Marriott's Villas at Doral
 

Has anyone stayed there recently or played golf at any of the courses? Looking for recommendations....thanks.

No, I haven't, but I have a 3 day stay there this weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights). I doubt if I play golf, a little too expensive for my taste and for my hacking ability.

Anything specific you want to know about it? I can take a look while I am there.

I stayed there two years ago and played
 

on the Blue Monster. I stayed in early February and it was two weeks prior to the PGA tournament held each year on that course.

I found the resort to be very nice and the course to be outstanding. The fairways and greens were immaculate. Since we were playing from the "white" tees, I also found the course to be manageable, and not long as I had feared.

I enjoyed the visit, and would go back.

Just looking in general for recommendations on places to eat, which courses to play, anything special to/do see while at the resort. How you liked it...requests for room types, etc. How to get the best discounts for golf, etc.

Thanks...thinking of a trip in November..

I am staying at Doral now.

The checkin was okay. I had reserved a basic room, garden view, and I guess I was upgraded to a golf view. This doesn't mean that I really face the golf course, but the rooms are all slanted so you can see at least a bit of the course. I can see about a 3rd of the 18th on Blue, the putting green, and some of the tee area on 1(?).

The rooms are okay, the typical room you would expect to see in a Marriott or a Ren. Beware if you get a room with a door leading to another room. I had people in the room next to mine the first night and I swear they sounded like they were in my room, there is absolutely no sound proofing in the door at all. Bathrooms have a large area, but the shower (separate from the tub), is very small

I was offered the amenity and it was deleivered promptly. However, I was still parking my car when it arrived. If you want to self park, park near the lobby first and move all your luggage. Self parking is quite far away and you can either walk back or they have a shuttle, either way it is easier without any luggage to deal with.

If you were plannig on spending a nice relaxing day at The Spa at Doral, forget about it. The Spa is undergoing a major revovation. It is completely closed except for the work out room, all other spa services are being done in Lodge 3 of the main area. Which means they are being done in normal rooms (or whatever they have in Lodge 3). Also, self parking is on the other side of the Spa, which means that if you decide to walk back, you get to walk through a construction zone.

Haven't golfed yet and I doubt if I do. But the courses look busy and fairly well maintained. The island green on 18 (not sure which course) looks rough when I looked at it from the parking lot. Again, there is construction going on to the north side of the golf instruction school. Not sure if it effects the golfers but it does look like at least a few holes go right by it.

Sorry, no help on places to eat. The prices are too rich for my blood, $13 for a burger at the poolside place. But I am not here on vacation, so my spending habits are different then they would be if I was on vacation. But there are several places to eat on property.

Overall it is decent but not someplace I would come back to, at least not on a business trip. The lack of a C-Lounge and no breakfast or evening food, plus the parking situation, does it for me. If you were here on vacation, and were going to golf here, then it would probably be nice, but still expensive.

Before I get flamed - yes, I do realize it is a resort and is meant to be used on vacations, not business trips. But they had a good rate this weekend and I wanted to see what it was like, plus just being able to say that I have stayed there. I am not sorry I stayed here, because now I know what it is like.

I'm staying at the Doral now. The people have been nice and the restaurants aren't bad, but I had a bit of an incident that really showed me that the housekeeping here is sub-par. If you are faint of heart, please don't read the rest of my post!!!!!

First off, my amenities looked used. Ew. I hid them so housekeeping would replace. They didn't, but I have to admit my room was in a state that I wouldn't necessarily blame them for forgetting to replace all but a bar of soap. I am a very tidy traveler but conditions were beyond my control last night.

Last night after dinner, I took off my shoes in the hallway leading to my room. Stepped on a shard of hard plastic. It went in a centimeter deep and I immediately gushed blood.

There are two large splatters of where I stepped on the thing and then removed it, then a two to three inch line on the carpet for all of the twenty some-odd steps I had to take to get to the bathroom in my suite. Oh, and extra splatter from where I stopped to find my key.

In the bathroom itself, I did a reasonably good job (but not perfect) of cleaning the blood that landed on the floor but I absolutely ruined a few towels as the wound must have included a vein or something. After housekeeping service, there's still blood on the floor.

Right after I cleaned my foot up, I called the front desk and they sent a security guard with band-aids and later a maintenance guy to check on me and to investigate the cause of the incident. I pointed out to them all of the plastic shards that were in the hallway. Admittedly they were both very nice as was the manager I saw today (didnt want to pay for my Neosporin).

It's funny since I'm not really all that injured. I won't forget which room I'm in. However, if I were the next guest in this room and they don't try to clean these dingy carpets and floors I'd be disgusted.

Actually, I'm already disgusted.

I stayed there for a week and a half in March for work, was nice but had problems with the billing as everything went to the master but some how someone wanted to play TWO rounds of golf on my room tab!!!! The rooms/building are older and are need of some refirbishment. The new ballroom is nice, but had just been finished when I was there, so still had some problems.

Doral = Dump
 

I wrapped up a stay at this dump this week and have a word of advice to everyone: stay away.

First, the grounds are very nice: the pool area is well maintained, the property is beautifully landscaped, and the golf course is great.

But beneath that beautiful veneer is a dumpy airport hotel that would make a Days Inn property look like a Four Seasons resort. I knew I was in trouble upon arriving and checking-in on FourSquare to see another person's recent comment "Four Seasons prices with Days Inn accommodations" and it was really just that.

The rooms were small, smelly (mix of mold and cigarette smoke smells), with poor beds/bedding, and unbelievably thin walls. I could hear the keystrokes the person in the room next to me on his computer, while I could hear every word and every sigh in the phonecall conversation in the room on the other side of me.

My room was so bad, I requested room changes twice. In the hundreds if not thousands of nights I've spent in hotel rooms at hotels/resorts of varying sizes and price points, I have never requested a room change before. More shocking were the number of room changes I noticed there; at the bar, six other people were discussing room changes they too had done. One other guest described his first room accurately: "it smelled of cigarettes and lipstick, as if I was out with a cheap hooker."

They really need to demolish the hotel room buildings and put up new ones. It's a decent location with nice grounds, all that's lacking is a remotely decent hotel experience.

And for being a glorified airport hotel, the prices were a bit ridiculous for food/drink. Poolside drinks started at $17/each while a small buffet breakfast was available in their casual dining place for $25/head. While $17 may be a fair price for a trendy South Beach resort, they really have no excuse to charge that kind of money far away from the ocean next to the airport.

They're asking me if I prefer Hibiscus Island or Palm Island building. Which would be better for walking across the street to the Trump property for my conference?

This thread is about the former Marriott Doral Golf Resort and Spa, which became the Trump National Doral in 2012. (Marriott's Villas at Doral, the Marriott Vacation Club timeshare resort across the street, was not part of the acquisition by Trump.)

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/...ort-kicks.html

Here's a diagram showing the buildings at Marriott's Villas at Doral:

http://tug2.com/ResortImages/Florida...a/doralmap.png

Hibiscus and Palm are the furthest buildings from the Trump property, but Hibiscus is the closer of the two. Sunset is the closest, so ask for Sunset and see what happens.

I've stayed at Marriott's Villas at Doral twice, but not since Trump took over across the street. Every "villa" is a 2-bedroom/2-bathrrom apartment with a full kitchen. It's a good choice for vacationing families who want a base to visit the Everglades, Zoo Miami, and other Miami area attractions. It's a bad choice for those who want to go to the beach every day.

Good information Horace. Thanks for posting!

Cheers.

So I went through the room preference page and received this message:

We are pleased and excited to announce that the renovation of the Sunset, Star, Hibiscus and Palm buildings will begin May 1, 2016. This renovation is expected to continue until November 30, 2016. During the renovation, all soft goods will be replaced, including carpet, drapes, and upholstery.

We are very excited for the new designs and hearing all owner's and guest's feedback! If you happen to be vacationing with us during this time period you may experience construction noise between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. As always, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work hard to continuously improve Marriott's Villas at Doral!

Perhaps that's why Sunset isn't an option?

According to the message, all four buildings are being renovated.

Although it's possible that only two buildings will be in use when you'll be there, a far more likely explanation is that guests are not given Sunset as a choice because it would be almost everyone's first choice. Sunset is not only the closest building to the Doral across the street, it's also where the pool, activities, and bar & grill are located. Chances are that most villas in Sunset are occupied by multi-week timeshare owners who booked 13 months out and have the highest priority for villa assignment.

Along the same lines, for Marriott's Custom House in Boston, the preference form offers a choice three views: Faneuil Hall, City View South, and City View Downtown. But the tower actually has four sides. The most desirable view is Boston Harbor, which is not one of the choices on the form because everyone would select it, but three quarters would be disappointed. I think you're facing the same thing at Marriott's Villas at Doral.

I noticed that the name of this thread was changed today to "Marriott's Villas at Doral."

Please note that the posts on this thread from 2006 through 2011 are not about Marriott's Villas at Doral. They are about the large golf resort across the street, which used to be a Marriott Resort, but no longer is.

Posts such as "Doral = Dump," although posted in this thread, are NOT about Marriott's Villas at Doral.

I asked the mod to change the title so that people wouldn't think the current posts were about the old Doral. I've taken your post (crediting you of course) & made it into a wiki, so that people will realize the difference.

Cheers.