As they are in the business of impressing people with the property to encourage the sale of time shares, in my case they failed. I only stayed overnight, and only experienced one of the small hotel-style rooms, but since first impressions are always critical, I will most likely not be back.
The check-in process was relatively smooth and the young ladies at the front counter were very pleasant and friendly. The first two things that annoyed me for a resort of this alleged caliber was an additional mandatory $16 housekeeping fee and WiFi you had to pay for ($10/night or $40 a week, with limited devices allowed to connect - are you kidding me? There are $40/night motels that offer free, unlimited WiFi). The young lady apparently detected my displeasure at this revelation and since I was only staying overnight and had one laptop, gave me the access codes gratis.
We were then directed to another desk to get our parking passes and directions to the building. On the plus side, there was no attempt or mention of a timeshare pitch, probably since we were guests of a club member. Oddly enough, when I asked this young lady where was a good place to eat, she directed us out into town, never mentioning the very nice bar/grill right there on the property, poolside! Although it was a bit pricy (as to be expected) the food was very good and the service was quick and very pleasant. The pool complex was very impressive and was probably the nicest part of the whole resort (there was also a theater, game room, golfing simulator, and other value added features, but I didn’t try any of them).
There were 3 of us traveling together so at booking time (on the website) we had requested one room with two doubles and one with a queen. It wasn't until we dragged all our stuff up to the rooms (on the 5th floor of the 7000 building - at least they had 3 elevators) that we discovered A) there was only one queen bed in the rooms and B) the key for the other room did not work. Thinking there was a mistake, we hauled everything back down to the car and went back to the front desk. This is when we were introduced to a young man who appeared to be some sort of shift supervisor. The shortness of his temper appeared to match his stature, as the young ladies were all taller then he was. His attitude quickly grated on me, as he explained that our request for double beds at booking meant nothing, and there were no such rooms available, but that we could upgrade to a suite for $400+ dollars a night. Looking at the other reviews, do you see a recurring bait-and-switch to a more costly room thing appearing here? We finally decided to book a 3rd single room and they recoded the key for the ones that did not work. These new keys also did not work, so we had to make a 3rd trip to the front desk.
Finally in our very small rooms, the first thing that struck me was the beat up furniture (the night stands had chunks of lamination missing off the top), the tiny TVs (I think my laptop screen was almost as big), and the over all cheap look of the cabinetry. There was a microwave, a mini-fridge (empty), and an odd assortment of dishes and cups, yet no coffee maker or ice bucket. The only apparent ice machine was on the ground floor outside, near the pool, and I had to use a soup bowl to take some back to the room.
The WiFi login/password given to me at check-in did not work so I decided to call the front desk. There was nothing resembling a facilities phone book to be found so I took a chance and dialed 0. Good guess, as the altitudinally and attitudinally challenged young man answered. After explaining my troubles, I was put on hold for a few seconds and when he returned, I was given a new login and password. On a whim, I tried the old login name and the new password and viola, they worked. Signal was weak and not very fast, but it was enough to check email, Facebook, etc.
Overall the room was clean, the bathroom was large and well provided (although the only horizontal shelf in the tub was barely big enough to hold the complimentary bar of soap – I paid a $16 extra housekeeping fee so yes, I used the complimentary toiletries). The bed was firm, clean and comfortable. On the very small balcony was two chairs and a small table, perfect for a couple to relax (although on the backside of the building the only view consisted of the parking lot and undeveloped scrub land – sort of fitting for my visit up to that point). The guard at the front gate provides a increased feeling of security, like a gated community (the one on duty when we arrived had a heavy Scottish accent and was very pleasant)
First impression summary for the “single bed, hotel-style rooms” and short term exposure to the facilities: Great potential, less than adequate execution, lack of attention to detail. And give that shift supervisor an attitude adjustment or reassign him to a position that doesn’t involve guest interaction. I won’t be back anytime soon.
- Silver Lake Hotel
- Silver Lake Resort Florida
- Silver Lake Resort Orlando
- Silver Lake Kissimmee
- Silver Lake Resort Kissimmee
- Silver Lake Resort Kissimmee Fl
