Lanier Islands — Hotel in Buford

My husband and I stayed for three nights at the Lanier Island’s King Suite Villa on the lake. Being one of the most expensive rooms in the Villa section, our expectations were somewhat high. Although the villa itself was spacious, we would never stay there again. Here is our breakdown:

CONS: Even before we got there, we had questions about our reservation. There is no local telephone number available on the website, so you always get some offsite India answering service, and the call gets dropped a lot (it took me three calls to get the answers I needed, which included confirmation of our booked reservation because the confirmation email never came through). I usually don’t mind these call centers, but they weren’t able to answer basic questions, and the English was very difficult to decipher. It was very frustrating. Now to the hotel: The king bed and pillows were terribly uncomfortable. We didn’t sleep well all three nights. The air conditioning was super cold, and you can’t set it at a higher temperature, so we had to turn it completely off, and then back on later, to be comfortable (or turn on the fireplace). The couch was tiny, old, and felt like cardboard. You CANT comfortably sit there. There were occasional little baby roaches on the counters and ceiling, but you are in the woods, so…

The sink in the mini kitchen wasn’t connected properly, so when we used the sink, it flooded the living room area and wet the rug, which when lifted, smelled moldy. Obviously this was most likely not your typical event, but, it happened to us and we had to have staff come in and fix it, interrupting our relaxing morning.

You can’t see the lake in the spring from your villa because of the trees, but I imagine in the winter you can. You have to get water bottles from the front desk because they don’t provide any in the villa (which we found out the hard way when we got into the villa at midnight and didn’t even have one water bottle waiting for us - also they are half-size bottles.) When the maids came, they didn’t restock our paper coffee cups, so the next morning we had to go get coffee. The lodge isn’t too far, but it’s an inconvenience when you want coffee first thing. No plates, forks, etc were provided at the villa (I recommend having some paperware available for future guests). Also, when we checked in, it’s clear the maids didn’t thoroughly clean the bathroom, as we found blood spots on the underside of the toilet seat from the prior guest.

Lastly, the light is so terrible. You can’t see anything in the evening. Even with every light on, you can’t see.

PROS: The pool was excellent, as was the soaking bathtub in the villa. Sidney restaurant breakfast was pretty good and the waiters were wonderful. The restaurant next to the pool provide really great alcoholic beverages. The property itself was pretty and well kept. The beach was ok, but callaway’s is much better (The signage is terrible when looking for the beach - you have to ask where everything is to get anywhere) You do have access to good restaurants about 15min away.

On a final note, I mentioned some of these matters to the front desk, but aside from fixing the sink and waiting two hours to get water bottles brought to us by the staff, nothing was done about the other matter. We got an apology but no solution.

Recommendations for Lanier Management:

Have a local number available on the reservation page (after someone books), and if you can bring the phone center in house, I’d recommend it. Also check your reservation email funnel, because I called twice to get the reservation email, and it didn’t come. The email that did come said I needed to complete my booking, though I already had done that (and got the confirmation number).

Provide 4 bottles of water for new guests in their rooms. For water and coffee. Replenish them throughout stay.

Change the mattresses, sofa beds, lighting, and spray for pests more frequently.

Provide a few paper plates, forks, and spoons.

Allow guest to change temperature of the cool...

Great location on Lake Lanier. The exterior grounds, entry drive in, and lobby are all really well kept and luxurious. This is unfortunately where the wonderful aspects of the property end.

The hotel is rated 4 stars on various search engines but in my opinion it's because of the location/land on which it sits, not the hotel/service. It's important to not confuse the two.

If you've got young(er) kids and need a weekend away from the Atlanta suburbs, this place will create a lot of memories.

Or if you are going to stay here to maximize time outdoors, then I'd recommend it for that, too.

If you're going to stay here with the expectation of relaxing with 4-star southern hospitality service, great on-premise dining, and comfy rooms - you'll be disappointed (there are far better options in the Atlanta area for legitimate 4-star service).

Service in the hotel is not at the level for 4 stars. The front staff are there to help but only when you engage with them, otherwise they mostly appear to be on standby.

Upon arrival, no offer to help with bags. Only offer to get a cart for bags once all bags have been unloaded by you. Then help loading the cart, but no help pushing it into the lobby from outside.

Check-in gets you a room key and no other information. Wifi is free, but only because I looked for it. Ask if there's a pull-out bed in the room? Yes. Get to the room and the pullout bed has no linens. Call the front desk from the room and they don't know what room you're calling from.

Asked how often the shuttle to the water park runs, but was told it's not running because the park isn't open. Re-asked, when the park is open, how often does the shuttle run when the park is open? "You just call and we'll drop you off or come get you."

Each interaction for service is like this - no real anticipation of needs, you get what you ask for and nothing more. It's not any one individual, it's multiple staff members.

It's a massive property with a lot to offer, but every step of the way feels like you have to pry information out of staff -- it's as if the training program is not designed for consistency in how to interact with customers or identify when customers may need suggestions or assistance. The staff aren't mean or impolite, they just don't know what good looks like, which makes the premium property entrance and lobby set the bar high for a service experience that is very much a dud.

The on-premise dining options (one for buffet-style breakfast, the other for lunch/dinner) are seemingly there to service corporate retreats where serving the masses is priority #1 vs having more creativity a 4-star establishment would normally showcase. These restaurants are fine for one meal each but if you stay more than one night you'll find yourself needing to drive 20+ minutes to another restaurant because there's nothing memorable about dining on premise here. A 20-minute drive in Atlanta is typical but out at Legacy Lodge, taking 20 minutes to drive feels like another inconvenience.

The rooms are very, very average. We rented a Jr. Suite and a double bed room for our stay. The furniture in the rooms show wear and tear from years of service. I would say these are not the rustic imperfections or charm you would appreciate but rather a specific choice to get every last ounce of mileage out of each piece of furniture in the room before replacing. The decor is a mix of rustic lodge and newer lodge decor chosen to replace the pieces that actually did wear out completely. It creates a not well-thought out aesthetic and further contributes to the subpar experience once inside the hotel.

All in all, it feels like a rather dated experience and a tired hotel that I have to imagine 20-30 years ago was very premium. However today, compared to even mid-level 3-star Marriott hotels, it leaves a lot to be desired. It would benefit from competition locally to up its game because there's so much potential, but falls very short of expectations of the 4-star rating and marketing of southern hospitality on...

We visited Legacy Lodge - Lake Lanier Islands Resort for our 10 year anniversary. The front desk staff that checked us in went out of their way to make everything perfect, so we did not have to lift a finger. After 3 1/2 hours of spa treatments (which were all amazing and I highly recommend), we arrived in our room to find a note wishing us a happy anniversary, and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. It was a very nice touch to making us feel very special and welcome. It went down hill from there. We had a few hours before dinner, so we signed up for the Scavenger Hunt set up via the concierge. This was so much fun, until the end. We were given a golf cart and list of items to find that were all over the island. The cart had a digital map, so we would not get lost. When we were done we reported back to the concierge to share our treasures and claim our prize. The major disappointment in this experience was the concierge, who did not check our list, or items. This was a let down for us. She did not even look over the list and let us know if we got the answers right. That pretty much killed our excitement, and negated the entire experience for us. We had enjoyed exploring the property and had questions. After her lack of engagement we were no longer interested in anything we had found on the property. So we spent $40 on the experience for it to end up a bust. Dinner in Sidney's was next. The food was terrible. The flavors in the first course did not go well together at all, the salad course had no flavor, the soup course had so much pepper we could not eat it, the main course was ok (hard to mess us a filet), and the dessert was horrible. This is where service makes all of the difference... The servers had wonderful attitudes and made the time spent in the restaurant not to be a total bust. As a side note... the rolls and butter are fabulous. The room was nicely decorated, but we had to have maintenance come and fix our heat, and the balcony railing was very loose and wobbly. I am not sure what we were close to, but at about 2am we were awakened by what sounded like a washer and dryer that continued until around 5am. So, even though the bed was comfortable, we did not sleep much. We went to the same restaurant for breakfast. The food was mediocre at best. However, this time the service was lacking as well. I would highly suggest the night shift train the day shift. At 8am, once the convention guest left the restaurant, all the staff disappeared including the guy making the omelets. They started clearing tables and looked like they were breaking things down. Mind you, this is a buffet. Our plates were cleared and our silverware taken and never replaced... our drinks were not filled. We were not even done with our food before someone was dropping our bill off at the table and making us feel like it was time to go. We had been there for 20 minutes, and it was 8am. We loved the spa so much we added another massage before we left, and were again very impressed with the services and the extent the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I should mention that we had a billing issue on both visits. Our takeaway... Front Desk and Reservations staff - amazing and go out of their way to take care of you. Concierge... not so much (day staff very personable, night staff did not give you the time of day.) Spa... highly recommend. Staff and services all fabulous. Sidney's restaurant - go at night for service... don't go at all if you are expecting a good food experience. Rooms - Our room was nicely appointed, but it needed needed maintenance (railing on balcony loose and a/c heat not working), and the noise level made it where we did not sleep. *The only reason for not going to one star is the amazing customer service we received from some of the staff and the spa experience. Considering we spent the equivalent of a mortgage payment on one day at this facility... it was not worth the money, Feel free to contact me if you have...