Villa or Hotel?

[BIGEYE]

Considering going back to Orlando next year, but only the wife & myself this time. It looks like a hotel could work out considerably cheaper than a villa for only two people, so should I be going for a hotel rather than a villa to keep my costs down?
Anyone recommend a good 4 star hotel.

TIA

[caroline]

There are some great 4 star hotels in Florida, it depends where abouts you want to stay, however they will be more expensive than many villas - we've stayed in a couple of the Universal Hotels and also a Marriott for a couple of nights each when we've had guests in our home - the room rate without any meals has varied from around $250 - $350 + tax per night - these rates were for standard rooms, when we used the club level rooms they were around an extra $100 per night. Personally while it was fine for a couple of nights I'd rather be in a private villa with my own pool and the choice of whether I want to eat in or out rather than having to eat out for every meal.

[DaveL]

We to booked a hotel last year for the last few days of our holiday as we had guests arriving.

We had become used to the space and luxury of our own villa so I said "Let's book a club room" without checking the current rates.

My wallet is only just recovering from the shock.

Club level room was $444 plus $55 tax.

However now you are in the hotel you need to factor in the food and drink cost. Even if you hold back a bit I would guess that you would not see much change out of $100 a day.

So to have a single, if slightly large room, is going to cost around $4,200 per week. If you cut back on the room size and food then you might get away with $3,000.

Last time I looked most of the homes on this site were under $3000 per week. No idea why, when they clearly offer much larger space and better amenities. If your looking at saving a bit of the cost of your holiday then a 4 star hotel is not going to help (or a 3 star for that matter).

Dave

[Katys Grandad]

If you're looking for an objective response to your question then a forum promoting villa rental properties probably isn't the best place find it. Try asking a hotel chain what they think![msnwink]

That aside, I stay in US hotels quite frequently and a combination of the exchange rate and price rises in general has changed the picture a lot over recent months. I'd be very surprised if you can find a hotel you'd be happy to stay in for a week or 2 for the same price as a rented property these days. There is good value to be found in hotels but my experience is that it's always in the budget chains where you just want a basic night's stay.

If it's just the 2 of you, a small home or a condo would be a much better bet.

[Spuddybaby]

you never know, you may find an objective view. I log onto these forums to read and talk about Disney, not for villa rentals. am sure there are others too....

personally i have never been florida and stayed in a Villa. Purely because the first time we went we stayed in Disney All-Stars and loved the experience so much we have never been anywhere else, there is just something for us about being permanantly in the "Disney bubble", rather than staying in a villa.

My wife has been and stayed in a villa for 2 weeks, and is adamant that she wont do it again as she prefers staying in a Disney hotel... so there are some people on here who dont like villas![msnsmile2]

[brizzle]

Agree with everything said so far. Unless you go for a value hotel then you won't save any money and possibly still pay more. You definitely will not get the same level of luxury a villa will get you for the same amount of money.

We tend do a bit of both, we generally book a villa/condo for the whole stay and then pop off to a hotel for a night or two if needed. That way you can also pack light for the hotel stay and leave the main bulk of your luggage at the villa. So we get the benefits of a villa but can still enjoy the Disney bubble if we want to.

[SteveandJan]

Villa definitely but one year we stayed in a 4 stay hotel, one of Universal Studios and it cost over $300 per night, so a villa for two of you would still work out cheaper for that kind of quality.

[sundowner]

When my husband and I go to Florida we obviously stay in our villa. However, if we visit the coast or any other areas we chose a hotel. Have to admit that once we leave the hotel and get back to the villa we find it so much better to relax.

I like the fact I can walk out to the pool in anything I want rather than having to leave the hotel room and walk to the pool. Also, being able to have a meal at home (ready roast chicken and salad from Publix - yummy). If I want to get up through the night and sit by the pool with a coffe I can etc you get the picture. Being able to pick up my emails anywhere other than the hotel lobby is also a big bonus.

It might be worth pricing up the hotels versus villa and the perks from both. That would give you a good idea of what is available.

[FraserLynn]

My wife and I went out without the Kids October 2007 and ended up booking a 6 bed villa. Obviously we didn't use the other 5 bedrooms and because it was just the 2 of us we ate out most meals, but we still valued the space and comfort a villa has to offer and it was way way cheeper than any decent hotel we could find. I think some of the maths on this thread is a bit dubious as I am sure, just because you can, you won't want to eat in every night and so the food costs are going to be pretty much the same in either a hotel or a villa.

The thing that we did not expect was that about 50% of villa owners offered us a discount as it was just going to be the 2 of us - usually a good discount (about 25% was typical) I guess there was less cleaning, washing and wear expected from just a couple, I guess you should figure this in when making your comparisons.