer (stupid us) Fell in love World golf village, then when we got home realized that we wanted prime season, telephoned back, (this was all within 10 days) and the sales staff was gone, and they were no longer selling there!!! After much ado, they swaped our unit into a Lakes unit, we own an every other even year. To make a long sotry short, this gives us 65,000 points, which may seem like a lot, but not if you want to go duriing any peak season. We can do internal exchanges free of charge for Vascades, PGA and WGV, but what gets me is with it being every other year, we still have a pay 100.00 a year to allow us into the Starwood Program (the same price if I owned every year!!!) Needless to say, we are trying to sell it!!! Its a great resort, but we love disney and our other timeshare in the Caribbean, so one has to go. My best advice, do not buy from the developer, we paid $9600.00, and will be lucky if I can get $4,800.00!!! but supposedly if you don't buy from the developer you can't get into the Starwood plan? So check that out first if you go ahead, and I think the only units that are part of Starwood are Lakes, Cascades, and maybe Fountains???

 

[MiaSRN62]

So check that out first if you go ahead, and I think the only units that are part of Starwood are Lakes, Cascades, and maybe Fountains???

It's actually only the Cascades and Lakes.....other sections can buy into it----in other words, I could convert my 7 night yearly prime time week in the Fountains into 28,000 starpoints if I choose for an initial enrollment fee of $298 + $99. Every year thereafter, it would be a fee of $99. This buys you enrollment in II also. I can also earn more starpoints by staying at Westin/Sheraton-owned hotels. I do know Swan & Dolphin qualify. I'm just not sure what 28,000 points a year gets me for the initial fee of $398.

 

[DanG]

I recently purchased from the developer at the Westin Mission Hills property and received a huge incentive of Starpoints as a sweetener to close the deal.

Many in TUG will offer the advice not to buy from the developer and as a general rule that is correct. However, I believe that there are several exceptions to that rule and Starwood is one of them. In any event the reference to TUG for additional information is spot on.

The following are the primary advantages to buying from the developer:

- Starpoint incentive. I received Starpoints that would allow me to stay in 5* hotels for more than 3 weeks. At a 4Points for 100 weekend nights. I could trade them in for 10 domestic air tickets.

Internal trading system- This includes Westin St. John, Westin Kaanapaali, Harborside Atlantis, Westin Mission Hills (Palm Springs), Westin Kierland (Scottsdale) and other choices in FL, Myrtle Beach and Colorado. You have priority access within the trading system and through II to other Starwood properties. All the Starwood properties are very nice.

-Lifetime Starwood Gold. Starwood's hotel program gives you late checkout, increased Starpoint earnings and a room upgrade. You can book rooms with no restrictions and no balckout dates. This program has won the FREDDIE award for best hotel program 3 years running.

-Lockoff- I can break my 2BR into separate units and trade each internally (often for larger units based on season).

-Trade. You can trade within II or for Starpoints every other year. I get 72,000 points for trading in my unit, a significant premium to what you can get from Marriott.

Most importantly, these benefits do not transfer to a resale buyer (including the internal trading system). No disrespect to owners from Vistana before the Starwood acquisisition, but their units do not have a lot of trading value, making the one-time offer to participate less attractive.

I would be glad to answer any questions you may have here or by PM.

Good luck in your decision.

S

 

[MiaSRN62]

No disrespect to owners from Vistana before the Starwood acquisisition, but their units do not have a lot of trading value, making the one-time offer to participate less attractive.

No disrespect taken DanG--I agree about becoming owners before the Starwood ownership. My husband and I have often said we felt more valued when Vistana owned and operated their own resort. With Starwood, all importance seems to be put on the Lakes and Cascades owners and the rest of us who purchased pre 1999 are left in the dust.

I do know, that regardless of buying via the developer or on the resale market, a purchase of a 2 bedroom lock-off in Cascades (and in some Lakes units) will still enable the owner to rent/trade the lock-off studio or 1 bedroom if they so choose. When we bought, the Lakes was the newest section and this was being offered to us. But as far as the Star options go, I thought even when buying resale, the potential owner could take advantage of Starpoints options. Now as far as the starpoints incentives, is this something offered only at time of purchase---like a one-time offer ? Also, couldn't the internal trading be done even if the potential owner bought via resale and then opted to buy into the starpoints option ? I guess I'm a little confused.

 

[luckytso]

Thanks for all your replies.

I am already a TUG member and read up on the program last night on the TUG website. That was why I became interested.

Based on what I know, like the Marriott timeshare, only the onese purchased from developers get Starwood points. However, unlike Marriott, I don't have to stay for a week. It is also a point system which I like.

Any more suggestions? Thanks again.

 

[Lyndarella]

We bought a resale in the Cascades at Vistana Resort, any week, always 2 BR. Before that, we attended the Starwood sales presentation at the new Vistana Village. When we stayed at the Cascades in May, we attended an "owners" sales presentation, where they try to get you to buy another week, and we almost bought an every-other-year 1 BR just to get into the points system (but realized that what we already have plus DVC is more than we can use!) What I remember most is (1) Vistana Resort is sold out, so units purchased are located at Vistana Village on International Drive. (2) To stay at the Swan or Dolphin is 10,000 points per night, where our 2BR was worth only 63,000 points (I think) for the week. (3) Starwood would love to buy back weeks at Vistana Resort to sell again.

We bought our week to use in Orlando. My husband always gets a car, and the resort is on the border of the Disney property, so driving to the parks is only a few seconds longer than coming from a WDW resort. Also, a friend and I stayed without a car, and rode the Vistana bus to the parks every day with no problems.

For our use (mainly Orlando) it would not be cost effective to join, pay $99 per year plus $99 for each deposit. However, I would like the option of trading for plane tickets, as it's so expensive to fly from here.

 

[DanG]

Mia, the Starwood Vacation Network (the internal trading network) currently does not permit the internal trading right to transfer to a resale purchaser, except for resale purchasers of units at Westin St. John, Harborside, Westin Maui and Vistana Villages (a curious inclusion on the list).

Starwood did not offer equal treatment to existing Vistana and Enbassy Suites owners at Myrtle Beach and Scottsdale. Certainly your rights haven't been diminished, but you do not get equal treatment within the trading network with respect to Starpoint trade in value. 28,000 is not a whole heck of a lot of Starpoints, but if you go to SPG.com, there is a listing of award possibilities than can help you to value whether the offer makes sense to you. if the $398 gets you into the full network, I would speculate that it would be worth the money. Be sure to check the number of Staroptions your unit converts into and see what you can get on the Staroption chart at starwoodvo.com. Unlike other networks, a week doesn't necessarily translate into a week elsewhere in the network, i.e. you won't have enough points to transfer to the same size unit in Hawaii for the number of Staroptions you will have to use. This system works better for those spending $20K-45K on the Westin branded resorts, though Vistana Villages gives a lot of trading value for the dollar.

Luckytso, the only additional point I would bring to your attention is that you cannot access reservations for a block of time less than a week until less than 90 days from your arrival date. Thus, I would guess that in prime season, you would not have much luck in getting availability for less than a week.

Also I would echo the advice given here and on TUG; buy where you want to stay. I love the Starwood program, but would not want multiple timeshares in a glutted Orlando market.

Dan

 

[MiaSRN62]

Mia, the Starwood Vacation Network (the internal trading network) currently does not permit the internal trading right to transfer to a resale purchaser, except for resale purchasers of units at Westin St. John, Harborside, Westin Maui and Vistana Villages (a curious inclusion on the list).

wow....very interesting and good to know.

but you do not get equal treatment within the trading network with respect to Starpoint trade in value. 28,000 is not a whole heck of a lot of Starpoints, but if you go to SPG.com, there is a listing of award possibilities than can help you to value whether the offer makes sense to you. if the $398 gets you into the full network, I would speculate that it would be worth the money. Be sure to check the number of Staroptions your unit converts into and see what you can get on the Staroption chart at starwoodvo.com. Unlike other networks, a week doesn't necessarily translate into a week elsewhere in the network, i.e. you won't have enough points to transfer to the same size unit in Hawaii for the number of Staroptions you will have to use.

DanG...thanks so much for clearing this up. I did go to spg.com. I clicked on the conversion chart for my week (prime floating) and it came up with 28,000. Your statement of getting into the "full network" is where I get fuzzy. Say for instance I convervted my week in non-consecutive use years, and banked the points----could I reserve a week in say, Harborside Atlantis ? I understand that points don't expire for 6 years ? So if I saved up 3 years worth of starpoints (about 84K points), would I be eligible to book Harborside through Starwood ? From your explanation of "internal trading", I'm thinking I can't ? I'm assuming the full network includes all the resort included in the internal trading now available only to the Cascades and Lakes owners ? Gosh....there's so much to learn. Thanks.

 

[DanG]

In part because the trading system is significantly different than either DVC (which seems unique in its flexibility) and other timeshare systems. There is a lot of information available on tug2.net, including a description of the Starwood rules in an article in the "Advice" section.

I am sorry that the Staroptions do no work the way that Disney operates: you may neither bank nor borrow points into different years. This is one of the best attributes of DVC and Starwood isn't different than other timeshare systems in that regard.

Also, be sure you have the Starpoints and Staroptions straight when concluding you have 28,000 for trading. The 28,000 in Starpoints should be a lot more Staroptions (you elect one or the other). Staroptions are for internal trading and Starpoints are the hotel system. You will want to check the chart available at

http://www.starwoodvo.com/ownership/staroptions.jsp#

to determine the trading value of your unit.

I would be glad to answer any other questions you may have.

Dan

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I have an every other even year in the Lakes section, that gives us 65,000 staroptions, it gave us enough points to turn out 2 bedroom unit at Vistana into a 1 bedroom deluxe at Harborside during presidents week, but only for 6 nights. We lost about 2000 points I think. they just go away, you can't bank or borrow, I think if I had been thinking I could have turned them into miles, but I don't know. But if you look at tug, you could rent a week at harborside and not worry about it. We were sold on the whole Starwood thing but in reality I think you loose in the long run, to stay in a 2 bedroom comporable to vistana, you need a whole lot of points, and it is more beneficial to just rent from an owner.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Also, be sure you have the Starpoints and Staroptions straight when concluding you have 28,000 for trading. The 28,000 in Starpoints should be a lot more Staroptions (you elect one or the other). Staroptions are for internal trading and Starpoints are the hotel system. You will want to check the chart available at

DanG....thanks for all the info and the link. The conversion chart simply reads 2 bedroom villa, 2 bedroom lockout or 1 bedroom deluxe. I suspect this is only for the Cascades and Lakes ? If it included the Fountains, then my unit is worth 65,000 and somehow I doubt that. I think I'm getting the picture. Fountain and owners of older units can only buy into the starpoints---not the (more preferred) staroptions. When you click on a search for resorts in the "options" network, Vistana's site comes up but they only specifically mention the Cascades---and show a pic of only the Cascades. According to the Vistana Plus site : http://www.starwoodvo.com/enroll/vistanaplus/, you can save starpoints ? :

Vistana Plus members have the ability to save Starpoints for up to six years before redeeming them. That means you could choose to accumulate three year’s worth of vacation ownership interest conversions to Starpoints for a truly unforgettable vacation experience.

But I think the internal trading is totally out for us older section owners.

But if you look at tug, you could rent a week at harborside and not worry about it

Thanks for the head's up on renting from a Harborside owner....this may be the only way to go for non Cascade/Lakes owners.

 

[mickeyc]

In addition to owning DVC we also own at Mariott Cypress Harbour. I purchased directly from the seller, which means we did not get the Mariott reward points. Points was not an issue for us since we were planning to use it to trade to other Mariotts and augment our DVC membership.

Since you are already a tug member you know the value of using their boards and great information you will receive from their members. If you are going to buy try the resale market you will save thousands. I purchased using the Tug classified section.

Mariott has a resale program in which you buy a contract with or without points. You still save significantly.

Good luck in whatever you decide!!