Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc. (SVO)

Starwood Vacation Network  (SVN)

(Previously encompassed some Westin, Sheraton, Embassy and Vistana resorts) 

Revised 10/06/2007

Submitted by

“seenett”

 

Disclaimer: The information presented here has been gathered from my experience as a SVN member, my membership materials, and conversations with other owners and SVN personnel.  I have no affiliation with Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., other that I am an owner of a SVN week.  I have tried to be as accurate as possible, any errors or omissions are mine.  SVN reserves the right to modify the program at any time.  Please visit their website at http://www.starwoodvo.com

 

 

Starwood is another major hotel chain which has jumped into the vacation ownership arena. Starwood’s hotel properties include Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, and W Hotels.  SVO refers to their timeshare sales program.  SVN refers to their internal exchange network, and enrollment is included with a new purchase.  SVN costs $99/year (paid with maintenance fees).  Participation is mandatory at some resorts; voluntary at others.  If purchasing a second week, it can be added to the SVN membership for $30/year (no additional charge for 3 or more weeks owned).  SVN membership also includes an account with Interval International (new resorts).  The II account is technically a Starwood corporate account, with all II membership fees paid by Starwood.  More on this is under EXTERNAL EXCHANGE below.

 

While SVO is only a few years old, they have purchased several quality properties from other developers, and built several of their own (with more planned).  These properties are all Gold Crown/5Star and rival Marriott and Royal properties in terms of size, amenities, and furnishings.  Current properties include:

 

Sheraton’s Broadway Plantation (formerly Embassy Vacation Resorts at Myrtle Beach)

Sheraton’s Desert Oasis (formerly Embassy Vacation Resorts Scottsdale)

Sheraton’s Mountain Vista, Avon CO.

Sheraton’s PGA Vacation Resort, Port St. Lucie, FL

Sheraton’s Vistana Resort (Lakes and Cascades sections only), Orlando

Sheraton’s Vistana Villages, Orlando

Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Maui

Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas North (under construction), Maui

Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas (under construction), Kauai

Westin Mission Hills Resort Villas, Rancho Mirage CA

Westin Kierland Resort, Scottsdale AZ

Westin St. John’s Resort Villas (formerly Virgin Grand Villas/Hyatt Regency), USVI

Lakeside Terrace, Avon CO

Harborside Resort at Atlantis (jointly built by Starwood and Sol Enterprises), Nassau

Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort (under construction), Cancun

 

As of 2000/2001, these properties came under the umbrella of SVO.  New owners also join SVN for $99/year.  Owners who bought from the previous developer or a third party (resale) may or may not be able be able to join SVN (more under Eligibility below).

 

Older, existing resorts are keeping their previous affiliations with RCI; however all new properties will be with II only.  Note that other properties with Westin/Sheraton names are NOT part of SVO (i.e. Club Regina Cancun/Los Cabos at the Westin, Whiski Jack at the Westin, Sheraton’s Vistana Resort at Golf World Village, Sheraton Island Villas). 

 

SVN -STAROPTIONS

 

SVN properties are deeded resorts, with either fixed or float time; ownership is not points based.  Fixed weeks owners may reserve a float week instead.  Owners may trade with RCI and/or II.  However, for internal trading to other SVN resorts, SVN has developed a unique points based system.  Weeks are assigned a “StarOption” point value, depending on the resort, season, and size of the unit. 

 

Weekly StarOption values for each resort/season/size can be found at http://www.starwoodvo.com/ownership/staroptionChart.jsp

Daily StarOptions values for each resort/season/size can be found at http://www.starwoodvo.com/ownership/daily_staroptionChart.jsp

There is no charge to use StarOptions instead of reserving the week you actually own.

 

As an example, here are some StarOption values:

 

WESTIN MISSION HILLS (WMH)

Unit	Season	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	WEEK
2bedroom	Platinum	14,800	14,800	14,800	22,225	29,625	29,625	22,225	148,100
1bedroom	Gold	4,400	4,400	4,400	6,600	8,800	8,800	6,600	44,000

 

SHERATON’S VISTANA VILLAGES

Unit	Season	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	WEEK
2bedroom	Platinum	9,550	9,550	9,550	14,350	19,175	19,175	14,350	95,700
1bedroom	Gold	4,400	4,400	4,400	6,600	8,800	8,800	6,600	44,000

 

EXAMPLES: 

 

12 - 8 months in advance (home resort preference period)

• 12 - 10 months in advance (home resort priority period):  Fixed week owners call to confirm usage of their fixed week, or request a different week in their season.  Float week owners can request a floating week in their season.
• 10 – 8 months in advance (home resort float period): If a Fixed week owner does not reserve his fixed week by month 10, it is made available to Float owners.  Both Fixed and Float owners can reserve any week within their season during this period.  Note that during this period, owners can only reserve a week at their home resort and season.

 

8 – 0 months in advance (network float period)

• 8 – 0 months in advance, owners can use their StarOptions to reserve any week at any SVN resort based on StarOptions value. Using the chart above, a Vistana Villages 1-bedroom gold owner (44,000) can reserve a 1-bedroom WMH gold (also 44,000).  A 2-bedroom platinum Vistana Villages owner (95,700) could reserve two 1-bedroom gold WMHs (2 x 44,000) and have 7,700 StarOptions remaining.  A platinum 2-bedroom owner could reserve three 1-bedroom weeks during gold season (148,000 minus 3 x 44,000 = 132,000).  This owner would use 132,000 StarOptions and have 16,100 remaining. Starwood also allows incremental daily stays as well.  In this example, the remaining 16,100 StarOptions can be used to reserve an additional Thursday and Friday (6,600 and 8,800) during the gold season.  Doing this, he has turned his 2-bedroom platinum week into 23 days in a 1-bedroom gold season.  Incremental day reservations can be made during the network float period ONLY WHEN used consecutively in conjunction with a full week.
• 90 days in advance (network options period): Remaining unused StarOptions can be used to reserve individual days at any resort, regardless if they are used consecutively with a full week.  An owner can use his StarOptions to reserve, for example, several 3 or 4-day weekend trips.  During this 90-day period, StarOptions may also be borrowed from next year for use during the current year.

 

StarOptions are very flexible and allow for guaranteed reservations (subject to availability) without using an external exchange company.  However, StarOptions cannot be carried over into a future year, and expire if not used within the current year.

 

SVN-STARPOINTS

 

Not to be confused with StarOptions, StarPoints refers to Starwood’s Preferred Guest program (SPG).  SPG is similar to other major hotel frequent stay programs.  Owners (who purchase “new” weeks directly from Starwood) are automatically enrolled and given Gold membership.  Owners may relinquish their weeks in non-consecutive years for a pre-determined amount of StarPoints.  Since I originally wrote this guide, Starwood has improved this feature.  Owners of 2-bedroom lockout units now can convert half of their unit into StarPoints and keep the other half for their use or to deposit with RCI/II.  This may be done every year, as long as the owner alternates which half is converted to StarPoints.  There is a $99 fee to convert to StarPoints and the annual maintenance fee must be paid.  To convert, the request must be made no earlier than Oct 1^st of the year before and no later than March 31^st of the use year (6 month window).

 

StarPoints may be used for free hotel stays, frequent flier miles, etc.  A nice feature is that Starwood has no blackout periods for award redemption.  Also, hotel redemptions can be done online instantly at the Starwood website.  When transferring StarPoints to a frequent flier account, Starwood gives a 20% bonus.  If you were to transfer 20,000 StarPoints to your frequent flier account, you would actually get 25,000 miles. StarPoints usually exchange 1:1 for miles.  For more information, see http://www.spg.com

 

ELIGIBILITY

 

All weeks purchased directly from the developer (Starwood) are assigned a StarOption and StarPoint value and the owner may participate fully in the programs.  Resale weeks (not purchased directly from Starwood) may or may not participate in the SVN program using StarOptions.  Since I originally wrote this article, Starwood will allow third party buyers (resale) of “SVN mandatory” resorts to participate in SVN.  Third party buyers (resale) of “SVN non-mandatory” (also sometimes called “voluntary”) resorts cannot participate in SVN.  If considering the purchase of a resale week, you should contact owner services to confirm eligibility.  Resale weeks are not assigned a StarPoints value, so resale owners will not be allowed to exchange for SPG StarPoints, regardless if they are SVN mandatory or SVN non-mandatory resorts.

 

In 2006, Starwood made it a bit more difficult for resale owners of SVN mandatory resorts:  They currently do no allow resale StarOptions to be combined.  For example, if you own two resale weeks worth 81,000 and 67,100 StarOptions, you can not combine them to reserve a week worth 148,100 StarOptions. They must be used separately.  Starwood management is currently debating the wisdom of this policy, and it may change in the future.

 

 

 

Resorts that are “SVN mandatory”

SVN membership mandatory for both new and resale buyers:

 

• Harborside Resort
• Vistana Villages
• Westin St. John
• Westin Ka'anapali
• Westin Kierland Villas

 

Resorts that are “SVN non-mandatory”

SVN membership voluntary for developer buyers; not available to resale buyers

 

• Vistana Resort
• Broadway Plantation
• Desert Oasis
• Lakeside Terrace
• PGA Vacation Resort
• Mountain Vista
• Westin Mission Hills

 

Two exceptions to this rule:

 

1. Owners of some older resorts built and sold by a previous developer (Embassy, Vistana, etc.) before Starwood took control may be allowed to “buy in” to the SVN network and participate fully in the StarOption and StarPoint features; though sometimes at reduced point values.  Because many of these resort weeks were purchased before SVN was introduced, there is very limited availability of these weeks within the SVN system.  On occasion, SVO will offer SVN membership to the current owners of these weeks in order to get more weeks from that resort to be available within SVN.  I have never seen SVN offer membership to a resale owner of a Starwood built “SVN voluntary” resort – this is because these resorts already have an abundant supply of SVN available weeks.
2. Any Starwood resale week (mandatory or non-mandatory) may be “re-qualified” into SVN, and both StarOptions and StarPoints values will be restored, as if they had been purchased new from the developer.   This new exception appears to have started in 2005 when Starwood introduced the Elite Benefits program (more on this below).  The bottom line is that you must also buy a new “developer” week to re-qualify an existing week.. 

 

TUG user “duke” reported the following in May 2006:

 

“…SVO will requalify a resale purchase with membership in the SVN network if the owner makes a purchase directly from the developer. This is in the SVO policy manual. There is no specific requirement on what resort or what week or how much the developer purchase must be. As well, I found that there are specific forms the developer has to use to requalify the resale.

The idea here is that the developer wants to make a sale and if so they will requalify one of your resale weeks for each week purchased. They do not have to be the same Price, StarOption or StarPoint value.

I had purchased several resale weeks at a Voluntary resort. I then purchased the same number of weeks from the Developer. I had all my resale weeks "retro" as if I had purchased from the developer. My resale weeks now have StarOptions and can be exchanged, StarPoints for conversion, and I am in the Elite Program.

 

Here is the procedure I recommend:

1) You need to first make the resale purchase and then have it recorded by SVO. For Voluntary resorts this will NOT give you StarOptions, StarPoints, or Elite status. For Mandatory resorts this will only give you ability to exchange.

2) After SVO makes the entry you can check your ownership on MyStarCentral.com

3. Contact a salesperson at the resort you want to purchase from the developer. Make sure they agree that if you purchase from the developer they will "retro" your specific resale week with StarOptions, StarPoints, and Elite Status. DO NOT SIGN THE CONTRACT WITHOUT THIS AGREEMENT IN WRITING. It may be an addendum to your contract (not in my case) or, for me, they provide you with copies of the documents used by the original owner of the resale with your name to sign. See next...

4. The documents I was provided with were copies of the original 1)SVO Notification, 2) SVN Owner Membership Agreement, 3) StarPoints Disclosure Statement, 4) II Membership Application, and 5) SVN Elite Level Enrollment Form. Again, these forms are for the RESALE and were copies that had been signed by the original owner with MY name and old contract number inserted. You need to sign these at the same time as your Developer purchase.

I made my purchase over the phone and received the developer purchase documents in the mail. I waited to sign until I had the documents to requalify my resales. As well, the process was documented in e-mails.”

 

 

ELITE PROGRAM

 

In 2005 Starwood introduced the Elite program, designed to encourage multiple week ownership. The idea being the more weeks you own, the better the additional benefits.  The three membership levels and their corresponding benefits are summarized here:

 

Three Star Member ***   must own 2 or more weeks worth at least 159,000 StarOptions

o        Ability to convert to SPG points every year rather than every other year

o        Avis Preferred Membership

o        SVN Elite rate at TPC golf courses

o        Exclusive “Owner Services” team     

o        Can request a villa upgrade 30 days prior (based on availability)

o        StarPoint Referral of 30,000 StarPoints (if you refer someone who buys a week -  normal referral is 20,000 StarPoints)     

 

Four Star Member ****   must own weeks worth at least 359,000 StarOptions

o        All Three Star benefits above

o        $99 StarPoint conversion fee waived

o        2:00pm villa check-in

o        Welcome call

o        Can request a villa upgrade 60 days prior (based on availability)

o        StarPoint Referral of 35,000 StarPoints

o        Ability to “wait list” for another reservation without having to cancel a confirmed reservation

 

Five Star Member *****   must own weeks worth at least 559,000 StarOptions

o        All Four Star benefits above

o        Annual SVN membership fee waived ($129)

o        Automatic SPG Platinum membership

o        Late villa check out (noon)

o        Welcome letter from GM upon check in

o        StarPoint Referral of 40,000 StarPoints

o        Automatic villa upgrade 60 days prior (based on availability)

 

Starwood owners debate the merits of Elite benefits.  Almost all owners agree that the most valuable benefits are at the Five Star level:  automatic villa upgrade (size, view, floor) and SPG Platinum membership. 

 

 

EXTERNAL EXCHANGE

 

As stated previously, owners can also exchange their weeks through either RCI (some older resorts) or Interval International (newer resorts).   When a new SVO week is purchased and enrolled in SVN, the owner is also automatically given a membership account with II.  The account is a “Starwood Corporate” account, and Starwood pays all the membership fees.  If you decide to trade your week with II, Starwood can give you ANY week from ANY Starwood resort to trade with.  In my opinion, there are a few drawbacks and a few benefits to this system. 

 

Drawbacks:

• This account is only for Starwood SVN weeks.  No other timeshare weeks can be used with this account.  In my case, I now have two II accounts – the account with only my Starwood week, and a separate account with my other timeshare weeks.  Starwood will not let an owner “waive” this account or put a SVN week in a different account.
• When depositing a floating week with II, Starwood actually picks the week; the owner does not get his choice of weeks. This week can be from ANY STARWOOD RESORT. This can be a problem for the owner, especially if you own a high demand week at a high demand resort.  If you own at Ka’anapali (a high demand resort), you could be assigned an August week at Westin Mission Hills (a low demand week).  Also remember that an individual resorts’ seasons don’t necessarily correspond to the way that II ranks seasons.  For example, Harborside has three seasons (platinum, gold, and silver).  For exchanging purposes, II considers every season at Harborside “red” (high).  So even though you may own in the high demand platinum season, you may be assigned a lower demand silver week to deposit.  Although II claims every week is red, every red week is not equal.  Remember the “value” of your week depends very much on the demand, and a higher demand week will be “worth” more trading power.  If a well-informed Starwood owner “objects” to being assigned a certain week to trade with, SVN may be flexible – knowledge is power!
• Although you can “shop” your floating week using your II online account, it is still an unassigned generic week.  You might see “redder” exchange weeks available if you were shopping with a specific, high demand week.
• Starwood will only let you deposit a week at your home resort.  This means that you can’t use StarOptions to reserve a week at another SVN resort during the Network Float Period and deposit that week.

 

Benefits:

• The II account is included with SVN, so you will not have to pay the normal membership fees.
• Because Starwood picks the week to deposit instead of you, you do have more options.  At any given time, Starwood has numerous developer-owned weeks in a “master” account with II.  These weeks include unsold inventory, and weeks owners have converted into StarPoints or StarOptions.  When you (as an owner) decide to deposit your week, Starwood will transfer one of these weeks from their II account into yours.  Although you don’t get the benefit of picking the exact week, you do get the benefit of receiving a “previously deposited” week, which carries with it the original deposit date.  Earlier deposits are valued more than later deposits.  This way, you can decide at any time of the year to deposit your week, and you will still get the benefit of an early deposit.  I have actually deposited a week that had already passed.  It was a week that Starwood held in their II account.  Although the date had passed and someone had already traded into it, I was given full credit in my account – just as if I had deposited it up to a year earlier.

 

If you have questions, please post them on TUG’s Hotel Based Timeshare forum, located at http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30

There are many knowledgeable owners willing to help!

 

seenett