The grounds and facilities are wonderful. When I called the Grande Villas prior to arrival, I inquired about a possible early check-in. The answer was a flat "no, we have too many check-ins that day" I called again while on I-95. The young man that answered the phone was very polite and positive.
A few days prior to arrival, a nice young lady called our home to try to set us up for the owner update breakfast. I politely declined and indicated that we had upgraded our ownership earlier in 2007. After a smooth check-in, I was sent across the lobby to retrieve the parking pass. I realized the front desk person did not issue the pass so that the sales folks could have a crack at signing us up for their presentation. I again politely declined and told the pushy guy that we did not want to spend any of our time for a presentation during our few days of vacation. His reply "why, you will be here for four days, that is plenty of time for our presentation" If we do not want to attend, then we do not want to attend. When he whipped out his paper to sign us up, I again declined. At that point my husband walked over and was very firm with him....then his whole demeanor changed. Not so friendly after a firm "No thanks". A few days later, the same guy called and asked about attending the presentation. I replied "look, we declined your presentation before arriving and again declined when we received our parking pass" then I hung up on him. I was not going to spend vacation time going around and around with this pushy guy. My husband had never seen me hang up on anyone before. I did not appreciate the strong tactics after declining the opportunity two times.
The pushy salesman tainted our view of the facility. Also, housekeeping was very lacking in the unit. The bedspreads were askew upon arrival and the top sheets were missing. Several kitchen items were missing and parts of the refrigerator were missing. I had to wear shoes to walk on the tile. It was filthy. Carpet seemed new. The large tub looked inviting. Imagine my surprise when I sat in the tub and saw the top of the water full of scum and filth. I immediately jumped out and took a shower. Other folks said their unit was fine, so we probably had a less than thorough housekeeper for our unit.
We would return again, in hopes of having a cleaner unit. One night we used the grill on the premises. That was a nice feature. We enjoyed the Gold Hall of Fame. It is worth seeing. My husband loved the nearby shopping area for his exercise walks. The Caddy Shack offers a very good lunch !!
