Anyone been to Highlands Reserve with Virgin?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by sally_collingw

After all the reports of Virgin villas etc wouldn't it be prudent to look at the villas here on the Dibb?

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I had booked before I really got into Dibbing Been saving for 3 years and can't afford anymore

[Guest]

Same here, I had looked at alot of other reviews first and they were all positive except if you stayed in the townhouses. Everythings easier with hindsight, but not overly helpful when we've all already booked it. I have spoken to virgin(england) and the lovely lady on the phone was quite reassuring. So I think we may have to just cross our fingers?

[Guest]

Completely agree with Kina, they are OK but basic. The purpose of my post was really to set realistic expectation levels based on our experience.
When we do it again, we will book the house direct to be sure of what we get.
Again we had a great holiday apart from the hassel with the first house

[Orlandobelle]

Originally Posted by Yogibez

Bottom line is the houses (or the ones we saw) are at the bottom end of the market (and the price reflects this - they are cheaper than Virgins standard villas (something I had not realised) - You get what you pay for. Would we go again to Highlands - Defiantly, but not with Virgin / Regal Palms as we like our comforts on holiday. If you are happy with center parks type basic furnishing, then it will be fine

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Is it just Virgin where the prices are cheap? I researched my villa extensively and would never have described Highlands Reserve as "cheap".

Why are VH homes in particular so basic? I know the spiel about how little the owners get through these type of bookings but are the other tour operators' homes the same?

I too had heard nothing but good reports about HR before

[Guest]

Just out of morbid curiosity now, but what sort of house did you end up with? what was the pool like? and could you be a bit more specific in what made it feel more basic? and again any pics would be great.
Thanks

[Guest]

Originally Posted by fineypops

Just out of morbid curiosity now, but what sort of house did you end up with? what was the pool like? and could you be a bit more specific in what made it feel more basic? and again any pics would be great.
Thanks

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I would love to see some pics too? Did you have a washing machine, TV, etc?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Jakey rowling

A little tip for staying at HR.

There is a exit from the estate at the north end to take you to Publix, Applebees , italian, chinese and Indian takeaways.

Chinese delivers, not sure about the indian but we weren't too impressed with the indian to be honest. Nothing really wrong with it, just the sauces were different and small portions.
The chinese gets a

It's walkable or at least saves you going onto the US27.

See here, centre the map on HR and use the birds eye tab to get some pretty good pictures of HR villas.

maps.live/default.aspx?v=...kcz_&encType=1

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I love playing with those sites!

Do you know whereabouts the Regal Palms bit of HR is? We have booked a townhouse.

[dismum]

As a rough guide this is what one man co pays to owners .The man co is a a fairly large one and it deals with TO bookings.Perhaps you can tell why sometimes theses AOA homes are not so great.

for a 4B/3Ba they quote $72 per night (after commission)
Out of that the owner pays tax (11%-13%), Cleaning ($90), Monthly Charge ($405)
This leaves $4,900 to cover Property Tax & Insurance
Then you just have to find Utilities, Cable, Wear & Tear etc
prices will vary slightly for other sized homes but not by a lot but then the cleaning charges will be higher as will property taxes and insurance .

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Yogibez

I complained bitterly because I believed I was to be staying in a Superior villa, and got the Virgin rep involved. ... The Virgin rep confirmed that these were basic houses, and even he thought the description of Superior is very misleading...

Bottom line is the houses (or the ones we saw) are at the bottom end of the market (and the price reflects this - they are cheaper than Virgins standard villas (something I had not realised) - You get what you pay for.

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Yogibez

Thanks for posting your experiences. We are due to arrive at Highlands Reserve for 14 nights on 4 July. From memory when we booked our holiday, back in September 2007, Highlands Reserve was at the top end in terms of cost and my expectation was that it was certainly of a better standard than the standard houses. So I'm surpised to read that these houses are sub-standard.

One of our party is on kidney dialysis so it is imperative that the house isn't filthy. Thanks for the heads up. I've got a direct number for Superior Homes because we have been liaising with them for delivery of dialysis fluids. I'll make sure that they are aware of the importance of a clean villa. I'll also be contacting VH to confirm their definition of "superior". Given my FILs health problems I want to make sure that this holiday is perfect because in all probability this will be his last family holiday.

Thanks again for the warning.

[donnakirby]

we have booked a four bed villa with virgin and wonder do they have a spa pool?

we are worried too now.

dont know whether to cancel and book a different location with them.