# Westgate Park City reservation review



## Steamboat Bill (Mar 23, 2007)

I just called Westgate Park City Resort and Spa this morning to make a reservation for Feb 23-Mar 1, 2008 ski week in a 2 bedroom. This is the first day to call for the 11 month window.

I called at 10:05am EST about 5 minuutes after they opened and EASILY booked a week there for the dates I wanted. In fact, the geneleman who took my call was extremely pleasant and used my 2007 week that I was going to bank for 2008 (and waived the $130 banking fee) because this was the first time I needed to do this. 

I asked him how the 2008 ski season booking looks and he said there is availibility for all weeks except Sundance week and that was the only one where they are sold out. This is a nice departure from Marriott Mountainside that gets booked at the 13 and 12 months windows within 2 minutes of open phones.

I really enjoyed Westgate Park City direct reservations.


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## talkamotta (Mar 27, 2007)

Have a great time...  

I love that resort, too.  The employees have always been so very nice to me. Im glad to see that Westgate keeps improving thier customer service.


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## hipslo (Mar 27, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> This is a nice departure from Marriott Mountainside that gets booked at the 13 and 12 months windows within 2 minutes of open phones.



Approximately six weeks ago, I was able to book Easter week 2008 (March 23 - 30) at Mountainside, using the 13 month window, over two weeks into the 13 month reservation period for that week.  In a similar vein, last year I was able to book week 10 (March 11-18, 2007) three weeks into the 13 month window without any problem.  While you may be right about the 12 month window (I have no experience with that so can not say), this does not seem to be the case at 13 months, at least in my experience, so far.  Though it certainly does sound easier to book into Westgate.  I am still trying to figure out why that is.


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## bmann (Mar 27, 2007)

*Westgate at the Canyons Vs. Marriott Mountainside*

The Park City Westgate is at the "Canyons" not at the Park City Resort like the Marriott Mountainside. Much less demand. This resort used to be called "Park West" when it was smaller and with less amenities. It has been the step child of Park City for a long time. It is away from the downtown area of Park City and most of the nightlife. Lets keep it a secret for a little longer. :whoopie:


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## hipslo (Mar 27, 2007)

hipslo said:


> Approximately six weeks ago, I was able to book Easter week 2008 (March 23 - 30) at Mountainside, using the 13 month window, over two weeks into the 13 month reservation period for that week.




My mistake - Just went back and looked at my calendar, as something didnt sound right to me.  I made this reservation just about THREE weeks ago (not six) at exactly 2 weeks into the 13 month window.


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## TomF (Mar 27, 2007)

I was easily able to make 2008 reservations at MountainSide for March 2-7, using the 13 month window.  This was done on Tuesday, Feb 20, middle of the day, just over a week before the 12 month window opened.  I did this the same day our purchase of a gold NCV  week was confirmed, allowing us to use the 13 month window.


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 27, 2007)

As a Westgate and Marriott owner...I am fundamentally against the idea of a Marriott 13 month window. Why discriminate against someone just because they can only buy one $30k-40k weeks and not two. I simply find Westgate people (only talking about park city) to be very friendly.


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## TomF (Mar 27, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> As a Westgate and Marriott owner...I am fundamentally against the idea of a Marriott 13 month window. Why discriminate against someone just because they can only buy one $30k-40k weeks and not two.


I agree completely that this is unfair, but no less unfair than anything else in life.  This is our capitalist society where the more cash you have the more perks you get.  

But you already know the answer to your question, just turn it around. Why shouldn't someone who buys 2, 3, 4, or more weeks not have some edge over people who only bought one?  They spent more money with Marriott and Marriott wants to encourage this by offering perks.  Every frequent flyer/frequent stay program does exactly the same thing.  The more miles/nights you can rack up, the more perks you get.  No one seems to get upset because someone who's flow a gazillion miles with some airline automatically gets first class.

But if we were to somehow be able to rectify all of the inequities of life, timesharing is one of the last places I'd start.  I'd start with fair and affordable housing prices, and free and equal medical benefits for everyone.


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## hipslo (Mar 27, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> As a Westgate and Marriott owner...I am fundamentally against the idea of a Marriott 13 month window. Why discriminate against someone just because they can only buy one $30k-40k weeks and not two.



Or, for that matter, why "discriminate" against someone just because they can't afford the 30k to buy a week at Westgate?  Why shouldn't non owners there, who would also very much enjoy staying at the Westgate Park City, be permitted to make reservations, in the same way that owners are?  In both cases, those who enjoy the advantage at issue have paid approximately 30k more than those who havent.  Or why not allow those who have purchased bronze weeks at Branson to make reservations at Maui in the summer?  The only difference is the amount of dollars they have parted with, they are both owners in the Marriott system.

Absurd positions, perhaps, but it strikes me as the logical conclusion of your premise.  The world of course abounds with examples of additional benefits being afforded to those who have paid more.  If it didnt, (just limiting the discusssion to the timeshare realm, rather getting into the greater context that Tom alludes to), we'd all buy $1.00 timeshares on ebay and argue that that somehow entitles us to stay at the Carlsbad Four Seasons in June.  

Same thing with HCC, in fact.  Those who pay more get more rights, can reserve earlier, etc.  And I know you think the world of HCC!


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 27, 2007)

TomF and Hipslo are using extreme examples of unfairness.

I am simply posting (IMHO) the 13 month Marriott rule is a bad idea and is one of the reasons why I bought at Westgate instead of Marriott MS.

My OP was about how nice and easy it was for me to book my Westgate ski week in Park City. If you are happy with Marriott MS/SW...then good luck competing with all the Marriott owners to try to get your preferred week.


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## hipslo (Mar 28, 2007)

bmann said:


> The Park City Westgate is at the "Canyons" not at the Park City Resort like the Marriott Mountainside. Much less demand.




To me, that explains why Westgate has not yet sold out (also it is a much newer resort than Mounainside or Summit Watch).  The fact that it has not yet sold out, in turn, explains why reservations are easier to make at Westgate than at Summit Watch or Mountainside.  Although I have only been a Mountainside owner for a little over a year, my understanding is that until 2-3 years ago, at least at Mountainside, reservations during the more desireable ski weeks were not nearly as difficult to attain as they seem to be now.  I also understand that the reason that "prime" ski weeks are difficult to reserve is that the platinum season is too long, beginning in early December and running through mid April.  Since most folks who shelled out the big bucks for platinum units are likely to want to ski sometime between mid to late January and mid to late March, you have a situation where there is very high demand for only roughly half of the platinum weeks, and that is what makes it so difficult to reserve those weeks, now that the resort is 100% sold out.  At the end of the day, the difficulty is caused by a structural flaw in the platinum season designation.  Perhaps there should have been a "low" ski season and a "high" ski season, with the low season running from early December through mid to late January (ignoring the platinum plus holiday weeks) and also late March through mid April, and high ski season running from mid to late January through mid to late March.  Had the system been designed this way, I suspect there would be much less difficulty reserving a particular high ski season week, since the number of owners competing for those weeks would be reduced by approximately 50% and the number of weeks available to them to reserve would be the same as the numbr of owners chasing those weeks.  Alas, that is not how the seasons are structured, and you can be sure that no one who purchases platinum envisions themselves being stuck with the "low" ski season weeks.  However, in any given year, close to 50% of the platinum owners will be in that situation.  Its simply an inherent fact based on the structure of the program.

I also am told that the platinum ski season at Westgate runs from early December through mid April, same as at Marriott.  Thus, once Westgate is 100% sold out during ski season, as are Mountainside and Summit Watch, the same fundamental structural issues will be at work, and the same difficulty in securing the "prime" ski weeks will likely apply there, as well.  I can't see any good reason why this would not be the case.  I suppose I could be wrong about this, only time will tell, but once folks have an experience or two in the coming years being unsuccesful in getting the weeks they'd like, I would imagine they'd begin calling as soon as they are able to  make reservations, as well.  If they don't do that, and there is some sort of fundamental difference in human nature between Westgate owners and Marriott owners, then great, but I'd find that to be at least mildly surprising.

Bottom line - enjoy it while it lasts, as it may not last forever.  And if I am right and things do become more difficult over time, in the absence of some sort of priority for multiple week owners, there will be no practical option to address this problem, assuming it does develop.  Its nice that Marriott at least gives owners the option to do something about it (though I suspect that over time, there will be more and more competition even within the 13 month window, as well).


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## Steamboat Bill (Mar 28, 2007)

Westgate has the same ski season as Marriott. I actually love your low/high ski season and wish the TS industry would adopt that. Westgate Park City is about 5 years old and I think MOST of the ski weeks are sold...(unconfirmed) and they are mainly selling non-ski weeks.

It is interesting that Westgate is building a full-ownership condo attached to the TS and they sell for about $900k for a 2 bedroom. This may actually help reduce the demand for Westgate TS and make it even easier to book a ski week.

The only floating ski week that quickly sells out is Sundance film festival.


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## hipslo (Mar 28, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> It is interesting that Westgate is building a full-ownership condo attached to the TS and they sell for about $900k for a 2 bedroom. This may actually help reduce the demand for Westgate TS and make it even easier to book a ski week.



Help me out with this - why would the fact that there are adjacent full ownership condos for sale render Westgate TS owners less likely to reserve and use their TS weeks? Unless what you are saying is that this would make it harder for Westgate to sell out their ski TS weeks, since folks would rather buy the whole ownership condos (though I'd think we're talking about rather different markets)?  Guess I am just missing your point.


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