Sheraton Vistana Villages - Your reviews, tips & ratings

[bankr63]

So, I did not book a "no housekeeping" rate, will be get fresh towels and beds made everyday?

That depends on what you booked and how. The housekeeping/no housekeeping is for reservations made through a TA or direct with Starwood/Sheraton or through a hotel booking site. These are hotel type stays and many offer the choice as a cost saving. DreamsRES at the top of this page provides you with the choice.

If you are booking as Timeshare exchange, trade, rental from eBay/RedWeeks/TUG then housekeeping is an extra cost option aside from the mid-week tidy.

The best advice I can give is review your terms either on the booking and/or on the confirmation. It should detail what is included and what is not.

 

[bsjs0708]

Could someone please tell me if the resort provides either a pack and play or a crib? Thanks..Julie

 

[bankr63]

Could someone please tell me if the resort provides either a pack and play or a crib? Thanks..Julie

Sheraton will provide a portable crib on request. It is best to contact the resort directly to arrange for this a couple of weeks prior to arrival, or use the Diamond Lane form a bit further up in this thread.

 

[Nicole33]

We booked through a package with Costco. I just checked my confirmation documents, and it does not mention anything about housekeeping. I'm thinking housekeeping will be included, but i will call and confirm. Thanks!

 

[vistana101]

I have been reading about many of the offsite resorts. I see a lot on this one but not much on the sister resort the Caribe Royale. If there is anyone that has stayed at both, how do they compare for the larger 2 bedroom villas? Thanks.

The Caribe Royal is actually not a sister resort but I did stay there once. When Vistana Villages was new, they put people in the Caribe when you went down to Orlando for the sales pitch. I will say that we thought there was a huge difference between the Caribe and SVV. For us, SVV was much less crowded, and the units were much better and more spacious.

 

[pinoke]

So this morning I see there is a Mousesavers deal for the fall. We have never stayed offsite, but are thinking we'd give it a try.
I'm feeling sort of lost though
To us, a great pool is a huge part of our vacation. To a little waterside loving boy, it is essential. Am I correct in thinking that the resort is very large and there are multiple pools and buildings? And that we can't reserve a certain building ? We don't want to have a long walk to a kid-friendly pool ( or have to drive!) so what do we do??
Also, we want to be in a newly renovated section and not an older building. All help is appreciated!

 

[vistana101]

So this morning I see there is a Mousesavers deal for the fall. We have never stayed offsite, but are thinking we'd give it a try.
I'm feeling sort of lost though
To us, a great pool is a huge part of our vacation. To a little waterside loving boy, it is essential. Am I correct in thinking that the resort is very large and there are multiple pools and buildings? And that we can't reserve a certain building ? We don't want to have a long walk to a kid-friendly pool ( or have to drive!) so what do we do??
Also, we want to be in a newly renovated section and not an older building. All help is appreciated!

You are correct! There are four pools in the resort. Two pools are right next to each other (main pool and quiet pool). The main pool has a kid friendly area that has an interactive fountain and zero-depth entry. The Key West pool in the back of the resort does not have any kid-friendly features. The St. Augustine pool, however, is probably what you are looking for: an interactive pirate ship and a water slide with a plunge pool. These villas are often considered the nicest in the resort.

Right next to the St. Augustine phase is the Amelia phase, which is 4 buildings and there is no pool, but it is a 2-3 minute walk to the St. Augustine pool and a 4-5 minute walk to the main pool. The villas in this section were recently refurbished and they are very nice.

The Bella section is where the main pool is, for reference, and these villas just underwent a full renovation (but not a great one in my opinion!).


So, I would request the St. Augustine section first, but the Amelia section would also be a great alternative.


If you have any questions, feel free to ask!!

I tried to post several pictures and links here but the forum wouldn't let me because I am new, sorry!

 

[pinoke]

Thank you! So what happens as far as room/building reservations. When do they tell you where you are booked?

 

[Nicole33]

I would love to see any pics you have, Especially the St Augustine or Amelia section. I will PM you my email since you can't post links yet.

 

[quandrea]

We visited friends there last year. I found it to be so loud and so crowded. I was so happy to get back to bay lake tower.

 

[vistana101]

I would love to see any pics you have, Especially the St Augustine or Amelia section. I will PM you my email since you can't post links yet.

I will email you some pictures!

Thank you! So what happens as far as room/building reservations. When do they tell you where you are booked?

The resort "blocks" you in a room several months in advance, but unfortunately you do not know your location until you check-in. To increase your chances, I would make the request on your reservation as early as possible, as requests are often granted based on time-stamp. Also, it might be helpful to call the resort closer to your arrival and reiterate your request and make sure it is on file.

 

[MrInfinity]

Ok, 2 months after our Disney World trip, I am venturing out here to the boards just to peek in. I'll tell you about our Sheraton Vistana Villages stay. We did a split stay. 3 nights offsite (SVV) to visit relatives and go to Legoland, and then 7 nights on property (CR).

The SVV stay was AWFUL. We stayed free with Starwood points.

Got our room by the St.Augustine pool. Yay. The good ended there.

The pool was fine. Cool pirate structure. First day there? My Star Wars Weekend shirt, prescription glasses and room key get stolen from the pool. I'm pretty sure this was just a random teen that saw a star wars shirt and grabbed it, then threw away the glasses - but $300 glasses down the drain!

Security was a miserable fail. Wait for the lifeguard to call some guy w a walkie-talkie over. He can't do squat. He calls some other ppl. Wait an hour. Get given a number to call for security. Call them they can't do anything. Complain to the front desk, ask for a manager, get redirected to this offsite security company again. It was really really horrible runaround.

Thru it all they kept asserting random things like "Are you sure you didn't just lose them?" ... as if they were trying to deflect liability or something.

File a report? Comp a night? Here have dinner on us to make up for your glasses? NOTHING. Just runaround.

They would not rekey the room. So some random person HAD our key, and could walk around trying door by door and eventually get in (or just watch where we go!), yet their line was "it doesn't have your room number on it so it's fine". HORRIBLE.

At least two of our nights are ruined trying to get ahold of someone. They don't even have pseudo-police reports to fill out. They did not send out a notice to guests about watching their stuff, so they didn't care if it happened to anyone else.

After we checked out we realized we left our backup credit cards in the safe... so now at a Disney hotel, we call over to them. Try to get ahold of someone who can do something was a nightmare. Finally got ahold of someone at security who said she'd go to the safe and see. Got her name. She actually called us back and secured our stuff, said it would be at the safe at the front desk to pick up. Great.

We go to the front desk ~on a Disney world night, costing us valuable Disney time~ and get the runaround again! The best part -- picture the lobby there are two sides. I walked in to one side... and talked to the guy. He called security, had me wait a bit. Nobody showed up. So when I protested, he said he'd have to call over to customer service. So he did -- and the phone rang -- on the other side of the room! He could have just pointed me to that desk an hour ago! So I walk over there and demand to talk to someone.

Again nothing happens. They call security, and check several safes, I'm not sure where they were checking. Then they could not access certain safes. Totally pissed off and now having wasted a few hours of a Disney night and an evening water pageant I storm out and shout that their security is a miserable worthless department that couldn't secure anything. Sadly there were no guests to hear me.

Got back to the CR, talked to my wife who got all pissed off... called over there again, complained, and drove back again... gave them another earful... and finally got our stuff.

We also did the "no-pressure" timeshare thing for $100, figured we had to get back some of our losses. It was not a great deal and pretty typical high-pressure waste of time except that you get $100 and some free snacks for your kids. I'm sure our kids ate more than their share of packaged treats and juices. We sure got them!

It was just a miserable hotel stay. I would never stay at this hotel again, and certainly would not buy into a timeshare at a place where the security is so bad and the chain of authority nonexistent. We even told the timeshare sales rep about the security debacle and how we wouldn't stay here and she was speechless. How can you really try to keep selling it after that?

I didn't expect them to make up for my loss... but I did expect them to care.

After it all, I took it up w Starwood, which I've used for 20 years. They comped me a night of points back. I got called back from a mgr, and he asserted over and over that was totally not an acceptable way to handle their guests. I felt he was genuine.

Not looking for sympathy or anything like that, just sharing so others know since reviews speak. It's really unfortunate. We stayed at the SLBV (Lake Buena Vista) before and had much better results for an offsite hotel just across from Disney. Once we moved to the CR it was night and day. There is just no way to compare the worst hotel stay of your life to one of the most magical. Disney Deluxes are expensive -- but you get what you pay for!

 

[vistana101]

Sorry to hear about your experience, that's scary that the security team was so awful. Was the manager you talked to Jorg Heyer, general manager? I've met with him before, and he is great.

 

[bankr63]

Not looking for sympathy or anything like that, just sharing so others know since reviews speak. It's really unfortunate. We stayed at the SLBV (Lake Buena Vista) before and had much better results for an offsite hotel just across from Disney. Once we moved to the CR it was night and day. There is just no way to compare the worst hotel stay of your life to one of the most magical. Disney Deluxes are expensive -- but you get what you pay for!

Sometimes it is sad that reviews speak. So by saying that the other resorts are so much better, are you in the habit of having stuff stolen and leaving things behind in the safe at those resorts too? Is this a regular occurrence for you at all the resorts you stay at?

It is unfortunate that you had such bad experiences at the resort, and very unfortunate that security was disorganized, but (aside from security) how does this reflect on the quality of the stay? You even suggest yourself that it was probably another guest who lifted your stuff; it's not like the resort is open to the public. You had an unfortunate incident yes, but ultimately you are responsible for your own possessions, not the resort. I might raise your specific concerns about the disorganized security with the GM of the resort. I don't think a lot of compensation would be in order for the time lost to security, after all these were your mistakes initially and they were trying to help, but since you were already staying for "free" (points) how would that compensation work? I would have an idea of what you think a fair compensation would be for the inconvenience before contacting the resort.

Honestly, I had a pair of sunglasses lifted at Blizzard Beach once, but not once did I think to blame Disney for this! I would expect warnings about watching your stuff - but these exist at both BB and at SVV.

 

[MrInfinity]

Do you work for this resort? I gave an honest description of my stay for others to take what they want from.

You say it's "unfortunate that security was disorganized" as if they were simply training a new guy or something. That is the understatement of the year. They were incapable of dealing with simple theft situations which surely happen all the time at hotels.

They refused to change the locks on our room knowing our key was just stolen. That is absolutely horrid.

They did not notify their guests that there was an incident and to watch their stuff. They wouldn't even document the fact than an incident occurred.

They could barely communicate among themselves. They could not muster a person in charge that would actually take some ownership of the security situation.

It was really bad.

I don't fault them for someone else taking something that isn't theirs... but I do fault them for a ton of other things!

Hotels should provide a sense of safety. They did not do this.

Hotels should have a sincere effort to take care of their guests as if they want them to return some day. They did not do this.

One front desk person was so lazy he would not just walk over and talk to the person across the lobby instead had me sit there for an hour while he waited for some answer.

This was not losing a pair of sunglasses - these are my vision glasses.

Not filling out a simple form? Not being able to document cases of theft? To perhaps track on which lifeguard's watch things are getting stolen? Not being able to direct me to an onsite manager at simple requests?

I would just not recommend this hotel. You may love it and find this post objectionable, but this is first hand experience. I stay at a lot of hotels - for pleasure and business. I'm typically pretty amenable about just about everything. This is the first time I've ever left a place w the feeling that the hotel really did not care and would just sooner you go away than deal w routine problems. If a company cannot deal with a $350 theft, how on earth can they deal w a car getting broken into, someone getting injured, or a room getting broken into.

I guess you had to be there.

"they were trying to help"??

Did you read my post? They did not try anything. They tried to distance themselves and do nothing. I had to push and push to get any action at all.

I did not stay for "free"... Starwood paid them a negotiated rate for points I earned and spent. They got fully paid for the room.

"I would have an idea of what you think a fair compensation would be for the perceived injustice before contacting the resort"

I didn't want compensation. I wanted someone to care, show some initiative, and express a desire to protect their guests. When you don't need certain features, a hotel might seem great. Like an alarm system on your house. Until you're broken into, you don't care who's working at the security company that day. But when it happens, you want to know someone competent is there to protect you and do their job.

That was not the case here.

 

[bankr63]

Do you work for this resort? I gave an honest description of my stay for others to take what they want from.

They refused to change the locks on our room knowing our key was just stolen. That is absolutely horrid.

I did not stay for "free"... Starwood paid them a negotiated rate for points I earned and spent. They got fully paid for the room.

I didn't want compensation. I wanted someone to care, show some initiative, and express a desire to protect their guests. When you don't need certain features, a hotel might seem great. Like an alarm system on your house. Until you're broken into, you don't care who's working at the security company that day. But when it happens, you want to know someone competent is there to protect you and do their job.

That was not the case here.

No I do not work for Sheraton, but yes I do own a week at SVV's sister resort and do at least 3 timeshare stays a year at various resorts; mostly non-Sheraton.

I realize my post was a bit inflammatory, but do you know how good the resort security is at these other resorts? That seems to be the comparison you make in your final paragraph of your first post and is what left me scratching my head after I read your review - I didn't get your comparison. I'm not certain that security at other resorts would measure up in the same circumstances either. When I had my camera stolen from my room at a resort in South America several years ago, all the hotel security did was point me to the local police station to file a report (which was a struggle for an English guy in a Spanish/Portuguese country). I didn't think that was an appropriate response either, but we still enjoyed the resort itself. My insurance covered my loss (eventually - they didn't like the Spanish police report either) when I got home.

I did have an afterthought last night that you also pointed out - the resort should certainly have cancelled the missing key card; that seems essential. They have the card information and it is easy to do. Once cancelled on the keycard system, that card won't open any doors in the resort. THAT is something that should most certainly be followed up on!

The only reason I used the word "free" is because you said "We stayed free with Starwood points." in your post.

I do suggest that you contact the resort general manager with some thought as to what might be acceptable to you in recompense. And that might be as simple as them making a statement that "they will take your concern seriously and retrain staff" if you think that is an appropriate action - just be sure you have an objective in mind so when they ask "what would you like us to do" you know what you want. Every business struggles to recruit train and retain good staff. If you care enough about it, make sure the resort GM knows about this issue so he can take action to correct the situation.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Once we moved to the CR it was night and day. There is just no way to compare the worst hotel stay of your life to one of the most magical. Disney Deluxes are expensive -- but you get what you pay for!

Apparently the Disney deluxes are not immune to the kind of problems you had, either:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserR...Floridian_Resort_and_Spa-Orlando_Florida.html

http://www.davelongstrethmusic.com/archives/231

And those were just the ones I found really, really quickly.....and only the deluxes (found several more in seconds pertaining to the value resorts).

Sorry to hear you had a rotten experience, though. Certainly sours a vacation.

 

[MrInfinity]

No I do not work for Sheraton, but yes I do own a week at SVV's sister resort and do at least 3 timeshare stays a year at various resorts; mostly non-Sheraton.

I've only heard good things about the SVR. In fact we went back and forth on choosing SVR vs SVV and picked SVV cuz of the kid pool.

I realize my post was a bit inflammatory, but do you know how good the resort security is at these other resorts? When I had my camera stolen from my room at a resort in South America several years ago, all the hotel security did was point me to the local police station to file a report. I didn't think that was an appropriate response either, but we still enjoyed the resort itself. My insurance covered my loss (eventually - they didn't like the Spanish police report either) when I got home.

Fair enough...

Of course I don't know how good the security is at other hotels. But I do know it's way below my minimimum expectations at SVV. Simple things like reaching a person, knowing who to go to, documenting an incident, changing a lock if a key is stolen, and at a bare minimum presenting themselves as competent, aware, and in control should be things any hotel can handle.

I did have an afterthought last night that you also pointed out - the resort should certainly have cancelled the missing key card; that seems essential. THAT is something that should most certainly be followed up on!

Yeah, agreed.

I do suggest that you contact the resort general manager with some thought as to what might be acceptable to you in recompense. Every business struggles to recruit train and retain good staff. If you care enough about it, make sure the resort GM knows about this issue so he can take action to correct the situation.

I'm probly not going to at this point. I voiced my concerns w Starwood, and I do feel they showed an interest in their customer that the hotel wouldn't. I'm not out to spend my days on hold to reach some manager. That's spinning my own wheels for nothing. If a manager wants to contact me as a result of this post, I'd take his call just to help, but I'm not seeking out confrontation. It's really history now. Naturally the trip was still enjoyed by all despite all this, and really the challenges of a trip make it all the more memorable.

(Our coolant pump went out on the way down, 30 min from Orlando - and we were able to get this to a dealership, get a loaner, and make it out to LEGOLAND the next day due to some awesome help from the local Fountain View GMC dealership -- to them and their service dept, I gave a raving review!)

 

[katyjeka]

I have never stayed at Sheraton Vistana Village but wanted to add we've done tons of trips, both onsite and off. The only time we've ever had an issue was during our stay at OKW. I made the foolish mistake of taking a Vera Bradley bag to the pool, got distracted, and the entire bag was gone. It took a matter of 15 minutes for the bag to "walk" away. Security was kind, but admitted that there was very little if anything that could be done. Lesson learned. I will forever put a "used" diaper on top of anything I want left alone. Theft can and does happen everywhere, regardless of the level of resort or if you are onsite or off. My dh was pi*** as we lost over $100.00, I was mad as my bag was more valuable!!!

 

[richfei]

We stayed here for 10 nights a few weeks ago and it was fabulous. New room. Easy parking. Maid service every day. About $140 a night. No resort fee. Nice kitchen. Well furnished and very clean and quiet. Free and fast wifi. Room was close to the main pool and grills. Less than 15 min to the Disney parks and closer to Universal. Complex is huge though. We never dealt face to face with any of the staff, but they were extremely courteous every time I phoned reception. I did have a lot of voice mails left on the phone about picking up some welcome package. I never bothered to collect it, figuring it was some timeshare deal. Place was 98% full but to be honest it never felt crowded at all. I would definitely go back but there are so many places to try, perhaps WBC next time.