Starwood Vacation Network Program offering complimentary enrollment in in SVN

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

I read so many complaints about Starwood lately and timeshare owners have enough of it and are hoping to get many owners together to do something about it. It's awful and that during these tough economic times. What are they thinking?

On top of that you have the thread about the enormous tax increase too in Maui which will raise the maintenance fees higher yet than they are already. I read that it may make a difference of $400 to $500 per week for Starwood owners. That is outrageous. It will affect all timeshares in Maui, I am afraid. It makes so much more sense to rent a condo in this economy and forget about it when you come home until you are ready to go again.

Who wants to buy a timeshare today with all the rules and regulations these developers come up with and the Government is no help either with their greedy hands in our pocket. It's no longer fun to own a timeshare or several of them.

I see resale prices go a lot lower yet for most timeshares if the fees keep on increasing or it will get harder yet to make a trade with all the new restrictions. I don't see a good future for timesharing the way we are heading. Do you feel the same way?

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Emmy I agree totally with you....I am glad I do not own in Hawaii and especially Westin Maui.

I was just able to get two weeks back to back at the Westin Princeville and it was not the ideal weeks but close enough. With all the feedback from Gord, Angela, Greyfal and L2 as well as others it made my thinking clearer about getting it done and not to even dream about trying to get any major prime holiday weeks like christmas new years.

So my VCC investment paid off again...but now since joining SVN my total maint/reserves/taxes/membership costs are $1k plus but I did get a discount on the internal exchange. It was only $104 per exchange VCC for WPV so it sorta balances out.

When I called II I already had a VCC week in the bank that I had reserved and put in there under the old system (easter week)....so I was able to see the SVN weeks deposits in II. But last Nov I had requested that SVN deposit a week into II under the new system. It never did appear in my II account so I called today so I could get that second week....the Starwood II rep did not know what I was talking about with the new system of week assignments.

SVN told me to just call II and tell them my assignment code and all would work out....as I said II did not know what I was talking about and had to put me on hold. They got it cleared up after about 5 mins (not bad) but the II rep told me it would take 24 hrs to see it....then she checked and there it was a minute later so it worked out well. So I just booked it myself right there online while I had the rep wait to see if it worked....it did.

From what I observed there was really no difference in the sightings for SVN weeks between my old system reserved week and the new assigned week system but I only really looked at the Maui and Kauai bulk banks and not much else. I was hoping to do more testing between these weeks but had to take the weeks I wanted while they were there....oh well maybe someone else can run tests between the two systems.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

That is great that u were still able to get what u wanted.....aren't u glad u didn't buy those Hawaii weeks from Starwood for 60K+++ each!

I have two weeks banked from the 'old' system for 2010 - not sure what I will do with 2011....time will tell.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Pat...don't you know it. Some people say buy where you want to go and don't buy to exchange but I have saved so much by not following that advice especially in Hawaii. I would say my VCC week has already paid off well since I have been able to exchange for two weeks in Maui and now two in Kauai....even if I got rid of the week after this the rest is just icing on the cake.

Keep us posted with the stuff you see and good luck with your trades.

That is great that u were still able to get what u wanted.....aren't u glad u didn't buy those Hawaii weeks from Starwood for 60K+++ each!

I have two weeks banked from the 'old' system for 2010 - not sure what I will do with 2011....time will tell.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Pat...don't you know it. Some people say buy where you want to go and don't buy to exchange but I have saved so much by not following that advice especially in Hawaii. I would say my VCC week has already paid off well since I have been able to exchange for two weeks in Maui and now two in Kauai....even if I got rid of the week after this the rest is just icing on the cake.

Keep us posted with the stuff you see and good luck with your trades.

I am stilll waiting for Fall 2010 Harborside - which has been extremely absent

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Well my adventures with SVN have become more interesting than I would have liked.

My exchange at my original II account for one of the WPV weeks using the new SVN "assigned weeks" is still pending confirmation.

When I joined SVN and converted my week to their system they told me they would use my original II account. Now I know why they were confused when I called.

It appears I have to have a separate II SVN related corporate account which should have been set up when I converted to their system. So that is different than what I was told on the phone by several reps.

So I have the exchange on hold in my original account. I sure hope they can work this out....after several days it is not done yet. I just don't want to lose the exchange.

And now I have an extra II account I don't need anymore.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

The only owners who can have their own II account are owners at SVN resorts who are not part of SVN. All SVN owners must share the II corporate account. So the info you got months ago was wrong.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Yes it was. I asked over and over to several different SVN reps about the issue and they assured me that the wrong information was correct. I even asked for my new account that they were paying for out of my dues but I was told it would all be done in my existing account.

I now have the II SVN corporate account. Now I am waiting for the week I had exchanged for to be put in my account. Keeping my fingers crossed.

The only owners who can have their own II account are owners at SVN resorts who are not part of SVN. All SVN owners must share the II corporate account. So the info you got months ago was wrong.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Ok....I got my new II SVN corporate account. But in their haste they messed up our names and that hopefully is being fixed. Of course II has to verify the names with SVN blah blah blah....

And II called today and did the WPV exchange that we had on hold....since it was a representative they charged us an extra $10 even though we had done it originally on-line and SVN/II were the ones who screwed this up. The II rep said she would be happy to back out of the transaction and let me do it on-line...yeah right....no way was I going to let that process lose my exchange so I just agreed to let them have the extra $10.

So hopefully this will be all cleared up in a couple of days....at least we have the exchange that we already booked FF air for.....

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

WOW they want to charge you an extra $10 because the two of them messed it up??

But I do agree, pay the $10 and make sure they don't mess it up again.

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

Glad that you got your II account for SVN working, and that you got your internal exchange!

I am one of those unfortunate folks who paid developer for Maui, and I am feeling the pain of the $2400/year MFs....ouch .

Oh well, lots of great memories for the past seven visits to Maui !

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Denise that just floors me.....$2400 a year.....wow. Does that include the ever increasing taxes in Maui?? How does it break down?

Glad that you got your II account for SVN working, and that you got your internal exchange!

I am one of those unfortunate folks who paid developer for Maui, and I am feeling the pain of the $2400/year MFs....ouch .

Oh well, lots of great memories for the past seven visits to Maui !

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

Denise that just floors me.....$2400 a year.....wow. Does that include the ever increasing taxes in Maui?? How does it break down?

Yes, it floors me, too. It does include the taxes, but I am not sure where. I sort of paid the bill and then filed it.

But I just took it out, and it is too long to type in here, but I own two EOYs.

EOY: Master Assn Assessment $80.18
Apartment Ownership Assessment $205.47
Vacation Ownership Assessment $850.77
SVN Membership Fee $113.53
TOTAL: $1249.95

The other one is the same except for the SVN Fee is $34.38. TOTAL: $1170.79

So actually $2420.74. Yikes. This is the first time I actually added it up .

The letter with the MF bill said that property taxes went up $272.55 per ownership week.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Yes, it floors me, too. It does include the taxes, but I am not sure where. I sort of paid the bill and then filed it.

But I just took it out, and it is too long to type in here, but I own two EOYs.

EOY: Master Assn Assessment $80.18
Apartment Ownership Assessment $205.47
Vacation Ownership Assessment $850.77
SVN Membership Fee $113.53
TOTAL: $1249.95

The other one is the same except for the SVN Fee is $34.38. TOTAL: $1170.79

So actually $2420.74. Yikes. This is the first time I actually added it up .

The letter with the MF bill said that property taxes went up $272.55 per ownership week.

It could be worse, the people who own a 'deluxe' 2BR have fees over 3K (I know u know this Denise- posting for the others)