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Marriott's Villas at Doral

S

Steamboat Bill

I went to see Tiger Woods play golf today at the "ca championship" at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. It was a windy day and Tiger played well and is currently in second place. I followed Tiger on a few holes and got tired of all the crowds so I went to watch Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, and Phil Mickelson instead.

If there were 20,000 people there (just a guess), then I would estimate that 18,000 followed Tiger and 1,900 were in the clubhouse, stands, or walking around. Thus there were about 100 people following the other 49 professional players (besides Tiger).

I was able to park at the Doral with my Marriott owners card and saved $20 like they were charging other people. Most people parked several miles away and took the free buses.

After a few hours on the course, I walked around the main grounds of the Doral resort and it is very nice. The pool area is awesome and the spa looked great. I was able to walk around the various Lodges where many of the players were staying as I had a VIP pass. There were tons of security there. It was funny to see a few tourists there as if they had no idea that a major golf tournament was happening this week.

I wanted to check out the Villas at Doral (the timeshare part) and they were located across the street from the main hotel and golfing area. The walk was about 300-400 yards and I was told they had a free shuttle (but I did not see one).

I was extremely UNDERWHELMED with this Marriott timeshare. Compared to Hilton Head, Orlando, BeachPlace, or the ones in Palm Beach, this place should be reclassified as a "courtyard". There was only 4 buildings built (5 stories high) and it looked like they just gave up on developing the other 3-4 buildings that were supposed to be built on the North side.

The place simply had no character or charm and looked pretty basic. In addition, there really is nothing interesting nearby (besides golf) and the beaches are a 45 minute drive away. I checked www.redweek.com and found tons of rental there and you can get a 2 bedroom there for $120 per night.

Unless you LOVE golf at the Doral, why would anyone every want to buy here?
 
I think the lack of ammenities is why this resort was a slow seller. It is now sold out based on the buildings that they have, there were originally plans for 3 or more additional buildings, with slow sales it just didn't make sense to keep building. We stayed for two nights in November during homestead weekend, the villas are nice, though small compared to our home resort of MGV. They don't have lockoffs and as you said the only real attraction is golf. Though the beach isn't far away.
 
Though the beach isn't far away.

Doral is about 20 miles west of Miami Beach and the drive takes you thru the heart of Miami traffic.

If this isn't far away, I don't know what it.

Also, there were no timeshare sales staff on sight as this place was pretty slow.
 
I guess Marriott has learned a great deal since their early days in the timeshare business. I would guess that Doral is one of their lessons learned.

I would imagine the sales crew would have moved to other locations in Florida.

Beverley
 
We attempted and asked about a sales tour at Doral, we were referred to Beach Place.
 
I don't like the area around Doral at all ... quite run down in parts if you happen to get lost. The Doral resort is quite nice however, but the TS left me cold - and they're not even lockoffs. The course is something else, however. I feel much the same about the Atlantic City Marriott TS - non-lockoffs and 30 min from the tables, but a good course.

Manor Club ... lockoffs and non-lockoffs with 6 free rounds of golf thrown in for your MF if you are so inclined. The course isn't PGA, but the environment is hard to beat.

Brian
 
I thought Ford's Colony golf was actually very nice. I didn't figure out how they work out which of the 3 courses Marriott can use on any day. I played the same one every time. It was kind of neat because a few of the holes were right next to the timeshares. My wife could have caught a bad shot from the balcony.
 
cheap upgrade trader

I've talked to a couple of sales people at Beach Place. It seems they buy a cheap off season week there and use either the Florida Club or II to trade into the other Florida Marriotts.

We stopped to look at the place once when we were transferring from a Key West week to Beach Place. It's in an industrial park area just on the NW side of the Miami airport. I've never stayed there but I would think you would be contending with airport noise as well.
 
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I was watching the Doral PGA golf on TV this weekend and could hear the planes.

Brian
 
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