Sheraton Vistana -- please share your experience

[Sharper]

After making myself crazy for a few weeks now, I had 99% decided on Sheraton Vistana for our late March trip. (FYI, it is an exchange through II, and the listing specifically says "Lakes/Cascakes" section.) I just read an awful review of it online, though, and now am panicking. Please, please share any particularly good or bad experiences with me. I really want to make this reservation and forget about it until spring!

 

[DianeV]

If you are in either the Lakes or Cascades section you dont have anything to worry about..its the older sections that many complain about and even some of them are not so bad..

 

[harvey]

I just made reservations for end of Jan. I requested the Spas even though they are older. There is someone here that owns in that area and he said they have been updated (new carpet, linens etc). I wanted to be in a 2 storey building, and I will have a family of 8, so I wanted the larger rooms.

I, too, read a terrible review just before we decided on the Vistana. *shrug*. I figure no place will get 100%positive....I'm confident it will be fine. If we get a bad room, I'll just be really loud until they move us to a better room. I'm really not anticipating a problem though.

BTW, we will be there for 8 days and only 3 of those days will be in the parks.....so we will be spending A LOT of time around the resort. No place else I looked into seemed to have the amenities that Vistana offered for the price.

Did you read that guys review about not being able to get into his room after arriving late at night with his family? Hopefully if his letter got to the right people, that experience won't be repeated.

Wish I could say I've been there and it's awesome, but I *can* say I'm fairly confident that the odds are pretty darn good for having a great time at the Vistana.

 

[Tiger Fan]

We will arrive at Vistana this Saturday and I'm already confident. A little info. I researched for days and even compiled a huge "document" about all the info gathered here on VR. I had definately decided to request the Spas. I faxed my request in yesterday and today received a very nice call. In all my research I didn't find that the Spas are not available for Saturday check-ins. The room controller however was very interested in what we wanted and seemd eager to please. I will give a full report when we return.

Lisa

 

[jdm]

We stayed at the Vistana last Feb for a week. I just sweated and worried about everything. I had requested Cascades and because it was Presidents week that section was full. We were put in Fountains and loved it. Older large units with a great pool (20 feet outside our door) in a really quiet section of the complex. The pool was very important to us and ours and Cascades seemed to be the best. I walked around the resort and the others looked pretty small, dinky. We didn't want to be by the super pool because of all the teens and noise etc. Anyway, we loved our section and our unit, while older was still great. You will love this resort. Don't worry!! Have fun!!

Jenn

 

[harvey]

Originally posted by Tiger Fan
We will arrive at Vistana this Saturday and I'm already confident. A little info. I researched for days and even compiled a huge "document" about all the info gathered here on VR. I had definately decided to request the Spas. I faxed my request in yesterday and today received a very nice call. In all my research I didn't find that the Spas are not available for Saturday check-ins. The room controller however was very interested in what we wanted and seemd eager to please. I will give a full report when we return.

Lisa

I'm excited to hear your report as we requested the Spas too. Since we will be going late January, it'll be iffy whether we will 'need' the pools or not. Plus, we have a pool ourselves, so the novelty of swimming out your backdoor doesn't hold much appeal for my kiddos, lol.

We booked thru Hotelkingdom.com, but dh will be calling Vistana to request diamond lane check-in. do you think we should also do the fax request just before leaving as well? We will arrive on a Saturday evening as well.

Thanks for the info!

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

tigerfan emailed me their "document", they did a great job in putting together info! I'm anxious to hear how things go!

 

[baileybrad]

If one is doing "Diamond Lane" check-in, it is done on-line and is essentially an email to the resort with your information and special requests. You will receive a confirmation back from the resort that your Diamond Lane check-in was received along with your requests. I would not see the reason to then fax additional info to the resort but folks should do what they think is best for them. It just seems to be redundant in Vistana Resort's case.

 

[Cyndiu]

Dear Sharper,

You don't have any thing to worry about. I have gone each of the last 5 years and Vistana has always been great. The one time we had a complaint (and it was a small one) it was handled very quickly and politely!! I have stayed in both Cascades and Lakes and found them both excellent. Lakes was our favorite stay thus far! Haven't see the review to which you're referring, so couldn't speak to the guys complaints, but I would HIGHLY recommend Vistana to my friends, and have.

 

[pixie57]

You will LOVE the Vistana! We were there from 11/8 - 11/15. Checked in after 10 pm on Friday night...were able to get our first choice of Cascades section. All rooms overlook a duck pond. This place is fabulous! My kids are so spoiled now, they only want to stay in a place that has a jacuzzi in the suite!

Based on other opinions, my other choices were Lakes and Fountains. While these areas were very nice (had a great breakfast at the Flamingo Cafe), I am glad we were in Cascades. We did like the pool there the best, and liked being close to the general store.

Our last 2 nights were spent at the Holiday Inn Family Suites (where we had spent 10 days in Oct. 2000). After the space at the Vistana, HIFS seemed small. It didn't help that it POURED all day on Saturday (which we planned to spend poolside). We still liked HIFS for the breakfast buffet, but were disappointed they didn't have the sit-down (non-buffet) lunch anymore. While we continue to recommend HIFS, the Vistana has set a new precedent for luxury vacationing!

Have fun!

 

[Sharper]

I certainly appreciate the reassurance. Pixie, I learned this lesson the hard way, too. Do not EVER move from bigger/nicer to smaller/not as nice on the same stay! It just makes the trip a little bit of a downer when both places are nice, but that stepping down just does not work out, does it?

 

[Tiger Fan]

We were in the Springs section and just returned home last night. We loved it. The place is fantastic and I can't imagine any location not being great. We did have a very nice quiet screened porch that overlooked a wonderful pool and hot tub. I can't report on much else as we didn't use any other amenities.
Lisa

 

[jx3smom]

Please do not worry. Vistana is a beautiful resort. We will be in the Cascades the first week of March. We have stayed at Vistana (we've owned for 15 years) many times in many areas. We love the place (although I love our DVC more). We've never had a bad experience and the staff has always been friendly. The pools are wonderful and there is a lot of activities for young and old.

 

[ToyStoryMom_inRI]

We just came back from there and it was GREAT! We stayed in the Fountains section and it was beautiful. The service was great and the housekeeping was impeccable. It was very quiet as well. There were 4 of us in a 2-bedroom and we had a ton of room. We had bad weather (some rain, but very cold) so we didn't check out the pools and we also didn't go to any of the restaurants so I can't speak to those two pieces. The location is great. Not in the middle of everything, but still very close to everything...if that makes any sense?

We plan on going back there next year as well!

 

[ellie&mattys mom]

Hi where can I find prices and photos of this hotel...it sounds great!!!


thanks

 

[lejaf]

The Vistana Resort is a time share, not really a hotel. We stayed there a few years ago and were very happy. We tried to go back, but they were full for the dates we wanted so we ended up at the HIFS instead.

They tried to get us to go to listen to their sales pitch, but we just kept saying no and they pretty much stopped calling us after the second day. We stayed in two different villas because we were snowed out of coming home and had already checked out of the first place when we found out that we were stuck in Florida for two more days. The first place we stayed was huge and was in an older section...we were happy. There was a problem with the jacuzzi and we called and they were there to fix it within an hour or so. The second one was a little smaller, but with more updated furnishings and nicer jacuzzi. It was really nice!

Here is their web address:

http://www.starwoodvo.com/resorts/welcome.jsp?resortID=5

 

[Mjasp]

For info on Vistana, go to www.resalesmart.com then click on Vistana Resort.

OK now that I shared, can you please share where you read those bad reviews. I'd like to read them.