Westin is bargaining with me ...

[j4sharks Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close j4sharks]

I bouhgt a 2BR-Lockoff at Westin's Maui now-under-construction resort for $57,900, and then rescinded. I am just in escrow now for same type of unit in the existing resort at $31,500. One of the manager" sales guys at Westin just called and left a message saying they will knock off $8K from the purchase price if I go back with them instead of resale.

A couple questions ...

1) Is it typical that Starwood or developers will bargain on price like this?

2) How much value should I put on the Starpoints (hotel points)? They are offering me 100K points to sign, and then 80K every other year if I opt to trade in my Maui unit. Today, 80K points gets me 10 free nights in a Category 4 Starwood property, so that is worth approx $4,000 in today's dollars. The 100K bonus is worth 12 nights or $4,800.

[HappyTrails Member Find all posts View Profile Close HappyTrails]

This is the first time I have ever heard of Starwood (or any of the major hotel-based timeshare developers) bargaining on their price. I find it unusual and surprising. Maybe the market is softer than I thought it was. As for the value of Starpoints - that is debatable. I generally value them at about $.02 each. However, they can be worth more than that - even much more especially if you use them for hotels in Europe. I bought from Starwood and love having a slew of Starpoints and don't regret it - but for most people I would generally recommend buying resale.

[j4sharks Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close j4sharks]

Which property did you buy? And how often do you swap for the Starpoints? Have you found that the points required are rising, or are you getting same relative value for the points you get in swap?

[HappyTrails Member Find all posts View Profile Close HappyTrails]

I bought at Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage. I have never yet elected the Starpoints in lieu of using my unit but might do so at some point. You should be aware that the Starpoints you receive on conversion of your week are fixed whereas each year Starwood re-evaluates their hotels and this tends to increase the hotel category levels meaning that that it will require more Starpoints for stays in their nicer properties. Thus, the value of the Starpoints gets diluted. That said, I love having my Starpoints and will be using them next year for stays in NYC and Phoenix.

[j4sharks Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close j4sharks]

How much dillution have you experienced?

[HappyTrails Member Find all posts View Profile Close HappyTrails]

For example - some properties that had been 10,000 starpoints/night are now 12,000 -16,000 points/night depending on the season.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Why do people buy from a developer when you can get it for a tenth of the price on a resale?
Unless you are really planing on using it and going every year to the same place don't do it!

[j4sharks Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close j4sharks]

OK, but I am planning on going every year to Maui, perhaps skipping every 4th or 5th year. Does that change your view? The Westin offers the studio at this resort for $610/night right now, and I am going to use a full 1BR unit, which costs even more. Plus I can rent my lockoff unit each year for the second week. Starts to make sense, no?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

OK, but I am planning on going every year to Maui, perhaps skipping every 4th or 5th year. Does that change your view? The Westin offers the studio at this resort for $610/night right now, and I am going to use a full 1BR unit, which costs even more. Plus I can rent my lockoff unit each year for the second week. Starts to make sense, no?

Unless you plan on really going there every year I would not buy. Renting it sounds easy but it might not get you what you think you will get you. You will be lucky to cover your MF cost. I would buy at a different Westin Starwood property on the 2 nd hand market and then do an internal exchange with starwood.

BTW I am going to move this thread to the Starwood Forum.

[HappyTrails Member Find all posts View Profile Close HappyTrails]

I stayed at the existing Starwood resort in Maui earlier this year and absolutely loved it. It is a GREAT resort and the new one will be also. You will enjoy it for many years! I would still generally recommend the resale route in most cases.

[j4sharks Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close j4sharks]

OK, so here is the scoop from Westin ... They are not bargaining after all. They are offering me a "resale" from the first phase of the Maui resort. They are buying back units at rate of 1-2 per week to enable owners to upgrade to either better views or into the new Phase. So he is offering me a 2BR-Lockoff in the first Phase for the same price they sold for during the original sales process. This still is $18K more than my resale opportunity, so I am going to stick with my resale.

[SteveCA Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SteveCA]

Buy a resale

If you are planning to use the resort as opposed to trading within the starwood system, save your hard earned money and buy a resale. As others have said, do not buy it to rent out, you won't recover your 1629 dollars a year maintenance fees (outrageous if you ask me).

AS an owner at the same resort, I would not buy again. I would rent it from another owner for a little more than the maintenance fees.

[arlene22 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close arlene22]

The only thing you will lose by buying resale at Maui, is the ability to convert to StarPoints (for hotel stays) every other year. The rule of thumb for calculating value of StarPoints is 2 to 3 cents per StarPoint, which works out to a lot less than the $4000 you are assuming for 80,000 StarPoints. Given the amount you are saving by buying resale, I think you are coming out ahead. Get yourself an SPG Amex card and you will rack up SPG points pretty fast.