This year, FTF’s annual awards honor successful family retreats. In the hectic 21st century workaday world, adults and kids are endlessly busy with jobs and school, meetings and homework, personal trainers and afterschool activities. Weekends are full of household chores, more homework (for parents and kids) and separate relaxation activities. Sometimes it’s hard for families to keep track of everyone’s schedules, and although many try, most are no longer successful at eating dinners together regularly.
When it’s time to get away from this routine, more and more adults are in search of a vacation where they can spend precious family-together time. This doesn’t mean sleeping in the same hotel room and going separate ways during the day, but securing family bonds by experiencing both new and favorite pursuits together.
FTF “Top 10 Getaways for Family Togetherness” have been selected for focusing on the kinds of activities that put the “family” back in family vacations. By offering a variety of outdoor adventures, watersports, cultural learning opportunities, crafts, classes, spa treatments and old-fashioned fun, kids, parents and even grandparents can reunite, create memories and, hopefully, return home inspired to find ways to nurture these connections.
Marriott Vacation Club International
800/845-4226
The 45 worldwide resorts in the Marriott Vacation Club have one concept in common—deeded property purchase of a vacation villa for one or more weeks within a “floating time” system. This timeshare program allows owners to experience a repeat destination at a fixed price, along with flexibility to vacation whenever and wherever they want. As Vacation Club members, families can choose U.S. destinations from Lake Tahoe to Orlando, or from Boston to Maui, as well as properties in Aruba, London, France, Spain, and Phuket, Thailand.
The Vacation Club can structure a favorite family vacation with the luxurious Marriott touch, providing a comfortable, full-service home base for adventures together in the surrounding area. Many vacationers view this as an excellent investment that their families can enjoy for years to come. For multi-generational travelers and larger families, having the space and privacy of a multi-room condominium unit, with the amenities of a resort, is ideal. Vacation rentals for short-stay guests grant temporary Vacation Club membership, and are also an option.
Another beauty of Vacation Club properties for families is the range of locations and activities offered. Whether you’re a skiing family, a theme park family, a beach family, a family of golf fanatics or maybe all of these, you will probably be able to find a Vacation Club property at a prime location, often adjacent to a luxury Marriott Hotel. Vacation rental and timeshare purchase specials at the brand’s several Orlando properties often include theme park promotions. The sound of “Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club” conjures visions of watersports and playing on the beach, while Marriott’s Streamside at Vail suggests hitting the slopes, donning snowshoes, taking a dogsled ride, or hanging out in Vail Village.
Individual resorts offer their own selection of family-friendly activities on-property: At the Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando, kids from 8 to 12-years-old and their families collaborate on building Tamiyas, or mini stock cars, together. These cars are powered by motors and batteries, and kids compete in weekly races. Marriott’s Desert Springs in Palm Desert, California offers talented families an opportunity to compete in its own version of American Idol and at Marriott’s Club Son Antem in Marjora, Spain, families learn mask-making, Flamenco and salsa dancing. Activities for the tinier set include fireside story time, family movie night and making suncatchers at Breckenridge, Colorado; and sand dollar painting, story time, and a karaoke contest at Ocean Watch Villas at Myrtle Beach. Additionally, Vacation Club properties have an on-site Compass Kids’ Clubs with scheduled drop-in activities like pottery painting and T-shirt dying, as well as a playground, kiddy pool, and/or other established spot for family interaction.
With a vacation club purchase or rental comes space. Instead of being crammed into a hotel room, MVC offers one,-two,-or three-bedroom villas including separate living and dining areas, a master bedroom with whirlpool bath, full kitchen, washer, and dryer. This makes them ideal accommodations for families, and even enables small reunion groups to stay together. Each resort's Marketplace convenience store and deli provides a quick place to grab food, while the full kitchens and dining areas within the units offer opportunities for more private family mealtime. Additionally, all of the resorts feature world-class restaurants and lounges.
Most properties have indoor and/or outdoor pools for recreation, but golf enthusiasts of all ages will want to pay special attention to properties in Palm Desert, California; Orlando and Marco Island, Florida; and Absecon, New Jersey, where the Faldo Golf Institute provides comprehensive lessons for different levels of skill.
Marriott stresses flexibility for individual trip-planning at Vacation Club properties. Yearly vacation ownership in 2006 ranges from US$7,500 to a whopping US$85,000, depending on the number of ownership weeks, villa location, view, and season. In contrast, traveling families can rent twobedroom units by the night at most resorts and pay from $150/N and up, often a bargain when compared to booking several hotel rooms at the neighboring Marriott.
