Good Bets for Orlando Hotels

07 Dec Good Bets for Orlando Hotels

Posted at 09:40h in Blog, Central Florida, Florida, United States by Jenna Kvidt

The Orlando area has a ridiculous amount of hotels and I always find myself unsure of trying out a new place when visiting. While there are many budget friendly hotels, some of them are downright scary. I have found a few middle of the road hotels in a moderate price range that I would return to again in a heartbeat. None of these are on the property of a theme park although some are very close by. Apparently we were slacking in the photo area when staying at these hotels, so I apologize in advance.

Radisson Hotel Orlando – Lake Buena Vista:

For Orlando, this is more of a no frills hotel, with a pool, hot tub, and one restaurant. It is located near the interstate and behind a bright blue tourist shop, Gift Land and Waffle House, but don’t let that fool you into thinking the hotel is not up to par. We have stayed here a few times and have always enjoyed a great experience. We usually stay at this Radisson when we aren’t planning on spending much time at the hotel or in the pool. The hotel is very clean, it is close to the outlet mall, the staff is friendly and welcoming, and if you are a Club Carlson member, you may even be welcomed to your room with a nice letter and extra toiletries. I would recommend signing up for the rewards program and booking online at the clubcarlson.com website as you earn 1,000 bonus miles and can accumulate points towards a free future stay. I have always been able to find rates for around $100 a night. We recently stayed for $91 during a Club Carlson buy one get one free promo, so we essentially paid $91 for two nights at a club Carlson hotel, one of which can be redeemed later.

Micah couldn’t wait to take a break

Nifty toiletries that were provided to us in our room

Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld:

The only times I have stayed at this hotel, I have been by myself, arriving late at night and leaving the next morning, but I really want to go back and spend an entire weekend here so I can have some time to enjoy all the hotel has to offer. This hotel has more of a resort type feel with a water park, pool, hot tub, volleyball, table tennis, game room, fire pit, spa, multiple restaurants and a beautiful, huge fish tank that greets you upon entering the lobby. The atmosphere is great, the rooms are clean and there are many activities right on site. It is directly across the street from SeaWorld, within easy walking distance, and is a partner hotel of SeaWorld, which means it’s a great hotel to stay at if you are planning a visit to SeaWorld. The hotel gives you special SeaWorld perks for staying with them. Some of these perks include, Quick Queue wristbands that allow you front of the line access and park discounts. I’ve seen rates for this hotel anywhere from 80-200+ per night, but I have never paid more than $110 per night.

Rosen Plaza Hotel:

This property can be on the more expensive side, I frequently see rates $200+ a night, but on occasions I have found discounted rates–we scored a deal through bookit.com for just over $80 per night. For that price, it was a great hotel and definitely worth it. It is also a clean hotel, it has a nice pool, whirlpool, multiple restaurants and is conveniently located near the Orlando Convention Center as well as Pointe Orlando, which is an entertainment complex with restaurants, shopping, bars, a movie theater and a few other attractions. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos for you.

Other Options:

Another option is to stay in a condo–I have heard great things about renting condos in the area, but have never personally stayed at one, mainly because I am always trying to accomplish a mattress run for points or free night stays when we are in Orlando, so I usually opt to stay in a hotel instead. The condos can be 1-3 rooms and have a full kitchen, washer and dryer and other homey necessities that can be very nice after a full day out exploring. One thing to remember is that the condos may vary from one unit to the next, although they do tend to be managed by a rental company.

I am hesitant to recommend this last hotel–it was good in a lot of ways, but I felt a couple areas were lacking. The Radisson Resort Orlando Celebration is a level one Club Carlson , so if you have reward points, a night can be redeemed for as little as 9,000 points. On our last trip to Orlando, we stayed here for free by using 9,000 points we earned this past summer. I probably wouldn’t actually pay for this hotel because you can get more bang for your buck somewhere else, but redeeming points for it is a great option. Especially if you have kids and like activity and action. The pool has a waterside and a nice atmosphere with a tiki bar and large chess set, but it is a large hotel and we happened to be visiting while two groups were also staying there–one was a sheriff convention and the other had to do with little kid football. The hotel is very large, but it was still overrun with people and not always the cleanest in the common areas; however, at least the rooms felt clean enough. It might be different (cleaner and quieter) at various times of the year, but we just felt there was a lack of attention to detail throughout the hotel. Despite that, I would definitely stay there again if I wanted to redeem points for a free night.