# Is Something Wrong with Sheraton Vistana Resort



## mclay (Dec 14, 2007)

I just bought a 2 bedroom Lock-Off in the Cascades Section at Sheraton Vistana Resort.  I got it off of an Ebay auction last month.  I've continued to watch the resort listings for the last 2 months and it seems there is a ton being auctioned off at incredibly low prices relative to other timeshare resale listings.  

I understand that several phases of the resort as getting $1200 assessments in 2008 to upgrade the units and get back the gold crown status.  Is this why so many units are hitting the market?  Why are they selling so cheap? Is something wrong with the resort?

Is it the economy and people needed to get out from under their timeshares and/or annual maintenance fee obligations? They don't want to pay the assessment? 

I would hate to think I just made a bad decision buying into this resort.


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## AwayWeGo (Dec 14, 2007)

*Vistana Orlando = Humongous Orlando Timeshare.*




mclay said:


> I understand that several phases of the resort as getting $1200 assessments in 2008 to upgrade the units and get back the gold crown status.  Is this why so many units are hitting the market?  Why are they selling so cheap? Is something wrong with the resort?


Vistana Orlando is outstanding.  If something has gone "wrong" with it, it has to be some kind of recent development. 

However that may be, Vistana Orlando is super-size with some older "phases" that may well be in line for costly renovations.  With good management, that should be affordable out of the reserve fund being built up year by year specially for that purpose.  Otherwise, owners are apt to get hit with big honking special assessments to pay the bills.  What owners don't want -- should not want, anyhow -- is a decline in quality such that going there for a timeshare vacation is no longer the quality experience people expect. 

I don't know if Cascades is newish or oldish or somewhere in the middle of the Vistana Orlando phases.  We stayed 1 time (2003) at a newish Vistana Orlando section with elevators in the condo buildings & everything.  It was super-nice -- our 1st timeshare exchange ever.  I can't remember the name of the "phase" -- possibly Fountains, but I'm no Vistana Orlando buff so I don't know for sure. 

If you bought your eBay Vistana Orlando 2BR Cascades lock-off for a song, then you might still have snagged yourself a nice timeshare somewhere between a big bargain & an OK resale deal, _mox nix_ the $1*,*200 special assessment if it turns out you get hit with that.  To illustrate...

eBay purchase price = $1*,*000 
             + Special Assessmnt = $1*,*200          
Your effective price = $2*,*200​
By contrast, our 1st (non-eBay) timeshare only a couple of miles up the street from Vistana Orlando cost us $3*,*500 in 2002 -- a price we were happy with at the time & that still stacks up OK. 

Now that you've taken the plunge, the important thing -- regardless of how the Special Assessment bugaboo shakes out -- is to enjoy your timeshare & have fun at 1 of Orlando's biggest & best known quality timeshare resorts. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## arlene22 (Dec 14, 2007)

You'll have no problems with the Cascades. It's newer and very nice. I actually like it better than Vistana Villages :ignore: . Some of the other VR sections, I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. But after the refurb, they will probably be very nice. Just be aware that Lakes (the second newest section) is looking at a special assessment now. I would expect one for Cascades within the next year or two.


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## JLB (Dec 14, 2007)

So?

It is one of the Big 3, the original huge, Orlando MegaResorts.

Did I mentioned that it is big?

What that means is that it has a lot of owners, which means they have a lot of owners who have discovered this is not for them.

For reasons logical to the marketplace, they are lucky to give them away, or pay someone to take them, as has been reported.

I was searching for a Florida resale for another thread yesterday and saw an OLCC East Village unit for $3800.  The same thing is being actively sold for $20K-plus.

Google resales for any of the big Orlando resorts and you will find the same thing.  Or check eBay if you want.



mclay said:


> I just bought a 2 bedroom Lock-Off in the Cascades Section at Sheraton Vistana Resort.  I got it off of an Ebay auction last month.  I've continued to watch the resort listings for the last 2 months and it seems there is a ton being auctioned off at incredibly low prices relative to other timeshare resale listings.
> 
> I understand that several phases of the resort as getting $1200 assessments in 2008 to upgrade the units and get back the gold crown status.  Is this why so many units are hitting the market?  Why are they selling so cheap? Is something wrong with the resort?
> 
> ...


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## Bill4728 (Dec 14, 2007)

The low price you paid, may be because you bought a sheraton TS which isn't assocatied the starwood vacation network (SVN).  Sheraton Vistana Resort is managed by starwood (sheraton) but resale buyers do not get one of the biggest benifits of being a sheraton owner which is internal trades to the other great starwood resorts. Only resale buyers of "mandatory" Starwood vacation network resorts are allowed to do the internal trading. 

You still have a great TS in orlando and bought it at a great price. You just didn't buy a TS in SVN.


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## Iwant2gonow (Dec 19, 2007)

Bill4728 said:


> The low price you paid, may be because you bought a sheraton TS which isn't assocatied the starwood vacation network (SVN).  Sheraton Vistana Resort is managed by starwood (sheraton) but resale buyers do not get one of the biggest benifits of being a sheraton owner which is internal trades to the other great starwood resorts. Only resale buyers of "mandatory" Starwood vacation network resorts are allowed to do the internal trading.
> 
> You still have a great TS in orlando and bought it at a great price. You just didn't buy a TS in SVN.



Although internal trades would be very nice given the high maintenance fees...I know the Starwood network has a yearly fee tacked onto the maintenance fees...I believe the fee is $90 to $100 above the maintenance fees of non network owners, which I am.


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## bigbillf (Dec 22, 2007)

mclay said:


> I just bought a 2 bedroom Lock-Off in the Cascades Section at Sheraton Vistana Resort.  I got it off of an Ebay auction last month.  I've continued to watch the resort listings for the last 2 months and it seems there is a ton being auctioned off at incredibly low prices relative to other timeshare resale listings.
> 
> I understand that several phases of the resort as getting $1200 assessments in 2008 to upgrade the units and get back the gold crown status.  Is this why so many units are hitting the market?  Why are they selling so cheap? Is something wrong with the resort?



I own a 2br at Vistana in the Lakes section.  And I bought an EOY 2br lockoff at the Lakes for $750 off E Bay.  I been to the Lakes a couple of years ago and I enjoyed it immensely.  And I get great trades through II for my 2br.  I just got my 3rd trade into a Marriott 2br lockoff (MBP and MSE) during the summer.  I traded into and stayed at V Villages last year and also feel that the Vistana Lakes is better.  I am very satisfied with it’s trading power in II.  I have driven through the Cascades and it looks real nice along with most folk's favorable comments.  The only downside to a Lakes 2br lockoff is that it is a fixed week vs. floating with the 2br.  The Lakes just recently finalized the second and final portion of the special assessment for the recent upgrade.  But when prices are so cheap, the assessments are not a big deal and in fact I welcome them if they result in an improved facility.  I am anxious to see how the Lakes units turn out.  Hope to return in 2009.

For the price, buying at the Vistana Cascades/Lakes is a great deal and an excellent choice to start out in timesharing.  Then if you really like timesharing, you can always upgrade into a mandatory SVN resort later.  If not, then sell your unit and it was not too costly of an ordeal.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good luck and enjoy.


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## hopetotimeshare (Dec 23, 2007)

*Sheraton Vistana*

We have owned a 2br in the Lakes phase of Vistana for 2 years.  May 2008 will be our second trip.  The assessment was steep but we are really looking forward to seeing what we have paid for!  I think that they are going for cheap because there are a lot of folks who are really hurting from the poor economy - some in our part of the country (Connecticut) can not even afford to pay their home mortgages.  I wonder if people aren't looking to bail out before the January payment comes due (ours is $1300.)   I have heard there is lots in store for Vistana, such as, they are totally renovating the General Store and the resort grounds are beautiful...so much to do you may not even want to spend your days at the parks.  My only peeve with Vistana is their outrageously aggressive "owners update"...it was horrible and although I am sitting here in the luxury robe they gave us for attending, it was not worth what they put us through.  

So, I say if you have the means to stick with it, or you have found an awesome deal, stay with Vistana...when the upgrades are done it's going to be beautiful and I would think in high demand because people will want to check out a newly renovated unit.


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## AwayWeGo (Dec 23, 2007)

*How Time Flies When You're Sharing Time.*




hopetotimeshare said:


> We have owned a 2br in the Lakes phase of Vistana for 2 years.  May 2008 will be our second trip.


Whoa*,* Hope-To -- way to go _!_ 

Is it really 2 years now?  Time flies.  Bigtime. 

It seems just yesterday you started looking to TUG for timeshare advice in advance of taking the plunge yourself, & now you're a seasoned Vistana Orlando owner able to offer advice to others based on your own experience. 

Is that a TUG success story, or what ? 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 23, 2007)

Yes, I remember hopetotimeshare's questions about owning in Orlando.  I advised her to buy elsewhere and trade in.   

I am glad you are enjoying timeshare ownership.  

Now is definitely the time to pick up a bargain on Vistana.  I saw one last night on eBay that went for $1.00 in Fountains.  

I never consider owning at Vistana.  We can trade into Orlando so cheaply, plus we get bonus AC weeks for all of our deposits (we now own six red weeks at Foxrun).  

We pay $590+$299+$139 for two, two bedroom weeks in Orlando, even to Vistana Villages, through II, with no one-in-four rules.  We prefer our Cypress Harbour exchanges over Vistana Villages, though it was nice.

That is why Orlando weeks, no matter what you are looking at, sell for so little on eBay.

Now I might consider owning a Vistana Villages with lots of Staroptions.  I would sure love to get Westin St. John or Westin Kaanapali one day.


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