Important Update Affecting Resale Purchasers

We recently received this letter from Rosemary Steinback from SVO Management, Inc., providing important updates that affect resale purchasers.

The letter reads:

Dear <RedWeek Management>:

This letter is being sent to your company as a courtesy so that you may provide the most accurate information to prospective purchasers of resale Unit Weeks at Sheraton Vistana Resort in Orlando in the Courts, Falls, Spa, Palms, Springs, Fountains, and Fountains II phases and at Vistana's Beach Club in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Beginning in November 2006 and in process until 2012, each of the Condominium Associations for these phases/resorts noted above has completed, scheduled, or has in progress, a multi-million dollar refurbishment of unit interiors. At the completion of these renovations, each Association have completed or will have the opportunity to consider an affiliation with Starwood Vacation Network (SVN).

Owners who purchased a vacation ownership interest at Vistana's Beach Club and in the Courts, Falls, Spa, Palms, Springs, Fountains and Fountains II phases at Sheraton Vistana Resort from an independent resale company on or before December 31, 2007 may receive an invitation to enroll that interest into SVN. Vacation Ownership Interests purchased in these specific phases at Sheraton Vistana Resort and at Vistana's Beach Club from an independent resale source on or after January 1, 2008 are not eligible to be enrolled in SVN.

There are no changes to the current SVN membership qualifications for Vistana Lakes Condominium Association and Vistana Cascades Condominium Association, which have also committed to refurbishments. These interests are only eligible to receive SVN benefits when vacation ownership interests have been purchased from the Developer.

Our goal is that all purchasers of any Starwood Vacation Ownership product from any source be fully informed of the features of their ownership so they can enjoy the benefits of ownership with the right expectation.

SVO Management, Inc.

Rosemary K. Steinback Director, Exchange Company Services/ Inventory Planning & Operations

what is this all about ?? do i need a lawyer !!!! i own in the Springs what does that mean for me HELP ME THANKS JR

kyliec wrote:

We recently received this letter from Rosemary Steinback from SVO Management, Inc., providing important updates that affect resale purchasers.

The letter reads:

Dear <RedWeek Management>:

This letter is being sent to your company as a courtesy so that you may provide the most accurate information to prospective purchasers of resale Unit Weeks at Sheraton Vistana Resort in Orlando in the Courts, Falls, Spa, Palms, Springs, Fountains, and Fountains II phases and at Vistana's Beach Club in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Beginning in November 2006 and in process until 2012, each of the Condominium Associations for these phases/resorts noted above has completed, scheduled, or has in progress, a multi-million dollar refurbishment of unit interiors. At the completion of these renovations, each Association have completed or will have the opportunity to consider an affiliation with Starwood Vacation Network (SVN).

Owners who purchased a vacation ownership interest at Vistana's Beach Club and in the Courts, Falls, Spa, Palms, Springs, Fountains and Fountains II phases at Sheraton Vistana Resort from an independent resale company on or before December 31, 2007 may receive an invitation to enroll that interest into SVN. Vacation Ownership Interests purchased in these specific phases at Sheraton Vistana Resort and at Vistana's Beach Club from an independent resale source on or after January 1, 2008 are not eligible to be enrolled in SVN.

There are no changes to the current SVN membership qualifications for Vistana Lakes Condominium Association and Vistana Cascades Condominium Association, which have also committed to refurbishments. These interests are only eligible to receive SVN benefits when vacation ownership interests have been purchased from the Developer.

Our goal is that all purchasers of any Starwood Vacation Ownership product from any source be fully informed of the features of their ownership so they can enjoy the benefits of ownership with the right expectation.

SVO Management, Inc.

Rosemary K. Steinback Director, Exchange Company Services/ Inventory Planning & Operations

THIS IS ANOTHER MATTER CONCERNING VISTANA.I AM VERY UPSET ABOUT THE COST OF THE NEW RENOVATIONS OF THE OLDER UNITS.WE ALREADY PAY MAINTENANCE FEES AND NOW ARE BEING BILLED AN ADDITIONAL $1600.00.HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU.IT SEEMS LIKE THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

Finally someone else thats not happy about the referbishment expence. Its totally unfair and unexpected

I agree. This latest letter about the "Sheraton Vistana Resort Refurbishment" is ridiculos, excessive and demonstrates poor leadership of the current Board. It is time that ALL Sheraton timeshare holders get together and fight this outrageous and careless action by the Board. Why would anyone spend $40+ million dollars when the economy is at its worst in years just to "meet modern expectations"? Whose expectations are they trying to meet, certainly not the average timershare owner who is a member of the working middle-class. I encourage all who can to write any other forum and ask all Sheraton resort owners to send me a reply so we can pull our resources and fight this action. This reckless and frivolous use of our money must stop! We can form and must form a coalition to combat the injustice this Board has brought upon us!

Frankp141, I agree with everything you said Frank. I have talked with vistana and have been told by more than 2 of there customer service people that we are not alone. This site has 3 of us complaining kathy someone being the first. Where are the rest of the poeple. I have written a letter to the attny gen of the state of Fl asking for help with this matter. I suggest that the rest of the poeple feeling this way do the same. Feel free to e-mail me and maybe we can work on this together. My address is jeffcreighton13@yahoo .com. Lets get this changed!!!!!

We just purchased a resale unit in one of the Palms section of Sheraton Vistana. We THOUGHT we got a really good price on it (maybe too good?), until I found out about an unadvertised issue with the outstanding renovations being done. Apparently our unit/section will be refurbished in 2011 -- and as a previous poster mentioned -- will be costing me a direct assessment in the $1,500-2,000 range. Any information you have or contact info for officials in that jurisdiction would be appreciated as I am quite a distance away (Calgary, Alberta).

PLEASE CONTACT jeffcreighton13@yahoo.com regarding this matter.

we should get money off are year end bill for maint. etc. they will be like new and the next few years there should be little or no maint needed at all .........

You mentioned that we should contact you for an update. Do you have more information to know about? Thanks!

I have little new information at this time except to encorage others to contact the FLorida Attorney Genral's Office:

Main office mailing address: Office of Attorney General State of Florida The Capitol PL-01 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050

To contact Attorney General Bill McCollum please email: ag.mccollum@myfloridalegal.com

Main office telephone numbers: Switchboard: 850-414-3300 Citizens Services: 850-414-3990

Here is an example of a letter: ============================================= Dear Mr. McCollum, Attorney General State of Florida,

I and several timeshare owners have a serious dilemma; the Starwood Vacation Ownership Company (parent company to multiple Sheraton Vistana Condominium Associations) is trying to collect between $754 and $2042 per timeshare holder for renovations in addition to the annual maintenance fee of $900. This is ridiculous especially at a time when the economy is doing poorly, banks are failing and businesses are closing.

: (add your own personal touch) :

What I would like for the Attorney’s General’s Office to do is to stop Starwood Vacation Ownership from collecting this “renovation fee” until an investigation can be done to discover what Starwood Vacation Ownership does with the annual “maintenance fee” each timeshare owner pays. Secondly, discover if Starwood Vacation Ownership is justified in collecting an additional $2042.00 above the annual maintenance fee. In other words, as one of many upset people who are stuck with ownership in these timeshares, I would like someone to take the side of the owners and stop the wasteful and arbitrary spending by these associations under the Starwood Vacation Ownership.

Thank you for you time and consideration,

==============================================

Naturally, the dollar figures above reflect my costs and may not reflect your costs. However, I think it is important that the AG's Office be made aware of this situation as I (and others) feel that this extra fee being levied by the Board is excessive and a result of years of mis-management. No one should be expected to pay $900 annual maintenance and then another $2,042 in additional fees!! Please email, write a letter and/or call the AG's office this week. Also, send a letter or email message to Fox News, CNN, or even your local news station. We need to get as many people involved in this as possible to keep the pressure on the Board to find a more sensible solution. Thank you!

Hi, I purchased 2 timeshares from the developer in July 2008. They were both in Fountains II which had just completed its renovation. So I do not have to pay for the renovation. The Sales Manager said that the renovation fees were never built into the maintenance fees for the older units. They are going to build them into the new maintenance fees so they do not have to do this again. I was told that the Cascades will be renovated soon. I do not remember whether the fees are already built into the Cascades. I tried using the Attorney General in PA for a Camping membership I have with Outdoor World and they could do nothing. It took years for nothing. Remember any lawyer expenses that Starwood incurs is past on to the owners aren't they.??

Hello Janiceb134,

An investigation by the Attorney General's Office does not automatically mean a trial or hearing. A hearing may be a result but it is not the first step. We're simple asking the AG to investigate as a first step. There are no costs at this time to timeshare owners. Thanks!

I have been reading the reviews. When I purchased all 5 of my timehsares at SVR I read everything that went with owning a timeshare prior to purchase. I did understand that if any refurbishments get done that as an owner I would be responsible for additional costs. Our MF'S cover daily situations to all units but refurbishments allow us to have a new unit that others may be paying 10,000 + for upon a sale from the resort.. I only paid a grande total of about $4000 for all 5 units so for me to pay a bit extra in updating costs to be able to go into a brand new 6* unit I don't have a problem with it. The amount of what you will be able to get for these if you should decide to sell will be over and above what you would of had to pay in extra costs. So look at it as an investment just like you would pay to upgrade your home. I don't know about you but I am happy that they are re-doing the Cascades ( I own 2 ) they are looking very rundown (was there in August) and need to be refurbished. When you purchase any of these units to be refurbished make sure you ask the owner what he has paid on re-furbishment costs not MF"S if the add says " all 2008 fees have been paid" that doesn't mean that all fees have most likely the balance for 2009 has NOT been paid yet so ask what will be owing in the future or call the resort directly they will tell you what is left outstanding.. I was going to by another one then realized that the price was so good that something posed a question mark and sure enough an additional $600 was to be paid in June 2009 so I didn't by it as I have to pay all my Cascades costs then so it was just too much. This resort is going to be amazing once it hits its completion date and the units will be prime on the market so look at it as a future investment.. I am sure you will see many units on the market for SVR coming up on many sites for sale but they will be gorgous and anyone who gets one will be vacationing in first class accomodations!! All resorts are doing upgrades and as owners thats part of ownership.. I did my homework before I purchased so I was not going to get any surprises..

Bonniea16 Sounds like you made a good deal for what you spent. I on the other hand spent 12,000.00 in 1991 and when I went to check the value with timeshare resales I was told top dollar would be 8,000.00 minus a 1,000.00 comission. No mater what work they do they depreciate badly!!!

First, send a letter to your Association board members, detailing your issues. They have made the decision to charge you the assessment. Suing the association is like suing yourself - we are the association. Still, we should be able to stop the actions of our board if we all feel strongly about it. To find your association's contact information, create an account at Star Central: https://www.mystarcentral.com/index.jsp and follow the links. If you do not receive a satisfactory response, file a complaint with the Division of Florida Condominiums, Bureau of Compliance - Timeshare Section. Follow this link and print the form. http://www.myflorida.com/dbpr/lsc/documents/complaint_english.pdf

These assessments aren't just on the older units - they are on the newest (cascades) units as well. The renovations to the new units are completely unnecessary and to me represent a breach of fiduciary duty on the part of my board. Just a thought.

I understand everyone's unhappiness with the refurbishments. However, I just received information in a recent mailing that if it means what I think it means, might help resale value somewhat. Within the proxy mailing was a handout entitled, "Vistana Courts Makeover Update.) At the bottom it says, "An added benefit that will be available to Courts Owners at completion of the refurbishment project is membership into the Starwood Vacation Network (SVN). Entrance into this system will open the availability of direct exchange into other SVN member resorts."

I know just enough about SVN to be dangerous. I'm sure there are others who have more information that I do. What do you all think?

If a Courts resale is purchased before year end (2008) do you think there would be a possibility that they would include the unit in the SVN network after the refurbishment?? As long as the new owners pay the assesment fees I would say that may be the way Starwood goes?? Thanks for advice.

I think I'm selling. After nearly 20 yrs and all the fees they have the balls to refurbish without asking us for any input is bullshit. Think about it. What do we do there. Sleep, eat, and then for the most part roam around Florida with the occasional day at the pool. When you do alittle research you can find the same or better deals for the same or even less money and if you don't want to go next year lets say you've saved the maintence fee. Just thinking!!!!!

I agree wholeheartedly, with most of the owners at Vistana that are being assessed the "refurbishment fee" that has been announced through the blanket mailling that we all recieved. In the mailing it states that the reason that we were not consulted or had the opportunity to have a say is that the "board members" chose on our behalf. Well, all I can say to them is "It's very easy to go all out for the "best" when you aren't paying the bill our of your own pocket." What are these board members thinking?? Perhaps they are all in the upper income bracket, but I dare say that most timeshare owners are hardworking middleclass people that don't have that much disposable income to pay out for something that only very minutely benefits them. Or perhaps this is just an efficient way to force people to sell their ownerships at greatly reduced prices so that they or thier constituates can scoff them up for profiting after we pay the bill. When I want to remodel my home, I have a budget to work with and I have to stay inside the perameters of that budget. I feel that if they want to refurbish our units.. then they should have to do the same. I read that they do have 14 million dollars in our "maintainance fee account" . Well then they should have to find someone that can do the refurbishment for that amount. It may mean that they won't be able to use Granite for the countertops, and add huge plasma tvs to each room...who comes to watch TV anyway? and they might have to cut back on the "high class" decor that they showed us in the brochure. ( which by the way I feel will cause our resort to loose it's Florida feel. ) Why would we want Dark wooks and dark colors and cold granite for decor when we go on vacation to Florida?? Someone has lost site of what this resort is catering to. People that are here for a relaxing FLORIDA vacation. IT doesn't need to look like the Queens palace. It needs to look like FLORIDA!! We all need to write directly to Starwood Vacation Ownership Management Headquarters, or better yet,, anyone that can should attend the annual meeting and voice your oppinion of the plans. And let them board know that what they want to do is NOT going to be allowed by the "owners" of this resort. Please join me in writing letters to the board members, that we elected, and tell them that they can't expect us to pay for such elaborate decor in these hard economic times... or any other times for that matter. They need to stay within the budget allotment that they have to work with. Or perhaps they can donate their pay as board members toward the shortfall, if they feel so strongly about it. Don't just write in this forum where it won't do much good,,, write where it counts. We have the numbers... but we need to use them.