Westgate Park City Timeshare Release

I have stayed in resort/spa type facilities all over the world and the Westgate is by far, the worst resort experience I’ve ever had.

Upon arrival the toilet would not flush, the room was not clean, garbage under the bed and in the window. After calling the front desk to request the toilet be fixed, we went to the pool and to lunch.

Upon returning, the keys would not work.

After walking to the front desk to get the keys reactivated, discovered that the toilet had still not been looked at. Called the front desk, and complained that the toilet was still not working 4-5 hours later.

Went to dinner, came back to the room and still no sign of maintenance. Called the front desk, who explained to me that they were just to busy to fix the toilet. When asking why after all day long, they couldn’t unclog a toilet, I was told it’s just the way it is and was hung up on. I made my way back to the lobby to request to see a hotel manager, but was informed that she was the manager and there was nobody else available, at which time the other staff member offered me a free cookie. 30 minutes later, maintenance showed up with a plunger, but could not fix the clog. Another 30 minutes later, 2 more maintenance people showed, said they fixed it and would request housekeeping to come to clean up the mess.

Needless to say, housekeeping never showed up and the toilet worked once before clogging again.

The next morning, I went back to the front desk and when asked what I would do, I told them I would have fired the front desk, offered to move me, and refunded my first-night stay.

We were finally given a room of inferior quality, no refund, but at least the toilet worked.

This is in addition to neither restaurant being open for breakfast. If you are considering staying in the Park City/Canyons area, there are far better facilities available, some for far less than the $500 2 night stay I had.

The hotel has nice amenities, staffing is OK and ski pickup at the lifts if very nice.

My problem is that I have a ski season timeshare.

It allows me to use one week every year from January thru March except holidays.

Yet every year when I call 11 months in advance (that is the earliest time they let you call for reservations) they say that they are filled up. Then I fight with them for a week or two before they are forced to give me a reservation.

I do not know why they sell timeshares and then do not let you use it. During the time they told me they were full, I could go online and get a reservation for the same week same room.

When asked why I could do this but they claimed they were full they said that they only allow so many timeshare stays in the hotel and those timeshare slots were full but the hotel still rented rooms to non-timeshare holders. Again this seems unfair and I would recommend against buying a time share from them.

The roommate and I won a free week at a timeshare. After researching places, we picked Westgate in Park City. We actually made it a family vacation as the roommate’s fam joined us for part of the week. We all arrived on Sunday, December 4th around 6pm.

The roommate and I booked through Dream Vacation Week, which I believe is Interval International. When booking, we could choose between a Studio or a One Bedroom at different price points. (Even though the week was free, we still needed to pay the tax.) When we went to check in, they assigned us to a Studio, not a One Bedroom.

Since Interval was closed, the manager said they couldn’t do anything. Really?! You’re the manager! You should be able to give us the room we booked, then work it out with Interval the next day. Instead, one of the timeshare people heard us and offered to upgrade us to a One Bedroom and give us a discount on snow equipment rentals. Unfortunately, we agreed and got roped into a timeshare presentation. And for something we already booked and paid for! Basically, we had to waste another two hours of our lives for no reason. We never ended up snowboarding, so the discount was useless.

Looking past the timeshare and management part, the resort itself is pretty nice. The roommate and I got room 3805 in the Moose Lodge, which was a King One Bedroom. The furniture is a little old, but we had a kitchen, dining table, couch, fireplace, jetted tub, etc. You get the normal toiletries: Shower cap, Body shampoo, Daily nourish conditioner, Daily cleanse, Body bar. I did think it was weird they didn’t give us lotion though. They also provide robes and slippers which are a nice touch.

We actually didn’t spend much time in our room, but I was a little bummed we didn’t have a balcony as their website makes it sound like all the one bedrooms have a balcony or deck. I found the air circulation in this room to be really bad. Since we spent most of our time in the roommate’s family’s room, we didn’t really stay in our room until the last two days. That’s when I couldn’t breathe and kept sneezing and sniffling. Not sure if it was the room or if I was getting sick, but I didn’t feel this way in the other room.

Service was spotty. The first day, it felt like they only made our bed. They didn’t take out the trash or replenish our coffee and toiletries. I ended up calling housekeeping to see if they could at least replenish our coffee and toiletries. After a while I called back to see what their ETA was as I had to leave soon. They told me housekeeping should be there very soon. A while goes by and I call back again. They’re very apologetic, but I said I’d just call back later when I was back in the room. They ended up coming into our room while we were away even though our Do Not Disturb sign was up. At least they actually serviced our room this time?

The roommate booked a Three Bedroom Villa for his family through the Westgate website. I believe the They were assigned room 3710ABC. I think this can be a four bedroom, so we didn’t have access to C. The suite was huge. Three rooms, four baths. They had the standard stuff we had, and more. Huge living area, giant dining room table, a poker table, and one of the bedrooms had an office. The best part about this room was the hot tub on the balcony.

Parking is a little confusing, but if you’re in the Moose Lodge, it’s best to park on the 4th floor. This resort is huge, so parking close will save you quite a walk.

One amenity we used a couple times was the indoor / outdoor pool. The pool can get a little chilly. Especially the outdoor section, but the hot tub outside felt so nice! Even when it was snowing, we stayed nice and warm. In the same area are two ping pong tables. There’s a dispenser where you buy the balls to play. After the pool both times, I used the sauna to dry off it bit. It was very nice.

The roommate’s fam left on Thursday, December 8th. The roommate and I had our room booked through Sunday, but decided not to use the lady night. We left on Saturday, December 10th around 11am.

Nice resort, but they need to work in their service. I’d say 3-4 stars for the resort, but 1 for their service. Averaging it out to 2 stars.

What an absolutely terrible experience.

Mostly foreign workers that do lot speak English well.

First on arrival, we had a pressure time sell “VIP” talk, under the guise of we want to give you a welcome gift.

We went to the Edge restaurant that night and when we walked in, the young lady who was to seat us was holding a plastic cup with a straw and every now and then while talking to us was taking a drink.

This is a restaurant that is supposed to be ranked very high. Very unprofessional! All of this I could have let go however on the way back to the room, which was on the 8th floor the ceiling tile fell out of the elevator ceiling when it came to a stop. The ceiling tile was made of painted plywood and was very heavy. It hit my son in the head. This could have been tragic. I called the front desk immediately. The person at the desk did not seem to understand what I was talking about and wanted to send security. I stated they needed to send maintenance to fix it as it is dangerous. As there were electrical cord hanging from the ceiling. I asked for the manager to call me and left my cell phone. No call.

The next day I went down to the front desk at 0700 as we had coffee and a coffee maker in the room but no cream or sugar. I had gone by the marketplace on the premise but it was not open until 0800. I asked at the front desk for cream for my coffee and was told I would have to walk to the next resort, the Summitt. I was outraged and wanted to know, why for some cream do I have to walk to the next resort. There was a language barrier and he said of course he could get me some cream.

They just did not offer coffee in the am. I asked to speak with a manager. He stated the manager was busy. Again no response. I wrote a complaint and left it with the front desk. We returned to the room at 1600. No clean towels, no room service. I called housekeeping as we had just gone to the spa and wanted to take showers, and did not have towels. He stated they do not offer that for timeshares. I stated we were not a timeshare. He said he would check and got back on the phone and told me we were on the schedule.

I stated in the brochure stated the room would be cleaned by 1300. He said they were just too busy but they would get someone up here. I then spoke with a supervisor who also did not speak good English. He stated he would send security up to take a report from the elevator instance and would get housekeeping up to the room. It is 1717 and we just had housekeeping knock on the door. Really, just give me some towels, at this point.

We can’t get a complimentary ride into park city as they only have 1 shuttle running and it is full. I asked why with a big festival going do they not have another van running and I was told by the person at guest services because they do not have enough American workers and they can not get the foreign workers insured. It is now 1722 and I still have not seen security to make a report. This is defiantly not a 4 or 5 star facility.

My husband and I booked this place for a romantic get-a-way.

We picked it specifically because of the sauna, steam room, and multiple pools hoping to be able to find one that wasn’t packed with kids. Unfortunately only “members” have access to the indoor pools, sauna, or spa unless you book a service at the spa.

So this left us at the over-packed noisy pool full of children. Not relaxing or romantic. I

t seemed like a bait-and-switch sort of set-up where you have to pay extra for all of the amenities unless you are an “owner.”

So if you own a timeshare with them, great! You will love it.

If you don’t… I would know what you are getting. Also, we stayed in one of the suites where it has adjoining doors in case you are getting rooms together. Unfortunately there is such a large gap under the door that you can hear your neighbor’s every move and conversation. Not so great on the privacy. WiFi wasn’t working either when we were there. They kept saying they were having issues and re-setting the router. On the bright side, it has nice staff and is clean.

The resort is strategically located for ski in/out at the canyons village. However, you’d expect a gathering lobby that fits enough guests and this resort’s lobby is practically a large check-in room. The timeshare desk is also next to the entrance and expects to be pushed to attend one of their sales sessions for resort credit in return. We must have said NO about 4 times in 3 days. Manoeuvring around the resort is also a challenge as it is comprised of several buildings, each two connected at different floors.

The limited repost restaurants are almost impossible to get into in busy season so reserve weeks in advance if you plan to go there. The only well run place in the resort is the ski rentals place (Aloha). The staff are friendly and professional.

The absolute worst part for us, however, was the room we got. It was advertised as a “Studio” for 4 people with kitchenette etc. and we paid a healthy rate close to $750 per night for it! What we got was a very small bedroom with barely enough space around the bed, and a sitting room as small. When you opened the sleeper sofa, you can barely get around it to get to the bathroom which is also very small. We were running into the furniture to get by. There is also one small closet and no hangers on the wall to hang any coats or ski attire!!

Truly terrible value and the resort management were unwilling to do anything about it.

Overall, we enjoyed skiing because of the convenience to the lifts, but we did not enjoy our time at the resort. We will go back to Park City but certainly not stay at the Westgate!