How should I Rent a Floating week that can be booked anywhere in the system

I own an Odd Year Float with Starwood Vacation Ownership.

I have StarOptions and every other year I can I turn them into SPG points for the hotels. But during my use year I would like to to TUG to try and rent it out.

The TUG guide is very good but I didn't see anything specific to how I would rent out something that isn't really a fixed week.

For example, I can use the startoption points to book anywhere in the system for a potential customer. How do I properly advertise that? I'm afraid that if I'm too generic, no one will find my add in their searches.

Do I post an add for every property in the exchange and tell them to check the website for available days? I imagine I'd burn through my ad credits pretty fast that way.

Any tips on the strategy for renting out this kind of property would be a great help.

Unfortunately I'm too late and didn't reserve Superbowl weekend here in AZ, that would have been something specific and easy to post for rent. =)

Off topic, I'm new to TUG, just joined as I was doing research on how to use my timeshare more effectively when I found TUG. Looks like a great place to be.

bradray said:

I own an Odd Year Float with Starwood

I have StarOptions and every year that I can I turn them into SPG points for the hotels. But during my use year I would like to to TUG to try and rent it out in the first place.

The TUG guide is very good but I didn't see anything specific to how I would rent out something that isn't really a fixed week.

For example, I can use the startoption points to book anywhere in the system for a potential customer. How do I properly advertise that? I'm afraid that if I'm too generic, no one will find my add in their searches.

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With any floating week ownership, you should perhaps first reserve a week before you actually have something firmly in hand to then attempt to rent out.

Some (many? most? ) people who rent out weeks (which I don't) will pick and reserve a good, high demand week on their own and then advertise it for rent.
Others place ads before first having made a firm reservation, seeking renter input and wishes. The latter approach obviously costs the owner time however (...tick tock), during which time weeks a prospective renter wants can simply become unavailable for the "float" owner to successfully reserve. Space is finite and limited everywhere.

I don't know a single thing about the Starwood system, StarOptions or "SPG points", so I'm going to quit right here while I'm still ahead --- or at least even.

bradray said:

I own an Odd YEar Floar with starwood

I have StarOptions and every year that I can I turn them into SPG points for the hotels. But during my use year I would like to to TUG to try and rent it out.

The TUG guide is very good but I didn't see anything specific to how I would rent out something that isn't really a fixed week.

For example, I can use the startoption points to book anywhere in the system for a potential customer. How do I properly advertise that? I'm afraid that if I'm too generic, no one will find my add in their searches.

Do I post an add for every property in the exchange and tell them to check the website for available days? I imagine I'd burn through my ad credits pretty fast that way.

Any tips on the strategy for renting out this kind of property would be a great help.

Unfortunately I'm too late and didn't reserve Superbowl weekend here in AZ, that would have been something specific and easy to post for rent. =)

Off topic, I'm new to TUG, just joined as I was doing research on how to use my timeshare more effectively when I found TUG. Looks like a great place to be.

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Your best bet is as you thought, reserve a specific high demand week at Westin Kierland and try to rent that. You can not rent a reservation you make with StarOptions at one of the other SVN resorts.

Hi bradray and welcome to TUG! I moved your post to the Starwood forum.

At WKV - the strongest demand is for Easter week or March (MLB Spring Training.) However, it's really late to try to get a good date, and you are going to have to search and search, and hope for a cancellation, to get a reservation, at this point in the year.

That means you should log onto www.mystarcentral.com, and start searching online, and keep clicking the button to reload the inventory, and hope that a cancellation pops up.

I would not worry about missing Super Bowl week. Most people going to the game don't want to go to AZ for a whole week, and the market is flooded with rentals, which really depresses the price.

Here is the Travel Demand Index for AZ - showing the demand for every week of the year. Week 5 = Feb. 1 and week 14 = Apr. 5:

Thanks

Thanks for moving the post, I wasn't sure where to put it. My line of thought was that the floating rental question might apply to more than Starwood, so I chose general rental forum.

But, as I said I'm new to this place and just learning the ropes.

Also, thanks for the information on AZ demand patterns I'll try and do as you say.

Someone else mentioned that I'm not allowed to rent out a reservation made through exchanging StarOptions. Is that the case? For example if I used my point to get a couple of nights at the Atlantis resort, does that mean I can't rent those nights to someone else?

Does this also apply to II exchanges?

This question is often debated around here, so I will be brief, and just state the facts:

There is a rule in the Starwood terms stating that you cannot rent Staroption exchanges, but Starwood doesn't enforce it.

There is a rule in the II terms stating that you cannot rent exchanges, and II does enforce it - when they catch someone.

About your question regarding advertising "open ended" reservations - it doesn't work, because demand for the best resorts and dates is fierce, so by the time a renter requests a date, it will be long gone. At many resorts, reservations book solid right at the 8 mo. mark when Staroptions reservations open up: especially Maui, and Harborside.

To be more direct - the discussion here was that certain Tuggers were openly recommending to rent weeks obtained with non-Home Resort SOs when it is against documented SVN rules. Whereas if anyone suggested renting out an II exchange they were immediately reminded that this is against II rules.

SVO/SVN will enforce the rule if they know about it - however, they do not persue (yet...) - they are aware of the issue and that it goes on (and have discussed internally). Whether they will enforce really depends on the awareness of the Home Resort Owners impacted (WKORV/N and HRA) making complaints.

In fact, some people have made a small business of renting out WKORV/N using cheaper SOs from other resorts. Our last visit to WKORV - we met a couple that owned a dozen VOIs (SVR) and only used their SOs to rent out WKORV/N.

DeniseM said:

At many resorts, reservations book solid right at the 8 mo. mark when Staroptions reservations open up: especially Maui, and Harborside.

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And WSJ...

You can also bank the 2015 StarOptions if you don't think you'll be using and make a reservation for a high demand week in 2016 at WKV. Best of luck!

nokaoi9 said:

You can also book the 2015 StarOptions if you don't think you'll be using and make a reservation for a high demand week in 2016 at WKV. Best of luck!

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That will be tuff to do at the 8 month mark for a 2016 reservation.

DavidnRobin said:

....In fact, some people have made a small business of renting out WKORV/N using cheaper SOs from other resorts. Our last visit to WKORV - we met a couple that owned a dozen VOIs (SVR) and only used their SOs to rent out WKORV/N.

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If the dozen VOIs are actually at SVR, does that mean the couple bought them directly from Starwood? If so, I'd say the couple will probably never make back what they spent. Or maybe they actually meant they had bought resale at a mandatory phase of SVV?

I don't think renting using staroptions is an issue for home resort owners since they can lock in their choice week a year ahead leaving staroption users to fight for scrap.