Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort

Scott Mason

I wanted to love this place, but they fell way short. As for the property, very nice, our villa was great. But that is it. Before we scheduled this vacation they tried to get us to do a "tour' and we would get $200 credit to use at the resort. I thought it was a pretty good deal until I they stated they want a $75 deposit for 'no shows' again I can understand this, so we opted to say no to the tour because we were sure how our vacation would go and if we'd have time. Fast forward to check in..after checkin we were told to go to another section to get our resort passes and parking pass, when arriving at this section a gentlemen said "hey since you booked through our website we're gonna give you $200 credit to use at the resort" I heard this before, then he states you just have to go on a little tour. My wife looked at me and said 'lets just do it, its' only 90mins' so we agreed to a 10:30am appointment. We arrived at our 1030 tour to which we were introduced to our sales representative. Well this turned quickly into a 'timeshare' orientation, with hopes that we will buy into the company. Again no big deal, 90mins for $200 voucher. So we sat through the entire sales presentation, video and tour. When we kindly said no we weren't interested, well then that's when the manager comes in and tries to "sweetened the pot" and give you a better deal. To which we kindle declined again. They said no problem we'll get you your promised $200 voucher. So off to the next salesman whose tried one last time to get us to purchase into the timeshare program, again for the third time we kindly declined the offer and he said no problem he'll get us our voucher but this time he said it would be for $350. Both myself and my wife were taken back by this offer but thought maybe it was because the tour was now 2hrs in, not 90mins. So the last part they take you to the cashier who gives you a voucher credit card to use at the resort. My wife and I were excited, $350 voucher to use, not so fast...we check the card and its only loaded with $150. We call the sales department and Marcus check into it, he said go back to the cashier and I'll make a note to give you the rest of your money. SO now we have to go back to the cashier to which she argues with us about how much we would get. At the end we ended up with a voucher for $200. They lie to you throughout the entire process and use sleeze ball sales tricks. Would love to come back because we really like the property but we will find somewhere else next time. Don't fall for the timeshare sales pitch!!!!

Arianna Mangual

I booked a 3 bedroom villa for a week during the summer. Booking was a breeze through the IHG app, wonderfully priced. Checking in was a nightmare. It literally took about an hour to check in. The line was long and moved very slowly, but the reception area was very nice. Once I finally made it to a representative, the process was fast and smooth. It's important to note that this vacation property is a timeshare. You will be invited to sit in or participate in timeshare presentation and will be offered free services that aren't "free" at the end of the day. Do your research before visiting. The property is massive. There is so much to see and experience, so be ready! Our villa was amazing!! Extremely spacious, 3 rooms, 3 bathrooms, full kitchen stocked with everything you need (plates, bowls, utensils, pots, pans, coffee maker, tea pot, blender, baking dishes, full refrigerator with ice maker). Our villa also had a large living room with a sofa bed, large dinning area, laundry room with washer and dryer, covered patio with small table and chairs. Rooms were very spacious, beds were comfortable and pillows were decent. There is so much to do in this resort... There are about 7 pools, we personally used 3 or 4 of the 7. The lazy river is nice. You have to rent their tubes in order to use one, but it is not needed in order to enjoy the river. The tubes can only be used in the lazy river. You can pretty much launch anywhere and have a great time, but the hammocks are great! We purchased the 3 day package that includes tubes for the lazy river, mini golfing and the fun zone. Those must be activated each day and I wish I knew what they were about before purchasing, it really isn't worth the money. All in all, we had a great time and would definitely boom here again.

Courtney Santonastaso

Overall excellent resort! Rooms are very spacious and clean. Very cozy beds! Amazing pools. Kids enjoyed the arcade and bowling! Only negative is the food. Expected more of a fresh theme focusing on smoothies, fresh lemonade, seafood, orange crush (emphasizing Florida oranges) and overall more of a variety. That said, we will be back!

Mark Wellnitz

Don't fall for the time-share trap that Holiday Inn disguises as a 'fun-filled' family vacation. Last year, I took my 16 year-old son to a Holiday Inn resort in Orlando on a deal that the organization sold to me by a third-party via phone solicitation and promised to be "unforgettable" and "all-inclusive." We went on Memorial Day weekend, so we had only 3 days and wanted to have as much fun as possible in that short time. Holiday Inn made it mandatory that we attend a "2-hour" presentation as part of the deal I agreed to and purchased. An individual named Carlos, who identified himself as a realtor for the company, drove my son and I from the area we parked at on one part of their property, to another office a mile away on another part of the property. After two hours of following Carlos around the property while he tried to sell the idea of buying a time share, I politely declined services. He was persistent and didn't seem to take no for an answer, while frequently showing us picturesque getaways on his laptop. He even recruited another staff member, named Jose, to approach us and give a spiel about how the company would "take care" of us and I could pass the "legacy" down to my son. I let him know I wanted some time to think about it, but his response was something along the lines of, "What is there to think about?" He also tried convincing me by saying that I would be a "good father" if I bought the time-share. After about almost six hours had passed since the time we arrived to the start of the appointment, my son was kind of disappointed that we spent nearly the whole day there at the presentation, and not actually enjoying our vacation. We were hungry and tired, and there was never any opportunity to be fed even a basic meal for our time. To make things worse, instead of driving us back to our vehicle parked a mile away, and we noticed that Carlos had diappeared and left us there, Jose brought us to a small, cramped office where another staff member, named Azza, said she was a manager and claimed she could 'cancel' the time-share purchase if I was dissatisfied (but was unreachable afterwards and didn't return any of my calls). She, too, showed us numerous picturesque getaways on her computer and countered my concerns with her sales tactics. The pressure was there, even though the staff knew that I worked as a behavioral health technician and didn't make enough money, essentially, to afford all their fees considering I pay monthly child support on top of other bills. We just wanted to enjoy our father-son vacation and were not expecting to be taken 'hostage', or at the very least, be psychologically manipulated and given the run-around when I asked them to take us back to our vehicle. Nowadays, my son and I still occasionally talk about the coercion and lack of professionalism exhibited by the Holiday Inn representatives we encountered at that deceptive presentation, whose agenda was seemingly to take advantage of unsuspecting patrons by selling an intangible product offering no actual ownership to anything other than potential financial hardship.

Edward Johnson

This is a very nice & large resort with many daily activities, 7 pools, 4 mini golf course, water sports & golf courses. There are several restaurants so you don't have to go outside the resort to eat. There are shuttle that run every 20 minutes with many stops. The TV does not have any premium channels. You only get 1 set of pool towels per unit, so you have to wash them if you want fresh ones. So, 4 stars because not as luxuries as the Hilton & Marriott resorts we've stayed at in the Orlando area. We have enjoyed our visit.