Review Comfort Inn LBV

[mousetravel]

There has been several posts and threads about the Comfort Inn LBV, so I thought I'd write a hotel report/review.

Overall, our stay was fine, but with a few minor annoyances. But not so bad that I would not stay there again!


Room location. We had room #1411. When I made our reservation, I had requested a parking lot view. Last year we stayed there and the traffic noise was bad and I hardly got any sleep. So this time I made sure to request the side of the hotel not facing I4. Upon check in, I asked if they got my request, and she said they did, and our room was ready. We checked in about 5pm. Here's a pic from our room location:

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1009.jpg

The room. The rooms have been renovated with new furniture and bedding. It was very nice and clean. The beds were comfy and had 4 pillows on each bed. The TV was not new, and some of the channels were a bit fuzzy, but no big deal, really. We didn't watch much TV anyway. The fridge and microwave were not new, but worked fine. When we got into the room, thoug, the fridge was barely cold, so I had to adjust the temperture, then it was fine. We had our towels replenished daily and we had plenty of them. Here's a few room pics:

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1001.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1002.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1003.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1004.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1006.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1007.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1010.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1005.jpg

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn102/***********/kristi1011.jpg

The negatives. (But still, not so bad that I would never stay there again)

1. The advertised "Get 2 free drinks at check in". This was misleading, because it wasn't 2 FREE drinks, it was 2 coupons for "Buy One Get One Free Drinks". But no biggy because I didn't use the coupons anyway.

2. The internet did not pick up in the room. Although it was advertised as "free internet" in the rooms. I called the front desk and she said it probably just didn't have a good connection in the room, and I could go to the lobby and try it. But again, no biggy, and I didn't even try it in the lobby, because we were so busy doing other things so I didn't HAVE to have it.

3. The toilet got stopped up one night about 4 am, but I didn't call the desk because we were going to a park first thing, so I left a note for the housekeeper. As we returned to the hotel that night, after being in MK from 8am to 12 midnight, we were left with NO toilet paper. Again, I didn't want to bother with it cause we were so tired. So we just got by on the box of kleenex till the next morning.

That wasn't the first problem with the toilet. It stopped up again and I called maintenence to let them know. She said they'd send someone right away. The worker arrived within 2 minutes and fixed it. Again, no biggie, since he arrived right away to fix it. With the size of the hotel, and that many toilets flushing, you gotta expect a few issues.

4. Breakfast Buffet: This was where I had the worst issue. The line was long, but moved quickly because everyone's lined up to be seated. After getting seated, you fix your own drinks, get your sliverware, food, etc. We had a Buy One Get One Free buffet coupon. They didn't keep the food well stocked. They'd run out of an item, and take forever to replenish it.

The french toast sticks they had, were just a few crumbs in the pan, and they didn't replenish it at all while we were there. There was no bacon. Even though advertised, there was NO pastry and donuts section. The only drinks they had was orange juice and apple juice. I prefer soda or tea, but they didn't have it.

The waffle making station kept running out of batter, and there was a long line so we didn't bother with that either. So really, we didn't hardly eat. Luckily we had our coupon. If it wasn't for that, I would have dreaded paying for that meal.

Soooooo, after getting our bill, I looked it over. At the bottom, it had a gratuity added. Gratuity for what? No one did anything or served us anything, just took us to a table. Then at the bottom, it said "gratuity based on FULL buffet, but can be adjusted at register". So as I payed for the meal, I told the cashier that I wanted to take the gratuity off. She kinda had an attitude, but did it anyway. Then another lady (maybe a manager) came to the register and asked if I was taking the tip off, and I said yes, that there were no pastries, and they were out of a lot of items, so it was not a full buffet. She then said that they "rotate" the pastry section and only have it certain days.

That was the only time we ate there. So I can't report on the dinner buffet.

Overall, everything was fine, other than the minor issues. But again, it wasn't bad enough that I would not stay there again.

Also, the security at the front gate was a BIG positive for me!
The pool seemed nice, but we didn't get in it. The grounds were well kept and pretty.

If anyone has any specifics, I'd be glad to help. And if I think of anything else, I'll add it here.

 

[curseofcurves]

Thanks so much for the review, especially the breakfast. I haven't heard much about it yet. It doesn't sound stellar, but we may give it one chance at the $5 price we were quoted. My BF will be sad about the tv, but it's ok with me. He's a major night-owl and last trip he kept wanting to watch tv well past midnight and I wanted to rest up for the next day. Problem solved!

Anyway, we'll be staying here soon and I have a few more questions.

Do you have to go inside the hotel to enter your room or do you go directly into the room from the parking lot?

Is there an in-room safe? From what I've read, I don't think there is. Between that and the spotty wireless, I may not even bring my laptop. Is there a computer in the lobby where you can access the internet for free?

How was the water pressure in the shower?

 

[mousetravel]

Do you have to go inside the hotel to enter your room or do you go directly into the room from the parking lot?

Is there an in-room safe? From what I've read, I don't think there is. Between that and the spotty wireless, I may not even bring my laptop. Is there a computer in the lobby where you can access the internet for free?

How was the water pressure in the shower?

You enter from outside. It doesn't have interior corridors. The hotel has 5 floors. We were on the 4th floor. Most of the time, we walked down the steps instead of taking the elevator. It seemed kinda slow getting up to our floor. But was fine going up from floor 1 to 4.

Yes, there is an in room safe. In one of my pics, you can see it a little bit. The pic showing the night stand. It seems to be brand new, but I didn't use it.

No computers in the lobby, but I guess the wireless connection is better there than in the rooms.

The water pressure in the shower was great. I think even the shower heads are new. Also, the shower rod is the kind that "bows out" for more room in the shower.

 

[LaffTAF]

My mother, myself, my son and neice stayed here a couple years ago, and I was thinking about staying again for the bookit price. Only because we will only be there to sleep and shower.

Do they not have the free breakfast stuff anymore? We had free cereal, toast, grits, ect.

The beds were comfy and I slept good. That is a huge plus, because we stayed at another hotel last year that the beds were HORRIBLE. WHen I remember the name I will post a review on that.

The fridge came in handy because we stocked water and juice. We also went to Walmart a mile east and got lunch meat and bread for snacks.

We did swim in the pool and there are bigger towels for the pool area that we snagged!

My stay was pleasant, the internet did not work in my room, but I have a 3g card to do my school work.

Hope this helps!

 

[tiring_day]

Thanks for the review. We are staying here for 14 nights October 2011, we have previously stayed here back in 1990 & 1992. We will be driving so won't even bother with the shuttles, I never used them that often even when staying on property unless I knew I would be having drink at some point in the day. I think the restaurant will be avoided judging from what people have said on here and what I have read on Trip Advisor. Love the idea of the fridge, as nothing better than a nice cold beer after a day in the Florida sun.

steve

 

[-kj-]

Thank you for the review! Did you use the shuttles?How are the times? One of the reasons we chose this hotel was because of the fridge and microwave. Is there a store near by to purchase food?
Thanks

 

[bluejasmine]

WOW they must have rehabed it since Sept 2008 b/c our room was dingy and dirty when we checked in for one night before checking into our WDW resort for our honeymoon, glad to see it!

 

[maddiesmom0116]

This looks soo much better then the one stay we had there. We stayed there 2 nights and it was so disgusting that we left and got a different hotel even though I prepaid for this hotel, it was so bad I didn't care to be out the $$$$. I can tell you the remodel based on your pics is awesome. How comfy were the beds though? I would actually consider trying it again, thanks for posting the pics.

 

[southcarolinagirl]

We stayed at Comfort Inn LBV last week. Enjoyed our stay except for getting trapped in the elevator three times. They had someone working on it the whole week we were there. Did finally get it fixed the day before we left. Beds were very comfortable & we enjoyed the fridge & microwave. There is also a small coffee pot, but we always bring our own. You can get groceries at the Gooding's at Crossroad (right up the street) or there is a Winn-Dixie up Apopka-Vineland a few blocks. We did the breakfast buffet one morning & dinner one night with our BOGO coupons from bookit.com. Great price especially when 9 year old DS gets to eat for free. Good game room & pool. Although both got pretty crowded when a tour group of teenaged girls arrived mid-week. Didn't use the shuttles but looked like there were plenty of times to come and go. We wouldn't hesitate to stay again.

 

[mousetravel]

Do they not have the free breakfast stuff anymore? We had free cereal, toast, grits, ect.

No, they don't have the free breakfast section anymore.

Thanks for the review. We are staying here for 14 nights October 2011, we have previously stayed here back in 1990 & 1992. We will be driving so won't even bother with the shuttles, I never used them that often even when staying on property unless I knew I would be having drink at some point in the day. I think the restaurant will be avoided judging from what people have said on here and what I have read on Trip Advisor. Love the idea of the fridge, as nothing better than a nice cold beer after a day in the Florida sun.

steve

Thank you for the review! Did you use the shuttles?How are the times? One of the reasons we chose this hotel was because of the fridge and microwave. Is there a store near by to purchase food?
Thanks

We drove our own car, so we never have used the shuttles. They have a schedule you can pick up at the front desk with all the times on there. THere are some grocery stores nearby and there's a WalMart about 4 or 5 miles from the hotel.

WOW they must have rehabed it since Sept 2008 b/c our room was dingy and dirty when we checked in for one night before checking into our WDW resort for our honeymoon, glad to see it!

Yes, they remodeled all the rooms. We've stayed there before the remodel, and it was a great improvement.

This looks soo much better then the one stay we had there. We stayed there 2 nights and it was so disgusting that we left and got a different hotel even though I prepaid for this hotel, it was so bad I didn't care to be out the $$$$. I can tell you the remodel based on your pics is awesome. How comfy were the beds though? I would actually consider trying it again, thanks for posting the pics.

Yeah, we stayed there before the remodeling and probably would not have considered going back, but then we heard of the remodel and decided to give it another try. The beds were really comfy. The remodel included all new bedding and mattresses!

 

[klj27]

We just got home from a 14 night stay yesterday and would definately stay there again for the $39 rate. There were five of us and we had plenty of room. Loved having the microwave in addition to the fridge. We had the microwave cups of easy mac, etc. and we are able to eat quite a few meals in the room.

We requested a parking lot view and was very glad it was granted. It was noisy on the walkways on the I4 side, not sure about in the rooms though.

We were in room 4227 which worked out very well. I would highly recommend requesting the second floor. After seeing the elevators out of service so often on the first and second day we never attempted to use them. It was so nice to only have to walk one floor to our room.

We always drive to the parks and it was sooooo easy to do so with minimal traffic. We would turn left out of the hotel onto Palm Parkway and cross 535. Palm parkway then becomes 535 (who thought of this..... one is a cr and one is a sr, I believe). Turn left on Buena Vista and turn right onto dvc way (I think that is the name - it is right before Saratoga Springs). You then cross Bonnet Creek and you are on the road to all of the theme parks without one bit of traffic.

We didn't not encounter the problems with tv reception or wifi that some people did. One morning our tv wouldn't sinc with the remote and the buttons on the tv didn't work. They had it fixed by the time we returned from the park that afternoon.

The negatives:

Housekeeping- Our housekeeper who we initially tipped very well, would never leave new cups, coffee, pad of paper, toilet paper, etc. We had to call to the front desk three times during our trip for toilet paper. The bathroom was "cleaned" but not "clean" if that makes any sense.

No Lifeguard - Since there is no one to enforce the rules at the pool some kids were quite wild and what I would consider dangerous one night. (don't worry, their parents were there and thought they were great.) They were running and jumping in and nearly landing on other kids. Another family was practicing back flips into the pool without looking where other people were.

Laundry - There were only 3 washing machines for all of buildings three and four. The washing machines would take about a half hour and the dryers 45 minutes which made it difficult to do laundry. There was always a line for laundry every time I did it (night and afternoon). I encountered people holding dryers with dry and clean laundry so they would have one when their washing machine was finished. I think I would look for a laundromat next time. The most of the dryers also needed two cycles which really made it a long process.

Elevators - I did not feel confident in the elevators.

Toilet - My sil stayed next door in 4229 for four nights. Her toilet would not flush and would not stop running the first night. They attempted to fix it around midnight, but did not fix it. They did fix it the next day while we were at the parks.

Overall, I would stay here again without any concerns!

 

[travelfanatic]

We just returned from a 3 night stay at the Clarion LBV. I was very impressed with how nice the rooms were especially considering I got this hotel for $39 per night! Very nice refurb and clean too. I did request a room facing the parking lot thanks to the recommendation of others on this thread. Had no issues with toilets, noise or elevators. Everything was working great when we were there. We stayed on 3rd floor in room #3331. TV reception was the only negative I could find. Some of the channels were snowy but that did not bother us since we were in the parks all day anyway. Drive was quick & very easy to the parks. I would definitely stay there again with no reservations!