Marriott's Grande Vista — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

At check-in, we were offered a $175 gift card to attend a 90-minute presentation. Naturally, the offer sounded appealing, and we agreed to participate the following morning at 8:30 AM. However, we were woken up as early as 7:00 AM with multiple reminder calls (at 7:00, 7:30, and again at 8:00), which felt excessive and intrusive, especially since we had already confirmed our attendance and were told we’d be charged the $175 if we didn’t show.

Parking was manageable during the week, but as the weekend approached and the resort got busier, it became much more difficult to find a spot near our building. Also worth noting: each building appears to only have one elevator for dozens of rooms — we were on the 4th floor, and the wait times were long. That said, the two-step room entry system (two locked doors) made it feel safe and potentially helped keep bugs and wildlife out.

We stayed in a two-bedroom suite with a king bed in one room and two double beds in the other, along with two bathrooms. The unit was clean, cozy, and comfortable. Beds and pillows were fine, and overall, it felt homey. The bathrooms were in good condition as well. As expected in Orlando, the water had an odd smell, but that’s fairly common in the area.

Now to the presentation — this is where the experience started to take a turn. While the rep was friendly and knowledgeable, the pressure to join the Marriott Bonvoy Vacation Club was intense. Initially, we were interested, especially because we travel frequently and liked the idea of prepaying for future trips. However, the more we were shown, the more uncomfortable it became. Despite saying no multiple times, we eventually gave in — partly due to how persistent they were. Along with my significant other, his brother, and his wife, we all signed up.

Once we had time to reflect, we realized the program wasn’t a good fit financially. While the concept sounds great on paper, the hidden costs (a yearly $2,000 maintenance fee after paying $20,000 upfront for the deed) were concerning, especially because they’re subject to change at any time. We decided to cancel within the 10-day cancellation window.

This is where things went downhill. We reached out to our sales rep, Jason Hooke, as he had told us we could contact him directly with any questions. While he initially acknowledged our cancellation, he became less responsive afterward. We asked for written confirmation and a refund receipt by Friday — nothing came. My significant other’s brother followed up again, and when Jason finally answered, he expressed irritation, and claimed we were being bothersome. His tone was rude and unprofessional — especially disappointing coming from someone in a customer-facing role.

Eventually, after an assertive email from my significant other’s brother, they received their refund promptly. However, ours wasn’t processed until four days later. For a company that takes your money quickly, the delay in issuing a refund and sending a confirmation was unacceptable. It felt like we were kept in the dark and had to chase after basic communication that should have been initiated by them.

I find this level of service and follow-through unacceptable — especially from a large, reputable brand like Marriott. The lack of transparency, the pressure tactics, and the unprofessional handling of our cancellation has left a lasting negative impression. I hope this review prompts Marriott to reevaluate how they train their staff, particularly those involved in the Vacation Club presentations.

Unfortunately, due to this experience, I will not be booking with Marriott again. I strongly urge others to proceed with caution before signing anything on impulse, no matter how good the offer sounds. Marriott,...

We came down from Jacksonville to celebrate my daughter's 18th birthday. I had a total of 4 kids and 2 adults so we got the two room villa (which was very roomy and had all the amenities you could need/want). Plenty of room to move around, adequate # of beds, kitchen, two full bathrooms, balconies in each room, dining area, etc. Adjoining door in between was perfect for checking in on the kids when we needed to and convenient, so kids didn't need to actually go outside to get to our room, if needed. Check in was smooth and front desk agent was very nice. We wanted to get an early check in, room was not ready and front desk agent said we would get a text when it was ready. We went to lunch and received a text that our room was ready (early). Check in was seamless and we appreciated the early check in. Went to the main pool and visited the pool bar. The bartender we encountered wasn't very polite, welcoming and didn't even smile or make small talk when she interacted with us. She took our drink order, made our drinks, we paid and went on our way. We visited the pool bar a few more times after this and each time she seemed to get a little better with the conversation and smiling but some of her comments were snippy and almost offensive. Example - we made a joke about coming to see her often during the day because we had my 18 year old daughter and 3 of her friends with us, to celebrate my daughter's birthday and with 4 teenagers (3 were 18 and one was 17) we might need a drink...or two. Haha! She clapped back with "well, YOU decided to have kids, not ME". She was NOT joking. I was stunned. I am not one to be left speechless but her comment completely took me out. We were making light of the fact that we had 4 teenagers with us and that's what she thought was appropriate to say? Again, she got better each time we went to get a drink but that is not customer service to me. We liked the way she made our drinks and asked her if she would be there much longer as we would've liked for her to be our bartender. She again, clapped back with "I'm leaving in an hour, I don't live here and have other things to do". At that point, we decided to just get drinks and move on, not engage in conversation with her any further. It was pretty clear that she was there to do her job (which I am not even sure she likes) and go home. Sad, as she is a good bartender.

Main pool has free activities planned daily. On the days we were there they played the movie "Sandlot" on a large, portable screen (poolside) and the morning we checked out there was an "aqua dance class". There are multiple pools throughout but only the main pool has the activities and pool bar.

There is a coffee shop on site as well, next to the main pool. Coffee was good but the service was no. Young girl that took our order didn't smile and greet us - she actually looked pretty miserable. We placed our order and waited over 10 min for our 2 iced coffees. Gentleman ahead of us was waiting approx 15 min for his. The gentleman making the coffees appeared to be in no hurry but I did notice he had a rather long list of coffee orders.

Front desk did allow us to have a little later check out (11am, opposed to their 10am required check out) as we had delays in getting 4 teenagers up and moving. This was very much appreciated.

Resort is conveniently located close to parks, I Drive, restaurants, etc.

Overall, we...

2 bedroom 2 bath Villa with full kitchen and washer dryer for 3 adults and 2 kids. This was a great room for us.

The room was cozy and comfy overall.

Housekeeping was hit or a miss. She was from Haiti and did not speak English. Once she didn’t clean the master bedroom, and the another time we and our guests had to rush out to avoid to risk of her not understanding us and leaving the apartment uncleaned.

The presentation that they asked us to sit on was very pushy. Shami Mendies was the rep for us who gave the presentation. We liked the idea,but it wasn’t a good time since our kids are young. Shami skirted us out of the room as we had just offended the whole group by saying no. Shami has a brother who is a monk, he asked us ‘what are we chasing?’ I clearly told him ‘we aren’t chasing anything, however you are chasing this sale to make your target, and that is a life of suffering’. If you read this Shami, you still have time to get back to your roots of Buddhism.

The raccoon had caused ruckus on our side of the building, it took multiple attempts to reach to the front desk. The hotel makes it difficult to reach front desk by all means. Staff just simply doesn’t care at all. The said raccoon had then opened up trash and made mess all over the floor. Thankfully the cleaning was done before we all got back from our park trips.

I had an emergency at work and needed to use secured wifi for a government laptop. I asked at front desk, and they said NO. They told me to use the free wifi that was offered and they couldn’t help me with anything even though I had a secured device that needed a secured network. I had to go to Starbucks and use my hotspot as there is no signal at the hotel.

The pools are not quiet and relaxing at night. People bring their own speakers and play music on top of the pool music. Pool area looked very ghetto other the kind of public and activities people were doing. I wanted to go and enjoy a quick swim and a dip in the hot tub but I couldn’t relax due to the noise level and the bright lights. There were 4 sources of music playing at the pool. I think for most guests this is a great place but I prefer relaxing and quiet pool time especially at 10pm, but I didn’t find that.

Our car was doored in the parking lot and we paid $25 per day for parking. How is that even justified?

We were given a room that was the very end of the property, I think because we were not owners. It didn’t have much of a view, but it had quietness and privacy which worked for us and so no complaints. Marriott’s lack of service here actually worked in our favor.

The mango lemonade frozen at Copa loca was great. Definitely recommend.

The grille had great food especially their grilled chicken. We had a whole family meal here.

Drinking water from rooms is not healthy. I recommend getting bottled water for sure.

Reading other reviews I’m not really shocked we had this experience. I feel glad we didn’t sign up for the being the OWNERS at the Marriott Vacation Club. I’m a Marriott Bonvoy member, I’d keep using that membership. Overall it was a great stay. Having a place to come back to with kids to relax and eat was great. If we came back to Orlando, we won’t be staying here. We might stay at a different Marriott property, but...