Vistana Timeshare vs. DVC -- Any Info?

[ChickieToo]

My brother just bought at Vistana in Orlando, which I believe is owned by Sheraton. Is anyone familiar with this timeshare entity? My brother briefy described his situation to me, said it is points based and he can stay any week he wants subject to availability. He only bought one week every other year and on the off years he gets points to stay in hotels--Sheratons and Westins, I think.

Anyway, he's very enthusiastic. We're very happy with DVC and are content with its value to us, but comparatively speaking, I thought I read somewhere that you can buy into this Vistana on the resale market for pennies on the dollar. Does anyone know anything about Vistana and it's value?

Thanks,

Joanne

 

[bongo59]

vistana is not one that holds value.........one just sold at bidforassets.com for 5 cents on the dollar last week

 

[disworldnum1]

The Sheraton Vistana is located across hwy 4 less then 1 mile from Disney.I almost purchased there a few years back for a cost of almost 17,000.I liked the new parts but wasnt crazy about the older parts of the developement.Anyway when I got home I looked on e-bay and the same timeshare was going for about 5500.Big difference and if you buy in the less desirable locations it drops down to about 3000.We stayed at the cascades section across from the clubhouse and pool. You get a floating week you can use any time of the year.Its also deeded for life and maitenence fees are about 650-700 a year.If you look on e-bay or any other seller of timeshares they always have ample amounts of properties from there.I personally wouldnt buy there but add onto DVC.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

we owned, there and sold it at a huge loss to buy DVC. It's very nice, gret trades, but the fees were discusting!!! On top of the 800.00 maintennace, you had to pay another 100 for the Starwood Options (that is what allows to to trade to Hiawi, Atlantis, St. Johns, etc). Still great trades, but you can almost rent them from owners for those prices!!! We had a blast at Vistana, but once you stay inside WDW, no reason to stay out!!! We bought an even year for $4,000.00 resale and an odd year for $9,000.00 directly from Starwood while we stayed at what was there golf resort in St. Augustine, the minute we got home, the resort was taken over by Bluetree or something like that. So we didn't have enough "points" to do what we wanted, so instead of sitting on them, we sold the $4000.00 and broke even, and sold the other for about the same, a huge loss, but it got us out of it!

 

[goofy4tink]

Funny you should ask this now. We just got an offer to stay there for 4 days/5 nights for $199...of course we would be subjected to their sales pitch. I was figuring that we could add that onto our trip in June. Obviously we wouldn't be buying. Way too happy with DVC...don't feel the need for anything else.

 

[The4OfUs]

My BIL owns there, and I think has only stayed there twice...they trade out to HI each time instead. And one of the two times, they only stayed there for a few days until they could come to our DVC villa instead, and stay with us. My husband stayed one night there with them, and was not impressed, nor was he turned off on it - he said it was 'eh', nice enough.

I didn't realize the fees were that high.

 

[ralphd]

My brother just bought at Vistana in Orlando, which I believe is owned by Sheraton. Is anyone familiar with this timeshare entity? My brother briefy described his situation to me, said it is points based and he can stay any week he wants subject to availability. He only bought one week every other year and on the off years he gets points to stay in hotels--Sheratons and Westins, I think.

Anyway, he's very enthusiastic and now wants us to buy. We're very happy with DVC, and I'm a little put off because I thought I read somewhere that you can buy into this timeshare family on the resale market for pennies on the dollar. Does anyone know anything about Vistana and it's value?

Thanks,

Joanne

Check the following link:
' http://www.tug2.net/advice/Starwood_Vacation_Network.htm '
Most experienced timeshare owners will tell you not to buy in Orlando. The timeshare sales people will tell you that there is high demand for exchanges to Orlando, but they will not tell you the market is overbuilt.
Unless you buy at a quality resort ( such as DVC or Marriott ), beware of the Orlando sales pitch.

ralphd

 

[Cruelladeville]

My daughter owned at Vistana in the Cascades section, I think, it's one of the older sections, and she couldn't sell it for $3000. Members on the TUG board suggested donating it to a worthy group , which she did. Her tax advisor said that since they are still selling at her resort, there is some justification for being able to deduct the original cost. Just my luck, I would get audited, but they got away with it.

 

[Harley-Mouse]

He love it cant see how I bought at DVc not there and the fee are the same a ours. You can get resales cheep. He got 2 more weeks a year for $2,800 when he got his first week he paid 11,000. That said my friend whent down on the discount price with the tour. the sails people are not a hard sail he did his 90 min and walked out. said it was ok for the price.

 

[kschmidt]

My in-laws own at Sheraton Vistana in the Cascades section and we have stayed there with them several times. There is also Sheraton Vistana Villages which is off of Intl Dr near Sea World I think. Vistana is not DVC by any means. It only makes us long for our DVC weeks when we are there with them. Maintenance standards are not as high (in my opinion), specifically for older buildings. Vistana doesn't have beautiful walkways on the grounds like OKW or SSR. I guess most importantly being able to trade out for points in hotels does not mean it is a point based system like DVC. With DVC we can book any number of nights in any size unit-not so with Vistana. The negatives aside, the units I've stayed in do have larger square footage which is nice. Having stayed there many times and taken their sales pitch once, I feel great about my decision to buy DVC and I hope you do too.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We stayed there once and the whole time we wished we were staying on Disney property. Once you have stayed inside WDW, it is very hard to go back outside again.

HBC

 

[ClarabelleCow]

with the "New" Vistana/Starwood it is a points based program, you buy a floating week of timeshare in a 1, 2 or 3 bedroom, that is worth x points, you can then use those for say 2 weeks off peak in a 2 bedroom elsewhere, or not even enough for a 1 bedroom at other locations. I just found that if you didn't trade out of Vistana and into the Starwood system, it was a very expensive timeshare. You pay to belong to the Starwood part of it, so no matter whether you stay at your resort or trade out, you still pay a "membership" fee for it. We owned every other year. I had to pay the same as a person that owned every year, so that one week was costing about $900.00 a week, it is worth it if I wanted to trade to Atlantis or something, but If I just wantd to go to Vistana, I could rent a unit from an owner for way less than that!