tmt

My sister and her children are staying at the Marco Island Marriott this week. I want to drive from Miami to meet them for the day and one overnight. I can't afford to stay at the Marriott or at this late date, anywhere on Marco Island - all are $200 plus. I just need a clean bed to drive back to, preferrably close to Marco Island.

Any suggestions?

Thanks so much.

T.

Neopolitan

I'm not sure you're going to find anything at all on Marco -- even at any price for this week. I guess your best bet is one of the places at the western end of Alligator Alley -- tollgate area, like the Holiday Inn Express, Baymont, or Comfort Inn. Or check on the Red Roof, Wellesly, or Fairfield all where Davis Blvd. meets 41 on the east edge of downtown Naples. Either one is about a half hour or longer to Marco, but probably as good as it gets this time of year, pricewise.

LLindaC

I just plugged in Marco on hotels.com for March 17 and found 4 properties for under 200 dollars, three in Naples, one in Bonita. If you are flexible in your dates, I'd say you have a good shot at a nice hotel, just look hard. Try that site, orbitz and expedia. Another great way to search is go to tripadvisor.com and do a hotel search. It has a feature which compares the rates of a hotel from several different sites. Then, go to the hotel site directly and see if they will book it for any less. Good luck!

Neopolitan

Wow, I thought it was a stretch to suggest places sort of between Marco and Naples, but Bonita? That would be an hour to an hour and a half away right now. You're almost as well off staying in Miami at that point.

LLindaC

The drive from Naples to Marco is only about 30 minutes. Yes, Bonita is way up there. However, there's a Super 8 hotel off the Interstate that's cheap. Would that be too far?

Neopolitan

Sorry if my response yesterday sounded grumpy. I went to a seminar yesterday in Naples. It was 7 miles from my house. I allowed 25 minutes to get there. I was 15 minutes late. In other words it took 40 minutes to go 7 miles. Can you forgive my being grumpy?

PS. I'm tempted to change my time estimate from Bonita to Marco to a day and a half!

LLindaC

LOL Neo! My Mom used to live there and I hated the traffic. They lived only a year in Marco, and that was 1980 and it was already getting outrageous trying to drive or park "in season". They later moved to a golf course in Ft Myers, even though they had a waterfront house! Marco has no charm and Naples can get really bad as well! Neither was designed for the traffic.