Which unit do StarOptions come from for a reservation?

When you make a reservation using StarOptions, which unit do they take the SO's from? Or do they just come out of the pool of all units owned?

The reason I ask is that if I wanted to convert some of my units to SPG points, how do I know which units were allocated against any StarOptions reservations I made?

For example, if I make a booking using 81K SO's, ideally I would like those 81K SO's to come from another unit worth 81K SO's.

If they came from a unit worth 90K (my SVR Cascades), I'm left with 9K SO's and I can't convert that unit to SPG points.

If they came from two 76K units (my SVR Spas), I'm left with 71K SO's and I can't convert either of those units to SPG points. I could use the remaining 71K to book a 67,100 studio, but I'm then left with 3,900 SO's, etc.

Hopefully what I'm trying to say makes sense as written

Yes, I realize that I can now carry forward the bits of left-over SO's, so it's not like just losing them on Dec 31st.

I fired off a note on MSC, but I'm curious if anyone else has already asked this...

Well, I always make home resort reservations at 12 mos. out--even when I'm intending to try for an SO reservation at 8 mos. out. When I go to make the SO reservation, I tell the rep which home resort reservation I want to cancel so I can use those specific SOs. That way I know exactly which unit has been used up.

Glorian

Glorian is correct - These are your owned weeks and when you make a Staroptions reservation, you [will want to] tell them exactly which of your weeks to use - it's completely up to you. Starwood has no say in it. It's the same with conversion to Starpoints - you [should] specify which unit(s) to use.

But you can't just call up and say, "I want to convert to Staroptions," - you actually have to make a Staroptions reservation in the same transaction.

If you don't make a reservation, your week will not be converted to Staroptions. You can only make the conversion, if you you are making a reservation using the Staroptions at the same time.

As you pointed out, Staroptions leftover after a Staroptions Resv. cannot be converted to Starpoints, but they can be used for other reservations, or rolled over to the next year. (Only for 4 and 5 Star Elite, this year.)

It wouldn't work any other way - can you imagine what would happen if Starwood was allowed to choose the week you would convert?

i had the same question come up this year. i have never told the agent which unit to use for which reservation and this year i was left with 42500 staroptions. so i told them to take my SDO which is worth 37000 staroptions and convert them to starpoints. they proceeded to tell me that it was used already for an II reservation. i never gave II that unit, i gave them the small 1 br of my SVV but they took it from my SDO instead. i had many conversations with starwood to change the II account (to correct their error) which finally happened. in my II account it stated that the b side of my SVV was used. i took my sdo and converted to starpoints.

now i know i have to tell them which units i want to make a reservation with. and they have to verify that they took the correct unit.

pointsjunkie said:

now i know i have to tell them which units i want to make a reservation with. and they have to verify that they took the correct unit.

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I have the feeling I did the same thing with (at least) one reservation, as I don't recall which unit(s) I specified (if at all) for the SO's for the booking(s).

Another note off on MSC to get what unit(s) they think I used for each reservation(s).

And a note to myself to keep track a bit better.

YYJMSP said:

When you make a reservation using StarOptions, which unit do they take the SO's from? Or do they just come out of the pool of all units owned?

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I've had a lot of experience with this and here is what I know:

1) If you don't specify a unit, they will take one at random. In my experience, they seem to take the one with the lowest SP conversion rate first.

2) If you specify which one to use, they will use it (assuming it isn't already committed to something else like a home resort reservation). Unfortunately, it can sometimes be difficult to see which units have been used and which ones haven't. For full developer units, you can go into the reservation area and request a conversion to SP's (but not completing the transaction). This will tell you for each unit exactly what has been reserved and what hasn't for the current and next use years. Of course, this process doesn't work for mandatory resale units since those can't be converted to SP's.

3) When you cancel a reservation, the SO's *do not* go back to the unit they came from, they just sit in your account as available SO's not tied to any unit. There are separate piles for restricted and unrestricted and restricted SO's are automatically used first, whenever possible.

4) You can "reconstitute" a unit that you've already used if you have the SO's available and that unit was not specifically committed for an irrevocable purpose (i.e., home resort reservation, SP conversion or II exchange). You can also switch which units you've already used by converting an unused unit to SO's (which go into your unassigned SO pile) and then "reconstituting" a previously used unit which can then be reused for a different purpose, such as conversion to SP's.

Hopefully, that makes sense...

pathways, ... "You can also switch which units you've already used by converting an unused unit to SO's (which go into your unassigned SO pile) and then "reconstituting" a previously used unit which can then be reused for a different purpose, such as conversion to SP's."

That has been the key to the lock. I have done it before. However, I have not done it this year because I have not yet decided whether to bank the available StarOptions by December 31 or convert a week of them to Starpoints before October 1.

I'm not sure pointsjunkie knew about this exact procedure. But, pj is a 5* Elite. She probably called on the Elite line and got an experienced SVN agent. They go out of their way to help accomplish things. Since pj has not had trouble before, maybe the "reconstituting" procedure was abolished in return for the new ability to bank available StarOptions. We will find out more as September 30 (the StarOption conversion deadline for 4 and 5* Elites) approaches. ... eom

pathways25 said:

I've had a lot of experience with this and here is what I know:

1) If you don't specify a unit, they will take one at random. In my experience, they seem to take the one with the lowest SP conversion rate first.

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It appears that they did exactly what I didn't want. They took a full smaller unit which wasn't worth enough SO's, and then took part of another larger unit, essentially rendering it useless for potential conversion to SPG points at a later date if I chose to do so.

So, I've got them "fixing" it so that specific whole units, or whole subdivisions of a lock-off, are being used.

I'm wondering if some of this is because I have cancelled and rebooked a few reservations a couple of times.

Ick.

I wish Starwood would automatically send out an emailed receipt for every transaction. Can you imagine going to the bank, and withdrawing $100, and not knowing what account they took it out of when you got home? It's just sloppy.

DeniseM said:

I wish Starwood would automatically send out an emailed receipt for every transaction. Can you imagine going to the bank, and withdrawing $100, and not knowing what account they took it out of when you got home? It's just sloppy.

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That would just make too much sense.

On the hotel side, if you redeem SPG points, you get a transaction confirmation (in addition to the reservation confirmation):


Something like that, including an indication of where SO's are coming from, for a timeshare transaction would be wonderful.

Right now, you just get your reservation confirmation, which either says:


or


No indication of where the SO's came from...

written confirmation

YYJMSP said:

That would just make too much sense.

On the hotel side, if you redeem SPG points, you get a transaction confirmation (in addition to the reservation confirmation):

You have successfully redeemed Starpoints® for a Free Night Award. Details of the redemption are listed below; please save this email for your records.

Starting Starpoints balance – xxx,499
Number of Starpoints redeemed – xxx,000
New Starpoints balance – xx,499
Stay Dates – xx-xxx-2012–xx-xxx-2012
Hotel – The Westin Resort & Casino, Aruba
​

Something like that, including an indication of where SO's are coming from, for a timeshare transaction would be wonderful.

Right now, you just get your reservation confirmation, which either says:

Home Resort Reservation​

or

StarOptions® used for this reservation: xx,000​

No indication of where the SO's came from...

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I agree!! I am finally learning to have a script when I call so I don't forget to tell them something and to take notes while we talk so I can refer back after. Sheesh!

LJT said:

I agree!! I am finally learning to have a script when I call so I don't forget to tell them something and to take notes while we talk so I can refer back after. Sheesh!

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I prefer to use the online chat, as you get a transcript of the conversation.

Gotta remember to add the "which unit this comes from" part to the conversation from now on.

More than 6 years of ownership, and still making mistakes...

A tidbit from the MSC agents:

Please keep in mind that as a multiple week owner, the StarOptions from all of your weeks of ownership are combined and used as necessary to book reservations. As a multiple week owner, StarOptions for reservations booked eight months or less can be re-arranged at a later time if you choose to convert a week to StarPoints or book a Home Resort Preference Period reservation.

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