Marriott’s Sabal Palms Timeshare

I decided to give Sabal Palms a try based on the glowing 5-star reviews. Now that I’ve stayed, I don’t think it’s for me. If I’m going to stay at world Gateway, Royal Palms is a better fit. Marriott Grande Vista is my favorite, but they’re always super booked. Here are my observations:

Pros:

– Secluded location in the back of World Gateway near attractions
– Spacious master bedroom/updated kitchen appliances
– Fully equipped condo with washer/dryer/dishes/facilities/nice bedding and linens
– Huge villa screened in patio
– Some (keyword SOME) of the staff are friendly, but this was inconsistent at best.
– Access to Marriott World Center amenities
– As long as you’re not by the pool, the villas are mostly quiet.
– The grounds were beautiful before the storm, that is.
– Villas have private entrances and almost feel like a house for that reason.
– I still gave them 3 stars because the front line manager was wonderful about following up with me about my reported issues!

Cons:

– Even though they attempted to update these villas, they still fall short of actually feeling updated. Feels much older and more tired than the rest of the Marriott brand resorts. I think I’m more biased towards the newer villa layouts.
– The villas wreak of must and are damp (like basement). I asked to be moved from my first villa, in part, because of this (and the AC condensation) and the “replacement” villa stunk real bad too (but minus the condensation). This sent my allergies into a tailspin.
– Much of the furniture is tired and uncomfortable (I.e. The couch in the living room is itchy and too hard)
– The overall design of the villas is awkward and just plain terrible (steps leading to living room and bathroom, no jet tub in master just rain shower, and stained glass. Really? Who still uses stained glass?). Too much light shines in at night. Too much old and ugly carpet everywhere. Again I’m biased towards newer villas.
– My first villa wasn’t completely clean and lacked attention to detail. I found hair in the master bathroom shower. Gross! That left such a bad taste in my mouth that I took showers with my flip flops on until I got moved. This was even after they finally came to clean it up.
– There was an overall strong sense of apathy from the staff when I called and brought these issues to their attention. Many did not apologize nor try to go above and beyond to assist me. They treated me like I was bothering them. Even after I gave them a rundown of issues that contributed to me wanting to switch villas, they reactively assigned me to another villa and didn’t offer me anything else. They didn’t offer to help me move my things either. The front line manager was very apologetic about the staff.
– After Irma hit, and me asking that the hazardous debris be cleaned up, they did not clean the debris the same day. They also did not provide an ETA on when this would be completed. I can’t believe that they care so little about their guests being able to safely walk the property. I almost fell a few times stepping on down tree branches.
– The AC doesn’t cool that well in any of the villas and contribute to a muggy feeling and poor air circulation.
– When the staff reassigned me to another villa, initially, the entire ceiling of the first reassigned villa was caved in! I had to return to the office and tell the attendant that this unit won’t work for that reason. I also had to ask her to have the next unit inspected prior to reassigning me this time.
– They blast the music at the pool so loud that you can hear it in your villa when facing the pool. I was surprised when I realized that they were the ones playing loud music and not guests! But, guests are very loud too while at the pool. I had to call the front desk and ask them to turn the music off!
– The walls and floors are very thin. It sounds like people above you are stampeding across the floor.
– Generally, service is extremely slow here. When I asked for anything, no matter how small, it took them 3 hours minimum to respond. Sometimes I had to physically go to the lobby to get help.

Conclusion:

Although I’m glad I stayed here once and tried it, I would stick with Marriott Grande Vista or Royal Palms in the future and leave Sabal Palms to those who like that type of layout.

This is an older property on the back side of Marriott’s World center conference center.

Two other timeshare properties are also on property.

This could rate a 4-5 stars once Marriott gets around to its overdue refurbishment.

Compared to the Grand Vista, this one has terrific potential: much smaller place – quiet, less crowded, walking distance to the Marriott center (with all of its amenities), big rooms, 5-15 mins to Disney parks (Grand Vista and others are closer to Universal).

If Marriott would redo these in their new style (new flooring, remove popcorn ceilings, replace carpet and furnishings), they would probably be our top choice when we are going to Disney.

Even as-is, our family voted these as a toss-up with Grand Vista (mainly due to size and proximity). For families with small kids wanting lots of on-site activities, this may not be as great an option compared to other larger Marriott properties.

There are definitely advantages to smaller resorts, however. We had two minor maintenance issues on arrival, called the front desk, and someone from facilities was at our door and had the issues fixed in under 10 mins

I’m sure I put too much weight on the “Check-In” experience but I’m entitled to my opinion.

When you tell me that check-in is at 3:00PM and I call at 1:30PM to ensure that my room will be ready than you better move mountains so I don’t hear “I’m sorry to say that housekeeping has no rooms available right now.”

Sabal Palms is a Marriott Vacation Club. I had a two bedroom villa with a full kitchen reserved. Up at the crack of dawn to fly across the country, baggage, rental car, lunch, a call to the Marriott to make sure we could check-in at 3:00PM and then a stop at the local grocery store to stock up.

I arrived at 3:05PM and needed a quick check-in. 45 minutes later I’m still waiting but now I’ve got melted ice, melted ice cream, hot yoghurt and two ticked off teenagers.
If you don’t get the check-in right and you don’t offer any apology or any accommodation to make me happy then I don’t care how nice the room is. You lost me at “hello”.
(Marriott is still my default and on this trip, I was spending >100,000 Marriott points.

I still haven’t determined if using points gets you a lower level of experience.

I would hope that properties realize that if you’ve earned hundred of thousands of points you must be a loyal guest and they would want to take care of you.)

Sabal Palms – Thanks for trying but you missed the mark. You could have made it right but instead you chose the “we don’t guarantee a check-in time” route.

This is an older property on the back side of Marriott’s World center conference center.

Two other timeshare properties are also on property. This could rate a 4-5 stars once Marriott gets around to its overdue refurbishment. Compared to the Grand Vista, this one has terrific potential: much smaller place – quiet, less crowded, walking distance to the Marriott center (with all of its amenities), big rooms, 5-15 mins to Disney parks (Grand Vista and others are closer to Universal).

If Marriott would redo these in their new style (new flooring, remove popcorn ceilings, replace carpet and furnishings), they would probably be our top choice when we are going to Disney.

Even as-is, our family voted these as a toss-up with Grand Vista (mainly due to size and proximity). For families with small kids wanting lots of on-site activities, this may not be as great an option compared to other larger Marriott properties.

There are definitely advantages to smaller resorts, however.

We had two minor maintenance issues on arrival, called the front desk, and someone from facilities was at our door and had the issues fixed in under 10 mins.

We just checked out today, my wife and I. Sabal Palms was a trade through Interval International from our home resort in Colorado. First off, this timeshare was OK but not great. The best: The staff. Everyone we spoke to was friendly, helpful and generally great to meet. From J**** at the front desk, to C***** who has been a housekeeper here for many years, we couldn’t have asked for better.

Now, for the unit itself. We previously (one month prior) requested a top floor ‘quiet’ room that was renovated and a non-smoking room. The unit given to us was indeed all of the above BUT I suspect one of the most recent guests either smoked in the room (or they just stood in the screened in patio or near the front door to do so) Either way, we asked to see another room. No other rooms on the top floor (only 2 floors here and no elevators if that is an issue for anyone) Just the same, J**** at the front desk allowed us to check out 2 other rooms since we had not moved into or used the first condo yet. We chose the 3rd unit, bottom floor 2nd building over from the pool. Quiet, or so we had hoped. There is a shared screened in porch\patio with a nice set of chairs and a table. You may enter the patio via the master bedroom or living room. Depending on what direction the wind was coming from, the noise from the I-4 interstate just 1/2 mile to the west was between noticeable and loud. If both of the patio doors were closed it wasn’t that noticeable, but we didn’t use the patio the entire week we were there (due to the noise level) and only left the door open when we were gone (slightly) to air out the place. The unit(s) all 3 we were shown and the last one we chose of course, all had that musty old hotel room smell. Not terrible mind you, just not what we are accustomed to for a Marriott class hotel. If odd odors are a bother to you, look elsewhere for your stay.

Another point I would like to make is that the general maintenance of our unit could have been better. The towel bar rod fell out of the holders (since they were mounted too far apart) No big deal,there were many towel bars to choose from. Next, was the toilet in the main bath. Why it didn’t leak when flushed was beyond me. The bolts were loose and if one sat on it (and I’m less than 160 lbs) it rocked and twisted in a most disconcerting manor. Another problem – There were 2 large tiles that form the steps up from the master bedroom to the bath area that were loose (more on the steps in the unit later in this review) The grout around the 2 vertical tiles has been missing for some time, and the only thing still holding them in place is the carpet. The weatherstripping around the front door was hanging down in several places,and I was tempted to just tear it off, but figured someone may be able to glue it back up (even though some of the lengths were already missing) The toaster only barely toasted one side of the bread, and there were very small bugs around the kitchen sink area. On a side note: I did take some video of the place including the inside of the condo showing the entire condo including the maintenance items mentioned (in case someone may think I just made this all up)

The last point I would like to make is the general ‘newly renovated’ rooms others are talking about. The units are generally clean, but outdated with the exception of the newer flat screen TV’s and the newer cabinets and counter tops. The carpet needs replacing, all of the furniture is very dated and older looking. Clean however except for the carpet, it is old looking for sure and the brilliance has gone out of it some time ago.

The mirrored closet doors in the master are heavy, which isn’t bad I suppose, but I could imagine what one child could do to another using one of these doors in a non-recommended manner if you know what I mean. Speaking of closets, there is a nice electronic safe in the master that my 16″ Toshiba fit into, but just barely. Barely fitting is better than not fitting, so that’s a good thing (unless one has a 17.3″ laptop in which case you would be out of luck)

I promised to mention about the steps inside the unit. There are 2 steps down from the main entry area (past the kitchen) into the living area and master bedroom. Then, there are 2 steps back up from the master bedroom space into the master bathroom area. A nice touch is the built-in night lights near the steps in case one should forget at night. The reason I mention the steps, is because the Sabal Palms units cannot be considered handicapped accessible (in my opinion) That being said, one could avoid steps by staying in the 2nd bedroom and not venturing beyond the kitchen. You would have to watch the living room TV from a distance, but it could be done. I just don’t know how one would eat though since the dining table is on the lower level (TV Tray maybe?)

Another thought. As others have mentioned Sabal Palms has an amazing shower in the master. A rain head out of the ceiling with a separate control for the 2 wall shower heads which covers much of the middle and lower half of your body. All inside a curved obscure glass room which opens out to next to the front entry door. Quite interesting to say the least. A bonus (?) of this glass obscure window is that the front porch light shines through to the master bathroom and bedroom at night. Nice, unless you want it completely dark when sleeping.

Even the drive into the Sabal Palms resort is different. Compare it to a long and winding road that leads… anyway, past the parking for the Marriott World Center and behind the MWC itself. Good signage works however, so one won’t get lost.

Final thoughts: Sabal Palms is nice place and off the beaten path for sure. If it weren’t for it’s proximity to the I-4 interstate it would be indeed quiet. Although we did notice some noise from the unit above, especially over the hard tiled floor areas, it was quiet for the most part (just keep the patio doors closed if your screened porch faces I-4) The staff is exceptional. Did I forget to mention we had a golf course view? I helped some of the golfers find their balls that had made it to the sand trap and water ‘moat’ just outside our unit.

I hope this review helped someone to decide whether to stay here or not.

Thanks for reading – A fellow traveler from Colorado.