Red Lion Hotel Orlando Lake Buena Vista South — Attraction in Kissimmee

I stayed over the weekend with some friends of mine. I will say that there are a few positive aspects of this property. It is reasonably lit, and the rooms are clean and spacious. The beds aren't super great, but I wouldn't call them the worst I've slept on. Unfortunately, that marks the end of my positive experiences.||I specifically chose this property over many others because of the reasonable rate and the fact they have a lazy river area with a water slide. I knew my friends would love the lazy river while their children would go nuts over the water slide.||Before I get to my main disappointment, I'd like to mention a couple of other concerns. Saturday night we returned to the hotel around 10 PM. We parked and were immediately assaulted by the smell of marijuana so strong that it felt like it was coming from our own car. About 7 cars down from us, there was a car parked in the middle of the parking lot with 4 people standing outside smoking blunts and a few others inside the car hotboxing. I was surprised at their brazenness and very disappointed in hotel security. They had clearly been there for a while, so it was clear security wasn't interested in doing something about people using drugs smack dab in the middle of their parking lot at a family resort.||There are also some black nonslip rugs in the hallways and in front of the elevators. Some of them are quite old and worn. I nearly tripped and fell over one because my shoe caught a worn spot where the rug was raised sharply, and I had to brace myself against the wall to prevent a fall. These clearly need to be replaced. Maintenance is probably not high on this hotel's list of concerns.||Now for my primary problem. I arrived Friday night around 6:30 PM. At that time, the lazy river area was already closed early due to staffing concerns, so I was unable to go in and preview it, but it looked fairly nice from the outside. It's supposed to be open on Friday-Sunday from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM. My friends and I were going to be busy at a local event on Saturday, so I made sure to request late checkout on Sunday to give us time to experience the lazy river and slide.||Come Sunday morning, we went down to the pool area just before 11 AM only to be disappointed because the lifeguard on duty told us her fellow lifeguards had not arrived at work yet, and they would be unable to open the lazy river until 4 were present. We waited 20 minutes. Another two lifeguards came, but the fourth was nowhere in sight. While we waited, we elected to swim in the pool and use the hot tub. The pool water was surprisingly cold, so my friend's wife and son didn't even bother trying to go in. We attempted to use the hot tub, but it was barely lukewarm and very foamy. After a couple minutes of sitting in it, I noticed there was a bunch of brown stuff swirling around with and clinging to the foam. I'm not sure what it was; perhaps dirt from the surrounding plants, but in either case, it was gross. At that point, I went to the front desk with my friend to inquire about the situation because we had a 12 PM checkout, and my friends needed to leave to attend a function for a friend of theirs.||The first staff member I spoke to was Iraida (apologies if I got the spelling incorrect, she was not very forthcoming with her name). She was very rude and curt when we brought the issue to her attention. When we mentioned wanting to use the lazy river area, she began quoting policy at us that they needed to have 4 lifeguards available and could not open. We then explained that we had specifically requested late checkout and chosen to stay at the resort purely because of the aforementioned lazy river and slide. She merely snapped back that we were welcome to use the regular pool and hot tub area until our checkout time at noon. She was clearly not interested in apologizing for our situation at all and didn't seem to care one bit.||Perturbed, I asked to speak to her manager after she identified herself as a supervisor. The next person to come out was Yanelis. I explained the hot tub and lazy river situation to her, and while she was at least more polite than her compatriot, she again did nothing to rectify our situation or help us. The most she would offer to do was waive the $25 late checkout fee and extend our checkout time to 1 PM, but my friend had to explain that did nothing for them because they needed to leave to attend their friend's function. When I explained that I had chosen this hotel among dozens of others in the same area because of the lazy river/slide amenity and could have spent far less on a comparable hotel with a regular pool since that's all we were getting to experience (and with a dirty hot tub, at that), Yanelis told me I could write down their phone number and try calling back on Tuesday to speak to Leon, the manager of the pool area, about possible compensation. I don't know why a front of house manager wouldn't have the ability to do this herself, so I strongly suspect she was just telling me something to make me go away without trying to help me. I seriously doubt I will have any luck speaking to Leon on Tuesday about this concern, but I will update this review if I do.||Obviously, I am very disappointed about this experience. While it was not wholly unpleasant, I could easily have booked a cheaper hotel in the area and saved money if the primary attraction wasn't going to be available. When I checked out from the hotel around 12:10 PM, I walked around to my car in the back of the parking lot near the lazy river area. It was still locked down. Guess coming to work and sense of duty isn't high on anyone's list of priorities here. I know the cheap rates will attract you, but I recommend you save your money and stay...

First impressions mean a lot. Review grade B-.

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My wife and I had a 4PM check in. We got to the Red Lion at 3 PM. Two front desk clerks on duty. One desk waited on us & would have checked us in if a room was available but none were cleaned at that time. We were offered to hang out by the pool and to keep checking back. We did and by 3:45 PM we got in line with 10 other guests also checking in. So, up to this time there was two check in clerks but for whatever reason one left at 3:45PM just at the peak of the activity. This action left guests standing in line for 10-15 minutes. Why did one have to leave right at check in time ?? Ok. So we got our room which the clerk said, I will give you this room with a view of the pool and as we requested the room would also have a king size bed, and a couch. The pool view was somewhat of a joke because we could only see One corner of the pool, which was approximately 5 feet, Most of our view was of a walkway inbetween two buildings. As we settled our clothing, we checked the bed for a mattress pad and cleanliness and we’re happy with the bed. I called the desk got no answer. I called a second time & got no answer. I went to the desk and the one girl that was left was still checking in people. We had a show to go to within 45 minutes so we had to get ready and leave. After the show, I approached the desk I asked the clerk about the couch condition. She said she would send someone by. A half hour went by, an hour, then an hour and a half went by & no one came. I called the desk and was told I wasn’t the only guest with an issue someone would come. After 2 1/2 hours, I went to the desk and she acted surprised that no one had come. The clerk at this time asked me if I had a pet because we were put into a pet friendly room? What??? Then she said that she would call housekeeping right then as I waited, she did. Housekeeping came but, only spoke Spanish. We walked to my room. I showed her the pillows. She seems surprised I thought we got our message across that we wanted either a new coach or pillows and she seem to understand but obviously didn’t as we continued waiting for someone. Now we have waited 3 1/2 hours into this ordeal. We had traveled all day & we wanted to change after the show get into our night clothes and relax on the couch, watch TV before retiring and of course we couldn’t do that because of this dirty ripped couch. I went back to the desk. This time to ask for a different room also with a king size bed and a couch. She called a maintenance person. He came took me to a room that she said had a couch and king size bed, but it did not. It only had two queen size beds, no couch. The maintenance person called her. She sent us to another room this time the bed was the couch!!! So now it’s going on four hours and I’m very agitated and extremely tired. The maintenance person said would you be happy just taking these two cushions and swap them out? After all this & being extremely fatigued I agreed. As we got back to the room my wife had noticed the refrigerator was not working so, we had the maintenance person search for a refrigerator for us, which was another half hour before we got a working Refrigerator. Finally around 11:45 PM we were able to shower and relax. The next day we went to the pool and found that only two umbrellas out of six could actually be opened for shade. After getting back from the pool we were surprised no one came to clean our room and provide more towels, which we had to call the desk for additional bath towels. We did fine the staff, friendly, but only (somewhat) helpful, We thought that red lion was not up to the reviews that had brought us to the red lion in the first place. I would give red lion a hotel travel grade of B minus because of Putting someone in a room with dirty furniture, 2.Not having staff that was bilingual 3.Not having the amenities in working conditions or clean. 4.No mention of any compensation for my inconvenience. “Travelers...

My Stay at Red Lion Hotel Orlando (July 23–30, Booked via Priceline)

Input on the Positives, Minor Issues, and Disappointments:

We arrived at the hotel and found it just as shown in the photos. It’s lovely both outside and inside, and very clean. We were greeted professionally, even though we arrived late at night.

✅ ¤ POSITIVES: The hotel feels safe — a key card is required to enter the building and access your room.

Rooms are spacious, clean, and well-maintained.

Elevators and luggage carts are available on the main floor, which made check-in and check-out much easier.

The ceiling fan in the room is a nice touch for those who prefer a light breeze over strong A/C.

Daily housekeeping is available, or you can opt out by using the “Do Not Disturb” sign.

Laundry facilities are clean and easy to use. Washing costs $2, and drying is between $0.50–$1.00 depending on the time needed. Tip: Be sure to add both detergent and softener at the start of your wash cycle.

The pool is relatively clean. Some cosmetic touch-ups (especially on the bridge area) would improve the look, but overall, it was enjoyable. The water was warm, which is expected in 98–110°F weather.

⚠️ ¤ MINOR ISSUES: Ice machines are only on odd-numbered floors. I had a hard time finding one that actually had ice, so I ended up buying a bag at 7-Eleven.

No complimentary breakfast. The $15 breakfast offered wasn't worth it in my opinion. There was only one waffle machine for all guests, and the remaining buffet items were basic: sausage, bacon (a bit overcooked), eggs, toast (DIY), hash browns, and yogurt. You’d get more value and variety at a nearby Denny’s or McDonald’s.

❌ ¤ DISAPPOINTMENTS: Pricing Discrepancy My Priceline reservation listed taxes and fees as $175. However, on July 29 (the day before check-out), I was unexpectedly charged $244.05 in taxes and fees, plus a $200 deposit. This was frustrating because the hotel did not honor the total amount shown in my confirmed Priceline booking. I hope this inconsistency is addressed going forward — especially for guests booking through third-party platforms.

Check-Out Confusion and Key Card Deactivation Also on July 29, I received a call from Red Lion informing me that my key card access would be deactivated because, according to their system, my reservation ended that day.

I explained that my check-out date was actually July 30, as correctly listed on my Priceline reservation.

The issue appeared to be that Red Lion was relying on incorrect information from a third-party reservation system — possibly one tied to a prior booking I had already cancelled well in advance. Unfortunately, the Red Lion system didn’t seem to reflect the accurate Priceline reservation.

At the time, I was at a theme park, which added extra stress. I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Priceline, who confirmed that they had my correct check-out date as July 30 and helped communicate this back to the hotel.

Shortly after, Red Lion called me back to confirm the issue was resolved, the amount taken out was corrected, and I was advised to stop by the front desk for a new key card. I was incredibly relieved — especially since my family belongings were still inside the room.

📝 ¤ FINAL THOUGHTS: Despite these hiccups, we were overall happy with our stay. The hotel is clean, comfortable, and in a great location. With some improvements to communication between the front desk and third-party systems, the experience could be smoother for future guests.

Thank you, Red Lion, for the stay and the memories we made...