Where can I find a decent rate at Vistana Resort or Villages

[LisaRay]

Last year there were always good deals on these places but haven't seen one in a long time. Would love to stay at one of them but refuse to pay rack rate with all the deals that are around. Any ideas?

 

[mcnuss]

First, try spg.com. They will price match if you see lower so start there. I've also seen good rates thru expedia. My friend booked a 2br/2ba for Christmas week for $169 per night.

But what do you consider a decent rate? And when are you going?

 

[LisaRay]

Well the cheapest 2 bedroom at spg.com is $205 a nite and that is a fully prepaid no cancelations rate. $225 for the 2 bedroom with regular cancelation rules. We are going in June and will be having alot of down time out of the parks so we wanted something with lots of space and nice pools. Tried for several of Marriott's timeshares and they are booked that week. Grand Vista, Horizons, Cypress Harbor. So i'll try expedia and see what they have. thanks for your advice

 

[mcnuss]

I happen to own at Vistana and IMHO (and I'm biased ), $205 is not that bad for what you'll get, especially if you have a large group. Have you stayed there before?

 

[erinch]

i am just arranging a rental at vistana through an owner by using the resources of the Timeshare Users Group (www.tug2.net).

I posted a free classified ad (I paid the $15 to join since it's a great servcie) describing what I wanted and when I wanted to go. I got about 20 email offers back to rent weeks from an owner, from prices ranging from $750-$2000. I am working with someone who's responsible and responsive, and am booking 2 weeks through him for $850 a week. This works out to $122 a night. I t probably would have been possible to get it cheaper, but this was a good deal for someone trustable.

 

[mcnuss]

LisaRay - for the heck of it, I did an expedia search using the second week of June as my dates and the rates for the 2br are $147 at each of the Vistanas. Hope that helps.

 

[LisaRay]

mcnuss......... No, we have never stayed there before but I have heard that it is very nice! ( and i am referring to both places). However, last year ALOT of people were getting very good deals at both these places esp. villages through hotelkingdom.com. I'm not positive but lower $100's and 7th night free deals even for 2 bedrooms i believe. But, neither of these places come up on that site any more. So I just thought perhaps there was another discount site that was offering deals to either of these places.

I went to expedia and put in our dates june 21st-27th and at villages i got $146 ( 1 bedroom) and $226 ( 2 bedroom) then at vistana resort i got $160 (1 bed) and $206 ( 2 bed) It is probably just my luck that the one week we are interested is the most popular week in June. Esp. since so many of the Marriott resorts were booked to. Thanks for your help though, I'll keep searching for something. Planning is half the fun!

erinch....... I have heard about that site it might be something to consider for another trip. However, my DH is a worry wart so I don't know. And one thing that really worried me about the starwood rates that are fully prepaid and no refunds is that we have several elderly grandparents and really don't like to lock ourselves into anything esp. since we are driving. It leaves everything easy to cancel if the worst should happen. (and it did happen the week before our last trip!) Thanks for the advice though!

 

[DianeV]

Renting from an owner on TUG is the way to go..I belong and they are an honest bunch for the most part.

Also check on ebay under timeshare rentals

 

[DrCool]

You might want to check here:

Sheraton Vistana Villages

Sheraton Vistana Resort

For the 21st-27th a one bedroom at the Resort is $155 and a two bedroom is $197.16

At the Villages the rooms run $141.36 for a 1 bedroom and $215.76 for a two bedroom.

 

[mcnuss]

Lisaray- right now I believe Starwood is relaxing its no-cancellation policies, so check into that to relieve your fears. Another strategy is to take the next highest rate available if it's not too too much more than the non-refundable rate, then keep checking kind of obsessively until it gets closer to your dates to see if it comes down. I agree that the planning is a big part of the fun!

Since you've not been there, let me tell you that Vistana resort is worth every penny of its price. We have stayed there twice, after the 1st time, I bought a foreclosed unit from Holiday Group. The units are decorated in that Florida style but are as comfortable as you can imagine. (My unit is in Fountains where most of the rentals are. I've never stayed at the Villages but I hear that the units are smaller, but a little more plush & modern.) The pools are great, there is putt putt golf, everything is 5 minutes away. Can you tell I love the place!?

 

[mcnuss]

Lisaray- right now I believe Starwood is relaxing its no-cancellation policies, so check into that to relieve your fears. Another strategy is to take the next highest rate available if it's not too too much more than the non-refundable rate, then keep checking kind of obsessively until it gets closer to your dates to see if it comes down. I agree that the planning is a big part of the fun!

Since you've not been there, let me tell you that Vistana resort is worth every penny of its price. We have stayed there twice, after the 1st time, I bought a foreclosed unit from Holiday Group. The units are decorated in that Florida style and are as comfortable as you can imagine. (My unit is in Fountains where most of the rentals are. I've never stayed at the Villages but I hear that the units are smaller, but a little more plush & modern.) The pools are great, there is putt putt golf, everything is 5 minutes away. Can you tell I love the place!?

 

[Thmacs]

I have never stayed at Vistana and they sound very nice. But after reading very positive reveiws of the Wyndham Palm resort and CC I booked a 3bdr and a 2 bdr for our extended family Thanksgiving stay. The price was $119.00 for the 3 and $99 for the 2. Check Hotelkingdom or Hotels4uu.com. I booked with Hotels4uu and they have a 14 day no penalty cancellation policy. They also asked only for 1/2 payment now and the rest 30 days prior to our trip. There is a timeshare tour involved but after reading posts it is described as low key. I was very honest with the reservationinst and told him none of us would be intrested in purchasing and he assured me that is no big deal. (I hope he is right). THe web site looks great and the number of very positive reveiws helped me make up my mind. Just something else for you to think about.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

We just got back from staying at Vistana Resort last week. We had a 2 bedroom in the Palms section that I got through an owner referral on TUG. The rate for 4 nights was around $270 or $67 per night. The catch was that we had to go to one of the timeshare presentations.

I had added 2 additional nights in a 1 bedroom (requested and got Cascades) for the last 2 nights for a Gov't. rate of $87/night.

Pros - there are 4 of us - me, DH, DS (12) and DS (6) so having a two bedroom for most of the time was great. The pools are wonderful and the location can't be beat! There is nothing better than having your own kitchen to cut down on meal costs. They were also great about moving us from the 2 bedroom to the 1 bedroom. Guest services brought us the keys when the second villa was ready and transferred our luggage for us.

Cons - The villa we had in Palms was very tired! The tile in the bathrooms need to be re-grouted really badly and there were patched spots on the walls that had not been repainted.

The Cascades room - which we were told repeatedly was an upgrade from the Palms section - was just as bad. They had evidently made repairs just before we switched villas as there was fresh patched spots on the drywall and tape around the door to the balcony where a hole had been repaired.

The timeshare presentation - which I had been told was to be low keyed - was anything but! We already own through Worldmark/Trendwest and are not interested in buying another timeshare. I had to repeatedly tell the rep. that we were not interested - then he tried to get me to buy a "repo" that had just come in! After I finally convinced him we weren't going to buy - he got huffy and stomped off. Then they had another gal come over to try to get us to come back in 18 months by buying their vacation package for $1399 for a 1 week stay in a 2 bedroom with a rental car. Sorry - but I can do better than that on my own!

Anyway - I would stay here again if the price was right. I can't justify spending over $200 per night for the quality of the rooms that I had. If you can get a rate of around $100 go for it!

 

[luvdisney14]

BriarfoxinWA

We are thinking about doing a time share presentation and stay 4 nights and they pay additional through sheraton for 3 additional nights. Did they make you switch villas? I would rather not have to switch, I think it would be a hassle.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I don't know if they will make you switch or not. We had to because we went from the 2 bedroom (that was an owner referral special) to the 1 bedroom (because it was much cheaper since we were using a gov't discount). If your are staying a full week and not changing the type of room configuration - you might not.

The whole moving process was very smooth. We called the front desk when we were ready. They showed up with a van, loaded all our stuff up for us, and escorted to the new room. The whole process took maybe an hour tops.

 

[luvdisney14]

Thank you for responding so quickly. You put my mind at ease about switching rooms. Whenever I call sheraton they say they only have a 2 bedroom available with the 2nd bedroom having twin beds, and no jacuzzi, so I am figuring that they will put us in an old section. The price is so cheap that maybe I should stop worrying and just see what we get next year. Thanks again.

 

[LisaRay]

I saw this post that I started and I thought that was odd since I hadn't started a post on here for awhile. Then I realized that it was 2003! At 1st I thought I was going crazy and posting stuff in my sleep.

Glad to see I'm not crazy afterall.

 

[ZuZugal]

I joined the Starwood "club" (frequent stay program) a few years ago although we don't stay frequently!! Sometimes just signing up helps, becasue we were offered a deal......4 nights 5 days for $219, plus $100 back at checkin at the Vistana Village. We are going this fall. I was told I was offered this rate because of being a Starwood member. No strings attached. No tour.

 

[luvdisney14]

That was a great offer. I also joined starwood points when we stayed at the swan last year, but never received any specials. We are thinking of doing a timeshare presentation next year so we can get a good rate for a week. I wish I would receive an offer from somewhere.

 

[luvdisney14]

LizaRay

Sorry to confuse you, I just found out about vistana villages and I did a search and have been reading all the old threads.