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At SVV now

blondietink

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Arrived here Thursday am after checking out of Bay Lake Tower on Disney Property. Bell services had no problem checking our luggage as we were on our way back to the parks. Check in left a whole lot to be desired. Tried to check in at the Gold Elite desk, then we're told to go to the Vistana member line, then we're told to go to Owner's services. Got the whole spiel about needing to go to an owner's update because of the purchase by MVC, but we declined numerous times before we were finally assigned a villa that of course was not ready. No problem, we were early and didn't expect to move in anyway. But this whole process took well over an hour.

Arrived back at SVV at around 10/pm to pick up our room key only to find out our villa had been given to somebody else and it was set up with some sort of party package. Much back and forth with the front desk and we were finally given an acceptable villa. Another hour plus wasted after a long day of moving and time in the parks. The poor bell man was so nice waiting for us. However, after unloading everything in the room, we find there are no sheets for the pull out couch, so we had to call for them. Also had to call about a strange beeping in the room that security had to come and check out. So, well after 1am we finally got to bed.

Next morning while cooking breakfast we cannot find any garbage can for the kitchen and there were no paper towels anywhere. So we had to call again. Just seems that this villa was not ready for anybody to use.

We are in Key West and supposedly these units have recently been remodeled. Love the huge main bAthroom, but why did they not put a bench in the HUGE shower? No rain shower head either. Just a puny shower head with no adjustment and low pressure. Hot water takes 5 minutes to arrive in the shower, but is quick in other locations. Only one hook in the bathroom. Upholstered furniture is kind of plain and there are only 4 sets of dishes, so I have to run the dishwasher twice a day.

Must be owner's services knows they screwed up because they have not called once to schedule an owner's update. Not a happy camper here, but since this is only a three day rental we survived. Will think twice before actually using my ownership here again.
 
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blondietink

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By the way, they were only offering 15,000 Starpoints for the owner's update. I told the man there were no more Starpoints and asked if he meant Marriott points? got kindy of a blank stare.
 

dioxide45

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Sorry it hasn't worked out so far. We stayed in a 1BR standard last week in Key West. It sounds like you are in a 1BR Premium? I wasn't able to easily find the trash can either until I looked in the closet. I was expecting it to be under the sink, but it was in the main closet with the vacuum cleaner and iron/ironing board.

How exactly did you book? StarOptions? Whenever we first arrive, there is always someone at the doorway that asks our name. The look it up on a clipboard that they have and if your name is on there as booking an owner/StarOption reservation they take you to the owners lounge to checkin. It seems that is where you ended up? Down at the end of the long hallway to the right after entering the lobby area? Checkin certainly isn't a fast experience and I was probably there a half hour the last trip because they were having to make new keys because they weren't sure which unit they wanted to put us in.

I really like the furnishings in the Key West Section. The power and USB outlets on the side of the nightstands in the master bedroom are very handy. Four sets of dishes seems pretty standard in 1BR units these days. Even at Marriott properties.

They actually offered us 20,000 Reward Points for the owner's update. They really need to train them to stop using the "Starpoints" terminology, it is very confusing both for them and for owners. Do enjoy your stay, we love the Key West section and actually moved out of a unit in St Augustine to a smaller unit in Key West on our last stay.
 

bizaro86

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By the way, they were only offering 15,000 Starpoints for the owner's update. I told the man there were no more Starpoints and asked if he meant Marriott points? got kindy of a blank stare.

One tip. If you want the check-in pitch for an update to go faster, don't ask questions or for clarification, just say no repeatedly. Other words are not necessary and will always make it take longer as they think they have a chance then.
 

Sea Six

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By the way, they were only offering 15,000 Starpoints for the owner's update. I told the man there were no more Starpoints and asked if he meant Marriott points? got kindy of a blank stare.

15,000 points is a LOT! I assume those would be Marriott Rewards points. When we were at Lagunamar, they offered us 2500 "Rewards" points for the update (Marriott). I said what's that, like $16??? No way! They also offered the choice of $100 resort credit.
 

controller1

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15,000 points is a LOT! I assume those would be Marriott Rewards points. When we were at Lagunamar, they offered us 2500 "Rewards" points for the update (Marriott). I said what's that, like $16??? No way! They also offered the choice of $100 resort credit.

In my opinion 15,000 points is NOT a LOT! I received 15,000 Starpoints for an owners update at Nanea in April. There is no way I'm going to an owners update for 15,000 points (equivalent of 5,000 Starpoints). That is a LOT of devaluation.
 

rickandcindy23

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Sounds like Vistana needs to bump the points for going on a presentation. I wouldn't go for anything less than 30K. And even then, I would rather go to the dentist.
 

Sea Six

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In my opinion 15,000 points is NOT a LOT! I received 15,000 Starpoints for an owners update at Nanea in April. There is no way I'm going to an owners update for 15,000 points (equivalent of 5,000 Starpoints). That is a LOT of devaluation.

I say 15,000 is a lot because they only offered 2500 for the update at Lagunamar. Even at 3X we should at least get 7500. Makes 15,000 seem like a treasure, and I think more on par with the $100 resort credit. Then the activities team was running a bingo game for 2500 "STARPOINTS". When I said there was no such thing as StarPoints anymore, and if you mean Rewards points, we should get at least 7500. They had no idea what I was talking about. They even wanted 100 pesos per card with a minimum of 15 players, for what I considered to be worth $16.00. I never heard back from anyone as to why they were still offering StarPoints.
 

controller1

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I say 15,000 is a lot because they only offered 2500 for the update at Lagunamar. Even at 3X we should at least get 7500. Makes 15,000 seem like a treasure, and I think more on par with the $100 resort credit. Then the activities team was running a bingo game for 2500 "STARPOINTS". When I said there was no such thing as StarPoints anymore, and if you mean Rewards points, we should get at least 7500. They had no idea what I was talking about. They even wanted 100 pesos per card with a minimum of 15 players, for what I considered to be worth $16.00. I never heard back from anyone as to why they were still offering StarPoints.

To each his own. You may wish to compare what is offered now for an owners update to what is offered for other activities including Bingo. For me, I'll compare what is offered now with what was offered previously for the same activity prior to the merger of MVC and ILG.
 

Sea Six

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To each his own. You may wish to compare what is offered now for an owners update to what is offered for other activities including Bingo. For me, I'll compare what is offered now with what was offered previously for the same activity prior to the merger of MVC and ILG.

I am comparing the fact that they used to offer 2500 StarPoints for an update, and now only offer 2500 Rewards points, which we consider 1/3 the value. I'm also pointing out that they offer the devalued Rewards points in their activities, not just the owner's updates. I AM comparing what is offered now vs. what was offered previously for the same function. In either case, 15,000 ANY points is more than they used to give for any of these things, and I still say hold out for the resort credit because neither of these is worth $100.
 

dioxide45

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We used to often be offer 6000 SPG points for an owners update.
 

Sea Six

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We used to often be offer 6000 SPG points for an owners update.

I don't remember that number, but we sure got a lot more then than we do now. That's why I don't get why someone would consider 15,000 points (even Rewards Points) a bad deal in today's market. We used to consider Starpoints as around $0.02, so 2500 would be $50. Now they offer 2500 "Rewards" points, worth 1/3 that, around $16.67. 15,000 Rewards points would be worth around $100, which is what they offer for resort credit at Lagunamar. That would be a fair comparison, one or the other. They aren't offering 15,000 points because that would be pure cost to them , where resort credits just reduce the margin from whatever you bought. No way you can think 15.000 is a bad deal.
 

blondietink

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We are back after a 4 day cruise. We did love the Key West section. It was nice and quiet there. Yes, it was a StarOptions reservation even though we own there. I booked only a couple of months ago as a filler between the WDW stay and the cruise. I said no about 10 times for an Owners Update at the lounge, but it still took an hour for us to get out of there. Coupled with the other plus hour of checking in later, we were not happy at all. And no, 15,000 points is not worth an update, especially in high pressure Orlando. We usually go in Lagunamar, as we like our guy there and have become friends.
 

BLUE AYES

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WLR was always 6000 *points for the Owners Update.
 

Maui_ed

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We have received 6,000 SPG points at WDW at least once. It has been a while since we attended an "update", as they are rarely an actual update, and the sales people usually don't have much more than the one-line bullet points to provide. I will need a lot more than 6,000 new points to give up 60 minutes or more of my vacation time, especially if we are only doing a one week stay.
 

dioxide45

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WLR was always 6000 *points for the Owners Update.
We have got 6000 Starpoints on two occasions at WLR. Back in May at SVV we also got 6000 Starpoints which I quickly converted to 18,000 MR points.
 

jdent1

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One tip. If you want the check-in pitch for an update to go faster, don't ask questions or for clarification, just say no repeatedly. Other words are not necessary and will always make it take longer as they think they have a chance then.

I have not tried this but is another option to speed things up is simply accept an "update" during check-in and the cancel later via phone call? Does this entail any sort of penalty?
 

controller1

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I have not tried this but is another option to speed things up is simply accept an "update" during check-in and the cancel later via phone call? Does this entail any sort of penalty?

No penalty. No points either.
 

Maui_ed

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I have not tried this but is another option to speed things up is simply accept an "update" during check-in and the cancel later via phone call? Does this entail any sort of penalty?
Expect them to "apply pressure" to get you to chose another date/time when you cancel. If you don't want to go, just say no, but our experience has been that they will almost always try to get you to identify a different date/time.
 
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