Fly Far Away from the Nikki Bird Resort (Long)

[cuscott]

Just got back from a beautiful 9 night stay in Orlando. Unfortunately we decided to save some $$$ and stay at the Holiday Inn Nikki Bird resort for the first 2 nights before moving to the CBR.

I called the night before to confirm, and we were in a non smoking king bed room. When we checked in, they placed us into a kid suite without telling us....it was just a surprise when we opened the door. Now some of you may love a kid suite, but it was just my girlfriend and I so this was something we did not desire.

We had to park 5 buildings away from our room! This is not an exaggeration, it was a good 1/4 mile from our room and we arrived aroud 9 pm!

When I called to complain about the room, I was told they were completely full. I am an understanding person, so this would be an acceptable explanation if it were true but it was far from the truth. On our 1/4 mile hike from the nearest parking space I saw about 15-20 empty rooms with either king beds or 2 queens either would have been fine. Not only that, but the back of the hotel was completely unoccupied and they were just cramming people into the front of the hotel.

I called the corporate office to complain about the customer service, and was offered 2 breakfast coupons. However the outside of the hotel is so disgusting and littered with trash I wouldnt dream of eating there.

To be fair the inside of the rooms were clean, just the outside of the hotel was very dirty.

 

[kilee]

I had stayed at this hotel in 2004 for $26 a night via Priceline. I know some have found it to not be too bad. I had read all the mixed reviews on here and tripadvisor.com and went w/ an open mind.

Anyhow, I was very disappointed. The hotel is not up to the same standards as the previous Holiday Inn's I've stayed at. We too encountered many problems w/ parking. We were not given a non-smoking room (they kindly sprayed some air freshener- I do have to admit I could not smell smoke in the room). Anyhow, our room had very worn bedding- w/ numerous small holes throughout. The window was so incredibly caked w/ nicotine or something it was like looking through a smeared frosted window. It was really gross, and I don't even know how to describe it- other than it constantly looked like you were looking through thick dense fog. The fixtures on the sink and bathtub were about 20% rusted. The microwave and fridge had definite odors- almost like sour milk??? The last thing was the carpet. It had large (probably about 2x5 ft) thick tar like black stains- that were hardened all over the place. It was icky to walk on. Now, these weren't perceptions- but the things that were blatant facts. Some people can overlook them. I do have to say they housekeeping did keep everything surface clean. It was just that everything was so worn and stained it gave a dirty appearance.

The pool (the mickey head one) and grounds were littered w/ lots of "mother nature items" like sticks, leaves. It didn't look like the had anyone maintaining the grounds. Flip side- the one time we did try the pool-- it was really warm water. Otherwise it was too dirty to try, and to be fair we were really busy.

Now, I did ask to be changed rooms too-- I was told there was nothing else. We had 2 rooms rented. One for us and one for my MIL. I never went into her room, but she never said anything so it must of been fine for her (I do know her standards are much lower just by the flithy house and car she lives in).

Anyway, it was only 3 nights so we just stayed (like I said they did attempt to clean). About 1 week after we got home I received an email from the Holiday Inn Corp.- it was a survey about our recent stay. I gave very honest, detailed descriptions of what bothered me, and I did give props to the things that were nice. Mainly I found housekeeping tobe very polite and they did try hard. I never asked- but they refunded me the entire amount for both rooms for all the nights, plus my paypal fee's. I was shocked and thought it really showed that Holiday Inn does stand behind their name.

I, for one, will not stay at this hotel again, but would continue to pick the Holiday Inn in other places.

 

[dylansmom1]

From what I understand the Nikki Bird is going to loose it's Holiday Inn sponorship. The owners are also trying to sell the place. It's a shame, because back in the late 80's, early 90's it was a nice place to stay that was close to the parks. Bad management over the years has brought this place down from a 3 star to a 1/2 star in my opinion.

At least your stay was only 2 nights, instead of a week.

Jane