Marriott's Willow Ridge Lodge — Hotel in Branson

First of all, our suite met our every need.  We had a huge, fully furnished kitchen, a gigantic table, laundry machines in the room, a wonderful walk-out balcony, a master bedroom for my wife and I, and a sofa bed for my kids.  The suite had ample closet space as well as several empty cabinet drawers.  Once we packed our clothes away in drawers and closets, we felt like we were living in an apartment!

The lodge itself had so so many activities that we honestly could have simply stayed there the whole week and been sufficiently entertained.  Though their outdoor pool wasn't yet open, their indoor pool area was enormous and also offered a large hot tub.  We made a point to wake up and go swimming every morning between eight and nine, and every single time we were the first ones in there.  To have that entire room to ourselves -- it was amazing.

They also had a gaming room with board games galore, a full billiards table,  a foosball table, a pinball machine, an arcade machine, a ping-pong table, an air hockey table, and even a claw machine!  The claw machine and arcade games cost fifty-cents to play, but the rest was free.  My oldest daughter would have been quite content to stay in that room the entire time.  My youngest loved the claw machine -- we even managed to snag two critters out of it.

Furthermore, the lodge had a small baseball field, a basketball half-court, a tether ball pole, a horseshoe pit, and a shuffleboard court!  These were not old, rundown areas, either.  These spots were kept up and fun to use.

Willow Ridge also made sure to have an activity available for its guest every hour on the hour.  We were given an itinerary when we checked in that basically detailed the entire week's worth of activities.  Every night they showed a movie on a mammoth big screen TV in their den.  They also organized weenie roasts and s'mores at the fire pit.  At various points during our stay they had Italian soda samplings, local brew tastings, ice cream socials, blackjack games, three-point contests, craft time, home-run derbies, campfire stories, and several other things.  In short, there was always something going on.

I'd also like to mention that every single employee that we bumped into could not have been more friendly.  From the workers at the front desk to the cleaning staff, everyone greeted us with a smile on their face and a positive word to say.  They also made a point to ask us how our stay was going and if they could help with anything.  I'm telling you, from the top down, it was excellent...

We stayed here for six weeks using our MVC points. We spent most of our summer here and we enjoyed every minute of it!

The room was nicely appointed with a working kitchen, dishwasher and in-suite laundry machines. It was like a home away from home.

What we like most about MVC locations is the staff. The front desk staff are always friendly and helpful and the housekeeping staff is hard-working, friendly and always helpful. This place really needs to have staff appreciation events, because they all are excellent—not a complaint in the bunch!

The Activities Staff are super fun and this resort always has SOMETHING for the guests to do. If you are NOT running around Branson, seeing the awesome shows (or if you just want to avoid a day of Branson traffic), there will be something for you to do at the resort. STACEY(!!!), Zachary, Sterling, Olivia, Abigail (and I KNOW there are others, but I forgot their names) are all a blast and made us feel like family friends.

I have no real “complaints” about this place, but there are a couple “head-scratchers.” First, for all the villa doors, whenever you open them and simply let them close, the door will SLAM shut. Now, my wife and I noticed this after the FIRST time we used the door—you can’t miss it. So, after that, we took care not to slam our villa door—that’s just rude. But, all day, every day, EVERY GUEST, EVERY TIME (!!!!!) SLAMS their villa doors. I would think that folks themselves wouldn’t like listening to the slams, but I guess not.

Second, and this is apparently a “corporate” thing with Marriott, but the music that is piped in all over the resort is some strange electronic/digital music and of a kind that I have never heard of any of it. Now, the music isn’t particularly bad—and it has nothing to do with whether I like it or not. It just felt “out of place” in Branson. With all the music here (most of it influenced by Bluegrass, classic rock and country), it would make more sense to have area-influenced music. They “say” this is Marriott-wide, but when we go to Ko’Olina, Hawai’i, the resort plays Hawaiian music—ALL THE TIME. If this is a corporate decision, then Willow Ridge Lodge, please forward this “complaint” to corporate headquarters.

Other than that, this was a great place to spend the summer. We always felt like we were at home and we could relax and do as much or as little...

We stayed here and it was a huge disappointment I was looking forward to staying here for weeks because it was so pretty and when we got there our room wasn't ready which was understandable cuz we were quite early but the party that we staying with, got there about 45 minutes later and checked right in, so we asked if our room was ready and we had to wait another two hours and they let us check in early but only an hour from their standard time, which was upsetting considering our other party got right in and we had requested an early check-in like a week before then. I spoke with an older woman at the front counter and she was so rude and non-apologetic, but very argumentative. The rooms were very nice however the pool table that they shown on their website & other amenities you couldn't use and they said we could use the amenities since we were early but they were not open to play, the clubhouse was closed, the only thing that was open that I could see was the indoor swimming pool not the outdoor.. but our suits were still packed in our bags which we could not unpack because we didn't have a room. I'm thinking if you can open a swimming pool why not a clubhouse and a pool table. The gym was open, again why not have a pool table & the clubhouse. They also pipped in very loud frogs ribbiting in the activity yard at night, very obvious it was fake although we did see a woman climbing in the area to try to find the frog in the bushes... the next day I asked if we could check out an hour late because it was a 10 a.m. check out which most resorts are 11 and I must have got the same very older yet non experience front counter woman because again she was super rude and she sounded like her. She proceeded to be argumentative with me and the same attitude from the day before. When I called back to complain to the manager about how rude their staff was at the front counter and how argumentative she was even the second time around, they didn't seem to care. She said she would pass that along, to who??? She was the manager. She also made a smirky laugh when I was on the phone as if it wasn't that serious to her. I would never recommend this place, it's too much money, for a 2 bedroom suite , to put up with that kind of attitude. Totally...