posted 08-31-2004 12:00               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pedro:
What was included in the Explorer Package at WMH? Was it also 5-nights as in Maui?

---

Nope - it was 5 nights at WMH...when pressed, could split it amongst 2 rooms (i.e. a 3 and a 2). Seemed very keen to get the explorer package sold, but I guess it was a v. quiet time of year.

posted 11-18-2004 16:01               

quote:

---

Originally posted by stevens397:
Going to Westin St. john for President's Week - traded my 2BR at Kierland for a 3BR in St. John! Anyone know if they sell an Explorer package there? If so, how do I sign up for it?

---

Usually you are offered an Explorer Package if you take the presentation and are not sure whether to buy or not. The salesperson will offer you a chance to come back, meet with him/her again, and then decide. Usually you have at least a year to use the package and maybe longer. I'm sure that they are offering a package there. Are you considering a purchase from the developer there? Do you want to buy an Explorer Package before you go? If so, I can probably find you the right person to buy it from.

[This message has been edited by deniselew1 (edited 11-18-2004).]

posted 11-19-2004 08:23            

The travel package is the standard offer from Starwood. My wife and I used it last year at the Westin Maui. No sales presentation is required, but they dangle the carrot of either bonus points or $$. We received $175 bucks credit that you can use at the hotel or you can double it ($350) if you use it toward your bill at checkout. We also asked to be upgraded to an ocean view room and got it. The presentation was exactly 90 minutes (thanks to my wife's timekeeping ).

We then signed for the Explorer package which was $1995.00. We get a 5 night stay and 50,000 Starpoints. We are going back to Maui one month from yesterday. Yes, we are committed to another sales presentation. However, thanks to a year of research and education, and thanks to TUG, I am armed with a boatload of relevant and educated questions.

I really want to hear them justify why I should not buy on the resale market.

Here's the decision I am trying to make. Buy a regular 2-bedroom oceanview unit on the resale market fot around 38k...or...buy from the developer a deluxe 2-br non-oceanview for 40k and take the annual starpoints with it. Total cost is about the same...deluxe unit is a little bigger, get the starpoints...but no oceanview and maybe get some highway noise from the non-oceanview.

posted 11-19-2004 10:55               

I'm going to St. John on a trade, but I felt the deal sounds so good that it might be a good way to lock in another vacation down there. I'm sure I'll love it there, but I would feel better waiting until I got down there to excercise this.

I think we're all getting pretty good at sitting through these presentations. Besides, my marriage could be in jeopardy if I purchased another timeshare!

Thanks for the offer, though.

posted 11-21-2004 06:39            

Bottom line is, I think most of us here know a LOT more about SVN that the sales staff at most of their villas. They are primarily concerned with selling the concept of the network as well as the "financial benefit" to ownership. When I started asking questions about resale, they really had no answers, and the ones they did were factually dubious at best.

The question that I would highly recommend you ask to push them is what do they plan to do about point deflation? Every year Starwood raises the redemtion level making our points less and less valuable. They do thris in three ways, sometimes they simply raise the amount of points for a category requirement, but more often they either shift hotels into higher categories (Priceville used to be a 4, now it's a 5 I believe) and/or expand enormous high season ranges for the cat 5-6 properties(try looking at the Italian properties).

What this means is that over time, those 80k points they allot you won't get you as far as they will today and they have absolutely no answer for that. In my opinion, you're paying a huge premium for the right to convert points (which is generally a bad deal to begin with considering rental values of the Maui units), and that premium is in decline no matter how you look at it.