Lisa, I always enjoy reading your posts. They are always thoughtful and informative and almost always 'right on the mark'.
I certainly agree with you on this. I just don't think that the lack of a clear vision is actionable.
To me, the biggest hit in the gut was that the developer didn't follow the rules of the timeshare game. The timeshare plan is to create a resort, sell individual weeks at a huge profit, then turn the resort over to the HOA, and move on to a new resort. The big bucks were supposed to be made in the initial sales phase, followed by modest profits made by their exchange program fees.
Starwood started out following the usual plan, only they made their resorts swankier and their brochures glossier. And people bought into them. They gladly paid tens, and sometimes even hundreds, of thousands of dollars for the right to use one week per year. They (including me!) justified the purchase because the MFs were so reasonably priced. On paper it looked good because we believed that we were investing in a "prepaid vacation."
And after raking in all those profits, and creating all these relatively happy owners, what did Starwood do? The second the resort sold out, they started increasing MFs significantly, to the point of ridicule. They wanted their cake and they wanted to eat it, too. And they did. They FEASTED on the cake. They made unbelievable profits up front and now continue to make incredible profits by manipulating the system for their gain.
To put it in perspective, Hawaii owners are paying $120,000+ per year to "maintain" a 1200 square foot condo. Harborside owners are paying even more. SVV owners are paying nearly $75,000 a year for their villas in Orlando. I can't imagine how nice my home would look if I had that kind of budget each year...and my home is 4x as big! I can tell you one thing with certainty: It would have a proper stove, a swim-up bar, and the furniture would not be laminated wood over press board.
Yes, after nearly my 10th year of ownership, it's very clear that Starwood went into this venture blindly and figured it out as they went along. They made some serious mistakes along the way, including the mandatory/voluntary thing and not being more thoughtful on their season and SO allotment. And then, when everything had finally stabilized, they polluted the water even further by mixing in a Flex system, which is creating a lot of uncertainty and fear among its loyal owners.
They really could write a book on incompetency.
But... I'm still an owner because I like their resorts. And if I get too disgruntled, I know that I can unload my VOI to someone else who'll be lured in by their swanky resorts.
