Is Marriott Harbour Lake worth $300/night?

[hegsag]

I am planning on staying at Marriott Harbour Lake for a few nights ... it's saying it's $300 a night and I'm wondering if it is worth it. I have young children so I think the pirate theme will be great for them but not sure if it's worth spending $300 a night. TIA

 

[littlestar]

Sign up for a Marriott Rewards card (it's free). Then use the M11 code to try to get that price down. If you want me to, tell me your dates and I'll punch in my rewards card number and the M11 code and see what price I can get to come up for your dates.

 

[happymommy]

It does look super nice, but I'd have a hard time paying that too. And I own a Marriott timeshare (Hawaii).

I'd definitely look for discounts too. I can help you too if you want - with dates and prices.

Have you considered the Disney villas? I don't know your time of the year, but we've gotten Boardwalk one bedroom villas for $250 to $400 before. That location is worth the extra $ with kids - we can go back during the day a few times to rest and have a snack. The pool at the Boardwalk isn't my favorite, but the location is (I haven't ever been able to get as good a deal at the Beach Club villas, or I'd have done that for the pool).

 

[dioxide45]

If you knew someone with an II (Interval International) membership, you could likely buy a getaway through them for only $400-$500 for a week. Usually works out to less than $100 per night for a two bedroom with all taxes included. If you aren't staying an entire week it can still save money even if you cut the stay short of seven days (especially when you are looking at $300 a night). Of course knowing someone who owns a timeshare and has II membership and enough knowledge to know about it is the problem.

Of course if you are looking to travel during a peak week (Easter, Spring Break, Prime Summer, or Christmas/New Years) then this option may not work as the supply is more limited.

What dates are you looking to travel?

 

[Abharmagic]

No-- it's nice-- but that's waaaay too expensive. I have stayed at all the Marriott Timeshares in Orlando, and that's the most kid friendly, but also the least luxurious. Search around, you can find it for less.

 

[kathy884]

I love to stay in the timeshare resorts, but if I'm staying for a full seven days (that's the period timeshare owners typically rent) will rent from an owner to save a great deal of money. The sites I usually use to find owners with a week/resort I am interested in are TUG2.net and Redweek.com. To date, I've done about a dozen timeshare rentals in general (six of these have been in the Orlando area).

 

[Detailor]

I love to stay in the timeshare resorts, but if I'm staying for a full seven days (that's the period timeshare owners typically rent) will rent from an owner to save a great deal of money. The sites I usually use to find owners with a week/resort I am interested in are TUG2.net and Redweek.com.

This is good advice.

Before we owned timeshares we rented from timeshare owners - several times in Orlando. For most weeks you should be able to find a two-bedroom/two-bathroom timeshare villa for well under $1000 in the Orlando area for a seven-night stay (I generally aimed for around $700). Either TUG or Redweek are good sources to find asking prices but keep in mind that most owners are willing to negotiate pricing as long as they can recover their maintenance fees and exchange costs. There is a lot of timeshare inventory in the Orlando area so that favors the smart renter.

Dick Taylor

 

[hegsag]

Thanks for all the responses. I am a Marriotts Rewards member. I only have enough points to cover three nights (125,000 points) during the New Year week. I was planning on going for a week and just paying for the 4 extra nights that I don't have points for. However, it doesn't sound like it's worth the $$$ so we cancelled and am going to save all my points & hopefully have enough for a whole week next year (255,000 points for this particular week).

 

[summerrluvv]

We stayed there last May 1st-4th for 50,000 points. They were offering a free night redemption. It was GREAT! My son had a total BLAST in the pools and we loved the planned activities and mini golf. I have vowed to make it a yearly trip with just him and I. I probably wouldn't pay $300 a night though!

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for all the responses. I am a Marriotts Rewards member. I only have enough points to cover three nights (125,000 points) during the New Year week. I was planning on going for a week and just paying for the 4 extra nights that I don't have points for. However, it doesn't sound like it's worth the $$$ so we cancelled and am going to save all my points & hopefully have enough for a whole week next year (255,000 points for this particular week).

NEW YEAR'S WEEK??!! That is a whole new ball game, that is probably one of the top two or three weeks for demand in Orlando. You should have mentioned that in your first post.

 

[hts]

I don't know about your specific week, but we're heading back down to Horizons in mid-Jan (we pull our boys out of school for a week in mid-late Jan every year) and we're paying $700 (same price as 1/09) for the week for a 2br/2ba in 2010. Quite frankly the rooms leave something to be desired (MGV's rooms are much nicer), but the boys love the pools/slide, splash area, basketball/ping pong tables, putt-putt and of course the scheduled activities are geared more for the 10 and under crowd. In another year or two (our boys are 8 & 9) I suspect we'll migrate back across the street to MGV, but for now, we're digging on the $100/night (inclusive of taxes/fees) for a 2br/2ba at Horizons, especially since we only go to WDW for 3 days (DC and Seaworld are two other days and they're maybe 1/2-mile away from Horizons; heck, we could almost walk to either if we weren't so fat/lazy).