Starwood Vacation Ownership

Has Starwood now become one of the most deceitful companies out there? You can never speak to anyone about the real issues an owner faces (maintenance fees, lack of referrals on who has success reselling Westin units, etc). What do other SVO owners think?

We own two properties in the Starwood Plan and love it. We would lose our shirts to sell the Sheraton Desert Oasis because it is older but we could do well with the Westin Kierland if we wanted to sell. We have had no trouble renting them out until the slow down in the economy. It all depends on where you own, the season, and the size. We get the biggest and the best and it is the most flexible way to go.

There are many disgruntled Starwood owners on the Starwood forum at www.tugbbs.com .....

I think Starwood is miles ahead of the RCI problems. We never got a good trade with them (RCI). I'm sure those that are complaining own a small 1BD in the silver season and will never get a satisfactory compensation. As for us we have used our Starpoints and spent 2 weeks in Europe in hotel rooms, used them to top off our airline milage partners and for hotels on both coasts. We have not paid for a hotel room since we purchased our first Starwood property in 2002. We have also traded with them through RCI and II but not often. We have rented them with great success and used our properties ourselves. We own a 1BD deluxe at Sheraton Desert Oasis and 2BD at Westin Kierland and they are both in Scottsdale, AZ. They are in high demand for spring break and you have to book early. And you can't wait until the last minute to book the end of the year either or you have time leftover.

One year we used our 2BD in the shoulder season (gold) and ended up with two weeks worth of time. This is using their StarOption plan. Once you figure it out it is so easy. You can use the options in other resorts and in increments of less than a week. But I'm sure I would be complaining if I owned a small one bedroom in August in AZ. Can we say HOT!!! I say use those options elsewhere and stop whining.

Be aware that if you use your Starwood Vacation Ownership and any of your fees are not paid on the refurbishments that you will have your week taken back for up to 7 days until they are paid. A few days ago I exchanged my SVR Cascades unit with Interval International for Las Vegas in July. It was confirmed and I paid my exchange fee as well as I had already paid my maintence fees a few months ago. Well, don't I come home today to find an email from Starwood saying " Sorry but we could not confirm your vacation due to 4 reasons!!!! " Flights and everything are booked.. I was furious!! So I called and because my reburbishment fees have not been paid yet (due Jan05/10) they will not confirm my week to Interval from Starwood.. So all I can say is you MUST pay those RF's or you will loose your booked week..YOu cannot use your weeks that refurbishment costs owing for 2010 until they are paid.. No matter what they have got us .. If I didn't pay all my 2010 fees today they would not send Interval the confirmation.. I had no choice.. this was my son's 21st birthday gift and I just could not take that away.. Good Luck everyone..

At least you still have your week even though you had to pay the special assessment a week in advance of the due date.

Did anyone get suckered into paying your maintenance fees early to get into the contest? We did and I was just told by SVO that only the winners would be notified and they would not be publishing the names of the winners! How do we know they actually awarded anything! This is not acceptable to me.

I completely agree!!!!!!!! Beware potential buyers!!! They are not here to help you, however their GIANT marketing machine will help part you from your money!! Heaven forbid a timeshare company notifing a customer regarding a problem with their timeshare...... but they won't hesitate to hound you if you are even 1 day late with your annual fees! Buyer beware.....don't buy get whatever week YOU like on ebay or somewhere like it.