Review Sheraton Vistana Resort Questions

[csturg]

For those who have stayed here, who are you booking thru? Sheraton? Bookit? Expedia?

Thanks!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

For those who have stayed here, who are you booking thru? Sheraton? Bookit? Expedia?

Thanks!!

We booked our stay through Jetblue Getaways.

Flights alone would have cost us $1000 for 3 people.

Flights + a two bedroom, two bathroom villa for 8 nights was $2000.

So our accommodations came out to $125 per night, taxes included. We were very happy with that rate!!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!

I just realized that I'm only a week and two days away from being able to do Diamond Lane check in!!!!!

Yep, I'm a little excited.

 

[WaltsMartini]

Thanks Bankr! We will be requesting Springs. 90 some days to go - it can't get here soon enough!

 

[mrsg00fy]

We stayed in the Springs section last year....I think building 11. The front of the unit faced the highway...but the back had set of stairs that went right down to the pool. We LOVED it. We are staying at Vistana again in a few weeks and have requested Springs pool location. My kids are hoping to get the exact same unit again. It was great to have that pool so close, ping pong there, an arcade right there, the hot tub, sauna, etc. We didn't mind being close to the highway. We never heard any noise from the road in the unit.

I don't usually see the Springs section listed as one of the requested sections, but I am crossing my fingers that we are placed there again.

We can't wait!

 

[avelynsmom]

Just checked into Cascades Bldg 5, 5th floor! We are a family of seven, so far everything looks great and check in went smooth as silk. Requested through Diamond Lane two weeks ago, 5th floor skylight room in Cascades and it was honored, no problems. We will be here 2 weeks, so happy to finally be here! And thanks for all the wonderful info on this thread, if ya'll need any info while I'm here just ask I have a photo of our room but not sure how to post it

 

[teacherlovesdisney]

Hello all,

First of all, thanks. You have been helpful in my planning for this trip. We seem to be all set. I sent in the request through Diamond Lane. We arrive in 2 weeks! My question is this, will I receive any kind of comfirmation that they received and/or will honor the request? Or, do you wait until you arrive? Thank you!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hello all,

First of all, thanks. You have been helpful in my planning for this trip. We seem to be all set. I sent in the request through Diamond Lane. We arrive in 2 weeks! My question is this, will I receive any kind of comfirmation that they received and/or will honor the request? Or, do you wait until you arrive? Thank you!

I am interested to know the answer to this question as well. Our Diamond Lane requests will be submitted this Friday and was wondering how we would know if the online form was received.

 

[FrankieDplus3]

I am interested to know the answer to this question as well. Our Diamond Lane requests will be submitted this Friday and was wondering how we would know if the online form was received.

The last time I used Diamond Lane (2011) I received a confirmation reply by the next day. This is a portion of the reply I received:

"Your villa preferences have been noted in your reservation. *Your comfort and enjoyment are our first priority and we do our best to honor every one of our guests’ special requests. *However, because some villa features and amenities are limited in number, we are occasionally unable to grant certain requests, particularly in our busier seasons. *Rest assure that our rooms control specialists will be working hard right up until the day you arrive to find the perfect villa to accommodate you and your family."

We are headed back to Vistana again this year; arriving in about 27 days. I will be using Diamond Lane again, hoping to get into Springs near the pool.

 

[erinch]

We will be checking in to the Vistana for our 7th (I think) stay there. The first being when our now 25 yr old son was age 8!

What we do is rent from someone with weeks to rent on TUG (Timeshare Users Group.) This time around I started late (about a month ago) and settled for $850 for one week and $900 for the other. Which was a fair price since the lady I rented from had to buy some extra star points. It was worth it to me to go higher than absolutely necessary in order to get someone with 2 floating weeks, which means that their available unit is not in one specific part of the resort.

We were confirmed Springs people, requesting pondview rather than poolview. That pool was great when my kids were smaller. And we grooved to the miami vice turquise and peach color scheme before the refurb. During refurbishment, we had to switch someplace. We ended up over on the other side of the road in Fountains 1. And that is now what we request. The pool there is the one my now 25 yr old and 17 year old like, and the food court suits them fine. Much better than Zimmies or the other main side options for a quick bite on a swim night. (Unless Zimmies has improved.)

Our major request is that we want to be in the top floor of one of the non high rise buildings (which are Cascades and Lakes). We want a pond/waterway view as opposed to a pool. This has been granted for every single visit.

This is the Diamond Lane request I just submitted. I got a confirmation on the website telling me that my Diamond Lane request has been sucessfully submitted. In terms of checkins Diamond Lane is the only way to go!

This is what I submitted:

Greetings -- We will be staying at the Vistana with a 2 week reservation.

We are requesting Fountains 1, and would like buildings 11-18, if possible.

We would like to be in the same unit both weeks.

We would like a 3rd floor unit with a skylight.

We would like a pondview or waterway view (not poolview).

We would appreciate one of the units towards the back of the property, rather than one of those on the main road.

Thanks so much for your time and efforts in customer service!

 

[erinch]

And can anyone who has been there recently tell me how the wireless is doing in the units? It was abysmal 2 years ago.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are headed back to Vistana again this year; arriving in about 27 days. I will be using Diamond Lane again, hoping to get into Springs near the pool.

We will be there the same time (we arrive the 23rd of August). Here's to some sunshiny skies and no hurricanes!

 

[jaspereira]

Hi, folks!

We are heading to the Sheraton Vistana Resort for a 2-week stay in October (Oct. 17th - Nov. 1st).

We are not owners, nor rented through RCI, timeshares. We are simple guests.

Since this is our first time in the property, what would you recommend, based on the following list:

1) We would like a new/refurbished/updated room.
2) We need a quiet room.
3) The reservation includes two queen beds (not single) in the second room.
4) As we are traveling with two kids (2 year old/6 year old), we will have lots of luggage and a stroller as well. I thought in a building with an elevator (Cascades or Lakes, I think); but what would be best: Cascades/Lakes or a first floor in another building?

Thanks for all help!

 

[bankr63]

Hi, folks!

We are heading to the Sheraton Vistana Resort for a 2-week stay in October (Oct. 17th - Nov. 1st).

We are not owners, nor rented through RCI, timeshares. We are simple guests.

Since this is our first time in the property, what would you recommend, based on the following list:

1) We would like a new/refurbished/updated room.
2) We need a quiet room.
3) The reservation includes two queen beds (not single) in the second room.
4) As we are traveling with two kids (2 year old/6 year old), we will have lots of luggage and a stroller as well. I thought in a building with an elevator (Cascades or Lakes, I think); but what would be best: Cascades/Lakes or a first floor in another building?

Thanks for all help!

1) All rooms are recently updated, so no worries there.
2) I would simply request "non-pool view", and not backing I-4 or fronting 535
3) This leaves out some of Lakes/Cascades (King in 2nd of all 2BR lockoff so only the pure 2BR units), Courts and Falls (singles in 2nd).
4) Cascades or Lakes have elevators, but you could request a ground floor unit anywhere else. I like the ground floor units for easy access to Barbeques if you plan on doing that. It's very nice to just walk out the door and hop in the car on your way out. Note that the lower rise (non-elevator) sections are often quieter because they are less crowded. There will always be some noise though; there are a lot of people in the area, and there are always a few who are lacking in social graces...

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

1) All rooms are recently updated, so no worries there.
2) I would simply request "non-pool view", and not backing I-4 or fronting 535
3) This leaves out some of Lakes/Cascades (King in 2nd of all 2BR lockoff so only the pure 2BR units), Courts and Falls (singles in 2nd).
4) Cascades or Lakes have elevators, but you could request a ground floor unit anywhere else. I like the ground floor units for easy access to Barbeques if you plan on doing that. It's very nice to just walk out the door and hop in the car on your way out. Note that the lower rise (non-elevator) sections are often quieter because they are less crowded. There will always be some noise though; there are a lot of people in the area, and there are always a few who are lacking in social graces...

So if I am reading this correctly, some "2 bedroom" units in Lakes have a king in the master and a king in the 2nd bedroom?

DS would die and go to heaven if he had a king bed for the week.

 

[bankr63]

And can anyone who has been there recently tell me how the wireless is doing in the units? It was abysmal 2 years ago.

They have now installed a second network with (somewhat) better speed and access. This new network does have a surcharge however ($6-8 a day if I recall, owners pay less than guests since we paid to install the network in the first place), but we stuck with the original free network last time and it was fine. Actually the old network is probably improved by having some of the load moved to the new network.

The service has never been stellar, but as a tech guy I am impressed by how good it is. Even compared to putting WiFi in our office or a tower hotel, getting coverage across several acres of campus property is a much greater challenge. The antenna masts on the outside of the buildings are HUGE if you look for them. Alot of your quality depends on how close you are to one of the masts, so some units are better than others, and some spots in a unit may be better than others. Often sitting on the screen porch can get you better service.

The other issue is loading. The network is usually pretty quick in the morning if you are checking for changes in park hours etc. Early evenings when people are back from the pools and the parks it gets pretty slow; but then we're on vacation so not in a rush. I think it's fine for e-mail and browsing; my kids complain when they try to stream movies to their ipods (thus jamming the network for everyone else).

 

[bankr63]

I am interested to know the answer to this question as well. Our Diamond Lane requests will be submitted this Friday and was wondering how we would know if the online form was received.

Gina, I'd send yours now. Aren't you leaving in just a couple of days? Give them a bit of time to get your requests together!

Frankie's response sounds very generic, mine was a bit more specific the last time I requested; mostly because they took the time to tell me why they couldn't grant one of my requests (the request was a bit of a "flier" but you don't get if you don't ask so I was fine that they couldn't grant it).

I suspect that responses are probably based on how busy they are in that department; others have posted here that they never got a reply. Of course it is possible to submit the form without providing them a proper e-mail as well which makes responding impossible.

Note that they don't really take a close look at requests until about 2 weeks out when they get all their exchange reservations from RCI and II. That's a big part of their volume, so there's not much use in space planning before that. Once they know who's coming, then they start to figure things out.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina, I'd send yours now. Aren't you leaving in just a couple of days? Give them a bit of time to get your requests together!

Frankie's response sounds very generic, mine was a bit more specific the last time I requested; mostly because they took the time to tell me why they couldn't grant one of my requests (the request was a bit of a "flier" but you don't get if you don't ask so I was fine that they couldn't grant it).

I suspect that responses are probably based on how busy they are in that department; others have posted here that they never got a reply. Of course it is possible to submit the form without providing them a proper e-mail as well which makes responding impossible.

Note that they don't really take a close look at requests until about 2 weeks out when they get all their exchange reservations from RCI and II. That's a big part of their volume, so there's not much use in space planning before that. Once they know who's coming, then they start to figure things out.

My 4-week mark is this coming Friday. Our check in day is August 23rd. Still a little while to wait but getting closer!

 

[bankr63]

So if I am reading this correctly, some "2 bedroom" units in Lakes have a king in the master and a king in the 2nd bedroom?

DS would die and go to heaven if he had a king bed for the week.

Yes, these would be 2BR Lockoffs - really two 1BR units joined together so both BR are masters. They are popular for ownership with TS Owners because they provide a lot of flexibility. Unfortunately they aren't easy to snag on a reservation as most owners split them if not using them. I have a 3BR LO at another resort that I ALWAYS split when I deposit because it gives me almost twice as much trading power when done that way; but if I ever wanted to host 11 of my closest friends in a single unit I could do that. In hindsight now that idea makes me

 

[bankr63]

My 4-week mark is this coming Friday. Our check in day is August 23rd. Still a little while to wait but getting closer!

Ah okay, your timing is fine. For some reason I thought your departure was end of THIS month. Good, gives me a bit more time to get my long overdue review up before you leave (since everyone will be heading over to your TR after you get back). I've actually got the first 3 chapters ready to go, just need to link in the pictures.

Stay cool until you go...