Starwood Vacation Ownership

I have to agree I own four weeks at Harborside and go twice a year. I rent the other week and it pays the maintenence fees plus. I bought a fourth week in my excitement but I was over doing it. found out I cannot use it, but it is really worth the money because these units rent for 5-6 thousand a week. we really love it there I went to Mexico on a trade and found almost everyone there trying to rip you off. Bahamas harboride is a really safe vacation resort.

We went to Mexico on a trade using our small side of the lock-off and received a large side of a lock-off in exchange. That just goes to show you the trading power you have with Harborside. We also own another time share in the Bahamas and the Mexican resort was trying to get us to trade in that ts for theirs. When we told them that we also owned at Harborside, they didn't even offer to work us over on that unit. They told us they would be doing us a "disservice" and that what we had in Harborside was a great deal. Nobody tried to rip us off and if we were in a different point in our lives, we might have traded in the "other" ts for their resort. It was truly a beautiful resort. Much prettier than Harborside. With the direction that Sol Kerzner is going with his mega resort Atlantis, Harborside is not going to be my go to vacation of the year much longer. With all the day passes being sold to cruisers, it's fast becoming an amusement park and not a resort. So sad to see.

I think what we love about harborside is not its beauty so much as the number of things to do other than just enjoying a view and relaxing. If you are someone more active ,than Atlantis is a fun spot. there are so many beautiful resorts all over the world without water rides and aquariums to see. i have to agree that they can use some activities for families other than the exhibits and there very costly interactions with Dolphins, kids clubs, pottery, race car making etc..

We are active travelers. When in Neuvo Vallarta this past January, we did the zip lines in the rain forest, rode horses on the beach, hiked to a waterfall ect. It's a more natural beauty than Atlantis. Don't misunderstand, Atlantis is beautiful too, in a man made kind of way. We have been going to our timeshare at Harborside every year for 7 years and there's always something new to do and we do enjoy the water park, but again, if Atlantis continues to sell hundreds of day passes to cruisers, it will change the whole atmosphere of the place. I know hotel bookings are way down and Beach Tower is closed along with several restaurants. Selling day passes at $100. each is a good way to keep the cash flowing for the resort and it's very expensive to fun all the water rides and the aquarium.

I own at several SVO resorts, not Harborside. Buying resale, to answer many questions, the only way to get SVN and the staroptions is to buy at a mandatory SVN resort (Harborside, Maui [both], StJohn, Keirland Villas [Scottsdale], Vistana Villages [Bella and Key West phases only].) You do not get the gold card or can not convert to starpoints (debatable - but is not a good deal generally) IMHO I would not buy Harborside or StJohn to exchange in SVN or II - the maint fees are way too much. You get most bang for the buck (options per $) at Keirland Villas both at resale and with maint. fees. StJ and Harborside are great resorts to stay at and would love to own there but NOT to trade. I can use my Broadway Plantation deposited right and can get the same they get in II for 40% of the maint fees and about 50% purchase price. You will be downgrading to trade and will still have the HIGH maint fees. Rentals have already begun to dry up with the economy in the toilet. BEST advice: Buy where you want to go and trade occasionally.

I am trying to understand the home period preference system at Harboside Atlantis - float week -

You may book a unit at your home resort from 12 months out to 8 months out without having to compete with owners from other SVN resorts. That period is your home resort preference period.

On an added note, booking in your home resort also depends on the season that you bought. you might not be able to get that 12 months window on all 52 weeks of the year.

I started out buying a two bedroom lockoff at the Sheraton Vistana Resort in the Cascades section in 2005 on the resale market. It came with a week which I deposited in RCI. That RCI week got me an exchange into a one bedroom in the Cascades in March 2006. At that time I bought a two bedroom every other year from Starwood directly. The unit was at the Sheraton PGA in Port St. Lucie Florida which I bought sight unseen just to bring my Cascades property into their network. For 2006 I had deposited my two bedroom Cascades seperately into RCI and got a one bedroom ocean front at the Driftwood in Vero Beach in June 2006. The other one bedroom got me a two bedroom back at the Cascades in March 2007. At that time I traded my PGA back to Starwood for an annual two bedroom lock-off at the PGA. For 2007 I exchanged one bedroom of my PGA for a one bedroom at Harborside at Atlantis in June 2007. The other half got me a two bedroom at Rams Horn Village in Estes Park, Colorado in March 2008. For 2008 I exchanged one of my lock-offs for a two bedroom back at Harborside Atlantis in June 2008. I used the other two bedroom L/O for a two bedroom week at Marriott Newport Coast through Interval in Janurary 2008 and Orange Lake River Island two bedroom in June 2008 through RCI in conjunction with my Atlantis trip. I also had a week left for an exchange through Interval to Williamsburg Plantation in October 2008. I feel like I got my money's worth out of Starwood. I also got 120,000 Starpoints from the two I bought from them. Starwood Vacation Ownership has worked out great for my family. This year we are going to the Sheraton in Avon Colorado and the Westin Maui ownership properties by exchanging both of my two bedroom lock-offs.

Does anyone know the policy with regards to combining Star Options from a resale and a developer buy. Presently I own Westin developer units but am thinking of buying a resale Westin. Can one combine the resale Star Options with my present developer Star Options.

I dont know for sure, but if both units are in the same name I dont see why not. Staroptions are the same no matter how you purchased. the owner services line could answer that for sure.

Currently, you can combine staroptions from resale with developer purchases. That had not been so until last spring when you could NOT combine any resale with anything else, resales or developer purchases. With the way they flipped on this most expect them to flip back also without notice so I would not count on it in the long term. If you did buy, make sure you have enough options resale to get where you want without combining with anything else. A 2BR at Maui would do that for you likely.

I have SVO purchased from the developer which I enjoy and attended their "upgrade" session. They wanted double what I originally paid for the same thing. Based on the last post, I wanted to confirm that if I purchased a SVO resale that offers StarOptions, that one; those star options would combine with my developer purchased ones, and two; that I could convert either my developer or resale star options into star points. Please advise. Thanks.

I would call starwood VC. !888 svowner They sell the units for twice what you pay ressale. What ever little they can do to get you to buy from them they will do. They do not let you convert to starpoints. You may however use staroptions but I doubt they let you combine anything.

Starpoints are really not the best use of your timeshare from a value point of view

Wow but I have to respectfully disagree if you are exchanging for hotels. I think there is great value and flexibility with my points. MY SPG account is tied to my Am Ex to earn even more. I love my Starpoints, and we have used them to travel to fun places, and stayed in much nicer accomodations than we would have paid for. New York City, London, Atlanta, Dublin, Nice. I have turned a week of timeshare in Phoenix into 5 nights in downtown Montreal, San Diego or New Year's Eve in Dublin.

We have owned timehare since December 1996 when we bought at Bonaventure which we exchange though RCI. Sometimes we get lucky on availability but most we end up going someplace we never thought about going and having a good time.

In response to the question of combining resale points call SPG. It is very limited on resales. We own 2 annual and 1 semi-annual Sheraton units. We were recently given the option of converting our Sheraton Vistana Florida unit we bought on the resale market into the SPG system. Of course we had just paid approx $1300 over two years in upgrade assessments.

The only other way I know of to convert to starpoints is in a new purchase agreement. You can make that part of your offer. When we bought our semi-annual I wanted to convert the unit,there was a required level we had to buy and at that time we did not want to spend the money.

Good luck.

When you buy at a "mandatory" resort (one that keeps staroptions when sold resale) and you have a developer purchased unit they are both put into the same account and thus can be used together PRESENTLY. However, Starwood has been attacking the resale market aggressively and could change this at their leisure. I BELIEVE you would be safe, but this is in no way guaranteed so as I said before. Make sure you have enough staroptions with your resale purchase to get where you want to go (148, 100 ideally).

leslie447 wrote:

Wow but I have to respectfully disagree if you are exchanging for hotels. I think there is great value and flexibility with my points. MY SPG account is tied to my Am Ex to earn even more. I love my Starpoints, and we have used them to travel to fun places, and stayed in much nicer accomodations than we would have paid for. New York City, London, Atlanta, Dublin, Nice. I have turned a week of timeshare in Phoenix into 5 nights in downtown Montreal, San Diego or New Year's Eve in Dublin.

I converted a week into 5 nights..... that does not sound good to me. When you calculate your cost per point INCLUDING your purchase price you can usually buy points from starwood directly at 3.5cents per point and have a better deal WITHOUT the long term cash commitment. Starpoints from a credit card are an entirely different matter, they are great.

We have owned timehare since December 1996 when we bought at Bonaventure which we exchange though RCI. Sometimes we get lucky on availability but most we end up going someplace we never thought about going and having a good time.

In response to the question of combining resale points call SPG. It is very limited on resales. We own 2 annual and 1 semi-annual Sheraton units. We were recently given the option of converting our Sheraton Vistana Florida unit we bought on the resale market into the SPG system. Of course we had just paid approx $1300 over two years in upgrade assessments. POINTS are entirely different than OPTIONS which is what they were asking about.

The only other way I know of to convert to starpoints is in a new purchase agreement. You can make that part of your offer. When we bought our semi-annual I wanted to convert the unit,there was a required level we had to buy and at that time we did not want to spend the money.

This is called a "retro" or retroactively entering your unit into the SVN system. It currently has a $10000 minimum on the continent and $20000 off even for an upgrade. They now DO NOT give you credit for the whole original purchase price on a resale bought unit when doing an upgrade like they once did.

Good luck.

Points, when you include the original purchase price inn the cost calculation, are a poor value. You can usually buy points from Starwood directly for 3.5cents and it is a better deal. You also DO NOT have the long term capital commitment and the annual maintenence fee commitment. Starpoints from a credit card are an entirely different story and are GREAT if used correctly.

The OP asked about combining OPTIONS not POINTS and that makes it entirely different.

You are talking about doing a "retro" or retroactively enrolling your unit into the Starwood Vacation Network(SVN). There is now a $10000 minimum if done on continent and $20000 if done off (ie. Hawaii, Bahamas). When you combine that with the fact that they NO LONGER give you the original purchasers full original purchase price in credit in doing an upgrade this makes retroing and getting options this way MUCH less appealing. They now absolutely control your week and can give you any week from your season at your resort for RCI or II trade if your unit is in the SVN. (ie 52 week SDO deposit...hmmmm July in Scottsdale have a lot of power NOT!!!) If you want a exchange company trader, you DO NOT want it to be in the network!!!

In my opinion, it does not make sense to pay 10-20K more for a timeshare, just so you can trade points around. you should be buying exactly what you want to use. The trading game can work out, but it is not like an ownership where you know what you are getting. The starpoints are not the same value as using the week you own. It is great if you decide to go somewhere else and have no other choice. In that case, why not just buy bianual instead. Pay for the hotel room for the other years. You just may pay less than what you would pay in maint fees. You will not have the committment. Otherewise just buy a place you want to go every year, in the exact season you want to go. Be sure about the season becuase many do not really like the platinum season and get stuck with it after paying more. Its not always that easy out of your preferred season at Harborisde.

by resale definitely. it is 1/2 the price.