Why did I look?!?! Columbus Vacation Villas (TUI use them)?

[YorkshireRose]

Does anyone have experience/knowledge of Columbus Vacation Villas with it's offices at Champions Gate shopping Center?

It's one of the management/rental companies used by TUI - in the absence of any significant planning I googled them today and sad to say of the 30 odd reviews I found, 24 are horrendous!

I completely accept our holiday in December 2021 might not even go ahead with things as they stand. My options are do nothing and hope for the best or I could swap things around and/or request refund credit etc.

Ordinarily I wouldn't have booked a villa package with TUI. It started out as 2 weeks half board in Greece, booked in 2019 for 2020 which i transferred in February this year to Florida. Previous 2 Florida holiday's were DIY, apartments 1st time and then a villa from a Dibber - both were amazing.

TUI description says the 4 bedroom Glenbrook Villas are located in Davenport. Clermont and Haines areas. The location pin takes you to an area around Glenbrook Boulevard just off Highway 27 (Four corners). On google maps one part of the resort has villas which are very similar in size and appearance from street view (on Morning Star Drive) whereas the other side of Glenbrook Boulevard - still on Morning Star look to be much more residential and dare I say quite variable in appearance (being polite).

I fully appreciate the management company will use different areas and the pin location may simply be a guide, we won't know until we pick keys up from their office where exactly we will be staying.

Some of the reviews are as recent as last month (assuming US tourists) and there are no TUI resort teams in the USA, I don't expect anything can be done, but I would be interested in what quality checks (if any) are conducted by TUI? . I have visions of us rocking up at the villa late in the evening, tired, hungry and being hugely disappointed after shelling out thousands of pounds when I could easily have found a beautiful villa on here!

I read reviews and take an objective view, however, this company's reviews are dreadful, from their general lack of interest in resolving issues to no response at all, dirty villas, broken furniture/AC, reality nothing like the pictures stated etc etc

I've seen others give variable reviews with Virgin villas, but not seen much on TUI, so if anyone has experience of either TUI or Columbus Vacation Villas, I'd be interested to hear it.

Will be a miracle if we can actually travel to the US, I just want the villa to be clean in working order and as described after all this time of saving, planning, saving, hoping, re-planning...

[duchy]

I think you might be overthinking it a bit.
You clearly chose allocated on arrival for a reason so it should have all the facilities listed , and perhaps but only perhaps more.
As you say TUI have had no holidays there this year yet so there’s not really much of a benchmark but they are a large company.
Personally I like to know I’m not overlooked and like a lake view so wouldn’t book allocated on arrival as that’s not something they guarantee but lots of people are very happy to pay less knowing they’ll get at least the minimum promised by the tour operator.

[BevS97]

I wouldn’t read anything into the google maps pin. The villas could be anywhere.

Tui have some other villa options. Would you be happier transferring to one with a different company?

[WhereIBelong]

Haven't travelled with TUI, but we have had Allocate on arrival with Virgin, Thomas Cook and BA. All were good.
,"Davenport" itself is a huge area covering many resorts.

2 of the 6 we stayed in were quite luxurious - over and above expectations, 3 were perfectly fine as listed, clean and comfy - photos in online brochure were representative, only one was shabby and had a wasp nest inside the pool enclosure... we got moved in the morning to one that was over and above.

(It is worth noting we tend to go at Easter, which is incredibly busy, so the allocate on arrivals are not going to be the best of the best. But sometimes you get lucky and they should ALWAYS be as listed.)

[YorkshireRose]

Originally Posted by duchy

I think you might be overthinking it a bit.
You clearly chose allocated on arrival for a reason so it should have all the facilities listed , and perhaps but only perhaps more.
As you say TUI have had no holidays there this year yet so there’s not really much of a benchmark but they are a large company.
Personally I like to know I’m not overlooked and like a lake view so wouldn’t book allocated on arrival as that’s not something they guarantee but lots of people are very happy to pay less knowing they’ll get at least the minimum promised by the tour operator.

See more...

You may be right about overthinking it. I chose the holiday as it was the same price as what I paid for Greece (which wasn't cheap). I didn't think Greece would go ahead because of the situation with covid and as it turns out I'm glad we haven't gone there. I didn't realise until recently the package villa collections include star-rated options which MAY offer a bit more reassurance in terms of expected standards. It comes down to whether I will be happy to leave the booking as is and take a chance or contact thomson for other options. I'll be contacting them

[YorkshireRose]

Originally Posted by BevS97

I wouldn’t read anything into the google maps pin. The villas could be anywhere.

Tui have some other villa options. Would you be happier transferring to one with a different company?

See more...

I think you're right! I'd never really thought about package villas allocated on arrival beforehand as always done DIY. If it's true that thomson don't get involved and leave the allocation to what appears to be a less than efficient management company, I prefer not to take that chance!

[YorkshireRose]

Originally Posted by WhereIBelong

Haven't travelled with TUI, but we have had Allocate on arrival with Virgin, Thomas Cook and BA. All were good.
,"Davenport" itself is a huge area covering many resorts.

2 of the 6 we stayed in were quite luxurious - over and above expectations, 3 were perfectly fine as listed, clean and comfy - photos in online brochure were representative, only one was shabby and had a wasp nest inside the pool enclosure... we got moved in the morning to one that was over and above.

(It is worth noting we tend to go at Easter, which is incredibly busy, so the allocate on arrivals are not going to be the best of the best. But sometimes you get lucky and they should ALWAYS be as listed.)

See more...

Thanks for your reply and maybe I'm worrying about nothing. It's just that this holiday feels more precious now than ever before, you cannot control every single aspect even with an unlimited budget (which we haven't got!). So you try to make informed choices within your budget. I can cope with a few minor things not being up to scratch, but dirty, tired old villas shouldn't even be a thing

[DonnaD]

You are definitely reading too much into the pin location. For one that area is Cleremont not Davenport or Haines so just a random pick out of the large area they use. Secondly the main difference between the two sides of the road is that the Southern half was built earlier and the builders offered much more choice in layout and finishes ie different floor plans and colors of roof shingles. The northern section is newer but looks to me like they offered much fewer choices and the owners are probably forced to repaint etc from a limited palette.

Neither are "resorts" just subdivisions and are both probably mostly filled with fill time residents.

As mentioned the description on your booking actually covers a huge area and might not be anywhere near there.

[toots82]

I don't know who it was but in 2015 we had to register our aoa villa (with Tui, named Southern Dunes) in Championsgate. The Tui rep was the one in there (same lady we had dealt with at the airport) and the only reason we spoke to another guy was to get the wifi password. I'm not saying the reviews you've seen aren't correct but please don't worry too much, whilst we were in there, one lady was in kicking off because the tables in the brochure are fully set and fancy but their table wasn't set up when they arrived...seriously.

Our villa was fine, clean, tidy and had everything we needed. I'm sure I have some pictures

This was a basic villa.

[Starbucks14]

Hi! are you there now? There’s a lady on a Facebook group from UK who has just landed and been told to check in at these villas but the only address she has been given by TUI is an empty shop in a mall! If you’re there already where did you check in? And if not, make sure to check with TUI before you go as the info they are currently handing out is woefully incorrect!