dvc vs. starwood

[djp]

We have been looking at dvc off and on for a couple of years now. We almost bought 2 years ago and ending up buying a starwood timeshare in Vail. We bought starwood over dvc, because starwood has more resorts in areas we want to go -maui, st john, bahamas, and is adding resorts in cancun and kuai, in addidtion to their 2 resorts in orlando (the newest part of vistana and vistana villages). We liked the ability to reserve directly with starwood and not have to wait on an ii exchange to go other places. we also reeally like their hotel -sheraton, westin, st regis, options throughout the world-I know dvc has the hotel option but it is very limited and doesnt appear to be a very good value. The thing that pushed us over the edge to starwood was the fact that if we "had to stay on site" we could stay at the swan or dolphin (starwood owned) for 10 nights in exchange for our timehare week. We are very pleased with our starwood purchase, but are now considering adding another timeshare to our portfolio, and are wondering if want to add another starwood week, or buy into DVC. We have 3 kids under 8 years old and are disney every 18 months people. Any thoughts or advice would be great.

 

[CarolMN]

Only buy DVC if you plan to use the points to stay at DVC resorts. It is not a good value (economically) to use DVC points to stay elsewhere. If you only want to stay at a DVC resort every two years, you might consider buying 1/2 of the points you think you'll need for the length of your pstay.

Best wishes -

 

[Slakk]

We are very pleased with our starwood purchase, but are now considering adding another timeshare to our portfolio, and are wondering if want to add another starwood week, or buy into DVC. We have 3 kids under 8 years old and are disney every 18 months people. Any thoughts or advice would be great.

Having 5 people in a hotel room would be the key for me. If you try to hit disney about every other year you could buy a smaller sized contract and be in a 2BR villa and have a TON of extra room versus Swan or Dolphin.

A 2BR villa is incredible

 

[Negma]

We own both. We really love both. DVC has been great because we love going to Disney (next trip is next week). Starwood has the network that makes it's variety easier than trading with Disney.

My advice is to buy DVC if you want to go every year or every other year, it makes Disney a great experience in the long run (we have found these trips to be less stressful than before DVC). We just combined a trip where we will go to Disney for a few days and then on to Atlantis Harborside so we will use both programs on the same trip-we live on the west coast.

 

[newfamilyman]

I'm kind of the opposite in that I purchased DVC instead of Starwood, so I'd be interested in hearing how you have enjoyed your membership. Has it been hard to get a week at resorts other than your home resort?

 

[djp]

we have loved it. Great ease getting into vistana villages at last minute, and we leave next month to go to the westin maui timeshare. The most popular resorts can be tough to get into when school is out, but if you can travel when school is in it is not much of a problem. The other great thing about our starwood purchase was that we got 200,000 starpoints for our purchase, and turned one year to points getting us 85,800 more. These have gotten us 8 nights at the westin hilton heead island-upgraded into $1500 night suite, 10 nights at hotels in hawaii for my in laws, and is sending us (me and my wife) 1st class to maui on delta...as well as 2 nigghts at The St regis aspen upgrqaded into a room with a rack rate of well over $1000, and a few nights at the palace hotel in San Francisco. This has all been pretty great. The downside to dvc is that because it is so popular they do not have to bribe you.

 

[Didney Daddy]

We own DVC and are looking at Starwood. If you love the majic of Disney and want to stay on property to get the full experience, you need to buy some DVC points. If you only go every 18 months, it may be smarter to under buy and use the bank/borrow provisions until you come to fully understand DVC.

Remember, one program is not "better" than another. They all have their own "value" proposition. DVC is about Disney. I would quibble that people make a big deal about not using the other options DVC makes available. Starwood has similar issues if your whole world is about maximizing every penny invested. I believe timeshare is mainly about convenience and certainity and if that appeals to you, DVC is wonderful.

As someone who is looking at Starwood, what recommendations would you make about their program?

 

[JimC]

As others have said if you want on site and at least every other year at Disney, understand how timeshares work, and understand that Disney is a deeded RTU program, then DVC is probably a good approach for you.

The Swan and Dolphin are nice properties, in a good location. They have been recently rehabed up to the Westin standards and that has been a welcome improvement. But I would say they are more comparable to the other Deluxe Disney resorts than to the DVC villas.

We also own at several Marriott properties and have been pleased with them. But they are a primarily a floating week system, not points.

 

[djp]

starwood itips
If you dont care about the ability to convert your week into hotel points, then resale is the way to go. Some would say that the ability to turn your week into points is not good value. This depends on the number of points your week converts to and the ammount of your mf/taxed. The mf/taxes on a 2br in starwood can be as low as $800, byt for a week in hawaii I think it is around $1700.
Teh cheapest developer "platinum" week (platinum is 148,100 staroptions) is at kierland-scottsdale and is $34,000, this can be had resale for $20,000.
If you have significant flexibility as to when you can travel and are not mnarried to school holidays then I would buy where you can get thee mot options for your money-see above. If you are not so flexible then you need to buy where you want to go most of the time. Feel free to ask more questions.

 

[disworldnum1]

it sounds like starwood would be the way to go.Across the street is the sheraton vistana and they have great 2 bedroom timeshares that sleep 6.You can but them on e-bay at a fraction of the original cost..somewheres around 5500.

 

[djp]

the vistana resales are not eligible fo use in the starwood network, the vistana villages are able to be used in the network on a resale

 

[newfamilyman]

Could you explain the difference between using the points for the Starwood network which you forfeit by buying resale? The cheapest is $35,000? That sounds awfully high; what do you get for that?

 

[djp]

yeah the 35,000numberis hte chapest to buy a "platinum" 2 br week orth 148,100 staroptions..this will allow you to go to any of the starwood timeshares for a minimum of one week in a 2br, maybe longer depending on resort and season....
If you buy a timehsar week from starwood there are realy two tings to know first off
1. staroptions-this is hte currency you use to use the starwood timeshare system, each week is given a value of staroptions, from 19,000-I think, for a low season studio, to 148,100 for a peak season 2br. You can book at one year out athe resort you own at, and 8 months out at theother resorts in the starwood network. Someof thereseorts come withtis benefit on the resale market, and some do not. Vistana does not. Vistana villages does.
2. Starpoints-this is the currency of the starwood preffered guest program. USually if you buy from the developer you are given a number of these as incentive to buy. Aslo if yu buy from the developer you can turn your timehsare wek in for starpoints to use at starwood hotels. This benefit of converting to ohotel points never comes witha resale.
Indeed a significant amount of money can be saved resale. On a resale I would buy vistana villages as it comes with the staroption benefit of using hte other starwood resorts. A 2br at vistana villages in prime season is ony worth 95,700 staroptions, but this can probably be had resale for about $12000.

 

[wingkng]

We have been looking at dvc off and on for a couple of years now. We almost bought 2 years ago and ending up buying a starwood timeshare in Vail. We bought starwood over dvc, because starwood has more resorts in areas we want to go -maui, st john, bahamas, and is adding resorts in cancun and kuai, in addidtion to their 2 resorts in orlando (the newest part of vistana and vistana villages). We liked the ability to reserve directly with starwood and not have to wait on an ii exchange to go other places. we also reeally like their hotel -sheraton, westin, st regis, options throughout the world-I know dvc has the hotel option but it is very limited and doesnt appear to be a very good value. The thing that pushed us over the edge to starwood was the fact that if we "had to stay on site" we could stay at the swan or dolphin (starwood owned) for 10 nights in exchange for our timehare week. We are very pleased with our starwood purchase, but are now considering adding another timeshare to our portfolio, and are wondering if want to add another starwood week, or buy into DVC. We have 3 kids under 8 years old and are disney every 18 months people. Any thoughts or advice would be great.

I had a very similar experience. I bought at Westin Kierland after learning about Starwood TS at a trip to Orlando. I also toured at DVC, but chose SVO. However, I was always being pulled back to Orlando for one reason or another. I ended joining DVC for the variety. I look at my vacation portfolio like my mutual funds, the more diverse the better.

So, I plan to use DVC every other year, alternating with use of my Starwood TS. I would convert my SVO to Starpoints for stays at their hotels.

 

[newfamilyman]

Do starpoints have the same value as staroptions? For that cost, how many years do you get? After reading these points, I went to TripAdvisor to read some reports from Maiu, and the price there stunned me--almost $70,000 for yearly use! But one writer mentioned a special rate that they got from a member referral; could you tell me about those?

The only Vacation Ownership I have seen is the Mission Hills one, and it doesn't seem to have the same charm as the hotel area. Whereas the hotel had lots of duck pools and landscaped walkways adjacent to the golf course, the timeshare area lacked those amenities, or at least it seemed to.

Thanks for the helpful information.

 

[bongo59]

starwood itips
If you dont care about the ability to convert your week into hotel points, then resale is the way to go. Some would say that the ability to turn your week into points is not good value. This depends on the number of points your week converts to and the ammount of your mf/taxed. The mf/taxes on a 2br in starwood can be as low as $800, byt for a week in hawaii I think it is around $1700.
Teh cheapest developer "platinum" week (platinum is 148,100 staroptions) is at kierland-scottsdale and is $34,000, this can be had resale for $20,000.
If you have significant flexibility as to when you can travel and are not mnarried to school holidays then I would buy where you can get thee mot options for your money-see above. If you are not so flexible then you need to buy where you want to go most of the time. Feel free to ask more questions.

correct me if
I aM WRONG...............but some places in this system SVC is mandatory and Kierland is one of them.................what I dont get is the wide pricing variety in Kierland resales.........................I have seen some two bedroom lock off for resale listed anywhere from 15K to 30.....................This post got me interested because I do stay at many of the St Regis properties and got to Scotsdale a lot to golf.....................I guess I need to learn a bit more about it...................

 

[djp]

starpoints-are for use on the hotel program
staroptions are for use in the in the timehsare program
No starpoints and staroptions are not he same in number when it comes to a timeshare
For example, My 2 br ski week at the Sheraton Mountain Vista
is worth 148,100 staroptions-this will get me a 2br any time in maui at the westin timehsare there, it will could get me 2 weeks in a 2br at other resorts depending on the season...2 weeks in a 2br in orlando any time, and up to three weeks in myrlte beach in a 2br in the off season

I can convert my week to starpoints for hotel usage..this is worth 85,800 starpoints, this will get me close to 30 nights in a low end starwood hotel-probably a four points buy sheraton, or ths will get me 15 nights at a midtragnge starwood hotel-probably a sheraton, or westin, or this will get me 10 nights in a very nice sheraton or westin, or this will get 6 nights in a peak season or 8 nights in a low season at a truly 5 star resort like a st regis in aspen or the like.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Whoa! I'm surprised that the "Dean" card hasn't been played yet....

 

[Lilly's Dad]

I'm interested, and if I get $100 or free dinner or something out of the deal, I'd be willing to spend 2 hours of my Orlando vacation talkin with Starwood timesharer.....Know of any such promos?

 

[rinkwide]

Whoa! I'm surprised that the "Dean" card hasn't been played yet....

Must be a six-deck shoe.