At Hyatt Wild Oaks Ranch & It's Not a Marriott

[Robert D]

We're at the Hyatt Wild Oaks Ranch in San Antonio for a week. We usually stay at Marriott's and I'm surprised at the omissions from Hyatt that are taken for granted at Marriott. The condo is well appointed but our refrigerator does not have an icemaker, there is no garbage disposal, no scissors / knife set, no CNBC on the TV, and the refrigerator is placed on the left wall across from the dishwasher and opens from left to right instead of right to left opening against the wall. It appears the refrigerator did have an ice maker but apparently when it went out, they didn't replace it. I asked about it and was told that some units have ice makers and some don't. All Marriotts and even lesser resorts like Vistana in Orlando have ice makers and I'm surprised that an icemaker in every refrigerator isn't a Hyatt standard feature. There seems to be very lax attention to detail at this resort.

 

[MichaelColey]

I'm wondering how much of that varies from unit to unit. I don't remember anything annoying there, and several of those things would have been annoying to me as well.

The lack of icemakers is one of the big annoyances I have with DVC.

Then again, we were so blown away by the pool complex that we probably wouldn't have let things like that bother us.

 

[Ken555]

"lesser resorts like Vistana" sums up my thoughts on the new name of the Starwood timeshare company (though of course Vistana is not "lesser", esp when compared to other Marriott resorts in Orlando).


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[MaryH]

Were you in a studio or 1bdrm or full 2 bdrm?

I stayed in a studio and had to call down for a DVD player and BBQ tools, etc.

 

[silentg]

I don't have an ice maker at home, so I would not miss it, go to a Dollar store and buy a couple of ice cube trays, while there pick up a scissors and a cheap set of knives. Don't let these things bother you. Enjoy your vacation.
Silentg

 

[SMHarman]

I don't have an ice maker at home, so I would not miss it, go to a Dollar store and buy a couple of ice cube trays, while there pick up a scissors and a cheap set of knives. Don't let these things bother you. Enjoy your vacation.
Silentg

Yup. But that's time out of your vacation.
We actually travel with knives so we have very good knives. Often a bamboo block as well as those glass ones are pretty but destroy knives.

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[Robert D]

Were you in a studio or 1bdrm or full 2 bdrm?

I stayed in a studio and had to call down for a DVD player and BBQ tools, etc.

We were in a 2BR. They didn't have barbecue tools in the room and I didn't know that you could request them. I did like the fact the barbecue grills were charcoal and they provided the charcoal and started the fire for you. However, there was no lighting around the grills for our building and a couple times I didn't get out there until it was dark and luckily brought a flashlight with me.

 

[Robert D]

I don't have an ice maker at home, so I would not miss it, go to a Dollar store and buy a couple of ice cube trays, while there pick up a scissors and a cheap set of knives. Don't let these things bother you. Enjoy your vacation.
Silentg

When you're staying at a high end resort like Hyatt, you shouldn't have to do this.

 

[MichaelColey]

Anytime I've stayed at a timeshare that didn't have an icemaker in the freezer, they had ice cube trays.

 

[Beaglemom3]

In the absence of an ice maker, one of the very first things I do upon arrival is to empty the ice cube trays and refill them.

Fast, simple and easy.




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[peas]

Funny, I never noticed either way about the ice maker (lack thereof or it being broken). Our family hates the taste of refrigerator ice/tap water ice, so we're always drinking cold drinks we have in the fridge without ice. What we really like is the big ice maker in each building. I suppose you can scoop up ice from the ice maker and keep in your freezer. I know not ideal since you have to leave the unit, but I guess the advantage is that you have almost unlimited amounts of ice. For us, we love being able to fill up our cooler of ice to our heart's content, and we'd trade the lack of ice maker for having easy access to a large volume ice maker in each building.

I would think the fridge going the wrong way would bother me *a lot*. But I don't recall being bothered by it. Maybe like Michael, I was feeling more easy going once I got there. *shrug* Some units have kitchens on the right upon entering vs on the left. It makes me think that there was refrigerator switching, and they didn't pay attention.

What bothers me is the quality of knives & cutting boards across almost all timeshares. Sometimes I'm surprised, but most times it's not great. I've just learned to pack my cutting board, knife, sometimes portable knife sharpener, scissors & peeler if we plan on cooking. But I think you got a unit that wasn't sufficiently stocked; there should have been crappy knives and scissors.

 

[Passepartout]

I really don't care a lot whether there is n ice maker or some ice cube trays. Really, it just takes a few seconds to fill an ice cube tray, then you know the ice is fresh and hasn't been sitting in the ice maker bin for possibly, weeks.

Now, the fridge door opening the 'wrong way', is unconscionable. ALL fridge doors are reversible, and a competent maintenance staff can do it in a few minutes- certainly less than a half hour. I'd call, and at the very least, write it up on the rating/review that management sends out after your stay.

Decent knives are a pet peeve of mine across the board in timeshares. Exacerbated by only traveling with carry-ons. If I'm checking a bag, I have a couple of decent knives I pack, but at a minimum I carry a sharpener like the Accusharp 001. (search Amazon) I hate it when I see a worn-out set of Ginsu el-cheapo knives in a timeshare. I can see them not providing Henkels or Wustof knives, but c'mon.

Soap box mode: off.

Jim

 

[alexadeparis]

Decent knives are a pet peeve of mine across the board in timeshares. Exacerbated by only traveling with carry-ons. If I'm checking a bag, I have a couple of decent knives I pack, but at a minimum I carry a sharpener like the Accusharp 001. (search Amazon) I hate it when I see a worn-out set of Ginsu el-cheapo knives in a timeshare. I can see them not providing Henkels or Wustof knives, but c'mon.

Soap box mode: off.

Jim

Same here, I carry knives in luggage for family trips; during a "carry-on" trip it's usually not a vacation we are going to cook on anyway, as it's just 2 of us.

 

[MichaelColey]

What we really like is the big ice maker in each building. I suppose you can scoop up ice from the ice maker and keep in your freezer. I know not ideal since you have to leave the unit, but I guess the advantage is that you have almost unlimited amounts of ice.

That sounds like a good idea (and I've tried it) but it doesn't work. The ice in those ice machines is very wet ice, and when you put it in your freezer, it freezes into one big SOLID piece.

 

[Ken555]

Instead of packing knives (!) for a relaxing trip, I just go out for dinner now and then.


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[Marathoner]

when you put it in your freezer, it freezes into one big SOLID piece.

And then you would have to deal with this...

 

[suzannesimon]

No ice maker would really bother me unless there is a building ice maker. I do recall hearing a few years ago that Marriott was not putting garbage disposals in their newer resorts because guests were throwing anything and everything down them and it was a maintenance nightmare.