EC Traveler

Yeah so here's some of the deal. I am an Owner at Harborside at Atlantis and talked at length with the Owner "Friendship Referral" coordinator. As baz48 has indicated, the first thing is that current owners of any SVO property cannot take advantage of this; this highly annoys me cuz I'd love to go to the Princeville for $799...

Anyways, I suspect they can do this for many resorts but here are the figures I was told:

$798 for 5 nights at Princeville; you need not attend any presentation; what I don't remember is if the Avis credit comes with this
$749 for 5 nights at Westin Maui; again, no attendance at presentation required; you also get the $185 Avis credit and a $75 Resort fee
$749/$949/$1149 for 5 nights at Atlantis in the Bahamas; the 3 prices are for Beach, Coral, or Royal Towers with no credits/bonuses

Each of these appear to be spectacular deals that I wish I could use. As baz mentioned also, I too can send in names and addresses and phone numbers for anyone to get these rates. So for those who have been cross-reading about 48,000 points versus $798 the choice is pretty clear.

As for availability; when you "buy" this package you have 1 year to use it. I can't speak to too much availability but I had her check several dates at Atlantis and there are even February dates available for 2005 so she said mainly the holidays are bad but otherwise not too hard to get your dates. Take that for what its worth.

Also - there are some posts about the Explorer Package. You may only do a SVO promo once per year - she indicated it is TRAVEL once in 365 days. So my friend who also got the $1599 Explorer Package with 18 months to use is SOL b/c she can't go 5 nights on Explorer in Maui and then 5 nights into Princeville. Too bad, that would have been genious...FYI...in my humble opinion, the Explorer Package is just OK; $1600 for 5 nights is kinda high, but you do get the 50,000 points; in my mind, the $1600 buys you the 50,000 points and you get 5 nights free where you vacation, so its OK but not SUPER.

Anyways, I gotta figure out a way for owners to be able to get in on this. I will cross post this in a couple SPG threads since they all deal with these SVO packages. My turnaround time won't be great over the next couple days, but PM me if you want me to refer you for Hawaii, Atlantis, or whatever other SVO trip they may have available. Its such a great deal.

And at first I was worried they don't want me referring everyone, but they actually ENCOURAGE me; if I submit 5 names I will get an SPG50; WOOHOO; the coordinator knew exactly that this was a net value of 1000 SPG points but she did note its something. Me...I'd rather be allowed to travel than SPG50 for free.

Zack

kelly622

Could someone PM me an offer?

thanks so much!

baz48

Zack, when I spoke with the program coordinator she said anyone I referred would be sent an invitation to the Westin Maui because we own in Maui. So I have a feeling anyone you refer would only be invited to the Atlantis hotel.

EC Traveler

Yes that is "sort of" what I was told; it is my impression that I can refer then they will get an Atlantis mailing; when they call, I believe its possible for the referree to ask for other locations...so...YMMV...I got a few names and will submit them soon and hope everyone has luck!

greatwhitenorth

I too would like to be someone's friend so I could get one of these offers. I would prefer the Princeville one but I would also be willing to try the Westin. Thanks in advance. Robert

jwhite4

I just came back from a week stay at Harborside, and a quick sales tour. I'm not sure what the name of it was (could have been Explorer or Starter), but basically at the end of the tour (which we didn't buy at), they gave us a package to come back for a later visit. Think it could have been about $1100 for 6d/5n at the Beach Towers.

However, one advantage which hasn't been mentioned here is that if you do decide to buy during that stay, 100% of that cost is applicable towards the purchase price. I don't know how much haggling you can do over price or bonuses with Starwood, but if you assume none, then the Beach Towers stay basically becomes free.

I don't know if you can volunteer to buy this package before having toured with them. It sounds the offers mentioned in this thread are more discounted rates for just staying there. If you actually would want to purchase, you might see if you can get the more expensive package, which then allows that cost to be applied towards your t/s purchase.


Jeff

bsdstone

I got the call for the Westin Maui out of the blue....I would much rather go to Princeville, so if anyone has that offer and can PM me, I will give you my email address to send me the offer....would be much appreciated! :-)

JohnnyP

Ditto here... if someone has information on getting this offer at the Princeville, I would love to be in on the secret! Please PM me.

I will be traveling in late July.

Letisko

baz48, are you still willing to refer people? I'd love to be refered for the Maui deal if possible. If so, please PM me and I will send you my info. Thank you!

SPN Lifer

How much do Starwood Vacation Ownership interests at Princeville run for?

rehabusrab

Just got back from there a week ago. They aren't selling for ownership at the Princeville, they are selling at the Princeville for Ownership at the new Maui based Westin Timeshare. They are selling 2 bedroom units for 44K + 1200 a year maintenance.

I passed but got the 10K spg points for listening.

damon88

Hey rehab--- I'm curious bc my husband and I will be using this promo at Princeville next December. My understanding is that the presentation is not mandatory. Do they approach you at check-in? When did they offer the 10K points?

sorry for all the questions, but I'm usually very skeptical of these offers-- My experience with *wood has been so positive though, that I'm willing to give it a shot.

rehabusrab

prezo is not mandatory. part of the original package to come gave you 8K points. when you check in, they remind you that the starwood vacation group wants to talk with you(they are at a table in the front lobby over from the checkin desk(which isnt used since this hotel is great and checks you in inside your room by the bellhop in a very efficient manner)

Anyways, we didnt run down to the table as we tired and decided to take nap first. Got a call from lady at desk reminding me that they had a free gift for me at this desk. we didnt go down since we napped till 10pm(had a long day the day before - long story). so next morning we went down to the starwood vacations table, the lady who had pre called mrs rehabusrab a few weeks earlier was there. they had notes taken from my wife's call(when have we been to hawaii in past, where did we stay etc; all written down and then this lady asked us more questions which also got written down - so that the timeshare sales person would have info on you(do you like golf, scuba, etc) I know this since all the notes were on our timeshare sales person's sheet that he didnt discreetly hide well enough from me.

Anyways, the lady at the desk was very nice, acted like a concierge. gave us a welcome gift(picture book of kauai and a 2006 kauai calendar and the $100 of resort cash that was part of the deal) then asked us what things we like to do. she gave us activity phamplets for each of them(similiar to what the concierge did down the hall). then at last minute, she ased if i would be also interested in discussing "vacation ownership" with the group. If i accepted, i would either receive another $100 of resort cash(use at restaurants, gift shop, spa etc) OR an additional 10K of points. I chose the points. When i mentioned what a good deal the points were, i noticed the next day on my timeshare salesman that the lady had written "he loves points". (made me laugh) Anyways, if you had told her no, you wouldnt have had any pressure since she is not the salesman, just the offer giver.


The salesman the next day was quite funny. He walked in and said, "wow, you got such a great package to come here, how did you get a package like this?" I just laughed and said that i got it to come visit his timeshare offer.(dont know who he was kidding)

have fun. Their outdoor restaurant is very nice and cooks a mean(and expensive) breakfast.

If you want a wonderful dinner on the south shore, avoid Roys' and go the Beach House Grill(get reservations days in advance for 6:00pm to get a great sunset) the food, view, service all were better than Roy's.

have fun, hope this helps

SLC2002

Please send me a refferal (PM or email).

Da5id

I think I was able to use my resort cash at the Prince golf course ...can't remember for sure since it's been a couple of years.

We didn't have any complaints with Roy's particularly with the delish Chocolate Souffle ...maybe because it was on free money from the Marriot Waiohai timeshare spiel ( what the hell it was raining).

But we really like A Pacific Cafe in Kapaa. Ranked one of the best on Kauai.

Another fun place for lunch is Caffe Coco in Kapaa, set in a house in a little fern grotto. Very eclectic.