I think we managed to find possibly one of the most disappointing “resorts” in the Metropolitan Resort, Orlando, as we made our way home from our East Coast Road trip.  The whole day had not really gone in our favor, and the “resort” didn’t make it any better.  I use the word resort in quotation marks, as having a nice pool does not make a 2 star motel a resort.

Admittedly, a nice pool. But simply having a nice pool does not make you a “resort”.

I’ll start by admitting that we had failed to realize school had broken for the summer, and of course attempting to stay in Orlando meant we had driven straight into the tourist capital of the world…and driven in excruciatingly slowly as the traffic was appalling.

The resort was incredibly difficult to find, even with our GPS.  After having pulled into Austrian Circuit and not been able to locate the hotel, not even the concierge at the large resort we ended up at had a clue where it was.  We did eventually find it after realizing Austrian Circuit had two completely separate entrances.

It took 15 minutes to check in despite us being the only guests at the front desk.  The staff were very casual and incredibly slow – taking their sweet time to do god knows what behind the desk.  Having worked in hotel reception I still cant figure out what she was possibly doing to have taken so long to check us in.  Sadly wifi was only free in the lobby, and had to be purchased in the rooms, but that’s better than the majority of hotels around the world.  Not being bothered to walk to the lobby, can you believe I went a whole evening without logging on – pretty much a first for me!

The “resort” was a 2 star motel, not dissimilar to a college building of dorms, with dark cement alleyways cutting through the middle of the building to provide access to the pool and tennis court.  Considering the state of the motel itself the pool was surprisingly amazing – and the best thing the motel had going for it.  I almost thought the pool was part of the Raddison which was next door.

Metropolitan Resort, Orlando

The room was comfortable and semi clean – perfect for a backpacker. The room itself was nice enough, but there were suspicious looking stains on the walls and furniture, there was no toilet paper holder on the wall so it sat on the bathroom sink behind you, and there were bugs in the shower when I turned the faucet on.  Shower water pressure is a big “make or break” for me, and unfortunately this wasn’t great either.  The bathroom fan sounded like a cat was dying and carried on like that until I switched it off and let the bathroom fog up instead for the sake of my ear drums.

That being said, the rooms were large, beds were incredibly comfortable and I loved that we could walk straight out the door to our car (the flip side of the being that people would walk right by your window all night).  It was also very centrally located – we managed to walk down International Drive and find dinner quite easily, passing multiple restaurants, bars and clubs on our way to Panda Express!

Breakfast was included and was pretty decent for a free breakfast, however the small room was overcrowded and I threw out my apple after the first bite.  The muffins and danishes were really good.

I wouldn’t go back to the Metropolitan Resort, but it was cheap – we paid $45 for the night + a $5 “resort fee”, however the majority of hotels in the area were similarly priced and we’ve stayed before in much nicer hotels for the same price.  If you’re just looking for a place to crash overnight and don’t really care about the room definitely consider the Metropolitan, but you can definitely find better value elsewhere.

Standard Room

Have you stayed in Orlando before?  What was your experience?