About to purchase Sunterra - Help

Hello, my sister purchased an aftermarket timeshare that is now Sunterra. They are telling her that since this is an older owner that she has the unit but no points. They are also telling her that she can't buy into the Club Sunterra at the $2995 upgrade, but the only way to get the "upgrade" to ClubSunterra is to by buying more points (ie another week).

I have read many of the posts and seen where this may or may not be true? Does anyone know.

We are considering purchasing with her and it is much more cost effective to do this together as either way it seems to has to buy another week to be a part of Club Sunterra.

Thanks.

I'm no Sunterra expert, but this sounds about right based on what I've heard.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Sunterra. She can probably use and enjoy the week she owns. If she wants more, she should buy something else IMHO.

Sheila

You've got all the nuances about right. While some may get in for a flat $2995, the norm these days seems to be 2000 points at a cost of $5000 to get your resale week or weeks in for 'free.'

Thanks for the response.

Why wouldn't you touch Sunterra? Who would you use instead?

Leslie

We recently purchased a one bedroom one bath Sunterra San Luis Bay Inn(resale) and chose to opt out of Club Sunterra because we didn't want to deal with points.We now use Wyndham instead of Sunterra for our reservation needs and were able to reserve a summer week without a problem!:whoopie:

SunTerra's Business Plan Is For Customers To Pay Big Bucks To Join The Club.

Click here for some recent TUG-BBS back & forth about the pluses & minuses of paying big bux to join Club SunTerra.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

The key to Club Sunterra is to buy as much Sunterra as you'll want resale then buy the 2000 pt for $5000 and get it ALL brought into the club.

So if they is any chance you'll want more sunterra in the future. BUY IT NOW, before buying any from the developer.

blimai said:

Thanks for the response.

Why wouldn't you touch Sunterra? Who would you use instead?

Leslie

Click to expand...

Aren't they the ones that have had all the financial problems in the past? I'm sure you'll find many posts on this forum from people who actually know something about them.

As for what I would buy, well, you can check below my name and see what I HAVE bought. I wouldn't buy Orlando again unless I planned to use the weeks because of the high fees. It IS convenient to own there if you need peak time weeks.

You'll find lots of good advice on what to buy, but you'll generally be happiest if you either buy a resort you want to visit often or one that is near your home so you can benefit from day use. Our clerk took half a day off today to use the pool at her home resort for the afternoon.

Try to find a well managed resort in a high demand time and area and you can't really go wrong. I think you'll find much bigger bargains than a Sunterra membership, but again, that's just my opinion based on no experience with them.

Sheila

No More Day Use By Nonresident Owners.

sfwilshire said:

You'll find lots of good advice on what to buy, but you'll generally be happiest if you either buy a resort you want to visit often or one that is near your home so you can benefit from day use. Our clerk took half a day off today to use the pool at her home resort for the afternoon.

Click to expand...

Our home timeshare resort in Orlando FL is about 870 miles from where we live, so day use of the famous Volcano Pool & other resort amenities was already a non-issue for us even before the HOA-BOD recently banned day use of on-site facilities by owners who are not checked in at the resort.

Just coincidentally, it's a SunTerra timeshare -- not that there's anything wrong with that. But as it happens SunTerra does not call the shots there because that particular timeshare is under the management & direction of its own independent owner-controlled HOA-BOD, which took over from SunTerra several years back.

At first, the new rule against day use by nonresident owners seems harsh & arbitrary & unwelcome. But upon further reflection, it's clear that the pool & workout room & mini-golf & all that were designed & built to accommodate the crowd of owners & guests actually staying at the resort -- not the full residential capacity of the resort plus some unknowable bunch of other folks who own there & just happen to drop by for a swim while they're in town.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Sunterra Information

This thread presents a negative bias toward Club Sunterra, which many, including me, would completely disagree with.

There is a wealth of information out there. I would particularly refer anyone who is interested in anything Sunterra to:
www.timeshareforums.com/forums/sunterra-resorts

I'm a Club Sunterra Platinum Elite member and know for a fact that conversion plus can be accomplished with a purchase of as little as 2000 points for $3000.

PS - there's nothing wrong with weeks instead of points. For some, that may work better. I chose a hybrid approach keeping my deeded weeks and only assigning them to club.

DWMantz

SunTerra Bias.

dwmantz said:

This thread presents a negative bias toward Club Sunterra, which many, including me, would completely disagree with.

Click to expand...

I will admit to something like a negative bias regarding SunTerra -- but it's no more than a dollars & cents bias based on our discovery that there's no getting around paying big bux 1 way or another to get into Club SunTerra, unlike (say) the RCI Points & FairField (Wyndham) points-based timeshare-exchange organizations. For a dyed-in-the-wool, resales-only timeshare person like me, SunTerra's biz plan is a nonstarter. Other than that, Yay SunTerra !

I have no negative feelings about the actual SunTerra timeshare resorts. Shucks, I like 2 of'm so well I bought 1 of'm once & the other 1 twice (i.e., bought 1 resale in 2002, resold it in 2003 after buying the other 1 resale, bought the 1st 1 resale again -- EEY the 2nd time -- in 2006).

If it weren't for resales, The Chief Of Staff & I would not be into timeshares at all -- zero, zilch, zip, zorch, nada. We just like the idea of luxury vacation accommodations for roughly Motel 6 & Super 8 rates, which we can't get by paying full freight for any timeshare company's timeshares.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

We have been with Sunterra for a number of years now. Currently we own at San Luis Bay Inn (1 holiday week = 13,000 pts.) and a non ST week in Hawaii which we usually deposit into Club Select for 6500 points.

Sunterra pays for the membership in II where we can trade for points. The point values are pretty fair and consistant ie. 6500 for a 2BR pretty much across the board and we have gotten some good trades. However, having said that, I have discovered that I cannot see many of the "high-end" properties that come up in "Sightings". I have been told by II that each TS opts to distribute its listings as it chooses. Therefore, it seems few of the "high-end" properties show up for Sunterra trades.

I am beginning to think it would be worth the II (or other) membership costs and trade as weeks.

Minnie said:

I am beginning to think it would be worth the II (or other) membership costs and trade as weeks.

Click to expand...

Been there, done that. You are far better off with the Sunterra priority than you would be as a paying II member. II is rigged to favor the developer groups such as Sunterra and Marriott while the mere members get the dregs. Don't waste your ,money joining and enjoy II through Sunterra.

timeos2 said:

Been there, done that. You are far better off with the Sunterra priority than you would be as a paying II member. II is rigged to favor the developer groups such as Sunterra and Marriott while the mere members get the dregs. Don't waste your ,money joining and enjoy II through Sunterra.

Click to expand...

Why then can't I EVER see all the great Hawaii and Four Seasons Aviara, etc.
that come up in "sightings"?

Minnie said:

Why then can't I EVER see all the great Hawaii and Four Seasons Aviara, etc.
that come up in "sightings"?

Click to expand...

By the time they are in sightings a group with more priority such as a Marriott or DVC most likely has grabbed them. There are no limits on what the Sunterra Corporate account can see as they simply raise the value of the points needed & thus the deposit used to II. After nearly a decade of thinking II would somehow be better than RCI I learned that without the corporate priority there is very little a non-Marriott/DVC individual owner is going to see. Worse yet you pay for the "privilege" of being behind every rinky dink corporate account and the request first individuals in the pecking order. II as an individual just isn't very good unless you enjoy off season times and smaller units. Try it if you must but I'll bet you'll be disappointed. If you do post either way as I'm always interested to hear what others find too.

i dont know if someone else posted this, but >

its 100% complete BS you cannot "convert" and have to "upgrade"

the first 2 guys said i had to "upgrade"

but the 3rd guy that talked to me when trying to get me to do it said that i could "convert" for $1200 IIRC
(when i was at my home resort in March)

the first 2 guys also kept telling me i could get my week with the points its valued at, which is not true. my week would have required more weeks than they would give me for the conversion. however the 3rd guy told me that they would waive the additional points, because i "own" the week.

gotta love TS salespeople. at least they didnt get mad when i was explaining the amount of money the resort makes. they just dismissed the numbers with "expenses are high."

i would almost bet that they wont even let you transfer points when transferring ownership...

I think there's a mistake that people make with Sunterra, and that's letting a salesman con them into buying more then they need for more money than they need to pay.

I may be wrong, but I think I was able to get into club for the cheapest rate possible. By the way, I didn't pay one penny to join Club Sunterra.

I came into this with deeds already totalling 48,000 points if converted - 4BR holiday weeks at Greensprings and Powhatan. I needed to buy 2000 more points to reach Platinum Elite level. I bought them for a dollar and 50 cents each or $3000, which I believe is as cheap as it gets. At the same time, I assigned my deeds to club and entered at 50,000 points.

This was all factored in if you will to the plan. Any point system, or any resort system costs money to buy up to the level you want. 50,000 points in Sunterra converts to at least 8 premium 2BR reservations thru II annually, more weeks generally if done through club. For the sake of arguement, with 50K Sunterra points, I can spend 8 weeks in a 1BR Oceanview at the Ka'anapali Beach Club. All this for around 20K total investment. Expensive to be in Club Sunterra - no!

And I'm a beginner. An expert of Spence's experience and stature could develop the same portfolio blindfolded for around $11K. It just takes time and patience. I could do it now as well.

So many of us beginners. So very few who really know what they're talking about.

Sign me - still learning big time!

timeos2 said:

By the time they are in sightings a group with more priority such as a Marriott or DVC most likely has grabbed them. There are no limits on what the Sunterra Corporate account can see as they simply raise the value of the points needed & thus the deposit used to II. After nearly a decade of thinking II would somehow be better than RCI I learned that without the corporate priority there is very little a non-Marriott/DVC individual owner is going to see. Worse yet you pay for the "privilege" of being behind every rinky dink corporate account and the request first individuals in the pecking order. II as an individual just isn't very good unless you enjoy off season times and smaller units. Try it if you must but I'll bet you'll be disappointed. If you do post either way as I'm always interested to hear what others find too.

Click to expand...

If by "corporate Priority" you mean Sunterra, I disagree. I can see many Mariott weeks. That's probably because of the vast inventory. I was told by Sunterra and II that the developer/TS make the decision as to how many units to allocate to Sunterra points trades.

Reasons to join Sunterra:

1. access to their 100 or so resorts without an exchange fee. Resort quality in general is above average.

2. European resorts. If you never go to Europe, Sunterra may not be a good fit.

3. heavy priority at II. It is true Sunterra corporate account sees lots of top resorts in hot areas. That's why in the recent years, I always go to Marriott's and Sheraton.

4. SunOptions very flexible and user friendly. With good skills manipulating the system, you can stretch your week to three or four.

Reasons not to join Sunterra:

1. extremely unfriendly resale, so you can write-off your "investment" the minute you pay. If you use Sunterra forever, resale is not a concern.

2. poor online reservation system.