Is everyone happy with their Westin timeshares?

I attended the presentation at the Westin Kierland Villa resort last week. They were selling units at the Westin Cancun and the Westin Princeville. The option to have starpoints to stay at their hotels sounds real interesting. I currently own 4 other timeshares (non-Westin). Would it be better to buy a resale week and then buy a developer week and have the resale retrofit to get all the perks on both weeks? Has anyone done that recently?

Hi taylor and welcome to TUG! - There is really no reason to requalify a week unless you intend to buy many weeks ($100K+) and go all the way to 5 Star Elite. The perks for anything less than that just do not justify spending $100K+ and $10-15K per year.

Some of us are not happy with our Starwood timeshares. I would do a lot of research before you buy.

Here is a recent survey about owner satisfaction.

Problems:

Capricious rules changes
Double digit maintenance fee increases (My Maui week increased $1,100 in 6 years)
Collusion with Interval to remove trading value/options
Developer controlled boards
Poor communication with owners

Also - the conversion rate to Starpoints is poor - you can buy the Starpoints directly from Starwood for less than the maintenance fee at those resorts!

YMMV

You should do a lot of research before spending big bucks on any timeshare, especially one that will lose most of its value as soon as you sign the papers. There are people here who are very happy with their developer purchases, but that does not mean you will feel the same way. The salespeople make the "perks" sound nicer than they turn out to be for many buyers. On the other hand, there are people who are dissatisfied with their Westin ownership for reasons that may not be as important to you. You need to figure out what you really want out of the ownership and then do as much research as you can to see if and how much Westin (Starwood) can deliver.

we are at our westin timeshare in maui right now and love it. Given the resale market right now, i would definitely go that route. The concerns about Westin that others expressed in this thread are legitimate, though.

We couldn't be happier with our vacations experiences at the two SVO resorts we bought to use. On the other hand, we couldn't be unhappier with management policies, transparency and communication .... not to mention maintenance fee increases that far exceed any reasonable cost-of-living adjustment comparisons.

Bottom line -- I love some of the resorts, but wish they were managed by a developer group that wasn't so greedy and knew what they were doing (e.g., Hilton, Hyatt). IMO, Starwood is run by a bunch of amateurs who trip over themselves at every opportunity.

I love my home resort (and WSJ, which is the only exchange I've made so far), but would never buy another Starwood TS. I'd rather rent. As a renter, you get far more flexibility and freedom from the legal obligation to continue paying MFs that I feel are way too high.

We wish we could sell our Starwood timeshare -- not because the property is bad, it is very nice. As others have said, the Management could care less about its owners and are constantly changing the 'rules'.

Just one more suggestion - if you actually bought a TS, please read this article about rescinding.

taylorwlod, ... If you already have 4 timeshares, why in the world would you buy another - much less 2 more?

To retro a Starwood non-developer purchase you have to do a new Starwood developer purchase. To retro anything with a Princeville Starwood developer purchase, you must spend at least $40K. To retro anything with a Cancun Starwood developer purchase, you need to spend at least $20K. Same $20K for purchases at Riverbend (Avon, CO) or Desert Willow (Palm Springs, CA).

In addition, if you are buying 2 more timeshares to use them, you will have to take 6 weeks of vacation and bear the cost of travel, meals and incidentals - in addition to 6 MF. Starwood MF are expensive and seem to go up 10% per year.

Before you buy anything more, consider the consequences very carefully. ... eom

As I have written many time (trip reports, etc.) - we love our SVO resorts - not hard based on what we own. HOWEVER - as many (but not all) agree - to essentially have a doubling of MFs over ~4 years with services cut back - I would not recommend SVO to anyone (as I have in the past - resale) - even those with unlimited income and money/vacationtime to burn - to buy a SVO VOI - or attempt to get to 5* (using resale requals) for the benefits attained.
It simply does not make sense - even as an investment in vacation.