Review The Sheraton Vistana Resort Thread (key links on p.1)

[bankr63]

Another room request question. My husband smokes and since he can't smoke on the balcony at Vistana I was debating requesting to be close/walking distance to a smoking area but I'm concerned if I use the "smoking" word that we'll be in a less desirable unit. The maps are so tiny to me that I can't tell where the smoking areas are. Anyone have a suggested area near a pool and a smoking area that I can request without using the dreaded "smoking" word? Really hoping the request works, as we have a 2br through RCI and since we are arriving later in the Thanksgiving week than our check in date I am sure that they will be full and unable to move us if the unit had any issues. Last time we stayed here we were in a unit where you had to cross a busy road to get to a pool and so we just skipped it the whole week. After seeing all the great pictures I really want to be close to a pool.

I don't think that using the 'smoking' word will make much difference in where you are placed. Most of the DSAs are very near to the central pools and amenities, so your request to be close to the action is probably sufficient. If you are close to the action, you are also close to a DSA.

There are also a handful of DSAs located in the gazebos that stand out in the ponds. These are very quiet and secluded spots.

 

[damo]

We check in tomorrow and I never did hear back from Jennifer Burrows. Wonder if it was because it is an RCI trade?

 

[mulanrouge]

We check in tomorrow and I never did hear back from Jennifer Burrows. Wonder if it was because it is an RCI trade?

I sent in my diamond lane form as well, didn't hear back either. Although I did get a standard "Sheraton" e-mail that said if you need anything like pre-stock groceries contact us at "this" number.

 

[damo]

Checked in with reservations for two villas and they weren't even close to each other. It was a bit of a mess but all got sorted out. Obviously, nobody read my emails.

 

[mckennarose]

I sent in my diamond lane form as well, didn't hear back either. Although I did get a standard "Sheraton" e-mail that said if you need anything like pre-stock groceries contact us at "this" number.

I believe it as mentioned on here that it is better to contact the resort (Jennifer Bravo) rather than go through Diamond Lane. ???

Checked in with reservations for two villas and they weren't even close to each other. It was a bit of a mess but all got sorted out. Obviously, nobody read my emails.

Did you phone the resort to check on any requests after you did not hear from Jennifer? Calling the resort directly in May was how I got my room requests in before I ever knew about Jennifer.
I usually call the resort with reservation confirmation and requests when I first make the reservation and then again about 5 days prior to arrival. I do this no matter where I stay.

 

[damo]

I believe it as mentioned on here that it is better to contact the resort (Jennifer Bravo) rather than go through Diamond Lane. ???


Did you phone the resort to check on any requests after you did not hear from Jennifer? Calling the resort directly in May was how I got my room requests in before I ever knew about Jennifer.
I usually call the resort with reservation confirmation and requests when I first make the reservation and then again about 5 days prior to arrival. I do this no matter where I stay.

I didn't call after I hadn't heard from Jennifer. I actually assumed that my two rooms booked under the same name at the same time would be close together and had emailed Jennifer just as a precaution.

 

[mckennarose]

I didn't call after I hadn't heard from Jennifer. I actually assumed that my two rooms booked under the same name at the same time would be close together and had emailed Jennifer just as a precaution.

Unfortunately, hotels don't automatically put rooms near each other. At least in my experience. I have booked rooms for families and groups in my previous job a few times and had to make specific requests for them to be close to each other. I think so much of it is automated and they just plug a name into the "next available slot" as they're assigning rooms. And check in/out dates can be different for each room in the same area so it may not be possible without an actual person (rather then system) moving things around.

I'm glad they were able to fix things for you.

 

[bankr63]

I've commented on this a couple of times, but my feeling is that Sheraton is struggling with the pre-arrival experience right now.

it does seem apparent that Sheraton is getting away from the Diamond Lane concept. They have added a phone number to the Vistana program web site, but I had no luck with that on our last trip - my requests apparently weren't even noted by the agent I talked to. There was also the VIP login experience a couple of years back, but I haven't heard about that for a while. Gina had some good luck with Jennifer Bravo, but I was skeptical because it used her own email address. With a highly mobile workforce in the hotel industry, it is likely that Jennifer has moved to another position in the organization (especially because she exhibited good customer service skills), or worse, has left for greener pastures.

As an owner at the resort, I am concerned about these changes; I really liked the efficiency of the old DL system. But as a technology worker, I would love to see them move to something more electronic and automated; as long as there is a personal touch in there somewhere. After all, it's the maintenance fees of the owners that support the management company and their programs.

There is also the matter of the overlay of Marriott's ownership of the timeshare program. I'm not sure what their procedures are, but I expect that we will see some changes to align the two systems in the future. Does anyone know if Marriott has a pre-registration procedure?

The only thing I can suggest is that readers continue to post about what works and what doesn't. Eventually things will settle to a new normal, and with the number of participants here we'll hopefully all be the first to take advantage.

 

[damo]

Unfortunately, hotels don't automatically put rooms near each other. At least in my experience. I have booked rooms for families and groups in my previous job a few times and had to make specific requests for them to be close to each other. I think so much of it is automated and they just plug a name into the "next available slot" as they're assigning rooms. And check in/out dates can be different for each room in the same area so it may not be possible without an actual person (rather then system) moving things around.

I'm glad they were able to fix things for you.

They had no problem at Portofino or Sapphire Falls with putting me in adjacent rooms but like I said, everything was fixed to our satisfaction at Vistana.

I just wanted people to be forewarned about requests.

 

[cel_disney]

Are there laundry baskets in the 2bed villas? Just wondering if I need to pack collapsible ones or not..

 

[bankr63]

Are there laundry baskets in the 2bed villas? Just wondering if I need to pack collapsible ones or not..

No there are no laundry baskets in the unit. We usually bring a big beach bag for taking our towels and toys to the pool that does double duty on laundry day. Always try to find items that do double duty...

 

[cel_disney]

No there are no laundry baskets in the unit. We usually bring a big beach bag for taking our towels and toys to the pool that does double duty on laundry day. Always try to find items that do double duty...

Thanks for the quick reply! So glad I asked!

Your mention of Towels is sending me to ask another question - are there pool towels at the pool? Or do we need to bring them?

 

[bankr63]

Lots of plush pool towels are freely available at the pools.

We are a pretty "green" family, so we try to minimize the number of towels we use in a week. So we bring them back to villa and dry them on the balcony, then use them again the next day. Weird, I know, but that's just us

 

[cel_disney]

Lots of plush pool towels are freely available at the pools.

We are a pretty "green" family, so we try to minimize the number of towels we use in a week. So we bring them back to villa and dry them on the balcony, then use them again the next day. Weird, I know, but that's just us

Phew! I totally respect that! It’s certainly what we do at home - awesome that you do it on vacation too!

 

[erinch]

We like larger towels, and bring beach towels as well.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We are back (as of this past Saturday ) from another great stay at SVR. The resort was as lovely as ever.

A couple of little wrinkles encountered along the way, but nothing that caused any significant issues. We finally made contact with Jennifer Bravo on the afternoon of our arrival day, and she assured us via email that she had received our requests and met them all. Then, when we checked in that same evening, we were told that we had been placed in a ground floor villa (we had specifically requested top floor ). The staff at the Welcome Center were able to work their magic and secure us a top floor villa as initially requested, but it was definitely odd for Jennifer to drop the ball. I know its been talked about quite a bit lately on the thread, but I will agree that perhaps emailing the pre-arrival coordinator isn't the best method for submitting any advance villa requests any longer. For our next stay (May 2019), I put our villa requests in the "special requests" section of the reservation page on the Vistana Signature Experiences owner portal, but I think I'll call a couple of weeks ahead as well, just to be certain.

Definitely do Diamond Lane, folks . When we checked in around 7 pm on October 26th, there were around a dozen or more families in the regular line. There was NO ONE in the Diamond Lane check-in line. That meant we were unpacking in our villa by the time some others were just getting their keys from a Welcome Center agent. Absolutely worth the 5 minutes to submit online in advance of your stay to save you potentially a ton of time at check-in.

I miss it already. I will be back with lots of photos to share, but here's a single one for now.

 

[cel_disney]

We are back (as of this past Saturday ) from another great stay at SVR. The resort was as lovely as ever.

A couple of little wrinkles encountered along the way, but nothing that caused any significant issues. We finally made contact with Jennifer Bravo on the afternoon of our arrival day, and she assured us via email that she had received our requests and met them all. Then, when we checked in that same evening, we were told that we had been placed in a ground floor villa (we had specifically requested top floor ). The staff at the Welcome Center were able to work their magic and secure us a top floor villa as initially requested, but it was definitely odd for Jennifer to drop the ball. I know its been talked about quite a bit lately on the thread, but I will agree that perhaps emailing the pre-arrival coordinator isn't the best method for submitting any advance villa requests any longer. For our next stay (May 2019), I put our villa requests in the "special requests" section of the reservation page on the Vistana Signature Experiences owner portal, but I think I'll call a couple of weeks ahead as well, just to be certain.

Definitely do Diamond Lane, folks . When we checked in around 7 pm on October 26th, there were around a dozen or more families in the regular line. There was NO ONE in the Diamond Lane check-in line. That meant we were unpacking in our villa by the time some others were just getting their keys from a Welcome Center agent. Absolutely worth the 5 minutes to submit online in advance of your stay to save you potentially a ton of time at check-in.

I miss it already. I will be back with lots of photos to share, but here's a single one for now.

Oh man - So, we checked in around midnight last night. We had done the special requests info (it even showed up on our email confirmation sent by the Sheraton desk in May). I didn’t do the email to jennifer because they didn’t appear to be responded to in recent weeks. Our request going back to May was to be close to the pool and on the ground floor...

When we checked in they gave us everything but! We were in Building 60/Fountains outer rim - on the top floor!! They were sold out so we had no other options - they did offer to move us tonight to Bldg 35, 2nd floor but I didnt want loose more vacation time.

We were not offered any deals regarding housekeeping/breakfast...possibly because of the midnight check in?

The room seems nice enough, but the resort is very big,,,,

 

[bankr63]

Oh man - So, we checked in around midnight last night. We had done the special requests info (it even showed up on our email confirmation sent by the Sheraton desk in May). I didn’t do the email to jennifer because they didn’t appear to be responded to in recent weeks. Our request going back to May was to be close to the pool and on the ground floor...

When we checked in they gave us everything but! We were in Building 60/Fountains outer rim - on the top floor!! They were sold out so we had no other options - they did offer to move us tonight to Bldg 35, 2nd floor but I didnt want loose more vacation time.

We were not offered any deals regarding housekeeping/breakfast...possibly because of the midnight check in?

The room seems nice enough, but the resort is very big,,,,

Aw pooh!

Things really seem to be taking a dive on the service front since Marriott took over Vistana. Just realized that they have now restricted the internet information like the resort map to members only as well. Hope this isn't a sign of changes to come.

I would skip on the relocate unless the extra flight of stairs makes a big difference. 35 is the building directly behind 60 across the pond. That really isn't getting you that much closer to the pools. It is a pretty short walk to the pool area from where you are now, and as long as the Cast Members over at Vista Key are quiet, your location should be pretty quiet as well.

 

[fac]

Hi,
I am so happy to find this thread, we will be staying in SVR for the first time at the end of December. Does anyone know what is the easiest way to get to SVR from the airport? and how much will it be ? We will be renting a car for a few days, does anyone know where is the closest place to rent a car?

I have read a few pages and saw someone mentioned Diamond Lane, I got the unit through RCI exchange, can I use the Diamond Lane. TIA.

 

[mckennarose]

Hi,
I am so happy to find this thread, we will be staying in SVR for the first time at the end of December. Does anyone know what is the easiest way to get to SVR from the airport? and how much will it be ? We will be renting a car for a few days, does anyone know where is the closest place to rent a car?

I have read a few pages and saw someone mentioned Diamond Lane, I got the unit through RCI exchange, can I use the Diamond Lane. TIA.

I'm not much help with the car rental, although I know you can rent one right at the airport. That's something I would set up now, before you arrive.

As for Diamond Lane.... it seemed that that route wasn't the best way to set up room requests from what people were reporting on here lately. And as of the past month or so, the pre-arrival coordinator hasn't been much help lately either. I always call the resort directly with my room requests; once at booking and once about week to 5 days before my arrival to confirm. I do this regardless of where or when I stay at any resort that I want/need a request.