Is Westgate Really That Bad?

[dwheaton]

I'm currently listening to the podcast, and am growing concerned after hearing all the negatives about Westgate. My wife's parents have a timeshare in Orlando through Interval, and we're considering using the Westgate Vacation Villas for our trip next January. Should we be concerned? We won't have to attend any presentations and don't plan to mess with anything like that. It would just be a good way to see both Disney and Universal for a full week. We also might have the option of using the Sheraton Vistana. Is that better?

 

[Friendly Frog]

I stayed at Westgate 3 years ago and had no problems with my stay. I think we got lucky on our room, the guy at check in said it was a "nice one". It was nothing fancy, but it was neat,clean, and bright. The unit I had was a two bedroom, two bath. The floors were all tile, which some people don't like but to me it seems cleaner than carpet, even if it is a little more noisy. The main thing that was hard was that the one bedroom was a lockout with bath, but the other one had the bedroom at one end and at the other end was the kitchen and bath, which made it a long walk at night to the potty.

My major issue seemed to be the "feel" of the place. It seemed like everyone was really stressed out, grumpy and pressured. Staff had a take it or leave it attitude. No way would I take a timeshare tour.

During the time I was there it seemed that a lot of those there were from overseas. We spend all our time in the parks, so we never visited the pool or looked around the grounds.

I have stayed at Orange Lake Country Club ( I think that was the name), Silver Lake, Vacation Villas and Westgate. Westgate is the only one I would hesitate about returning to. Not because my stay was bad, but I can't help but feel that maybe we got lucky and that if something had gone wrong that the staff might not have cared or been all that helpful.

I hope this info helps you.

 

[dwheaton]

Thanks for the details. Your response is pretty similar to a lot of things I've read on the Web. I'm hoping we're able to stay at the Sheraton Vistana Resort. If not, we'll have to decide if we should take a chance on Westgate.

 

[Madformickey]

We stayed at westgate may of o6, i will never give those crooks another penny, they were rude and had no concerns for us after out tour. WE asked for a handicapped unit on the first floor and near a pool. We got a 2nd floor(did have an elevator, but apin in the but waiting everday) aand we ended up in the newest unit, right next to the pool<oops, they didnt build that pool yet, they said they couldnt move us and we would hae to deal with it. Outr unit was all tile as stated earlier, but my concern was all the dishes were glass, and we have to young children who we all know will drop something eventually, so i was not impresssed by the entire resort or the staff.

 

[disneynutt1225]

My parents have owned 2 weeks at Westgate since 1985 and they love being owners there. It has grown exponentially since 1985 (as most things do) and it's sad that they tore down the orange groves in order to build more housing there. I have some great memories from when I was a kid.

I can honestly say I can count on one hand the bad experiences they've had there in 22 years. There will always be some that have bad experiences - that goes for everything. Heck, people even complain about DISNEY for crying out loud. I happen to enjoy staying there (though I haven't stayed there myself in 5 years or so since I starting staying on-site and I'm now a DVC member). But, I wouldn't disagree to staying there in the future if it came up.

 

[nanadeb]

Westgate was our first timeshare experience. back in 1996. We got talked into doing a $900 stay which they said was for a week for 2 years but turned out to be one week during a 2 year period. We went the next year for our 25th anniversary and brought along our daughter and her little girl.
The unit was awful. The carpet was filthy and loose. Our granddaughter tripped on it, fell against the bar, and got her first black eye. There were problems all over the unit and the resort people just sneered at us. Then they tried to get us to buy!
Why should we buy when all the niceness goes away when you actually stay there? The amenities weren't as described and it was an all around disappointment.
We have since purchased 3 timeshares, 2 in Massanutten, VA (love it there!) and one in Crossville, TN. We just exchange when we want to go to Orlando. We have never had a bad experience like Westgate in any other timeshare in Orlando.
Our favorites are Vistana and Orange Lake. Unfortunately, we can't trade for Disney because they are on II and we are on RCI.

 

[cfbarker]

My family traded into Westgate Vacation Villas for a week in Feb. '06 and thought it was great! We were never bothered to tour the place. My boys keep asking me "When are we going to go back and stay in the hotel with the pool in the bedroom?" The master bedroom has a HUGE jacuzzi tub in it and my boys "swam" in it every night. The only complaint I have is the parking. Some nights we weren't able to park as close to our building as we'd like, but a little walking never hurts!

Christine

 

[mickeyc]

Several years ago we stayed at an overflow hotel since Westgate was booked. We did agree to attend the timeshare presentation- -they just won't let you go!

Although the accomodations seem nice the timeshare presentaions are very high pressure compared to others I have attended i.e. DVC, Mariott.

I think they sent three or four staff out with different offers. Also, I did not like the fact that every time someone purchased a timeshare the agent would stop to welcome them to the Westgate family, by making a general annoucement to the crowd in the large room. It is very cheesy. I have some co-workers who own there and they seem happy with their purchase. To each it's own.

I agree totally with the assesment of Westgate on the last podcast. By the way I do enjoy the podcast and everyone seems to truely like each other. Keep up the good work.

Enjoy!!