Southern California coastline brings to mind stunning cliff vistas of coastal highway in never ending sunny weather. Could your lodging in Los Angeles, California possibly provide all of these views in a luxury setting as well? We hoped for the best when we booked our stay at the Marriott’s Newport Coast Villas and this is what we discovered when we planned our own California adventure.
Booking our stay was painless. The online reviews and photos looked amazing of course. We’ve all done that before, hoping it all lives up to the advertisement. We held our breath and clicked the reservation button but feeling good about it and hoped for the best. Sometimes in travel this works out for the stay of your dreams and sometimes it just doesn’t. In this case it certainly worked out for what we anticipated it would be and then passed that expectation and here’s why.
We were unaware that this is also a prime timeshare property. We don’t own a timeshare and certainly don’t hold it against anyone who does. I’ll blame it all on past experiences in our younger days where we sat through presentations that used scare tactics and high pressure and turned me off to the whole process. Instead, we relied on our accumulated Marriott reward points from our credit card. Regularly this property runs over $300 a night. With good planning though you can save yourself an expensive week and with enough reward points to cover half our week we were feeling pretty good about our planned visit.
A week on the Pacific coastline south of L.A. sounded like a dream let alone a property boasting 3 swimming pools/hot tub areas, on property movie theatre, kids activity area, afternoon ice cream socials by the pool, evenings spent grilling in secluded grilling areas with your glass of wine enjoying outstanding vistas of the sunset over the Pacific, live music by the swimming pool, scheduled painting and game activities for adults as well as children, Starbucks on property, separate fire pit areas with Adirondack chairs, basketball, golf…. the list really goes on and on. We never would have had to leave the property for a truly relaxing and wonderful week.
The timeshare part of it all didn’t really interest us. They asked us several times if we’d like to sit through it but we were just too busy to be interested even with the promise of a night free for our time. Finally the $300 plus for 90 minutes of our time won us over and on a morning that we didn’t have plans we agreed to schedule it. For those of you who’ve never sat through a time share presentation or for those of you who have here’s how we would rank the experience. The presentation was of course lovely and the dreams of passing on to your children a vacation property very tempting but it was truly not high pressure at all! Their program speaks for itself and is impressive. But, either it’s for you or it isn’t. So if you’re contemplating the timeshare presentation but are unsure of their sales tactics you can take heart from our experience. I can honestly say we were not interested and we didn’t walk out of there feeling like a used car salesman was going to hunt us down till we said yes or we died, whichever came first. We were a no and that was it. We were done. Our last night was credited and that’s all she wrote.
The property really did live up to the photos and the reviews. The staff were beyond helpful and kind. Every issue, if you could call them issues, were addressed immediately. We had smiles and waves from the staff we got to know as they drove by on their golf carts during the week. Overall an unexpected, homey sort of stay.
The shuttle system they provide ran regularly and copies of the schedule readily available to keep on hand for those visits off property. This included visits to Laguna Beach, the beautiful Crystal Cove Beach state park in front of the property and a nicely placed Trader Joes and fabulous butcher, The Butchery, about a mile away in the Crystal Cove Shopping Center. There were wonderful dining and shopping options in all directions. The Fashion Island shopping center is also within the shuttles route and is full of highly rated restaurants, shops and a personal favorite, Whole Foods, for all your families’ needs.
The Butchery was our go to shop for enjoying the grilling stations on property. 
The villas themselves are beautifully decorated and spacious! There is a laundry area with the washing machine and dryer in your own unit! This is a real godsend for us families traveling with children or just for the average traveler to help cut down on those crazy airline baggage fees. There is a dining area in the unit that can seat 6 comfortably and a kitchen bar with at least 4 barstools. Even the largest family can enjoy this space. There are 2 bedrooms each with their own bathroom and television. The master bedroom overlooks the views of the Pacific Ocean and the second bedroom is also large with a pullout sofa. Truly 2 families could stay comfortably in these villas. The spacious living room area has a pullout sofa as well. A DVD player with free rentals at the front desk are included with your unit as well. All of this makes a dream vacation spot even more affordable if you decide to bring the cousins and the grandparents. The balcony on each villa provides a table and 4 chairs which allows you to enjoy your morning coffee in peace and quiet taking in the local birds chirping as the sun rises and the skies above the ocean change into beautiful shades of pink and purple.
This facility provided all we could have needed and anticipated for a beautiful and restful family vacation. We hope you and your loved ones can plan your stay and benefit from all that these Newport Beach Villas has to offer.
2020 UPDATED REVIEW: Covid has definitely changed how we view travel that’s for sure! Marriott isn’t immune to the damage done to the travel industry this year but our stay here renewed our faith in getting back to life and the much needed relaxation families need without the risk. Our check in process at the resort lobby was mask required (of course) and the sign in clerk only allowed one of us in line for the check in process. Upon arrival to our rooms everything is of course cleaned up to the hospitality industries latest Covid-19 standards. However, I brought my own chlorox wipes and wiped down all surfaces as well. Overkill? I needed to for my peace of mind and if you do to go for it!! The pool area required masks sitting by the pool but of course in the water no masks are necessary. The tables by your pool chair will have a sign laying on it stating that it was recently cleaned or not. The pool chair groupings are easily 6 feet apart so that everyone in your group can relax comfortably. Some of the pool areas enforced keeping masks on at your seat and some didn’t. Personally I appreciated the ones that were more reasonable about keeping masks off at your seat. Walking around is obviously a different story. The kids area, hot tubs, slide, cinema and a few other areas are closed at this time. Check the website for updates before you arrive. I couldn’t say how much I appreciated all these added precautions until you’re there and you see your family mentally and physically relax. As always this post isn’t recommending travel as of right now but if you feel that for you and your families mental health you need a getaway then carefully consider your options. Travelling with those you already quarantine with is something government officials have recommended depending on your circumstances. If you travel with another family that’s also already been following social distance guidelines this could be reasonable as well. This article will hopefully help you plan in a responsible informed fashion. After life starts to get back to normal and you feel you can return to a more relaxed travel routine this might be a great resort to look into for you as well! I know I appreciated learning to the extent that companies have reacted responsibly. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions I may not have covered in this update. Stay safe and happy winter!
