The facility itself is absolutely great. We rented a 2-bedroom unit and loved it. The unit was clean, bright, and spacious. The whole complex is very well maintained, well-staffed, and in a convenient location ... HOWEVER, do NOT be tempted by a reduced rate offered to you if only you attend a 90 minute "tour".
In order to get a discount on a timeshare rental, I've been on timeshare "tours" before, but I've never experienced such a frustrating and excruciating sales presentation as I experienced at Westgate Vacation Villas in Kissimmee.
It began at 7:30am, therefore it should have ended at 9:00am, right? At 10:00am, after 2 and a half hours of me saying "No thank you ... no thank you", I finally gathered my family and walked away. The saleswoman had been very polite up until then, but as I was walking away, she threatened to impose penalties and fines to my credit card if I didn't wait for yet ANOTHER manager to come and try to "close" me. I left anyway. I tried to tell them that that day was my family's last day of vacation, but they didn't care. They still threatened to charge me an extra $1000 on my credit card if I didn't come back and continue to wait.
The procedure has been identical at all three of the "tour" I've been on: the salesperson spends time chatting with you, laughing at everything you say, telling personal things about themselves to show you how similar they are to you (family, children, etc). The pricing strategy was the same as the last two timeshare sales presentations that I've suffered through. The first price was presented ($33k for a 2 bdrm unit); I said "no". Then I was shown a much reduced second price because [enter some reason here], in this case $22k for the same unit. I again said "no". Then a third, "hush hush, don't tell anyone that I gave this deal to you [this was a repo, etc]" at a price of $6000 for 1 week every OTHER year instead of one week per year. Finally I walked away even though I was threatened with penalties.
In the elevator, we saw another couple who also had a 7:30 appt and didn't get to leave until 10:00. Apparently, 2.5 hrs is the minimum.
So if you can RENT an IDENTICAL timeshare unit for around $650/wk anytime you want to, why would you pay $22,000 -32,000 and THEN pay an additional $600 annual maintenance fee?! The rental price is practically equal to the annual maintenance fee!
Again, it is a nice place, but avoid the "tour" at all costs!!
-Review courtesy of D Jones
(stayed during Mar, 2008) |
Bookmark This Page
Home
Resort Reviews
(Horrible - 1 out of 5 stars)
Timeshares Home
