posted 04-09-2005 16:41               

quote:

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Originally posted by korndoc:
Thanks again Denise.

Apparently, even buying resale at a mandatory resort carries disadvantages with trades into II and an inability to use the Starpoints program...something that appealed to me in the presentation. Oh well. I will keep researching.
Boy, it's good to be a TUG member!

Jeff

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Yes - but you don't HAVE to trade with II. If you exchange with an independent - YOU choose the week that is deposited.

IMNSHO opinion, the ability to convert to Starpoints means little or nothing. Why would I want to stay in a hotel room when I could do an exchange instead and stay in a timeshare? The figures don't make any sense either. Let's say you spend $10K more because you bought from the developer - For $10K you could stay in a $200 a night hotel for 50 nights! I'd rather have the money in my pocket. (Note that I own two Starwood TS's - one from the developer and one resale.)

OK, Stevens397 - it's your turn on Starpoints!
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Denise

posted 04-10-2005 00:21               

quote:

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Originally posted by stevens397:
Nah - too tired!

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Yeah...but tomorrow, you'll be all over it!

posted 04-10-2005 07:05               

Last week, while on vacation, my partner added to his stable of timeshares by purchasing a very deluxe 2 BR at Grand Regina - the new fractional timeshare at the Westin in Los Cabos ($65,000). He already owned a 2 BR EOY at Club Regina (slightly older and smaller) next door which they're taking back. Seems he can rent extra weeks for very little money.

Ended up snagging a 2 BR at Club Regina for me and my family for next Presidents Week. I think it is costing about $800 total! Just too hard for me to pass up. But Helen is still teaching and we still have limited vacation time. Plan originally was that I had booked Kierland for that week and that starting in June (8 month window) I'd start calling for Harborside or St. John (both are much easier to get to). If one of those come thru, I'll probably do it. If not, we're off to Los Cabos.

But what to do with Kierland? Yes, I could give it to my kids, could rent it to my friends (how much could I charge and not look bad?), or I could turn it over to II and hope I had better luck in the two years ahead, if I could even find the time. None of those options thrill me.

Or, this one time, I can turn it in to points. Yes, I'd probably (but not definitely) be in a hotel room. But as I indicated in our last discussion, those points could get me 10 nights at the St. John in a room or 5 nights in a suite with values of almost $6,000. Not something I would do often or I would not have bought Kierland. It just gives me flexibility.

That said, I'm pretty sure I'd totally agree with you if I had not gotten a load of points from the developer. First offer was 40,000 and we turned it down. Second was 65,000 which we also turned down. When they hit 125,000 (and we addded our 27,000+ StarPoints for putting it on the Starwood AMEX, the deal made sense to us. As of today, I have 16 nights of vacation scheduled on Starwood Points - nine nights on points alone and 7 on Cash & Points. It includes Connecticut, New Orleans, Mt. Tremblant in Canada and the Princeville in Kauai. And as a SPG Platinum, I'm expecting great rooms and, hopefully, even a suite or two.

posted 04-10-2005 16:11            

However, I do love earning points on the Starwood American Express Card for miles and hotels. Sometimes you need a hotel stay that doesn't require a Friday, Saturday or Sunday Check-in. Also, sometimes you want to use points for shorter than 7 night stays. I find the Starwood reward system much cheaper than the Marriott Rewards. For example, in Anaheim there is a Marriott and a comparable Sherton resort that you can stay at for Disneyland area. The Marriott one is like 20,000 point per night. While the starwood one is 3000 to 4000 points per night. I wouldn't want to stay in a timeshare in the Anaheim area. That's just my preference. Once my kids grow up I'd definitely love to use hotel points for stays in Europe. I am not really interested in staying in a timeshare in those areas. I even used points for airline travel. American Express gives you 5000 points for every 20000 points you transfer. That is such an great deal.

I guess, my point is that you really need to figure out what works for you and your family: financially and vacation style. Anyone on this board can give you a thousand reasons why it is better to do this way or not this way. But in my humble opinion, I think, you need to think what is BEST for you because you are the one paying for the timeshare!

Good Luck with your search!!

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You can see my timeshare photos here:

posted 04-10-2005 18:53               

quote:

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Originally posted by ciscogizmo1:
I find the Starwood reward system much cheaper than the Marriott Rewards. For example, in Anaheim there is a Marriott and a comparable Sherton resort that you can stay at for Disneyland area. The Marriott one is like 20,000 point per night. While the starwood one is 3000 to 4000 points per night.

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posted 04-10-2005 19:19               

You bring up a good point. Starwood only gives 3 points. When we talk about Starwood hotels being "cheaper" or requiring fewer points, it is really about the points accumulated on the credit card. For points accumulated only from hotel stays, Marriott charges about 3 times as much but also gives 3 times as many points per stay.

posted 04-11-2005 22:51               

quote:

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Originally posted by dbmMayer:
IMNSHO opinion, the ability to convert to Starpoints means little or nothing. Why would I want to stay in a hotel room when I could do an exchange instead and stay in a timeshare? The figures don't make any sense either. Let's say you spend $10K more because you bought from the developer - For $10K you could stay in a $200 a night hotel for 50 nights! I'd rather have the money in my pocket. [/B]

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Denise, you are absolutely right about not trading a great timeshare for a hotel room, but we do a lot of long weekends rather than multiple week vacations. So the ability to split a lock-out and use 1/2 for hotel points for those long weekends, or airline miles, sounded intriguing to us. I would NOT spend $10,000 more just to get the points, but I might just walk from the resale of a Starwood if I can't have the points option.

And the points made by Stevens397 and ciscogizmo1 are well taken in that there is no real advantage to trading a high end Starwood resort. But when I buy my first timeshare, trading for other locations is important to us. Soooooooo......