Starwood is a family of several hotel brands connected through a common system of point exchange. Brands within Starwood’s network include Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis, Le Méridien and W Hotels.
Starwood Vacation Ownership (SVO) features 19 villa resorts within Starwood’s larger network of 940 hotels. Starwood owners purchase a specific residence type at a home resort on either a fixed or floating basis. Floating owners receive a number of points, known as StarOptions. StarOptions are used to make reservations at any of Starwood’s 19 villa resorts.
Restrictions on resale differ based on the home resort. Six Starwood resorts allow owners to convert their residence into StarOptions for use throughout SVO, and 13 do not. Owners at the latter may only make reservations at their home resort.
At Starwood, owners purchase a deeded interest at one of 19 Starwood resorts. Units may be purchased on a fixed-week or floating-season basis. Owners of a fixed week purchase a residence type to be used the same week each year. Members who purchase a floating week have access to a residence type to be reserved during a season.
Owners have the option of converting their deeded week into a number of points, known as StarOptions. The number of points that an owner receives depends on their home resort, residence type and season. These points allow floating owners to reserve other units, outside their deeded season, residence type and home resort.
Purchasing a two-bedroom lock-off at the Westin Ka’anapali during the Platinum Plus season is equivalent to 148,100 StarOptions. Owners may use their StarOptions to make any number of reservations equivalent to their point value.
Starwood owners who purchase a timeshare directly from the developer may also convert their StarOptions to Starpoints. Starpoints may be used towards tours, cruises and reservations at Starwood’s larger network of 940 hotels. Owners of a Starwood timeshare purchased on the resale market may not convert their StarOptions to Starpoints.
Owners may reserve a full-week at their home resort as early as 12 months in advance. From 12 to 8 months in advance, floating owners may only reserve a full-week within their home resort and season.
Reservations for fixed-week timeshares are booked automatically each year, but owners must still call to confirm their booking with Starwood at least 10 months ahead of their scheduled week. The Sheraton Vistana allows owners to confirm as late as 8 months ahead of their deeded week. If fixed-owners do not confirm their reservation, their week will be placed within the pool of floating weeks.
From 8 months until the day of arrival, owners may use their StarOptions to reserve a week at Starwood’s network of 19 villa resorts. Reservations must be made for a full-week or more. Owners may reserve any residence type in any season at any Starwood timeshare resort, given they have enough StarOptions to make the booking. For reservations longer than a week, owners may combine their StarOptions from multiple units.
From 91 days until the date of arrival, owners may book nightly stays and may borrow StarOptions from their next use year.
Owners may bank their StarOptions for use up to two years after the current use year. Banked StarOptions cannot be converted into Starpoints or deposited with the exchange company for stays outside of Starwood’s network.
Owners may borrow points from the next year for use during the 90-day express reservation period.
Owners may convert their StarOptions into Starpoints, the reward currency of Starwood’s larger network of 940 hotels. Conversion rates vary by the owner’s home resort. Starpoints are valid for up to six years and may be converted once every other year. Owners have three opportunities to convert their StarOptions to Starpoints over this six-year period.
Owners have from October 1 of their previous use year to March 31 of their current use year to convert their StarOptions to Starpoints.
Starpoints may be used to book reservations at Starwood hotels, redeemed for travel credits or used towards exclusive vacation adventures and tours.
All Starwood hotels are ranked in seven categories based on location and the quality of accommodations. The number of points required to reserve a free night at a Starwood hotel is based on its category and the season.
All external exchanges at non-Starwood resorts and internal exchanges at Starwood properties outside of the owner’s home resort are handled through Interval International (II). However, some older residences have access to exchanges through RCI.
Cancellations made within 24 hours of scheduling a reservation do not carry penalties or restrictions on use. Cancellations made more than 24 hours after the reservation was made will incur a $29 fee. Reservations made 24 hours after cancellation and less than 60 days prior to arrival are restricted in their use. They can only be redeemed within a reservation window of 60 days in advance and cannot be banked.
Starwood offers three tiers of Elite membership for those owning multiple weeks.
Owners with two or more weeks and 159,000 StarOptions gain Three Star Elite status. Three Star members may convert their StarOptions to Starpoints every year (rather than every other year) and have until July 1 (rather than March 31) to do so. These members will also receive 30,000 Starpoints for referring people to Starwood Vacation Ownership.
Four Star members receive 35,000 Starpoints for referrals, the ability to convert StarOptions to Starpoints until October 1 and a 10% premium on Starpoint conversion.
Five Star members receive 40,000 Starpoints for referrals and have access to early check-in and late checkout. They can also enroll on a hotel’s waitlist, which allows owners priority on unavailable residences without first having to cancel their current reservations.
Restrictions on using StarOptions outside of the home resort are dependent upon the resort in which the resale was purchased. Currently, Starwood indicates two types of resorts: Mandatory and Voluntary. Purchasing a resale at one of Starwood’s six Mandatory resorts allows owners to use StarOptions normally. Purchasing a resale at one of Starwood’s 13 voluntary resorts does not allow owners to access the benefits of StarOptions. Instead, these owners can only stay within their home resort.
Starwood Mandatory Resorts:
Starwood Voluntary Resorts:
Use of the Starpoint system is only available to those who purchase a timeshare directly from the developer. Owners of a Starwood resale do not have access to Starpoint rewards and are not eligible for Elite membership.
* Vacatia has compiled details about each club from multiple sources of information, such as member guides and owner manuals. Please note that details regarding any club, such as use rights, reservation policies, exchange privileges, etc., are subject to change from time to time. Please contact clubs@vacatia.com if you have suggested edits.
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