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Starwood ups star options and points at St John

Greg - I disagree that WKORV/N or WPORV will follow. Perhaps for HRA, but unlike HRA - WSJ is building another phase (Coral Vista) and that is probably the motivation for them to raise (align) the SOs for WSJ. HRA is not in active sales - so not sure what their motivation would be to do so.

An increase in SOs happened before at WSJ for the VGV (Hillside) phase when BV was being built. Which goes to show their motivation is to sell more VOIs - and believe that this SO increase will be unique for WSJ. IMO
 
I totally agree with David on this one. The StarOptions value is going up to help sales at Coral Vista. It certainly benefits WSJ owners, but that's a side effect. I don't think it has anything to do with MF's, upgrades around the resort, or desirability in SVN. I suspect it's driven by simple profit motive.
 
DavidnRobin said:
Greg - I disagree that WKORV/N or WPORV will follow. Perhaps for HRA, but unlike HRA - WSJ is building another phase (Coral Vista) and that is probably the motivation for them to raise (align) the SOs for WSJ. HRA is not in active sales - so not sure what their motivation would be to do so.

An increase in SOs happened before at WSJ for the VGV (Hillside) phase when BV was being built. Which goes to show their motivation is to sell more VOIs - and believe that this SO increase will be unique for WSJ. IMO
Click to expand...

And the last realignment was at WLR while still in active sales.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
 
Thanks for posting this change. Glad we were able to get a ressie for next April rather than waiting until the following year. However, like GregT said, if we really like the experience, we will just have to use more SO's to go there in future years or go during another time of the year.

One question I do have is I thought that a resort has a maximum number of points/SO's it can sell and if they increase the value/cost of one week they need to decrease the value/cost of another week, so they never exceed the maximum allowed to be sold. I guess it works out the same for WSJ owners staying within that resort, but it puts more currency (SO's) into the Starwood system to used at other resorts. Am I missing something?
 
mjm1 said:
Thanks for posting this change. Glad we were able to get a ressie for next April rather than waiting until the following year. However, like GregT said, if we really like the experience, we will just have to use more SO's to go there in future years or go during another time of the year.

One question I do have is I thought that a resort has a maximum number of points/SO's it can sell and if they increase the value/cost of one week they need to decrease the value/cost of another week, so they never exceed the maximum allowed to be sold. I guess it works out the same for WSJ owners staying within that resort, but it puts more currency (SO's) into the Starwood system to used at other resorts. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Staroptions are not guaranteed - they are part of your Starwood "club" membership - not a deeded right. They can increase, or go to zero - it's all up to Starwood....
 
That's why you purchase at the resort primarily where you want to visit..


DeniseM said:
Staroptions are not guaranteed - they are part of your Starwood "club" membership - not a deeded right. They can increase, or go to zero - it's all up to Starwood....
Click to expand...
 
Congrats to all the WSJ owners!

As others have discussed previously, I think there are just a few resorts that should also receive adjustments, Harborside summer season and WKORV/N ocean front & ocean view owners. The SVN would be fairly equitable if these other resorts were adjusted. Alas, I do not expect this to happen as no new active sales at these locations.

I do believe the changes at WSJ were made to spark sales at Coral Vista. The changes do not appear to have been made based on villa sales price, higher MF or seasons as other resorts are higher in some or all categories.

It will certainly create more banking activity for owners with fewer star options that want to visit WSJ. Thus, a devaluation of star options for non WSJ owners.

Change is the only constant here it seems.
 
I am an Hillside owner, and I called Westin today and asked if Westin is generally going to re-evaluate points at other locations? I was told now by the agent, who said that due to improvements and also the sale of new units for
more substantial money this location has sufficantly been improved, and that this simply is not the case with other locations.

I have paid some of Westin's highest mf and got merely 95,700 points, not even enough for an off season Westin Maui(if one should ever exist at a discount). So I think Westin made the right decision. Time will tell what goes on at other locations.
 
Newportbeach said:
I am an Hillside owner, and I called Westin today and asked if Westin is generally going to re-evaluate points at other locations? I was told now by the agent, who said that due to improvements and also the sale of new units for
more substantial money this location has sufficantly been improved, and that this simply is not the case with other locations.

I have paid some of Westin's highest mf and got merely 95,700 points, not even enough for an off season Westin Maui(if one should ever exist at a discount). So I think Westin made the right decision. Time will tell what goes on at other locations.
Click to expand...

Agreed....
 
Quiding said:
So I have 2 81.000 SO per year, 162.000 SO at SVV, this means that all of a sudden I can't trade in to WSJ then pretty much?
The value of my SO decreases???

Have Starwood increased the amount of SO it takes a lot of times?
Click to expand...

You can, you just need to bank SOs to get in. WSJ even at the new SO levels is a good deal for you when compared to the MFs WSJ owners are paying.
 
It seems with the new changes, they are valuing these higher than Hawaii. A Platinum week at WSJ is equal to a Platinum Plus week in Hawaii. This means a Platinum Plus owner in Hawaii 2BR-LO can't get Platinum Plus at WSJ in a regular 2BR.

I always think that points allocated to weeks/units should be based on supply/demand not MFs or even purchase price (Marriott has done a pretty good job of this in their point system). They need to use the points to balance the supply and demand at a resort. While it seems that this change was made for sales purposes, it will have a positive effect on supply and demand. It should get more owners to use StarOptions to add supply and will ease up the demand since it takes more SOs to book in.
 
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Mauiwmn said:
Congrats to all the WSJ owners!

As others have discussed previously, I think there are just a few resorts that should also receive adjustments, Harborside summer season and WKORV/N ocean front & ocean view owners.
Click to expand...

There's no property where the SOs are related to the view are there?

Personally (having lots of SOs), I wouldn't be opposed to the ability (at 8-3 mos) to secure a specific view at a larger number of SOs than a floating view...
 
YYJMSP said:
There's no property where the SOs are related to the view are there?

Personally (having lots of SOs), I wouldn't be opposed to the ability (at 8-3 mos) to secure a specific view at a larger number of SOs than a floating view...
Click to expand...

Unlike Marriott's system, it doesn't seem that there are different SO levels based on view.
 
ARGH!

I'm very happy about the SO increase but I REALLY wish they would standardize the seasons in SVN for the different phases. I fully understand they can't change your "home resort" float seasons as these are deeded but if they can up and change SO values as they please, I don't know why they can't change the seasons just in SVN. It would make our ability to float somewhat easier at the 8-month mark.

I own week 21 in Hillside and it's very hard to "home resort" float given fixed weeks are automatically reserved and I can't SVN float because I don't get sufficient SO's to reserve a different 2-Bedroom until week 34 (when the SO chart changes for Bay Vista...and I assume Coral Vista). ARGH.
 
ocdb8r said:
I'm very happy about the SO increase but I REALLY wish they would standardize the seasons in SVN for the different phases. I fully understand they can't change your "home resort" float seasons as these are deeded but if they can up and change SO values as they please, I don't know why they can't change the seasons just in SVN. It would make our ability to float somewhat easier at the 8-month mark.

I own week 21 in Hillside and it's very hard to "home resort" float given fixed weeks are automatically reserved and I can't SVN float because I don't get sufficient SO's to reserve a different 2-Bedroom until week 34 (when the SO chart changes for Bay Vista...and I assume Coral Vista). ARGH.
Click to expand...

You can always try to exchange a 2-bedroom for 2-bedroom at WSJ, with another owner.
 
I posit that due to increased staroptions preventing other SVO owners from exchanging in (without banking), as well as additional units added to the inventory due to the expansion, may lead to more II availability. Especially while those units are initially developer owned.

Wishful thinking? ;)
 
siesta said:
I posit that due to increased staroptions preventing other SVO owners from exchanging in (without banking), as well as additional units added to the inventory due to the expansion, may lead to more II availability. Especially while those units are initially developer owned.

Wishful thinking? ;)
Click to expand...

It's certain that SVO is trying to increase sales at WSJ-CV,*but there may be other motives as well. Perhaps II was complaining that WSJ has almost no presence in II, and SVN is being pressured to encourage movement of WSJ owners to other resorts. Who knows? They'll certainly never tell.

But I do think that until the CV phase is sold out, both SVO and II exchangers might get some nice exchanges, especially in hurricane season.

*which means that if WKORV-NN is ever built, then WKORV might get a bump in SOs. And isn't there another site that HRA could expand?
 
With such elevated point levels, any though on SVO adjusting Elite levels?
 
LisaRex said:
And isn't there another site that HRA could expand?
Click to expand...

There was.....But Harborside is a joint venture with Atlantis. My guess since Kerner died, the family had to sold-out becuase of the debt and the lingering effect of the economy on Atlantis.....I don't think we'll see phase 3 ever built.
 
Denise, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware of that.

DeniseM said:
Staroptions are not guaranteed - they are part of your Starwood "club" membership - not a deeded right. They can increase, or go to zero - it's all up to Starwood....
Click to expand...
 
czar said:
With such elevated point levels, any though on SVO adjusting Elite levels?
Click to expand...

With it only being one resort that theyre changing the SO's for, I doubt they'd change the # of SO's for the various elite levels...but I could be wrong.
 
dioxide45 said:
You can, you just need to bank SOs to get in. WSJ even at the new SO levels is a good deal for you when compared to the MFs WSJ owners are paying.
Click to expand...

Right now it is. Using a mix of SO from my SVV weeks, it takes about $1400 for me to trade for a 2br summer Plat week. Now, it will cost me about $2100 - and even more for Plat +. So there goes the arbitrage as I think a BV 2br MF is right around the low $2k mark. And the advantage of a guaranteed reservation and 12 month booking aren't included either. Probably still a decent deal for WKV owners.

I wonder, if in addition to pushing the sales of CV, this is also a move to target those of us who were purchasing SVV weeks or other mandatory weeks to trade.

EDIT: looks like a 2br VG is about $2400 and 2br BV is about $2k.
 
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czar said:
I wonder, if in addition to pushing the sales of CV, this is also a move to target those of us who were purchasing SVV weeks or other mandatory weeks to trade.
Click to expand...

Maybe. But my instinct says that SVV mandatory weeks might get a bump in sales, esp EOY units, from people who want to go to WSJ.

Let's say you own a Hawaii 2 bdrm worth 148,100 SOs. You'd like to go to WSJ ~ every 2nd or 3rd year. So you buy a bi-annual even year SVV mandatory platinum worth 81k SOs with first use in 2016:

  • In 2015, you go to Hawaii.
  • In 2016, you use 148,100 WKORV SOs + 28,600 SVV SOs to book a platinum 2 bdrm at WSJ (176,700 SOs). This leaves 52,400 SOs to bank for later use.
  • In 2017, you go to Hawaii
  • In 2018, you'll have 281,500 SOs to use (148,100 WKORV SOs + 52,400 banked SOs + 81,000 SVV SOs). That's enough for a platinum 3 bdrm at WSJ (257,700), with 23,800 SOs to bank for later use.
 
You're right, I can see that. This does make it difficult for other "premium" weeks owners who might want to go to WSJ.
 
LisaRex said:
Maybe. But my instinct says that SVV mandatory weeks might get a bump in sales, esp EOY units, from people who want to go to WSJ.

Let's say you own a Hawaii 2 bdrm worth 148,100 SOs. You'd like to go to WSJ ~ every 2nd or 3rd year. So you buy a bi-annual even year SVV mandatory platinum worth 81k SOs with first use in 2016:

  • In 2015, you go to Hawaii.
  • In 2016, you use 148,100 WKORV SOs + 28,600 SVV SOs to book a platinum 2 bdrm at WSJ (176,700 SOs). This leaves 52,400 SOs to bank for later use.
  • In 2017, you go to Hawaii
  • In 2018, you'll have 281,500 SOs to use (148,100 WKORV SOs + 52,400 banked SOs + 81,000 SVV SOs). That's enough for a platinum 3 bdrm at WSJ (257,700), with 23,800 SOs to bank for later use.
Click to expand...

But a lot depends where you live in the country and how much you like to fly.
Unless you live in the middle where both are a ways away HI Is 14+ hours from the East Coast when it is 5 to St John and the opposite from say LA.


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