Worst timeshare resort you've stayed in?

[Howard33]

Howard33

Worst timeshare
The Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta, was there this year and the reception/check in staff was extremely rude and not helpful when my key car misfunctioned and locked me out of my room 3 times, not my fault, their system. No apology for the hours spent in the lobby waiting for them to fix it.

 

[PeelBoy]

Howard, too bad you didn't have a good time. Is your experience, however, sufficient to award Grand Mayan the worst timeshare? We always don't have a perfect holiday. I would not allow any incident or anyone ruin my hard earned vacation. I just let go and continue to enjoy my time.

 

[Howard33]

Worst Yes Grand Mayan

It's my vote and yes, 3 times was way too many times to be locked out for 2-3 hours each time while they couldn't fix it.

 

[4nzic1]

worst resort i've ever stayed..........

Guanahanni Village in Nassau, Bahamas ....I own at WorldMark and Pueblo Bonito Rose and did a trade one year for Guanahani Village. We laugh at it now but it wasn't funny at the time when we were going up the driveway and we all thought 'man we have to go past/thru this dump to get to our resort'. Imagine our surprise when we realized that this was our resort. I was soooooooo miserable. The unit was outdated, furniture smelled and outdated, sand on the floor upon check in, we had these little fast moving ants/bugs the entire time we were there. Basically, the unit, appliances, etc looked like a rundown apartment complex. That was the first and last time I ever stayed at a resort that didn't have an RCI Gold Crown rating.:annoyed:

 

[pragmaticCTcpl]

Worst Ever - Rat-Hole Rating

Without a doubt, the worst RCI-connected time share we ever stayed at was Ski Side Village in Tannersville, PA. in 1996.

Fortunately, we only had to endure one night at this rat-hole, as RCI was able to place us at a nearby resort the next day.

Everything in the unit was dirty. If they had housekeeping employees working there, their expertise must have stopped at making beds (with stained blankets, sheets, and pillow cases), and hanging up new towels in the bathrooms.

The kitchen appliances, living room furniture, bedroom's furniture all had knicks, dents, dirt, stains, cigarette-burn marks...there were chunks of food under the living room sofa cushions...the stove had only one knob intact for the four burner controls...the carpeting had more stains than a BioHazard container outside of a hospital operating room...the refrigerator smelled like something had died in there the previous winter ...even the spiders and houseflies avoided the kitchen area, opting to populate the living room area.

In short, it appeared as if that unit hadn't been cleaned since 50 drunken skiers had a no-holds-barred party the previous January (or maybe even the year before).

We wouldn't go there again even if they offered to pay all of our maintenance fees for the next ten years..!:annoyed:

 

[muzjik]

Celebrity Resort Hilltop - Steamboat Springs

Easily the worst we had ever stayed in...we were vacationing with friends who had never stayed in a timeshare and kept explaining they weren't all like this. Converted motel that smelled moldy/musty. We let our friends have the outside unit with the view. Ours looked out at what had maybe been a put-put course but was instead (in July) a bunch of weeds. We had a 2 bedroom unit that had been 3 motel rooms. Tiny, tiny kitchen with no dishwasher, no counter space. The only place to put the dish rack was on top of the stove. The unit slept 6 but the seating to eat was 4 stools at the counter and a small table in one of the bed rooms. Our bed (the master) was a pull out with a lumpy, saggy mattress...my husband was miserable the whole time. The pool was scary looking and was actually closed for three days while we were there.
But the best thing was that the first night we were there was washing of sheets and towel night and we were located over the laundry room. All night, I was kept awake by an un-steady thumping and throbbing noise.

The staff, bless them, were wonderful and were certainly making the best of a bad thing.

Second worst - Orange Lake. Put in an older unit with mold on the ceiling and couldn't get anyone to come out. Topped off by an tour agent who, after we said we weren't going to buy, got all snarly at us and said "don't you love your kids? Why are you denying them the chance to vacation here"....which we were already doing.

 

[Bwolf]

Regency Villas at Broome Park, Barham, Kent, England. Filthy dirty place. We understand there is a Club Sunterra now right next door.

 

[carlrocky]

Our worst experience was at the Sonesta resort which is now the Rennissance in Aruba. They show a lagoon behind the resort in their ads which looks like a lovely beach and in actuality has a mucky mud bottom which is gross when you wade in. The dreary looking 1 bedroom we had faced the parking lot and had a moldy smell. Some of the tiles in the pool were falling off. I love to walk from my room to the beach. Not here, You have to wait to take a small boat to their private Island. It was a pain for us.

 

[bhrungo]

San Clemente Inn. This was several years ago and our unit was old and run-down...smelly,etc. Hopefully they've done a refurb since then...

 

[sally]

breezy point minnesota,I will second that one.

I think gold crown status is a scam....owners ,with the choice unit owners must send countless 5 star report cards,as to have full occupancy year round.This resort(not to be confused with the other breezy point lodge)should be converted back into the second rate transient apartments it once could have been.The lake units were similar but were on the lake...a saving grace ...We were samwitched between an ugly parking lot ,an all night disco and a frieght train running through the unit.No view. we left after 1 night.We drove 9 hours for THAT! If the unit is dirty,beat,or unsafe...not to mention (UNVACATION LIKE) The resort needs to be taken out of the directry period. 1 YEAR AT THE VERY LEAST. This would be a sharp message to the owners.Mabee then peoples hard earned vacation $$$ and time would be respected! sheesh! gold crown my#%^#!

 

[UWSurfer]

San Clemente Inn. This was several years ago and our unit was old and run-down...smelly,etc. Hopefully they've done a refurb since then...

They have. There are four buildings there. The two which are right of the lobby and check-in are all nicely redone. The two left of the lobby are slated to be done over this year and next. They are doing them slowly to maintain a balance of providing occupancy and keeping the costs down.

I've stayed in both and much prefer the updated units. The units however are still on the small side and the buildings are still original. They've also added a popular coffee shop there which has helped quite a bit. I happen to like this resort very much & own a week here. I also appreciate that the HOA are doing the updating without raising our MF's which are fairly low for a coastal resort. However I can see why some would not be pleased with the resort, particularly before the improvements.

 

[drguy]

Worst timeshare
The Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta, was there this year and the reception/check in staff was extremely rude and not helpful when my key car misfunctioned and locked me out of my room 3 times, not my fault, their system. No apology for the hours spent in the lobby waiting for them to fix it.

No Grand Mayan in Puerto Vallarta. Do you mean Nuevo Vallarta?
What was the staff supposed to do about your car key malfunctioning, and how did that keep you out of your room?
The staff at Nuevo Vallarta GM has always been excellent, helpful and has gone out of their way to accommodate us in our needs.

 

[kapish]

Guy, the poster meant "key card" when it was written as "key car".

 

[Wonka]

Vistana in Florida 3/8/08

 

[TUGBrian]

I just read that review you submitted too!

Lets not forget the worst of all....in fact the very one that caused TUG to exist in the first place.

Sand & Surf in Daytona beach

It is the resort referenced in the tuginfo post about how TUG started

Hi, I'm Bill Rogers. I initiated TUG because my wife and I traded our very nice (Gold Crown & 5 Star rating) resort for what can only be described as a run-down converted motel. To say that we were upset, is to put it mildly.

The picture in the Exchange Resort Directory looked great! The description had everything we were looking for, even tennis. But when we got there...... The condo was probably WW II vintage and still had the original furniture (I have seen better thrown away on the street). But the straw that broke the camel's back was the tennis court (we love tennis and all our trades usually have tennis available). The only court was over grown with weeds and did not even have a net!) When we asked about it, we were told it had not had a net for years! So much for Resort Directory pictures and write-ups! We vowed we would never be ripped off again! From that time on, when we are in an area (and have time) we tour the timeshare resorts to find out what they are really like. We will no longer rely only on the Exchange companies for this information!

By the way, the exchange company did credit us with their exchange fee ($69) to be used toward another exchange. What a joke! We lost a week's vacation, not to mention, the hundreds of dollars in maintenance fees we had to pay at our home resort.

 

[sfoxxx]

Two worst resorts I stayed in

The older resorts at the Vistana in Orlando. We stayed in the ghetto section of the Vistana. The Summer Bay in Las Vegas was also bad but my experience at the Vistana was worst.

 

[RIMike]

New but so far not bad

Since I am relatively new to TS I have been fortunate in that all my exchanges have been acceptable. Here is my experiences from worst to best so far:

Pelican Resort Club rated about a 7 (exchanged for April,2007)
Alanda Club, Marbella rated 8 (exchanged for Holy Week, 2007)
Sedona Summitt rated 8.5 (exchanged for Feb. 2008)
Oyster Bay Beach Resort rated 8.5 (exchanged for week before Christmas 07)

Up next:
Fairmont Hot Springs, Mountainside Villas in August, 2008
Plaza San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina Thanksgiving, 2008
Marriott Grand Vista, Orlando, Christmas, 2008

From Reading reviews, I think all of these should be fine as well. But I really appreciate this particular posting because it has caused me to think both about where I am willing to exchange to and also where I do not wish to buy...in particular it killed a proposed sale into Sheraton Vistana

 

[wcfr1]

Without a doubt, the worst RCI-connected time share we ever stayed at was Ski Side Village in Tannersville, PA. in 1996.

I am sure it was bad then because even the pictures of the place looked bad. Good news is that the previous management has been taken to court by the owners and a settlement was made last year. Half the resort was sold for development of homes and the half that stayed has been completely upgraded. I think it is a lot better now than when you stayed 12 years ago.

 

[JAKing]

My husband and I have been timeshare owners since 2004, and have never stayed at the three we own, but always trade using points. The units have been all over the lot in terms of niceness, but never bad enough for us to regret going. If I had to choose, I'd say the worst were Sea Mist Resort, Wells Maine; The Harwich Port, Cape Cod; and Silverwoods at Treasure Lake, Dubois PA. However, all had redeeming qualities. Sea Mist is a motel conversion, and shabby. The Harwich Port is also very outdated, as is Silverwoods, and very needy of renovation. But all three were in lovely locations that we enjoyed exploring. In fact, we are going back to Sea Mist again this year, because it is very affordable and we try to get the biggest bang we can for our buck or points. We probably will never visit Silverwoods again, because it is way off the beaten track, and too long a drive. We would go to the Harwich Port again, but there are many other choices in Cape Cod that we would try first.

I've seen several posts saying negative things about Eastern Slopes, but we enjoyed it, and the area was much fun, with great restaurants, great shopping, great natural beauty, and moose!

 

[labguides]

Riverside at Fairmont Hot Springs was by the worst timeshare we have experienced. I posted a review in the review section.

 

[lprstn]

Just back from my Worst Exchange Experience Ever!

We just got back from a shortened trip at ocean beach club in Virginia Beach...

Well where to begin. We made reservations with Interval International (our first experience with them) for a room at this resort that sleeps 2 private and 4 maximum. We called while on the way and no one picked up the phone. We showed up to check in on Friday at 12am after a 4 hour drive and working all day. We were checked in by a front desk attendant named Gabriel, and when we saw a room we were stunned as it was a hotel room (actually smaller) with a nice balcony and ONLY a king sized bed, and by the way … THE COMFORTER ON THE BED HAD A BLOOD STAIN ON IT! (oh, I got the pictures to prove it too!) Ok, we looked at our reservations and said, “No Way does this accommodate 4 people). We were at least expecting 2 double beds. So we go to the front desk, show our paperwork and tell Gabriel that there must be a mistake. He stated “I don’t believe that your room only has a king sized bed, all of the C rooms have doubles”. I asked him “Are you calling me a Liar?!” :annoyed: He said, “Well no, its just that I know all the C rooms have doubles, I am going to have to go see this for myself.”

I was in shocked disbelief, as I have traveled extensively, in Timeshares and hotels and in all of my 39 years have never been called an outright liar, and never had someone have to physically verify I was telling them the truth. So he follows me and my husband up the elevator to room 1806C, and I told him “You better give me one heck of an apology when you VERIFY that I am not a liar!”. When he gets in and checks he say’s “Oh I am so sorry. I just knew that this had double beds”. Oh but now it gets even worse. He tells me he has to call the night manager to see what to do about our room. He then tells us that the night manager said he can put us in another room, but WE MAY HAVE TO PAY $149 for the night. I told him that “Her answer is not satisfactory as it is now 1:30am in the morning, my kids are awake, we can’t go to sleep and I have been called a Liar, then told that I may have to pay for my room. You need to get on the phone with her and come up with a solution to get me a FREE room tonight and we will figure the rest out on Sat. when I wake up!” He then called her and assured me that I would not be charged for my room. (I just posted this review and I do have some positives after this initial shock so look out for the review for more details)

Now Interval International we called only to have to hear them defend the rude behavior of the clerk, pass the buck back to the resort, and they didn't even offer to speak to the resort to verify that we were taken care of, and this was after speaking to 5 people and being on hold for over 30 minutes. This was my first experience with Interval and probably my last. At least with RCI on the 1 and only time there was a minor confusion, they far exceeded my expectations by refunding me my $169 trading fee, and giving me my week back (maybe I was just lucky to get a nice Customer Service Rep).

We were so disgusted that we cut our trip short and came home on Sunday instead of Tuesday. However, I must at least give the day manager some gratitude as he did give us a dinner certificate and upgraded our room to a 1 bedroom suite. Unfortunately, being called a liar, and made to prove myself just disgusted me beyond belief. Thanks for letting me vent and if you have a worst exchange experience, PLEASE SHARE IT, as I think it will make me feel better that someone else suffered worst.

 

[eal]

You might feel better posting a review on tripadvisor.com as well; you will reach a very wide audience.

 

[dougp26364]

Unless the desk clerk actually used the word "liar", I think you would be better served when you complain if you said the desk clerk did not believe me. Obviously he didn't believe you but I do not believe that, based upon your brief description, he intended to call you a liar. He knew a mistake had been made. I can certainly understand his need to visually see for himself that the mistake was the resorts mistake if he had to wake his boss up to correct the mistake.

Imagine how much more difficult getting things straightened out would have been if he'd have called his boss without verifying the room only slept two and having his boss tell him he was off his rocker, all C rooms slept 4. You'd have been even hotter than what you were to have the desk clerk tell you all C rooms slept 4 and then have the awakened "night manager" (sounds more like an on-call manager to me) tell you the same thing. By seeing the room with his own eyes, the desk clerk avoided that potential problem.

Don't get me wrong, there are obviously problems with this resort. I only know that a misunderstanding and saying that someone actaully called you a liar when it was only implied (having to verify information visually) muddies up the water and makes it harder to get your point across. FWIW, I'd have been mad as a wet hornet as well.

 

[bilfbr245]

You asked the night clerk if he was calling you a liar and he said no. So I agree with the previous post that it is not helpful to continue with the inflammatory rhetotic. Personally, I can understand that when there is some confusion about what the facts are, it is often best to see for yourself. If I had been in your position, I would not have objected that the clerk wished to view the room and verify the facts before taking action. It does sound as if the resort made a mistake, but these things do happen, and it also sounds as if the resort went to quite an effort to rectify the situation. I do understand that you were tired, but I am not sure that this was the resort's fault.

The bloodstain is another matter. That is quite disgusting. And the clerk should not have said that you might be charged for the room either. But there more important thing in my mind is that they did not end up charging you and that they gave an upgrade and meal.

 

[gmarine]

You obviously had a bad check in experience and an inexperienced, clueless clerk, but the manager gave you a 1 bedroom suite and a free dinner.

What does II have to do with the clerk at the resort?

Having a stain on a comforter is disgusting but that can happen anywhere. As for it being blood, without testing it you cant be sure what it is. I have seen much worse at much higher end properties.

IMO, it wasnt that bad. You got a larger room than you were confirmed to and a free dinner. All because of a check in error and clueless clerk. I think you may have let your initial problems on check in cloud the rest of your stay.

If thats your worst experience consider yourself lucky.