Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa

I live in Atlanta, so I’m not scared of sketchy crowds in general or of bad customer service... I can deal with a lot. HOWEVER, this place is a total nightmare. If you want to feel safe stay far far away. If you want management that cares at all, then stay far far away. I felt bad for a couple of the female employees who even had to work in this environment. Check in was 30 minutes and that was VIP curbside check in. The line for inside check-in was looped inside, out the door and wrapped around the building with no shade in the heat, holding backpacks and carrying suitcases. The pools were beyond need of repair. The poolside bars that they advertised everywhere were closed or had one person with no variety. Then to add INSULT to it all, they lied to my friend who had booked the place and told her that they needed her to sign a form or she was going to be double charged a deposit. LIES!!!!!!! They literally had no form she needed to sign, they just tried to see her another time share. Shame shame shame!!!!! What a nightmare for a vaca! And I used to live in Orlando before Atlanta. So ashamed of this place. Would literally give it a zero if I could. Oh and I have never taken the time to leave an actual review.

Do NOT stay at this resort. My family and I were about to go to sleep when a man outside our door was on the phone threatening to kill someone and that he didn’t care if he went to jail. I would have left that night but I was scared to open my door. I was promised that I would be fully refunded and I waited 1.5 hours on the phone with the manager who then told me that Vanessa made a mistake and that I wouldn’t be refunded for that night. The night that I didn’t sleep and there was practically a potential murder at the property. Ok. Cool. This is not a resort this is a dump.

We were very excited to stay at a nice hotel for a change. We got a little nervous when we arrived and there was not a single available parking space at the entire resort (so I guess they’re at max occupancy even with COVID?) - and then we got to the lobby where the line to check in was OUT THE DOOR. Over an hour wait just to get our keys, which was incredibly frustrating after a red eye flight. I can’t speak for the rest of the resort but if I could’ve gotten my money back right then and there we would’ve turned right back around and left. What a joke.

We arrived in Orlando on Monday April 18 and after a delayed flight were hoping to settle in at our reservation at Westgate. We were greeted with a 50 minute check-in line. Fabulous! Let’s just say this don’t be fooled by their offering of In room kitchen. The room is actually a Kitchenette, and the sofa bed we had was so beat up i wish i took pictures because it was downright nasty. I was not about to let my kids sleep there. The room itself smelled like Must and was Dingy. There was no hot water in the bathroom we took a cold shower on the first day. I decided that amongst this i could not stay here for a week. That first night i booked elsewhere. Westgate is very rowdy the Entrance to building 8 was open after 10pm even though there was a sign saying key card entry... Extremely unsafe! The hallways smelled like so much smoke and weed it was clear this was not the type of place i wanted to spend my vacation. When i told Westgate i wanted to check out next day i was told that i would be charged the full stay as a penalty. At that point i didn’t even care i ate the charge and still went to stay elsewhere. Stay Away from Westgate!!!! It is a pure dump! Use your money and book somewhere else!

This is the second time my family and I have stayed at the resort, it will also be our last. We were promised a type of room on booking but given another on check-in. 4 people crowded into a small one-bedroom studio when you booked a one-bedroom deluxe with a living room and full kitchen, which does not make for an enjoyable experience. After 2 days the property was able to put us into the type of room we originally booked, hats off to Orlando who came from another property to help in getting us into the right room. Orlando and the bellman who helped us were the only good thing about the entire stay. We could never reach anyone on the phone for any kind of service if our phone even worked. We could not talk to anyone at any of the hospitality or concierge desks because there was hardly anyone present. If anyone was present there was always a line because there were so many issues at the property. Most of the employees had serious attitude issues and were not pleasant to interact with. Management was not concerned with the safety of anyone on the property. There were a group of boys jumping and diving into the pool who nearly jumped on a few children including my daughter. We went to management and asked them if they could address it, they did not. I will find another property to stay at next time I am in Orlando and I will tell others about this property as well. Stay as far away as possible.