What a charming cozy Florida Inn! Staff is over-the-top friendly and very welcoming....even the maintenance man greeted us in a very pleasant way. We had a beautiful view from our balcony on the lake with a working lighthouse in the evening. Room was very clean and very spacious. The bar in the lobby serves great martinis at a reasonable price. Did not eat there, so can't comment on the food. It has an indoor/ outdoor bar area with an amazing view. The pool and jacuzzi area is clean and has very nice furniture to lounge in. Lots of restaurants and shopping right out the door. They even have a boat launch just down the way offering a 1/2 hour tour of the lake for $3.00. The Town Center has free live music every evening just a few steps from the Inn. This is our 4th stay here and keep coming back. Looking at some of the negative reviews, I can't help but wonder..can't people just enjoy an aged Inn with lots of charm. Seems most want modern with the latest & greatest. I prefer a more mature, gently loved old world historical place with character and warm inviting staff. read more

The Waterfront Inn - Luxury suite W/ waterfront balcony - Hotels Near Me - The Villages, Florida

We stayed here for a week during Thanksgiving and before Christmas. My father -n -law bought us our rooms through Expedia. We had a 4th floor room with a water view. The rooms are pretty basic and could use an update but you can't beat the location and view. They do have a restaurant downstairs but they don't serve breakfast. There's a pool, hot tub and exercise room on site. The front desk staff are super nice and helpful. I liked all the text updates they send. The front desk even called us to check on how we were doing mid week. My only complaint is that the walls are extremely thin. Luckily it seems that most the patrons seem to sleep early. read more

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The meal was very good and so was the service. Lovely outdoor dining . Very attentive waitress brought a to go box and bag. Everyone including manager said goodbye. read more

The Waterfront Inn & Calypso which is an onsite restaurant (lunch/dinner only) is in a great location and walking distance to Lake Sumter Square. There isn't a complimentary breakfast, which would greatly improve the hotel amenities. The hotel has very friendly & accommodating staff. The hotel's lobby, restaurant and pool/hot tub are all very nice. However, the rooms are SO outdated! Especially disappointing for the nightly $$$. Even the suites weren't updated. They appear to have an old design and don't think they have ever been updated! Our room didn't have any clothes dressers, so we lived out of our suitcases. The bathroom had a nice large mirror and the shower water pressure was wonderful with a double headed shower-head. However, the bathroom didn't have a bathtub or a bathroom fan, so the bathroom gets extremely foggy when taking a shower. The magnifying mirror in the bathroom has a very low wattage bulb, so you can't see very well when using it. In summary, the hotel is in a good location, nice pool & hot tub, good Caribbean food in the restaurant and friendly staff. For the cons, outdated rooms without dressers, no bathroom fan, & no breakfast served onsite. read more

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We just returned home from a weekend stay at The Waterfront Inn and cannot begin to express how grateful we are for the great care and service we received. In addition to the beautiful rooms, views and entire facility, the staff at the Inn were incredibly welcoming, friendly and efficient. We were provided with everything we needed and will absolutely be back! The outdoor pool, food, drinks, outdoor patio area... ALL of it was truly amazing. Thank you Waterfront Inn!~ read more

Went on a sunny day. Ordered a lemon drop martini and it was made with tequila when it usually is vodka. Ordered a Caesar salad with chicken after 1 hour waiting was told the chicken was burnt by the kitchen and they will re-make. No thanks. Place has beautiful views of the water. I would not go hungry and go during happy hour. read more

For a supposed 4 star hotel this place only gets a 2 star. Place is old, elevators are very slow, towels smell, look, and feel old. Fitness center aged, but at least all of the equipment works. The shower is horrible, two twin fire hoses shooting water on you! Oh my! See photo. Also, no breakfast or lunch service!! The pool was a bit dirty and the bottom of the pool was rough on the feet, like it hasn't been resurfaced since it was built. I will have to say this every one of the staff was very nice! Kudos now just get management to raise the bar to where it should be! read more

The Waterfront Inn - Shower heads, ancient and scummy! - Hotels Near Me - The Villages, Florida

I really really wanted to give them more stars, but my integrity will not allow it. The communication from them, email and text, was the best I've ever seen, as far as confirming reservation, checking in, checking out. The staff was over the top nice, pleasant and helpful. Great location, lots of places to walk to in Sumter Square. Incredible 2-headed shower was a big plus. However...why not put curtains/drapes on your windows? The blinds do not block out the morning Sun, and I'm not usually an early riser. The Waterfront forced me to be. Other negative was the very noisy wall mounted AC units, when that fan kicked in, it was very loud. The restaurant, which looked great, is only open a few nights a week, and no breakfast or lunch, which I found odd. Rooms are similar to standard Marriott or Hilton, fine, but nothing great. read more

The Waterfront Inn - Why no curtains or drapes - Hotels Near Me - The Villages, Florida

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Clean towels would be nice, Refrigerator that made enough noise to keep you from sleeping and a barking dog in the room across the hall. Dirty pool area. They ran out of coffee in the morning. The List goes on and on. The worst 1. I wanted to change the dates by 1 day. They said quote; "Once we have your money your out of luck". How true, well said Rick. read more

I stayed here on October 13,with my brother. I plan on moving to the villages so I will be traveling back and forth here. I stayed here once before and I had no problems. This time I wasn't so lucky. My brother woke up with a bug crawling on him when he got up a couple of more fell on the floor also the bathroom was dirty under the sink and the vent didn't work so shaving after showering was impossible. When checking out I mentioned it to the woman at the desk and she apologized and said she would pass it along to her manager. No one ever got back to me. So I guess they don't care. Next time I will stay at the Hampton read more

I really thought this was going to be a nice hotel from the pictures on their website. Room was not clean, a lot of things need to be replaced. First night there was no hot water so I couldn't take a shower after a long day of horse showing. The tub also did not drain properly so while taking a shower after finally getting hot water, I had to stand in ankle deep water. I called to have someone fix it while we were gone all day and still not draining properly. I barely feel comfortable sleeping in the bed so I had to buy my own blanket to use. Just overall disappointed. read more

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More cleanliness!! A dressed up motel 6. Was not worth the money. Was also problems there the police were there for a disturbance . A hotel staff said this happens all the time! Ha I did not appreciate those kind of comments and definitely will not be coming back read more

Made reservations 2 months in advance for a waterfront room with a balcony. Upon arrival we were told no waterfront rooms were available. We were given a 2nd floor room overlooking thr parking lot. Bed not made up and no clean towels for 2nd day. Very disappointing experience read more

This hotel should not be open during renovations, I knew the lobby and restaurant were being updated, but had NO idea the pool was closed, I went for my birthday and it look at homes for sale, was so disappointed with the whole experience, you have to check in on the side of the building, the noise from the jack hammers started at 8:15 am, this place is a joke, I think we should have got some kind of discount due to the inconvenience of everything, the halls have pineapple wallpaper, the place is not so clean, needs a lot of updates Oh yea one more thing, there was a lizard on the TV stand Very Disappointing to say the least I also emailed the general manger twice like I was asked to do, no reply...... I don't know why the owner is telling everyone to email the general manager, if he is not going to reply, the whole thing is so unprofessional read more

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We needed to stay over right in the area, and so decided to give the place a 2nd try. I booked a king room & for only $18 more, upgraded to a water view balcony room. Other than it POURED the entire night making enjoying the balcony impossible, it was a lovely room and the bed was very comfortable. By the morning the rain finally stopped. We were able to enjoy our morning coffee on the balcony as we watched 2 sculling teams practice on the lake. read more

I'm giving it two stars for the friendly staff and pretty views but morning time construction (I mean literal constant sledge hammering), kinda sucks. I get that they are under construction but at least warn your customers. It was a super stressful morning and EXTREMELY LOUD read more

We booked rooms for our two adult children starting on August 14. My daughter woke the next morning with bites on her face and body. We discovered bedbugs in the headboard. We also found bedbugs in the headboard of my son's room which was across the hall and several doors down. Of course, we checked our kids out immediately. If you stay at the Waterfront Inn, carefully inspect your bed for bedbugs, the headboard in particular. You may want to pack Hydrocortisone cream. read more

My thoughts on staying here for the third year in a row: Positives: *LOCATION--you can easily walk down to the square with a few fun bars along the way. *SHOWER--strong duo headed shower jets with plenty of hot water. *RENOVATION--the downstairs bar and dining room are now open to outside; the hallways are modernized with new carpet and decor *POOL area is clean and hot tub is hot and open; new padded chairs and plenty of outdoor towels *SERVICE is spot on *LAKE VIEW is stunning Negatives: * OPEN Shelves instead of dressers made for messy clothes on floor...we stay a week and could really have used some drawers. *BED sheets and bedding (pillows) are not comfortable. Would have loved a memory foam mattress and for the price of the room, expected the upgrade. *NO BREAKFAST options *Price of room nearly doubled in three years. *NO food room service *OLD dated bed lamps *NO ceiling fans in room *Need a money changer in laundry room for quarters *FLORIDA's SLOWEST ELEVATOR read more

What a shame this isn't a nicer place. It's got the location going for it. Needs major overhaul and upgrade. It's a diamond in the rough. Food is actually good here too as is wine selection. Can be a top notch place and there's no reason why it should not be. read more

Dirty! Carpet in living space dirty. Crumbs on carpet. Dusty furniture. The shower has mold. This could be cleaned! Shower floor dirty. Handles on drawers all sticky!! The dryer is broken in the laundry room. You have to call for maintenance to turn on. I'd definitely pass! read more

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The restaurant served me fried shrimp that was raw in the center. Worst rest - why I went - ever! No one said anything except that's too bad. Lame. I have had better for less and to risk getting sick from eating ill prepared food I would say skip it! read more

Paid over $400 a night to basically sleep in a hospital room with a spotlight shining into our room all night. The imitation plantation shutters did little to block out the light and I woke up multiple times fearing I overslept as if appeared to be midday outside of our room. The king size bed was not comfortable at all. The decor and ambiance leave much to be desired. The room only offers a closet with hangers and not a single drawer to unpack your clothes into. The dated AC Split unit, lack of drawers and terrible window treatments really give a sterile feel. Won't be headed back unless there is a major overhaul. Bathroom shower had toothpaste or shaving cream stuck on the wall and neither me or my fiancé used anything like that during our stay. I will say the front desk staff seemed nice. read more

Hotel is adorable, it's located right in the lake and our room had a wonderful view. Every morning the sun was coming in through our huge windows and it was just beautiful. At night the lights from all the surrounding buildings shined beautifully on the lake. Our room had a balcony which was super nice to be able to sit out and watch the birds on the lake. There were different activities going on in the morning. Looked like one was a rowing team and a couple of small groups in tourist boats. The nightlife here is pretty cool they have different entertainment every night. Not to mention the Vince and Vinny show (bartenders). They are great they know how to make all of the guest feel really special. Believe me we saw some challenges, they handled everyone with respect and took care of situations. Nothing terrible just your normal reunion people who have had one too many and want more. We only knew what was going on because we were sitting at the bar enjoying the Ahi Tuna and Coconut Shrimp. Food was delicious they aren't opened until the evening I had hoped they would be open for breakfast because the setting was so cool but maybe next time. The decor is very "Tommy Bahama" and is followed through out the Hotel. Pineapple wallpaper is awesome! We will be back soon. read more

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Quiet stay. Clean rooms. The lake view is picturesque. Super close to all the restaurants in Sumter Square. We really enjoyed our stay. The AC was outdated and loud in the room but not a deal breaker read more

I stayed here for 4 nights for a business trip. The hallway wallpaper is absolutely charming (turquoise and pineapples everywhere). The rooms are a bit out dated, but I think it's all in line with the charm. The workout room is open 24 hours, has a few machines, and is rarely used. One of the elevators was out, leaving only one in service, and that's a little frustrating for most people, considering the median age of guests would probably much prefer an elevator to the stairs at the extremities of the building. The walls are generally thin and I heard almost everything that was going on in the room next to me, but I turned on the noisy air conditioner and it drowned out most of the sound, but I also attribute this to general hotel gripes anywhere. All in all, this appears to be the only hotel in this particular village. Overall, it offered many accommodations and none that were majorly negative. The housekeeping staff keeps the rooms very clean! read more

A relaxing and wonderful hotel. Comfortable rooms, great staff, really good food. Walking distance to lots of places. Would have given 5 stars if the restaurant served lunch and if they had drink service to the pool. Also the mattresses need to be changed or at least turned. My neck hurt from the softness at the head end. Still, I would stay there again in a heartbeat. read more

The Waterfront Inn - The pool - Hotels Near Me - The Villages, Florida

FIVE STARS for the tremendous water pressure and double shower heads! A very well decorated hotel. Gorgeous wallpaper, rattan details, and very clean. Upon entering the lobby, we were hit with a wall of sound coming off what sounded like a karaoke senior three sheets to the wind...and that was the live entertainment. The doors to the restaurant were flung wide into the lobby to cast some kind of hook and lure to pull you in. The check in desks are actually to very low desks. You must bend over and nearly press your ear to the Covid barrier to attempt to hear the muffled voice of the man checking folks in....also the man answering the phone. It was an incredibly off-putting welcome. The room was great. A rework of the reception would be wise. Right now the desk setup looks and operates like an afterthought. read more

I made a reservation back in May for a nice Memorial day getaway, I got there and found a group of people partying and playing loud music at the pool,the hotel did nothing,and I don't think they were guests at all. Crazy,and very disappointing,paid good money for the room,and got that. Don't stay there., but if you do be prepared for no peace and quiet,and bring your own pillows,they were terrible in the room. J.B. read more

Stayed 3 nights for my fathers wedding. First off, they only clean the rooms Thursday and Mondays? We needed towels since it was 4 of us staying in the room and we like fresh towels. Also, we requested more toilet paper and the woman at the desk rolled her eyes at my 14 year old and seemed annoyed. Next time we go to visit my father, we will rent a house. PS - the AC unit in our room did not work right. The room always felt muggy read more

The Waterfront Inn has seen better days and is sorely in need of rehab. Out of date, damaged furniture and carpets left me longing for one of nearby chain hotels. Im here at the Villages house hunting and the sales office referred me to these "outstanding" accommodations. I hope their homes are in better shape. read more

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My room was beautiful and clean. Friendly staff. Beautiful views from my room. Loved that the entertainment was walking distance.. Can't wait yo visit again... read more

Food was average. View and ambiance excellent. Wait staff and hostess were less than stellar. Not sure we will go back.

I have stayed at this hotel several times over the years. This stay was extremely upsetting. The hotel is in dire need of refurbishment but that is the least of their concerns. We stayed in room 231 and while lying on top of the covers noticed a bug crawling. Upon further inspection it was determined to be a bed bug. We pulled off the covers and pulled up the mattress and found more of them in the box spring. I have attached a video. We left the hotel the offered a suite we refused as how can we trust any rooms to be clean. The hotel manager never contacted me regarding the incident and I had to call again to be refunded. read more

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I got there on a Monday we chose to sit outside. There were plenty of open tables. We were sat quickly and told there our server would be there shortly. After sitting there for 30 minutes without so much as we'll be with you shortly, the server walked by several times, we got up and left... read more

Stayed one night. Booked handicapped room. When my husband took a shower drains were not working properly and bathroom flooded with water which also flooded into room. I went to desk clerk to get another room and was told I would be charged an extra $40. Because room had a balcony. I then asked for someone to clean room and clerk told me could give me towels. I just left decided to stay night, clean the water myself, and leave in morning. I sent email to Waterfront Inn and received a phone call from manager who apologized and said she would refund half the price for room. Well I am still waiting. To say the least I would not recommend this hotel for their poor customer service. Unbelievable! I received call from Tracy this afternoon and she said she did issue partial credit for room on April 24 day after I spoke with her. My husband paid bill and didn't notice credit. I do apologize for rant about refund but everything else is true. read more

I pull up to this beautiful looking hotel and I'm here thinking that it is going to be impecable and over the top amazing, because that is the impression you get looking at the place. WRONG. As soon as you walk in music is blasting and people are dancing in the lobby. I figured it's a one day thing because it was Memorial Day buy no it's been like that everyday. I'm here on business and the last thing I want when I come "home" exhausted from work is to be greeted by blasting music when all I want to do is unwind. Anyway, I go check in. Fast check in. I must say that the hotel staff I have come in contact with has been very nice. No complaints there. Then, I step into the elevator and I am completely grossed out. The carpet and walls are extremely dirty, it stinks, and when I get to the 4th floor the elevator starts shaking so bad that I promise you I thought it was an Earthquake. Come to find out that it shakes like this everyday. Awful. So I rush out of the wannabe Tower of Terror elevator and I am greeted with the stench of humidity and more dirty carpets. I'm so grossed out. I walk to my room which seems nice and clean (Thank God!) and I must say, it has a great view. I now decide I want to go check out the vending machine because I'm thirsty. I grab a cup I brought, head over to the ice machine first, and it's OUT OF ORDER. Really? Ugh. Not to mention tons of garbage piled up next to the washer and dryer. I headed back into the Tower of Terror, and got a drink at the "market" downstairs in the lobby. Wait! There's more! The TV gives me an error that the service has been interrupted I figured it was a Comcast issue and ignored it then the next day same thing. I called the front desk to report it. An older gentleman came to check on the connection saw that everything was connected right and left once a couple channels were working. Now it is out altogether. I can't wait until I check out of this place and if my company were to send me back I would totally request the previous hotel that I was staying at. I had high hopes for this place but it is horrible. I won't be coming back. read more

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I'll give it a four nice rooms very friendly staff. Breakfast buffet at $10 includes beverage Yes it's not brand new but it seems well maintained read more

AC unit in our room was not working correctly which only became apparent overnight as it never shut off and never cooled down in the room. We were sweating all night. The next morning, we told the front desk and got moved to another room that did have working AC. Upon checking out, we asked if we could be discounted or compensated in some way for our experience during the first night's stay. Mimi informed us that since we booked through a third party, there is nothing they can do for us. She also made it a point to tell us that the maintenance person said the AC in the first room was working fine, essentially accusing us of lying. Would not stay here again due to the poor customer service provided by Mimi, the loud and shoddy AC units, and the fact that there are NO CURTAINS in the rooms which lets a lot of outside light in all night long. read more

Great hotel, centrally located to downtown plaza with restaurants and stores. Great little restaurant, The Amelia, where we had a delicious brunch, $12.95 pp. Price for hotel is also moderate and overall very comfortable. Our room was clean, comfortable king-sized bed, TV, beautiful lakefront view. Staff was accommodating. Nice overall experience. Would definitely stay again if we visit The Villages. They have a heated pool, hot tub and workout room. We didnt stay long enough to use those amenities, but would have if we had more time. Highly recommend this hotel. read more

MARG was the most gracious and efficient server that we could have had!! Our ladies luncheon group of 20 were attended to so very cheerfully. It meant so much to us. The entrees were prepared nicely, as well. Thank you. read more