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Westgate Lakes Resort and Spa (3 bdrm/3 bath)

maddog497

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Westgate Lakes and Resort and Spa Orlando

Price : free, to be gifted.

Size : 3 bedroom/3 bath (lockout) http://westgateresorts.com/lakes/accommodations/

Week : Week 45 (fixed) every year

Yearly costs : Maintenance fees of $887 every year. (unit is paid in full)

3 weeks will transfer to new owner as well (2012 banked, 2013 banked) and 2014 has been paid.

We picked this up in 2012 from here and used it to exchange into Las Vegas in spring of 2013. The cost to exchange was $150. It is pretty common information that Westgate has decided to penalize resale weeks picked up outside of actual Westgate by charging $450 for the exchange. (you can use your initial week at no extra fee)

I believe you can still get the $150 fee by waiting until 60 days prior to booking the week(s) you wish to go. This is not a great option if you have a holiday week in mind (even larger fees apply for reserving these 7 weeks) as the lack of availability won't allow for it. However, if Florida is your preferred choice, waiting until 60 days is an option as there should be weeks available in one of the many resorts (7) they have there. (this is not guaranteed but a possibility)

We stayed at the Town Center over the 2013 new years eve week and was completely amazed by the low pressure Owners "breakfast" (maybe because we have the ability to just say no as this was also our experience in Las Vegas). The whole thing was less than an hour. Maybe others here can help out but it appears that if we had "upgraded" to either more weeks, larger unit and or changing to a floating week the "resale" disappears from the records. We weren't interested so we didn't get into price.

We have stayed at Westgate 5 times now (we have friends that have a week at the Villas) and enjoyed it each time. We have not experienced the high pressure sales tactics that can be found all over the web and on this site. I believe all that I have read but just haven't experienced it (call us lucky or maybe firm in our position). I suggest that if you are interested in this, just do your homework and be able to control the conversation and remember they are going to try and sell you something, but you don't have to buy. We do not want to give this to someone that will regret it later.

We will pay to have it placed in your name and will be using Legal Timeshare Transfers. http://www.legaltimesharetransfers.com/
Not sure if we have left anything out but I am sure the regulars will help out.
 
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maddog497

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I've had a inquiry on this unit. I have tried to explain everything to the best of my ability. I explained the up charge for resale weeks and also explained that we have not had this occur (yet). We picked this week up as a gifted week in 2012.

We actually looked at a floating week on here last year and after some research found that Westgate may not honour the 11 month window for bookings and may not honour the fact it was a holiday week. Without that confirmation we didn't go forward. Not sure how they could not and that a floating week could only be booked 60 days in? But this is Westgate. (We have enjoyed every stay with Westgate and have had no poor experience yet, guess high pressure sales tactics don't work on us, lol)

The person inquiring sent this to me last night. I remember seeing this before and believe it is only on floating weeks and not fixed weeks, however I am not sure.

Restrictions:

Westgate places several restrictions on timeshares purchased on the resale market. Resales are not guaranteed an 11-month reservation window and may instead be limited to a 60-day reservation window for certain stays. Westgate does not allow resale owners to divide lock-off units into two separate residences. Resale owners may not be able to split their weeks into three- and four-day stays or upgrade to another season or residence type. Resale owners do not have access to the developer exchange and must instead make all exchanges and deposits through II. Owners must purchase a separate membership with II and are not automatically given Interval Gold status, as they normally would under Westgate’s contract. Additionally, resale owners do not have access to the Westgate Cruise & Travel Collection, discounts and promotions.


It is frustrating that they are ruining there own business by these tactics.

Any insight would be helpful.

I believe the 3 weeks available do add value here even with an up charge.

Please keep the bashing to a minimum, lol.
 

Seaport104

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Does Westgate honor that it is a fixed week unit and allow resales to be deposited in the fixed week designated?
 

maddog497

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Does Westgate honor that it is a fixed week unit and allow resales to be deposited in the fixed week designated?

Yes, I think. (I just reread you question and am not sure if anything has changed or not?)
We deposited last year without issue.
It was gifted to us with weeks in the bank and they transferred to us.

We used a bank week in Las Vegas in 2012 and the fee was $150.
 
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Thanks for posting to the forum. My husband and I are the interested party but just want to make sure the banked weeks apply(would transfer over) and that the unit can be locked off in the future, or does Westgate consider that a right of original owners only??? I have been searching for info on deeded weeks( which this appears to be)verses floating weeks.
 

maddog497

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Thanks for posting to the forum. My husband and I are the interested party but just want to make sure the banked weeks apply(would transfer over) and that the unit can be locked off in the future, or does Westgate consider that a right of original owners only??? I have been searching for info on deeded weeks( which this appears to be)verses floating weeks.

I am fairly confident the banks weeks will transfer over and also that the lock off would apply as well. I will call Westgate and try to get these questions answered.

The reason I say this is that banked weeks were transferred to us. Also when we booked in Las Vegas it was only a 2 bedroom (very nice as we had a recent renovated unit). They advised us that we would still have a one bedroom left from that banking if we could find something we would like before the 2 year anniversary was up.

I will not be able to call tomorrow but will call first thing Monday.
 
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maddog497

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It appears that Westgate has decided to use "first right of refusal" on this unit, even though I can not find it anywhere in the original contract.

I had someone that wanted it and started the process with Legal Timeshare Transfer. Westgate had requested further information from LTT to confirm that they were not involved in finding a new owner or were not a "Exit" , broker or timeshare resale company.

I was able to talk to someone and they asked me the same questions to ensure that LTT had received no monies or assisted in finding a new owner.

I received an email confirming that they are "invoking their ROFR". Hopefully, this doesn't take too long.

I am disappointed that the banked weeks are going to be wasted but we couldn't use them so I guess it is what it is.
 

maddog497

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Looking for some insight!

We received a letter from Westgate this week advising us formally that they are using the "ROFR" and that we would have the documents to sign in 60 (might be 90) days.

We are not only giving up the week but we have 2 banked weeks and this years week also (It's coming up in November).

We were content in just moving on but this morning I received an email reminding us that we haven't directed Westgate what to do with this years week and our time to do so was running out. (One hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing or so it appears). It then gives me three links to choose from.
1) Confirm your reservation,
2) Deposit with Westgate Resorts,
3) Deposit with exchange company (this asks you to choose, II, RCI or "other".

Would it not make since to deposit with an exchange company and at least get something from this years usage instead of just losing it? Since they are sending me the email, would I be doing anything wrong in doing this?

I do not know very much about II or RCI and will need to research this and most likely do this asap. Any help i choosing would be appreciated.

Off to research RCI and II memberships. Any links helping with this decision would be appreciated.

We also are members of DAE but have never used it, would this also be something to consider (I realize the selection is far less)

Not sure since we would only be depositing one week (until we pick up another week, which we are looking at), if that would be a factor as well.
 
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presley

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I would lean towards depositing it with an exchange company, preferable a small one that doesn't charge a membership fee. Then, you will have 2 years to exchange, sounds like DAE would give you 3 years to exchange from other posts I've read in the past.

If you look at the resort directory for II and decide you love what they have, you could join them and keep your membership up to buy getaways in future years if you don't mind continuing to pay membership fees.

If you join SFX at the bottom membership, it is free.
 

maddog497

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Check my PM
Thank you.
I would lean towards depositing it with an exchange company, preferable a small one that doesn't charge a membership fee. Then, you will have 2 years to exchange, sounds like DAE would give you 3 years to exchange from other posts I've read in the past.

If you look at the resort directory for II and decide you love what they have, you could join them and keep your membership up to buy getaways in future years if you don't mind continuing to pay membership fees.

If you join SFX at the bottom membership, it is free.
I'm not opposed to paying for a membership as long as I can figure out the pro's and con's.

I'm leaning towards II.

Thank you.
 

maddog497

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***UPDATE***

We went ahead and joined II. I put in my request and it said II would need to confirm my ownership. We received an email this morning from Westgate confirming our request to bank our week with II and the email asked how would like to do this as we have a 3 bedroom lockout unit. We could exchange the 3 bedroom for a 3 bedroom or split it into a 2 bedroom and a studio/one bedroom.

I called and was on hold less than 2 minutes. Alfredo informed me there was a note on our account regarding ROFR (I thought, here we go) and he would have to transfer the call. After 2-3 minutes on hold he came back and confirmed that we could go ahead and move the week to II. He then gave us the usual that all moved weeks were final and once they do this it can't be undone. He completed the request to split the week and gave us a confirmation number.

I asked if we could book our weeks for next year that were banked from 2012, 2013. He stated that the 2012 would run out but if requested we could get an extension on it. I asked if we put in for the first 2 weeks of January, how would that work.

He put me on hold again and came back and confirmed availability for those two weeks and would make the reservation asap. There would be a $150 fee for each weeks and they would confirm the extension immediately once the formal request was made but he couldn't see any issue with the extension request since the weeks were available.

They made this way to easy. We will most likely book the weeks and if we can't use them either sell them at cost to friends/family or offer to give them away. Just don't want them to go to waste. We have until October 19 to have the signed ROFR documents back to them.

Thanks for all the help and the PM's offering suggestions.
 

presley

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That's great news, Maddog497. I hope you are able to use the exchanges. Interval has a lot of very nice resorts.
 

maddog497

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That's great news, Maddog497. I hope you are able to use the exchanges. Interval has a lot of very nice resorts.

Thank you. Just waiting for the weeks to get confirmed before looking to hard. We have a week booked at the Royal Towers of Atlantis, Bahamas in May, so we will have to work around that one for sure.
 

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Glad that everything ends up to your satisfaction and they were not difficult asking for more money for nothing fees.
 

maddog497

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Glad that everything ends up to your satisfaction and they were not difficult asking for more money for nothing fees.
Weeks have been deposit with II.

No extra fees for splitting the week but they want us to pay them $150 to give the timeshare back.

Although I don't think we should pay anything to give it back we will comply and move on.
 

Rent_Share

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IMHO - Westgate did a better thing by executing ROFR, than allowing someone to buy a week with so many restrictions to make it useless.

Yes that provides them "new inventory" to sell again at full price hopefully that person will find Tug in time to rescind
 

HudsHut

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I'm confused about the $150. Does Westgate charge a fee to deposit the week into II?

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It is always helpful to know others' experiences.
 

maddog497

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I'm confused about the $150. Does Westgate charge a fee to deposit the week into II?

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It is always helpful to know others' experiences.

Sorry, no. Depositing doesn't cost you. They even allowed me to split the 3 bedroom lockout into 2 weeks with II at no cost.

The $150 was in regards to them invoking the ROFR. I had someone wanting this timeshare but Westgate is taking it back by using the First Right Of Refusal.

Sent from my OnePlus One!
 

HudsHut

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Thanks for the clarification.
 

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Sorry, no. Depositing doesn't cost you. They even allowed me to split the 3 bedroom lockout into 2 weeks with II at no cost.

The $150 was in regards to them invoking the ROFR. I had someone wanting this timeshare but Westgate is taking it back by using the First Right Of Refusal.

Sent from my OnePlus One!

That's nuts. So you had to pay for them to exercise their ROFR? I wouldn't argue either because, well, it's Westgate, and would be glad to be rid of it, but that's another example of their extortionist policies.
 
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