Inside the Lake Nona Wave Hotel: Art, Design & Tech

A MICHELIN Key hotel with self-tinting windows, a lobby full of contemporary art and Lake Nona's best-known restaurant, and a place residents use as much as visitors do.

By David Myers, Broker Associate · NonaOrlandoProperties.com · Last updated October 2026

The Lake Nona Wave Hotel is a luxury hotel at 6100 Wave Hotel Drive in Lake Nona Town Center, developed by Tavistock and opened in late 2021. It has more than 230 rooms and suites in two curving glass towers. The MICHELIN Guide has awarded it one MICHELIN Key, and its restaurant BACÁN is MICHELIN-recommended. Rooms use View smart windows that tint automatically, TOTO smart toilets and an app for keyless entry and room controls. Overnight guests get complimentary access to the Lake Nona Performance Club, and residents use the hotel's restaurants, bars and weekly events.

Most suburban hotels are somewhere you stay, not somewhere you go. The Wave is the exception in Lake Nona. On any given week, residents who have never booked a room are eating at BACÁN, meeting friends at the Living Room bar, taking a free mixology class in the Nectar Room or doing yoga in the sculpture garden out front.

For buyers, the hotel says something about the community. Tavistock built a design-forward, technology-heavy hotel in the middle of a master-planned suburb, and it has become the place where Lake Nona hosts out-of-town family, business visitors to Medical City and its own nights out.

What is the Lake Nona Wave Hotel?

The Lake Nona Wave Hotel is Lake Nona's luxury hotel, a pair of curving glass towers in Lake Nona Town Center built by Tavistock Development Company and opened in late 2021.

The hotel sits in the walkable core of Lake Nona Town Center, next to the Lake Nona Performance Club and a short distance from the hospitals and research buildings of Medical City. Orlando International Airport is just to the north.

What technology does the Wave Hotel use?

The Wave's rooms use View smart windows that tint themselves as the sun moves, TOTO smart toilets, and a hotel app that handles keyless entry and controls the room.

The windows are the feature guests notice first. Instead of blackout curtains, the floor-to-ceiling glass darkens automatically in bright sun and blocks most UV light. The app replaces the room key and lets guests adjust lights, shades and temperature from a phone.

Lake Nona markets itself as a technology-forward community, and the Wave is the most visible example of it. In practice, the technology is what most guests remember, but the art and the restaurants are what bring residents back.

Why is the Wave known as an art hotel?

The Wave displays hundreds of contemporary works, including more than 300 pieces on the walls of the Living Room lobby, and it faces the Lake Nona Sculpture Garden.

Art is part of the building rather than decoration added later. A kinetic light sculpture hangs above the front desk, the lobby wall is covered floor to ceiling in framed works, and individual spaces such as the elevators have their own themes. Outside, the Lake Nona Sculpture Garden is free to walk at any time, and the Town Center's best-known piece is covered in the story behind Beacon.

You do not need to be a guest to see most of it. Residents walk through the lobby on the way to dinner, and the community's public art is collected on the Lake Nona arts and culture hub.

Where can you eat and drink at the Wave Hotel?

The Wave has three restaurants, BACÁN, Nami and Garni, plus several bars, led by the Living Room in the lobby and the Nectar Room.

• BACÁN is the hotel's signature restaurant, with cooking from across the Americas, and it is MICHELIN-recommended. It is covered in our guide to date night in Lake Nona.
• Nami serves contemporary Japanese food, including omakase.
• Garni is the casual, French-inspired café, which replaced the hotel's original Haven Kitchen.
• The Living Room is the lobby bar, surrounded by the art collection.
• The Nectar Room is a cocktail bar and the home of the weekly Mixology Mixer.

The rest of the community's restaurants are in the Lake Nona restaurants and dining guide.

Why does the Wave Hotel matter to Lake Nona residents?

For residents the Wave works as a community venue: several free or low-cost weekly events happen there, and its restaurants and bars are some of the best in Lake Nona.

Three recurring events bring residents in without a room key:

• Wine Down, Wednesday evenings at the Living Room bar.
• The Mixology Mixer, a complimentary cocktail class for adults 21 and older on Thursday evenings in the Nectar Room.
• Yoga in the Garden, a free Saturday-morning class in the sculpture garden outside the hotel.

Town Center evenings such as Art After Dark happen steps away. For more, see the Lake Nona events and festivals hub.

Is the Wave Hotel a good place for visiting family to stay?

Yes, if they want to be in the middle of Lake Nona rather than near the theme parks; it is the community's luxury hotel, in the center of Town Center.

Guests can walk to Town Center restaurants, use the Performance Club at no extra charge, and reach most Lake Nona neighborhoods in a short drive. That makes it the easy answer for grandparents in town for a week, or for relatives flying into MCO for a weekend.

It is less convenient as a base for a theme-park trip, which means a drive across Orlando each day, and its rates reflect a luxury property. Families who mainly want Disney are better served by a hotel closer to the parks.

What the Neighbors Know

The hotel is closest to the neighborhoods at Lake Nona's northern end, around Medical City and Town Center: Laureate Park, Northlake Park and Randal Park. Residents there can be at the Living Room bar in a few minutes, which is a big part of why the hotel feels like a neighborhood place.

Ask Lake Nona residents where they send visiting family and most will say the Wave. If you are thinking about joining them, start with the Lake Nona neighborhoods page, and find more to do on the Nona Fun attractions and entertainment hub.

Official Sources

• Lake Nona Wave Hotel
• Lake Nona Wave Hotel in the MICHELIN Guide
• Lake Nona

Buying or selling in Lake Nona? Call/Text David Myers at 407.801.3286 or use the contact form.