Back From Sheraton Vistana Villages--Details!!

[clsmit]

Now that I've come back to the snow and cold and nearly a week's worth of work, here are some pictures of the new buildings, which appear to be completing the Amelia phase. They are buildings 23-26. The have 6-7 stories and a pool that looks like it will be similar to the new pool at SBP, with the same pirate ship in the middle. Buildings 23 and 26 appear to be nearly finished -- as in furniture probably coming into building 26 very soon. If you look at the map of SVV, building 26 is perpendicular to 27 and 23 is across the street from building 1. 24 and 25 are in between the 2, completing a large circle.

Pirate Ship (for some reason it didn't rotate, even tho I thought I changed it)

Building 24 or 25 (I didn't want to get too far into the construction zone)

They had drained the pond behind buildings 27-30 to do the construction and were in the process of putting the water back in when we were there. If I had been in that section I would have gone crazy with the pump going what sounded like all day and all night.

 

[clsmit]

More on what we heard at SVV

Our sales guy usually does new sales, not owners, and when we told him what we were wanting to do to get to 5* he was way out of his league. But that's OK. In his confusion we were able to keep the coveted sheets with what we own on them. Here is what I remember from the conversation.

• Our sales guy is going to Aruba next month to sell timeshares for SVO for a couple of weeks. I asked him if he will be selling Aruba, and he said yes. I'm not holding my breath. I'm guessing if he goes he'll be selling St John.

• They are sold out of Amelia and are selling St Augustine, the next phase at SVV.

• Prices (for new purchases at SVV, I'm guessing) are at the same level they were 2-3 years ago, according to salesguy. We did not get a price list.

• According to salesguy, because prices are so good, lots of current owners are going to the owners update and buying more. That's why we were sitting in the new purchaser room, not the owner room.

• The people in the office were not willing to retro 3 properties with 1 purchase. They are holding fast to the 1 retro per purchase, Orlando purchase has to be $20,000 to retro.

• "Closer" used the word "mandatory" to describe WKV when talking about options.

• Salesguy mentioned the Dominican Republic and Cabo as places that SVO would be building. I'd never heard the Dominican Republic mentioned. I'm guessing that's right after Aruba? (And sorry, Cabo people. It's what salesguy said.)

The resort was not very full most of Thanksgiving week -- got more full Wednesday night for the holiday weekend. That makes me think they were doing more hotel-like rentals than owners visiting. Altho there would have been plenty of space for a less-than-full week visit.

We were in building 13 in the Key West phase. It faces west, so we got the afternoon sun. The building did not appear to be full. Unlike other properties, SVV seems less intent on assigning checkin days to specific buildings. Maybe that's a function of how full the property was, but we had to wait for a room. I had requested building 16, high floor, ahead of time, and I think they were going to give us either Amelia or Bella, until I asked again. Amelia would have been terrible. The street noise on one side and the construction on the other would not have been fun. As it was, we heard the beep beep of trucks backing up from the construction way too early in the morning.

We didn't grill, but the grills looked nice. The convenience store is small and in a strange location but well stocked. The staff was friendly.

I'll do a more formal review later.

 

[TomH]

Thanks for the update. I have never heard of anyone retroing more than one unit with a less than a 20,000 developer purchase. It would have been quite an accomplishment. I just recently bought a cheap resale SVV week on ebay for $200 and used it to upgrade to a Key West 3 bedroom platinum EOY. Total cost was slightly more than 11,000. That was the cheapest way I found to retro in my SMV week.

How are you planning to retro some of those resales?

Tom

 

[clsmit]

Eventually we'll retro all our resale purchases, so we figure that if we don't ask to do it with one purchase we certainly won't be able to! The DH wants to be 5*...personally, it's not that big a deal to me.

 

[Transit]

Thanks for the update. By chance did you get an updated resort map that shows St Augustine.

 

[clsmit]

The resort maps they hand out don't even have buildings 23-26 on them. It's the same map that says that the fitness center in Bella Village will open fall 2007. St Augustine looks like it would go across from buildings 2-3, maybe down towards Key West. The space is there.

 

[dakotafamily]

Do you know if they had any 3 bedroom lockoff units available for sale in any of the different phases?

 

[clsmit]

We didn't get that far in the conversation, so no, sorry, don't know what inventory they have in the St Augustine phase. I'm guessing they'd have 3BR LO's there.

 

[ValleyGirl]

Thanks for posting!
We traded SO's for SVV 2b LO from 12/28 through 1/4 Yeah!
We know nothing of the layout or "what to ask for or avoid (other than Amelia!!)"
Could you give some rec's - we will be 4 adults with 2 girls 10 & 8
We will have our car but are wondering what tvl options are available from SVV to the parks or at least to a M'Rail station?

 

[clsmit]

Thanks for posting!
We traded SO's for SVV 2b LO from 12/28 through 1/4 Yeah!
We know nothing of the layout or "what to ask for or avoid (other than Amelia!!)"
Could you give some rec's - we will be 4 adults with 2 girls 10 & 8
We will have our car but are wondering what tvl options are available from SVV to the parks or at least to a M'Rail station?

New Year's should be fun. There's a sticky at the top of this section that has the layout. I'd recommend buildings 4-6 or anything in Key West.

There's a shuttle to the parks but it's only once in the morning and once in the evening. I'd recommend driving. Both WDW and Universal are no more than 15 minutes away -- maybe 20 to the Ticket and Transportation parking lot for the Magic Kingdom.

For the girls -- my daughter was in 4th grade the first time we went, and she's now in 7th -- if they are into Disney Princesses there's a ton of princess activities. The big splurge would be a character meal with the princesses at Epcot. They also are around the parks for pictures and autographs.

Pin trading is also fun but can get expensive. My kids (and the DH) really enjoy the challenge of looking for cool pins.

Have fun!

 

[TomH]

Do you know if they had any 3 bedroom lockoff units available for sale in any of the different phases?

I just upgraded a cheap resale Amelia week to a 3 bedroom Key West PLatinum so there is inventory.

Tom

 

[dakotafamily]

I just upgraded a cheap resale Amelia week to a 3 bedroom Key West PLatinum so there is inventory.

We are looking at upgrading and our sales person told us that all they have is a Key West High Season 3 bed LO EOY that they will do 2009 and 2010 for 118,000 StarOptions every year. We were hoping to get Platinum and not do the EOY option. We still have to pay same MF as Platinum. The Platinum season does cost more but that wouldn't matter to us. How would you proceed??

 

[literaturegirl]

Our sales guy usually does new sales, not owners, and when we told him what we were wanting to do to get to 5* he was way out of his league. But that's OK. In his confusion we were able to keep the coveted sheets with what we own on them. Here is what I remember from the conversation.

• Our sales guy is going to Aruba next month to sell timeshares for SVO for a couple of weeks. I asked him if he will be selling Aruba, and he said yes. I'm not holding my breath. I'm guessing if he goes he'll be selling St John.

• They are sold out of Amelia and are selling St Augustine, the next phase at SVV.

• Prices (for new purchases at SVV, I'm guessing) are at the same level they were 2-3 years ago, according to salesguy. We did not get a price list.

• According to salesguy, because prices are so good, lots of current owners are going to the owners update and buying more. That's why we were sitting in the new purchaser room, not the owner room.

• The people in the office were not willing to retro 3 properties with 1 purchase. They are holding fast to the 1 retro per purchase, Orlando purchase has to be $20,000 to retro.

• "Closer" used the word "mandatory" to describe WKV when talking about options.

• Salesguy mentioned the Dominican Republic and Cabo as places that SVO would be building. I'd never heard the Dominican Republic mentioned. I'm guessing that's right after Aruba? (And sorry, Cabo people. It's what salesguy said.)

The resort was not very full most of Thanksgiving week -- got more full Wednesday night for the holiday weekend. That makes me think they were doing more hotel-like rentals than owners visiting. Altho there would have been plenty of space for a less-than-full week visit.

We were in building 13 in the Key West phase. It faces west, so we got the afternoon sun. The building did not appear to be full. Unlike other properties, SVV seems less intent on assigning checkin days to specific buildings. Maybe that's a function of how full the property was, but we had to wait for a room. I had requested building 16, high floor, ahead of time, and I think they were going to give us either Amelia or Bella, until I asked again. Amelia would have been terrible. The street noise on one side and the construction on the other would not have been fun. As it was, we heard the beep beep of trucks backing up from the construction way too early in the morning.

We didn't grill, but the grills looked nice. The convenience store is small and in a strange location but well stocked. The staff was friendly.

I'll do a more formal review later.

Hi Clsmit!

We were actually at SVV the same week that you were there. We stayed in Amelia... and believe it or not... it was SOOO quiet. We looked right out onto the dredging of the pond. We didn't hear a thing. In fact, we spent a lot of time in the room with the patio door open and heard nothing except for the ducks quacking in the morning.

I have to admit, we did not really like the view of the pond dredging... but our five year old was captivated with the orange ball floating in the middle and liked to wake up in the morning and see how much the water had gone down... (TGF kids... huh?) Amelia is very nice. They had completely messed up our reservation and so we had started off with a one bedroom in Amelia 29 on the second floor and ended up with a two bedroom in Amelia 30 on the fifth floor. We have stayed in most of the Keys villas and found that Amelia's master bath is head and shoulders above. The jacuzzi is not in the actual room, the shower stall is massive and can easily fit two people comfortably... with room to spare, the toilet has a door that closes (as opposed to a pocket door) and the double sinks are separate (across from each other) and granite... (very, very nice). There are 3 flat screen televisions in the room, a DVD in the living room, and a stereo/AM/FM/MP3 audio/visual player in the living room.

My daughter Olivia turned one on Nov.26th and our wonderful owner elite concierge found a character breakfast on her birthday (we tried for DAYS AND DAYS), sent two cakes to the room with balloons, and called on her birthday to wish her a Happy Birthday.

I actually thought staying at Amelia during the construction would suck... (and I'm VERY difficult to please when it comes to hotel stays -- I ALWAYS end up giving the staff such a hard time [very calm and civilised albeit] until I milk every possible perk I could get -- my husband runs away when I start...)... but I was pleasantly surprised. All in all, we were very impressed with what's to come at SVV.

BTW, we are also projected 2010 owners at the SVR.

If anyone has any questions... feel free to post on the reply.

 

[TomH]

We are looking at upgrading and our sales person told us that all they have is a Key West High Season 3 bed LO EOY that they will do 2009 and 2010 for 118,000 StarOptions every year. We were hoping to get Platinum and not do the EOY option. We still have to pay same MF as Platinum. The Platinum season does cost more but that wouldn't matter to us. How would you proceed??

I agree with you that one is usually much better off buying the highest season as you get more bang for your buck with maintenance fees. When I upgraded 2-3 weeks ago, I told my rep that I was only interested in upgrading to a SVV platinum 3 bedroom LO ODD Year and she was able to find one. Inventory is available, you just need a good rep willing to find it for you. If you need a referral to a rep, let me know.

Tom

 

[Politico]

I agree with you that one is usually much better off buying the highest season as you get more bang for your buck with maintenance fees. When I upgraded 2-3 weeks ago, I told my rep that I was only interested in upgrading to a SVV platinum 3 bedroom LO ODD Year and she was able to find one. Inventory is available, you just need a good rep willing to find it for you. If you need a referral to a rep, let me know.

Tom

How much are the 3bd LO SVV EOYs Plat selling for?

 

[DeniseM]

How much are the 3bd LO SVV EOYs Plat selling for?

There may be something more recent, but here is the Starwood Price sheet released in Sept. (It's linked in Owner Resources for future reference.)

 

[clsmit]

Hi Clsmit!
We have stayed in most of the Keys villas and found that Amelia's master bath is head and shoulders above. The jacuzzi is not in the actual room, the shower stall is massive and can easily fit two people comfortably... with room to spare, the toilet has a door that closes (as opposed to a pocket door) and the double sinks are separate (across from each other) and granite... (very, very nice). There are 3 flat screen televisions in the room, a DVD in the living room, and a stereo/AM/FM/MP3 audio/visual player in the living room.

I'm sorry we missed each other! I'm glad the noise wasn't as bad as it looked like it was, and happy birthday to your little one!

Our master bath in the in the larger one BR was really big -- maybe they did different things in different rooms? Anyway, the shower was probably 4x8, the toilet had its own real door, and the 2 sinks had plenty of counter space. The jacuzzi tub was between the sinks and the bedroom. And lots of granite. Maybe it was our building (13) or floor (4)? Who knows. Regardless, there's a lot of granite and large showers to go around.

I hope you enjoy owning and returning! We'll probably be back in late 09 or 2010.

 

[PittPantherfan]

Going to SVV soon

I was interested to read your posting about SVV. We are exchanging through II and will be there 3/1. Our exhange confirmation says that our unit is 27505. Do you think they hold true to this confirmation when you register? I assume that this may be building 27. Is this assumption correct? The resort looks beautiful. Any tips for first visitors to this resort? Thank you!

 

[SDKath]

There may be something more recent, but here is the Starwood Price sheet released in Sept. (It's linked in Owner Resources for future reference.)

They are also still selling Key West, which is Mandatory. I have never been there but was told it is slightly nicer than Bella. The other phases are not M so we didn't look to own there. But we did "upgrade" our Fountains into Key West at some point. Katherine

 

[Robert D]

Do the units in Key West and Bella now have flat screen TV's and granite counter tops? We stayed in a new Amelia unit two years ago and it was very nice with flat screens and granite.

 

[clsmit]

I believe our units in Key West had flat screens. They certainly had granite. Made me realize that granite hides spills very well .

For the poster arriving on 3/1 -- there are tons of activities on property every day; don't do the sales pitch; it's close to Publix and a great outlet mall; if they are not sold out you can negotiate your room when you get there or call ahead to request something; building 27 would be brand new; and HAVE A GREAT TIME!!

 

[Loriannf]

Phase 5 South Beach

We did a tour on our stay this weekend and were informed that plans are being made for Phase 5, South Beach.

We were really pushed hard to purchase weeks at Vistana Resort for about $15,000 each to get enough StarOptions for 4 star. We repeatedly and forcefully stated we were not going to buy and were still held hostage for about 2 hours.

We were assigned a really bad room in Key West; there was a "dripping" type noise continuously from the unit above and we had difficulty sleeping. Also, the beds were very uncomfortable and we were told they were soon changing to the Westin Heavenly bed.

This was our second stay at VV. They had originally tried to put us in one of the oldest building there, but I asked for a Key West unit. Still, I don't think we'll do it again. The new St. Augustine units really looked nice, but there's no way to guarantee we will get one.

Lori