GRANDE LAKES ORLANDO ANNOUNCES NEW CULINARY EXPERIENCES AND VALUE-SEASON RATES FOR SUMMER

GRANDE LAKES ORLANDO ANNOUNCES NEW CULINARY EXPERIENCES AND VALUE-SEASON RATES FOR SUMMER

Orlando’s luxury leader debuts cooking classes & summer brews, alongside poolside holiday weekend fun and spa relaxation

Orlando, Fla. – June 23, 2015 – Grande Lakes Orlando announces the resort’s summer programming lineup, featuring family-friendly activities, locally based culinary experiences, and keep-cool spa treatments at the award-winning Ritz-Carlton Spa Orlando. Comprised of The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Orlando, the 500-acre resort offers a renowned farm-to-fork culinary program and plenty of value added fun in Florida this summer.

What’s Cooking in Orlando

Whisper Creek Farm: The Brewery, an on-site nano-brewery which debuted in April 2015 at the JW Marriott, offers signature summer seasonals: Orange Creamsicle Wheat, Golden Harvest, and Cherry Pick’n Dubbel made with Surinam Cherries picked right on The Ritz-Carlton Orlando’s Greg Norman-designed golf course, a certified Audubon Sanctuary. Highball & Harvest at The Ritz-Carlton is now offering cold drip coffee, a process that takes 5-8 hours to brew and retains all the flavors that are usually lost during hot brewing.

The JW Griffin Cooking School allows guests and locals alike to receive hands-on training from the resort’s award-winning culinary team. This summer’s classes include a Dessert Class highlighting the Italian desserts served up in Primo by Chef Melissa Kelly at JW Marriott Orlando (Saturday, August 22).

Debuting July 31 – August 2, the first-ever Fun & Dine Weekend showcases the new critically acclaimed Highball & Harvest Restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando. The weekend includes a “Pub Crawl” throughout the resort’s varied dining outlets, a Southern BBQ Class (craft specialty cocktails to pair with Beer Can Chicken and Cedar Plank Salmon), and the weekend caps off with a White Apron Culinary Competition for all attendees.

What to Book This Summer

Even luxury rates cool down as temps heat up in Florida—the Celebrate The Summer promotion includes 15% savings on room rate and a $25 nightly resort credit, with nightly room rates at the JW Marriott Orlando starting at $169, and $199 at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando from June to September. Families who book a suite-stay or Club Level accommodations at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando can now also enjoy complimentary Ritz Kids Club access, which is home to Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the Environment nature-based children’s program.  July 4 and Labor Day weekends at Grande Lakes include a complimentary fireworks show over Grande Lake and poolside fun at the popular JW Marriott Orlando lazy river.

And no trip to Grande Lakes Orlando is complete without a visit to the resort’s 40,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Spa. The signature summer Artic Berry Peel with Cold Stone Facial treatment is best to cool down from the summer heat. This anti-aging facial uses arctic plants and berries to restore skin’s radiance after a day in the sun.

To learn more about summer at Grande Lakes Orlando, visit www.GrandeLakes.com.

#  #  #

About Grande Lakes Orlando

Grande Lakes Orlando is a 500-acre resort with a luxury 582-room Ritz-Carlton and deluxe 1,000-room JW Marriott hotel situated at the headwaters of the Florida Everglades. Orlando’s luxury leader provides an authentic, local experience from its farm-to-fork dining offerings to its Grande Lakes Adventures Experiences, which include kayaking, eco-tours on Shingle Creek, and a fishing school. Grande Lakes presents the culinary mastery of award-winning Chefs Norman Van Aken and Melissa Kelly’s PRIMO. The resort’s renowned farm-to-fork culinary program showcases its on-site apiaries and 18,000-square-foot Whisper Creek Farm in its newest dining outlets, The Kitchen at JW Marriott Orlando and Highball & Harvest at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, as well as The Brewery, an on-property nano-brewery and Chef’s Table.

Guests at both hotels can enjoy all the facilities and services at Grande Lakes Orlando, including the 18-hole championship golf course, designed by Greg Norman, the 40,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Spa with total-wellness treatments and a rooftop eco-space. The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott are connected by a robust conference center, with more than 150,000 square feet of meeting space, 6 ballrooms, 46 breakout rooms, and over 107,000 square feet of outdoor space. The estate is located 15 minutes from the Orlando International Airport, five minutes from the Orange County Convention Center and minutes from the major theme parks. Membership offerings are also available through The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes Members Club. For more information about Grande Lakes Orlando, visit www.grandelakes.com. Follow Grande Lakes Orlando on Twitter at @RC_Orlando and @JW_Orlando.

# # #

About JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts 
JW Marriott is part of Marriott International’s luxury portfolio and consists of beautiful properties in gateway cities and distinctive resort locations around the world. These elegant hotels cater to today’s sophisticated, self-assured travelers, offering them the quiet luxury they seek in a warmly authentic, relaxed atmosphere lacking in pretense. JW Marriott properties artfully provide highly crafted, anticipatory experiences that are reflective of their locale so that their guests have the time to focus on what is most important to them. Currently, there are 73 JW Marriott hotels in 28 countries; by 2020 the portfolio is expected to encompass more than 100 properties in over 30 countries. Visit us online, on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and #experiencejwm.

About The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., of Chevy Chase, Md., currently operates 89 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean.  More than 30 hotel and residential projects are under development around the globe. For more information or reservations, visit the company web site at www.ritzcarlton.com, and for the latest company updates, visit news.ritzcarlton.com.  The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR ).

Visit Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) for company information.