Kissimmee may be known as the villa capital of Florida, but it has an increasingly sophisticated side that travel advisors should be aware of.
The folks from Experience Kissimmee touched down on the western Toronto waterfront on 18JUL to treat agents and industry types to a fine reception and a thrilling performance of ECHO by Canada’s own Cirque du Soleil.
In a one-on-one interview with Open Jaw, Experience Kissimmee President and CEO DT Minich said the swanky ette hotel, which opened two years ago to rave reviews, recently earned a Michelin key.
There’s also a new, 250-acre complex coming late next year or early in 2026 called Everest Place, with a new hotel called Mysk, which is part of Kempinski and is being built by a group out of Dubai.
“I came to Kissimmee 10 years ago,” Minich said. “If you had told me we’d be getting a Kempinski hotel I would’ve said your were crazy. But the destination is really evolving.”
The website describes Mysk as offering “an authentic Arabian lifestyle in a kid-friendly, alcohol-free environment.”
Everest also will have a 20-acre lagoon and a purpose-built Nickelodeon hotel.
Not only can agents earn a handsome reward by booking clients at high-end hotels in Kissimmee, they also can earn commission on the amazing villas that are in the city.
“We have more than 30,000 vacation homes in Kissimmee, ranging from three to 18 bedrooms,” Minich said. “We’re here in part to educate travel agents and let them know that these aren’t Air BnB’s; these are professionally managed and professionally operated units. And they’re all agent commissionable.”
The Encore Resort at Reunion has 800 vacation homes that range from three to eight bedrooms. They all have private pools and a barbeque, and there’s a resort in the middle of the complex with a restaurant and bar and a pool with waterslides, as well as a fitness centre and a Disney desk and a concierge desk.
“You have all the advantages of a private home and the benefits of a resort at the same time,” he said with a smile. “And, they’ll give you a free ride to the parks or to the outlet mall.”
Minich said he talked to one family at Encore earlier this year.
“The father told me they used to get a hotel room, and he’d had have to lie in the bathtub to use his laptop at night because there was no other place to sit. This time they had a three-bedroom place, with all the space in the world, and for about the same price as the hotel.”
He said that in low season, a three-bedroom home in Kissimmee can be rented for as little as $200 USD a night.
Minich said Kissimmee will be hosting agents at trade missions in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto in late September.
“We’re putting more of a focus on Western Canada because of the added WestJet flights to Orlando,” he said.
“Canada’s our number one international market, and we like to come up here every summer for an event. No a formal evening, but a way to say thank you to our business partners and the advisors who bring visitors to Kissimmee. We have flights to Orlando from Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat, and we’re very happy with our life. Air Canada has seasonal flights from Halifax, Ottawa and Quebec City, and, of course, always Toronto and Montreal. And WestJet has both Calgary and Vancouver service.”
Minich, who lived in Hinton, Alberta as a boy, said one of the great things about Kissimmee is the variety.
“You can be standing in the shadow of the world’s most famous castle in the morning, and in the afternoon be kayaking in the headwaters of the Everglades in the shadow of majestic, 300 to 400-year-old Cypress trees.”
Kissimmee also is home to the largest concentration of bald eagles outside Alaska, he said.
The Brightline train in Florida also is having a positive effect on the city. Right now it goes between MCO and Miami, with stops in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. But it’s slated to open a line between Orlando and Tampa in the next few years, and there should be a station near Kissimmee and near Walt Disney World, Minich said.
