How families can use points and miles for multi-room apartments

When my three kids were younger, my husband and I could get away with squeezing them all into a standard hotel room. But having a preteen, a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old share one queen-size bed is physically impossible (and would send three sets of eyes rolling if I even dared to ask).

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As such, we’ve started exploring alternative accommodation types when we travel. We’ve stayed in side-by-side glamping tents and two-bedroom villas at beachfront all-inclusive resorts. But as a family with a major theme park obsession, our travels most often take us to Orlando.

We recently took our kids for their first visit to Universal Epic Universe and needed a property that checked all the boxes: proximity to Universal’s theme parks, enough beds for the five of us, and the ability to earn or redeem hotel loyalty points. We found all of that, and much more, at Villatel Orlando Resort, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy.

A family-friendly getaway

Villatel Orlando Resort is home to an 80-acre water park, a state-of-the-art fitness center, outdoor sports courts, a playground, a Topgolf Swing Suite and two distinct accommodation types.

The resort has 270 vacation villas ranging from four to nine bedrooms and is one of only two Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy locations in the U.S. Each villa has a private pool, a full kitchen and themed bedrooms for kids with arcade machines; some of the larger villas also have theater rooms and game rooms.

Related: Tips for booking hotel rooms for large families

The resort also has 256 units with Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, which is where we stayed. Each apartment has two or three bedrooms, a full kitchen and family room, in-room laundry, a furnished balcony, and a themed bunk room with an arcade game machine for kids.

Guests staying in the Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy get access to all of the resort’s amenities, with the added bonus of earning or redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points and accessing elite benefits like bonus points earnings, complimentary Wi-Fi and exclusive member rates.

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The resort is only a 10-minute drive from Universal Orlando Resort and offers a complimentary shuttle to Disney World and Universal several times daily.

Cost and booking details

You can book a stay at Villatel Orlando Resort, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy starting at $391 or 38,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night for a two-bedroom apartment, or $446 or 38,000 points per night for a three-bedroom apartment (discounts are available for nonrefundable, prepaid rates). Depending on when you visit, there may be a two-night minimum. Note that if you are using points, you can get a larger unit for the same pricing.

This pricing includes a $45 nightly resort fee, which covers things like water park access, theme park shuttle service and high-speed Wi-Fi.

When booking the Villatel Orlando Resort, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, you’ll want to use one of the credit cards that earn the most points for Marriott stays, or one that offers automatic Marriott Bonvoy elite status for value-added benefits.

These include:

The information for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Spacious, multiroom accommodations

After checking in to our three-bedroom apartment, my only wish was that we were staying for a full week rather than a couple of nights. Our room had everything you’d expect to find in a luxury apartment: modern, comfortable furnishings; two full bathrooms; a kitchen stocked with appliances, cookware and tableware; a stacked washer and dryer (which helped me go home with almost no dirty laundry); and a spacious living area for our family movie nights.

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Villatel Orlando Resort, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy themed kids room. TARAH CHIEFFI/THE POINTS GUY

Our apartment had three bedrooms: one with a king-size bed, one with a queen bed, and a themed kids room with a double bunk bed designed to resemble a Wild West town and an old-school arcade game with dozens of free games to play.

My younger kids wasted no time assuming their roles as sheriff and prisoner, while my older son took advantage of the bedside charging ports so he could text his friends back home.

Since this property is part of Marriott Bonvoy, there were also items you’d expect to find in a hotel or extended-stay property, like soap, lotion, refillable shower amenities, and a “starter pack” of laundry detergent, paper towels, cleaning wipes and other household necessities.

Resortlike amenities

We spent most of our downtime from Universal swimming, sliding and floating down the lazy river at Villatel’s Aqua Bay water park. There was a long, winding lazy river; four waterslides; a large swimming pool; and a kids splash area. We tested out all of the slides, and our favorites were the side-by-side racing slides. I guess you could say we are a competitive family.

The water park also hosts daily poolside activities like crafts, trivia and outdoor movie nights. We opted for a cozy movie night in our room, but we did dine at the poolside Aqua Bar & Grille. Most of the menu items were your standard poolside lounge fare like burgers, pizza and fries, but they were all tasty enough that we took the leftovers back to our room to reheat later.

We spent a morning exploring the other amenities before our evening flight home. I hung out at the covered playground with my younger kids while my husband and older son played a round of golf in the Topgolf Swing Suite. You do have to book a tee time, but access to the Swing Suite is complimentary for hotel guests.

In addition to its spacious accommodations, I appreciated all of Villatel Orlando’s activities and amenities. When I plan theme park trips for my family, I always make time for us to relax at our resort. Not only does this help us save money on theme park tickets, but many resorts have their own built-in fun that you miss out on if you spend all of your time at the parks.

Accessibility at Villatel Orlando Resort

The Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy has accessible options, with wheelchair-accessible rooms featuring options like a 32-inch-wide door, lowered countertops, bathtub grab bars and more. You’ll find accessible options throughout the resort, including accessible parking, an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant pool lift, and wheelchair accessibility to the business center, fitness center, restaurant and lobby.

Checking out

Gone are the days of staying in too-small hotel rooms with no space to relax and enjoy being together as a family. With nontraditional accommodation options like Villatel Orlando Resort, Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, families can settle into their home away from home and focus on having fun instead of fighting over who has to sleep on the couch.

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