Westin Mission Hills vs. Desert Willow

[robertk2012]

You're really selling us on WMH... The place sounds charming

Don’t go..I hate it.

 

[robertk2012]

I agree that the units at WDW are dark. The only natural light is from the sliding door at the far end. There's a tiny window in the kitchen, but it looks out onto the hallway, so (a) there's not much light from there anyway, and (b) the inclination is to keep those blinds drawn because it feels intrusive to have every person passing by able to peer into your unit. And the lighting isn't especially bright — I don't know why they have to be so stingy with the bulbs now that they're all LED and barely use any juice. But it's a minor quibble. I just end up leaving the lights on if we are there and using the kitchen/dining areas.

WKORV is basically the same layout and has the same issue, minus the tiny kitchen window since its corridors are interior.

I have heard that WMH has individual BBQs for each unit which would be a nice thing. But all the recent problems have dissuaded me from staying there.

Only individual BBQ for the larger unit. The smaller units also have a queen bed.

 

[dioxide45]

Only individual BBQ for the larger unit. The smaller units also have a queen bed.

I would be shocked it is a queen. We just checked in and are in a small 1BR. It looks like it has a queen bed sheet on it, but it is too big. I swear it is a double!

 

[PcflEZFlng]

I would be shocked it is a queen. We just checked in and are in a small 1BR. It looks like it has a queen bed sheet on it, but it is too big. I swear it is a double!

Looking forward to your video review of WMH.

 

[robertk2012]

I would be shocked it is a queen. We just checked in and are in a small 1BR. It looks like it has a queen bed sheet on it, but it is too big. I swear it is a double!

I measured and it isn’t a queen by measurement….

 

[dioxide45]

At WMH, they look to be doing renovations on buildings 30-33. Repainting the exteriors a gray color instead of the previous sandy color. We didn't get a renovated villa, so not sure what they look like on the inside. The lighting may make this hard to see, but the left is the old color and on the right it has been repainted.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

@dioxide45 Saw your post on the Marriott forum where you're planning to do a video comparison of DSVI and DSVII. Are you planning to do the same here for WDW vs. WMH?

 

[robertk2012]

Waste of time. Don’t even consider WMH right now.

@dioxide45 Saw your post on the Marriott forum where you're planning to do a video comparison of DSVI and DSVII. Are you planning to do the same here for WDW vs. WMH?

 

[dioxide45]

@dioxide45 Saw your post on the Marriott forum where you're planning to do a video comparison of DSVI and DSVII. Are you planning to do the same here for WDW vs. WMH?

Yes, I do plan on making one comparing the Westins.

 

[dioxide45]

Waste of time. Don’t even consider WMH right now.

This was our first visit and it wasn't as bad as you made it out to sound. Of course, we don't have yesteryear to compare it to. We didn't miss the hotel access because we weren't expecting it. I wasn't a big fan of the loud music at the pools, but I liked the courtyard area in the west section. It was super hot, but our room was pretty nice. They are doing renovations to the buildings in the west section that face the golf course.

My wife actually said it was perhaps her favorite resort in the area so far.

 

[robertk2012]

This was our first visit and it wasn't as bad as you made it out to sound. Of course, we don't have yesteryear to compare it to. We didn't miss the hotel access because we weren't expecting it. I wasn't a big fan of the loud music at the pools, but I liked the courtyard area in the west section. It was super hot, but our room was pretty nice. They are doing renovations to the buildings in the west section that face the golf course.

My wife actually said it was perhaps her favorite resort in the area so far.

No food or drink was available on property.
Pools closed extremely early…before sunset.
Queen bed in the smaller 1bd that wasn’t even a queen.
Dusty Patio
Broken Grills
Our phone didn’t work
Extremely tacky gate and sign between properties.
Playgrounds were closed
Weird pool reservation system that limited your pool use to 3 hrs per day. You could only schedule via phone or in person the day before.
Poor WiFi
I’m sure I can think of more!


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[Living the Dream]

My wife and I came home yesterday from a weekend at this facility. Sadly, the situation has only gotten worse. I don't own in this complex, but we have stayed here many times over the years. The situation with the hotel has become downright hostile. The fence on the walkway connecting the villas with the hotel has been upgraded to a five foot permanent fence that is padlocked. See attached picture. There is no food or beverage service available anywhere on the footprint of the villas. We were instructed to bring our own, or to use one of the food delivery services and order takeout from a local restaurant One employee told me that the liquor license was shared by the two facilities but that the hotel kept it and the villas are in the process of securing a new one.

We have no intention of returning to this location. It was obviously built with the intent of sharing facilities with the hotel. The hotel has new ownership and Marriot blames them for the problems, but these issues could have been negotiated as part of the terms of sale. It seems to me that Marriot has no interest in keeping Westin timeshare owners happy. If I actually had purchased in this facility, I would be livid.

 

[tkrisnel]

After reading al of this, glad to be booked for WDW instead of WMH for late August. That said, it looks like much of WDW is still closed, despite the city lifting restrictions. Heard that Agave was set to reopen 7/31, but website shows it still closed. Anyone have any recent info?

 

[robertk2012]

My wife and I came home yesterday from a weekend at this facility. Sadly, the situation has only gotten worse. I don't own in this complex, but we have stayed here many times over the years. The situation with the hotel has become downright hostile. The fence on the walkway connecting the villas with the hotel has been upgraded to a five foot permanent fence that is padlocked. See attached picture. There is no food or beverage service available anywhere on the footprint of the villas. We were instructed to bring our own, or to use one of the food delivery services and order takeout from a local restaurant One employee told me that the liquor license was shared by the two facilities but that the hotel kept it and the villas are in the process of securing a new one.

We have no intention of returning to this location. It was obviously built with the intent of sharing facilities with the hotel. The hotel has new ownership and Marriot blames them for the problems, but these issues could have been negotiated as part of the terms of sale. It seems to me that Marriot has no interest in keeping Westin timeshare owners happy. If I actually had purchased in this facility, I would be livid.

Everyone should post negative reviews for the hotel until they tear down that fence.

 

[daviator]

The hotel has new ownership and Marriot blames them for the problems, but these issues could have been negotiated as part of the terms of sale. It seems to me that Marriot has no interest in keeping Westin timeshare owners happy. If I actually had purchased in this facility, I would be livid.

While the situation at WMH is lousy, your comments reflect some common misperceptions about what happened.

Marriott (the hotel company) never owned this hotel, it was owned by an investment company. Marriott Hotels operates the hotel under contract to the investment company. Marriott's predecessor (Starwood Hotels) may have owned the hotel when it was developed, I don't actually know, but that was decades ago.

The Westin Mission Hills timeshare portion is owned by Vistana (well, it's mostly owned by the thousands of timeshare owners) which is in turn owned by Marriott Vacations Worldwide, which is a completely different company than Marriott Hotels. So up until a couple of years ago, you had the hotel operated by Marriott Hotels and the timeshare operated by Vistana with some kind of agreement to share some facilities. Then the hotel sold and the new owners didn't want to share their facilities any more. It's a bad situation but both Marriotts (the hotel company and the timeshare company) are not really the culprits.

I don't have any idea why the hotel's new owners want to wall off the two properties. Maybe they're hoping that Vistana will pay them, I don't know. It's a bad deal all around. I'm glad I don't own there. I sort of wonder if this isn't a prelude to the new owners rebranding the hotel and contracting with somebody else (Hilton, Hyatt, etc.) and completely separating it.

I think it's fair to be livid at Vistana that they apparently didn't have a long-term contract allowing use of the facilities at the Marriott hotel. This seems like something they should have had from the beginning. And I've got to imagine there will be lawsuits over this unless WMH owners were notified when they purchased that the use of the hotel facilities could be withdrawn at any time.

 

[dioxide45]

After reading al of this, glad to be booked for WDW instead of WMH for late August. That said, it looks like much of WDW is still closed, despite the city lifting restrictions. Heard that Agave was set to reopen 7/31, but website shows it still closed. Anyone have any recent info?

Agave was open when we were there in July.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't have any idea why the hotel's new owners want to wall off the two properties. Maybe they're hoping that Vistana will pay them, I don't know. It's a bad deal all around. I'm glad I don't own there. I sort of wonder if this isn't a prelude to the new owners rebranding the hotel and contracting with somebody else (Hilton, Hyatt, etc.) and completely separating it.

These are good questions for the BOD. What agreement/contract was in place when Marriott International was managing the hotel property. When the hotel was bought by new owners they also went with a different management company. The hotel was previously managed by Marriott International and now it isn't, even though it is still a Westin.

With other Marriott resorts with similar arrangements (Desert Springs Villas, Canyon Villas, Lakeshore Reserve), there is a contract in place and a fee is charged as part of the owner maintenance fees for that shared usage. I don't know if a similar payment was being collected with the MFs for WMH owners. An owner would need to look at the line by line financials to see if such a payment was being budgeted.

Two things could have happened. The contract simply expired or was only in place with Marriott International and the new owner was not bound to the contract. Or the new owners didn't like the current arrangement and opted to try to renegotiate and the HOA wasn't willing to pay. Also possible that they simply decided to break the contract. It would probably be more expensive for the HOA to litigate it. And to what end? If the hotel doesn't want the WMH guests over there, then why try to litigate it and force them to allow it. THere really isn't any damages to the WMH owners as long as they aren't paying a fee to the hotel for use. I highly doubt that Vistana sold the units with a guarantee of usage rights at the hotel. That would be pretty foolish. Unless it is in the contract, then it doesn't exist.

 

[tkrisnel]

Agave was open when we were there in July.

Thanks for that info - hope it stays open!

 

[vacationtime1]

Caveat emptor.

This is not a unique situation. The Four Seasons Hotel at Aviara is now a Hyatt, to the disadvantage of Four Seasons Aviara timeshare owners. The Marriott adjacent to Desert Springs I first became unavailable and is now less available to DSI timeshare owners. The relationship between the Westin Princeville timeshares and the Princeville Hotel / St. Regis Hotel / One Hotel has changed as often as the name of that hotel.

The lesson is that affiliation agreements with hotels are not forever. If the hotel amenities are a significant incentive for the timeshare purchase, one must do due diligence to verify how long hotel access will be guaranteed before purchasing the adjacent timeshare.

 

[tommerj]

I'm currently staying at WMH and this probably be my last time here and from now I will go to the WDW. My wife and I came down for the week and since we couldn't get into either place for the weekend, we stayed at Ritz Carlton on points because the point value was amazing.

BIG MISTAKE!

After staying at the Ritz, going to WMH feels like going to a Motel 6. It was a big letdown. Dishwasher rack was broken, fortunately maintenance came quickly and fixed that. The sheets on our bed were worn and grainy and when we asked them to replace it, they gave us new sheets but we had to change the bed. For the three days I have been here there has been a Coke can in the drain spout that no one has moved.

However, the biggest issue is that when I went for a walk this morning on the path to the Westin Mission Hills to go to the golf course, I was greeted by a fence that looked the Berlin Wall. When I asked the WMH front desk why was this wall put up they informed me of the sale and that there were no longer reciprocal privileges. To me, that has devalued WMH significantly and I doubt I will be staying here again.

I have stayed at both resorts down here three times and I liked having the hotel next door but now that is now is no longer an option, I highly recommend WDW.

Oh, and has been noted before, you can not get any food or drinks here as the restaurant is closed.

 

[dioxide45]

I'm currently staying at WMH and this probably be my last time here and from now I will go to the WDW. My wife and I came down for the week and since we couldn't get into either place for the weekend, we stayed at Ritz Carlton on points because the point value was amazing.

BIG MISTAKE!

After staying at the Ritz, going to WMH feels like going to a Motel 6. It was a big letdown. Dishwasher rack was broken, fortunately maintenance came quickly and fixed that. The sheets on our bed were worn and grainy and when we asked them to replace it, they gave us new sheets but we had to change the bed. For the three days I have been here there has been a Coke can in the drain spout that no one has moved.

However, the biggest issue is that when I went for a walk this morning on the path to the Westin Mission Hills to go to the golf course, I was greeted by a fence that looked the Berlin Wall. When I asked the WMH front desk why was this wall put up they informed me of the sale and that there were no longer reciprocal privileges. To me, that has devalued WMH significantly and I doubt I will be staying here again.

I have stayed at both resorts down here three times and I liked having the hotel next door but now that is now is no longer an option, I highly recommend WDW.

Oh, and has been noted before, you can not get any food or drinks here as the restaurant is closed.

What is the photos supposed to be of?

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I had a 2 BR res next January at WMH. I read a bunch of comments here on Tug and then checked with Tripadvisor. Based on the poor reviews and comments I did an ePlus retrade to get a 1 BR exchange at WDW. I'm glad that I did.

 

[controller1]

What is the photos supposed to be of?

Coke can in the drain spout.

 

[robertk2012]

What is the photos supposed to be of?

Toilet


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[tommerj]

What is the photos supposed to be of?

The lack of attention to detail. Also, our bathroom was dirty with hair when we checked in.