Timeshare/Westgate question...

[dfluvsmick]

Hi. I won a certificate at a tricky tray for a weeks free vacation at a timeshare through resort vacation certificates. I went ahead and booked it at the Westgate Vacation Villas in Kissimmee. It is for 7 nights and I got it for 10 people. My question is... I am reading on here alot about presentations for buying in. Would I have to sit through it getting it the way I did? Also, how can I know what type of room I have (2 bd w/loft or 3bd)? Does the resorts use the same confirmation # as the certificate website? I am so worried that something will go wrong when I arrive down there with all these people.
I know... I can call the resort myself, but I just wanted to get someone elses opinion. Are the Westgate Villas really as bad as I am reading on here? I wish I had found this site long before I booked it!
Thanks for any input you can give me.

 

[Upatnoon]

Are you required to go to the sales pitch as part of your "free vacation?" If you aren't, then don't go.

 

[swilshire]

Read the fine print on your certificate. You may or may not be obligated to take a tour. You will certainly be offered one even if it's not required. We went on a tour by choice and found it to be not too pushy. We just said No until they released us.

We stayed in one of the loft units. There were only four of so, so we had way more room than we needed, but it would be OK for 10 if some were kids.

It will be fine. The location is very convenient to the parks.

Sheila

 

[LisaxMarie]

I'm sure its better now but 10 years ago when I was first getting into timeshares I stayed at the Westgate. I had to go theough the whole "we want you to buy process" and the stay was just terriable. The rooms were nothing special that i'd want to come back more than once, and i found the surroundings boring and dirty.
I would suggest you go just to see if it's changed and I'm sure it's worth the deal because it's definetly not unbearable.
Just whatever you do I strongly suggest not buying into it. There are many other timeshares that are much, much nicer than Westgate.

 

[MaMa3Princess]

I would defintely call and confirm that you are in the villa areas with the loft. 10 ;people in a regular 2bedroom would be cramped. Westgate is not bad its just that they are the Walmart of timeshares. They have an attitude of volume over service. As someone stated if you have a presentation to do just be prepared for hardcore, pushy used car lot sales tactics. The economy is tough for them and they are going to try every way to sale you a unit.

But as far as the timeshare itself it has plenty of pools, activities, even a movie theatre. Location is really close to Disney and restaurants. As everyone else has stated they are ok but defintely not great.

 

[TotoToo]

I'm sure its better now but 10 years ago when I was first getting into timeshares I stayed at the Westgate. I had to go through the whole "we want you to buy process" and the stay was just terrible. The rooms were nothing special that i'd want to come back more than once, and i found the surroundings boring and dirty.
I would suggest you go just to see if it's changed and I'm sure it's worth the deal because it's definetly not unbearable.
Just whatever you do I strongly suggest not buying into it. There are many other timeshares that are much, much nicer than Westgate.

NEVER buy at Westgate retail (on site) IF you wanted to own a week there they are easily available on reslae for 90%+ discount from retail prices. If you must attend a "presentation" to get the price of this deal then do so but DO NOT accept any offer and get out as quickly as you can. The sales pressure there - even for owners - is unbelievable. It is the downside to any type of dealing with any Westgate resort.

They are far from the best in Orlando but are certainly a reasonably OK place to stay at the right price as a guest. NEVER buy retail there even if you like it - that cannot be repeated often enough.

They are cheesy in design, faux Italian in the slimy preference of the head developer and his now infamously gaudy and "for sale" multi-million dollar home never finished. Avoid sales as much as possible within the agreement you gave to get the price and enjoy the many amenities offered.

Good luck.

 

[blondietink]

The nickname for Wesgate resorts is "Wastegate". Buyer beware ... you can look up resales on Ebay very cheap. Have a great tiime and enjoy the amenities.

 

[spiceycat]

if you want one - you don't even have to buy - some are being given away.

just so the current owners don't have to pay the $750 and up maintence fees on this thing.

the resort itself is lovely. it is just dealing with sales that the problem arise.

Westgate has learned that they must try to make the resort itself appealing - too bad that does not transfer over to how they treat their owners.

westgate is one of the few places where you don't want the developer in charge - they are the worst. really was unhappy being an owner there - gave mind to a charity - even took the charity over a year to find someone to take it.

that say you should be fine - one more think to irrate owners. when I brought the actitivites were all free. Now there is charge of it. To use their computers is higher than what Disney charges.

 

[DawnM]

How did it go?

We just got back from Westgate. I can't express enough how much I disliked it. We will not be choosing that place again. We sat through the timeshare sales pitch because we were told that we could not use the amenities unless we did. Turns out that was a lie. We could have gone to the VIP area and purchased the same thing for $30 for the week for the whole family. Instead, we believed the lie and sat through being told we must be complete IDIOTS for not wanting to spend $22K and $800 per week for the rest of our lives so that we could come to this "fabulous" place. BTW: We paid $199 on SkyAuction and that even included taxes.

The other thing we didn't realize is that the 2 bedroom units are on the ground floor and the 3 bedrooms are on the upper floor. The building are horribly designed and the people walking upstairs sounded like a small herd of elephants. Each time they opened the sliding glass doors it sounded like a bolt of thunder. The people upstairs moved in at 5:45AM and didn't go to bed that night until well after midnight. It was really horrible. We tried to move twice and were told that we would have to "complain more" so we did! I need sleep! They finally moved us and the rest of the time was much more pleasant.

I will be crossing them off my list for future use.

Dawn