Exchange to Mountainloft in Gatlinburg, Tn.

[minnime]

In June 2003 I exchanged for a 1 bedroom at Mountain Loft, a 5 star resort as rated by Interval International. When I arrived for my one week stay on August 6, 2004 I was very disappointed with my room which was barely a 3 star. While the area and grounds were very nice my 1 bedroom room was not.

After check in and seeing my room which was very small, only about the size of a studio and not very clean, I went back to the front desk and asked if a mistake was made as I had traded for a one bedroom. I was assured the unit assigned to me was correct and there was no management around on a Friday afternoon who I could speak to. That evening I did receive a call to see if I wanted to go to a sales presentation and once again I registered my complaint regarding the room. They said oh that’s too bad maybe we can do something tomorrow. I agreed to go to the sales presentation the next day to see what type of room was being sold.

Well, let me tell you it was nothing like the one I was in. When I told the sales person I was not interested in buying and referred to my current room, I was told by the sales representative and her immediate supervisor (her mom) that all exchanges got the WORST accommodations that they have and the owners get the best units. This really surprised me as Disney has no worst accommodations to give anyone.

I traded in good faith that I would receive comparable accommodations and feel as though I was really taken advantage of. That evening I received a call from perhaps the manager. The person did not identify himself and asked how my room was. As soon as I said I was disappointed he told me that was what the comment card was for and ended the conversation. This is not what customer service is all about.

The kitchen counter space was 30 inches and on those 30 inches the coffee pot and toasted resided along with a cutting board. There was no cupboard space to put groceries away in. No drawers. Only the top of the refrigerator was available to hold groceries. It was impossible to cook.

The bedroom may have been 10 x 12 with a mattress and box springs that were so old they squeaked every time you moved in bed. I was very happy we were not honeymooning. The ONLY closet in the unit was 20 x 27 inches. The top shelf held bedding as did the floor. On the floor of the closet was a laundry basket with additional bedding. There was very little space to hang clothing. The entire set of luggage had to be on the bedroom floor.

The bathroom was dirty. Wallpaper was peeling and the jets in the tub were rimmed with black grime. I did not even want to take a shower in it. The floors had not been cleaned in a long time and a loud exhaust fan ran continually as long as the lights were on. The living room was well used with stained carpets and ripped sofa. The TV was very small. The kitchen table was in the living room.

The clothes washer lid would only open up about 8 inches due to the stacked dryer above it so you had to kind of slide clothing in an out with one hand while holding it open with the other.
Every time I came back into the unit I felt cheated. On August 19, I contacted the BlueGreen Corporation and send an Email to Ms. Glenos in the customer relations area but I have not yet received a reply. I hope that Disney customer relations are not so lax. This experience has certainly discouraged me from exchanging in the future.

 

[spiceycat]

Make sure that II knows how mad you are about this - write them a complaint letter -

tell them you feel that they cheated you!!!

you might have to go through MS since they made the reservation for you - but make sure that II knows how you were treated.

they have downgraded resorts for that type of attitude.

I am so sorry this happen to you.

 

[LIFERBABE]

That really is a terrible way to treat someone and I have heard that there are several TS's that show great units but give guests the worst units. I would definitely let DVC know about your experience.

 

[kweaver]

This sounds horrible! I'd definitely contact MS and let them know of your experience. At the very least, you should be credited with a week stay from II (without a ton of restrictions).

DVC needs to know about these experiences...so they can be the liason with II and help you get this taken care of. They also need to know that this resort is not up to DVC standards.

 

[minnime]

Well I have sent a letter to DIsney and my sales person. Thank you for the suggestion to also notify II. I will do just that today and once again contact BlueGreen and see if anyone will at least respond to my letter as they did not for my Email.

 

[spiceycat]

if you have pictures of the unit include them with your letter to II - that way II will know how badly you were treated....

 

[JLS]

This is TERRIBLE. One of the reasons that DVC has its own II membership and severly restricts the possible exchange locations is supposedly to ensure that DVC members are given the highest quality exchanges. Both DVC and II should not only be made aware but should be forced to take some action. If that is how that resort treats exchangers, they should be removed from DVC's list. Thanks for letting us know about this.

 

[Dean]

I've been trying to tell the DIS members about these type of things for years. Remember 5* is a timeshare term and has nothing to do with hotel star ratings. Mountain Loft is a lower rated 5* in II. MANY timeshare assign units to owners first then exchangers last, some are far worst than ML. Now do you wonder why I preach to find out all you can about a resort BEFORE you accept it and not assume it's of DVC standards.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

So why does DVC allow trades to places like this? DVC makes a big deal out of the fact that they are very careful with the places they choose to allow trades to, to keep up the Disney quality. So why keep a place like this and the many more that are probably on the list?

HBC

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Happy Birthday Cat
So why does DVC allow trades to places like this? DVC makes a big deal out of the fact that they are very careful with the places they choose to allow trades to, to keep up the Disney quality. So why keep a place like this and the many more that are probably on the list?

HBC

The problem is that if DVC eliminated all the places that were below their standards and/or made assignments that were negative to exchangers, there'd only be may 60-70 resorts left to exchange to. The real question is why does DVC belong to an exchange company. IMO, they should expand the BVTC and just run their own. Hookup with some of the other points systems and maybe Marriott though that would require Marriott to admin their own, which they've been rumored to be considering. There are just realities in timeshare exchanging that I've tried to convey to the members here. Far too many people have assumed, and posted, that DVC would take care of us. It doesn't work that way.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I know we bicker about home resorts, but it is great to have the people on these boards report their experiences with exchanges, since we cant trust the current system.

I for one have only remotely considered exchanges that come highly recommended from other Disers. Not failproof but helpful since we all have a comparison standard in DVC.

DVC is constantly promoting exchanges to its members, and experiences like this is one of the reasons it is so difficult to trade into DVC, because the members arent willing to risk a bad experience when they can rent their points or go for the sure thing DVC resorts.

 

[kweaver]

Isn't is DVC that supposedly checks out these exchange options to ensure that they have the high quality that most DVC owners desire? Was the DIS the only place I've read that, or have I seen it in DVC literature?

Surely someone from DVC inspects (or at the very least views photos of) the resorts rooms and amenities before agreeing to put them on the exchange list. Somehow I doubt they were shown the type of room that minnime was given. I'm willing to bet that whomever handles the exchange program for DVC was given a very different view of the rooms at this particular resort.

Dean, you are a godsend when it comes to learning about exchange options (among many other things here at the DIS). I, for one, appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I do think DVC is required to follow up on this sort of situation and rectify it.

How would a DVC owner know what kind of unit they are going to get at a Bluegreen resort? Sure, they can check TUG, but if most folks there have owned/stayed in the nice new section that is currently selling, the rating could be way off.

I love the idea of expanding BVTC. However, it sounds like II has a huge "in" with DVC and they aren't going anywhere soon. According to our guide, one of the II VPs has an office within the DVC offices.

BTW...Bluegreen has forty (40!) job postings at Monster right now. I just happened to be searching for some new opportunities for DH and a Bluegreen position popped up. Granted, a bunch of them are for sales reps, but it looks like there might be some changes for Bluegreen in the future.

 

[canda]

We even had an almost similar experince with a concierge collection stay. The room was not dirty or anything like that and the resort was a real 4 star place. It was at the Grove Park Inn. We love that place and used to stay once a year paying cash. I booked with the highest point value, but we were put in the lowest basement rooms of their convention wing. These are pretty substandard rooms for a 4 star resort. The view was a block wall and a service walkway. Not what I used my points for. The furniture was the same exact stuff that my school had in its dorm rooms. Aftery years of going to GPI, we thought we knew what to expect. I did not even know that they had a few floors of motel rooms. Now I know that this isn't what you have experienced by any means, but because of this I thought, IF a world class resort would do this, what would a timeshare do? So I will not exchange my high quality points unless I thought I could really trust it like possibly Marriott or Hyatt.

 

[DBBN]

We have considered exchanging but thanks to the posters here relating their bad experiences with exchanges I'm absolutely convinced we'll never trade our points for any other resort ever. We've become accustomed to a certain level of accommodation and anything less is simply NOT acceptable.

We'll stick to the DVC resorts. In those instances when we do travel to locales other than WDW we'll continue to pay cash for our accommodations.

Thank you for posting your experiences.

 

[CVW]

I consider myself Dean's intern, so I won't try to equal his expertise, but I do have a couple of cogent things to add.

The reason DVC has the affiliation with II is because new buyers THINK they want it. It makes DVC (and every other timeshare on the planet) easier to sell when you can tell people they can go anywhere. But with DVC you bought a Rolls Royce. If you want to try out a different car for a week, there ain't that many Rolls' out there. Don't be surprised if they give you a Hyundai resort.

Second, for this particular resort, TUG would have stopped me from going. Here's a couple of quotes about Mountain Loft from TUG:

We've stayed at the Mountain Loft resort before but were very disappointed with this visit. Our 1 bedroom unit was quiet but it was dirty, dirty, dirty! It smelled sour and unclean. The exterior of the building was covered in green mold/mildew as well as the sidewalks. The interior of our unit was not what you would expect with a Gold Crown Resort. The bathroom floor was filthy, there were crumbs of food still on the dining table, food was encrusted into the placemats and dead roaches lay belly-up in the windowsill. Yuck!!

The unit was not very clean, and in spite of our efforts, we were not able to rid the unit of a heavy cigarette smell the entire week we were there...Because of the smell and the poor cleaning, I can only give this resort a 6.5.

If you ever do ANYTHING in the timeshare world outside of DVC, you're crazy if you don't belong to TUG. It's the best ten dollars you'll ever spend.

Additionally, I own at a Bluegreen Resort. (I own at Big Cedar Wilderness Club near Branson, Missouri. I can very strongly recommend it. The resort itself is actually better than DVC. But, hey, you're in Branson.)

Bluegreen is a real paradox in the timeshare world. Recently they've really seemed to be getting their act together by going after the high-end market. Big Cedar has become their flagship, and there's a couple of resorts in Florida that are being raved about.

The problem is that they still hang on to their dog resorts. Mountain Loft is a great example. Just a few miles away in Pigeon Forge, Bluegreen has a better resort called Laurel Crest. It's common knowledge among Bluegreen owners on TUG, but everyone else is in the dark.

Branson is the same way. Big Cedar is probably the finest timeshare in the entire midwest. But just a few miles away is another Bluegreen resort called Falls Village, which is acceptable, but stuck in the middle of town and not much different than any timeshare scattered along the streets of Kissimmee.

Yet BOTH have a five star rating, because Falls Village slapped down a pre-fab mini-golf course and built a Holiday Inn quality indoor pool.

You will simply never get this kind of information from a "guide" or an II website. You need TUG.

The true tragedy of this is that it scares people away from trying new places. I would be very proud and honored for any of you to stay at Big Cedar, because I know you'll like it.

JUST ASK AROUND FIRST! I could have told you about Mountain Loft. Granted, it was secondhand from a friend who stayed there, and then visited Laurel Crest to compare. But it was enough for me to know I'll never stay there.

The best thing about owning at Bluegreen is that their quality varies so widely, it forces you to become much more knowledgeable about timeshare. DVC is such a well-run organization that it makes a lot of us lazy.

 

[spiceycat]

minnime,

this is tug
www.tug2.net
most of us who own at other places besides DVC have joined it - it is VERY helpful in telling what a lemon and what is a great deal.

Again I am so sorry your exchange was so rotten.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

I just made my first trade with my Marriott timeshare. I traded for a week in a 2 bedroom at the Four Seasons Aviara in San Diego. I read everything I could on it before booking. I have now joined TUG and all the reviews are good.

I have heard Dean preach more than once about being carefull what you exchange for, so I tried to keep this in mind.

Maybe I will get a view that isn't of the ocean, but I will still be at a Four Seasons so how bad can it be!

canda -

I have stayed at the Grove Park a dozen times and had no idea they had rooms like that either! I will stick to paying cash!

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by kweaver
Isn't is DVC that supposedly checks out these exchange options to ensure that they have the high quality that most DVC owners desire? Was the DIS the only place I've read that, or have I seen it in DVC literature?

Surely someone from DVC inspects (or at the very least views photos of) the resorts rooms and amenities before agreeing to put them on the exchange list. Somehow I doubt they were shown the type of room that minnime was given. I'm willing to bet that whomever handles the exchange program for DVC was given a very different view of the rooms at this particular resort.

Dean, you are a godsend when it comes to learning about exchange options (among many other things here at the DIS). I, for one, appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I do think DVC is required to follow up on this sort of situation and rectify it.

How would a DVC owner know what kind of unit they are going to get at a Bluegreen resort? Sure, they can check TUG, but if most folks there have owned/stayed in the nice new section that is currently selling, the rating could be way off.

I love the idea of expanding BVTC. However, it sounds like II has a huge "in" with DVC and they aren't going anywhere soon. According to our guide, one of the II VPs has an office within the DVC offices.

BTW...Bluegreen has forty (40!) job postings at Monster right now. I just happened to be searching for some new opportunities for DH and a Bluegreen position popped up. Granted, a bunch of them are for sales reps, but it looks like there might be some changes for Bluegreen in the future.

Katie, I'm sure DVC checks out the resorts but I can bet they do not visit most of them. They have direct access to II's internal information including the evaluations that members do when they stay there. They have dropped resorts for quality reasons, including 5*. They also take your reviews seriously, the OP should contact them. I've seen the story the OP quotes repeated several times by different people at different resorts. In part it's due to bad luck and also to bad resorts but many times it's due to too high of expectations on the part of the DVC member.

There are a few realities and principles to learn from this situation. These include that most resorts are not up to DVC standards and that many resorts play games with exchangers. It's the timesharing way it seems. Maybe you check in to an ocean front resort but have a parking lot view. They'll give you a better view for $100 per night. But be forewarned that almost all resorts treat's owners better than exchangers in terms of discounts and room assignment. That's one of the benefits of direct exchanges.

 

[CVW]

I don't want to let my comments turn this into an "I told you so" thread. Minnime, I admire the fact that you were at least willing to try an exchange. Unfortunately, threads like this have the adverse effect of scaring people away from vacationing at some great resorts.

Dean estimated that there are "only 60-70" resorts worth exchanging into. Well, that's probably more than any of us could visit in a lifetime. But it'd be nice if we could start our own database to know where those "60 or 70" are.

The TUG databases are good, but resorts are routinely overrated (you need to subtract a point or two from any rating). And they're significantly jaundiced by the fact that many people are reviewing their own resort, or they simply have lower standards and just want a warm bed and a fridge.

Bottom line is, I would trust a review from one of you over five reviews on TUG.

It'd be nice if we had a database of DVC member opinions regarding different resorts. It would require a link to a different database site where we could post reviews of any resort we've visited. We could just use the TUG format from their "review" section with a "blog" style list of reviewer's comments.

Is this possible? Is there someone who would know hot to start a database like this? The alternative would be to see if TUG would let us have our own review section. That seems unlikely, as it might seem a bit elitist that we review resorts differently than an average TUG member. (Elitist but true.)

Our current method of posting a thread entitled, "Hey, what does anyone know about Resort X?" is really suboptimal. You're lucky to get more than one or two substantive replies. (And if Dean is off the boards, make that zero or one.) Yet we all know there's a much greater knowledge base that could be tapped into.

Does DIS even allow "blog" type databases outside of the discussion threads? It seems it would be relatively easy for someone more well-versed than me.

 

[spiceycat]

I don't use the number rating on tug - go read the reviews on each resort - you find what the problems are and if they will bother you or not.

some problems don't bother me - others will - if you know what this particular resort problems are before you go - then you know the worst.

the reviews takes longer to read but they are generally worth it.

there are some places that I am interested in but hardly have any reviews - so when you come back do a review.....