I was put in Building 1 (Villa Bianca) in a viewless room (overlooking the clubhouse side entrance). The noise from the pool and around the clubhouse at night was terrible. If they stopped at 9 or 10pm it would be OK, but the noise goes on till at least midnight and can be EXTEMELY loud if they are showing an outdoor movie at the pool. You can get by if you shut the patio door and keep your AC fan on. (Sort of like being in a room in a motel next to a busy interstate). They also play annoying music from speakers around the clubhouse most of the time. I would suggest avoiding Building 4 (Villa di Teodoro) and Building 5 (Villa di Ducale) also, as these are near the shopping center parking lot and the second pool/refreshment area, though it may not be as noisy--I have no direct knowledge. On the positive side, you will find the grounds nice with a walkway around their small lake, organized activities for the children, rooms with refrigerators & microwaves, and washers and dryers available. The little onsite deli has decent sandwiches, though the free breakfast muffin I got when I complained about the noise was noting special. The property is well maintained and the staff friendly.

I booked this hotel through a timeshare promotion the Hilton Grand Vacations Timeshare Club offered when they called me at home after I stayed at Hilton Homewood Suites recently. It was $180 total (~$50/ night) for 4 nights for a 1 bedroom suite. This is probably the nicest suite we have ever stayed in as a family (wife and a 2 and 4 year old). They are about to finish construction on the last building in the complex and should be open by June 2008. Our building was next to the Premium Outlet construction site and we heard noise starting at 7am each day.

The pools were a bit chilly when we were visiting but the 2 of them are heated. One has a zero entry pool. There is a gym, activity room (computers with internet access, TV, pool table), quiet room, and a daily activity schedule.

We had to sit through a 2 hour timeshare presentation which was painful and basically, you can buy the same timeshare through timeshare brokers for 50% the price. Of course they don't tell you this, but once we exited the timeshare presentation, we were not bothered anymore.

There is a nice supermarket across the street which sells single serve items and premade meals. The room had a full kitchen (microwave, 4 burner stove, oven, dishwasher) and washer/dryer. There was a jacuzzi tub which required a lot of water to fill up. There are many food options up International Drive if you don't want to cook.

There is also a covered playground area for toddlers.

This is a great option if you decide to goto Seaworld, but I think you can find similar options which are closer to Disney World if that is your focus.

This was our third stay at this hotel and the second with the massive construction project across the lake. Even with the construction, we returned due to the price, convenient amenities (kitchen, washer/dryer, large bathroom), and pretty good upkeep.

The biggest disappointment came at our arrival when we were told that our room would not be ready and no, they didn't know when one would be available. This was the second consecutive time that our room wasn't ready, even though we arrived after the posted check in time of 4pm. This was particularly irksome because this hotel enforces an early 10am check-out time when you leave. Well, luckily our room became available about 1 hour after we arrived. Unfortunately, since the front desk couldn't tell us when the room would be ready, we had already loaded into the car and driven off, only to be called and told the room was now ready.

This annoyance aside, the hotel was as expected. The room was clean and well-maintained. I have never detected any moldiness or mustiness, but we have always stayed in higher floors. The kitchen, washer, and dryer make for an easier stay - and it lets us pack light, too. There really was no view to speak of - we stayed in a room overlooking a multistory parking lot. With the ongoing construction, there are really no scenic views to be had anywhere in this hotel. That suits us just fine since we really use the hotel as a base from which to strike out into Disney for the entire day.

Housekeeping was ok, but slightly erratic. They didn't always replenish sheets, or laundry soap, but they did fine with towels and toiletries. Front desk service was adequate, but as I mentioned, they uninformed about the status of rooms ready for check-in. The small cafe served light meals - sandwiches and such - and service there was friendly.

Overall, I would recommend this place to families if the price is right as it represents a good value. Given the shortcomings at check-in, I hesitate to give a ringing endorsement because of the ongoing construction, and because I think a hotel with such a wide (6 hour) check-out/check-in time spread should be able to provide a room at its posted check-in time.

*FIRST THINGS FIRST - A SITE WARNING*
Please be aware that the access to the Premium Outlets shopping centre which lies adjacent to the property is closed due to large construction works in that area. This construction site faces the back of buildings 5, 6 and 7 which you will hear and see if you stay there. It is a large construction site which starts on the right hand side of the main entrance and stretches down the length of the resort. Tell the resort that you know about the construction and that you want to be away from it, so try to stay on the opposite side of the lake where it will quieter. There is however construction work on the lake itself as there is a bridge under construction across it, although this was relatively minor in comparison and not as noisy. We were going to stay in the 'Floridays' Resort but decided not to because of construction in the area.....we were rather suprised to face the same issue when we arrived at the HGV Resort.

Still with us...........still interested..........?

We had arrived by taxi from the Disney Cruise terminal in Port Canveral with the fare showing $220 on the meter, but as the driver could not find the resort (she was not the only taxi driver who had trouble locating it, so if you do stay here, take some directions for the taxi driver) she accepted the only offer I was going to make of $150. There a number of HGV'S around the area and so the taxi may indeed take you to the wrong one...it happened to us twice.

We arrived in HGV after two weeks of Disney (Resort + Cruise) so where a bit Disney weary at this stage and were looking for a quiet resort where we could relax by the pool and chill out, whilst slotting in Universal, Sea World, Cape Canaveral and some shopping in what would we planned to be an unhurried week sipping Pina Coladas.

Arrival was smooth, with some valued assistance from the courteous and welcoming doorman who broughts our bags inside and stored them whilst we made our prescence known at reception. We had arrived some 6 hours before normal check in time, and so lazed by the pool for most of the day with the kids having a great time in the fenced off pool area and hot tubs.

After 4pm we went back to reception to formally check in and get our room key and were taken to building 5. On the golf cart trip to the buliding, one look at the construction site (big enough to build a football field !) filled us with some trepidation. The room itself was great and for $165 per night...unbelievable value (see all the candid pictures). The location however was awful. Our balcony directly faced the multi storey car park for the Premium Outlets shopping mall, as well as the builidng car park. It was perhaps the worst room location on the resort.

This was not acceptable, and we had to move and so we called reception to which the stern response was a 'not possible' until tomorrow. At this stage, we were looking at the yellow pages for an alternative hotel. Meantime, Brad, the bell boy who had escorted us to the room, went to get us some drinks and to see if he could assist us. He came back with an alternative room, and we went to see it, which was on the ground floor of building 2 facing the lake and closer to the man amenities. Much better !

Brad made us feel welcome and went out his way to help us (Thanks Brad !). Little did we know that this would be the most positive and helpful interaction with hotel staff we would experience in the next 7 days.

Whilst unpacking, the front door opened and another family started to enter, who had onbviously checked in at about the time we had moved rooms and been given keys to the room.
The next thing we know, the phone rings with reception asking us who we are and what we are doing there in a very accusational tone. Time for the yellow pages again....... We left it some time before we actually unpacked and made up the double sofa bed. We had to bother housekeepoing to bring correct bedding ( and it felt like we were bothering them such was the huffy response when we asked for bedding to sleep under), but aprt from that we had a quiet first night...pizza....from the onsite Pizza Hut Express. It was too late for anything else.

ROOM ? - The room was very nicely fitted (a bit smelly...ground floor...damp ?) with comfortable beds, two TV's, kitchen, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher etc. Could not fault the room/suite.

LOCATION ? - On the resort itself see my initial comments if you are staying for any length of time. The resort location is at the bottom end of International Drive and 'walking across the road' distance to an excellent supermarket (Publix) and Premium Outlets shopping mall. Disney Downtown is not too far by cab. There is a lot of construction on other resorts in this undeveloped part of ID but apart from looking unsightly when passing, does not affect you. It is not surrounded by eateries that you can walk to.

HOW DO I GET AROUND ? - Hotel shuttle bus to Universal,Disney and Sea World. These are to a fixed timetable which ultimately did not suit us. Taxis. I-Trolley bus whic goes up and down International Drive, although we did not use it.

DO YOU NEED A CAR ? - In the end we hired a car so we could have the flexibility to come and go at the amusement parks at times we (the kids) wanted, as well as try some different food spots around the area, and to prevent what could be a $60/day taxi habit to and from various places and restaurants. The GPS we paid for with the car was great and recommended.

THE RESORT ? -
Room - Great

Pool - Nice...I would expect some sun lounger reserving goes on in busier and on warmer days. There were some serious sun worshippers you do not want to steal their lounger from.

Eating - No restaurant but good casual food from the open air bar menu. The Deli had some basic provisions as well as good coffee and a nice atmosphere.

Getting about - Some accommodation buildings are far away from the main amenity blocks, and with the construction on the go preventing you being able to walk all around the resort, it may take you some time to walk there for your Starbucks coffee and muffing in the moring from the Deli which was great. Not great if your not too mobile and hate walking.

Kid's Activities - There is an advertised program, but at this time of year, not very well attended or lively (no kids !!) and of no comparison to what Disney were offering on the cruise, so we did not really use this.

Customer service - Left a lot to be desired and was our biggest headache on a daily basis, with some rather questionable, unfriendly, unwelcoming at times, exchanges with reception staff. As one other reviewer has stated.....an apology here and there goes a long way when a guest is inconvenineced or has a legitimate gripe. One example being that the resort had us checking out 2 days before we were actually due to check out (the bill hanging on the door with the daily paper being a subtle reminder), requiring a visit to reception to sort this out before I could even shower and have a coffee. On another occassion, they seemed to have lost my credit card details and so they had sent a very stern letter under the door saying that my room key would be deactivated unless I immediately went to reception to corrected this matter. Another trip to reception first thing in the morning. There are ways and means of dealing with problems and perhaps this resort needs to go back to basics on this.
This resort perhaps does not know if it is a hotel or a collection of high rise condo buildings, that happens to provide a few basic amenities just to keep you sweet for all that money you have put into your timeshare. The symptom of this identity crisis could well be the complacent/unwelcoming type of customer service experienced by those who have the audacity to pay a nightly rate for our suites.

We would not stay here again in the foreseeable future due to the construction work, which does impact on the resort, and the poor customer service experience we had. Lots of other resorts in this area of International Drive have construction around them so be careful....the web sites may or may not tell you about this.

Overall we had a great time in Orlando and Florida. The weather did us no favours during our stay, so trips to Florida Mall, after having done all the parks that we could manage, in our now essential hired car were a welcome break. If you do go to Florida Mall for a major shopping spree, you have to eat in the Nordstrom department store Bistro. The food is out of this Orlando world. Real food !!!
Another good eatery was Taverna Ola, a Greek restaurant further up at International Drive.
Alternativey, there's always Denny's or enough steakhouses/fast food joints to keep you energised.