New Offsite Territory and Need Advice

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

One thing to mention about an SVR reservation, OP.....some of the manners of booking will not included daily housekeeping with your rate. I don't know if that's important to you or not (weekly stays without daily housekeeping generally involve a mid-week tidy then a full clean before and after your stay) but its worth mentioning.

Renting from an owner will mean no daily housekeeping. Some discounted stays (like via Dreams Unlimited "no housekeeping" rate) will be the same. If reservation terms say "self catering", then that's no housekeeping as well. Our stay last year through Jetblue Getaways did include daily housekeeping, and most of the rates through Sheraton seem to as well.

SVR apparently now has a "you tidy, we treat" program, where if your rate does include daily housekeeping but you don't need or want it, you can trade your housekeeping privileges for free vouchers to the breakfast buffet at Zimmies.

 

[kat3668]

I stayed in may at sheraton vistana resort using skyauctions and loved it... I highly reccommend!
http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/2388861

 

[Goofy4WDW1964]

I have found several options on the Timeshare Users Group. Is there a way to validate the offer that I find to make sure it isn't a scam?

Gina has given you very good advice.

I'd recommend trying these to determine if the week that you want is available that way and to help establish a reasonable rental rate. Redweek is just redweek.com and Timeshare Users Group is http://tug2.com/timesharemarketplace/ look for the For Rent ads.

Price will tend to depend on when you're going and whether you're looking for a one-bedroom or two-bedroom villa but these more or less direct from owner sources tend to deliver lower pricing than from the more retail oriented websites.



If none of those sources work out for you, do try this.



Dick Taylor

 

[kathy884]

When my nephew was in the Disney college program last fall his apartment (roomed with four other guys) was right next to the Sheraton Vistana Resort, so that was a great place to stay when visiting him. Being onsite would have been farther away from his apartment for sure. It's a really nice place too, with all units having been gutted an renovated a few years back, and being offsite with an owner rental cost was similar to a value, way less than a moderate (great value for the money IMHO).

I use TUG2.net and Redweek.com (recommended by previous posters) a lot too for my condo rentals.

When we were there my husband (who is the only smoker in the family) smoked on our balcony. Timeshare resorts seem to be more liberal in this regard than hotels.

As I'm sure you've realized from other posts too, the Fountains area is part of this large, expansive resort -- across the street.

As for making sure you aren't being scammed on TUG2.net I don't know what to tell you. I've done about a dozen rentals from contacts from that site over the past 10 year and been very happy with each. But these are often rentals from people who just have a few timeshare weeks, etc. If you are uncomfortable / concerned about being scammed, you might want to go through a company or do retail.

The way these have normally worked for me is as follows:
I email the owner, express interest, and set up a time to call them that is mutually agreeable.

We talk. They seem really friendly, competent, and genuine which makes me feel comfortable dealing with them. They give me their address, home, work, and cell numbers. If they have been renting a long time they sometimes offer names of other satisfied renters I can contact. We work out terms: Usually they reserve the week, I send them a check for 1/2 up front, they get the certificate in my name and send it to me, I contact the resort just to see that they have my reservation listed, 30 days before the trip I send the remaining balance. More and more owners these days will do the transactions though Paypal now too, which gives a little more protection. They are often small time renters, though. One time I wanted to do the rental through Paypal and did, but had to explain to the owner how she could set things up as she had never used Paypal before. Prices are usually way better than retail, but there is more risk. For me personally with my typical vacation budget, I would not have been able to afford to stay in so many nice two and three bedroom condo resorts for the retail price. The owner rentals, for me, have meant much higher quality accommodations staying in my budget than I could have gotten retail.