Opulent Orlando
Move over, motels. The magic city is going deluxe
Cindy Nachman-Senders was duly impressed when she opened the door to her Ritz-Carlton suite. Inside, she found a 27-inch flat-screen TV, marble floors, and a private balcony overlooking a 4,000-square-foot pool. For dinner, the corporate meeting planner from Potomac, Md., supped on sea bass at Norman's, the hotel's "New World Cuisine" restaurant. She spent her spare time shopping for shoes at Neiman Marcus in the nearby Millennium Mall. "Orlando," she decided, "has really grown up."
In a town where cheap motels have been the standard, the arrival of new luxury hotels and services is perhaps as significant as the opening of another major theme park. The goal is to lure more convention business to the city. And these visitors have been impressed. Travelers like Nachman-Senders, 42, who like many people had previously visited the central Florida tourist destination as a child on a family trip, are amazed at the options. In addition to the Ritz-Carlton and its deluxe sister hotel, the Marriott Orlando at Grande Lakes, other new expensive hotels include the sprawling Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center (gaylordhotels.com) and the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate (omnihotels.com).
Fancy foods. The new amenities aren't limited to lodging. Tourists in search of a fine dining experience head to Victoria & Albert's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa for fine American cuisine. For $125 per person, they can watch Chef Scott Hunnel prepare entrees such as seared Hudson Valley foie gras over vanilla-scented brioche with Fuji apples. And the Orlando spa business is growing, too. The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel ( swandolphin.com ), one of the original Orlando luxury hotels, is opening a $2.5 million contemporary Balinese spa this summer. The Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios (loewshotels.com) , which is currently undergoing a $5.5 million top-to-bottom renovation, offers treatments like the Coconut Rub & Milk Ritual Wrap ($85) and Cellutox Aroma Spa Ocean Wrap ($95) at its Greenhouse Spa. In fact, almost every major luxury hotel in Orlando either has a spa or is in the process of building one.
Budget travelers still have plenty of options, but they might be paying a bit more now. Orlando is slowly and quietly shedding its reputation as a bargain destination. Last year, average room rates edged up nearly 6 percent to about $83, according to PKF Consulting lodging analyst Scott Smith. Although, he adds, it will be decades before an Orlando vacation is unaffordable to the average American. That is not the intention behind the area's latest marketing push to promote Mouseville as a more upscale place, says Orlando convention and visitors bureau spokeswoman Danielle Courtenay. She says this city's bread and butter remains families. They're just adding some champagne and caviar to the diet.
This story appears in the June 6, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.