We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
The Marriott Lakeshore Reserve is part of a trifecta of Grande Lake resorts
The are three resorts on the 500 acre Grand Lakes reserve: Ritz Carlton, JW Marriott, and the timeshare property where we stayed, Lakeshore Reserve. All three are beautiful properties and have access to one another’s amenities. So if you’re staying at the Lakeshore Reserve you can mosey on down to the Ritz Carlton and enjoy their pool, restaurants, and activities. Because of this, I’m not really sure why anyone would stay at anything but the Lakeshore Reserve. As you’ll see in the following review, it’s a fantastic property. You can use cash, Marriott Rewards, Vacation Club trade, Marriott Club points, Trust points, and also trade with Interval international.
At the bottom of this review I have a tip/hack as to how you can Maximize your Marriott Vacation Club Trust points.
The Deets
- When: November 2015
- Room Type: 3 Bedroom Villa
- Status: Marriott Vacation Club Owner/Marriott Gold
- How much: Trade in using Marriott Vacation Club
There were tons of things to do on site – as well as at the other resorts with reciprocal use right.
- There is a great golf course
- Great fitness center
- Multiple Pools
- Tons of outdoor activities like cornhole, walking trails, bocci ball, shuffleboard
The Location:
The Grande Lakes reserve is 500 acres of secluded refuge in the hustle bustle of Orlando suburbs. It’s within 15-20 minutes of the Disney and they provide a free shuttle. It’s also smack in the middle of a lot of great outlet shopping and restaurants: the Orlando Premium Outlets are roughly 10-15 mins by car.
The Lakeshore Reserve sits the furthest back on the property. The Flagship Ritz Carlton is easily seen from Central Florida Parkway and is the first resort you will pass after entering the property and making your way back to the timeshare section of the property.
We were lucky and our villa was at the far end of the Lakeshore Reserve property. The grounds have many walking trails and connecting walkways between properties and even within each contained resort. We really felt as though we were away from the mania that can exist surrounding Disney.
Our Villa:
We were staying in a townhouse, 3 bedroom villa. I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with the quality and presentation of not only the resort, but the individual villas. Without even entering the unit I was stoked for our stay. I would rank this as the best Marriott timeshare I’ve ever been to, it was fantastic.
- 1625 sq ft
- 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths
- granite counters and stocked kitchen: silverware, bowls, soap, etc
TWO LEVELS!
The living space was a little broken up
There are other units that have a cleaner lay out. You couldn’t really be in the kitchen or the dining room and see people in the living room. I did see other units that did have a more open floor plan and allowed for more direct interaction.
Main Floor Bed/Bath
Heading on upstairs
- Second guest Bedroom
Master Bedroom 2nd Floor
Outdoor Space
The outdoor space was great. It wasn’t overly large, but it had enough space to lounge during the day, have some drinks, and then eat dinner in the breeze. Just to have all this space AND have access to all 3 resorts is ideal.
Why do I love this place so much? You can save huge money and still enjoy 5* amenities.
So we went last November time period. Let’s take a look at what it would cost you to do the same exact thing this year. Nov 27-30
The JW Marriott:
The Ritz Carlton
LakeShore Reserve: Grand Vacation Club property
Look at the difference in the rates, and you still get to use all the amenities of the more expensive property! That is incredible.
You can charge to your room, have groceries delivered, order room service…all of those nice amenities offered at the other two resorts AND save an enormous amount of money. If you have a family and want to enjoy 4 and 5 star amenities but have space and save some bucks…stay at the LakeShore Reserve and then use the Ritz and JW amenities.
Here’s a tip if you are using Vacation Club Trust Points
These points are incredibly valuable. Each Trust Point can convert to Marriott Rewards at the ratio of 1:32. So you don’t want to flippantly use these bad boys because you can convert them to Marriott Rewards and get better value. Here’s an example
Here’s the Hack and how you could get twice the stay for the roughly the same number of points and some cash.
A 3 Bedroom Villa for the week =3675
If you stayed Sun-Thurs it’s 375/night =1875
Two Sun-Thurs stays= 3750
You could book two separate Sun-Thurs night stays. This would cost you a mere 75 Marriott Trust Club points.
You could just rent the villa for those two nights – up above that would be $450/night. But, there are other resorts in the area that are much cheaper. We stayed over in Kissimmee at the Orange Lake Resort in a different 3 bedroom villa prior to this stay and it was $175/night. Yes, $175/night for 3 bedrooms. It wasn’t 5 star, but it’s an amazing complex with several golf courses, tons of pools, tennis, etc etc.
Here’s for the Fri/Sat after the above dates
You could break this into two different bookings, spend 75 more Marriott Trust Club points and $350 and enjoy a 10 day vacation for not a whole lot more than your original week would have been. Anyways, this is just another example of how you can find sweet spots.
Looking to Visit Orlando and indulge at the Lakeshore Reserve? We always appreciate you using our affiliate links 🙂
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.