We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Villages from January 11 to 21. We stayed in room 25401 which was a one bedroom suite (I'll describe the room later). It was such a great experience that I believe it will change the way we travel from now, as we will always look for a similar experience. Every single staff member we came into contact with from check-in, to pool staff, to the Market Place staff, to staff we ran into in the hallways, were all so friendly, kind, and helpful. Also, anytime we called the resort for something, we had someone at our door within half an hour but usually within 15 minutes. True customer service. The place itself was so nice as well with suite rooms, several pools (one of which is a great waterpark type setup for kids), and a huge, gated, resort property with 24 hour security with all of the amenities one could desire.
Check-In:
I arrived at approx 630pm on Friday Jan 11 to check-in. I was served very soon after entering the lobby by Heidi Tossetti for check-in. Heidi was very fast and efficient. I requested to have a room next to the kids pool that has the pirate ship water park, big waterslide, wading pool, and hot tub. Heidi advised that I had a room in another part of the resort but that it would be no problem and she moved me to 25401 which is in building 25 that is right in front of the pool. I also asked her for a view, but I guess beggars can't be choosers and I ended up with view of nothing. What else is amazing about this resort is that they gave me the option to either have my room serviced daily as most hotels do or not have it serviced at all and receive a $90 credit to spend on food and non-alcoholic beverages at the resort (of note: there was a misunderstanding on my part as I understood the credit to be toward anything from the resort so I purchased some overpriced alcoholic beverages and had to pay for them out of pocket after clarifying that it was only non-alcoholic beverages. It was my misunderstanding so I didn't let it affect my review). If we opt to not get our room serviced then we can still call Ext. 44, 24-hours a day to get anything for our room such as towels, coffee packets, laundry soap, dish soap, toiletries, etc for no extra cost. It was a no-brainer for us as we never get our room serviced by the cleaners and only ever get fresh towels, etc. occasionally. Of note, the resort is huge so you can either choose to walk around it to get exercise and enjoy the sites or do as we did, drive everywhere such as from our room to the lobby, etc.
Room:
Like I said earlier, the room was a one bedroom which had a queen bed, TV and closet and then the separate open sitting area and kitchen with one washroom. The open sitting area had a queen sofa bed with another TV and another closet which contained a vacuum and ironing board and iron. The kitchen had a nice sized round dinner table with 4 big sturdy chairs. It had a fridge, microwave, toaster, and electric stove top with 2 burners. It also had a dishwasher, clothes washing machine and dryer and the resort provides you with laundry detergent as well as dish soap and dishwasher machine soap. The room also had a patio which had a small table with two chair and the added bonus was that the entire little patio was netted/screened so that no bugs or creature such as lizards can get past.
Pools:
The resort has many pools in different locations around the resort. They have their very large general pool with several waterfalls that is next to the lobby. That pool is also next to the quiet pool and a playground on the other end of the general pool from the quiet pool. We only went there once as our kids were in love with the kids pool and wanted to stay there the rest of the time. The kids pool has a large pirate ship which sprays water in many different directions, there are water canons in several locations so that the kids can spray each other. The ship is in a gradual entry pool that then leads to a nice wading pool that gets deep enough to swim in at approx 5 feet deep. The icing on the cake is that they have lifeguards at several different locations of the kids pool who are very good at keeping an eye on the kids to prevent them from drowning, even though parents should always be responsible for their own kids. There is a large waterslide that entertained many of the adults at the resort which slides into a separate mini pool. Another great feature of this pool is that as long as you don't bring any glassware and you don't try to eat or drink while in the pool, you can bring anything you want to pool to enjoy while you are there (some resorts police you so that you can only purchase their overpriced products, but this resort had a fancy bar there for you to buy from and gave you the option to bring your own stuff).
Services/Service People:
1) Shortly after we got into our room at approx 9pm, we discovered that our safe had no power. We called the resort and within 15 minutes an engineer showed up to fix it. He replaced the batteries but that didn't work so he said he would have to take it apart. After putting it back together, it started working but he couldn't get the a few screws in as they had worn down. After trying several different screws he brought from his service vehicle, he determined that they would have to replace the safe. Due to the late time of the night, I advised I would call them in the morning instead of him installing at that time. He was very receptive to our request. The next morning, engineers Luis Castallo and Jose Laguna (I probably spelled the last names wrong) attended my room immediately upon my call and within a very short period of time, installed a new safe in our room for us. Very fast, efficient, and courteous service. 2) I attended the Market Place and the young girl working there was very helpful and kind. The store didn't have any posted prices so she literally would spew off prices for me for all of the different items I was interested in. Everything in the Marketplace appeared to be almost double the prices outside of the resort but I guess you pay for convenience and I did end up purchasing a couple items from my resort credit I had which again, was awesome. 3) Every time we called Ext. 44 for restocking of towels, coffee, etc. the staff attended within 15 to 20 minutes and was again courteous and professional and kind. All in all, we didn't have a negative experience with anyone from the resort. Everyone was so nice and kind including the lifeguards at the pool.
Breeze Restaurant:
Due to having the resort credit, we decided to order food from the resort restaurant Breeze. The resort credit only covered the cost of the food, tax and tip but not delivery so instead of paying for the delivery I drove down and picked it up. The food was very tasty. We purchased the 2 steaks, a pepperoni pizza, and a burger. I will say that the resort restaurant was priced reasonably like any other restaurant outside the resort. This order ended up costing us approx $79 after taxes, no tip cause I picked up myself, and the food was good.
Security:
Again the resort was great because you felt safe around the resort as it is a gated resort with 24-hour security at the front gate. They also recognize your vehicle after a short while and start to let you in the gate without having to swipe your room key. The resort has a safe feel as well because there seems to be staff travelling around the resort in their mini carts at all hours, whether it be the engineers or the security. I loved it.
Check-out:
This morning, the 21st, we left the resort at 4am because we our flight was at 7am so I attended the lobby last night to square up any extra charges even though they had told me I didn't need to, because any outstanding charges would be charged to my credit card from check-in. All you need to do for check out is give them a call when your leaving your room so they know your gone and leave the room keys in the room. So convenient and efficient.
Complaints:
My only complaints, which I didn't let affect the 5 star rating I gave, are that the suite washroom had a strong mildew smell coming from the shower curtain or the floor around the toilet. We spayed it with air freshener to make our stay a little more pleasant but I would recommend the cleaning staff change those shower curtains after each stay if possible so they can be washed and that the floor around the toilet be cleansed nicely with a strong soap. Hopefully that fixes the issue. The other issue I had was that the resort credit didn't cover alcoholic beverages, even though I was told at check-in that I could purchase things to drink and eat from the pool bar with the credit. To fix this, staff at check-in could make an attempt to make it very clear that alcoholic beverages are not covered by the resort credit.
I loved this resort and can't wait to return on my next trip to Orlando. I'll definitely read up on their TripAdvisor reviews before I book though to ensure they are keeping things up to the same standard as I experienced. Also, I never posted any pics as the resort pictures are very accurate.
Thanks Sheraton. This stay made me want to make sure I use my SPG membership more in the future and keep the membership in good standing.
