When booking vacations these days there are so many options to choose from. With our family, when possible I prefer booking vacation club villas. We are fortunate as between my mom and my husband and I we own at both Disney Vacation Club and Marriott Vacation club. This is not a commercial for either as if those types of accommodations appeal to you there are multiple ways to book them without owning there and I will include some of those below.
Part of why we love the vacation club villas is space. With having a 3 year old who goes to bed before the rest of us it is nice to be able to put him to bed and still have other rooms to be in if we want to watch a movie, read, hang out, etc. I also love having a kitchen as, not only is it more convenient to not have to eat out every meal but with things like breakfast its so much simpler. On our last vacation we went to the grocery store and spent about $250 on food for the week. We still ate out about 6 meals but it was much easier and saved us a lot of money. With most vacation clubs if you rent at least a 1 bedroom then you get a full kitchen and often a washer and dryer. Also with having a bigger unit it gives everyone their own space so my mom gets her privacy but is still in the same unit as us which is great for everyone.
With Disney Vacation Club you get all of those perks and you are right on property at either Disney World or Disneyland or you can choose one of Disney’s 3 beach front resorts. The beach front resorts are in Vero Beach, Florida (about 90 min southeast of Disney World), Hilton Head Island, or on the Island of Oahu. You can book at those accommodations directly through Disney or there are sites where owners who are unable to use their points are able to rent them and its a significant discount from booking through Disney. The one I’m familiar with is https://dvcrequest.com/ I know there are others out there. Do your research!
With Marriott there are more locations from the beach to the mountains, near theme parks, golf course, cities etc. Marriott also runs packages where you sit down with them for a presentation and you get a very discounted vacation. We did a couple of those before we bought and I definitely recommend. You do get guaranteed Marriott status with owning and your vacation club stays count toward your status for the year. You can also book stays at the vacation club properties through www.marriott.com based on availability. You can also rent points from owners through Redweek.
I know that there are a lot of options when it comes to accommodations. What are your favorite types of places to stay at when choosing your home away from home?
Three Generations of Travel 