Villas - how cost effective when only 3 people?

[Julia Ann]

We've never stayed in a villa before, as only been a couple so the hotel space was just used for washing and sleeping. As our next vist, not till 2015, will be with DD, she will be nearly 8, I was considering a villa for home from home comforts, and chilling out by our own pool during the late afternoon.....how cost effective is a villa for only 3 people, compared with a standard hotel on IDrive?

 

[wayneg]

Depends on the standard of hotel you stay in and how you book the villa.
Hotels we pay £25-30/nt, villas are at least double that but if you want a specific villa then could cost way more. Last time we stayed in a condo I could have taken one allocated on arrival which would have been half the price I paid dealing direct with the owner.
What time of year? pool heating can add £100's on.

We didn't enjoy anything about a Condo/villa holiday, even though it wasn't far out it still wan't the same as being around LBV (our fave area)
2 small things that sound like nothing but makes a massive difference to me, making my own bed & putting the trash out, I am on holiday, I go to get away from those tiny things.

For others its worth every penny for a villa, we prefer a hotel.

 

[dixonsontour]

We stayed in a villa when DD was a toddler as got a great deal off ebay lastminute.

We did a condo last trip - so own 3 bed apt and shared pool (Floridays)

What puts me off a villa is my daughter aged 6. I was looking at villa accomodation and she said who will I play with.

My daughter likes to find a friend or two to play with at the pool.

 

[Booknut]

We've done both villa as a couple and onsite and now we are going with our daughter who will be 5 and I would NEVER consider a hotel room unless I had no other choice. We need room, especially as DD has aspergers and likes her own 'quiet' time. I can make a bed in 30 seconds but I can't watch a movie in the evening on telly if my daughter is sleeping in the same room as me.

Plus, as an only child, she will miss having other kids around so a villa would have been too isolating. We chose Windsor Hills and have booked a condo there, best of both worlds for us, its a beautiful resort so close to Disney it might as well be onsite and we have all the space we need to spread out and relax.

Don't get me wrong, I love hotels and when we go anywhere for a week or less I love staying in a nice posh hotel with room service, chocs on my pillow etc, but two weeks is just way too long to spend in a hotel room, for our family anyway.

Also, the room gets smaller and smaller as each shopping day goes by!!

Oh, should also say we are paying $80 a night including tax for our condo at Windsor Hills which is a brilliant price, cheaper than a value resort and I wouldn't want to spend 2 weeks at a value resort.

 

[Giddy Kipper]

We stayed in a townhouse with a splash pool at Windsor hills aswell and agree you will have the best of both worlds. Space to chill out and a community pool too. would stay there again in a heartbeat.

 

[wayneg]

It was Windsor Hills we stayed at as you can see in my Signature, not our sort of holiday at all but everyone should try it to find out for themselves.

 

[Dimplenose]

It was Windsor Hills we stayed at as you can see in my Signature, not our sort of holiday at all but everyone should try it to find out for themselves.

We stayed at Windsor Palms as a family of 4. It didn't seem particularly expensive compared to the value wdw room we normally had and it was very close to WDW but it had absolutely no holiday atmosphere. If we wanted a meal we had to drive somewhere - albeit only 4 minutes but we still had to get in the car park up etc or pop into a supermarket for supplies. We seemed to be rattling around in a 4 bed villa especially when we stayed in for some quiet time.

The next time we went we were back on site at an All Star Resort with interconnecting rooms and much happier. (We love this resort but some people hate it.)

Villas weren't for us but we wouldn't have known if we hadn't tried. (But I do wish we'd tried it out on a split stay of one week in villa and one in an hotel.)

 

[Julia Ann]

Thanks for your feed back guys, really useful - although my question was about cost, it's good to hear about personal opinions

 

[Steve and Sarah]

We've stayed in villas for the majority of our trips to Orlando, both as a couple and now with our two children (2-3 times a year for the past 10 years).

Always booked independantly and never paid more than £850 for two weeks including pool heat. We're staying at Hamton Lakes this August (on US27) and paying £649 for the fortnight (£46 a night).

In our option its a no-brainer, for the space, home from home comforts and private pool we'd always book a villa above a hotel.