Timeshares: Explorer vacation Package

 
Old Mar 25, 2008, 1:49 pm
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Newport Beach. CA.USA
Posts: 12
Timeshares: Explorer vacation Package

This may have been answered before, how do we sign up for the Explorer Vacation Package and can it be done more than once?
Newporter is offline  
Old Mar 26, 2008, 1:28 am
  #2  
Company Representative - Starwood
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG
Posts: 4,002
Hi Newporter,

Let me check this. I am quite new to it as well.

Thank you and have a nice day!

[email protected]
Starwood Lurker II is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2008, 1:47 am
  #3  
Company Representative - Starwood
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Singapore
Programs: SPG
Posts: 4,002
Hi Newporter,

Here are the replies:

The Explorer Package is usually sold to our guests who attended one of the presentations at one of the Starwood Vacation Ownership resorts.

It is also possible for an Explorer Package holder who has used their package to purchase another Explorer package.

Hope this helps.

Thank you and have a nice day!

[email protected]
Starwood Lurker II is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2008, 5:27 am
  #4  
DCF
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Programs: Etihad Guest
Posts: 1,549
I can add a little more about the Explorer package on Maui.

If you stay in the Westin or Sheraton hotel and ask a "concierge" for advice they will give it to you, and then try to sell you a "90 minute" timeshare inspection for which you receive 7000 Starpoints.

The actual inspection lasts 2 hours: first they sell you the concept, and how you can convert your annual two bedroom apartment into 80,000 Starpoints and will show you pictures of overwater bungalows in French Polynesia as an example of how you could use those points.

You are then taken to see an oceanfront 2 bedroom unit, and then back to the hotel to be told what is for sale at what price, and how it can be financed, and how if you don't buy now there won't be any left.

If you still don't buy, you are then introduced "on your way out" to a young woman who advises you that she has to check she has the right account for your 7000 Starpoints and has to do a quick survey of your satisfaction. She will then proceed to try to get you to sign up for an Explorer package, at either $1999 or $2999, which you can pay upfront or over 12 months. It provides you with a 5 night return visit (in the cheapest room in the Westin Maui hotel, not the Westin Kaanapali timeshares) and requires you to attend a repeat presentation, and the $1999 or $2999 is removed from the purchase price if you buy. It also locks in the prices you were just offered for a three month period.

I actually did intend to buy, but I knew about the Explorer package and so declined to buy, and then bought the package. I then purchased the timeshare within 3 months (which came with 125,000 Starpoints) and then since I had no use for the 5 night stay I exchanged it for another 100,000 Starpoints.

In other words, if you intend to buy pretend you don't, and then buy an Explorer package and for the same cost you end up with an extra 100,000 Starpoints, although it the becomes much less convenient having to get all the documents sent to your home town and notarised.

Be warned - no Starpoints or Stay / Night credit for Explorer stays, and no elite benefits such as upgrades or late check-out.
DCF is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2008, 9:11 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 36
exchange package?

Hi,
I purchased a Explorer package for Atlantis in Bahamas and got 28000 bonus points. i still have not used it. Can I do Westin Maui instead of Atlantis Bahamas?

Originally Posted by DCF
I can add a little more about the Explorer package on Maui.

If you stay in the Westin or Sheraton hotel and ask a "concierge" for advice they will give it to you, and then try to sell you a "90 minute" timeshare inspection for which you receive 7000 Starpoints.

The actual inspection lasts 2 hours: first they sell you the concept, and how you can convert your annual two bedroom apartment into 80,000 Starpoints and will show you pictures of overwater bungalows in French Polynesia as an example of how you could use those points.

You are then taken to see an oceanfront 2 bedroom unit, and then back to the hotel to be told what is for sale at what price, and how it can be financed, and how if you don't buy now there won't be any left.

If you still don't buy, you are then introduced "on your way out" to a young woman who advises you that she has to check she has the right account for your 7000 Starpoints and has to do a quick survey of your satisfaction. She will then proceed to try to get you to sign up for an Explorer package, at either $1999 or $2999, which you can pay upfront or over 12 months. It provides you with a 5 night return visit (in the cheapest room in the Westin Maui hotel, not the Westin Kaanapali timeshares) and requires you to attend a repeat presentation, and the $1999 or $2999 is removed from the purchase price if you buy. It also locks in the prices you were just offered for a three month period.

I actually did intend to buy, but I knew about the Explorer package and so declined to buy, and then bought the package. I then purchased the timeshare within 3 months (which came with 125,000 Starpoints) and then since I had no use for the 5 night stay I exchanged it for another 100,000 Starpoints.

In other words, if you intend to buy pretend you don't, and then buy an Explorer package and for the same cost you end up with an extra 100,000 Starpoints, although it the becomes much less convenient having to get all the documents sent to your home town and notarised.

Be warned - no Starpoints or Stay / Night credit for Explorer stays, and no elite benefits such as upgrades or late check-out.
premb is offline  
Old Mar 27, 2008, 3:49 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: Royal Holiday
Posts: 19
Have you ever considered a Royal Holiday timeshare package? I am doing some work with Royal Holiday and they just added 12 new destinations - in Cancun, Utah, Texas, Canda, and Dominican Republic; also expanded to Brazil. They have been around for 25 years and have over 67k members.

If you have any questions about Royal Holiday let me know, I'd be glad to get some information for you...and either way, enjoy your vacations.
RoyallyHip84 is offline  
Old Mar 28, 2008, 11:56 am
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Newport Beach. CA.USA
Posts: 12
Timemshares:Explorer Vacation Package

Hi Starwood Lurker II

Thanks for the info. I will follow-up.
Newporter is offline  

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