Avanti Resort

So we stayed here for 12 nights and there is a lot to love about this hotel, so I'll start with the positives and a couple of things for guests to know! It's a well laid out hotel with plenty of rooms and a lovely pool area (with a hot tub and children's play area bit). The pool is open from 7am to 11pm and has a full bar and cafe that also operates in these hours, with free towels provided. The cafe also is a stocked shop with tablets and other useful things, but if you can't find what you need don't worry - the location is spot on. Avanti is located just near Icon Park, an area filled with bars, shops and places to eat. I honestly could have had a cracking two week holiday here by itself had we not been in Orlando with everything it has to offer! The room was fine and tended to every night, but the floor could get a little dirty. I would say it does get a bit noisy if you're near the highway or the pool, but there's really not much the hotel can do about that. In all honesty, if you're spending a day on a park, you're going to be so knackered you'll likely sleep through an Earthquake. On the topic of the parks - yes, you get free shuttle buses to both Disney and Universal from the bus stop located right outside the main entrance. I highly recommend anyone planning on using these researches them more so you can plan your day as you need to make sure you make the return buses (first come, first served!), but it really is a good service if you plan properly. Universal buses take you to the Universal bus station and security entrance, from which you can walk to Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios/CityWalk or catch a free bus to Volcano Bay. Disney buses take you to the Ticket and Transportation Centre, where you can jump on the free ferry/monorail to Magic Kingdom and the monorail to Epcot (you can also get a bus directly to and from Epcot). A quick five minute walk to the Polynesian hotel will also get you a free bus to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. Very easy to get around, and will save you a lot of time and money! Disney buses can be pre-booked online, but you probably won't need to. Universal buses need to be booked from the manned desk in reception, but someone is usually there most times of the day. So, would I recommend Avanti to anyone? Definitely. It's well located, well supplied, and it's a good way of visiting Orlando and trying not to spend an absolute fortune. That said, you ain't going there to save money! Are there some negatives to Avanti? Well, yes, a few, but I honestly wouldn't want to put anyone off staying here. I'm mentioning the below just because I feel it does need pointing out. Firstly, there is an issue that I can see a few people have had with Virgin bookings. Both myself and another family we saw turned up to find that the hotel had no record of our booking, something they attributed to Virgin. I have raised this with Virgin and asked for them to look into it, as it really was not acceptable and I'm not sure who was to blame. What I will say for Avanti though is that they simply slotted us into a room and said they would sort this out with Virgin for us. Special mention to Amy on the desk who sorted this out for us. But I do dread to think what would have happened had a room not been available. We got VERY lucky. And I know for a fact another family were not offered this, so I'm not sure what happened there. So Avanti. Virgin. Whoever was responsible for this. Sort it out! Secondly, be prepared to pay some fees when you turn up. First up is the resort fee, which is around $15 per day you stay there. You will also be asked to pay a security deposit of about $100, so couple these together and it's a big amount to go on a credit card (they won't take cash). You will get the $100 back, although I know some people had to chase for this. I also want to make special mention to the hotel creche, otherwise known as the hot tub. I have no issue with kids wanting to be in this, but every day it was absolutely full of them with floats and toys, which kind of ruined it for anyone else who just wanted to relax in there. I highly recommend Avanti consider banning kids from the hot tub completely, or at the very least ban them from bringing toys in. That said, I feel some of the hotel guests could maybe have stopped their kids from doing this, but yano. On the whole, really enjoyed my time at Avanti, and I would recommend it. Read less

Very tired and badly maintained We booked a Premium King Suite ( newly renovated)… the room hadn’t been touched since the 90s and looked nothing like the welcoming photos. It was dark and dingy on the ground floor. You think the maid would notice that the clock was showing totally the wrong time and correct it whilst servicing the room? No. You think the maid would notice that the toilet wouldn’t flush when servicing the room and report it to maintenance? No. We reported the non usable toilet 3 times before maintenance came on the morning of the 3rd day. We advised reception that we were obviously not in a “ recently renovated” suite which we had paid for, but they didn’t care. The air conditioning unit in the “recently renovated” suite was very noisy. There wasn’t even a complimentary bottle of water. It was very basic. The pool was huge but full of screaming children. Thankfully all went quiet at 11pm. The only benefits were the excellent location on International Drive with many good restaurants nearby, and free parking. WiFi was fast. Pool towels looked new. There was a small Starbucks in the foyer. Read less

My honest review of avanti Firstly check in was fine and quick little bit confusion with the rooms as we were sent to the wrong one but receptionist came chasing after us very apologetic. We were given a choice of room since we were staying for so long which was nice so we chose away from the motorway as it can be noisy. Rooms were a great size for families lots of storage space and mini kitchen area is great of your staying so long. The rooms were fine as this was just a base for us but was a little bit grubby around the edges, having said that I do find some of the negative reviews to be a little dramatic as the size and comfort of the rooms outweighs any other issue. Yes the bathrooms are tiny but shower was good and we were left fresh towels everyday again bathroom was a little grubby around the edges but toilet and bath were all very clean. We never had issues with the floors in the room as they seemed cleaned everyime the cleaner come in, one issue that could be contributed to the dirty floors is that people are probably walking around with outdoor shoes on as you come straight in from outside. Cleaners did a good job and if your ever lacking anything just ask and you'll get it I wanted extra coffees etc and would leave a little note and tip and they happily left it for me. Rooms are cleaned daily and bed sheets changed ever 5th day if your staying for that long. The pool is absolutely fantastic great size and is currently heated so if your here in the colder months its a great place. My only gripe is that I noticed at busier times there was rubbish hanging around and no one coming to keep on top of it which I totally get should be up to the guests and general manners but there seems to be zero supervision around the pool area. Towels are provided and lots of sunbeds even at busy times. My only major gripe with this hotel is the bar and shop prices they are extortionate not just a little bit expensive but ridiculous. If your staying like us for a reasonable length of time I'd recommend taking a cab to a walmart and do a shop of drinks snacks etc to keep in your fridge. Location is key in this hotel lots of people stay here for this reason.. if your not using the shuttle bus its 7ish dollars to universal and around 15-20 dollars back. Lots of restaurants around and other activities to do. All in all for what we paid for our holiday with BA I'm not disappointed with this hotel. Remember you get what you pay for and in their instance I think you get a little bit more! Read less

Stayed here for 16 nights towards the end of March through to the middle of April. Check in went smoothly, I was told by the receptionist that I would receive $100 dollars back, which was the incidental charge. We were told we would receive this after 5 days, providing nothing was damaged and we didn't make any charges to our room, which neither of these things happened. I'm not sure if that was 5 days from check in or check out. However I have still not received anything, I have however been charged a further $80 for something while we was still over there on our holiday, I have no idea what this is for though, I have attempted to contact the hotel via email, social media and telephone and heard nothing back. Unfortunately this has left me no option but to raise this with my bank as fraudulent. I requested a pool room view which included a daily refresh. However if you don’t leave a tip you don’t get anything! A few times we had to go to reception and request towels and toilet roll. We left tips but not every day (didn’t always have cash). The pool was fab. Plenty of sun loungers. It was very clean around the pool areas, and through the hotel grounds, the shuttle service was great, bare in mind you need to book the universal shuttle in reception and for Disney you need to book this your self via the Florida shuttle service, there is a leaflet in reception with a QR code to scan, which then takes you to the correct website. There is plenty of restaurants within walking distance and the nearest Walgreens is just up the road when you turn right out of the hotel, on the opposite side of the road. Don't make the same mistake as us and go left! There is also a Disney discount store next door to Friendly's, this has all sorts cheap compared to the hotel or Walgreens. Id of rated this hotel more had I not been struggling to sort the issue out with the money that has been taken out of my account. Read less