The stress of the mounting costs associated with Westgate Resorts joke of a timeshare has taken a significant toll on my wife’s health over the past 3-4 years. We were never given options beyond "in-house" financing for 10 years; were falsely told we could write off payments on our taxes and were misled about the inheritance obligations our children would face. We have stayed at multiple properties including Westgate Lakes Resort in Orlando, Westgate Branson Lakes Resort, Westgate Smokey Mountains Resort, and Westgate Painted Mountain Resort in Mesa, Arizona, and none have lived up to the promises made during sales presentations. The fiscal impact has been overwhelming. Our maintenance fees have increased from $300-$400 per year to approximately $1,700 for 2025. When combining mortgage payments, down payments, maintenance fees, room deposits, transfer fees, and various other charges, we have spent well over $50,000 on this timeshare. For this substantial investment, we have enjoyed only four vacations totaling 28 nights – amounting to $1,800 per night. This stands in stark contrast to their salespeople's repeated claims that ownership with Westgate is "significantly more cost effective than traditional travel." The properties themselves have been disappointing, requiring deep cleaning before each stay. When using the Westgate travel program, we discovered the hotels were not as pictured – they were run down and dirty, just like every room we have stayed in at these resorts. We have faced constant difficulty booking at our preferred locations, particularly during holiday periods. Most troubling is our discovery that these supposedly "exclusive" owner resorts are being advertised to the public on third-party travel sites for a fraction of what we are paying. This explains the difficulty in securing reservations and finding parking during our stays – a complete contradiction to the exclusive ownership experience Westgate salespeople promised.
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