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At MGV Now

dioxide45

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We checked in on Saturday. We received the our first preference in villa location. So far a number of issues with the unit:

  • No Kleenex in main Bathroom
  • No kitchen sponges.
  • Remote control batteries in the living room were dead
  • No pool towels in the room
  • No vacation experience guide on coffee table, or anywhere else in our room or the lock out side.
  • Blinds on door to patio were all tore up. They replaced these

All other issues were fixed quickly except for getting the vacation guide which required two calls over two days to get a copy.

Also:
Internet in our building is slow and we couldn't get it to work with our hardware. No internet connection. Checked out a wifi adapter from the front desk and we are able to connect. Must be a hardware issue with our new USB wifi adapter as our internal card quite a couple months ago and had to replace it with a USB one. Person at the front desk didn't know what their wifi adapter did, tried to explain that it worked with an internal adapter to enhance the signal. Since we don't have an internal one any more and our external is unplugged and the only one we have hooked up is theirs, I guess she was wrong.

Haven't been to the pool yet. Going to SeaWorld tomorrow.
 
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JBRES1

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MGV

Well it looks like those items were small items that can be handled quickly.
Big question is How did the unit look as a whole ?
And how does the resort look, are the grounds nice and clean ?

Thanks, Jim breslin
 

dioxide45

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The grounds and room in general are clean. It always looks great. I guess the little things bother me. This is just a lack of detail and housekeeping not doing their job. Small or big, there is no excuse for it. I shouldn't have to take my time to call for this stuff when it all should already be in my villa when I check in.
 

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How are the main building renovations progressing? Have they built a new pool bar at the main pool complex?
 

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The grounds and room in general are clean. It always looks great. I guess the little things bother me. This is just a lack of detail and housekeeping not doing their job. Small or big, there is no excuse for it. I shouldn't have to take my time to call for this stuff when it all should already be in my villa when I check in.

I hear you loud n clear, Dioxide -

I had a similar experience at Horizons a few weeks ago where, once again, no one issue was major, but when you add them up, it amounted to an unpleasant nuisance with which you don't want to deal while on vacation - esp as an owner.

We're at GV in a couple of weeks, and hope that what awaits us will be better, but after reading your post, I'm not optimistic.

Thanks for your update, hope you enjoyed Sea World, and hope you have a great week!
 

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How close are they to selling out?

Would be interested to hear how the sales are going in the current economy. Also how are they doing with the new Grande Lakes resort (not sure if that is the correct name).

Hope you're having a great time- it's chilly here- hope you are warm.

tlwmkw
 

amanda14

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How is the new bar, spa, food court coming along

We were there in November and will be back in April and was wondering if the upgrades will be done by then. They looked at least 65% done we were there last.

Thanks!
 

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We will be at the MGV in mid-April. Does anyone have a recommendation for a building? Last time we stayed there, we were in the building near the pool on the back side of the resort, the one with the pool bar/restaurant near it. We liked that building, and it was renovated (or new, not sure) at the time. I don't recall the building number, but we liked it. (kind of far from main building and driveway into resort though). Does anyone know what that buidling number is or have a better building recommendation? We will be in a 1 bedroom unit.

Michelle
 

dioxide45

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How are the main building renovations progressing? Have they built a new pool bar at the main pool complex?

I have only walked around this area at night. I can't tell where the new pool bar will be, but can see where the food court will be. Renovations are still going on and are to be completed in May.
 

dioxide45

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Would be interested to hear how the sales are going in the current economy. Also how are they doing with the new Grande Lakes resort (not sure if that is the correct name).

Hope you're having a great time- it's chilly here- hope you are warm.

tlwmkw

We will be taking a tour Tuesday morning so we will find out more information about current sales and the economy. I am sure they will say that all is going great and the weeks are selling fast so I better get one while I can.

The weather today was in the low 70's though winds were high and when the sun went in it was chilly. The rest of the week doesn't look warm, 50's - 60's. We skipped SeaWorld today to hang out at the pool since today was forecast to be the only reasonably warm day that we are here.


We will be at the MGV in mid-April. Does anyone have a recommendation for a building? Last time we stayed there, we were in the building near the pool on the back side of the resort, the one with the pool bar/restaurant near it. We liked that building, and it was renovated (or new, not sure) at the time. I don't recall the building number, but we liked it. (kind of far from main building and driveway into resort though). Does anyone know what that buidling number is or have a better building recommendation? We will be in a 1 bedroom unit.

Michelle

You are likely taking about buildings 84 and 79. They flank the Plaza del Sol pool complex which houses the Copa Loca Bar & Grill. This is the newest section of the resort, but there are probably rooms elsewhere in the resort that have been renovated since these were build.

We ate at Copa Loca today and the food was actually pretty good. Not the most reasonably priced for what it is, but not bad.
 
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maja651

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We will be taking a tour Tuesday morning so we will find out more information about current sales and the economy. I am sure they will say that all is going great and the weeks are selling fast so I better get one while I can.

The weather today was in the low 70's though winds were high and when the sun went in it was chilly. The rest of the week doesn't look warm, 50's - 60's. We skipped SeaWorld today to hang out at the pool since today was forecast to be the only reasonably warm day that we are here.




You are likely taking about buildings 84 and 79. They flank the Plaza del Sol pool complex which houses the Copa Loca Bar & Grill. This is the newest section of the resort, but there are probably rooms elsewhere in the resort that have been renovated since these were build.

We ate at Copa Loca today and the food was actually pretty good. Not the most reasonably priced for what it is, but not bad.


Thanks for your help! We enjoyed being at the back of the resort. It was quiet, and we liked having the restaurant/bar near the pool. With the renovations to the resort, will there be another restuarant added next to the main pool?

Michelle
 

dioxide45

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Thanks for your help! We enjoyed being at the back of the resort. It was quiet, and we liked having the restaurant/bar near the pool. With the renovations to the resort, will there be another restuarant added next to the main pool?

Michelle

I think just a pool bar at the main pool. No restaurant there. Though they will have a food court in the main clubhouse area with the Pizza Hut Express.
 

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Can you ask about upgrading existing units? I saw a post earlier about someone upgrading their annual unit that received 90K points EOY to a unit that now has the option for 110K points EY, for a $3000 fee.

Can you ask about retroing a resale unit for a fee or with a purchase? I know Marriott hasn't done this in a while, but in this state of the economy, maybe they will.

Hope you're having fun. :wave:
 

dioxide45

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Did the Tour

While I don’t have any pricing specifics, here are some juicy details of our timeshare presentation today.

  • Lakeshore reserve is sold out of 3BR units and the 2BR that locks off in to two 1BR units. Not sure how true this statement is and he wasn’t real clear either. Prices of 2BR regular lock off units started out at ~$21K and are now ~$26K.
  • The salesman challenged me to find anyone who would be able to trade in to Marco Island or Grande Lakes via II. He said it would be impossible originally stating that they wouldn’t even be available to trade through II. Explaining that over at the Ritz and JW they wouldn’t want any II folks there. When I explained that there were August weeks sighted in II for Marco, he quickly retracted with “who would want to go to Marco In August?”.
  • Explained that one who owns and bought direct from Marriott can reserve in to a higher season by paying a $79 fee to Marriott. Though us lowly resale owners can’t do this. Does he think I was born yesterday? Anyone ever heard of this?
  • There are really two types of MR points accounts, one for owners of Marriott and another for non-Marriott retail owners. By being resale owners we wouldn’t be able to book more than one travel package at a time. That points earned from exchanging your week and from first day incentives are better than those crappy points earned from hotel stays and that those better points had more clout.
  • II also holds back Marriott weeks and only saves them for people with great exchanges. This was a real roundabout way to explain trade power.
  • When we said that we were there to view the Lakeshore model, he said he would have to ask if we were allowed to. Sales are still only to owners and since we bought resale he would have to make sure it was okay. When I asked that if I were to hand a check for full purchase price to buy Lakeshore reserve, he said we couldn’t. We were owners but not “owners”. He then proceeded to show us the unit without checking with anyone.
  • There is also going to be a change to the rewards program on April 15th. He wants me to call back because I didn’t believe this and honestly wanted to ask him if he really believed it too. Marriott will be contracting with companies like they do today for rooms and rates, but that they would no longer offer rewards points on corporate rates. So instead of negotiating a rate of $100/night, they would negotiate $90 a night and not offer points to the person staying. While this may be a boon for corporations, it would drive a lot of travelers that have the flexibility to select where they want to stay to other chains. He was smart not to give me his card, because I would have called him on the 4/15.
  • He didn’t try to pull the, you aren’t in the Florida Club because you bought resale bit though. We called him out on that before he had the chance. He explained that it was Florida law and since it was a “club” that we would be treated just like everyone else. When I threw out a bit about MVC being a club, he said that wasn’t the same thing.
  • Owner referral is now 50K points instead of 40K.
  • He also indicated that Marriott was going to stop offering point incentives for taking tours. That had to stop because people like us just coming for points was costing them money because they do cut a check to the rewards program for all incentives they give.
  • He indicated that he was no longer in sales. He was a consultant to try and help us with any questions we had and to help us use the program better.
  • He indicated that owners at the reserve would have full use of the JW and Ritz. I don’t think this is true, I only think they will have access at the JW, though I am sure they can go to the restaurants at the Ritz, just not use any other amenities.

He knew we bought externally and I think he was just trying to mess with us. I have no other explanation for it. Thinking back I should have been expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out and tell us we were being punked. There is probably a lot more that I have already forgotten. There was so much information to try and absorb in 90 minutes.

The salesman was funny and it wasn’t a miserable experience since I knew better.

He did accurately represent the true cost of developer sales indicating that 48% is marketing, incentives, commissions and other sales overhead.

The Lakeshore 2BR lock off looks very similar to the model we viewed of Oceana Palms. The resort does look like it will be nice, but you can’t really learn any more about it at a presentation than you can on the Marriott website.
 
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dioxide45

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Can you ask about upgrading existing units? I saw a post earlier about someone upgrading their annual unit that received 90K points EOY to a unit that now has the option for 110K points EY, for a $3000 fee.

Can you ask about retroing a resale unit for a fee or with a purchase? I know Marriott hasn't done this in a while, but in this state of the economy, maybe they will.

Hope you're having fun. :wave:

Sorry, we went at 8:00 am this morning. We plan to enjoy the rest of our cold vacation and avoid more salespeople. Temperatures were in the 40s today. We were at Sea World and it was very cold as there were fairly high winds. We didn't even miss the inauguration as they showed it live following the 11:15 Shamu Believe show.

I must point out that the inernet connection here still stinks.
 

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I must point out that the inernet connection here still stinks.

Thanks for all the helpful info -

I'm going to be there in a couple of weeks, and will be heavily reliant on their wifi, and so am hopeful that I will not be experiencing similar problems.

I was there last year, and don't recall experiencing problems, so hopefully - and unfortunately - your experience is just an aberration...

Oh and, sorry about the cold temps....
 

Big Matt

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FYI on the WiFi.

I've stayed there three times and it was good twice. Both times were in unit 83. Unit 84 (other side of the lake) was very slow. Each time was when the resort was almost full so it couldn't be useage alone.
 

ciscogizmo1

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Thanks for all the helpful info -

I'm going to be there in a couple of weeks, and will be heavily reliant on their wifi, and so am hopeful that I will not be experiencing similar problems.

I was there last year, and don't recall experiencing problems, so hopefully - and unfortunately - your experience is just an aberration...

Oh and, sorry about the cold temps....
We were in building 86 in November and I thought the internet was too slow for downloading pictures. It was pretty good for surfing the net. But it did boot us out a lot. But no more than most Marriotts.
 

rickandcindy23

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Building 86 was great for us in December. We liked the new units and didn't have any trouble with the internet at all. :)
 

dioxide45

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We are in building 87 top floor. So maybe that has something to do with it. It is not only slow, it drops connection a lot.

Another thing I forgot to mention about the tour was that the salesman indicated as an example that when using a travel package an airline may only make 6 seats available for air mile use but there may be an extra four seats available for those booking a Marriott travel package. Though those four seats were only opened up to direct purchasers using a travel package.
 

m61376

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We are in building 87 top floor. So maybe that has something to do with it. It is not only slow, it drops connection a lot.

Another thing I forgot to mention about the tour was that the salesman indicated as an example that when using a travel package an airline may only make 6 seats available for air mile use but there may be an extra four seats available for those booking a Marriott travel package. Though those four seats were only opened up to direct purchasers using a travel package.

That really seems like a tall tale, since the miles are deposited into the FF program and then booked directly through the airlines. I don't think the airlines have any way of distinguishing where the miles originated from so as to treat them differently.
 

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I'm in building 94 right now. Everything appears to be brand new, right down to the appliances, dishes, utensils and flat screen TVs. The two big drawbacks are that there is very little storage space in the kitchen and the walls are so thin you can hear everything from outside and beside the unit. The internet is okay in this building. Grande Vista is a very well kept resort with lots of great amenities. I'm fortunate to be spending two weeks here with great weather forecast for the next week.
 
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