Just back from Sheraton Vistana Villages

[zalansky]

We just returned from a 3 night stay at Vistana Villages, 11/21 - 11/24. I had requested some information online through Sheraton's website looking for a discounted stay - and in turn we would tour the property. We were offered the stay for $199 plus we would get 2 attraction tickets after we completed the tour.

We arrived Sunday and the check in time was 4:00pm. We got there about 1:00pm and were told the room was not ready and we could check back between that time and 4pm. We went back @ 3:30....were told the room is still not ready. They made us wait until literally 4:00 on the nose....as housekeeping "was still working on the room". We got in and housekeeping was, in fact, leaving the room as we walked in. The room was great, a nicely decorated, large one bedroom, very clean. Our happiness was short lived when we got some VERY noisy neighbors and asked to be moved (because of our 2 year old that needs to sleep) and they did move us into a room that smelled as if ten cartons of cigarettes had been smoked in it....so we again asked to be moved. They did move us, to a perfect room.
(***disclaimer*** I am not at all a picky vacationer, though it may seem that way right now asking to be moved twice, however I do not enjoy loud noise and/or disgusting cigarette smells on my hard earned vacations!)
The fact that we were able to be moved twice, quickly, to other rooms led me to understand that the resort made us wait until 4pm to check in, just to be obnoxious, because we were there on "discount". This made me annoyed and immediately I knew I wasn't go back here....(there were a TON of unoccupied rooms as well, the resort was not busy at all....)
Fast forward to our "sales presentation". AKA, the annoying hard sell, high pressure, attack from cheesy sales guy acting as if he is our best friend and confidante. Need I say more?
I'll be honest here, I took this vacation "deal" because I wanted to try a villa and wanted the free Sea World tickets. We had no intentions of buying, however our minds are open to it and we plan to buy DVC in the near future. (already bought 2 months ago and had a panic attack (not literally) about the money spent on it on the way home and cancelled as soon as we walked in the door).....so anything is possible. But this place was such a sales mill, people were being pressured all over the place. We were very un-impressed. In addition to the 90 minutes of torture we endured the first time, we were suckered into going back before we checked out to give our FINAL DECISION, because we apparently were not clear enough the first ten times we said NO. Then they tried to sell us a "Deal" to go back in 18 months for 4 nights for only $1395.00. HA HA HA, they must have been kidding right? They most certainly were not, I can assure you. I told them I could stay on site (disney) with a Fl Res Discount for half that and be happier!!! She didn't like that....tee hee.
Now don't get me wrong. If I'd gone here and did NOT have to go to the sales pitch, it probably would have been a better time. I think this place is great for larger groups with kids, on a budget. For us, Disney is the way to go so I am probably being over-critical. Disney has the magic, no place else does....if you don't care about the magic or don't get it, then this place is great.
The pool looked awesome, but we never used it, but it looked great. The starbucks coffee was great too. And like I said the room was really nice...but I guess I am just a Disney person, so it was not our cup O' tea!

 

[cd&kids]

Sorry the experience wasn't that great for you. We just got back from our first visit there 11/9 thru the 14th and it was mostly positive.
We had gotten an offer in the mail last year ... 55 bucks a night for a 1-bedroom condo for 4 nights. With my wife and I and three kids, we needed a 2-bedroom...so they gave us one for 70 a night. Then we added a 5th night for the "full price" of 120. So.....5 nights in a 2-bedroom came to 400. Wasn't bad, I thought. (We're from the New York area, so that's bargain to us!)
Where did you guys stay? We were in building 10. So when you drive in, turn left....go left around the "loop" and we were the first building on the right.
What we liked:
--room was big, clean, nicely decorated.
--the whole compound was nice
--the drive to Disney was great (nice and close)
--the pool was great (our kids loved it)
--the bar/food area very nice

What we didn't like:
--we got the first floor. Thought that was a little weird...we were invited there so they could convince us to buy and usually if you're trying to impress prospective buyers, you'd put them on the highest floors.
--one of the lamp posts that light up the walkway behind the condos (and around the "lake") was right in front of our screened in porch. (Remember, we're on the first floor.) So when we sat out there, it was like a spotlight was shining on us and putting us on display. Also, the light glared into our master bedroom all night despite having the blinds closed
--there was construction going on right by building 10...so we couldn't walk directly to the pool area. Although we were probably the closest building to the pool/bar area, because it was all fenced off, we had to walk way out of the way. First I walked all the way to building 7 then across the bridge. Another time we walked into the main lobby and down from there. Finally, we just decided to cut thru some bushes. A little inconvenient (especially for our 7-year-old), but quicker! Again...thought that was weird. If you're trying to impress guests into buying a time share, why put them in that building when their walk to the pool will be so inconvenient?

I could nit-pick about a couple of other things, but all in all it was pleasant. I wouldn't mind giving it another try if we got a better room location.
We did get 100 dollars cash just for showing up, which was great. We resisted the urge to get another hundred by taking part in the sales pitch. If we had a week's stay, we might have done it...but with a 5-night vacation, we had too much to cram in!
You mentioned the 4 o'clock check in. One of the days, we got home from one of the parks for a break around 3:45 and the room wasn't made up. We called to tell them that they forgot...but they said housekeeping goes until 4 and probably hadn't gotten there yet. Sure enough, within 10 minutes, the maid came. Had never heard of a room being cleaned so late.
I agree with you, Zalansky, there's nothing like staying on site. But with three kids now, that's a little out of reach for us. We depend on these time-share-offer deals!
Hope we both get the chance to go back with amazing deals and have better experinces!

 

[zalansky]

CD -
We were in building 10 too! Room 10202 as a matter of fact....and I did see the construction but it didn't hinder us because we didn't spend much time on site at the hotel. I can definitely see the appeal of the resort for people with older children (ours is only just going to be 2) and with bigger families to accomodate. I used to be a huge fan of these type of condos, I was just telling my husband that when we were there. Now that I have a child BOY how things have changed!
We never had maid service, which was another part of our "deal."
Like you, there were several things that turned us off being that they were trying to entice us to buy a timeshare there. Your deal was a heck of a lot better than ours! You got $100 just for showing up and here we thought we were cool getting 2 tickets to Sea World and we felt tortured for it.
I can guarantee you we would have liked it more had we not had to endure the sales pitch...
Anyway I am happy you enjoyed your stay! I am sure, when our kids are older, we will be going to that type of place too. And I am originally from Long Island so I can relate to the price differences too!!! (fellow NY'er)

 

[ttfn3]

I agree with you. Avoid the sales pitch! We were there for a week a couple of years ago. DH wanted to attend the pitch for the money and we had the time. We both knew going in we were not buying a thing. After checking DS into the kids play area - free video games so he was in heaven, we attended the pitch. Our sales con (not a pro) kept trying to find out which one of us was the emotional buyer so she could prey on that person. Hello! My DH is a data base administrator and I'm a finance director. She knew this. We both are very logical planners of our money. After 90 minutes of her not listening to us and not answering our questions, my DH told her we were out of there. Of course, she kept trying to sell us. Finally I stood up (mind you they had lots of other people near us that were doing the same sales pitch) and demanded to be taken to my son. We literally had to start walking away from the witch. I found my son. At that point we didn't care about the money. We just wanted to stop this insanity. We did eventually get the money, but I NEVER want to do another time share tour again.

The resort, however, is very nice. It was brand new when we stayed there. VERY beautiful. The only "negatives" were the frogs in the pond were quite noisy (we had a wave machine at night so it wasn't really a biggie) and the pillows were very soft. Oh, the cleaners don't speak a bit of English. One day the buildings fire alarms went off (can't remember why). We left the unit and couldn't find a single person that worked there to see what was going on. We didn't see any visible smoke/fire. We had to travel to the main checkin building to find someone to help. Worried me a bit what would happen if there was a real emergency.

We have also stayed at the Vistana Resort and I must say the staff there is MUCH better.

 

[HappyLawyer]

you and your hubby are so cute, but i know how you feel i went to the dells with three kids at the time, i am a foster parent and we sat through a 2 hour hard sell for free tickets, i could have pulled all my hair out, i don't know if i will ever do that again