Sheraton Vistana, Starpoints and exchanging

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Original Message:

Re: Sheraton Vistana, Starpoints and exchanging (by Alfred N G.):

libby31 wrote:
Hi Everyone that owns a Sheraton property, I have a question that is maybe more general than just the Vistana. My husband and I are considering purchasing a Sheraton property. We aren't sure which one yet. The reason we are not sure is because we like to exchange and go to lots of different places. We are interested in Sheraton because they seem to have many locations that are different than where we have been and are where we would like to go next. We currently own Marriott in Orlando, the Grand Vista. We use it and exchange it and have been very happy with Marriott BUT there are places we would like to go that we can not get into that Sheraton has resorts at so we are thinking about adding a Sheraton to our ownership. Sorry that was long winded. Here are the questions: If we buy at Vistana in Orlando what is the likelihood of exchanging to Atlantis in the Bahamas or the Westin on St John's? Are the Starpoints worth buying from the developer? (Our Marriott ones were) How many (I get the "point" names mixed up) Star-- do we need to be able to exchange to the hard to get locations that I mentioned? Does Sheraton have an owner preference exchange system like Marriott? (Owners get first chance at exchange before going to the general exchange populace) Thanks for your help on this.
Hi, My wife and I currently own a Lock-Off and 2 1-BedRoom units at Sheraton's Vistana Resort.These units all have different values that translate into StarOptions (another point system).The 2-BedRoom Lock-off = 81,000,each of the 1-BedRooms = 37,000.For a total of 155,000 StarOptions.Inthe past we have exchanged our Lock-Off(81,000) for a 1-BedRoom Premium at their Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort in Maui. We have also exchanged one of our 1-BedRoom units(37,000)for a 1-BedRoom at Atlantis Harborside (weeks 35-46).We found those exchanges to be well worth it!When we recently inquired about redeeming our 1-BedRoom unit for StarPoints,we were informed that it was worth ONLY 22,000 StarPoints!So,as a result,we will NEVER USE THE UNITS AS EXCHANGE FOR STARPOINTS.Oh, by the way, StarPoints can ONLY be used at their HOTELS.The StarOptions are for resort to resort.We hope that this information is helpful to you.