Westgate Lakes and Spa Timeshare Release

I love to share amazing experiences with everyone, but this time I am going to share an experience that ranks right up there with nasty !

I am on vacation with family. We are taking some time to do a little healing and have some joyful moments, amidst the tragedies we have faced this past year. Of course, I ended up taking one of those deals where you have to do a tour of the facilities, as I saw this from the freeway when we were driving to Naples. It was a Florida Welcome Center.

Here’s the problem or shall I say the series of not so good to downright POOPY events ( you’ll see why I used the word poopy later):

1. Arrived at resort where I waited in line to check in only to be told I was in the wrong line and sent to a whole different area where I waited in line again. Upon reaching the desk, I was told I was in the wrong line AGAIN and directed back to line #1. Naturally I skipped to the front because I was mildly miffed about the run around, but hey that’s small stuff and I do not normally sweat the small.
2. I get to the desk to check in and after spending 40 minutes with the woman at the Florida Welcome Center, and apparently she put the reservation in my husband’s name. Uh, my husband isn’t necessarily riding the Hogwarts train if ya get my drift ! This is my realm ( planning, packing, preparing, reservations, etc ). Not only that, but he didn’t even talk to the woman at the Welcome Center, so I am confused as to why she would put the reservation in his name and force him to stand at the counter wondering what in the hell is going on and why he has to participate in THIS PART of the trip.
3. Now that we are checked in we headed to our room. A villa I’m told. A nice family place I’m told. A place where you should feel at home. WELL, Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa I can most certainly assure you that I do not have poop on the towels in my home. Additionally, if I was providing room to guests, I would have cleaned said room and NOT left hair in the tub and bed, dirty footprints across the floor a greasy table, dirt on the floors and just a generally nasty room. Oh yes, I know I don’t have any fancy thingamajigs to say if it was in fact poop on the towel- I don’t need that ! I have 2 eyes that work just fine. The cherry on the sundae was the ants on the floor in the living room ! Fabulous ! Amazing first impression ! PS it also smelled like fish in the room.
4. I called the front desk who said they would send housekeeping management right over. ⏰⏲⏱⏰⏲⏱⌛️⏳⌛️⏳⌛️ Any way you slice it, we waited and waited and nobody arrived ! I think a 40 minute wait is sufficient for such a large complaint.
5. I called again only this time I informed the desk that we would be getting our money back and we are leaving NOW. They offered to send someone over, but I ask you this, WOULD YOU WAIT ? Seriously ? We had 3 children watching a bunch of other families playing at the pool. 3 children wondering when they could go swimming and play !
6. Now, because we are not staying in this place, the kids have to wait longer ! By rights, you should be paying them for wasting their precious time !
7. The lady at the desk seemed a little upset that I bought the poopy towel to the counter to check out. You’re welcome.
She wouldn’t give me the deposit back for the Universal Tickets.
8. I called to get my deposit back for the tickets and was told in fact that WESTGATE should have given the deposit back to me. That lady was rude.
9. If you want me to buy a timeshare, treat me well. Don’t give me a poopy room and ignore me when I say we have a problem. Just like most of the people who bring children to Orlando for the parks and hype, I was trying to give my family something special. We want the experience! We want to feel like we are in a magical place. No,

I am not expecting unicorns. I happen to be very realistic and forgiving all at the same time. I expect a clean resort and especially a clean room! I expect the kids to be able to have fun and not ask why the room is so dirty. I expect them to feel safe and good about where we are! You have failed at this and BECAUSE of the run around with getting my deposit back, I am sharing this negative experience. You could have made this easier and PLEASE do not berate me by saying that is a separate company that sells the tours. I call BS on that one!

Email sent to resort with no resolution.

Dear Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa Management,

My wife, and two sons recently spent Canadian March Break at Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa. We purchased the studio accommodation via the Homeaway which we have used numerous times.

As a professional accountant and business owner, I felt it was necessary to send you an email with respect to our rental issues and give you the opportunity to resolve the issues as opposed to just posting a negative review on websites.

First off, we would like to recognize that the grounds were absolutely beautiful, including each of the pools, as well as the spa and dining. That alone, attracted us to Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa not only as first-time renters but originally as potential buyers.

Now, I would like to go into the issues that encountered:

– when we checked in, we were provided one king bed, and a pull-out sofa, rather than two queen beds. The pull out sofa does not sleep two children which is why we requested the studio with two queen beds, which our confirmation shows.
– when we returned in the morning, we mentioned that the king bed and pull out was not working for us, and that we had reserved two queen beds. We were told outright that the resort was sold out and there was nothing they could do. When we asked to speak with a Manager, the customer agent said, they were unavailable and that in any event there is nothing they will do.
– our room had the following issues:
– the kitchenette water did not work, the water pipes would bang as soon as you turned on the tap
– the bathroom had mold and mildew in the shower as well as multiple spores on the roof. I suffered all week with allergies due to the mold and mildew
– the air conditioner worked about 50% of the time; most of the time, it would just blow warm air. We eventually resorted to opening the windows and doors and blowing cold air from the porch to cool the unit.
– when we arrived, the room was absolutely filthy dirty, in fact the room door was ajar upon arrival. When we knew we had no other option for moving rooms, I purchased a vacuum at the local Wal Mart to clean the unit myself.

When we spoke to the customer service representative, they seemed uninterested in what they treated us as petty complaints; eventually, we just gave up and made do with the accommodation.

Get this…I am staying at a 4 star resort and just witnessed and was a part of an eviction, drug arrest and trespassing of multiple individuals in the 2 villas next to me. They also found 2 dogs and 7 pit bull puppies. All are now either arrested or evicted. I call the supervisor an ask what can they do to compensate for all this and she said “I can give u a late check out” and I laughed. Well, so whoever is coming to Disney area stay clear of Westgate Lakes & Spa, they are overrun by and seem to have some big safety issues. Rant over….now back to vacation.

Westgate Lakes Resort is spa is a nasty dirty resort. I opened the drawer next to the bed and it was a bunch of roaches in the drawer. We literally had to close off the master bedroom and sleep in a different room because there was so many roaches in the Master. There was also roaches in the living room and kitchen and 2nd bedroom. there were roaches everywhere! I vowed to never stay there again. We were told that Westgate lakes was the oldest property and that we should stay at the towers next time. And guess what THE SAME PROBLEM. I am officially done with Westgate properties in Florida! ugh. And the front desk told us that we can’t move to a different room depending on how infested it is after they told me they were totally booked.

I went to Disney World with my family last summer and stayed here at the Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa. And I will never stay here again, my reservation that was originally booked to Westgate Palace was changed and moved (without being notified) to the Lakes resort. The check in took over three hours, no consideration was taken or apology was made. I always stay at the Marriott and I regret changing. Next time I go to Florida I will be staying at the Marriott instead.