A couple of weeks ago I stood outside on room balconies at the Hyatt Century Plaza, InterContinental Los Angeles and Beverly Hilton. Then I found myself at the Andaz West Hollywood, the hotel probably most famous for its Hyatt Riot House balconies, and I learn that the Andaz West Hollywood rooms over Sunset Boulevard are a little bit larger than the rooms on the hillside view of the hotel since the remodeled hotel enclosed the former balconies for its opening in 2009. Read More…

I sandwiched my stay at Atlantis three weeks ago with hotel stays at Sheraton Nassau Cable Beach Resort. I stayed on Cash & Points for $60 and 4,000 points per night. That worked out to US$110 per night after tax and after adding the $40 daily resort fee. Starwood charges resort fees on award stays. Hyatt does not.

Published rates for my stay dates were $239 per night prepaid, nonrefundable or $269 AAA. 15% tax and $40 resort fee on top of that. At 4,000 points per night I was getting redemption value over $60 per 1,000 points.

Read More…

Reggae music blaring from loudspeakers was a constant  during the 9am to 5pm hours at Atlantis pools. The music I heard from my room in Royal Towers came from the Grotto Pool at Aquaventure water park. Slides, pools, water rides and cafes fill the 141-acre park beside the Atlantis Royal Towers.

Aquaventure rides are complimentary for guests at Atlantis hotels. Thousands of people visit Nassau everyday on cruise ships and a limited number of day passes are available at rates around $120/adult and $80 for children up to 12 years.

The Grotto Pool is one of perhaps four pools that featured a live dj playing reggae tunes with upbeat rhythms and frequent Bob Marley oldies blasting out across the resort.

This balcony sits between the two towers of Royal Towers and stairways lead to the Royal Pool.

Pools off to the sides were filled with stingrays.

Here is the same walkway viewed from my room balcony.

Staff were continually at work maintaining the pool marine life exhibits.

The Royal Pool.

Aquaventure

The Mayan Temple caught my attention where I could see the sharks swimming in the pool at night from my room balcony. One of my best memories of being at Atlantis was sitting out on the balcony in the warm breeze in the quiet hours after midnight watching the animals swim in the lighted pools.

View of Royal Towers standing at the shark pool of the Mayan Temple. A slide tube runs through the pool and riders emerge out in another pool below.

Teenagers, children and adults were loving the water slides of the Mayan Temple.

This photo was taken just after 5pm when the Aquaventure pools and most other pools around Atlantis closed during the week of my stay. I have read the hours are extended in spring and summer.

A children’s water big toy is near the Mayan Temple.

This water feature was wild with little kids during the day with screaming children and exhausted looking parents.

There are snack bars around the pools with burgers, sandwiches, drinks and ice cream.

Sample snack bar prices:

• French Fries $3.75
• Ice Cream $7.00
• Hot Dog $6.50
• Hamburger $8.50
• Pesto pasta salad $10.00
• Roast beef sandwich $13.00
• Drinks ? – prices were not listed on menu in my photo.

Power Tower is one of the other slide features at Aquaventure.

There are a lot of stairs to walk for these slide rides.

Mayan Temple and Power Tower each list four types of slides.

Lazy River Ride and The Current were two rides where an intertube carries you around the park. Two person intertubes are required for smaller children who must be accompanied by an adult.

One of the safety features I liked was the presence of numerous lifeguards and spotters around the rides.

Mayan Temple Pools leading to the Grotto Pool.

The Grotto Pool.

The large Paradise Lagoon was another area of Atlantis with water activities.

These are the Coral Towers hotel buildings in background. The Lagoon Bar & Grill is the shell covered feature. Beneath the Lagoon Bar & Grill are many of the aquarium exhibits at Atlantis including the clear underwater tunnel.

My next post on Atlantis Resort Paradise Island will describe some of the marine life exhibits around Atlantis.

Atlantis Resort is nicknamed “Vegas-by-the-sea” and located on the privately owned Paradise Island 5.5 miles long and less than one mile across just north of the city of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. A toll bridge across Nassau Harbour connects Paradise Island to New Providence island, 21 miles by 7 miles. The airport is a $32 taxi ride to the western side of New Providence Island. Cruise ships at Nassau port dock in the harbour near Paradise Island. The taxi cost is $4.00 to go to/from downtown Nassau or the Prince George Dock for cruise ships with an $11.00 minimum fare.

Atlantis developed over the past two decades and consists of six different hotels at the resort. Royal Towers is the iconic feature most recognizable as Atlantis.

My room in Royal Towers was the top floor, third window in on right end. The central bridge is a nearly 5,000 square feet, ten room Bridge Suite that was ranked one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world by Forbes magazine in 2003 at $25,000 per night.

Read More…

Last year I made a trip to southern California and stayed at three Hyatt Hotels in Santa Barbara, Westlake Village and Irvine. Recently Brian Kelly, The Points Guy, posted about his Thanksgiving stay at Hyatt Santa Barbara. Reading his review reminded me I never actually wrote a post about my Hotel Mar Monte stay Thanksgiving week 2010. The hotel is now called Hyatt Santa Barbara.

Highway 1 runs by my house in Monterey and becomes the Big Sur coast road just about five miles south once past Carmel. Highway 1 Big Sur driving can be 100 miles of highway bliss or hell, mostly depending on the weather. Read More…

Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kelly Slater 11-time world champ surfer and Mark Harmon with the actor crew cast of NCIS were unexpected encounters at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Orange County, southern California.

I didn’t see these celebrities in person. Their signatures and artistic inspiration on surfboards are displayed this month in the lobby hallways of the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel as part of the surfboards in the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel Fourth Annual Holiday Surfboard Auction through December 31, 2011.  Surfboard auction proceeds benefit Surfers Healing, a charity to  support children with autism through surfing. Read More…

Starwood Hotels launched a new feature this week on its hotel websites with a tab for hotel reviews.

The upper right tab “Reviews” takes you to the message:

Write a Review

If you’ve stayed with us in the past 18 months and would like to write a review for this hotel, please sign in below or enter your reservation confirmation number and last name.

I checked more than a dozen hotels in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and London, but I was unable to locate any hotel reviews published since this new feature launched two days ago.

Here is your chance to be the first and make an impression – good, bad or mixed about a Starwood Hotel where you stayed and have something to say.

Message at bottom right "Write the first review".

I gave the “Write a Review” page a try while writing this piece. I kind of like the idea of writing the first hotel review for a Starwood Hotel on the hotel property’s webpage.

You must log into your SPG account to start the review process.

Step 1 – Your Hotel Rating asks you to rate the hotel in several categories:

Starwood asks guest to rate the hotel in these categories.

Step 2 Your Review

Guests are asked not to state room rate paid or give personally identifiable information. Guests are also reminded to keep the review focused on the hotel.

Steps 3 asks the month of your hotel stay and one aspect of the hotel guests should know.

Step 4 – Personal Information

I blacked out my nickname since the Starwood site remembered me from my first review when I made a screenshot of this step. My nickname is not LoyaltyTraveler or LT. The site asks if you traveled for business, leisure, your elite level, location, age and frequency of travel.

You can also check a box for an email notice when your review is posted on the Starwood hotel site.

Step 5 – Submit additional SPG feedback to customer service.

This page asks you to rate your likelihood of recommending SPG to another. Finding brand advocates is all the hotel industry rage in loyalty programs these days.

I submitted my review and received a “Thank You for your review” confirmation.

Followed by the notice that reviews for a specific hotel will not be posted on the site until there are at least five reviews submitted for the hotel.

So get writing SPG members.

I’ll follow up with a date when my review is finally posted. I am curious to see if it gets posted in 2011.

Here are 23 hotel photos of the InterContinental Chicago in honor of Michael Jordan’s Steak House opened last month on the second floor of the hotel. Who knows? You might want to sleep after a big meal.

My visit to the InterContinental Chicago in October 2010 impressed me with the hotel staff courteousness, old-style hotel elegance and important looking guests dressed with more accessories than I could buy with last year’s writing revenue.

Nice thing is the InterContinental Chicago was available during my trip at 40,000 points a night as one option or Points & Cash at 30,000 points + $60 or plop down $300+ for a room.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House

The reviews are mixed. The TimeOut Chicago review “An ambitious steakhouse. But not exactly a slam dunk.” by David Tamarkin is a fun entertaining read for a little MJ mystique even for someone like me who rarely eats in restaurants and cares less for restaurant reviews. The Chicago Tribune has kinder dining words.

InterContinental Chicago on the Magnificent Mile

There is an historic building and a modern building in the InterContinental Chicago. The hotel property was a $250 million restoration project over 12 years from 1988 to 2,000. The historic building was originally the Medinah Athletic Club from 1929. The swimming pool is one of the finest hotel pools in the city. There is a detailed history of the hotel on the IC Chicago website. And even more details on Wikipedia.

Historic building of InterContinental Chicago.

The north building of the hotel is modern.

InterContinental Chicago north tower.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House is located on the second floor of the open lobby. The restaurant is new so I don’t have a picture of it from my hotel visit one year ago. The restaurant there at the time was totally packed with noise carrying across the four-story high ceiling lobby.

InterContinental Chicago Main Entrance

There is a lion theme to the historic tower.

Palindrome lion room 1661 - InterContinental Chicago

The room felt comfortable, although the bathroom was a bit small. Most bathrooms have a separate shower.

Sitting room in suite - InterContinental Chicago.

Heavy drapes help damper the noise of North Michigan Avenue.

Bedroom drapes and chairs in bedroom of suite - InterContinental Chicago.

King bed InterContinental Chicago

InterContinental Chicago bathroom.

Sitting room in InterContinental Chicago suite.

The fitness center on the 11th floor provides access to the historic 25-meter indoor swimming pool. This room is the only remaining piece of the Medinah Athletic Club facilities. The highlight of the InterContinental Chicago for me was the extended time I was the only person relaxing in this space one afternoon.

InterContinental Chicago pool.

InterContinental Chicago historic 25-meter swimming pool.

Mood lighting at mid-day.

North wall of pool.

Balcony seating around pool entrance.

Pool room wall mosaic.

South wall of pool room.

The fitness center offers workout space in addition to the pool room.

InterContinental Chicago Fitness Center equipment.

InterContinental Chicago fitness room.

Key Accessed Fitness Center InterContinental Chicago.

The InterContinental Chicago is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

InterContinental Chicago Elevators.

The InterContinental Chicago is convenient for touring Chicago as it is located just north of the river at the beginning of the Magnificent Mile. As you travel north you’ll encounter the Marriott, The Peninsula, Park Hyatt, Westin Michigan Avenue, the Ritz Carlton that is actually a Four Seasons Hotel, the other Four Seasons Chicago and Hilton Drake Hotel.

InterContinental Chicago North Michigan Avenue entrance.

InterContinental Hotels logo.

InterContinental Chicago

Can’t afford a W Hotel? Think again.

There are currently 41 W Hotels open around the world in the Starwood Hotels luxury boutique brand. W Hotels opened in the past year in London, St. Petersburg, Russia; Bali, Taipei and Santiago, Chile. There are several more W Hotels scheduled to open in the next year in Paris, Milan, Singapore and Bangkok.

W Washington D.C. lobby bar

Think lights and darkness, music and playful whimsy, style and attitude. Guests seem to either really love the W concept or find it pretentious. My wife is a lover of W style. I generally have a great time in W Hotels, but the rooms tend to be too small and the price too high for my comfort. Think $250 to $350 as average rates for this luxury boutique brand.

W Silicon Valley, Newark, California

Starwood’s W Silicon Valley is probably the hotel where I have booked more paid nights than any other hotel over the past decade. W Silicon Valley is undoubtedly the lowest priced of any of the W Hotels. By far the lowest priced during weekends and holidays. The published AAA rate for this Memorial Day weekend at the W Silicon Valley was $81. Even lower was my Starwood Best Rate Guarantee matched rate to Hotels.com price for $64 per night + 2,000 bonus Starpoints. And the hotel even upgraded me to a Cool Corner Suite for only the second time in 8 years.

W Silicon Valley in sunset glow

On top of the low price is the standard large room at W Suites Silicon Valley measuring 447 square feet. Most W Hotels will require a significant upgrade to land a room that size. The standard room at Silicon Valley is larger than any upgraded room I received at W San Francisco, W Washington D.C., W Chicago Lakeshore or W Chicago – City Center.

W Silicon Valley - all rooms have a couch.

All standard rooms at W Silicon Valley are basically junior suites with the TV table dividing the sitting room from the bed. The Cool Corner Suite has the same furnishings as lower category rooms, but larger space between the furniture and in the bathroom. Flat screen TVs arrived in the past two years to bring the hotel into the 21st century. The TVs swivel for viewing from couch or bed.

W Silicon Valley - Cool Corner Suite

All the rooms at W Silicon Valley come with a mini-bar refrigerator, microwave and sink.

W Silicon Valley - kitchenette in Cool Corner Suite

The refrigerator is spacious enough to put your own food and drink inside around the mini-bar items and no electronic sensors to inhibit moving the mini-bar items around to make space.

The bathrooms have both shower and tub.

W Silicon Valley shower and tub.

The rooms used to have large and beautiful blue drinking glasses. Now they are small and clear.

W Silicon Valley Bathroom.

Frankly, I am surprised W Silicon Valley hotel has survived as a W Hotel in the small southeastern San Francisco Bay city of Newark, California. There is no big city life in the vicinity of the hotel. There is actually not much of anything around the hotel. W Silicon Valley hotel is located between a business park, housing tracts and the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge on the shore of San Francisco Bay, at the eastern edge of the Dumbarton Bridge. The hotel is 8 miles from Palo Alto, home of Stanford University and 30 miles from San Francisco.

W Silicon Valley Newark wetlands

W Silicon Valley lobby is generally uncrowded unless a special party is happening. The bar, restaurant and lobby are a compact space.

W Silicon Valley lobby.

W Silicon Valley lobby.

There is a small fitness room and an outdoor pool surrounded by sand at W Silicon Valley. There is also an outdoor firepit. The wind tends to blow briskly at this southern end of San Francisco Bay which makes the hot tub a more popular ‘wet’ experience in my observations over the years.

W Silicon Valley WET.

W Silicon Valley spa tub.

W Silicon Valley near poolside seating adjacent to restaurant.

There are probably not too many people who would list the W Silicon Valley as their favorite Starwood Hotel, but for a loyalty traveler, Newark has been a home away from home since 2003 for this frequent guest seeking to maintain SPG Platinum elite and needing a high quality, low priced hotel within driving distance of Monterey. And the W Silicon Valley, Newark really is 90 miles from Monterey (W Silicon Valley website states 50 miles), so don’t take the W Silicon Valley Acura SUV for a 3-hour complimentary drive and expect to reach Cannery Row and back in the allotted time.

W Silicon Valley complimentary Acura SUV for guest drive.

Related Loyalty Traveler posts:

W Silicon Valley Fly-by in HD (July 28, 2009) – This piece touches on the adjacent wildlife refuge and history of sea salt production in San Francisco Bay.

W San Francisco in HD (Sep 4, 2009) – Loads of photos

W Chicago Lakeshore Hotel (Oct. 26, 2010)

W Chicago City Center in Blue Ray (October 27, 2010)

Hotel review site Oyster.com now has a new travel companion after Travel Channel buys a $5.7 million stake in the 2009 travel site start-up. Oyster.com hotel review site gets one concept across to consumers that actual hotels just don’t seem to get – numerous photos of the hotel property and room types. This is my favorite feature of Oyster.com and why I have returned to this site over the past two years as it has grown its library of hotels and hotel room images.

I look up the St. Regis San Francisco on Oyster.com and I find 337 high-quality photos of the hotel, urban surroundings, restaurants, lobby, room types and the kind of visual information lacking from most hotel property websites. I go to the St. Regis San Francisco hotel website and I find only 32 photos.

Oyster.com even has a section called photo-fakeouts to reveal the hotel website image discrepancy from an image taken by an Oyster.com reviewer.

Here is my example of a photo-fakeout from St. Regis San Francisco.

One of the photos is not even a real photo of Yerba Buena Terrace.

St. Regis SF website terrace photo

The Westin San Francisco Market Street Hotel white skyscraper would be towering in the San Francisco background if it were a true photograph from Yerba Buena Terrace.  

Actual Loyalty Traveler photo from Yerba Buena Terrace

St. Regis San Francisco website has three photos of a standard superior guest room. Oyster.com has 86 photos of the superior room.

St. Regis San Francisco website has one photo of an Astor Suite. Oyster.com has 39 photos of an Astor Suite.

St. Regis San Francisco website has one photo of a Metropolitan Suite. Oyster.com has 31 photos of a Metropolitan Suite.

I am baffled that the St. Regis San Francisco does not have more images of the Astor Suite selling at $900 for the night of June 15, 2011 or the $1,200 Metropolitan Suites. Here is my HD review Part One of the St. Regis San Francisco detailing a corner room upgrade from a June 2009 hotel stay. Part Two details the aspects of the St. Regis hotel that I did not like.

Oyster.com rates St. Regis San Francisco as the best luxury property in the city. I loved the beds and bedding.

I realize now I should do another Loyalty Traveler post on the St. Regis San Francisco to show more of my 400 or so images I photographed during three stays at the hotel in 2009 including two nights in a Metropolitan Suite. The hotel rooms and facilities are luxury living and I enjoyed the rooms, particularly the wide marble sills around the room allowing me to peer down and across the city from a large window seat.

Wide window ledge in St. Regis San Francisco Metropolitan Suite

The St. Regis San Francisco hotel Metropolitan Suite hovering over the corner of Mission and Third Street had a lovely urban architectural view.

St Regis San Francisco room view of other major hotels

This is a pretty picture, however, this image is unlikely to be seen on the St. Regis San Francisco hotel’s website since the photo shows three skyscrapers that from left to right are the massive Marriott Marquis hotel, Four Seasons hotel and the Westin San Francisco Market Street Hotel.

Traveler Tip for San Francisco:

Marriott Marquis San Francisco has The View Lounge, a bar-lounge on the 39^th floor offering some of the best 360-degree views in San Francisco. Here are two short YouTube videos I posted in July 2009 showing the views from the View Lounge looking south-east and west to north. This is a nice place to blow $20 or $30. Grand Hyatt San Francisco Grandviews Bar-Restaurant (36^th floor) is another good location for drinks or fine dining with a view.

Oyster.com Suffers from Limited Hotel Coverage

Oyster.com has the limitation of only providing hotel reviews for eight major cities in the U.S. and seven resort destinations in the Caribbean islands and Hawaii. Areas covered include hotels around Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington DC. Beach locales include Aruba, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii, Jamaica and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The company has tackled destinations in a sensible way by building on the largest domestic travel markets. The site does a good job at covering a large number of hotels for each of the different cities listed. Hotels are categorized  to capture the ambience of experiential objectives travelers seek in hotel stays like Best Happy Hour or Most Romantic Hotels. Hotel review subjective ratings on quality and amenities are backed with written and photographic evidence.

Oyster.com sample of New York City website categories for hotel types

My Loyalty Traveler take on Oyster.com is if you want to “see” the hotel before you book, then Oyster.com provides a valuable resource for checking out hotels and different types of hotel rooms. Oyster.com fills the gap hotels leave open in their overall poor job of displaying their own images for the public to see.

I imagine Travel Channel financial backing will improve the Oyster.com hotel reviews photo library with video imagery. I am glad to see Oyster.com shows potential for continued growth in the hotel review sector of the travel marketplace. Whenever I check out a hotel review on Oyster.com I feel the urge to upgrade my camera!

This was my first trip to the Disney World resort area where you will find the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan Hotels within the Disney parks area. Most chain hotels are located at the perimeter of the parks. The Starwood hotels are located on the same Disney Crescent Lake walking path as three Disney Vacation Club Resorts: Boardwalk, Beach Club, and Yacht Club. These five hotel resorts are situated between the two Disney parks of Epcot and Hollywood Studios and are a fantastic location for someone wanting to walk into Epcot. The two Starwood hotels give guests the option to be in the Disney Resort area without being in a Disney Hotel.

Getting There

Walt Disney World "Where Dreams Come True"

If you have never been to the Orlando Disney complex, the place is vast.

I was on a bus taking guests to Downtown Disney from the Gaylord Palms Hotel where I had been staying about five miles away. The Disney Typhoon Lagoon Water Park is across the street from the Downtown Disney complex. I am not sure how much was happening at the water park since Orlando broke a cold temperature record last weekend hitting a low of 37 degrees in the morning.

Then, we drove for miles more and passed by a couple of other Disney Hotel resorts before stopping at the Disney World parking lot. I couldn’t see any of the park rides from the bus parking lot.  Then, we drove for miles more and I saw the Dolphin Hotel above the swamp brush and the bus let all of us remaining passengers off at Epcot. I had seen the iconic A-frame roof of the Dolphin Hotel from a close distance and the bus had driven farther away from it again as it circled around to Epcot.

The hotel told me it was an easy walk from the Dolphin to Epcot. But I could not see the hotel from the parking lot of Epcot. Well, it turned out I was on the wrong side of the park to get to the Dolphin hotel and to enter Epcot is around $85 after tax for a one day pass. After an hour of driving, I had seen mostly swamp brush, swamp lakes, cars on the road, and golf courses, and I wondered if $25 for a taxi would have been a better exchange for my time.

The buses are free within the resort to hop around between the various Disney parks. I took another bus to the Disney Hollywood Studios Park where I was told I could catch a five minute boat ride to the Starwood Dolphin and Swan Resorts.

Wheeling my luggage to the boat dock at Hollywood Studios, I arrived just as the boat tossed off the mooring ropes and putted away across the lake. I kicked back to catch some sun rays as the temperature was up to the 60s in what had been an unusually cold week so far. My luggage and I were first in line for the 20 minute wait before the next boat departure to the hotel.

I now know there is a path I could have walked between Hollywood Studios and the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. All I could see from the dock was more swampland. I didn’t even consider venturing out on my own.

Actually seagulls and ducks were the pesky critters around the resorts

The boat arrives as scheduled and I am ferried over the waters to the hotel. A child behind me repeatedly states for the whole ride, “Dad! It looks like we’re moving!” Seriously, like twenty times.

Welcome to Disney!

The boat passes by Disney Boardwalk villas and the Swan Hotel first. The boat dock is midway between the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. The ferry continues on from there to Epcot.

The façades of the Dolphin and Swan have a Disney type whimsical quality. The grand fountain of the Dolphin and the nearly 30-story high A-frame center building design are eye enchanting.

Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel

Just inside the ground floor revolving doors are restaurants. One is evening fine dining at Todd English’s BlueZoo restaurant featuring seafood. All-day dining is available at the Fountain with a burgers and ice cream type-menu.

Fresh Mediterranean Market down the hall past the Fountain has a breakfast buffet and a lunch menu, but closes for the day in the afternoon. The breakfast buffet at Fresh was about $22 after tax and tip. A decent value considering you can spend half that price for a mediocre and unsatisfying meal along the Boardwalk or at the hotel lobby bar which serves up fruit and bagels in the morning. Fresh restaurant offered some unique natural vitamin food drinks among all the usual stuff of pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, and omelettes. I wish I’d written down the drink names. Sawgrass juice sticks in my mind. Colorful, tasty, blended with fruit juices to a palatable taste.

Up the escalator from the ground floor is the lobby. The lobby is open with a central fountain and lots of seating.

Both the Dolphin and Swan Hotels have convention halls attached to the hotels. A convention came into the Dolphin on my last night, but aside from the pools closing early for a private party there were no noticeable crowds. The Swan on the other hand was packed at one point when I walked through the hotel making it difficult to move through all the convention guests in the hallways.

At check-in the receptionist did an excellent job explaining the $10 hotel resort fee benefits (internet and two bottles of water daily), telling me I had an upgrade (always wonderful to hear), and sharing information about the resort and how I could use facilities and dining at the Swan if I desired and credit it to my Dolphin room. She did a really thorough job of greeting me as a guest. I rate this as a high quality aspect of the Dolphin resort for my experience. The front desk staff seemed on the ball every time I spoke with someone.

Ground Floor Entrance to Dolphin Hotel

There are three sets of elevators for the hotel. East, West, and Central. I was in the central tower which is the A-frame portion of the hotel. There are 20 guest floors in Central. The other wings are 9 to 11 floors I think.  My room was on floor 17 and I had that little heart patter as I realized my room was at the end of the hall. That is often a good sign.

Walt Disney World Swan Hotel at sunset

Premier Studio room at Dolphin Hotel

I opened the door to see a couch and two chairs. That is a really good sign. Basically the room was a sizeable junior suite. The floor map showed the 17th floor has two junior suites on the ends with the preferred view looking across to the Swan Hotel and over Crescent Lake to the Disney Vacation Resort area of the Boardwalk. The website lists these Dolphin Hotel room types as Premium Studios.

Looking down from room to the Dolphin hotel fountains

The end rooms on the other side of the hall are full suites. These rooms look over a vast area of swamp brush and DisneyWorld to the west in the distance.

View from other side of Dolphin hotel looking over Convention Center wing

A decent serene view, but not the side of the hotel to see the nearby Epcot fireworks show at 9pm and people watch around the lake walkways.

Fireworks at Epcot (the fireworks were more impressive than my photo)

The eastern side of the east wing has rooms with balconies with great views of Crescent Lake and the Disney Resort hotels and Epcot for the fireworks show at night. The central section of the Dolphin does not have balconies, except I think the 20^th top guest room floor has balconies with Presidential Suites.

My Premium Studio room had three sinks and a massive walk-in closet. A nice remodel feature would be a closet half the size and a bathroom double the current size.

Swan Hotel view at night from my room

The room was furnished quite comfortably, only the lack of decent air conditioning was uncomfortable. I attributed it to the window sunlight heating up the room, but it turned out to be a weak AC. I didn’t report it until check-out because I was too busy to be distracted by an engineer in the room.

Large TV but oddly low placement made the couch a viewing impediment from bed

The fantastic thing about the Dolphin and Swan is the resort feel of being in Disney, but with far fewer kids. I don’t think I ever passed by the wonderful looking buffet at Cape May in the Disney Beach Club without hearing a child having a crying fit. And I passed by that buffet several times over three days.

The Disney Boardwalk

My adrenaline gets going when I am in a new place and I desired a walk around the resort area. Across the bridge connecting the hotels to the Disney Boardwalk I soon came to Big River brewpub. This brewpub was slightly lower priced than the hotel ($10 brewpub burger vs. $12 hotel burger) and offered a variety of microbrew beer. The brewpub and the ESPN Zone were the most happening places daily in the afternoon on the Boardwalk.

The walkway along the Boardwalk has outside entertainers, nighttime dance clubs open at 7pm or 9pm until 2am (21 and older only), an Italian restaurant with outside pizza slices, a bakery, loads of candy options, games, and the ESPN Zone. Inside the Boardwalk Resort are additional bar lounge and dining options.

Disney Boardwalk

The walk around Crescent Lake from the Dolphin or Swan and back again can be done in 20 minutes without stopping or take an hour or more just walking and stopping to see people and admire the views. There are not really too many shops.

Walking to the entrance of Epcot from the Dolphin or Swan hotel takes about ten minutes.

Disney Yacht Club and Beach Club

The Disney Yacht Club and Disney Beach Club share large pool facilities. There seemed to be no identifiers for hotel guests so pretty much anyone with a bathing suit could wonder in and use the pools. I am not saying the Clampett’s drive in to use the pool for the day mainly due to the relative isolation of the place, but there appeared to be no impediment to a Starwood Hotel guest walking over and using the Disney Resort pools and vice versa. Whether it actually is allowed or not I do not know.

Disney Yacht Club pools

The entire walking path area between the five resorts makes it seem like the two Starwood Hotels are part of the Disney complex with access to much of what the Disney guests have and from what I could tell when checking hotel rates, a much lower price for the Dolphin or Swan.

Disney Beach Club viewed from the Boardwalk

The Disney Resort lakefront pools were expansive and great for kids, but the pools at the Dolphin were also substantial in size and much less crowded.

Dolphin Hotel Pools

Being on the white sand outside the Dolphin felt like a resort getaway. Kicking back in a hammock and having the Cabana bar and restaurant staff attend to your drink and food needs is certainly a lounge- away-the-day option at the hotel. I put in a good three hours during my stay at the Cabana poolside seating to drink some Stella and eat outside. The temperature was in the high 60s and low 70s most of the day.

Resort lounging at the Dolphin beach

The resident ducks at the Cabana Bar made me chuckle. This trio of ducks came around each day and they seem to live a life of luxury walking around between tables eating what is on the ground or what hotel guests feed them and then doing laps in the lap pool. Perhaps bar scraps are not a truly healthy diet, but what a place to exist. Donald Duck would be proud.

Resident ducks swimming in Dolphin Hotel lap pool

Dolphin and Swan Resort Facilities

The hotel has the lobby level Mandara Spa and a ground floor fitness center with an attendant.

Mandara Spa at WDW Dolphin Hotel

There are large video game rooms at both the Dolphin and the Swan. At least during my stay there seemed to be more children resident at the Swan.

Walt Disney World Swan Hotel

All in all, these hotels feel and look like resorts. This is the kind of place you can hang out for days and feel like you have drifted away into a Disney dream. And truly you have. Disney is all around you when you stay at the Walt Disney World Dolphin or Swan Starwood Hotels.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse line dancing at Disney Beach Club

The Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan are both SPG category 4 hotel awards at 10,000 points per night. The hotel gives guests a credit of 500 points per night if maid service is refused, excluding the last night of your stay. I paid for my stay with SPG points. Getting 1,000 points back made the Premium Studio upgrade room a high value SPG award for my stay.

A guest leaves a hotel only with memories and impressions.

My memories of the Dolphin stay are fond memories and my impressions were good. I highly recommend these Starwood Hotels for the guest seeking the total Disney experience while staying in a Starwood upper-upscale environment just a little bit removed from the Disney entourage.

Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel Resort