Sunterra
Powhatan Plantation ResortSunterra
Powhatan Plantation ResortLatest update 11/8/04
Newport News/Williamsburg Airport: 32 miles
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| Four Bedroom - 4 Bath Suite (Typical Floor Plan) | |
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Unfortunately our trip was not going well to start with as we had already lost our luggage (well, the airline had actually).
In any case I was surprised when we arrived and were first offered an opportunity to purchase a week at the resort. While I am used to the usual invite to take a tour I felt it was a little pushy here as it took 10 minutes for me to make it clear that we could evaluate the resort without the assistance of a sales person.
As such we were eventually sent to our unit (the number escapes me) to find it was on the second floor of a rather dated looking building. On entering the first doorway we immediately noted the worn looking carpets and marks on the walls. On ascending the stairs we were greeted by a large room with a couch, a TV sitting on a table smaller than itself, and a "kitchen" consisting of a sink, 3 cubic foot fridge and a hot plate - no stove, no oven (obviously) and a "freezer" that couldn't hold a pint of ice cream. More glaring yet was the main rooms carpet, which had apparently suffered a stain at some point which was bleached out, quite noticeably.
The main bedroom had a single queen size bed with what felt like a thirty year old mattress. If either my wife or I moved at all the other was fully aware of it. Both of us (I'm thirty, she's 26) woke up every morning with aching backs - not right! Even more astounding was when we looked under the bed to see what might be the problem - how many resorts never clean under the beds? This one apparently never has.
The main bathroom was large, with plenty of room for a massage tub or large shower - as such I was surprised to see a large poorly built cedar surround on a rather dinky tub, with no shower whatsoever. I was quite horrified at the quality of the worksmanship as I do some carpentry work myself and would be embarassed to have completed anything in the manner that this was done. TO make matters worse the tub drain would not seal at all, and the majority of the time it would not even so much as close. Adding to the issues here was the fact that there was no light fixture in the tub area - I can hardly imagine a woman trying to shave her legs in this dark, dingy washroom.
The other bathroom had a stand up shower, however the total width of the bathroom was in the order of 36 inches, with a 24 inch vanity placed in it. Between the toilet/ vanity and the exterior wall the clearance was in the order of 12". Fine maybe for a child, but not for adults. The shower door did not seal whatsoever, the shower head spat water in two patterns - too wide to hit you and too tight to stand under. Overall quite a dissapointment.
While the resort itself appeared to be undergoing some significant work it was a surprise to find the indoor pool under construction, then to find that while the outdoor pool was operational, it was unheated, except for the hot tub, which was "broken" - though no one could tell us what was wrong with it or when it might be repaired. One employee at the activities desk suggested that it would be looked after once the units were refurbished. If the condition of our unit is any indication it will be quite some time. Had this been available information at the time we booked we would likely have stayed elsewhere - we live in Northern Canada and oddly a hot tub and swimming pool are both important features to us, as they are to most families with children.
Staff were of no help whatsoever - issues brought to the attention of the front desk staff led to our being advised to speak to the activities centre staff and vice versa. On leaving the resort (the first time I have been happy to go) we requested a comment form and were advised that none were available - hard to believe given the simplicity of printing off that type of documentation.
I cannot see children enjoying this resort in any way, as every planned event appeared to have a charge (Movie night, for instance, had a fee attached). Other resorts I have been to (Fairmont Vacation Villas, any Marriot owned property) have not had a charge for these types of events.
Overall I would give the resort a 2 at best. The rooms we were given were below that level I would expect from any hotel that does not rent rooms on an hourly basis. The unwillingless and inability of staff to answer our questions or deal with the issues in the room was embarassingly poor, and the fact that we were not given what we had purchased was completely unacceptable.
We did not receive any bath wash cloths at all in the unit and I had to call twice on two separate days to get any. The cover on the ironing board was lacking the string to tighten it onto the board (impossible to iron with a loose cover!)and I also had to call housekeeping twice for a new one, which they left on the kitchen counter for ME to install! The biggest complaint is that the twin beds in the guest bedroom are not regular size. They are narrower than a real twin bed, which makes for a slightly uncomfortable sleep for adults. These were minor annoyances that we handled, but I would put the units on par with a Super 8 or Days Inn, not a resort. Indoor pool was closed for repairs. Breakfast in The Grill was great! Grounds were very nice. Rating:6.
We enjoyed Busch Gardens and Water Country (we recommend taking your own lunch and/or dinner and eating at the picnic areas outside the park - found the food expensive and not good (except the German Oktoberfest Haus where they had a great show - the Hunt Family Fiddlers and very good German food). Getting to either place early and/or staying late made for less wait on lines and closer parking. In Water Country stay in the Hubba Hubba Highway area for shade and plenty of chair space though at the far end of the park.
We also took the children 7,11,12,and 14 to the Virginia Living Museum for a few hours, and Jamestown (National Parks) for a morning (take the tour with Lady Yeardly - she was interesting and funny). The children did not like our visit to Yorktown except for our lunch at the Carrot Tree Cafe. We have done Jamestown Settlement in the past and they did enjoy that. We did a late evening walkthrough colonial Williamsburg which was spooky and enjoyable. We also took the Colonial Parkway a few times and enjoyed the views and informational signs.
The activities at the resort we enjoyed was the Wednesday family pool party, miniature golf, and playing tennis. We did not do any of the arts and crafts activities as we thought they were alot of money and we didn't have the time. The indoor pool was closed but we enjoyed the outdoor pool a few times (it is unbearably hot and humid in Williamsburg in the summer)
Location of the resort is okay - lots of nearby shopping centers. Not too far from Route 199 for access to the parks and route 64. This resort is really a family resort and I would give it an 8 for location, size of unit, and area activities.
As stated in other reviews, these units appear quite old and our unit, 202D, needed a total refurbishing. Tiles on the fireplace mantel were broken & chipped, wallpaper was peeling off the wall in the 2nd bedroom, the carpets were extremely dirty, the unit needed painting and there were nails coming up on our deck/porch.
In summary, this is a resort in dire need of repair. If spruced up, it could be very nice, but that was not our experience. We cannot recommend this resort and give it a 4.5 rating. It definitely was not an even swap for our 2 BR Florida timeshare.
We arrived around 8pm on Sunday. Check in took no more than 8 minutes and the staff was helpful, friendly, and courteous.
The initial condition of the unit was very clean. The only problem was a missing fitted sheet on one of the twin beds in the second bedroom. I walked over to the registration desk around 9:30pm and they were able to contact housekeeping and get a set of sheets to our unit around 10pm. Not bad for late night service on a Sunday.
We own this week in this unit and we have stayed at Powhatan many times over the nine years we have owned our timeshare. We like the accommodations as far as the roominess of the units and the convenience of all the unit amenities. One change I noticed was the use of card keys instead of real keys. A step up in safety and convenience.
After closer inspection of the unit, we made note of what looks like bleach stains in a few spots on the carpet. Also, there was what looks like ballpoint pen marks all over the footboard of the bed in the master bedroom, the dresser, the end table and one of the place mats in the dining room. Looks like somebody's child had a field day.
The hot tub was working and the kids loved playing in it everyday. The lacquer that seals the wood in the hot tub room was peeling off the wood on the windowsills. Good thing we don't have kids who eat stuff they find. It didn't affect our hot tub experience but it did look bad and gave a good indication of the age of the unit. The blinds on the sliding glass door did not work either. I had to slide each one by hand. The chains on them as well as the blinds on the two windows look like they are all rusted and therefore won't work.
The washing machine and dryer are always a convenient amenity in the unit. The dryer worked OK. Not great, just OK. It is a smaller washer/dryer set so I will let this one slide. However, the washer squeaked when it began its spin/rinse cycle so no washing clothes while sleeping! Also the washer door would squeak when you opened it. Annoying to the ears but the washer did work.
A couple of the lamps did not have switches on them but were controlled from a wall switch so I think this was on purpose. There was no coffee table in the living room and there were impressions in the carpet to indicate that there was one there at some point. I personally found it useful NOT to have the table. It made it easier to move around the living room.
The dishes and glasses were just enough. I seem to remember in the past there usually was enough place settings for eight people. There definitely was not enough dishes or glasses to feed eight at the same time. I asked about this at the front desk and they said that as the units are renovated this will be corrected. In the mean time they would provide whatever we needed upon request. This was OK with me.
The weather was PERFECT all week long. Sunny and in the 80s everyday. We took advantage of the resort facilities and the kid's park just down the road everyday of the week. We bought the mini golf all-week family pass for $20 and get our moneys worth from it. The mini golf course was fun but is in need of repairs and a paint job for some of the numbers. The course was very playable and fun as far as the "greens" go but a few of the mechanical fixtures need to be fixed as well. Over all we all enjoyed playing.
Since it is April, the outdoor pools were closed and they were doing A LOT of work on them while we were there. It was good to see they were taking care of this investment so it will be in shape for the summer crowd. The indoor pool was open. We went there at least four times during the week. The pool was a little crowded but not enough to be annoying. We went to the pool later in the day (6:30-8:30) and it seems to get a short burst of people after dinner and then clears out by 8:00pm. One of the two hot tubs at the pool was covered and not in use. Not a bother to me since I wasn't interested in using it. The tiles on the ceiling however need to be repaired and replaced. A few tiles were broken and a few were water stained.
The grounds of the resort are in great shape as they always are. This is a beautiful resort. There were a few geese and ducks roaming the grounds but not as many as there used to be. This is a definite plus since geese droppings were not as much of an issue.
I spoke with the hand of maintenance while I was there just to see what the schedule was for when our unit would be updated. We actually own two units. The other is a three-bedroom lockout A/B unit. The A/B unit is scheduled for a complete overhaul from mid May the mid June. About $45,000 dollars of work is slated to be done to each unit. It should be brand new when all work is done. The unit we stayed in is not slated to be overhauled for another few years. I guess I need to be patient with this one.
There were no additional fees to be paid upon checkout. There use to be an in room safe fee but it looks like this has been eliminated and I think all the in room safes are gone. I didn't see one in the unit. Checkout was fast. Again it took no more than 8 minutes.
I rate the unit itself a 7.5, the grounds, staff and resort amenities an 8.5 for an over all rating of an 8. Powhatan has all the things you would ever want in a resort. This is why I like the resort. The only thing they need to do to make it a top-notch Gold Crown resort is to polish up everything they have and do. It's the little things that chip away at the ratings. Like I said, everything you need is at the resort. It's just the condition of everything that keeps you from saying, "wow, what a great place to stay".
In regards to the condition and renovation of the facilities, I spoke with some of the staff and it sounds like the management is doing what it needs to do to overhaul this resort. As an owner, I just need to be patient since the resort has gone for many years without the necessary up keep and attention for it to be a Gold Crown resort.
I definitely recommend this resort for families with children. Couples, young or old, who don't mind other peoples children, would enjoy this resort as well. The resort is located close enough to all Williamsburg attractions yet far enough away from them to escape them at the end of the day. All fast food and grocery stores a just a few minutes away.
I have heard some negative reviews within the last year regarding Powhatan Plantation but I can honestly say that I believe that this resort has gotten a "bum wrap". True - the condos were in need of refurbishing, which the new resort management is addressing. But this resort has so much to offer to families of ALL ages. The 3 bedroom townhouse style villas are HUGE, over 1700 sq.ft. They feature a full size hot tub (which overlooks the rear deck), fireplace, fully equipped kitchen and 3 levels of living space. These townhouse villas are perfect for large families OR 2 families traveling together.
Powhatan Plantation covers 256 acres of recreation: indoor/outdoor pools, tennis, basketball, volleyball, trout-stocked ponds, recreation center, walking trails, racquetball courts and more! The resort is located within 5 - 15 minutes of all major attractions: Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, theater events at the College of William & Mary, Water Country USA, outlet shopping, championship golf courses, Jamestown & Yorktown, the Colonial Downs horse-racing track, etc.
We enjoyed our RCI exchange into Powhatan so much that we decided to buy at Powhatan Plantation - of course finding our timeshare in TUG's classified advertisements. We spoke to the resort manager in October 2003 regarding their plans for the future & found the management to be determined to restore Powhatan to GOLD CROWN status within the next year or two. And to be honest, I believe that this goal is VERY achievable.
Pool area is large and nice. Mini-golf 'discount card for the week' was a rip-off. Our kids were more interested in the water park nearby, more so than Colonial Williamsburg itself. We didn't partake in any planned activities.
Golfing is spectacular, which was why I came back with a buddy for a golfing marathon in both 10/02 and 10/03. If you're looking to simply have comfortable space, conveniently located to great golf, decent dining and 'be adults' for a week - this is a great setting. Look into golf discounts, otherwise the green fees can be rather steep.
I rated this a 7 - as per the TUG guidelines.
The area was wonderful, as usual. Christmas in Williamsburg is something everyone should experience.
We would have to rate the resort a 4 or below.
The resort continues to show little improvement since last year. I won't cover the amenities here, other reviews have done that. Our unit (86C) was in fair condition with several exceptions. On the plus side there was a new (ish) sofa and spa. On the downside the carpet was, in a word, nasty. You were not sure if taking your shoes off was a good idea. My in-laws were in 82C and their's was only slightly better. There were 5 items requiring maintenance when we checked in. In the resort's favor all 5 were promptly and completely fixed by 9 am the next morning.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at the on premises Powhatan Grill. The food was very good and priced very reasonably. Service was good. In the past we had always eaten at the Kitchen, also on premises, which is very up scale. Last year the food was average and the prices ridiculous (dinner for 10, 2 bottles of wine, tax and tip came to nearly $800)so we switched to the Grill -- not a bad choice.
Sunterra and the management company have customer service that is missing the service. Normally we use both parts of our lockout for the family gathering. This year we decided to use one unit of our lockout and my inlaws used one of theirs (they are also owners at Powhatan). We asked multiple times to have both units in the same building, up & down. Powhatan has 431 lockout units, it doesn't seem to be too difficult a request. They were unable to (or didn't try) to make it happen. When calling you get a recording asking you to leave your request and the pertinant info, but they do not communicate back or respond in any way and you have to wait until you check in to see what happened. This is particularly irritating when you're both owners at the resort -- what kind of "customer service" do non owners get?
It is easy to see why Powhatan Plantation is no longer a Gold Crown resort. (As an owner, I say this unhappily.) The grounds are still beautiful and well maintained, but the units need a lot of work. The entire front office needs to be revamped.
All in all about a 5. Beautiful setting; Colonial Williamsburg a worthwhile attraction; units working their way toward shabby; poor customer service.
When we got to our unit, there was assigned parking (which was good), but we had been given a second floor unit. No problem except that with a 22 month old, and open stairs it was a BIG PROBLEM. I immediately called and asked for a gate to fit across the open stairs. The phone rang for 10 minutes before being answered. Then, I was told there were no more gates. I insisted on either a gate or a first floor room. Neither was available. I was told they would check with housekeeping and someone would call me back.
I waited 1 1/2 hours and tried calling again. This time no one answered the phone. I drove back to the office, where there was still a line of people waiting to check in, and asked to speak with someone who could give me an answer. They then told me someone would go to Targets and get a gate. We never heard back from them and had to continuously tail my son to make sure he didn't do a header down the stairs.
About 11 o'clock, we heard our door open, no knock, no doorbell, no phone message. A gate was dumped inside our door. For those with children, you know a "top of stairs" gate needs to be screwed into the wall. The gate came with the hardware, but they didn't leave us any tools.
The "full" kitchen, for some reason had 2 microwaves, taking up the miniscule counter space available. The kitchen did not look very clean. There were crumbs, and who knows what along the wall. The blinds in the bathroom were filthy. One bathroom had only a deep tub, but no jacuzzi. So why the deep tub? and no shower. The master bathroom had a shower with a steamer. The only problem with this is that the steaming apparatus is located near the floor of the shower, and if you have little kids who like to play in the shower, you need to be on guard after using it that one doesn't put their hands on it.
The location wasn't too bad. About 15 minutes from water world and Busch gardens. Both which were really great for kids. There's a local supermarket (not open Sundays) that's clean and has a great selection. Skip the Winn Dixie if you can help it, (not very clean). A Target, Blockbuster were near the supermarket.
The pool was nice, but very, very crowded. They have one area for adults only, which is nice if you don't have kids. But it was empty, and the other pools were too crowded. The gym was a joke. Everything was so rusted, you could even pull the pins out to change the weights. The indoor pool wasn't that nice either, though they claim to have recently redone it. Overall, for location, not bad. Size of unit was good. As long as you're going for area attractions, and not a resort with lots to do. The place definately could use a good cleaning!
Pulled into the front gate, and was sent to the Reception Center for check-in, at around 2pm. Check in went smoothly and I asked the front desk to please issue my parking pass that I was not here to have a sale's pitch and I was not going to stand in another line, also told them I wanted no contact from any sales people at all, it was not observed, received 2 phone calls from the sales department, one for each week we were there. The manager looked at me and said "You're a TUG member", I just smiled and said "Yes, I am" and she issued the parking pass on the spot. Was then told that the Unit was not ready they were still cleaning it. I asked what unit number we had been placed in and was informed we were in unit 1. So before we went to get some groceries, we drove past the unit and saw that they had a carpet cleaning service cleaning the carpet and that was the delay in check-in. Went to Ukrop's and got what we needed to get us started for the 2 week stay. Came back about a hour later and was given the card key's to our unit. We were in a 3 bedroom original unit so they gave us 3 card keys.
Went into the Unit and first just did a walk through before we moved anything in. Carpets were still soaking wet and I got my socks wet, but they had totally cleaned the carpets on all 3 floors of the unit. Layout of this unit is great. Kitchen is when you first walk in the front door. Kitchen looked like it had new appliances, there was a stove, with a microwave above it, Dishwasher and a refrigerator. Combination Dining room and Living room, there was a couch, not a sleeper sofa, and two chairs in the living room, dining room had a huge table with the leaf in with 6 chairs. Fireplace wall between the Living room and Master bedroom with a 19" TV in the wall. Way too small of a TV set for this area of the unit, and you can only see the TV if your sitting in the Living room. Master Bedroom on the First Floor with the tallest queen bed I have ever seen, I had to climb up into this bed and I am 5'11", I would hate to see a senior citizen try and get into this bed. Television in the Master bedroom was a 19" and the dressers also acted as your night stands on both sides of the bed, also a huge walk in closet with a bathroom attached that you can access through to living room or the walk in closet in the Master Bedroom. The deck was off the Living room with a table and 4 chairs, and a lounge chair THEY NEED TO BE SCRUBBED and cleaned. The table was so stained up. The hot tub room was accessible from both the Living room and the Master Bedroom.
Second floor has another Master Bedroom with the same layout as the one on the first floor but not the tall bed or a TV in the bedroom, but there were 3 dressers in this room so that the people staying on the pull out couch had somewhere to store their clothing and another closet. Missing bed skirt on this bed with a short bedspread, it looked awful to have left it like that. There is also a lofted family room there, that is open to the first floor Living room, with a sectional couch that has a pull out queen size bed, another 19" TV set. There is a full size Laundry room with both a full size washer and dryer with a ironing board set up and shelves on the wall for storage of your laundry supplies. There are two closets in the hallway to the laundry room too one with shelves and the other is a really LOW closet hanging bar.
On the third floor there is the third bedroom, with two twin beds, a night stand and a dresser, no closet on the third floor. This bedroom is open to the first floor living room also. There is also a window seat on the staircase to the third floor.
These units were refurbished not that long ago and they do look very nice, the furniture was in good shape, the kitchen, no inventory list at all, someone needs to go through and see what items are missing. There were a lot of items missing, the can opener was in terrible shape, and would not even turn, there was only one beater for the hand mixer. No measuring cups at all but measuring spoons were found. No ashtry's to be found at all. Toaster would not brown evenly at all, called and they replaced it. Not even close enough silverware to have dinner, this is a unit for up to 8 people and there was only service for maybe 5 or 6. There also was no room in the cupboards to put any food in them until I rearranged them to make room for food. There looked to be a bleach stain in the doorway to the Master bedroom and the carpet had no color there. The Deck was not swept clean of the leaves and if we had not swept the deck off, everything would have been tracked back into the unit. They also needed to sweep the front door entrance, it was full of leaves they were then tracked into the unit. There was a resort information book on the coffee table in the living room, cover was totally ripped off the notebook, TV channels were not up to date, nothing matched when compared to the TV itself. There was no information on what to do with your trash, had to call and find out where to put it. Pages were missing out of the notebook, but not the pages on the sales of the units. Go figure. The Sliding glass doors look like they are never cleaned from the finger prints, there was a child's hand print on the one to the hot tub room and the one to the deck was in need of some windex. These are all little things, they do add up, but basically it was a nice unit.
The bathrooms need to be gutted and redone, wall paper was not even matched in the first floor bathroom and is also pealing up in a lot of spots, the toilet is so close to the wall with the toilet paper holder there that you hit it every time you sat down. In fact put the toilet paper on the window crank so that we could even reach it. These bathrooms look like they are from the 70's and have not had a thing done to them since then. The bathtub's in either bathroom would not hold water at all, and the first floor one would not drain right either, after taking a shower you would end up standing in water halfway up your legs. Even had maintenance come over and try and fix it, the guy just messed with the drain, I would have put some Draino down it. Even after he adjusted the drain it only worked for one shower. There was a medicine cabinet built into the wall that had glass shelves in it and there were no shelves in the second floor bathroom medicine cabinet and 3 in the first floor one, just moved one to the second floor bathroom. If they knocked out the walls in that bathroom with the huge walk in closets that were attached to the bedrooms they could really make a nice bathroom and closet area.
I had informed them both by mouth and with paperwork that we were there for a 2 week stay and still came back to our unit the following Saturday to find our card keys no longer working, now this could be a problem, seeing that at the time the resort was without any power due to Hurricane Isabel and was not sure if we could even get back in the unit. We got lucky, they were able to redo the keys, but even the desk clerk had a look on his face like he was not sure this was going to happen.
To charge people 25 cents per phone call even when calling a 800 number to me just does not seem right at all, but they lost their computers when the hurricane hit, but had phone service still and without the computer system ended up only being charged for phone calls from the 23rd on.
The Grounds of the resort are wonderful, the ground's crew work very hard at keeping them up. The manor house is well done. The pool complex is very well kept. Most of the employee's were very, very nice people to deal with. Even had one that went as far as looking at the starter on the van. WE LOVED HIM. Found out we didn't have to have the starter replaced, he just did a adjustment on it and we were good to go. Loved having the hot tub room, that was one of the best parts of the unit. Had to figure out how to use the reset button, the hot tub in our room would stop heating itself, but having one at home I covered it and learned how to hit the little red button inside of the service door and could get it to heat up nice and hot.
Ok, Hurricane Isabel hit us on Thursday the 18th, what a storm. We rode it out at the condo. Lost power at around 1 p.m. and it was not to return until that Sunday in the afternoon. 100 mph winds in that unit sounded like the roof was going to be coming off. This ceiling in the living room was 3 stories with 4 sky lights in it. The sky lights are what sounded terrible. We were doing a puzzle, but we would stop every so often when there would be a really strong gust, which we found out later were at around 125 mph. Powhatan supplied some candles for us and even called in the middle of the storm to make sure we were all ok and that we had enough candles to make it through that night. I had gone to the Dollar Tree by Ukrops and bought a box of votive candles, so we were fine. Before the storm, went looking for wood for the fireplace, because the resort informed me that they had none on the property that they only kept it there during the winter month's. So off we went looking for firewood, found some at the 7- 11 at the corner of Jamestown Road and Iron Bound Road. Got some out of the woods also. So, was able to cook hot dogs over the fire that night.
Woke up the next morning without power, of course, but still had phone service, which we lost later that morning, (still haven't figured that one out) then went for a walk around the property, there were trees down everywhere, ripped out by the roots, tree branches were over the fence that surrounded the Manor House, walked to the reception building and they were giving out coffee to the guests at the resort. The minute they lost power they had fired up a generator to run the lights at the reception desk and to keep their computers running, but at least there was a hot cup of coffee to be had. They even handed out more candles for those who needed it for that night. Now this is the funny part, later that day they then posted signs that we were NOT allowed to burn candles in our units that it was against the building codes for resorts in James City County, but they handed them out to everyone the night before and even again the next morning. In fact, that night they even went as far as sending an employee door to door and told us to put out the candles. I looked at this lady (who later became a friend to all of us) and told her that they were handing them out, which was news to her. She then saw that we had them all safe in candle holders and votive cups and left us alone about them. They also posted signs that they wanted all of us to check out and go home that James City County had deemed this area unsafe for us to be in and they recommended that the resort be cleared. I called RCI on our cell phone. RCI informed me that they could not make us check out of this resort that they had no power to make us do so. So, we waited for power.
One thing I will say is that grounds crew there was hard at work putting the grounds back together after such terrible devastation, so you heard nothing but chain saws going all over the place and the clearing of the trees was underway. Thank goodness, I had taken the camera out first thing to get the pictures of the damage, and the weather was wonderful about 80 that day. While walking around saw all of the pool furniture in the pools, they stored the furniture right in the pools. It was a couple of day's before they reopened the pool complex. The general store didn't reopen that day, but it did the next day, only for items that didn't require refrigeration, and they didn't have any newspaper service.
Got in trouble for lighting a grill on our deck and it was put out. We had a little camp grill with us for picnics and were trying to use it to cook some hot food. This woman even went as far as dumping a bucket of water on our grill and took a picture of it. Powhatan Employee's without power and in areas that were in danger of flooding were put into units at the resort. Those employee's disturbed the rest of the guests by throwing parties on their decks at night and keeping everyone in the area UP because we had no Air we had to keep the windows open, so we got to listen to the generator running at the office and the employee's partying on the deck next to us. NOT HAPPY AT ALL. All in all this is a fairly decent resort. It is not their fault that Hurricane Isabel hit our vacation but it is their fault for putting rowdy employee's in the unit next to ours. The unit I would rate 6.5. The grounds of the resort are a 10. The location is wonderful. Williamsburg is a great place. We didn't get to do as much as we wanted too, because of the lack of power in the area, most things after Isabel hit were shut down and a lot of them didn't reopen until the day before we came home or even after we came home. Would I go back to this resort is a big question mark. Yes, the unit was huge and furnished well, most of the employee's were wonderful to deal with, but those 5 or 6 that were so terrible acting, really do leave a bad taste for the resort.
One major problem for PP is their cleaning staff. When we arrived there was an actual pile of dirt inside the front door on the first floor. The carpet was filthy. Not just spotted, but downright filthy. We were subsequently told this unit was on the list to have new carpeting installed. It should have been cleaned a long time before that decision was made. Shortly after our (early) checkin, we got a call asking if everything was all right and we let them know about the dirt. In short order a young lady came over to survey the complaint. It took her a considerable amount of time to find a vacuum cleaner that actually worked! We brought the carpet to her attention and she spent a long time spot-cleaning the worst of it. We truly appreciated her efforts and tipped her accordingly.
The kitchens in both units were complete. There was damage to the under cabinets by careless tenants in the past, then compounded by the cleaning staff not taking care of spills and building-up dirt. Pots and pans needed cleaning before we would use them. Because of our advanced years, we stayed on the first floor for all cooking and entertainment purposes and two of us slept upstairs. This was great because we got to use the second floor kitchen supplies downstairs as there would not have been enough otherwise.
The second floor unit has a wet bar in the living room. The first floor unit has a hot tub and two of us used that. What fun. But we had a two day wait for it to get hot enough. Because we used the hot tub, we went through a lot of towels and washed them in the unit's washer on the first floor. The dryer didn't work, so we hauled them upstairs and dried them there. We were glad we had both units. We could not complain about the size of the unit because we had two! We walked around the resort and noted the pools, etc., but we were interested in history so didn't utilize any of the resorts amenities.
As for the staff, we found the cleaning person, Darlene, to be quite friendly and agreeable. The people at check-in were fine, but I was turned off by the woman who was signing up guests for the "survey" luncheons. We did not participate.
Powhatan Plantation is lovely. The geese are fun to watch and we didn't see a lot of droppings around our unit. The resort is on Ironbound Road and the Mapquest directions we received were worthless. Ironbound Road stops and starts heading in another direction. It took us several days to become comfortable with this area. We had always stayed on Richmond Road on our prior visits to Williamsburg. We would definitely recommend PP for families, young and old. Once their refurbishing is done, the resort will rate higher than the 8.0 I give it now. I would return and I would definitely get both units again.
We were assigned a fairly large two bedroom upstairs unit. Unit looked as though it had just been refurbished, although the carpets looked like they could stand a cleaning. Furniture was newly upholstered and all bathroom fixtures had been replaced with new tub, toilet and sink, as well as new floor. New paint all over. Full kitchen with ususal amenities. Living room with dining table adjacent. Room was set up sort of funny with TV in a built in space, but off center to the seating areas of the living room. We ended up moving the couch and overstuffed chair to an angle to see TV. The outside deck was covered with mildew, so we did not use.
Upstairs units get a deck and a shower stall in one bath with steam sauna. Downstairs got same layout with exception they also had a hot tub, but little deck.
Resort offered amenities such as outdoor pools (2) and one indoor pool with two hot whirlpools. The indoor pool seemed to be high in chlorine, as the smell indoors seemed awful. They have a gym with a four station workout setup, a stair jogger, and a treadmill. Also have two racquet ball courts. Putt Putt golf is on site. So, I would say the amenities were ok. Only problem with pools is this resort is very large, (over 600 units) and if you are assigned some on the outskirts of the property as we were we had to drive to the pool. The resort offered daily activities, mostly for kids.
One drawback of the resort is they have many Canadian geese that have taken up permanent residence at the resort. They are everywhere. And with that, goose droppings are everywhere. On the lawns, on the sidewalks, in the streets.
We had one maintenance problem that we called in on Sunday but did not get fixed at all. Two door knobs (one on each bathroom) were very loose, about to fall off. Twice they were notified but no response. So we lived with it. Had I had a Phillips head screwdriver, I would have fixed them. They do offer discounted golf fees at the Williamsburg Golf Course.
The towels and linen seemed old. Blankets looked very old. Some towels had strings and were frayed. And each night the fitted sheets would come unfitted and had to be remade each day. There were no linen service at all unless you paid for midweek service. However, with in unit washer and dryer, that did not present any problems.
The resort is very well located for all Williamsburg, Jamestown, Busch Gardens, and other attractions. We found getting around not to be a problem at all. The resort is gated and thus makes one feel a bit more secure. Nice resort for families to see all of Williamsburg and then return to an afternoon or evening at the pool.
This timeshare is not a RID nor Gold Crown and I think that is appropriate.
Unit Features-
We had a first floor 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit. The master bedroom had a
Queen bed. The second bedroom had 2 twins. The living/dining room had
a dining table and six chairs and a double sofa bed. It could
accommodate 6, but 4 would be more comfortable. Our unit, 431C Legere
Lane, was the last unit on one of the newest streets. Except for two
very small burnt spots in the carpet in front of the fireplace,
everything, including the appliances, was in excellent condition.
There were two TV's with cable and HBO was included.
I thought that the best thing about the unit was the spa room. The walls were lined with natural wood and it reminded me of a sauna with skylights. I enjoyed soaking in the hot tub on three different occasions. There was also some type of "steam bath" in the main bathroom (we didn't use it) and there was a small patio with a table and chairs.
Kitchen Features-
A galley style kitchen had a convention electric stove, 14 cubic foot
refrigerator, double sink, crockery, glasses, and utensils for 6.
There were plenty of pots and a toaster and blender. Paper towels,
plastic waste can liners, dish clothes, and dishwasher powder were
supplied. A closet held a stacked washer and dryer.
Resort Amenities-
The resort offered free internet/email access in the Registration
Building. I used it several times and, although there were only two
computers, I didn't have to wait. It rained almost every day of our
stay and, except for jogging and roller-blading through the resort,
we did not use the pools or other facilities. Please read other
TUG reviews to find out about the other amenities.
Size of Unit-
The unit was of good size for 4 adults. Two children could use the
sofa bed, especially if you bring an aerobed like we usually do.
Condition of Unit, Buildings and Property-
The living room sofa and chairs were very comfortable. We found the
pillows and mattresses to be comfortable also and blankets were
supplied. We didn't make a fire or use the a/c. There were good locks
on all doors and we felt safe. This is a 24 hour gated community.
Staff
A complete midweek cleaning and restock of towels and linens was
available for $65 or
$69 but we did not order it Check in went smoothly at the
registration building.
Activities-
There was a variety of activities but we did not participate. The
activities are broadcast on one of the TV channels and included in a
book on the living room coffee table. Many of the activities took
place in the historical Manor House at the resort. Exchangers and
owners are also invited to an "Informational Breakfast". We declined
because I already knew where I wanted to go during the week and I
didn't want to wind up at a timeshare sales presentation. I would
have gone to a Welcome Party but they didn't have that.
On-Site Restaurants-
There are two restaurants at the resort - The Kitchen, an upscale one
that featured meals of the type that were eaten in the 1700's, and
The Grille, a more casual restaurant. We ate at The Grille on our
first night. The food was okay and the prices were moderate.
Off-Site Restaurants-
Boy, are we conventional! Besides eating dinner at one of the
resort's restaurants, we ate at Seafood Shanty, Busch Gardens,
Chowning's Tavern, the Colonial Pancake House, Cracker Barrel, and
made dinner at the resort a couple of times from groceries we bought
at the Winn-Dixie and U-Krops supermarkets. We never got to the
Surrey Restaurant because we had just missed the ferry and there were
already a lot of cars waiting for the next one.
Things We Enjoyed-
We went to Busch Gardens on two different days. Check the Busch
Gardens website for Bounce or annual prices. Since my husband is
retired military, we paid $31 apiece for the first day's ticket at
the Cheatum Naval Annex. It is a few miles past Busch Gardens. Then
we paid another $15 at the park to get a second day. We had gone to
Busch Gardens 15 years ago and I was pleased to find it just as well
maintained this time. One nice thing about going in May, especially
when it's a rainy week - there was little or no wait time to get on
the rides. A little warning though - while the Disney parks are all
flat, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is not. We wound up climbing up and
down hills and outside stairs quite a bit. The natural scenery is a
lot more interesting because of the hills but I was a lot more tired
at the end of the day than I get at the Disney parks!
I also enjoyed our trips to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown and the scenery on the road that connects the two places (Colonial Highway). I got my shopping fix at the Carolina Williamsburg Furniture Outlet on Richmond Road. The staff was nice and I thought the price quotes I got were good.
We never got to Virginia Beach because of the rain but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.
Suitability-
Good for couples and families. However, since our visit was in May,
there were not many school-aged children so if your children want to
meet other kids, don't go in May.
Rating-
Based on what I covered in this review, I think the resort rates 8
out of 10.
Elaine
There were no kitchen linens when I arrived. After placing the maintanance request I received a phone call back letting me know that there were NO kitchen linens in the resort - they were waiting for them to come back from the laundry. I did find this unacceptable but did adapt by using the bathroom linens. Needless to say, I did put it on my comment card and told the Customer Service representative who called.
The outside of this building had been redone and they were working on the building next door. They were changing the trim color from the mustard color to gray.
Since it rained 5 out of 7 days of my stay and was unseasonably cold I made good use of the hottub in the unit. I did not use the indoor pool but other people were using it. It felt nice and warm.
I've been to Powhatan many times before and will go back because I love the hot tub in the unit.
Check-in went smoothly. There was only one person ahead of us in line. We checked in at the desk and then were directed to another table to pick up our parking pass. At this table they also tried to interest us in a luncheon with free Busch Gardens passes, but knowing a time share pitch when I see it, we declined. We were asked one other time during the week to attend a luncheon, but we declined.
The grounds were in excellent shape, just a few Canada geese. We used the tennis courts (crowded in the afternoon and evening with kids, empty in the morning)and small exercise room.
We toured Colonial Williamsburg, went to Busch Gardens and a NY Mets farm team game in Norfolk. The weather was beuatiful, 60's and 70's and no rain. We had good dinners at the Whaling Station (seafood) and Memphis Bar-B-Que. There is a Winn-Dixie supermarket about 1/2 mile away and a Food Lion about 2 miles away.
We had an excellent stay and the unit was very good. In appears that your stay here depends on which unit you get, judging from the varying review.
First the good. It is a spacious unit on a corner lot - meaning we were not sandwiched in between two townhouses. The grounds at Powhatan are still as pretty as ever and it is nice to see they have reduced the number of fowl in the area. I do enjoy morning walks around the grounds and since the weather cooperated on most days it was a real treat. They had a list of good activities for children during the week.
We bought slightly discounted tickets to Jamestown Settlement from the Activities Desk. This is a timesaver during the busy season. Also if you want to do Busch Gardens, buy your tickets here, it will save you a lot of time i.e. no waiting in line when you get there. Please note, they do not discount tickets to Busch Gardens. We participated in the Easter Egg Hunt which lasted all of 5 minutes because of the huge turnout. We wanted to make "boo boo bunnies" but not enough children were interested so she refunded our money and gave us a nice bunny for our troubles.
Now, the not so good bordering on the very bad. Powhatan has got to do something soon about housekeeping issues. This is why they lost all ratings with RCI. On unit cleanliness I would have to say 5/10. There were clothes still in drawers from the previous tenants. They ran out of hand towels and wash clothes and were "waiting" for a delivery that could take days. There was no screen in the sliding glass doors to the porch. When they finally put one in on Tuesday (we had a Saturday check-in) it would not slide. Needless to say we just propped it against the side of the house.
The hot tub was filled with ants and had to be sprayed, recleaned and refilled. The sofa in the main living area was sagging and needed to be replaced. The garbage disposal was leaking water. I reported this to the maintenance people and they came right away to replace it. Unfortunately it looked as if it had been leaking for quite a while as the bottom cabinet was already damaged. There were dirty dishes in some of the drawers and the list goes on. This is so totally unacceptable, I'm debating whether to return here.
Barring all of the above problems with the unit, our stay in Williamsburg was very enjoyable. We spent a day at Busch Gardens, a day at Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg, a few hours paddle boating, a day at Virginia Beach and some time shopping. This is a great area for vacationing.
I would rate this a 7 mostly because of the grounds. I know the units vary and if you get a refurbished one you will probably be in luck. They did have a notice dated 4/3/2003 that said they were replacing furniture in units so that is a good sign.
The grounds were beautiful, particularly with the trees and flowers blooming. We explored the manor house and gardens. There is also a nice nature trail we walked on. It was also nice to spread a blanket and have a picnic lunch or dinner. It was too early in the season for the outdoor pools to be comfortable but they were open for those who like COLD water. The indoor pool did not have enough chairs available for those not swimming and there weren't any pegs/hooks to hang towels from. We did enjoy the putt-putt course. You could pay by the game or get a week pass that was reasonably priced. We didn't participate in any of the planned resort activities.
The resort is convenient to many of the area attractions including Colonial Williamsburg, the outlets, Jamestown and Yorktown. The area was easy to get around and the front desk was helpful with suggestions and directions. The resort is also convenient to grocery stores. This resort is suitable for families, couples and relaxing. We'd definitely visit there again.
Let me say that I was not happy with this resort due to the reviews I read prior to my arrival. I did in fact call the property one week prior to my arrival to make a request for a newer unit on the 1st floor, I was told to call back the Wed. prior to my arrival because that is when they get comfirmation from the exchange companies (RCI). On the Wed. prior to my arrival I called to make my request and at that time found out that I was already assigned to a newer 1st floor unit (410C). I must say by reading the previous reviews I was really dreading my stay there, especially since this was the only property I was able to exchange into in short notice.
Upon my arrival to the property (appx 10:30 pm) the registration staff member that I dealt with was not all that polite, but some things you can look over. After I registered I was given my room keys and a small card that I was told to give to a lady that was sitting dead center of the entrance doors to obtain a parking pass (yeah Right) I have been to enough resorts to know when they are gonna try and and sell you. I gave her the card that I was told to give to her for my parking pass and she wanted me to come to a survey breakfast (yeah right!!), but here is the catch she also wanted me to sign a paper that states if I didn't show for the breakfast I will be charged $5 for the cost of the food, so at that time I declined the meal and asked for my pass so I could go to my unit because I had been driving 12+ hrs.
Once I got to my unit I left my family in the car just in case the unit was not up to standards, but I was very pleased with the unit, basically to make a long story short my unit (410C) was a 10 in my book. It could use a bigger tv in the living room but that is something minor to me.
While you are staying here you are really at home because if you want them to come in aand clean the entire unit with linen exchange it will cost a cool $65 bucks or even if you just want the sheets and towel exchanged that will be a cool $15. My advice is bring a bar of soap, laundry detergent with you or stop at Walmart (10 mi) or Target (1.5 mi) to pick the items up.
Now the previous issues with the geese dropping, is no longer. I drove and walked the entire property and I counted maybe 15 geese all around the pond area and then I still didn't see a lot of dropping, so it is safe to walk out of your unit and don't have to worry about stepping in any of it.
It is very visible that the older units are going thru rehab, I seen several carpet cleaner vans, one truck was pressure washing the siding. There was a crew delivering new furniture in some units.
Right down the road from my unit was where they were taking all the old stuff from these units and by looking at it I mean this stuff was old. It really looks like this place is working hard to get that GOLD CROWN status, and I'm certain if they keep it up they will get it and maybe train their staff at the desk on how to provide excellent customer service.
P.S. The 1st floor units have hot tubs (A & C) and the 400 unit are the
newer ones.
Overall I will rate my entire stay a 9.
I loved the layout of the unit and would definitely recommend it. The unit was immaculately clean and I was amazed at the service from guest relations.
I would rate this a 9.0. Great resort!!!
I had called a week ahead to request an end unit and was told to call back the day we checked in. I did so and was then told the unit could not be assigned until check-in. At check-in, you guessed it, I was told the unit had already been assigned and nothing else was available (particularly amazing because of the huge amount of empty parking spaces there). Arrived at our unit and when we went in, the unit was in sorry condition: large patches of paint peeled off the drywall, very stained carpet, non-functioning hot tub (Unit 143C). Went back to the front desk and asked for another unit. During my 45- minute wait, a gentleman arrived who had gone to his unit, opened his door, put in some suitcases, returned to his car for more, and when he went back to his unit, the key no longer worked.
Also, a couple was there for their anniversary and said that when they went to their unit, no cleaning had been done and there were dirty sheets and towels in the unit, etc. Not a happy group at the front desk that evening.
We were eventually assigned another unit (146) - a few doors down from the one we had (even though I had asked for a unit in the 300s or 400s, which other people were receiving). It was a nice 2-bedroom unit with the room with the hot tub. It was spacious and convenient to Williamsburg, grocery stores, etc. We had a great location and plenty of room. Would we return? Probably not unless it was the only one available. They were residing a number of units, and putting on new shutters, so it appears some work is in progress. It is a shame - the grounds are gorgeous and the location is excellent - but it now appears to deserve its standard rating - at least the units we saw do. We would give it about a 6 also.
We did have a stack washer/dryer if we wanted to wash towels or anything else, which was nice. But I do think that if they want us to wash our own towels, there should be laundry detergent and fabric softener, which were not provided.
The unit itself was nice, we had a small tv and vcr in the living room. The master bedroom was plenty big, but only had a queen size bed that only had a twin size bedspread on it. The second bedroom had two twins, all the mattresses were comfortable. The living room sofa and chairs were nice to look at, but not very comfortable to sit in. The baths were okay, could use some new wallpaper, as it was lifting in both. There were photos of the refurbishing going on in the units, (before and after photos) our unit had received the new living room furniture, but the drapes were still the old and the bedrooms and bath had not received their new updating yet.
The indoor pool was in the middle of some work being done, so it was not very pretty, and the pool water was quite warm 96 degrees most days were there. The hot tub was 98 degrees, so not much difference between the two.
I do have to say the grounds at Powhatan are very pretty, and when we were there all the trees were in blossom, so it was exceptionally lovely outside.
Please be aware of the directions from the west, received from II, are not correct, so getting there was a bit of a struggle.
I would have to give this resort a 7 rating, basically because of
the lack of housekeeping services.
3/26/03 - Date of Visit: 3/15/03
We had a one bedroom, two bath "B" unit with a loft and a partial
kitchen. The unit was on the second floor but did not have a deck or any
other outside space. The upstairs loft was roomy, with two twin beds and
a skylight, although it could have used a lamp. It was reached by a full
set of stairs and could provide bedroom-type privacy for the occupants,
although there is no bath up in the loft area.
The unit was described as a 4/4 unit, but it actually could have
accommodated 6 people, since there was also a sleeper couch in the living
room. The living room was small, with limited seating--just the couch and
four wooden dining chairs to be used with the drop leaf table pushed against
the wall. The bedroom was good size, with a large dresser and closet. The
bathroom off of the bedroom had a large tub (not a Jacuzzi) but no shower.
There was a tiny vanity around the sink, but no shelf or medicine chest,
so storage of toiletries was a problem. The other bathroom, off of the
living room, had a somewhat larger vanity (but still no shelf or medicine
chest) and a stall shower, which was billed as a steam shower but the steam
didn't work.
The décor was attractive, with very nice art on the walls, but the furniture was stained, as was the carpet. The partial kitchen had a microwave and double hotplate and was generally well-equipped with several small appliances stored behind folding doors, but the small under-cabinet refrigerator was missing all of its shelves, as well as the rod that would have created a shelf on the door, so there was just open space. The freezer door was also missing. There was a full size washer and dryer, which was nice.
Housekeeping could have been better. Although we were greeted with a hang tag on the door announcing the name of the person who had "inspected" the room, when we arrived the kitchen sink was dirty, and the ice-cube trays had clearly been partially used and not refilled. (I always through out the cubes and make new ones when I arrive, anyway, but it was an indication that they weren't checked.) The doors of the stall shower were covered with soap scum.
Most disturbingly, we discovered a dirty towel and a prior occupant's loofah hanging on the back of one of the bathroom doors. Yuck. Housekeeping came to get them when we called, but did not apologize. The resort requires guests to put used linen and towels in the bathroom upon checkout, but apparently they make very little effort to determine whether any used linen is left behind. In addition to the obviously dirty towel hanging from a hook, one of the "clean" towels hanging on a rod reeked of perfume-either from being used, or possibly from a prior occupant placing clothing over the towel rod.
Judging from the small number of cars in the parking spaces, and dark windows in the units, the occupancy rate the week we were there was not very high. Nevertheless, as exchangers, we got a unit in the oldest part of the resort. I noticed that all of the newer units had decks off the second floor units, which would have been nice. Since we arrived late at night, and were only staying for part of the week, I didn't bother trying to change units. The newer units looked more attractive generally.
There was a printed schedule of arts and crafts activities. We did not attend the Monday morning orientation meeting, so there may have been more things offered, as well, that we did not hear about. The "General Store" which sold groceries, etc. closed at 6 p.m., which wasn't too convenient, although there are plenty of supermarkets and restaurants in the area. As others have noted, the grounds are very pretty and the resort is convenient to Colonial Williamsburg.
I'd rate the resort a 7, reduced to a 6 for the housekeeping problems.
The new units are very similar to the older ones,which are only a few years old. The major addition is the laundry which is in a closet created by extending the wall between the kitchen and LR. The bathroom has a couple of changes. The double sink,which had a dressing table built into the countertop,now has shelves for towels in that spot. This frees up some additional closet space in the bedroom. The exhaust fan can now be turned on and off independently of the rest of the lights.
The new units have a 60 inch Mitsubishi tv. The older unit had a smaller set...maybe a 52 inch. The set in the new unit was free standing and rolled,handy because you have to look pretty much straight on at a projection tv and the set really does not directly face the seating area. The older unit had the tv built into an entertainment center which keeps it from being turned. Hint: the kickplate on the bottom front of the furniture pops off,allowing the tv to be rolled out and turned. And why do developers install a $2,500 tv and top it off with a monoraul vcr. With stereo vcrs on sale for as little as $49 at local stores,how much do they save? And where are they finding them???? If you have a laptop with dvd or good camcorder,the tvs have connections for s video as well as rca jacks. Also,the "stero system" (boombox) in the bedroom of the new unit had controls on the top. As it sits on top of the tv armoir,it is totally inaccessable.
My only real negative comment concerns a serious lack of storage for clothing. There is one closet. In the new units,the bedroom furniture has even less drawer space than the old. You have the night tables and a few drawers in the tv armoir. That's it. Not much for two people...impossible for 4.
A real positive was,when I told "guest relations" I had no interest in breakfasts,tours,surveys,etc,they left me alone for the rest of the week...unlike my experience at other area timeshares where they did not want to take "no" for an answer.
One reason for our move to an older unit: The new buildings have
a problem with the vents from the big commercial water heaters being very
loud,to the point where it kept waking us up. They readily moved us to
an older building,which was much better. The building manager told me the
contractor,who is still onsite,is going to remedy the situation. If you
plan on trading there in the near future,you may want to check on this
in advance. I think we were about the only ones to ask for a move, so maybe
we are overly sensitive.
10/15/02 - Date of Visit: 10/11/02
Arrived Friday for the weekend with parents coming Saturday to stay
until Thursday. Grounds were quite lovely and peaceful with ponds, swans,
geese, lots of vegetation and trees, and the old plantation house. Check
in was easy in that we were early. Staff was relatively friendly, but not
as helpful because our check-in person was not from Williamsburg. Luckily
our room was ready, so we were allowed to go ahead. Later on the lines
got extremely long. They were also long on Saturday, I noticed.
When we got to the room, there was one parking place for a car, which was going to be a problem for us with two cars, at least for the two day overlap. We solved the problem by parking alongside the road. The first thing I noticed was an unpleasant smell, almost a stale air smell. I opened all the windows and sliding glass door (whose screen was barely operable) and turned the fan on for two days to get the smell out. I think I figured out that the smell came from the hot tub that was located in a room off the bedroom and living room. ONce I shut that door, the smell went away quickly. The kitchen was small, but adequate, with adequate equipment. There was a dining table, couch, chair, fireplace, and smallish TV with a VCR that didn't work in the living room. THe master bedroom had a queen bed and a TV, with a bath (which only had a bathtub, no shower). THe other bedroom had two twin beds. THe second bath only had a shower, and it was a steambath shower. WE were afraid to try it. No hairdryer, had to go back to the checkin area and put a deposit down to use a hairdryer--I wasn't too happy about that). Carpet definitely needed replacing, decor was nothing to write home about.
The place had outdoor pool, tennis courts, gazebo by the lake, volleyball court, small grocery store, and an OK restaurant. (Evidently they didn't expect so many people because we had to wait a long time to be seated and for our foor--that was OK, it was pleasant and we weren't in a hurry). We didn't go to the fancy restaurant which was supposed to be four star. The indoor pool looked scary.
Enjoyed a quick tour of Old Williamsburg, then had to come home.
Lots of other things I would have enjoyed seeing in the area. I probably
won't come back to this place, though, unless that is all that is available.
I'd rate it a 7 because of the beautiful grounds.
10/3/02 - Date of Visit: 8/01
I really liked this resort, sometimes I find Tug members to be a
little picky with certain things, overall this resort is a great place
to stay, there are not much planned activites, but plenty to do in the
area, size of unit was good, clean, condition was good, property was good,
staff was friendly, close to attractions, no problems encountered, my kids
enjoyed the pool and mini golf, I would stay here again, I rate it an 8.
9/22/02 - Date of Visit: 9/8/02
WE just returned from a very pleasant week at this resort. The unit
was a two bedroom on the first floor with hot tub. I was a little concerned
after reading some of the past reviews, but found everything in working
order. The unit was clean except for some spills on the rug. There were
some swan and goose droppings around but nothing you couldn't avoid. Check
in was fast and courtious,the pool area was clean and the flowering trees
and flowers were beautiful.I would definitely return. I rate it an 8!
7/31/02 - Date of Visit: 7/12/02
The security guard at the front gate was very friendly. The check-in
personnel were very rude and arrogant. RCI and owners checked in at two
different locations.
Powhatan has been constructed in several different phases and therefore there are units that look like they're 25 or so years old and some look fairly new. Which ones do you think RCI exchangers get?
My comments are about same as previous posters. Carpeting was dirty and stained. Screen to deck had hole big enough to put your hand through. Finger prints all over sliding glass door. Chairs on the patio were so dirty and worn that we didn't even use the deck. Interior furniture was well worn.
It appeared as though the unit had been partially painted, etc. in the last 6 months or so. They just had done nothing with the carpeting or the furniture.
Having said all this the unit was acceptable to us. Is there anything better in the Williamsburg area? Outside of the Marriott, I think this is the highest rated (by TUG members) in the area.
Williamsburg and the surrounding areas are great. We took two of our grandchildren (7 and 14) and they had a ball.
Great: Virginia Beach, Old Colonial Williamsburg ghost tours, Busch Gardens, the Old Colonial Williamsburg historic site (you don't have to purchase the $33 tour tickets - it is open and free to walk through - open to driving through after 10 pm).
Over rated: Virginia Marine Museum and Aquarium, Jamestown Island
In summary, would I go back to Powhatan? Probably if I couldn't find
something better. If you're looking for something with the quality of an
Orange Lake Country Club or a Hilton Grand Vacation Club resort, this isn't
it.
7/14/02 - Date of Visit: 6/21/02
We visited Powhatan Plantation on June 21, 2002. Check in was very
fast when we arrived. I had called for a hot tub unit a week earlier however,
I was told it would depend on availability on the check in day, which,
of course, was not available on that day. We were assigned an upstairs
unit with a wooded area in the back. We noticed lots of goose droppings
on the grass-didn't bother us much though.
Looking around the timeshare, we felt it was nice and very spacious, however, the carpet was stained and everything needed to be updated- the furnishings were just old after years of use. On the second day we were there, the family room couch and chair were replaced so it appears Powhatan is working on this. The timeshare was also not very well cleaned-our friend staying with us cleaned the dirt up off of the counter and tidied up. Obviously not the best cleaning job done in preparation for new people arriving at their time share. No bugs whatsoever in our unit.
On some good notes, the workers at Powhatan were super friendly and nice. Our doorwall screen was broken off its track and a maintenance man appeared promptly in the morning after we had checked in. It was a hot topic at the resort that they were leaving RCI and going to II, which I had not heard prior to checking in. We had to get our parking pass from a woman who wanted us to take a timeshare tour, however when I stated I only traded with RCI and was not interested in II, there was no pressure and she was very understanding. The manor house was great and tied in nicely with Williamsburg as the builder of it built one of the houses we toured in Williamsburg.
Williamsburg is a wonderful place to visit, and from Powhatan Plantation,
we had easy access to Paramount's Kings Dominion, Bush Gardens, Virginia
Beach, Yorkstown and Jamestown. We felt $20 for the week for a family to
play putt putt golf was a bit steep when you weren't going to be around
much-it would have been a nice touch to have that just included. We would
stay there again and rank the resort an 8.0.
6/28/02 - Date of Visit: 6/15/02
Just returned from a great weather week in Williamsburg, Va, at
the Sunterra Powhattan resort. This was the best weather week I have ever
had on vacation.
To my surprise, from reading previous posts, I have some pretty good things to say about the resort. The grounds were beautiful, and well kept. The pools were clean and open until 11PM every night which was nice. I stayed in 98C, which after my first panic when I got to the resort (knowing that this was an old unit), I was pleasantly surprised. They have completely refurbished the unit, even had a brand new looking hot tub and furniture in the unit. There was ample room in the hot tub, with a lounge chair built in, very nice.
All in all, not a bad unit, or week.
Now some of the minor negative points to help you plan your week:
1. The resort is obviously trying to cut costs, since there is no
more lifeguards at the pools, or activity people working the activities.
There is only one person at the indoor pool, handing out supplies (in-between
her time on the phone). Most of the activities are un-supervised.
2. Goose droppings everywhere.
3. We had maintenance problems in the room (central air dripped,
and soaked the carpet, ants everywhere). The maintenance people took forever
to get there, sometimes you had to call more than once.
4. No blender in the room, had friends over for drinks, called for
a blender at 6PM, then at 7:30PM (you get the picture). The man finally
knocks on the door at 10:45, gives the blender to my daughter saying "here,
your father was crying about this". Nice !!!
5. Got talked into the "survey", for free lunch and $50 for dinner.
Took 1 1/2 hours of them complaining about RCI, then they gave us a $50
dinner certificate to one establishment in the area, which was good.
All in all a great week.
5/28/02 - Date of Visit: 5/4/02
I'll keep this short due to the large number of existing reviews
of this resort.
I stayed in one of the newer downstairs units (414C). The unit was clean - never saw any bugs, carpet was a bit dirty. Saw carpet being replaced in nearby units so perhaps this unit was due for carpet replacement in the near future. They are building new units - same layout as the existing ones.
Checkin took about 15 minutes, they hadn't assigned me a hottub unit as I had requested three weeks prior to arrival, but switched me into one. Had to wait about 20 minutes for the keys for final cleaning inspection approval before unit could be occupied. Had minor problems with the hot tub, but had quick response from maintenance the four times I called about it.
The staff really seemed to be trying to be helpful and friendly to guests. Did not participate in any activities. I believe the price of miniature golf was $30/week per person or $5 a game.
Close proximity to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, and
shopping. Enjoyed the free ferry to Surry and tour of the Fort Smith Plantation
and Bacon's Castle, Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown. I would rate this
resort a 8.5.
5/1/02 - Date of Visit: 3/30/02
The unit contains a washer and dryer (and soap) because there is
no maid service during the week. We had an upstairs two bedroom unit with
a nice deck outside the living room. The rooms were good size. It had a
full size kitchen but we really didn't use it because we ate at the taverns
nearly every night in Colonial Williamsburg. We were so busy day and night
at Colonial Williamsburg that we never used any of the resort amenities
and spent very little time in the unit. We didn't hear about any planned
resort activities. We did hear one family grumble about the high one time
cost of playing miniature golf.
Don't bother going to the welcome breakfast or lunch for the "survey". The survey is followed up with a pitch to buy. When you decline, they send another salesperson for referrals and when you decline this they send over another salesperson for signing up for option to buy later. The coupon book they value at $24.95 mostly contains local restaurant coupons where the second entree is 50% off. We used it once.
The condition of the unit was okay. You could tell that these units are not new with the wallpaper peeling off the walls in the bathroom (probably due to the steam option in the shower) and the stains in the carpet. The grounds were very well kept. We booked at this resort for its proximity to Colonial Williamsburg which is a short drive away. If you are interested in history, you can easily spend five nights and days in Colonial Williamsburg as we did. The other two days were spent at Jamestown and four plantations. The resort did sell the plantation tickets at a discount.
This was one of our best vacations ever. It was cold in early April
but it didn't prevent us from seeing everything. Important: as soon as
you arrive, visit the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center to make reservations
for the day and evening programs. The popular programs can sell out quickly.
1/13/02 - Date of Visit: 12/1/01
Our unit was 1st floor with the large jacuzzi in a separate room
off the master bedroom. Very nice. The second bedroom had a large shower
stall with an unusual feature--a steam jet you could use that was totally
relaxing and felt like it opened up your lungs. The kitchen was in good
shape except for a non-operating garbage disposal which we didn't miss.
The maintenance came within 15 minutes to replace the VCR and when a brand
new one didn't work--and a second new one did not work, he got one for
us from an unoccupied unit. Everything was in good condition, except for
some stains on the carpet. It was our second trip there and both were enjoyable.
I would rate it 8 or 8.5
1/8/02 - Date of Visit: 12/28/01
This trip was our first experience using timeshare/RCI accommodations.
We had a two bedrooms unit, with jacuzzi, for the week during New Years
for $450. I was very apprehensive because the price was so good, but the
resort turned out to be fantastic. The jacuzzi was clean and appeared to
be santitary. The rooms were very spacious and clean, the staff was also
very accommodating. When we arrived, the jacuzzi was cold and was not working.
We called the maintainence department and by the time we arrived home from
dinner it was up and running.
The resort is located five minutes from a nice, clean shopping center, which provides you with anything you may have forgotten to bring on the trip. The resort is also located about 10 minutes, drive time, from Colonial Williamsburg.
The only downside, is that unlike a hotel, you do not have daily
maid service.
9/22/01 - Date of Visit: 8/10/01
After reading the review about this resort we to were apprehensive.
The resort turned out to be very well organized, beautifully landscaped,
and the rooms modern, neat and clean. Our only comment was the lack of
an updated room entry system (They still use cheap door locks with metal
keys...and you need carry two of them). They charge for clean linen and
towels, so bring plenty of extra laundy detergent. We had a great time
so we highly recommended this resort.
9/17/01 - Date of Visit: 9/1/01
This is a very nice resort. The grounds are beautiful and well maintained.
The staff was friendly and courteous, and the units were clean and tastefully
decorated. The pool area is particularly nice. There are 2 outdoor pools
(1 exclusively for adults). There is also an indoor pool, however this
pool was being drained and cleaned during our stay. There are 2 restaurants
on the premises. The Grill is located in the building that contains the
indoor pool. The food here is quite good and reasonably priced (the fare
is mainly sandwiches, salads and burgers, however they do have daily dinner
specials). However, there is always a smell of chlorine in the air since
the pool is located in the same building. They also have a 3 Star restaurant
on the premises called the Kitchen. The food here is delicious and the
atmosphere is beautiful. Traditional colonial fare is served here and was
much better than Christiana Campbells Tavern at Colonial Williamsburg (which
was awful).
The units are large with 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, living room, dining room and kitchen. We were on the 2nd floor, so we had a deck, but no hot tub (only lower level units have hot tubs). The bathroom and bedrooms are set up rather strangely. The guest bedroom is normally where the master bedroom would be. It has 2 twin beds and a private bathroom. However, the private bath doesn't come equipped with a shower, so guests have to shower in the main bathroom that has an adjoining door to the master bedroom.
There were some items in need of repair in our unit. There were numerous bulbs that were burnt out. The light fixture in the refrigerator was broken and the towel bar and toilet paper holder in the guest bedroom were broken. These minor problems didn't bother us, so we did not request another room.
This resort is close to all area attractions. However a car is needed in order to get around.
Check-in and Check-out were extremely easy. However, there was an
additional charge if you wanted housekeeping to bring clean towels and
tidy the unit. This is usually done complimentary at other resorts. There
is also a $10 safe deposit fee, whether you use it or not. On a scale from
1 to 10, I would have to rate it a 7, losing points for the maintenance
and the extra incurred charges.
9/10/01 - Date of Visit: 8/31/01
We were a bit aprehensive after reading negative comments about
this resort BUT we were pleasantly surprised. Our unit (372D) was immaculate
and looked like it had recently been redone. There were no maintenance
issues. The grounds (excluding the goose droppings) were immaculate although
the number of geese was down from our last visit 4 years ago. Overall I
would say that the resort is as good or better than 4 years ago. The resort
is making every effort to get its GG rating back - at checkin you are given
a comment card on which you are asked to rate everything from checkin to
carpet cleanliness on a scale from 1 to 5. What is interesting is that
you are asked to return this card within 24 hours so that any 'negatives'
can be corrected right away and any less-than-good impressions can be changed.
Overall I would rate this resort a 9 (unit, amenities, facilities, activities,
etc.)
8/21/01 - Date of Visit: 8/01
A question that keeps appearing on the bulletin boards concerns
the types of units available at Powhatan Plantation. It seems to me that
it might be appropriate to provide this information in the reviews section.
It is a rainy day today, so I got to digging around in the information
sent to me as an owner by the resort over the years, and came up with the
following information.
Units 1 thru 43 are the original 3-bedroom non-lockout units, 2 1/2 stories tall, with a bedroom, bath, and loft on the second floor and a third bedroom above that. There is a hot tub on the first floor.
Units 44 thru 91 are the 3-bedroom lockout units (A & B), again 2 1/2 stories tall. When the units are used separately, the 1-bedroom unit (A) is on the first floor and has the hot tub. The 2-bedroom unit (B) is on the upper floors.
Units 92 thru 444 are the 4-bedroom lockout units (C & D), on 2 floors. When the units are used separately, the 2-bedroom unit (C) on the first floor has the hot tub. The 2-bedroom unit (D) on the upper floor does have a deck.
I hope that this information can be of use to someone.
7/31/01 - Date of Visit: 7/22/01
After reading reviews here, we decided to arrive extra early to
make sure we would get a nice unit. Arrived at 11 in the morning. Filled
out all papers and were told that we could come back at 4 p.m. to get out
key. Asked for a downstairs unit and was told we would have to ask the
manager since the units were already filled. Well, it is definately not
a first come, first served basis because even though we showed up earlier
then anyone we still ended up with an upstairs unit. The unit had old appliances
and the carpets were terribly stained. The master bed had not been made.
The bedspread had been pulled up and looked as if it had been but there
were no sheets or pillow cases on the bed. The gutters had not been cleaned
in who knows how long. There were small trees growing up in them. The nature
trail was in desperate need of attention.
There was a huge hornets nest hanging in the trail and there was
no warning of the trail being closed. The childrens pool was filthy. And
why in the world do they have a hot tub at the childrens pool and not at
the adult pool? All planned activities at this resort will cost you. We
have stayed at many resorts with planned activities and this is the first
time we have had to pay for them. The grounds from a distance are very
pretty but you really have to watch your step. There are geese everywhere
and their droppings are all over the place. We did not enjoy the resort
and will not be going back. On a scale of 1 to 10, we give this resort
a 4.5.
7/25/01 - Date of Visit: 7/14/01
We own a week in early May at Sunterra's Greensprings in Williamsburg,
but due to a scheduling conflict we traded over to Powhatan for mid-July.
Actually this was our first trip to Williamsburg and we truly enjoyed our
stay. We traveled with four teen-aged children...sounds frightening, but
the kids are real blessings & they had a blast! We RCI traded into
unit 31...a three- floor, three bedroom unit. This layout worked well for
our family with the boys taking the third floor double bed-room, our two
girls taking the second floor that included a bath...and mom & dad
downstairs in the nice four-poster bed with walk-in closet & bath.
After reading a few of the TUG reviews, I was a bit afraid of what we would find, but for our family, we were fairly well pleased with what we found at Powhatan. I'll start with the problems and then conclude with the good stuff.
Our first bugaboo was in trying the find the place. We knew that we would be arriving into Williamsburg after dark so we tried to be well prepped with RCI directions and multiple maps & directions off MapQuest.com. We're usually pretty good at finding places, but both MapQuest & RCI let us down here. We spent nearly 45 minutes wandering around the western sections of Williamsburg trying to find the place, but to no avail. Swallowing my pride, my wife suggested (very strongly!) we stop and ask directions so we pulled into a gas station on Richmond Rd. They laughed when we asked for directions and said, "tear up the directions you're using" (the RCI sheet) and then handed us a xeroxed page of directions they had sitting on the counter. Tells me that they must have lots of requests from lost Powhatan travelers! Their simple paragraph of instructions got us to Powhatan in 5 minutes! I mentioned our map problems to the gal who checked us in at Powhatan and she didn't even make a comment...so suffice to say they must get quite a few comments on the poor directions to the place. Now that I've spent a week in Williamsburg, the RCI directions still make no sense to me! Actually Powhatan is in a very accessible location (right off Rt 199) which makes it convenient for most of the Williamsburg attractions.
The unit did show it's wear & tear. The carpets were not spotless and by week's end we did get the invasion of the little red kitchen ants even after sealing up our food carefully. Powhatan's welcome sheet warned of the summer bug problem so at least it wasn't a surprise to us when we saw them. We were "on the road" so much during the week, we didn't take the time to mess with the problem, but decided to work around it. A bit of a pain, but with four teenagers on the go..it just wasn't worth our time to relocate or hang around while they worked on it.
The other major hang-up was the goose dung. The geese are beautiful...but that leaves lots of little messes to tiptoe through every where you go on the grounds! I'd like to take a few of my hunting buddies with me next time and shoot a few of those messy birds!
On the positive side...we loved the woodsy setting including the large ponds and expansive grounds. The nature trails were closed due to "excess bee population", but we had plenty of walking space on the property to keep us busy with evening walks. The grounds are very beautiful with a variety of shrubs, trees & landscaping that make it very inviting. We all loved the pool area and with the hot weather in mid-July, we enjoyed a good deal of time relaxing in the well-kept pools. The in-room hot tub was a big hit with our teenagers also.
The Powhatan staff seemed helpful & friendly throughout the grounds. We experienced easy check in & express check out. We were pleasantly surprised at the very low-key sales approach. We received only one phone call asking for a "survey" (sales pitch) and we were easily able to decline the visit.
Overall, we were pleased with our stay and would trade into Powhatan
again without any hesitations. I'd give a 8.0 rating....and hope the management
team will continue to work in getting that GOLD CROWN RCI ranking back
again.
7/25/01 - Date of Visit: 7/14/01
I'm writing this while still on vacation here at Powhatan. It has
been an exchange with a number of problems encountered and rectified, but
that still leave us scratching our heads. We were assigned an upstairs
B unit. Staff was very friendly upon check-in, but we did have to wait
til exactly 4:00 for our keys. Upon entering our unit, the very first thing
I noticed was that the unit wasn't vacuumed. Not only that, but one of
the heavy sliding metal doors that is in front of the washer-dryer was
completely off the track, and sort of left askew. Since the kitchen is
small, it was difficult, not to mention dangerous with the kids here, to
try to work around the door without it falling over. We filled in a card
Powhatan gave us, and highlighted these problems, along with some stains
on the carpet and a burned out lightbulb.
After not hearing back from them by mid-week, I called maintenance, who came and fixed the door and light. I decided to vacuum the entire unit, and was stunned to find that the vacuum didn't even rotate, as the belt was missing. This proved that indeed the unit was never vacuumed. I immediately called both the front desk, and housekeeping, who sent up a replacement vacuum. There was a definite improvement in the appearance of our unit after I cleaned it. My husband and I question how any housekeeping staff could possibly find it acceptable to leave a unit the way they did. On a positive note, the unit is roomy, with a loft bedroom for the kids, and we like the colonial decor. The pools are very nice, beware of the 3 broken pinball machines in the game room.
All in all, at the midway point of our vacation, I would say this
is a place that needs to address the housekeeping standards. Perhaps a
checklist for the cleaning crew is in order. I will add more to this review
upon our return, should I have any more to write.
7/5/01 - Date of Visit: 4/13/01
We had a very enjoyable stay. The rooms were in good shape. Previous
people have commented about worn carpeting and older furniture. Both are
true, but we did not find them in bad shape. The jacuzzi was great but
be sure to keep the chlorine tabs in there. The kitchen was great. Everything
worked and we enjoyed the blender (shakes every night). The staff was very
friendly, especially the evening gate guy who always had a smile (even
my 5 year old commented on the "smiley guy"). There is too much to do in
Williamsburg/Virgina Beach and we decided we have to come back in a few
years. We did not do anything on the resort (programs, etc..) since there
was too much to do in town.
There were no bugs or bad occurances with critters (a local stray
cat visited us when we showed up and when we left). I highly recommend
this establishment and would give it an 8 out of 10.
7/5/01 - Date of Visit: 6/17/01
We arrived at Powhattan just two weeks later than the previous family's
reviewed week and thankfully had a completely opposite experience. After
reading mixed TUG reviews, we were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful,
well-run resort.
Our two bedroom unit was newly furnished in the colonial styles depicted in the pictures and exceptionally clean (save the spa and deck areas which backed up to the woods and could have used an extra scrub here and there). The unit had brand new carpeting, appliances, freshly painted walls, new funrnishings and certainly showed no signs of "aging" as others described.
The grounds were absolutely gorgeous with the stately and historical Manor House adding so much charm to the location. The reservations only (call early, they only seat 40), highly acclaimed "Kitchen Restaurant" located on property is not to be missed! We thoroughly enjoyed the food as well as the ambiance. No comment on our experience at The Powhattan Grill, their other restaurant.
The outdoor pools are beautifully designed and there is unlimited mini-golf for a weekly family fee, nature trails, racqetball, tennis, etc. You have golf privileges at Greensprings' Nicklaus designed course. There are not many organized kids activities, although most families (including ourselves) were out doing Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, Jamestown and all the other sites.
Unlike the previous review, our tv reception was excellent, all appliances worked, as well as fire alarms.
After having such a wonderful time in Williamsburg and at this resort
(at least an 8.5), we are totally bewildered by some of the earlier comments.
We would definitely recommend this resort as a wonderful exchange into
the Williamsburg area.
6/21/01 - Date of Visit: 6/2/01
As a former owner at Powhatan, this was my first visit. My husband,
5 children, and I had purchased tickets to Busch Gardens and were looking
forward to having a great time. The weather was wonderful the whole week.
We stayed in a 3-bedroom unit. It was not a lock- out, but one of the original
units. Although it was large, the design of the unit was not very practical.
Both the second and third floors were open (loft-style) and sound traveled
freely up and down the floors. It was like being in the same room all the
time. It was impossible to have the first and second TVs on at the same
time. Also, anyone sleeping in the third floor bedroom was kept awake by
those still up who were on the first and second floors. It wasn’t very
private.
We did use the outdoor pool, playground, and mini-golf and found them to be very nice. Wish there weren’t so many geese and their droppings around, however. We found check-in and check-out to be easy. I like the way they have parking spaces marked for each unit. Ukrops is a great grocery store nearby with unbeatable service. It was a little pricey, however Powhatan gave us a discount guest shopping card.
UNIT 38
Our hot tub was very dirty. There were too many dead bugs floating
on top for it to have been just cleaned that day. Ants in some parts of
the unit, especially on the bay window, were so thick that the walls looked
black in that area.
FIRE ALARM The worst part of staying in unit 38 was the fire alarms. On the Saturday night of our arrival the alarm went off at 3:00 am. I called the operator who, “didn’t know what to tell me. He said he would call security. I waited 20 minutes. No response so I called security myself. No answer. I called the operator back who hadn’t been able to get up with security either. Security finally came 15 minutes later (35 minutes after my call). The security guard said, “I don’t know what to tell you. The maintenance man lives 22 miles away in Newport News. He doesn’t want to come in. He says maybe it’s the battery and says you should take out the battery.” My husband and I didn’t feel safe taking out the battery in case of a real fire. Then we would have no warning. The maintenance man had no way of knowing what was causing the alarm to go off. Also, Powhatan had no way of knowing when an alarm goes off in any of their units unless the guest calls them. A very unsafe practice, in my opinion, especially given the state of disrepair we found the Powhatan units to be in. Maintenance man, Jim Mavis, showed up at 5:30 am. We’d been waiting up for him since 3:00 am. He looked over the unit and found a problem with the heating/ air conditioning unit which “may have caused the alarm to sound.” The problem was fixed on Sunday. On Tuesday night at 4:00 am, the alarm went off again. I called the front desk. “I don’t know what to tell you.” was his response. He called his supervisor then called me back. “Maintenance will be here in an hour.” (They never did show up.) All this with the alarm blaring in the background. Because I knew that they had found a possible problem before which caused the alarm to go off, and given the 2 and a half hours it took maintenance to get there last time, I did not feel safe staying in the unit and waiting. I said, “I hope we don’t burn up by then. Something’s wrong. The alarms have got new batteries. They were replaced on Sunday. We’re getting out of here and I’m calling the fire department.” We woke up our crying scared kids and put them in the car. I called 911. The 911 operator said that a one hour wait for maintenance was “unacceptable”. She said she would call the front desk and if she couldn’t get any better results from them, she would send out the fire trucks. Fire trucks arrived about 4:40 am, so I guess she didn’t get results. Firemen investigated and could not see a reason for the alarm going off. “Could be dirt, dust, or bugs. Spiders are known to set off alarms.”, said the fireman. So much for a clean unit. We were told we could move ourselves to another unit “if we wanted.” Of course we wanted! My husband and I wanted Powhatan staff to help with the move so my husband walked to the front desk to ask. They said “no”, we’d have to move ourselves. They didn’t have the manpower. Only 2 people are on duty at night, a security guard and a desk clerk for over 400 units. No offer to help us later in the day when they had the manpower, we were on our own. So, after the fire trucks left at 5:00 am, we moved sleepy, crying kids. The security guard Tuesday night was very nice and helpful, but he had to get back to his post. I do not fault him or the front desk clerk. They really did have their hands full. It is not their fault that the place is under-staffed. My husband, teenage daughter and I started packing up and moving to the second unit, #71. I started seeing resort personnel in pick-up trucks and golf carts around 7:00 am. Sure would have been nice to use one of those! We finished around 7:30 am. Around 8:00 am, I went over to the Registration building to see if I could find the person in charge. I was introduced to Rodney Bowens. Mr. Bowens seemed very sympathetic and promised to get back to me before we left for Busch Gardens that day, by the end of the day at the latest. Mr. Bowens “prided himself on getting to the bottom of a problem and finding a solution.”. We didn’t hear from Mr. Bowens that day or the next. I called him on Friday but he was “out on the grounds”. We came home never having heard back from Mr. Bowens. I told him I wanted to be compensated for our loss (not only of sleep, but we were unable to enjoy the Busch Gardens tickets we had already purchased). He told me, “No” flat out. He said, “Maintenance issues happen. You have to learn to expect it.” I feel he was overly-concerned about the night personnels’ handling of the situation and got the impression that he was going to try to pass the fault on to them. I hope none of them get fired because of lack of training, clear policies, and understaffing on management’s part.
UNIT 71
Our dishwasher was broken. The door would not close properly for
washing. After they came to fix it, we still had to lean on it with all
our might to get the door closed. The upstairs bathroom was really dirty.
It had been used and there were cigarette butts in it. The bathtub was
filthy. It had dirty shoe prints in it, dead bugs, and toilet paper. I
had to clean it before giving my four year old a bath. The TV reception
was so poor, it was unwatchable. I was told that they were upgrading their
system and hadn’t gotten to that side of the street. Our bedroom TV had
no remote. The hot tub was dirty (brownish-green stuff on the sides) and
never did get hot all week.
SALES PERSONNEL We received a total of 6 sales calls during our week at Powhatan. The premise is they come and do an “RCI Survey”. “RCI has been bought” and they wanted to come over and explain some changes. I received the first one and said, “no thanks”. My husband received the second one and invited the lady over. Her name was Joan. She wanted us to buy into the points system because RCI’s inventory was dwindling due to clubs being formed. “Soon we wouldn’t be able to get the trades we wanted.” I told her about our resale purchases. She had two pages of survey comments she wanted us both to sign. I felt like I was applying for a loan or something. It was weird, but we signed them. Then she pulled out a third paper, a legal document, giving up our right to purchase units from them. Why would I WANT to sign THAT? My husband signed before I could tell him not to. Joan wanted me to witness it. I told her, “No way! How is that in my best interest to sign? What benefit could it possibly do me?” My husband tore it up. Joan left in a fury. We never did get the $30 dinner certificate she’d promised over the phone.
CONCLUSION: Powhatan COULD be a great place if it weren’t for the poor service and maintenance issues. Those things are certainly fixable and if Sunterra’s management just ACTED as if they cared, it would be a big improvement. I recommend they all read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
UPDATE concerning the review of my 6/2/2001 visit: I finally heard
back from the management at Powhatan and I am pleased with the results.
They took the time to look into all my complaints in a careful and attentive
manner. They offered me a free return visit because they want the chance
to prove they really are a good place. They also offered me an RCI bonus
week and a dinner certificate upon my return. The dinner certificate was
originally promised by the sales staff. While I wish things hadn't happened
on the original trip to cause the complaint in the first place, I feel
Sunterra has done their best to make it up to me. I don't know if I will
go back, but I feel they are honestly addressing the problem areas. Since
I posted a complaint, I feel I ought to also post when the problem is resolved.
6/6/01 - Date of Visit: 5/01
Needless to say, I was a little leery about an exchange into this
resort after reading previous reviews. I am happy to report that the villa
exceeded my expectations. I love the smell of a new house. Upon entering
the villa, the first thing I noticed was the "new house smell". The villa
passed my white glove inspection. The rooms were very clean and spacious.
After being made aware of the "thin floors", we tried to be mindful of
the fact that there was a couple beneath us. The only negative item I need
to report is the resort seemed to be quite stingy with the soap, toilet
paper, dishwashing liquid, etc. The Ghost Tour was fun and Jamestown was
an educational experience for us all. Miraculously, we managed to avoid
the sales person all week. She tried to rope us in with mentioning the
changes taking place with the RCI point system and asking if she could
stop by and discuss them with us. All-in-all, we enjoyed our week at Powhattan
and would visit again. We knew exactly where the "hot spots" were because
of the previous reviews which were priceless. Thanks to all who generously
shared their experiences.
4/2/01 - Date of Visit: 3/23/01
The condition of the units that we occupied left a great deal to
be desired. We understand the resort is in the process of replacing carpeting,
painting, etc. Our units need all of this! We occupied three 2-bedroom
units, two of which were downstairs and one upstairs. I'd rate this resort
as a 5. It was just fine, but nothing great.
3/19/01 - Date of Visit: 3/10/01
We occupied Unit 75-A and check-in was very easy. The weather was
great, very springlike all through the weekend. We occupied a one-bedroom
unit downstairs. Initial impression...
Grounds: Spectacular, very relaxing and well-kept
Unit Features: Spacious, clean except the entry foyer's light was not working so we had to keep the entry door open to open the second door leading to the unit. I particularly liked the jacuzzi, very private and water was very clean. Furniture in the living room was older then the bedroom but functional. The dryer's timer does not function and we had to time the cycle to ensure our clothes dried properly. Just before we left, I saw a lot of new mattresses outside our unit stacked up -- I believe they are replacing the old ones for new ones.
Kitchen: The size compares to a condominuim kitchen, very functional except that they did not have any can opener and I had to buy one. They only provide a one time supply of dishwashing detergent and paper towel. There was coffee but not adequate for a one week stay.
Activities: They had a lot of scheduled activities one of which is a day trip to Washington DC for $75 per person. As there were a lot of things to do in the Williamsburg area, we did not participate in any of their activities. The pool was closed but they have a mini-golf in the area as well as tennis court and biking.
All in all we enjoyed the property very much. It was absolutely beautiful. The problem we had was very minimal and my expectations were met. I will not hesitate to exchange in the property again if I have a chance.
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