Westgate Vacation Villas

[KLAIT]

Please tell me about Westgate vacation Villas...The good, the bad and the ugly.

 

[swilshire]

I'll be staying there in two weeks. I ask around before confirming and other than negative comments about their sales staff and a couple about the units being a bit dated, the overwhelming response was positive.

I've stayed at the next resort down, so I know it's in a good location.

Sheila

 

[TotoToo]

Wetsgate Villas are well maintained units on a very large property. Its close to the 192 Disney gate (west gate, get it?) so you may have to deal with some 192 traffic if you're there at a busy time. Plenty to do on site. Overall a good to very good place to stay with one very large caveat. DO NOT deal with the sales group unless you are really really good at resisting pressure and even better at saying NO. It's not worth the gifts, they will do almost anything including threats of fees for damages, etc to get you roped in - avoid sales and you can have a great stay there.

The system we use (and we are owners there - doesn't matter to sales they harass you anyway) is to actually accept the first invitation to attend a "maintenance" meeting (it may be called a number of things) usually pitched when they force you to take a golf cart ride to your unit. We always say we are fully booked all week until the day we leave so we HAVE to schedule at 10AM that last day (or we actually tell them Saturday if we're leaving Friday - they are not the sharpest tools and usually don't realize thats the day after we check out of our Friday to Friday stay). That makes them happy as they think they have a live one. That way we only get maybe a half dozen calls during the week as reminders of the meeting date and time rather than the 2 dozens calls begging us to attend. Oh yes, be sure to unplug all the unit phones unless you like phone calls at 7AM or as late as 11PM during your vacation. Toward the end of the week plug one in and listen to the ever more worried tone to the calls on voicemail from the nice sales folk for a good laugh.

Now when that last day rolls around you can be safely checked out at 10AM and laughing again as you think of the desperate phone calls being made to your now empty unit. You will have enjoyed a nice resort and a nice stay with no sales pressure. Last thing do be sure to take advantage of any of the pool side parties, the welcome party, BBQ, etc during the week. They are more sales pitches but if you tell them you are already signed up they leave you alone to eat.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We are owners of Westgate Vacation Villas and love how close it is to all the action in Orlando and Kissimmee. It is about a 2 minute ride to Disney and about a 10 minute ride to Universal Studios. This will be the first time since 2000 that we have gone there and cannot wait to see what kind of updates there have been. Don't be overwhelmed as to how big the property is, because there is so much to do there. They have paddle boats and many pools to lay around.

If you are looking to buy a unit in the Westgate Vacation Villas, there are some ups and downs to that. The ups are that they are very affordable and they are very flexible due to the amount of resorts they have on site. The maintainance fees are reasonable and they are a member of I.I. (Interval International), where you can trade your week that you own to other resorts all over the world, except in the Central Florida area. The one major downside is that as an owner you cannot trade your unit for anywhere else in Central Florida, you are locked into Westgate Resorts only, if you do want to trade within another Westgate Resort, and they have many in Orlando and Kissimmee, then you have to pay a fee for doing so.

All in all, it is a great place to go to right in the middle of the action with many things to do onsite.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

The big downside to owning westgate is tthat they've switched to a floating week format. It works out to be true even if you have a fixed work. When you deposit your week with II they don't deposit YOUR week. Oh no...they give II something else and rent out your week.

The result for me is that I can't trade into Central Florida during spring. If you want to stay at Westgate and want to specifically buy a unit my suggestion is to buy in Gatlinburg or anywhere not in the state of Florida. That way when you use II you can't be blocked from seeing what is available in the rest of the state.