sheraton desert oasis trading power

I have deposited a large 1 bedroom SDO Christmas week 09 in II in 6/09. Previously it can pull 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom in westin in maui, kauai, harborside and cancun. Periodically I check availability of units in Hawaii. Today, when I check for hawaii using the SDO, there is only 2 resorts and 3 units available (studio and 1 bedroom, none in Maui).

Since II finally put the shell back for my undeposited (designed gold plus although supposely float wk 1-52) sheraton vistana resort, I was able to check availability using 1 and 2 bedroom vistana resort. To my big surprise, both 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom vistana are able to pull a lot more units (8 resort, 13 units with some in Maui).

Have the trading power of SDO down? Is it even less than vistana now? Before starwood made the change in 8/09, a deposited unit is usually stronger than an undeposited one.

If all you can see is the Ciff's Club on Kauai, then your trading power is the same as mine on my large one-bedroom SDO. You should check in the morning for availability, and you will see more.

I saw no Westins at all on the islands today or yesterday.

but my problem is that my vistana resort 1 bedroom is seeing more units in Hawaii (maui, kona and kauai) than my SDO which supposely has higher trading power. My SDO is only seeing cliff club (2 units) and kona coast (1 unit). I am checking availability using both ts within 5 minutes apart.

lily28 said:

but my problem is that my vistana resort 1 bedroom is seeing more units in Hawaii (maui, kona and kauai) than my SDO which supposely has higher trading power. My SDO is only seeing cliff club (2 units) and kona coast (1 unit). I am checking availability using both ts within 5 minutes apart.

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SDO has a higher quality rating than your Vistana. I have the same thing happen when I search with our SBP: I see many more units with SBP, but I am pulling the more average resorts (which I generally prefer for Hawaii, anyway).

With my deposited SDO 2010 March Week I see the following Hawaii deposits:

7 resorts and 16 deposits through 9/2011.

With my nondeposited 2011 SVR week (fixed week 17) I see exactly the same resorts/deposits.

*Cindy - we should do a Starwood trade test. Hawaii would be a good area to use. It would give us some facts about the new trading power.

Denise, I just joined TUG so don't have access to sightings yet, but can you see WMH in March or WKORV/N?

clymberz said:

Denise, I just joined TUG so don't have access to sightings yet, but can you see WMH in March or WKORV/N?

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(Right now there are no WKORV/N or WMH deposits at all.)

As soon as you join you have access - did you put the member's code in your profile?

You should have received an email with the members code, if not -

Click on TUG Resort Database at the top of the page,

Scroll down and click on MEMBERS CLICK HERE TO LOG IN,

log in,

the member's code will be in the top box.

To add the member's code, click on USER CP in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Then click on EDIT BBS MEMBER CODE

Then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, put the code in the box, and save it.

Hey, Denise, a trade test would be great, but it would be nice to have some Westins in II to see who can see what. I want to see if the preference for Starwood is still even there. I think it is completely gone. Let's see if there are some Westins on Maui and Kauai tomorrow. I think we are going to see very few from now on.

rickandcindy23 said:

Hey, Denise, a trade test would be great, but it would be nice to have some Westins in II to see who can see what. I want to see if the preference for Starwood is still even there. I think it is completely gone. Let's see if there are some Westins on Maui and Kauai tomorrow. I think we are going to see very few from now on.

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I see some cheap SDO 1 weekers on ebay and am tempted to bid on one, but don't know if it's really worth it if they've changed the trading rules. Any idea on whether it will continue to be a good trader?

clymberz said:

I see some cheap SDO 1 weekers on ebay and am tempted to bid on one, but don't know if it's really worth it if they've changed the trading rules. Any idea on whether it will continue to be a good trader?

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There is a FREE SDO week on the TUG Marketplace ($1 + 2009 MF.)

Right now, my deposited SDO week seems to be trading fine, but we really don't know how everything is going to shake out - especially confusing is how and when Starwood is going to deposit weeks.

Did you see my instructions for changing your status to "member?" Let me know if you need any help!

Thanks Denise. I assume the $1 does not come w/ a 2009 week, so it's like paying the 2009 fees as a purchase price, making it a poor deal. There is a 2br 1-52 on tug for $600 which sounds reasonable as long as SDO continues to act as a good trader. My ideal would be to use it to trade into the normal holiday weeks, like WMH/WKV in mid-feb, or spring break (!?), or hawaii or marriot in newport coast in the summer, or a school break DVC or thanksgiving somewhere fun. It's probably a total gamble....

clymberz said:

Thanks Denise. I assume the $1 does not come w/ a 2009 week, so it's like paying the 2009 fees as a purchase price, making it a poor deal. There is a 2br 1-52 on tug for $600 which sounds reasonable as long as SDO continues to act as a good trader. My ideal would be to use it to trade into the normal holiday weeks, like WMH/WKV in mid-feb, or spring break (!?), or hawaii or marriot in newport coast in the summer, or a school break DVC or thanksgiving somewhere fun. It's probably a total gamble....

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Most of the trades you listed will be tough to get even if SDO keeps the same trading power under the new system. Starwood doesn't deposit very many high-demand weeks such as spring break or summer in places most people would want to go. I believe summer at Newport Coast would be hard to pull unless you own Marriott.

The person selling the week for $1 may be willing to eat the 2009 fee now that 2009 is essentially over. One thing to consider is that unit may not float 1-52 but may instead be a week that was sold as gold by Starwood.

clymberz said:

My ideal would be to use it to trade into the normal holiday weeks, like WMH/WKV in mid-feb, or spring break (!?), or hawaii or marriot in newport coast in the summer, or a school break DVC or thanksgiving somewhere fun. It's probably a total gamble....

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You need to lower your expectations. Sorry...

clymberz said:

Thanks Denise. I assume the $1 does not come w/ a 2009 week, so it's like paying the 2009 fees as a purchase price, making it a poor deal. There is a 2br 1-52 on tug for $600 which sounds reasonable as long as SDO continues to act as a good trader. My ideal would be to use it to trade into the normal holiday weeks, like WMH/WKV in mid-feb, or spring break (!?), or hawaii or marriot in newport coast in the summer, or a school break DVC or thanksgiving somewhere fun. It's probably a total gamble....

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Your right about it being a total gamble. Expecting to use ANY timeshare to trade into such high demand resorts at peak times is a recipe for disappointment. Many of the trades you mention will be almost impossible to acquire.

Thanks for the honesty. Is there a "perfect" purchase I should make to guarantee those? or should I just rent those weeks from redweek and go after it that way?

thanks

clymberz said:

Thanks Denise. I assume the $1 does not come w/ a 2009 week, so it's like paying the 2009 fees as a purchase price, making it a poor deal. There is a 2br 1-52 on tug for $600 which sounds reasonable as long as SDO continues to act as a good trader. My ideal would be to use it to trade into the normal holiday weeks, like WMH/WKV in mid-feb, or spring break (!?), or hawaii or marriot in newport coast in the summer, or a school break DVC or thanksgiving somewhere fun. It's probably a total gamble....

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Why would you assume that it doesn't come with the 2009 week? Usually, the seller wouldn't ask for the 2009 MF unless you got the 2009 usage.

clymberz said:

Thanks for the honesty. Is there a "perfect" purchase I should make to guarantee those? or should I just rent those weeks from redweek and go after it that way?

thanks

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The problem with holiday weeks isn't having the perfect exchanger - it's availability. Holiday weeks have the highest demand, and owners don't tend to deposit them because they use them themselves, or rent them for big bucks. In the Starwood system, Starwood chooses the deposits, and they don't deposit holiday weeks. If you need holiday weeks, I am afraid exchanging will just be disappointing for you and renting is the way to go. However, if there is a location you want to return to every year, this is a good time to buy a TS in the location and season where you want to go.

I see that you got your TUG membership recorded - Welcome Aboard!

DeniseM said:

The problem with holiday weeks isn't having the perfect exchanger - it's availability. Holiday weeks have the highest demand, and owners don't tend to deposit them because they use them themselves, or rent them for big bucks. In the Starwood system, Starwood chooses the deposits, and they don't deposit holiday weeks. If you need holiday weeks, I am afraid exchanging will just be disappointing for you and renting is the way to go. However, if there is a location you want to return to every year, this is a good time to buy a TS in the location and season where you want to go.

I see that you got your TUG membership recorded - Welcome Aboard!

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Thanks for the warm welcome. You do realize that $15 is pretty expensive. I could have bought 15 SDO timeshares with that money! ;-) j/k

So SDO is not a good idea for holiday weeks. And it's still up in the air whether it will be good after the new point system settles out.

I would be happy with something that I could use for extended weekends in WMH in non-holiday or something like that. Is there a chance that I'd ever be able to use it for WMH in a non-holiday week? I am pretty budget conscious right now...and don't see my family flying to Hawaii every year so am interested in driving distance (from SF Bay Area) resorts.

clymberz said:

Thanks for the warm welcome. You do realize that $15 is pretty expensive. I could have bought 15 SDO timeshares with that money! ;-) j/k

So SDO is not a good idea for holiday weeks. And it's still up in the air whether it will be good after the new point system settles out.

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There is NO resort that will guarantee holiday exchanges...

I would be happy with something that I could use for extended weekends in WMH in non-holiday or something like that. Is there a chance that I'd ever be able to use it for WMH in a non-holiday week? I am pretty budget conscious right now...and don't see my family flying to Hawaii every year so am interested in driving distance (from SF Bay Area) resorts.

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Sure - Look at the Sightings Board (below the Lounge) for lots of examples. Off season exchange are much more doable. On Thurs. I posted over 100 deposits for WKV and someone else said that WMH has a lot of availability, too.

However, extended weekends are not doable, unless you mean you are going to exchange into a week and just use part of it.

Disclaimer - I am basing my answer on what I can see in II NOW - it is hard to say exactly what is going to happen in the future with Starwood and II. But if you get an SDO week that is nearly free - you don't have much to lose.

This is a great time to buy SDO resale weeks. Many timeshare resale prices are the lowest I've ever seen. Many timeshare companies are struggling with the real estate collapse and the economy. Then, Starwood goes and does what it did with II. Many of us who bought SDO resale paid much more than $1. I might buy more at that price. I am tempted, but I already own so many. I am looking outside AZ for my next purchases, since I already live here.

With an SDO week, you can stay at SDO during the holidays if you plan first. I've exchanged with II under both old and new rules and found holiday weeks with 'search first'. The old rules worked great with lots of planning and persistence. Honestly, the new rules stink and this will probably be much more difficult, if not impossible. Many of us are actively complaining to Starwood about it. In the meantime, there are other exchange companies. You can stay at your home resort during the holidays or rent your great reservation out. Can't go wrong with $1 (+plus closing and MF ;-) )...

My personal opinion is that SDO will continue to be a solid II trader. Maybe not quite as good as before, but still very good when you consider the purchase price and maintenance fees. It is a quality resort in a desirable location.

Keep in mind that there is never a guarantee when it comes to trading power. Whenever you buy a timeshare for trading you run the risk that the trade power will decrease.

The Starwood resorts did very well in yesterday's RCI Trade Test - check it out if you haven't seen the thread (you have to be a TUG member to access this link, because it's on the Sightings Board.)

With all the changes - that's very reassuring news!

Troopers - Please note that I posted something POSITIVE about Starwood!

How are your SDO and Vistana Resort units showing up in your II account?

My SDO 2BR 1-52 (which I previously could deposit online as 2 BR or each side seperately) has completely dissappeared from my account.

My Vistana Resort Falls and Springs (all fixed weeks and have been in II as fixed weeks) are now showing as Vistana Resort Float weeks.

Is that the same for you?

I called II Germany and they had no clue why it is like this and even after talking to supervisors and "experts" they had no clue. COuld only tell me that Starwood made that changes to my account and made me ask Starwood. (I did not tell them about the changes Starwood has done...)

Thanks!

DeniseM said:

Troopers - Please note that I posted something POSITIVE about Starwood!

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Denise, noted.

Phew...almost missed this...better late than never.