What about The Palms Hotel by Lexington?

[Natalya]

How is this hotel? The pictures look okay on Expedia but I'm wondering how it truly is there. The rate is pretty good.

 

[nepean]

I am also looking for info on this hotel and their villas. I have read the Trip Advisor reviews and they are a mixed bag. Anyone been their lately?

Thanks

Nepean

 

[mmluvr]

Hello!

I stayed at the Palms Hotel and Villas in June. The rate was great-I think it was $69/nt and the room was great. Since my stay the Palms acquired the Hampton Inn right next door and renamed it the Palms Hotel.

I requested a top floor room in a quiet area. I received a top floor room with a view of the pool. I am a light sleeper and get woken up by the slightest noise; I did not hear any noise from the pool and hardly heard any other noise. The pool area is nicely landscaped and looked really pretty but I could tell the pool was always crowded and noisy.

I really liked the Villas-the rooms were big-living area with pull out couch, kitchen area with cook top, microwave and full refrigerator, separate bedroom and of course bathroom. The room was in good shape but the microwave was from the 80s (i read the little plate on the inside of the microwave.) and the door was about to fall off. If you need a Disney fix you can watch the Disney Top ten Must Sees (or whatever it is called) or a similiar "show" for Universal and other Orlando area attractions.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in 1996. At that time it was being renovated and was okay-typical Hampton Inn. Not sure if there were any more updates done to the Palms Hotel.

The location of this property is great-it is situated on Parkway Blvd off 192 behind a bunch of other hotel properties/timeshare properties including the Radisson Resort-Celebration. Be sure to request a room away from the highway;this property backs up to I-4 and I understand the rooms facing the highway can hear the highway noise. Once you get back to 192 make a right and you will be on Disney Property in less than 5 minutes. This property is also very close to Celebration (at the traffic light at the Intersection of Parkway Blvd and 192 go straight instead of making a right). We used to cut through the outskirts of Celebration to go back and forth to the parks. Not sure if there was any big time savings-I liked avoiding 192.

If you have any questions please ask and I will try to answer.

Jan

 

[nepean]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if the rooms had high speed internet? Also was the free breakfast as horrible as some people stated in their reviews. Where did you get the great rate?

Nepean

 

[digskat]

We stayed there in 2004, when it was still Homewood Suites by Hilton. We had a ground floor, poolside, in the building next to the main lobby. The hotel was excellent, each suite had a full sized fridge, stove and dishwasher, a pullout couch and recliner, a separate bedroom with 2 queen sized beds. The pool was heated, and very clean. They had an all you can eat buffet breakfast, with a dozen hot selections, and a manager's reception Monday-Thursday evening, with free appetizers, beer and wine.

 

[Natalya]

Where did you get the great rate?

Nepean

I swear when I was pricing it out yesterday it was $69 a night which is why I was considering it. Otherwise I had planned to stay at Country Inn and Suites (Calypso Cay). Then just now I went and priced it again and it was at $80 a night...so maybe they were running an internet special yesterday.

However, I just went to the AAA website to price it there and they are showing me a rate of $49 a night. I'm not sure why it is so much cheaper there or if it would stay at that rate when I actually book it but if you have AAA I would check into it. At $49 a night, it might be worth trying out.

 

[nurseboy]

The four of us stayed at the Palms Hotel and Villa in Dec '05. The Villas are clusters of two story buildings in two rings surrounding a small free form pool, hot tub, and patio/gazeebo area. The rooms themselves (we had a one bedroom for $59.00/night plus $5/day resort fee) had a large living are as described above with two queens in the bedroom.

The breakfast was not the same as what Homewood used to serve. No real "hot" or cooked to order items. It is served in the large lobby and consists of several cold cereals, biscuits with sausage gravy, warmed commercial pastries, toast your own Eggos and freezer type pancakes. Included are self serve milk,O.J, apple, cranberry, and passion juices. Coffee and hot water for tea (both available 24/7). All this at no additional charge and served only steps from your room. Although not great, it sure beats a sharp stick in the eye.

Wireless is free, but only available in and immediatly around the lobby (some around poolside). Gas BBQs for cookouts, kithchen was sparse but adequate (full sized fridge but no oven, only a two burner cook top).

As a previous poster stated, the beauty of the place is its location. One stop light from disney. Besides the pool though, not much else to do on site. A real bargin for better than "normal" accomodations. We will stay again, just not this time. Leaving tommorow, look for my TR.

 

[mmluvr]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if the rooms had high speed internet? Also was the free breakfast as horrible as some people stated in their reviews. Where did you get the great rate?

Nepean

I got the rate from onetravel.com. I had a horrible experience with onetravel.com regarding the Palms Hotels and Villas reservation and I will never use them again. (They charged me for a no-show night at the Hampton Inn next door. It is a complicated situation and it was never resolved.)

I did not eat the breakfast. I usually stay away from those things; since we had a kitchen I found it easier to make breakfast in the room.

I did not bring my laptop and do not know about the high speed Internet.

Regards,
Jan