Hotel Review: Renaissance Orlando Sea World Resort

I don’t normally review chain hotels because, well, I don’t normally stay in chain hotels. In my “other life,” I work in PR, so when I’m traveling for business, I stay where my clients prefer (which seems to usually be a chain hotel). In October I headed down to Orlando to represent a client at a trade show, so my hotel options were limited to the conference hotels. The Peabody Hotel, the iconic Memphis-based chain with the marching ducks, was already sold out. My other options were a Holiday Inn, a Red Roof Inn… & the Renaissance Orlando Sea World Resort. I kind of cringed as I booked my room, picturing children hyped up on Disney & Shamu tearing up & down the halls, not another business traveler in sight. But the rate was decent & the location was close to the convention center, so I decided to take a chance.

After a 40 minute taxi ride from the airport, I stepped into the soaring atrium lobby of the Renaissance & knew this wasn’t going to be your traditional Orlando-themed, kid-centric hotel. I was greeted at the front desk with a smile & a glass of complimentary champagne & shown to my upgraded room on the 10th floor (reason for an upgrade? “You’ll be here for a few nights… & you’re on a business trip). When I opened the door to my one bedroom king suite, my mouth literally dropped open. To put it in the words of a friend who I met for dinner: “My goodness, this is excessive.” Excessive it was – excessively fabulous that is.

This being my first stay at a Renaissance property, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I didn’t expect this: the furnishings in my room were chic, modern, well-styled & looked more like they belonged in a boutique hotel in New York City, rather than a large resort hotel with views of Sea World & Disney. The enormous bed was one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in & the oversized desk made a perfect work station during my four-night stay.

The excessive part of the room? The living room of my suite had a sectional sofa in it so large it wouldn’t fit in my house. I took conference calls from every inch of that sofa & determined  that being nestled into the corner, surrounded by overstuffed pillows that would look awesome in my house*, was pretty much the best place ever to take a conference call. It was heavenly.

*Don’t worry Renaissance, despite my extreme desire to take them with me, the pillows stayed behind when I checked out :)

The hotel has five restaurants, four of which I ate at during my stay. The Palms Grill & Pool Bar is the perfect place to grab a sandwich for lunch – I recommend the turkey BLT wrap or the hummus plate. The Tradewinds Restaurant serves breakfast (including a buffet), lunch & dinner daily in a comfortable, casual atmosphere – I had a great omelet one morning for breakfast (accompanied by a wonderfully large pot of coffee) & a nice sandwich for lunch on my last day at the hotel. I ate dinner almost every night I was there at the Boardwalk Sports Bar, where the beer was cold, the staff was friendly & the football plentiful – I highly recommend the wings, hummus, & turkey burger. The sports bar seemed to attract all the business travelers at the hotel & none of the children – a big win. The Starbucks on site was more than adequate for a quick cup of coffee in the morning, or a simple breakfast.

If you go…
– request a room on the west side of the hotel. You’ll be rewarded with beautiful sunsets & a view of the fireworks at Magic Kingdom & EPCOT!

– during cooler months, the hotel has a very popular fire pit area – grab a bottle of wine, some friends & curl up in front of the fire

– don’t be afraid, as I was, that this would be like staying at a Disney resort. The only mention of Sea World was the little guy below:

– the pool area is really, really nice. There’s also a separate kids water park area, so both adults & kids can enjoy their time in the Florida sun

– don’t settle for Orlando chain restaurants! There are some great places to eat nearby, including a fantastic Italian, family-owned restaurant a short walk away.