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Re: Starwood Vacation Ownership (by Brian D.):

We are both SVO and Marriott owners and find that SVO has more advantages than Marriott. We own at Harborside in Atlantis, our week is deeded and guaranteed each year unless we want to exchange it. There are 3 ways to exchange with Starwood, using options for any other Starwood resort, convert to SPG points for hotels or deposit with Interval.

Marriott offer the same home resort/season reservation process, but you have to use II to exchange for any other Marriott property or time frame even at your home resort. SVO allows owners home resort preference time for best reservation requests.

I have looked into additional units through resale and find the prices to be about the same as what we paid for comparable units and seasons. Our first purchase was 2004 so this may change over a 10 year period.

It has taken some travel training but I find that we maximize the system and have traveled 3-4 times a year since we began ownership. The points may not be of direct interest to stay in a hotel but they can be used for other advantages like show tickets, airline tickets and other promotions. The bonus points that we received at closing sent us to Hawaii for 10 nights (FREE) One word of advise...purchase at your preferred resort destination. Good luck