You are invited to view the video or read the blog:

Aloha, my name is Syed Sarmad and I am the Principal Broker for Advantage Vacation. Advantage Vacation is a licensed real estate company specializing in timeshare resales of name brand timeshares. Our offices are located at the Lahaina Cannery Mall in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. We’ve been in business for over 20 years and our area of specialty is name brand timeshare for Westin timeshares, Marriott timeshares, Hyatt timeshares and Hilton timeshare properties.

Today I would like to provide you with an update on what is taking place with Westin Starwood.

Starwood is the parent company for Westin and recently announced they will be taking their vacation ownership part of their corporation and spinning it off and going public later this year.  It is anticipated that they will go public in November 2015.

They also announced they would be adding on five new resorts into this new portfolio which will include the Sheraton Kauai, Sheraton Steamboat Springs, Westin Cabo, Westin Puerto Vallarta and Westin Cancun.

In addition, they’ve also announced (which by the way I included the information in our newsletter a couple months ago) that they will be adding on their third Westin timeshare resort in Maui which is called the Westin Nanea Ocean Villas. This property is adjacent to the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas North. It will have 390 units and is expected to open in 2017. There’s a lot of discussion and talk that this new property will be on a points program. However, there is no information that has been disclosed by Starwood as to what type of a program it will be and how timeshare resale purchasers will be impacted by that.

As of right now, these five hotel properties I just mentioned – the Sheraton Kauai, Sheraton Steamboat Springs and the three Westin hotels in Mexico – Starwood owners will be able to access these properties through the SPG program. They have not announced whether Starwood owners will be able to use the StarOption program to access these resorts and what impact this new development on the points program will affect timeshare resale purchasers of mandatory resorts where they have StarOption benefits.

I think also on this note it is very important for all consumers to be aware who are looking at Westin timeshares – whether they are thinking of selling their Westin timeshare or purchasing a Westin timeshare – that it is ever so important that they work with a very experienced broker or knowledgeable professional who really understands what is taking place in the Westin timeshares vacation ownership program, how it is impacting their timeshare resale values and what is potentially going to be taking place in the future and how that will affect their ownership.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. Thank you very much.

 

Syed Sarmad, Principal Broker for Advantage Vacation