Browsin’ Away in Margaritaville

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This week I caught an episode of Wheel of Fortune, and it was “Home Sweet Home” week, where contestants had the opportunity to win a new home valued at $375,000 in Latitude Margaritaville.

I’m a big fan of Jimmy Buffett, and I’ve been to one of the Margaritaville restaurants, but I was not aware of Latitude Margaritaville.

So about halfway through the show, I started browsing through the Latitude Margaritaville website, and I finally stopped about an hour later.

I discovered that there are currently three locations – Daytona Beach, Hilton Head, and Watersound (which is near Panama City Beach in Florida). Ranked the nation’s most popular active adult community of 2018 by 55Places.com and 2019’s Best 55+ Community of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders, the first Latitude Margaritaville opened in Daytona Beach in 2018.

It looks like a wonderful community, and the quality of the construction and the amenities offered seem top-notch. However, it is a 55 and older community, which at this point does not appeal to my wife and me as a retirement destination.

The reason I bring all this up is that it seems to be a great example of a mutually beneficial partnership.

Wheel of Fortune has the opportunity offer some great prizes – besides the possibility of winning a home, contestants will spin the iconic Wheel to win luxury vacations to popular Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts including those in Florida, the Caribbean, and The Great Smoky Mountains. I am sure the cost of those prizes is paid for by Margaritaville.

Latitude Margaritaville gets some great exposure on one of the most-watched TV shows in America, and games are played on a custom set including images from Latitude Margaritaville communities and Margaritaville-branded products.

I’d be curious what happened to the web traffic to Latitude Margaritaville during Home Sweet Home week on Wheel of Fortune. If I am any indication, I would guess that there was a spike in traffic, and that visitors spent a great deal of time on the site. I assume many people were not aware of Latitude Margaritaville, and this partnership raised the awareness level.

And even though we have no plans to buy a house in one of these communities, I would not hesitate to recommend the website to others to give it a look (and warn them that they may end up browsin’ away in Margaritaville).

Now if only I had an audience as big as Wheel of Fortune’s viewership, perhaps Latitude Margaritaville would be contacting me after this post, and offering us a house in exchange for promoting the community.

And while it may not be what my wife and I are looking for, it would be rude to turn down such an offer 🙂

*image from Buffett News

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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54 thoughts on “Browsin’ Away in Margaritaville”

    1. I was thinking the same thing; if you are under 55 you could choose a home in another non-55 community owned by the same real estate developer, or take $150,000 cash. Those over 55 also have the $150,000 option…

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  4. For such a simple concept, Wheel of Fortune has been successful for a long time. I will always remember it as my mother-in-law’s favorite show.

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  7. So I could win a home valued at $375,000, but the cash pay out is $150,000. Wouldn’t that mean the house should be valued at $150,000? There is definitely some parrot-head accounting going on here!

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      1. Trust me, he’s in there somewhere! Caroline Jones is beginning to make a name for herself, both for her own records – which I’ve shared before – and for being invited to tour with name acts: currently on tour and playing with the Zac Brown Band.

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  11. The Price is Right is one of my favorite shows and has a similar concept of prize giveaways. The big winner rarely gets more than $100K. The bad part of winning big is paying the taxes on the winnings. Instead of taking the $150K, I’d take the house and sell it.

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  14. Speaking of Margaritaville, my wife and I were in Nashville a few years ago. A sudden thunderstorm had people scrambling to find a dry place to wait out the storm. We were blessed to be right next to a Jimmy Buffet restaurant . . . shelter from the rain and a delicious lunch.

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    2. As a recent senior refugee from the “great” state of Tennessee, I can honestly say that you can find almost any kind of musical entertainment in Nashville these days. After moving east from there I ended up near the Smoky Mountains, where one might expect to find a more limited range of available entertainment but…

      To quote that other well known Southern kick (before the more fabulous Dolly Parton, now the best known east TN native) Gomer Pyle “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” Margaritaville may be angling to usurp Dolly’s place in the pantheon of tourist attractions in the no longer peaceful and idyllic part of the Smokies where most of them are congregated. Dolly has Dollywood Splash Country and the DreamMore Resort and Spa, all with addresses in Pigeon Forge. Jimmy B has inspired his own Margaritaville Resort in Gatlinburg. You will find even more Margaritavilles including hotel, inn, restaurant and retail in Pigeon Forge. Most of these are fittingly located on The Island there.

      When I first discovered that aspects of Margaritaville could be found in the Smoky Mountains I also stumbled across the retirement villages. I’m hoping they’ll put one in the Midwest, too. Like near Kalamazoo, MI, where my kids leave and want me to move to

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      3. I guess Jimmy Buffett has plans to take over the world.

        And I’ve been to Nashville a couple of times, and it is a great city. I’ve also been to Asheville, which I guess is close to the Smoky Mountains, and another great city. I think it would be nice to be near our kids if they were all in one place…

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  15. Not only did I somehow see the episode where the contestant actually won the home (thanks to a visit to see my parents who shut out the entire world once Wheel, then Jeopardy comes on), I, too intended to do some research just out of curiosity, but I promply forgot after determining I was either adopted or was being punked…they shouted out most of the answers typically before any contestent. How was this possible? I turned my attention to searching all episodes of Wheel & Jeopardy to see if they somehow had already watched and were pulling a fast one on me. Needless to say, I forgot about Margaritaville…until now! I hope you get paid per click!

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