Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa - A detailed review with lots of pics

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Originally Posted by shalom

I'd missed that you were at Westgate on your trip report. There are a lot of happy Westgate owners. But there are also a fair number who call it "WasteGate". Some owners also get wound up because Westgate sells their names (they're always getting cold calls they can track back to Westgate), which I wouldn't like.

I've never stayed there because I hate aggressive salespeople

We read review after review of the property before our vacation, and quite honestly, I think many people can't separate the sales presentation (which you don't *have* to do, in most cases....ours, of course, was one of those cases as its what qualified us for the super-cheap nightly rate) from the resort itself. I mean, we also hated the presentation. The first sales guy was fine, the last three were sleasy awful. But the resort? It was really great. And we refuse to let the timeshare pitch colour the fact that we loved the room, loved the amenities, and loved the location.

Before we ever committed to a Westgate timeshare, I would want to tour other Orlando properties to see how they compare (price, space, amenities, etc.). That's what we told all four Westgate sales people. The resort, though, sure met all our "must have's" and made for a very comfortable vacation. It would be in the running should we ever be ready to commit for the long-term.

[shalom]

Originally Posted by Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

I think many people can't separate the sales presentation (which you don't *have* to do, in most cases....ours, of course, was one of those cases as its what qualified us for the super-cheap nightly rate) from the resort itself.

Agreed, and not just when it comes to Westgate. I think that's true of any negative experience -- I sometimes have to compartmentalize things myself, because I'm writing the review and realize what was so great/awful about the place really wasn't the resort at all.

In my experience, with most TS systems, you tell them "no" when you check in, ignore their calls, you're done. My problem with Westgate is that, especially when it comes to other TS owners, sometimes they go a lot further than that -- I've heard a couple times where the salesperson literally hung onto the key until they get let the people into the room -- and then the salesperson sat down in the living room and tried to give a mini-pitch right there. Their theory seems to be, "if you fell for it once, you'll fall for it again!"

Technically, we didn't fall for it -- we bought resale -- but apparently that doesn't slow them down much, and I'd rather avoid the hassle.

Originally Posted by Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

Before we ever committed to a Westgate timeshare, I would want to tour other Orlando properties to see how they compare (price, space, amenities, etc.).

I'm sure you'll do your research at TUG and Timeshare Forums, so I'll try not to ramble on and on about the advantages of this or that, but I will say that Orlando is overbuilt, and yet they're constantly building new and niftier places, so trading power can go down if you buy weeks there. If you buy into a points system, much less of an issue. Also, if you own in Orlando, you can't trade into DVC (which I'm sure is crucial for you ).

And a more obscure tip -- at Orange Lake, both the East Village and River Island sections were built downwind of Disney's water processing plant, so at some times of the year when the wind is just right, it can get bad enough that people walking from car to condo cover their faces with towels! Apparently it's a terrific resort, otherwise. But personally, I just think there's too many Orlando options to be buying somewhere that that's an issue.

I do think Timeshares are a good way to go. Both last time and next, we're spending $46/night for a 2 BR condo with a full kitchen -- I was going to say you'd likely spend more because you like more on-site amenities, but actually I think that's about the Last Call with RCI price, so if you get an ownership with RCI, you could probably do it for that much as well.