Margaritaville Resort Orlando

Check in was the most absurd. Beyond the insanely long wait time and to find out my reservation was cancelled to falsely accused 3rd travel agency, turns out someone at the resort cancelled my rez. Almost 2 hours later, they admitted fault and reinstated my rez. No apology no nothing and so I asked to speak to a manager who to my shock responded the same. Zero customer service and hospitality. I then go to my room to find my 2 double room outfitted for a single person- one chair on balcony, one robe. The drinking glasses were dirty. Dialing service from room was a fail so I waited in line once again at the front desk for help. That was my day 1.

I originally booked the cottages, but after reading too many really bad reviews we decided to cancel that and booked our stay at the hotel instead. The hotel is in a great location with the Sunset walk being so close for restaurants and bars. The lobby is beautiful. Upon arrival for check-in everyone was very friendly. We received a welcome drink. We probably waited in line maybe 10 minutes, but that was to be expected during Easter week. They were able to put our rooms next to each other so we really appreciated that. The pool area is beautiful. They have service at the pool. I read online that they’ll search your bags to make sure you don’t bring anything in the pool area, but they never did that to us. Provisions store/restaurant has really good breakfast sandwiches, the workers were really friendly however, their computer system went down when we were trying to check out. One evening when my husband and I returned to our room our card reader wouldn’t work at all. I went to the front desk and they sent maintenance up immediately so I was very thankful for their quick response- They had to replace the batteries. Like other reviews have mentioned- I did try and call the front desk for questions and once for toilet paper and no one answers the phone which is extremely frustrating. We ate at the Euphoria restaurant on site and it was really good. I believe her name was Wendy but she was a great server, I think she said she was new. Eating and drinking at the resort is pricey and they do add a 20% gratuity to almost everything but we had resort credits with our package so that helped. We also had food and drinks at the salty rim- No complaints there. Our room was mostly clean. The floors could’ve been a little cleaner and unfortunately, we only had one chair on our balcony. I did bring this to the front desks attention, and they told me they would put a work order in, but no chair ever arrived for our four night stay so that was a little disappointing. Overall it does feel like the resort is somewhat shortstaffed and if you need anything there can be issues. I would probably stay again but they need to improve a few things.

(Long review) Upon arrival the ambience was amazingly beautiful. We checked into our cottage around 2:15/2:30 pm for a 5-night 4 day stay with Maria who is one of the front desks' personnel. Check in was a breeze. OK! Here is where it starts to get weird. Day 1 as a normal guest would do is check out the whole Cottage/ Hotel, which was done, and we found it to be pretty cool. My family and I changed and headed down into the main pool area. upon arriving at the pool, I notice that you couldn't have any food or drinks which is understanding. BUT I'm a diabetic so sometimes I need a piece of chocolate to keep me having an attack. I express that to the guy at the gate which he still insisted that I couldn't take it into the pool area (strike 1). Ok no worries I should be fine. Get inside of the pool area it seemed pretty cool until I got into the water and realize that two big grown men decided that they wanted to throw a football from the walkway bridge to the middle of the pool where another guest and I were talking. First throw hit me in the arm, ok I let that one go. Second throw I went in between she and I we both look at them. Third throw it hits her she says something, and the guy felt they weren't being rude. So, I decided to get out of the pool and go and lay out and observe the behavior The one guy was very intoxicate which is fine you on vacation. However it started getting a little later in the day, so we headed back to our cottage decided were going to shower and head out to the Sunset Walk. But before we could do any of that WE HAD NO FACE or BODY TOWELS in our master bathroom called the front desk no answer. I use my beach towel to dry off got dressed and went to the front desk spoke with Maria again she handed me 3 face towels and 3 body towels which wasn't enough considering our long stay. We use one for face and one for body. She told me she will have Maintenace bring more. She asked me was it ok if they entered while we are gone, I told her NO, she said how about the end of the day I said that would be perfectly fine I should be back. Something told me not to leave yet we waited an hour and (ding dong) the doorbell Its Maintenace entering while we are sitting in the kitchen WOW. He brings a clear bag with what we thought was some towels didn't check until we came back, after we came back, I looked into the bag, and it was a COMFORTER. NO ONE ORDERE THIS. Day 2 Called front desk about the Comforter that was supposed to have been towels NO ONE picked up the phone. Ok NOW This is even worse. We didn't have any extra toilet paper under the sinks the toilet paper that was present was a little roll of the holder. My husband went down to the front desk and the manager gave him a box of facial tissue and said he will put in a work order for the tissue to be distributed. WE NEVER GOT THE TOLET PAPER for the rest of our trip. We went bought our own. which we should have to do so. We didn't have a broom; we didn't have paper towel for the kitchen it was just a disaster. For the remaining of our trip, we pretty much didn't hang around the resort because it was just a disappointment and lack of service, we didn't want to let anything else hinder our vacation. The only good thing I can say about the cottage is the bed slept really nice. I will not recommend Margaritaville Resort. It's so many beautiful resorts in Florida. This one just didn't make the return cut for my family and me.

When booking my suggestion is to book air b and b and not direct. First mistake was I booked direct and paid 3 times what air b and b was charging. The “resort pool” is over crowded and you have to fight for a seat. The water park that they include in your over priced stay if you get season pass for $60 you are set there. The lazy river is NOT part of the hotel but island h2o as well as the wave pool with movie theater. The water park closes at 5pm so no night time movies by the pool…. When booking direct you don’t know where your cottage will be… they stuck us almost a mile away from the resort, I did go back and complain about how far away this was and asked if why if I paid all this extra money for the resort would we be so far away and they honestly didn’t care. I asked to speak with a manager who then came out and said this is all they had available and that there were no 3 bedrooms closer to the resort pool that the one section at the end of the resort is the only section that had 3 bedrooms (not true) but that he would follow up with me in a day or two when there was availability that was a little closer and move us(also never happened). And the shuttle they say is available for transport my daughter sat and waited 45 minutes for and they never showed up. The home itself is nice a big and basically brand new. The cleaning needs a bit more attention as there is black mold on the toilets and showers. The sliding window to the patio had kids finger prints from a prior guest and some sort of splash of something on one of the walls. There are missing dishes and cups and no “ frozen concoction maker”. We have stayed in plenty of resorts in Florida as a comparison and this was by far the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They could do so much better if they put forth a little better customer service and were a bit more straight forward on their website.

The cottages are a good concept, but the execution of that vision was very poor. There was very poor maintenance of the cottage. The microwave handle was broken (and they let us check in knowing that the handle was broken). 2 lamps were broken in the main level bedroom. Trash from the prior family was left in the main bedroom. The grill propane tank was left on from the prior family, while the igniter button was broken (so we couldn't even use the grill if we wanted to)-- FIRE HAZARD. There were large gaps in the doors leading outside, and a big spider on the ceiling by one of those doors in the main bedroom. Brown liquid food stains were on the white cabinets. The couch was stained brown in multiple places, as was the upholstered bed upstairs. The guest services desk also never ever answered the phone. The only way to get help was to go to the main lobby and wait several minutes in line. To top it all off, they forgot to text me when my room was ready. I waited HOURS with suitcase and kids in tow waiting for the text, only to be told by guest services over 5 HOURS LATER that they forgot to tell me my cottage was ready. Great! Then, when I asked to have my invoice/receipt emailed to me at the end of the visit, that never happened. The main hotel lobby is nice, as is the pool. The H20 park is also a nice addition, as are the shops that are within walking distance. The neighborhood of the cottages is very beautiful. All of this, however, is far outweighed by the poor shape the actual cottage was in and the fact that it was very difficult to get any kind of help in a timely manner. For that reason, I don't think I would stay there again, and I don't recommend you stay there either given the options at this price point.