Won SkyAuction at Vacation Villages - have questions about the hotel

[JamieW]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone, who has mentioned SkyAuction and Vacation Villages.

I'm going to WDW next month, and due to circumstances beyond my control, I was looking for accomodations at much later date than I would have liked. I was also wanted a cheap, but nice, place to stay. I was trying to keep this trip as cheap as possible, but that was going to be a little difficult b/c it's just my friend and me going. Even the cheaper places were going to be at least $500 for the week, which isn't bad I know, but remember CHEAP is the name of this game.

Anywho, I wondered over here to see what y'all had to say, which is how I found out about Skyauction and VV.

So, now I'm paying $221 for the whole week.

We're staying in the "B" side. I know everyone says to get the full kitchen, but my friend and I are the only ones going, so we should be fine. I don't really foresee any cooking going on, and we spent a weekend in a tiny NYC hotel room w/ no problems, so I seriously doubt this will be a problem.

Now (finally) on the subject of this thread - questions

1. I can't find this anywhere - do they charge you to park or is that already included?

2. How do I get out of the timeshare presentation? Is it as simple as not signing the form thingy they try to make you fill out when you check in? I don't have a problem saying "no" to their pressure, but it's pretty much a waste of time to go b/c even if I wanted to buy a timeshare, I don't have any money to do so, esp. when I quit my job to go to grad. school in a few months.

3. Do they offer upgrades? The "B" side is fine, but if they wanted to give us the "A" side I wouldn't say no. If you do upgrade, how much is it usually if it's not free?

Any other advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lawgs]

1. no charge for parking, they do give you a window paper to show you are staying there, but do not know if security actually check them ( they do check in las vegas at a sister resort since we were tagged with warings twice since the paper was not showing compeletely )...it is not a gated timeshare resort

2. just say no if you are not really interested in doing it ( however, it has been stated that if at first you say no, they do call later in the week to up the ante to more than the 50$ or so they offer at first ...since they want the chance to sell you ) ...the person they send you too from the check in desk is the one who gives you ....the parking permit, you could try to just get it from the front desk if you are really not interested in being "smooched"

the worst part of the tour is the third person you are taken to ....they say they are just seeing that you were treated coridally, but in reality they are trying to sell you one last time ... you just have to have firm NO )


3. the likelihood of upgrade would probably be slim to none unless it was stated on your auction that one could "upgrade"

they rarely have two bedrooms available anymore since they split the units out into the full and partial kitchen units to make more money if they fill the unit ....442 instead of 221 like you won your auction for ( we won an auction for a two bedroom about two weeks ago, when it came time to confirm it with RCI, somehow the 2 bedroom was not available ....they tried to offer us the one bedroom partial but we declined since what we bid on was the 2 bedroom )

having said all the above, your mileage may vary....but why not just give them a call and see what they say .....it cannot hurt to ask.....if there might be a chance to upgrade


there should be no extra charges...unless you use the phone system...be sure to find out their policy on phone calls, but they will ask to take an imprint of a credit card at check in

as far as time shares go .....the Vacation Village organization is not an upscale timeshare but more moderate ( some of their older units need some "refurbishment" especially the "sofa/sleeper" in some of those units

all in all it is good valur for the dollar spent when you can get a deal like you did on sky auction.....you will have a lil room to move around when compared to a hotel room.....the b side is 500 square feet .....

 

[JamieW]

Thanks, lawgs!

Upgrading isn't important enough for me to call. (I'm more than happy w/ what I got). I was just wondering if it ever happened. Besides, I'm too lazy.

 

[dj2]

we stayed there last year. i can add that there are parking spaces *under* the building which are just as available to park in, but often go unused because people don't know this. we asked on the second day, and were told they are first come first served spots.

they also asked us at check-in if we wanted to pay extra for the use of the in-room safe. i asked if i could add that later (was told yes), and am glad that i didn't pay for it initially, because it was available for use w/o paying anyway

they never asked us to attend a timeshare presentation.

-dj

 

[dj2]

i forgot to say we loved it there. we just use it as a place to sleep and eat, but the rooms were great. (it was "A" side....)

 

[JamieW]

i forgot to say we loved it there. we just use it as a place to sleep and eat, but the rooms were great. (it was "A" side....)

Yeah, that's what I figure we'll be doing, too. Thank for the tip about parking.

 

[lawgs]

dj2...

you mean the safe was not connected to the "front office"

we refused the extra cost of using the safe, but never touched it in the room since we thought it was wired like those "mini bars" in hotel rooms....the ones where if you pick up a product, and then put it back, it still registers as being "bought"

think the charge for the safe was 10$ a week...we were asked to initial our check in **** as to whether we were using the safe or not.....if something did happen, you would probably not be covered if you choose to opt out ???