Marriott's Lakeshore Reserve

“Excellent Family Stay with Warm, Professional Service”

A slightly delayed review since this stay was from a family holiday trip earlier in the year and I have been busy traveling, but I still wanted to leave one because we had such a great stay. We stayed at Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve for a family vacation and had an excellent experience throughout.… more

A slightly delayed review since this stay was from a family holiday trip earlier in the year and I have been busy traveling, but I still wanted to leave one because we had such a great stay. We stayed at Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve for a family vacation and had an excellent experience throughout. The service was warm and professional from the start, and the Bonvoy Ambassador recognition was very much appreciated. Check-in was smooth and welcoming. The duty manager and room controller assigned us a room with a great view, and since it was my first time at the property, I also appreciated the overview of the resort and amenities. The property itself felt very well managed. One of the best parts of the stay was how easy it was to meet up with relatives staying at the sister Marriott properties nearby. The pools were also a highlight, both at Lakeshore Reserve and with access to the JW Marriott. Everything felt well kept and easy to enjoy, whether for adults or children. We stayed in a one-bedroom suite overlooking the resort and the JW Marriott tower, and the room was quiet, clean, comfortable, and in very good condition. No issues at all during the stay. Honestly, I really cannot think of any negatives. The stay went very smoothly, and we had a wonderful time. I would gladly return.

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“Very pleasant stay”

1 BR was large. Grounds were well kept. Pool was clean and heated. Staff were courteous and well mannered. Breakfast was very good. Overall, met my expectations!

“Mostly a hit, spoiled by some misses”

We checked in for a two week stay as hotel guests (we don’t participate in any time-share systems). At Marriott (Time Share) Vacation Resorts, “owners” don’t get any housekeeping services while hotel guests get limited housekeeping. In the case of this place, we were told upon checking in that hous… more

We checked in for a two week stay as hotel guests (we don’t participate in any time-share systems). At Marriott (Time Share) Vacation Resorts, “owners” don’t get any housekeeping services while hotel guests get limited housekeeping. In the case of this place, we were told upon checking in that housekeeping consisted of a “tidy” service (basically replace towels and remove trash) every two days and a one “free” full clean because our stay exceeded 10 days. On the second day, we asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning, and we went out for the day. Upon returning at 4 pm, no service had been provided. We returned to the front desk and again requested a towel exchange (we had already taken out the trash). The towels showed up 30 minutes later. On the fourth day, we again asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning. Again, upon returning at 4 pm, no service had been provided. We returned to the front desk and requested a towel exchange. The front desk clerk said he could go and find some towels for us and asked us if we wanted to take them back to our unit ourselves. We declined, because we wanted to get rid of the used towels. We returned to the unit and found housekeeping staff in the hallway who exchanged our towels when asked. On the sixth day we again asked the front desk to send housekeeping in the morning and requested a full clean on the eighth day. The clerk said he didn’t think we were entitled to a “free” full cleaning, so we asked him to consult the front desk manager. The manager came out and confirmed we were entitled to a full cleaning and suggested that we have that done that day. We told him about the two misses on housekeeping on days two and four and didn’t want a “threepeat.” He assured us that he would follow up himself and make sure the cleaning was completed that day. We returned at 4 pm and it was indeed a threepeat. The unit had not been serviced. Back to the front desk, and we asked to talk with the manager. He took more than five minutes to appear, because he was calling housekeeping and telling them to get up to the unit to service it. We expressed our disappointment and he said he would add 10,000 points (worth about $25) to our Bonvoy account (still not received). For the remainder of our stay, we didn’t bother requesting the tidy service because it was obvious that the resort doesn’t want to provide it even when requested and promised. We exchanged towels when we saw housekeeping in the hallway and continued to take out the trash ourselves. Housekeeping did in fact provide the tidy service once during the remainder of our stay. One thing that we found surprising is that the resort is happy to not exchange the bedding more than once during a two week stay. I suppose “owners” are supposed to launder the bedding themselves (there are full size washers and dryers in the units) but I don’t see why this should be expected of hotel guests. As well, there were several small rips in our bed sheets. Another issue with housekeeping is the kitchen surfaces were smeared and certainly not very clean when we checked in. We wiped down all the surfaces ourselves. So, in general, housekeeping is a big miss. One bright spot is the unit had obviously been refurbished recently. The furniture looked quite new (this doesn’t apply to the kitchen appliances which were obviously quite old), and the floors and walls looked pretty good. The outside BBQs were also clean which was a pleasant surprise. Now on to the water supply and plumbing. When we checked in, we discovered that the kitchen faucet would only provide hot water in a trickle. That was clearly an issue that we would have expected housekeeping to report to maintenance. How can you properly clean a kitchen without adequate hot water? Did the dishwasher operate with mostly cold water? We also discovered that one of the taps in the bathroom leaked from the top when switched on, and the plumbing made weird gurgling sounds . This is what google says about this: “A gulping sound from dual bathroom sinks usually means trapped air in the drain system due to a partial clog (hair, soap scum) or a blocked vent pipe, disrupting airflow, but it can also signal a serious main sewer line issue if it affects multiple fixtures like toilets.” In fact, this did affect both sinks and the toilet. We reported all these issues to the front desk on our first day. Maintenance managed to restore the hot water flow to the kitchen faucet and used a plunger (which they left behind) on the bathroom sink. They didn’t address the leaking bathroom tap. Unfortunately, the plumbing continued to gurgle for the balance of our stay (in fact, it got louder) so that’s one out of three for maintenance. The water supply itself is gross. The water stinks of chlorine and hydrogen sulfide (aka rotten egg smell) and is revolting. Google explained that this is “due to naturally occurring hydrogen sulfide gas, a result of sulfur compounds leaching from Florida's limestone aquifers into the groundwater, combined with sulfur-reducing bacteria in pipes or water heaters.” Even brushing my teeth with it almost made me gag, and we certainly didn’t drink it. We purchased bottled water for drinking. My final comment is that the pool area looked very nice, although the weather during our stay was not conducive to swimming.

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“Lovely grounds, hard beds”

Stayed here within the last two weeks. While the grounds are just lovely, and the lazy river is very nice, the beds are...not good. My spouse described them as RV mattresses, about 6" thick on a plywood platform -- he was "less than impressed". If you like a firm mattress, you might be happy. I had… more

Stayed here within the last two weeks. While the grounds are just lovely, and the lazy river is very nice, the beds are...not good. My spouse described them as RV mattresses, about 6" thick on a plywood platform -- he was "less than impressed". If you like a firm mattress, you might be happy. I had to go out and buy a mattress topper for our short stay here, and, even then, there was little sleep. Without decent sleep, little else matters...not even a friendly, helpful staff and friendly fellow guests...or the collies who kept asking to be petted. We were in a villa nearer to the JW, so walking those grounds was pretty easy, although we were going to stay there later in the trip. Lakeshore Reserve is just over 15 minutes from the airport, and maybe 10 minutes to Sea World. There is a Wawa less than a mile away, and we had no difficulty getting to anything else of interest to us in Orlando. NB: the beach is close to an hour, depending on which beach, but it is a direct drive. Final note, the steel drum music was a bit loud, so, while we walked down to see the show, we had to sit some distance from it. I don't suggest trying to order wine from the bar...only wine is in CANS. Someone did offer to go get a manager to open the market shop so we could purchase something not in a can...but, at 9 p.m., not worth the trouble for one glass of wine.

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