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Westgate Property Owners (by Theresa A.):

We are owners at the Westgate Lakes Orlando Resort. Recently, during a vacation to Las Vegas, we were bumped from our twice confirmed suites at Westgate Flamingo Bay, two days prior to our departure.(Our internal, owners exchange reservation was booked in March 2007 and reconfirmed 3 weeks prior to our August 5, 2007 check-in). We were sent, with the only other option being complete cancellation and loss of our six airline tickets, to the unrated, run down, Summer Bay resort that, unknown to us, was located in a high crime area of Las Vegas. While the staff of Summer Bay was extremely helpful, the accommodations were horrible.Five of our party of six had breathing difficulties the first night due to air conditioning units that were unmaintained with disgustingly clogged filters. The water from the tub ran brown, mold lived and thrived on the shower tiles, the exercise room's equipment and outdoor jacuzzi were broken, and generally, the appearance and structure of the resort was clearly old and falling apart. Prior to our departure, Emerita, from Westgate's coorporate office in Florida told us we were "being upgraded to a five star resort that was nicer than any Westgate property". Needless to say, this was an intentional lie. Upon arriving, we found that Westgate had not only down-graded our accommodations by location, but had also taken us from a two bedroom, two bath villa, to a one bedroom room. All attempts to have Westgate correct the situation, both from corporate and local management were denied. Westgate even refused to pay for an additional one bedroom at Summer Bay to accommodate our party for that night. Management from Westgate's corporate office REFUSED to get on the phone to talk to us. The sales manager at Westgate Flamingo Bay, Chester Hansen, told us that the reason we were bumped had to do with the status of potential purchases. He described a heirarchy of preferred guests based on the likelihood that they would purchase units at the Westgate Las Vegas resort. He said, "The best candidates are those who purchased a trial vacation package, next are Interval International guests who might transfer their current ownership through an upgrade with Westgate". The bottom line was that Westgate owners were given lowest priority! We were promised that everything possible would be done to move us to the Westgate Flamingo Bay property. That is when our calls stopped being answered or returned. We spent five of our seven day vacation in hell. The GM of Westgate Flamimgo Bay, Marylou Fox, finally moved us on day six and would only authorize the refund of our $130.00 exchange fee. After returning home, I immediately called Westgate's corporate headquarters. I was given many excuses, no apology, and to date, no satisfaction or compensation. There were many other families who we met during our last two day stay at Westgate Flamingo Bay resort and five days at Summer Bay whose experience was similar. If you were among those 90+ Westgate owners who had this happen between August 5, 2007 and August 12, 2007, please respond to this posting. Together we have more power for resolution than any of us has alone. Warning: Be cautious when dealing with a Westgate property. Rmemeber that if you are an owner, even a confirmed reservation means nothing to their corporate offices or local management!