Our stay was a tiny notch below excellent but still far just "above average", hence the rating of 5 stars. Starting with the wonderful aspects of this resort: the swimming pools are opened far later than in most hotels. The main, huge pool remains open till 1 AM and the more other more tranquil "key west" pool is open till 11 pm. Similarly, the fitness centers, which are very good (multiple cardio machines, weights and excercice machines) are open at all times. The resort is so big that experiences may vary depending on location. Party animals may enjoy the wealth of activities around the main pool (surrounded by buildings 1,2,3 etc...). The buildings in the Amelia phase are brand new and hence the suites have the latest amenities (flat screen tvs and great stereo systems) but the view is a bit depressing: construction site for another phase of the resort. We stayed in the Key West part of the resort: in front of tennis courts (great instruction available upon request) and of the more quiet pool. There is a little store with movies, food and drinks immediately to the right of the key west section.
The suites are beautiful and spacious and the beds are extremely comfortable. So why not perfect: Starwood consistently doesn't attend to service issues in the way that it should to truly match its great facilities. So, cleaning is not 100% perfect and there is usually at least one glitch. Our suite phone didn't work and wasn't fixed during our stay despite our request. It wasn't a big deal: we had a cell phone, but we left wondering how long it takes to fix a phone line.

I stayed at the Vistana Villages for 5 nights with my husband in May 2008.

The positives of the stay were:

- Good accommodation (we asked to be as far away as possible from the building works) with lots of facilities - washer/dryer etc;

- Nice pool

- Very clean

The negatives are as follows:

- The hotel is actually a long way from restaurants, disney and universal. You have to get a trolley bus to the restaurants and this service, although v cheap (1 dollar each way) only runs every 20-30 mins and stops at half 10 in the evening. The taxi fare is about £25 back to the hotel from the mid point of International drive where most of the restaurants are.

- The shuttle service (only to disney and not universal) only runs 2 services in the morning and 2 back in the evening. There are no options to return earlier and its quite a trek to get a bus back. Taxis, as above, due to the distance of the Villages are expensive.

- Only one restaurant at the hotel offering limited food. If you are a veggie, be prepared to only eat margherita pizza.

- You feel a little pressured to go to a time share presentation - just say no!! You do get the feeling at the resort that rather than a hotel it's a bit of a time share trap which is why it's important to be firm.

Overall the Sheraton Villages DID deliver. I rented the 1-bd villa and it was almost exactly as pictured online. The villa was clean and tidy, and my request for a location near the pool was granted. the bathroom did show some wear, but it was tolerable. The beautiful grounds and pool were BIG PLUSES++++.
The negatives - the customer service (front desk, housekeeping) was NOT THE BEST. Slow check-in and they hold you to a 4pm check-in. There was not one time that I visited the reception area of the resort where I did not hear at least one guest complaining about something. Also, my bedding for the sofa bed was not provided in the room and when I called to get it, I was told by the front desk clerk, that they could not tell me when I could expect it to be provided, stating that her radio communication with housekeeping was down and she would have to physically walk over in order to let them know. Needless to say I did not discover the bedding was missing until 11pm that night and I didn't think her response and general attitude was one of good customer service. Anyway I didn't receive the bedding until 1-hour later = 12pm midnite.

I checked-out the next day as planned and spoke to the front-desk manager and explained the situation. He acknowledged my issues and indicated he would speak to the front desk clerk and offered a discount for my inconvenience. Therefore I am able to say the Sheraton Vistana Villages DID deliver.

This is my 2nd stay at this place. We had a 2BR villa and it was nicely renovated with granite counter tops and flat screen televisons. Everything was in working order but I do have a few complaints about the resort:

1. While the villas have washers and dryers, the villa does not have a laundry basket. I called the front desk to inquire about this thinking that it was an oversight and was told that they don't have any for the villas.

2. I was supposed to have 1 day of basic houskeeping but it never happened.

3. The folks at the timeshare preview had us booked on the wrong date and claimed they talked to us about this on the day of check in. The funny thing is that we checked in around 10:30 pm and didn't talk to anybody.

4. Although very friendly, the staff needs some additional training to speed things up.

5. There was trash laying in the compacter room that wasn't picked up for the entire week.

It's these minor things that made my stay there so so. In the future I will probably stay elsewhere but will say that the pool is very impressive.