Starwood Scheduling Help

I've been told by the salesperson for Starwood about the wonderful concierge service they have when needing to schedule vacations. Can anyone please comment on this process? Thanks!!!!!!!

jramat

I have no idea what they meant by that...but, to reserve at your home resort, call at exactly 12 mos. out at 8 am ET. To try for an exchange, call exactly at 8 mos. out at 8 am ET. I don't find anything wonderful about the process...

If you just bought from the developer and you are within the recission period, bail out quick (following the directions in your sales papers exactly) and research buying resale - you can save 25-50%.

And welcome to TUG!

Thanks Denise!!

Thanks....Man you're everywhere!! I appreciate it. We have not bought anything yet but still considering. I've read so much my head is spinning. I would like your opinion on how valuable you consider the hotel network piece is of Starwood. The salesman tells me that buying resale will keep from using the StarPoints power of the hotel system. I think I understand the villa side of purchase and the price from the developer vs resale. But isn't the network access from buying from the develop an asset? I did read about requalifying and all that but, heck, I'm still working on the buying decision for the first one!!!! Right now I don't care about the requalifying part.

Also, when calling whether it's 12 months out or 8 months out, who do you call at Starwood? He called it a "concierge" who will handle everything and do it quickly. Is it just a sales pitch? I read about people calling and calling and working for hours to get scheduled. Is that the case with Starwood?

Thanks a million!!

John

jramat said:

But isn't the network access from buying from the develop an asset?

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I don't think so... Let me give you an example. We own a 2 bdm. lock-off on Maui, so we reserve each side separately and go for 2 consecutive week. If I converted my 2 weeks to hotel points, I could stay at the Maui Westin Hotel or Sheraton Hotel in a standard, no view room, for about a week. I don't think that's a good value. Others like the program, but I don't think you get equal value when you convert to Starpoints. However, we use the Starwood AMEX for every cent we spend and we accumulate enough Starpoints for 2 tix to Hawaii every year and that's a good deal.

jramat said:

Also, when calling whether it's 12 months out or 8 months out, who do you call at Starwood? He called it a "concierge" who will handle everything and do it quickly. Is it just a sales pitch? I read about people calling and calling and working for hours to get scheduled. Is that the case with Starwood?

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You call owner's reservations...I've never heard them called a "concierge." If you call to reserve your home resort at exactly 12 mos. out at 8 am ET, you should have no problem, but if you are trying to exchange into Maui, St. John, or Harborside, at 8 mos. out - those can be tough exchanges. A good rule with Starwood (and all timeshares) is to "buy where you want to go" - don't count on being able to exchange all the time.

You can call 12 months out at your home resort and 8 months out if you want to exchange somewhere else.

Like Denise, I haven't heard the reservation number called Concierge. PErhaps they are talking about the concierge service to arrange say for your refrigerator to be stocked up when you arrive or to make other travel arrangements. I don't find that particularly worthwhile. It is nice to have your refrigerator stocked but I generally prefer to do my own shopping. As far as travel arrangemnts I have other services to do that.

I do find hotel points worthwhile. I don't exchange for them much since I also use my Starwood AmEx, but there are some high end hotels, particularly overseas, that can be worth the exchange. It is also nice to have the option of getting the Starpoints should you not be able to use your timeshare and not want to go through the hassle of renting it out. If you reach platinum level with Starwood (either through stays at Starwood hotels or by becoming 5 Star Elite at SVO), then the suite upgrades do make things worthwhile. Whether paying the extra money to buy from the developer is worthwhile to get this benefit is something only you can answer. If you know you will want more than one unit I'd say definitely buy resale first and buy from the developer second. For just one unit, I'd be less definite. I bought from the developer before ever finding TUG and while I could have saved some money, I don't really regret it. The enticements I got at the time in the way of Starpoints (worth $0.02-$0.05 cents each to me) reduced the price difference significantly and the ability to convert to Starpoints was valuable to me. Not sure what they are offering these days.

I don't like Interval International, especially if you buy a higher end property like WKORV, since comparable properties never seem to be available for exchanging.

Thanks Folks

Thanks for your responses. Input is greatly appreciated.

John

jramat: I too like the Starpoints for special occasions for flexibility to plan. Here is a recent reason: I have a week already confirmed for St. Maarten for 2/08 and want a second week in Aruba since we fly so far (from California). I have to wait until 3/07 before any good chance of getting an exchange (a year out) so I reserved 7 nights at Westin's Aruba resort in order to try to get frequent flier miles not available until 3/07. Another example already done was using Starpoints and flew British Air sleeper seats to London from LA. It all depends on where and how you want to travel and also how much you 'study' the Starwood system.
Thought of another one we did: Split our two bedroom Rancho Mirage-used one half to stay at St. John but used Starpoints from the large one bedrooom to stay in Paris 5 nights. It does offer lots of flexibility if you don't plan to go to your own timeshare every year.

Just to add a slighly different twist- I love my Starwoods-Kierland (resale), but I just added a HGVC (Hilton), also resale. HGVC allows resale purchasers to have flexibility to transfer HGVC into HH (Hilton Honors) points for hotel exchanges. This makes sense to me for high end (NYC, Europe) hotels stays.
Also, you might want to join TUG so you have access to the Resort Database- great info. on the places you'll want to stay. Have fun and let us know what you decide.

thanks

Sir Newf,

You're right about joining TUG...I already did!!

Jramat

Starwood offers an ELITE member services for ELITE members, but I never call that number. I call the main number and get the same treatment no matter who I speak to.