Need help with Disney's Vero Beach Resort

[Minnie's Mate]

I just booked an ocean view room at DVBR with the annual pass code, but now nothing about the resort.

What are the activities for kids and adults? Is the water nice or murky like the NE Florida resorts? What about the pool area? Any info would be helpfull.

 

[luckytso]

If you post this at the Disney Vacation Club's board, you will get LOTS of responses. Have a great time!!!

 

[Redmic]

The pool area is very nice. They have a dj there some nights who plays tunes and blows bubbles across the water. The kids like that. They have water balloon toss, sidewalk chalk art, unbirthday parties, and mini golf. Also a firepit with s'mores.

When we were there no one swam in the ocean. They do not post a lifeguard there, because swimming is not encouraged. There is a large sign warning that swimming is at your own risk, and to beware of sharks, portugese man-o-wars, jellyfish, riptides, and other hazards which escape me at the moment. However, we did enjoy metal detecting and collecting shells on the beach.

One final note. Check your room before you accept it. They interpret ocean view very broadly. We paid for an ocean view room and it was a garden view, with a tiny glimpse of the ocean if you leaned over the balcony and craned your head to the right. Unfortunately, we had hideous flight delays which caused us to take 13 hours to reach Vero Beach and we were much too wiped out to change rooms, so we kept it. I really should not have been charged for an ocean view in that room, though.

We really enjoyed the resort. Very beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing.

 

[ftmyersgirl]

Last Thursday I checked in and out of Vero Beach. I was a cash guest at the resort and booked the studio at the promotional rate of 149.00. I got a room at the Inn facing A1A. I am not a person who makes any special requests for rooms but I questioned the fact that I had a double queen bedded hotel room when central reservations had told me I had booked a studio villa with one bed and a sofa.

The people at check in were beyond rude. They told me that my "rate code" of 149.00 was not for the accomodations I wanted and that I had to pay 30.00 more for what I wanted. I could not argue because I had made the reservation the night before and did not have a copy of the confirmation with me.

It was raining last Thursday in Vero and there were only10 cars in the Inn parking lot. The resort was empty and we were given such a hard time about a room. My next and last comment was "I would like to cancel my reservation and check out". They said "OK" nothing more and gave me my money back by crediting my Visa card.

In all my years of travel I have never had anyone at the front desk of a hotel say out loud what I paid for my room. I have never encountered such ambivalence about whether a guest stays or not.

I was there to check out the resort in hopes of buying into DVC. I had gotten the promotional rate in Hilton Head and had such a wonderful experience that it prompted me to make the unscheduled trip to Vero Beach. I have decidedto buy in WDW. I am writing the DVC people about how poorly I was treated.

My advise, take your booking confirmation with you. Be aware that the check- in people think that cash guests are trying to get something for nothing. There is not much immediatley around the Hotel and you have to drive about 10 miles into the town. Most garden rooms face A1A. There are some trees below. I don't know about the oceanfront rooms but please be careful so that your vacation is not ruined.

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Minnie's Mate
IWhat are the activities for kids and adults? Is the water nice or murky like the NE Florida resorts? What about the pool area? Any info would be helpfull.

Here are a couple of links of VB for you.

http://www.mouseplanet.com/sue_holland/vbr_activities.htm

http://www.mouseplanet.com/sue_holland/vbr.htm

 

[mm6mm6]

We're going in August and I am really looking forward to it. I have heard nothing negative about it (except for the reply post in this message) so it should prove to be a relaxing time!

 

[KCritter]

Minnie's Mate - The ocean at Vero is kind of murky - typical of North Florida - and the sand is rather coarse. Hard on your feet, but great for beach combing as there is tons of shells. As Redmic said, there's no lifeguard, but of you are concerned about safety, the public beach just to the north of the resort has a lifeguard. We've swam at the beach plenty of times and rented jetskis too. I think they also have a sailboat and some paddleboats for rent as well as beach cabanas and umbrellas.

The pool is great and has a fantastic spiral slide, it's where we spend most of our time.

For kids, they have swim lessons, crafts, the campfire but since we don't have any young 'uns, I don't really pay much attention to what else they have.

For the whole family - you can rent bikes and there is a miniature golf course, too. During summer evenings you can go on a 'turtle walk' and learn about the sea turtles.

For grown ups - the Green Cabin Room is a great place for a drink and live music. I'd also highly recommend getting a massage while at VB.

In the vicinity of the resort - you can take a free tour of the Piper Cub factory (DH thought this was fascinating, I thought it was just good). There are a lot of orange groves nearby too.

Hope this helped, let me know if you have any other questions. We love VB and usually go every May.

 

[stlrod]

Originally posted by ftmyersgirl

The people at check in were beyond rude. They told me that my "rate code" of 149.00 was not for the accomodations I wanted and that I had to pay 30.00 more for what I wanted. I could not argue because I had made the reservation the night before and did not have a copy of the confirmation with me.

It was raining last Thursday in Vero and there were only10 cars in the Inn parking lot. The resort was empty and we were given such a hard time about a room. My next and last comment was "I would like to cancel my reservation and check out". They said "OK" nothing more and gave me my money back by crediting my Visa card.

In all my years of travel I have never had anyone at the front desk of a hotel say out loud what I paid for my room. I have never encountered such ambivalence about whether a guest stays or not.

I was there to check out the resort in hopes of buying into DVC. I had gotten the promotional rate in Hilton Head and had such a wonderful experience that it prompted me to make the unscheduled trip to Vero Beach. I have decidedto buy in WDW. I am writing the DVC people about how poorly I was treated.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I had a very similar experience a Xmas a year and a half ago. The man at the front desk tried to charge me more that the very low rate I had been quoted. When I questioned, he said, "You couldn't possible have gotten that low of a rate at Christmas time." (keep in mind this was after 9/11 when travel suppliers were trying to do what they could to keep in business. Finally, I went out and got my confirmation. When I showed it to him, he kept disapperaing behind a door and then coming back and saying I was misquoted. Finally, he agreed to give me the room for the rate on my confirmation but said he would need to keep the confirmation (it was very difficult to get him to make a copy.) When I got to my room, I immediately called for the manager and complained about the rude way in which I had been treated. I barely got an apology. The next day, I looked everywhere for the package containing my checkbook, Universal passes for the New Year's trip and other travel documents. Not finding it anywhere, my best guess was that I left it on the front desk at check-in at the conclusion fo my exassperating experience with Paul (I still remember his name I was so mad.) I called the manager and she said it was not up there. I am convinced that Paul threw it away in spite after I got him in trouble. The rest of the trip was great and I would go again.

 

[ftmyersgirl]

stlrd

I don't know how to use the quote feature yet I am addressing your comments about the confirmation letter. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I still have not received confirmation letter so I cannot tell if the mistake eminated from the central reservation or not. Notwithstanding that fact, I cannot understand why the front desk would be talking about what the room cost in such an loud manner even if central reservations had erred. Luckily there were no other guests anywhere to be found because the hotel was empty.

I will be writing the DVC Vice President in charge of Marketing (the person whose name apppears with the letter that comes with the video) to a let him know that the managment at Vero Beach does not like the rate given to promote the vacation club. If I want to evaluate the villa, why are they putting me in the inn?

In dire contrast, when I went to Hilton Head, we were treated as if we were owners. It really gave us a good taste of what it would be like to be a member of the DVC community. I am not going to let the incident at Vero spoil our desire to buy into DVC. However, I did make a commitment to report my experience so that others would be aware of the potential problem and come prepared with all their paperwork.

By the way, I went directly to WDW reported the incident to my guide. While there, the bartender at the resort told me he had a similar experience while booking with the employee discount. Apparently he had been upgraded by the somenone in upper managment and the front desk staff questioned the upgrade in light of the discounted rate he was paying. This was done, reportedly, in a very loud and offensive manner.

I was truly looking to spending two nights at Vero to evaluate the resort. I was not getting a free room. I was paying 149.00 plus tax a night for a studio. It was raining. The resort was empty. We could not even sit on a couch and look out at anything because we were next to the elevator on the top floor and the window faced the road and the room did not have a couch.

 

[Dean]

ftmyersgirl, I can't speak to how you were treated only that from a room standpoint at VB the inn rooms and studios are essentially the same. If you got a promotional rate and it did not specify view, you got what you paid for though it may not have been accurately explained to you. Was this through CRO at Disney? If so, they are not at all well versed on HH or VB.

Redmic, remember this is a timeshare and not truly a hotel. In the timeshare world ocean front, ocean side, garden view refer to locations and not the actual views. Only about half of the "ocean view" rooms actually give you a view of the ocean. It's no different than at Boardwalk where preferred view means you don't have a view of the parking lot (standard view) and not necesssarily a view of the boardwalk.

 

[ftmyersgirl]

The offer can be seen on the Disney site. I cannot post the hyperlink. Do not know how.


It was made through central reservations and I agree with you that they are not well versed on these resorts. Indeed, the Vero Beach Restaurants are not even listed on the central reservations line. You have to call the restaurants directly.

But go to disney.com and you can see that it is clear what I was getting, that it is a promotional rate to get people to go to Vero and see what the vacation club is about. I had just left Hilton Head where I had spent three days and their attitude was totally different.

I was not looking for any view. But I had booked a studio villa with one bed and a couch. It was clearly specified. I also said not near an elevator. My room was right next to the elevator. I checked in at noon. The hotel was empty. I was given the wrong room, according to my recollection of what was told to me, and they wanted me to give them 30.00 more---not for a better view---but for a villa with one bed and a couch. If the rooms at the inn and the villas are the same why try to extract from me additional money? I have never seen a front desk clerk do this. Never in all my years of traveling.

They kept (there were two people working on my registration one was being trained) telling, me in a loud voice, three times what I paid for the room and how that determined where they placed me.

My room number and location was selected by these two ladies right there in front of me, after they saw what I paid for the room.
Maybe they were 100% right in stating that is what I booked. But they were not correct in reapeating over and over what I had paid as if it were nothing.

[ [url]http://URL=http://dvc.disney...mvo/offerindex?id=MVOVeroBeachBestOfferDetail]http://dvc.disney.go.com/disneyvacationclub/mvo/offerindex?id=MVOVeroBeachBestOfferDetail[/URL] [/URL]

 

[PamOKW]

I think part of the problem is a "failure to communicate". If you check the definition of a studio on the web site you will find

Studio: One queen-size bed and one double-size sleeper sofa, or two queen beds
Accommodates four adults plus one child under age three in a crib
Private bath
Wet bar with under-counter refrigerator
Microwave oven and coffeemaker
Ceiling fan
Color cable television with VCR
Hair dryer
Private balcony or porch


Note that a studio can have a bed and couch or two beds. This comes up when you click on "studio" in the promotion offered on Vacation Club site. This is the one for folks interested in seeing the resort and requires a 2 night stay. The offer to FL residents does not have the 2 night requirement and also doesn't have a hyperlink defining studio.

There is also the availability issue. Only a certain amount of rooms are available for the promotion. Even if the rest of the resort is empty, they don't necessarily have to offer the reduced rate room and "requests" are never guaranteed.

Studios and Inn Rooms at Vero are really the same. Rate wise a villa studio and a gardenview Inn are the same cost. Oceanviews run about $40 more.

If you were unhappy with the experience you certainly should voice your concern to Disney management. Any problems with CMs should always be called to their attention. It might also prompt them to more clearly define their offers.

I just noticed something on the rates. There is no longer a category for Inn Gardenview. There is a category "Studio" which along with the above definition seems to mean that a Studio can be located either in a Villa building or the Inn Building and there is a category "Oceanview Inn".

Rate Schedule

 

[AZKathy]

Originally posted by mm6mm6
We're going in August and I am really looking forward to it. I have heard nothing negative about it (except for the reply post in this message) so it should prove to be a relaxing time!

We stayed in an ocean view inn room in 2001. We took a break mid trip to Vero and absolutely loved our stay there. We had a magnificent view of the ocean (we are desert rats and were totally enchanted by the view). We had a grand time at the beach and the pool was a very nice pool. They even have a toddler area for the younger ones.

We had included a day trip to Kennedy that weekend and the only regret I had with this long weekend was that we went to Kennedy and not just stay at Vero Beach and do another beach day. I had a wonderful time.

 

[ftmyersgirl]

PamOKW

You may have hit on something. CRO may not have booked me into the studio with the couch. They probably just booked me into the one with the two beds. Also they may have used the Florida resident code instead of the one for checking out the resort.

But they had the room believe me, they were tyring to charge me 30 dollars more for it.

Since reading your post I called CRO and they told me that the 30 dollars is for ocean front and there is not such upcharge for a room with a bed and a couch.


Believe me, I was trying to get my husband to buy into DVC. The last thing I wanted was a scene or an argument with anyone associated with Disney. I left because my husband said he was not going to spend the day sleeping on a Queen bed. It was raining.

I have a new grandson and I was just trying to find a way for all of us to vacation together. We did in Hilton Head and had a marvelous time.

They were beyond rude. They were uninvolved. They never yelled or argued. Only kept repeating the rate I paid over and over.

We were supposed to buy our points tomorrow. I hope my husband has calmed down.

By the way, my husband never opened his mouth. He was dumbfounded. Left completely speechless. You had to be there.

 

[Dean]

ftmyersgirl, I'd like to look at the specific promotion. How do I get to it.

 

[floridafam]

They are running several promotions that will get you rates like this.

You can link to one under "magical offers" on dvcresorts.com

You can just call and ask for the Birnbaum offer.

You can call and ask for AP rates for VB.

You can call and ask for the Disney Club Discount.


The rates may vary between these offers a little but they are generally very good if they are available.

 

[vernon]

Ftmyersgirl said

I was given the wrong room, according to my recollection of what was told to me, and they wanted me to give them 30.00 more---not for a better view---but for a villa with one bed and a couch. If the rooms at the inn and the villas are the same why try to extract from me additional money?

I think I may have spotted your problem. If you asked at the front desk for a VILLA with one bed and a couch it is possible the CMS thought you were expecting a one bedroom unit, not a studio. If that were the case I can understand their frustration at trying to explain that $149 is for the smaller type of unit, not for a one bedoom villa. It's possible that you thought you were were having one conversation and the CMs thought they were having a completely different one. The same words, but they had a completely different meaning to each party. In that situation I can understand why both sides end up losing their temper because the other party doesn't seem to understand a perfectly simple statement.

 

[PamOKW]

Ftmyersgirl, Vernon may also be on to something.

Did you actually go to the room or just got frustrated at the desk? It sounds like miscommunication and a CM who didn't handle the situation in the best manner led to your frustration. Hopefully, someday you and your husband will be willing to give the resort another chance. If that time comes, let us walk you through the different options so you'll have all the info available to "speak resort" to any CM you encounter. Vero in the rain is also nothing like Vero in the sunshine so maybe fate stepped in and cancelled this trip for you.

Even though the resort appeared empty to you, there could be reasons they couldn't give you certain rooms. For example, if 15 studio rooms are designated for the promotional rate and 12 of them are occuppied when you register, then there is a choice of 3 rooms that they can give you. The other 30 studios might be available that night but people are coming in the following day for those rooms. You are registered for two nights. They can't give up 2 nights in these rooms because they are spoken for the following day. It's also possible that they were expecting people to check-in later that same day. I've hit this type of thing myself in reverse. Several years ago I tried to book using my DVC membership. No rooms available for points. I tried to book for full price through CRO. Nothing available. My dad got a postcard regarding a promotion. Bingo! Got a room no problem. Without this promotion we would not have been able to stay at the resort.

 

[ftmyersgirl]

PamOKW

First thank you for taking so much time to get to the bottom of the issue with the front desk staff at Vero Beach. Yes Vernon may have hit on something and here is why. The following specifically relates the series of events.

1. We walked up to the front desk there were three reservationists: a man and; two women working the same terminal. We were summoned by the women. Gave name. They said to us "for your rate code of $149.00 you are getting a garden studio." I said, " that is correct, can it not be close to the elevator". They said ok and looked and looked on the computer and then the trainee said to me "for $149.00 you can only get a garden view" I said that is fine but can I have a studio garden view with a couch and not to close to the elevator because I plan to spend the next few hours in my room." The trainee said, "for a studio with a couch you have to pay an upgrade charge of $30.00 because with the $149 dollar rate you can not make requests." At this point my husband was shifting and I could see he was uncomfortable to the constant loud referral to our rate so I did not respond.

Then the trainer told the trainee "not that room it is too close to the elevator". The trainer looked up at me and said "We have given you a very nice room". We were not told anything else. I assumed the room she gave us is what we requested initially through CRO and then right there in front of her. We were given a pass for parking a diagram of hotel and told where to park and where to go for our room.

When we went to the room with our luggage (something we never do we always check room first but were so confident that we had gotten what we reqested) we had a double queen bedded room right next to the elevator. I assumed the trainee had made a mistake so I picked up the phone and called down and now the man spoke with me. They must have been discussing me because he said to me without looking anything up he said "I don't think you will be happy in a studio with a couch either I don't think you understand what it is and that your $149 does not allow upgrades." My husband did not hear this and I did not want to escalate the discussion because I wanted to make an offer of a DVC resale this morning and felt my husband was thinking that they were being to petty and condescending. So I said "I would like to check out" and the front desk guy said "OK". Basta. End of story. No one yelled no one lost their cool.

When we went back to the front desk the man handed us a credit for our Visa card (yet to be posted) and did not say one word. We did not say one word. It was the most uninvolved transaction you can imagine.

Yes, I now believe that they thought I was asking for a hotel suite like the embassy suites and so they were reeling with condescension.

Update

I just spoke with my husband regarding the purchase of DVC points. He told me that he felt like he was in the scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts wanted to buy clothes and the Beverly Hills salesperson could not wait to usher her out of the store.

I said to him you are no Julia Roberts and Vero is not Beverly Hills.

 

[dougmatt]

ftmyersgirl,

I am sorry to hear about your difficulties at VB.. I am an owner at VB, and have visited many times. I own at 4 DVC resorts (BMV, WLV, HH, and VB), but it was our trip to VB that made us decide to buy(on the same kind of promo code you were traveling on). In all of our visits, the front desk staff has been one of the highlights. I have always found them to be courteous, helpfull, and more than willing to bend over backward to ensure my family had an enjoyable stay. In fact my son (13) has continued to correspond with one of the CM's via e-mail about pin trading for the last 2 years. This particular CM went way out of his way to ensure my son was able to pin trade at the resort everyday for new pins.

I do not remember Paul, so I must not have met him. I will look out for him on my next visit. I cannot understand how it is that 3 CM's had an opportunity to improve your trip, but didn't.. Very unusual! I am sorry for your problem.

I think the root of the problem is the diference between an inn room and a studio. You were on the promo code which is an inn room / garden view. If I remember correctly without looking it up, those are all rooms with 2 beds and all located in the inn. A studio at VB is not located in the inn itself, but rather out in the villas near the inn, and typically has a bed and a couch, though some still have 2 beds. I do not believe any of the inn rooms have been retro'd to the bed and couch design yet , but I could be mistaken. So in other words, by asking for a studio with a bed and couch, you were in fact asking for a diferent kind of room than what you were booked for.

That does not excuse the mistreatment that you felt at all.. .. Just may explain the root of the miscommunication.

As a side not, are you the same ftmyersgirl that recently posted on the Biddingfor travel web site? Or does someone else share your moniker?