hotel advice

[tagmom]

Just got back from Orlando Sunday night and we had to switch rooms for 2 days because of the length of stay at our time share. We stayed at Holiday Inn Sun Spree on Rt 535. We were very excited about it because of the kid suites. Looked great from pic's and a few people responded and told me they enjoyed their stay. Well, the best advice I could ever give some going to Disney is STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL! The rooms are damp,musty and dirty. First day there we head to a park and come back not able to get in our room. After many attempts we decided to hunt down a security person. After 30 minutes of waiting for them to find allen wrenches,computer,etc we finally got in. They toook our key cards and said they were reprograming them. Cool! Everything seems ok. Leave for dinner. Come back and guess what?? Cant get in. Head to hotel lobby. Talk to some one at desk. She says to talk to manager. Talked to Heather. She glanced at my cards and said they looked like they should work but she would reprogram them again. Go up to our room. Cant get in. Find security. Whole stupid scenerio over again. 30-35 minutes later were in. Called manager while they were working on our door from outside and told her what happened. She said the battery was probably low. I explained they changed the battery the first time around. She said she was going to give us 50% off our bill. Ok fine. Security finally said if it happened again they would have to change the lock. Ok.
Next morinng wake every one up at 6:00 am to get ready for the day. Go in bathroom and what was running across the floor towards the bathtub?? A ROACH. YACK!!! We hurridly threw all our things in our luggage and left immediately. Found a room at budget inn on international drive. Cheaper and much cleaner and also had no problem getting in our room.

[siestakeys04]

Sorry about your stay i once considered staying there but i thought they were to old. I hope the rest of your stay was better?

[KLAIT]

Had the exact thing happen to us, minus the roach, while at the Sheraton Vistana. After a long day at the parks, we wanted nothing more than to just get into our room and ended up waiting for almost 2 hours while everything got straightened out.

[tagmom]

yes, everything other than the stay at Sun Spree was absolutely wonderfull. We started out at Liki Tiki Resort for 10 days. We loved it there and every thing was perfect. Well, except for on the 8th day they had to close the lagoon/boats because there was a croc in the water and they had to call the officials to come get it. LOL! Even budget inn was fine. Went to all the disney parks,universal,island of adventure,sea world. Counting the days till we go back!!!! :cheer2:

[spiceycat]

so sorry!

I didn't comment on this place - because I have never stayed there.

it seems you either love it or hate it. no inbetween.

roaches in florida can happen at even the best hotels. they walk in from outside.

most of these monsters don't live inside (like the normal roaches) - they live in the woods, swamps that are outside. So that makes them harder to kill - they don't live in the hotels just visit it.... they are definitely bigger!!!

[tagmom]

I know there are roaches all over outside in florida but just dont expect to see them in my room. At Liki Tiki we would see some at the lagoon or water park but every day you would also see workers in golf carts driving around the buildings and spraying. We were told that they do that to keep the roaches from comeing in. Never did see Sun Spree doing something like that. Oh well, live and learn. Now we know where to never stay again. LOL

[spiceycat]

please write a complaint letter to both Holiday inn and AAA -

AAA has this hotel as a 3 stars - which it certainly does not belong.

AAA has the Disney's all star has 2 stars.....

there is a big problem here.

please, please write....

[ducklite]

Um, I don't think there was a croc in the water unless someone lost their shoe. Was it an alligator maybe?

We had a roach in our room at the Yacht Club. It happens. It's FL. The ONLY way to prevent them is with "Tubes In The Walls" and very few guildings over four years old are built that way.

Anne

[Timon4224]

You think after they realized it wasn't a key or battery issue they would have just changed the whole lock. As far as roaches, yeah it is Florida...funny hting too is that most bugs that get in hotels are from the guests themselves. Not saying that you may have brought it, but maybe the previous guest had a hitchhiker.

[kilee]

That is awful about the locks, looks like the manager was trying to make it right though. As far as the roached go- if it was just a single stray one- well those are a fact of life in Florida. I hope you had a good trip otherwise. :)

[MiaSRN62]

I read this thread because I've never stayed at HI Sunspree. Your description of dirty ,damp and musty would make me never want to recommend it to anyone.
The key problem sounded like a real pain. Someone mentioned they had this same problem at Vistana. After staying there every single year since 1994, I can honestly say we've never encountered a key problem. I'm sure it could happen anywhere. But in your case at the Sunspree it happened repeatedly over only 2 days. It was very decent of them to credit you 50%.
As for the roaches.....I agree with Pat. They're everywhere in FL. We stayed at the Contemporary 14th floor concierge one year and saw one in our room. Tagmom, hope the rest of your trip, sans the Sunspree, was nicer :)

[mbb]

...... Tagmom, hope the rest of your trip, sans the Sunspree, was nicer :)

I hope so too :goodvibes

That's the hard thing about hassles on vacation - you're not supposed to be hassled on vacation!

Like Spicey said, though, drop Holiday Inn an email, and copy it to AAA. Dirty, musty and damp, no hotel should be.

I'm glad you posted:)

:sunny:

[tagmom]

As for the croc in the water it was a "crocodile" and for the manager crediting us 50% well, thats yet to be seen. Unfortuantely we prepaid the room and then they told us our card would be credited. Not yet though. :confused3

[ducklite]

As for the croc in the water it was a "crocodile" and for the manager crediting us 50% well, thats yet to be seen. Unfortuantely we prepaid the room and then they told us our card would be credited. Not yet though. :confused3

OK. now I'm confused. There are no crocodiles in the wild in Florida. They are not an indigenous animal. Unless one either escaped from captivity at a zoo, which is highly doubtful, they just aren't found around here. They are not indigenous to anywhere in north America for that matter.

I believe what was in the water was an alligator, a native species of reptile fairly often found in and around fresh water in Florida.

I would think if a "crocodile" had been pulled out of the water around here, it would have made the news. An alligator is "whatever" unles it's really huge and stalking someone's grilled chicken.

Anne

[tagmom]

ok,ok. Excuse me. My mistake it was a stupid alligator then.
I guess I dont know much about reptiles. So sorry.

[winniethepoohsmom]

While staying at the all stars I was talking to a man that said their last trip they stayed at H.I. sunspree and it was dirty and they would not return. I made a mental note of that.

[Timon4224]

OK. now I'm confused. There are no crocodiles in the wild in Florida. They are not an indigenous animal. Unless one either escaped from captivity at a zoo, which is highly doubtful, they just aren't found around here. They are not indigenous to anywhere in north America for that matter.

I believe what was in the water was an alligator, a native species of reptile fairly often found in and around fresh water in Florida.

I would think if a "crocodile" had been pulled out of the water around here, it would have made the news. An alligator is "whatever" unles it's really huge and stalking someone's grilled chicken.

Anne

Actually crocodiles are found in Florida, definitely not as common as the Alligator. Crocodiles are found more in the southern portion of the everglades, they tend to be around more salt water areas. They definitely would not be found around Orlando.

[ducklite]

Actually crocodiles are found in Florida, definitely not as common as the Alligator. Crocodiles are found more in the southern portion of the everglades, they tend to be around more salt water areas. They definitely would not be found around Orlando.

OK, I stand corrected on the no crocodiles in FL, but I was right about them not being around Orlando, especially not in a freshwater lagoon.

Anne

[a Really Bad Egg]

Thanks for reaffirming my pledge to never stay offsite again.

Although (the two times we did do the offsite stay) the accomodations were quite nice, the magic was not there.

I would have been very disappointed if the accomodations were less than adequate. Onsite for us.

[KLAIT]

MiaSRN62

I agree...it could happen anywhere...when this happened at the Vistana I figured that it happened so infrequent that is why there was some confusion as to how to get us in the room. I do have to say that I was impressed with the security that Vistana has in place when this happened. The maintenance man could not just fix it himself. He needed to have security come over and do something with the code as well as something with the front office. Made me feel pretty good about security.

[tagmom]

Yes, your right. It could happen anywhere but 3 times at the same hotel and between security,maintenance and a manager no one can get it fixed?????

[MiaSRN62]

Yes, your right. It could happen anywhere but 3 times at the same hotel and between security,maintenance and a manager no one can get it fixed?????
I totally agree this was excessive and pointed this out in my post that in your case it happened repeatedly. I think they pretty much did all they could in crediting you 50% back. Did you have to ask for a credit or did they offer it ?

[tagmom]

The last time I spoke with the manager her exact words were "we will credit you 50% on your bill" The room was prepaid and when we checked out I told the clerk we were supposed to be credited. She said it would go on my card on monday (7-17-06) Called credit card yesterday and still nothing!

[mickeyfan2]

OK. now I'm confused. There are no crocodiles in the wild in Florida. They are not an indigenous animal. Unless one either escaped from captivity at a zoo, which is highly doubtful, they just aren't found around here. They are not indigenous to anywhere in north America for that matter.

I believe what was in the water was an alligator, a native species of reptile fairly often found in and around fresh water in Florida.

I would think if a "crocodile" had been pulled out of the water around here, it would have made the news. An alligator is "whatever" unles it's really huge and stalking someone's grilled chicken.

Anne
There are such things as American Crocodiles and they do live in FL. See the link below.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/csp_cacu.htm

[MiaSRN62]

She said it would go on my card on monday (7-17-06) Called credit card yesterday and still nothing!
Tagmom....
I'm thinking it might take a bit longer ? I've had 2 experiences with getting credits from hotels. One from the HI Maingate West and one from Vistana. Vistana's took 3 weeks and HI took 6 weeks (and I had to breathe down their necks and write a letter). Hang in there and don't let them forget they owe you. Get the name of the manager, send her a letter certified explaining what happened and what you were told. Good luck.

[ChuckB]

There are such things as American Crocodiles and they do live in FL. See the link below.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/csp_cacu.htm
if I am not mistaken caimans (sp?), have been found as far north as southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, I believe I read a report about them being found in the brackish water (salt water mixing with freash water) along the coast line ....

[Timon4224]

Was it a credit card or your Banks check card that is taken straight out of your checking account? If it is a credit card it should only take a business day or 2, but if it is a Check card it could take 5 business days or more to process a credit. I am not sure why it takes so much longer, but it does.

[DaddyDon]

Well my family and i had a real something that would resemble a key stone cops adventure at Disney Pop Century,We arrived latish about 10.00pm and checked in all was well and smooth,went to our room (well was suppose to be) tried are keys 3 times before a gentelman came to the door and wanted to know what we were doing trying to get into his room,We showed the chap are room info the dear boy had written down on our portfolio,well to make a long story short we went back to the front deak and explained the situation,we were given another room,key's did not work,went back to check in and explained it to the desk clerk,he reprogramed the key's and off we went.so we thought)Those key's did not work,we called from the phone down stairs and they sent a girl on a segway with new key's,her's did not work,well you go get something to eat they tell us we will change the battery's and when you get done your door will be fixed.....so off we go to the food court,it's late we are tired and my little girl could hardly keep her head up at the table,we go back to our rooms and the door is still not working,this time iam furious i insist to talk to a manager,well they had no manager on duty (well they did he was at another resort) i spoke to him on the phone and told him the situation,i told him i was feeling no magic what so ever and was quite displeased,well he said im so sorry he sent a maint crew over to finally fix the door at 1.00 am in the morning....Never a follow up call nothing........
I have not stayed in a disney resort since..........And up to that time we had stayed in all but the GF...............
Moral of the story ....it doesnot matter where you stay...problem's happen,its how you handle the problem that matters.......

[ducklite]

Well my family and i had a real something that would resemble a key stone cops adventure at Disney Pop Century,We arrived latish about 10.00pm and checked in all was well and smooth,went to our room (well was suppose to be) tried are keys 3 times before a gentelman came to the door and wanted to know what we were doing trying to get into his room,We showed the chap are room info the dear boy had written down on our portfolio,well to make a long story short we went back to the front deak and explained the situation,we were given another room,key's did not work,went back to check in and explained it to the desk clerk,he reprogramed the key's and off we went.so we thought)Those key's did not work,we called from the phone down stairs and they sent a girl on a segway with new key's,her's did not work,well you go get something to eat they tell us we will change the battery's and when you get done your door will be fixed.....so off we go to the food court,it's late we are tired and my little girl could hardly keep her head up at the table,we go back to our rooms and the door is still not working,this time iam furious i insist to talk to a manager,well they had no manager on duty (well they did he was at another resort) i spoke to him on the phone and told him the situation,i told him i was feeling no magic what so ever and was quite displeased,well he said im so sorry he sent a maint crew over to finally fix the door at 1.00 am in the morning....Never a follow up call nothing........
I have not stayed in a disney resort since..........And up to that time we had stayed in all but the GF...............
Moral of the story ....it doesnot matter where you stay...problem's happen,its how you handle the problem that matters.......

I had the same thing happen at the All Star Sports. They gave me the keys to an occupied room, and then keys to a room that hadn't been cleaned, then finally keys to a room that reaked of smoke, had burn holes in the bedspread (non smoking building) and the keys didnt' work every other time we tried to get into the room. The way the manager treated us caused us to never return to an All Stars Resort again.

Anne