HIFS - We're Here NOW - My Observations - Any Questions?

[boltjames]

Arrived yesterday 4-3 and are staying through next Sunday. This is our first experience off-site, and I thought that I'd post my early reactions as usually those are the most accurate. Most are good, some are bad, and in the end the verdict is......well, read on....


The Good:

Very large amount of space. For the same price as a Disney moderate (CBR) we've gone from one room to three, two beds to six, a crib in a closet to a crib in a room, etc. No doubt the biggest 'plus'.

Terrific pools. Can't tell you how great the kids pool / zero-depth pool / adult pool / hot tubs are. Great fun for kids of all ages.

Kitchenette. We've got a full sized microwave, a mid-sized refrigerator, and a sink w/counter which is perfect for an infant and two young brothers needs. We don't cook any meals, so it's perfect for formula, juice, snacks, etc.

Requests granted. Got a boys themed room on a ground floor near the kid pool......the staff was very accommodating.

Maids. Terrific room clean up, extra towels, timing, etc. Very good job in this department.

Soundproofing. Not perfect, but among the best 'quiet' rooms despite being in a noisy environment (read below).

TV diversity. 50 something channels.....always kid stuff on.


The Bad:

The food is awful. It's attrocious. It's unacceptable. Words can't describe how terrible the food is. Free pizza party coupons? Buy a pack of barf bags instead. Free breakfast? Powdered eggs and processed sausage. $17 buffet? Rump steak, grease, and more grease. If you're considering HIFS you'd better be committed to eat 100% of your meals off-site. Run, don't walk, to the nearest McDonalds for some 'exceptional' quisine folks.

Storage? This one pisses me off the most. So I've got four times the square footage of my old CBR room but half the storage space? Two drawers for kids clothing? For an eight day trip? No joke. The adult room? Four drawers? I never expected that in a three room suite I'd have to be living out of suitcases, but we are. I've got my shirts and shorts in the bathroom 'cause that's where the biggest extra space is. Very badly designed. You shouldn't invite large families to get a suite and then give them zippo space to store clothing.

Crowding. This'll vary by season of course, but it's the first week of April and things are difficult. No chairs by the pool between 1pm and 4pm. Get there early or forget it. Dinner forced us to get a beeper and we had to wait to get a table to the buffet of all things.

The hired help #1: Sure, plenty of the help at CBR were Spanish-speaking, but at least they had an excellent grasp of the English language. Not so here. Be it a maid, the reservations desk, the operator, or a person at the food court, I've had 50% of the staff not be able to answer my questions because they didn't understand English. That's tough.

The hired help #2: Two people on our first day couldn't answer a simple question about sit-down dining last night because "we don't really work here, we just took the job for the night because they were short and needed extra help". They looked nice, they had the right shirt, they had the right badge, but they didn't know where the front door was under closer examination. Again, this wouldn't happen at Disney.

Cleanliness. Food wrappers in the pool were very bad but to be expected considering how many people are jammed around the perimiter and how few wastedans are within anyone's reach. I didn't notice any staff by the pool at all. Slimey catsup bottles are not good nor is syrup residue on the breakfast tables. They need help in this department.

Noise. As stated earlier, the rooms are remarkably quiet considering how LOUD THINGS ARE HERE. Music from a DJ at poolside ricochets off the walls like ping-pong balls. Be very careful where you request a room; this may be the only hotel in America where the non-water view rooms should charge an extra nightly fee. Better to be by the cars and the traffic than Eminem until 8pm every night.


.....so, the verdict: Well, it's too early. Only one full day under our belts and it's at the end of a packed holiday weekend so we'll give it a few more days before drawing the final conclusion. The value at the hotel is first-rate, but it's at the expense of other things....

I'll be happy to answer any questions that anyone has for someone down here since you folks were so helpful to us!

BJ

 

[curlyjbs]

Thanks for taking the time to post "LIVE" from the hotel!

We'll be there in June and the kids can't wait to be back!! DH and I liked this hotel as well but mostly because the kids loved it. (Happy kids = Happy us)

Did you rent a car?

Keep those reports comming.......

Enjoy your trip!!!!

curly

 

[wdisneelvr]

Hey BJ,

Thanks for the update. I hope your HIFS experience won't deter you from staying offsite again. There are many, many other fine offsite hotels that have superior service and excellent facilities. Keeping fingers crossed the rest of your stay goes well.

 

[James@HIFS]

BJ -

I'd love to be able to speak to you about both the "Good" and the "Bad" so far at the property. I am a Director here at the hotel and while the last thing I want to do is interrupt your vacation I would like to see if there is ANYTHING I can do that might make your stay better.

I can be reached by dialing the operator and asking for the James - the Director of Recreation.


Thanks

 

[BillSears]

Jamea@HIFS,

I've never stayed at the HIFS but I just wanted to let you know that comments like yours here make me think I'd like to in the future. It was a brave and classy thing to do to respond directly here. WTG!

 

[dpratt68]

I'm arriving in ten days and after reading your comments I think I definitely made the right choice of hotels. At least I am coming down knowing management cares about it's patrons.

 

[CrazedDisFan]

I just wanted to touch on the management/guest service aspect of this hotel...

We were patrons of the hotel Feb 28-March 6 this year. I had two issues and they were promptly handled....

Problem #1:
I had explicitly explained the need for rooms close to the lobby to the hotel staff 2 times. (2 room reservations and one legally handicaped person in each room with significant mobility issues) Upon checking in I reitterated this to the staff. Once we recieved our rooms they were FAR away from the lobby. I was quite discouraged.

How it was handled:
I phoned the front desk and politely explained the problem. The front desk called back after throughly researching all available rooms and offered us a series of alternate rooms. There are no residentials adjoining kidsuites close to the lobby. The front desk was very apologetic. We, in the end, opted to stay where we were, as we really wanted the adjoining rooms and we decided to avoid back/forth trips to the lobby as much as possible for those whom had walking problems. The front desk (manager level) called our room again the next day, apologized again and said at any time if we wished to change rooms, please phone her. The staff was extremely attentive, courteous, respectful and helpful to our families.

Problem #2:
My parents room was not cleaned one day. We returned form the parks at about 4 pm to find the room not clean. We simply thought the hotel maid service had not made it to the room. When we went out at 6 pm, we stopped by the front desk and asked that the room be attended to. Upon returning at 9 pm, it was still not clean. We went down to join others for dinner and inquired at the desk.

How it was handled:

They apologized profusely and immediately dialed the housekeeping supervisor. The room was promptly cleaned. The next day were were surprised to find a basket full of snacks in the room and an apology note from housekeeping regarding the oversight of our room the previous day.

One other note, it was my 30th birthday when we were there. My husband went to the front desk, unbeknownst to me, and inquired about having something sent to the room on my birthday. He was seeking some for purchase basket or floraist suggestions. The desk attendent told him they would send a basket for him. He later told me the basket was complimentary and I was shocked. It was a cutely wrapped basket of little treats and a few balloons. What a nice surprise from the hotel and a wonderful touch of 'magic'.

This was our second stay in 3 years and we will be back again soon.

 

[boltjames]

Originally posted by James@HIFS
BJ -

I'd love to be able to speak to you about both the "Good" and the "Bad" so far at the property. I am a Director here at the hotel and while the last thing I want to do is interrupt your vacation I would like to see if there is ANYTHING I can do that might make your stay better.

I can be reached by dialing the operator and asking for the James - the Director of Recreation.

James:

Thanks for the offer, but I really don't thing there's much you can do about certain things.

It's really more about the *design* of the facility and your profit model rather than the quality of the personnel. As stated in my original post, you folks at the desk have been superb considering what you're up against. Gold Star for you guys.....and yourself for posting here

That said, here's some additional feedback since you're interested:

What You Can't Control (but should voice anyway):

1. It's a BIG hotel with very LITTLE space dedicated to the things that we families with children do the most: Eat, Swim, Park. Lines for food are one thing, but no tables? That's not good. The best pool in Orlando for the 3 to 8 year old crowd but no deck space for their parents to get sun or walk? That's not good. Did you have to pick Easter week to shut down 30% of the parking space for construction that isn't taking place? Did someone consider telling those three Winnebago's by the East Track that they're taking up 15 precious parking spaces and weren't welcome this week?

2. The food is lousy. You're ownership likely has a big contract so it's not going to change, but caged rats are almost certainly fed better before they're offered to the snakes.

3. Huge rooms, no storage. As stated, it's criminal that you encourage me to bring a week's worth of clothing, toys, supplies, food, etc and then give me no space to store them. It seems that HIFS isn't being sold to Nickelodeon; you guys are just putting a new logo on the sign and re-painting the rooms. Do yourselves a favor and figure out a way to add twice as many drawers in the kids / adult / living rooms as there is now. The Nintendo has more space for storage than my children do. That's the truth even though it sounds absurd.

What You Can Control (and should fix IMHO):

1. Kids Eat Free* except when the kids are in the pool and dad is sent to pick up their lunch. In that case, if the kids aren't dragged from the perfect pool on the not-enough walking space deck into the freezing food court then you can't pick up their free meals and walk them back to them in the pool. Translation: an ID should be issued to each parent that 'vouches' for the amount of children they've got. This way, I can walk the distance to the Pizza Hut and get their free meals without having to bring them with me.

2. If you've got temporary help and/or help that has a very poor grasp of the English language, they should have a 'buddy' that's there with them to ease communication.

3. There is ZERO hotel presence at the swimming pool. Besides the two guys hiding in the beverage/food cabana, I haven't seen a single HIFS employee near the pool. Why is this necessary? A few reasons come to mind: People leave their towels on the few lounges that are in the sun and then leave for the day and no one can use the lounges for fear that someone else is sitting there. If a child is lost, there's no one there to help them out except another guest. If there's horseplay in the pool, someone needs to be referee. The garbage cans were almost overflowing today and I don't recall anyone checking their status. For a hotel this mammoth with a great pool as a major selling point, you'd think that there'd be someone from HIFS there. Note: Disney's CBR has many small satellite pools with no lifeguards BUT their major pool with all the kid features does have a lifeguard. You should consider this.


James, the HIFS is really a marketing machine designed to attract high volumes, drag every red cent out of them when they get here, ask them to compromise, stuff 'em like sardines in a can, and then pray that they come back the next time.....and that's wrong.

"You get three times the living space as a Disney property for the same money!" But you get half the storage space for the stuff we encourage you to bring here.

"Kids eat free!" But only when they're with you when you come to get the food and only when you're willing to pay $17 for a sub-human buffet.

"Free Nintendo in each room!" If you can reach it after tripping over the suitcases you're living out of.

"Look at our wonderful zero-depth children's pool!" But please don't think for a minute that you're going to be able to relax in the sun if you don't grab a chaise after 11am.

"We're less than 2 miles from Disney World!" But if you're returning from the park after 9pm please leave your car at the Magic Kingdom and take a cab because there's no place to park your vehicle.


The HIFS has a wonderful niche in the Orlando lodging arena- as we on-site fans get older and have children, we've got the need for more space and are willing to pay Disney prices for it. I (we) stay in suites all the time for business travel, and it's great to expose the wife and kids to that kind of lifestyle. The devil, as always, is in the details. Disney nails the details. You guys don't. I'd rather pay $50 more a night to get the level of service that I expected rather than see you cater to the "I got a pizza party coupon and an Entertainment Book rate" crowd. I don't know why, but I get the sense that there's a "you get what you pay for, bub" attitude with hotel management. Little things like plastic forks & knives, generic Equal and Sweet n Low, slime on the salt & pepper shakers, the inability to get a soda at the breakfast buffet.....it's this exact type of consumer disregard that is what seperates a non-Disney hotel from a Disney hotel.

The bottom line is that we can't enjoy the food or get a table to eat it at, we don't have a place to sit when our kids are in the pool, and there's no place to park our car. I'm paying Disney prices for this? That's a lot to ask us to swallow if you think about it. Had I known that all that extra living space was going to be offset by overcrowding and below-average quality I would have stuffed the five of us in a CBR room instead. Better to sleep and dress in a cramped manner than *live* and *eat* and *play* and *transport* in a cramped manner, dontcha think?

Of course this sounds bad and makes it seem like I'm having a bad time. Truth is, the HIFS is acceptable *only* because the pluses outweigh the minuses. Problem is a) Disney on-site never makes me even take a single minus and b) there are enough minuses for me to never recommend this place to others. You're a class act and I thank you for listening.

BJ

 

[cheermom]

OK, now I am getting nervous about my May trip to HIFS. I am traveling with my husband and two teen girls. You know, teen girls that pack..........a lot. If the storage space is that bad I may have to reconsider this hotel choice.
Questions- we are staying in a queen/ twin bed suite- is the storage sppace any better in this type room?
And, is the pool rowdy and totally unsupervised? my girls are looking forward to the pool, but I will be nervous if it is unsupervised.
Darn, now i have to think of Disney rates again.....
Cathy

 

[Mudd77]

Yikes! I guess it all depends on the guest and what your expectations are. My family has stayed at HIFS on 4 different occasions and we really enjoyed ourselves every time. We found there was adequate storage space. But then again I’m on vacation and don’t mind living out of a suitcase. Parking could be a pain at times, but the way I look at it, if the parking lot is packed-they must be doing something right. The food was indeed average. We found breakfast to be fine, but dinner was not as good. Money would be better spent going out. The pool was crowded, but my kids loved it and had a blast. On days we were going to be pool bums we very easily carried some of our (non-valuable) belongings to a spot of our liking at breakfast and enjoyed the entire day. Can it get hectic with the large number of people crammed in to one spot? Yes, is it worth it? When I see the smiles on my kids’ face and how much fun they are having-YES! Again we found our trips to HIFS very enjoyable. Or maybe we were just too happy that we were in Orlando on vacation and too excited to worry about storage space. I would advise all who are looking to try a different place too stay on vacation to research the place extensively before you go. A quick search here and a few questions asked would have let you known what you were getting.

 

[jultomzach]

I have stayed at HIFS 3 times in the past two years! I have encouraged others to stay there and have took many of my family members there. We have always got MORE than we expected for the price. It is not a Disney Moderate nor a Deluxe and I do not have those expectations, nor do I pay that price or have the same restrictions with cancellation. Most replys on DIS have been positive, with very few complaints. If you review any hotel on these boards, you will find complaints-some have lots of them. So for those of you planning a trip I would encourage you to go to HIFS... and hope that other people with positive experiences will speak up here.

 

[Lewisc]

Kids eat free in a hotel that caters to families. Free breakfast. Reasonable rooms rates. Availability of deeply discounted rooms. Really wouldn't expect the food to be much better than just edible.

HIFS traded off storage space for more beds, sofa beds and min-kitchens. I suspect most people agree with the trade off. The option is a condo style complex.

 

[curlyjbs]

My family loves HIFS! This trip we are doing Universal. Instead of staying closer to US/IOA the Kids begged to go back to HIFS. DH and I recommend this hotel/resort all the time. In fact friends are comming in the week after us and we convinced them to cancel at pop century and give HIFS a try. They are excited too.

As for towels on chairs by the pool? It happens at EVERY resort and it's not the hotels fault. It's the pompous guests who think if they can just put their towel down and claim ownership for the day. Granted the hotel could put a sign up warning guests that unattended lounges (for X amount of time) will be considered up for grabs....or whatever. Personally, I've been known to remove an "abandoned" towel or three so my family could enjoy the pool. (possession is 9/10's.....)

The food is ok. Nothing to write home about but with the kids eat free what do you expect.

All in all, for the money you can't beat this hotel for a family vacation.


curly

 

[cheermom]

Wow- great responses. Now I feel relieved. My concern isn't really storage space ( even though teen girls think they need to bring everything! I'll handle that before they pack!!).
We are used to living out of a suitcase on vacation anyway.

 

[Mike]

Obviously, people will have varying opinions about ANY hotel. Look over on the resort board. There is thread after thread about what a fabulous resort WL is. Then someone started a thread asking what people didn't like about the WL and all of the replies to that thread made it sound like the worst hotel in Florida with roaches and rude CMs. I take it all with a grain of salt. I have never stayed there but we are in June and I will decide for myself. We are splitting our stay - 7 nights at HIFS and 6 nights at WL.

I have stayed at HIFS (last August) for 12 nights. It's not perfect but no place is. We loved it and highly recommend it. In fact, when we were planning this year's trip I asked my kids if they would rather stay at POR or HIFS and they replied in no uncertain terms that they wanted to go back to HIFS. That is a pretty impressive endorsement.

I think the breakfast is a great deal. Sure it is not gourmet and you are eating off of plastic plates and using plastic utensils - but it is free. For a family of 5 that is a great value. We had a big breakfast everyday before heading out. We only had trouble finding a table on one day out of 12. But when I stayed at POR, we had trouble finding a table EVERY morning. We finally gave up and ate in our room. As far as the Club Car goes - yes it is pretty bad. We will probably eat there once for convenience but no more. But the A&W and Pizza Hut are fine and still free for the kids for a light meal.

The hotel is clean for the most part with the exception of the stairwells. There were cobwebs in every stairwell on every floor - but again so what. When I stayed at POFQ, I had two squashed bugs on the wall in our room - pretty messy. Despite several requests to housekeeping they stayed there for our two week stay - pretty unbelievable. So much for that disney magic. On another trip to an onsite property, my 3yo son came out of the bathroom carrying a bottle of cleaning fluid that the maid left behind. My point is a lot of things can go wrong on vacation when you are in a hotel, but I don't dwell on them.

I think the HIFS is an exceptional value if they keep offering the Entertainment rate. I would never stay there if I couldn't get that rate. But for around $100 a night in the summer for a room like that and a free breakfast, kid's eat free, and a fun pool - how can you go wrong. It is not a deluxe resort but it is a fun family style resort.

Just one final comment about management. I found them to be very responsive to issues (as you witnessed in this thread). When we were checking out, I noted two incidents that I was not happy about. I didn't complain about them (not my style when I'm on vacation) but I noted them on the survey card at checkout. I never expected a response because they were very minor incidents. Within 2 weeks of being home, I received two separate phone calls from the respective managers that each incident pertained to (housekeeping and security). I received apologies on both counts. For one incident I was sent 10,000 priority club points and for the second I got a coupon for a future stay. I was more then impressed.

I can understand that some of the things the OP is experiencing can be frustrating - but I think some of the problems are due to the fact that it is Easter Week and will exist at most hotels.

If you are hesitant about staying here just keep in mind that you will read good and bad about any hotel. Nobody is right or wrong - just different expectations and tastes. And I suspect that you will be more likely to hear bad comments during extremely busy weeks.

 

[CrazedDisFan]

I want to add that we have stayed two times, both off-season. We were happy on both trips. I would not let the original poster's comments stop me from going there. (No offense o.p.)

Also, if you read the HIFS guide book in your guestroom, watch their information channel or read the sings by the buffet you will see it is recommended that you eat breakfast prior to 9 am to avoid crowds. As for tables, I dont' know how many more tables they could put in there and stay within fire code guidelines. At breakfast you can also take your food back to your room, if you wish. Not to mention sit outside by the pond, in the Club car restaurant, in the bar, and in the entertainment lounge. Lots of options.

Also, to the breakfast meal with plastic spoons, stryofoam plates etc... HIFS serves an incredible amount of breakfast everyday. I am flat out in awe that have a variety of b-fast foods and serve that much each day. Is the food great? No. Is it really good? No. Is it edible and do we have options? Darn right. As for soda available with the free breakfast buffet... soada is not a breakfast beverage. I understand many partake in a soda at or even for breakfast, but it is not a traditional beverage. You do have the option of purchasing a refillable mug in the store and having that each morning though.

I would compare the breakfast to a Denny's, Elias Brothers, Big Boy buffet quality. You won't find eggs benedict, but if a bowl of oatmeal and some toast serves you fine, you'll be happy.

Now the food court... kids not being with the parent is an issue, but it would be difficult to find a solution. Not sayign it can't be done, but if they gave 4 meals to every adult it would be a system much abused.

Club car... The food is fair at best. Decent salad bar. Not a top notch restaurant. We ate there twice last visit. Once would have been just fine. The quality of the food is standard buffet fair (think a yucky meal at Sizzler at best). It's convienent and heck there are options out there.

Now storage....

We had 4 suitcases, plenty of clothes. The drawers in the kids room are tiny. However, utilize the space wisely. I unpacked 1/2 the kids things for a week. When the week was half gone, I put the dirty things in the suitcase and took out the rest of the week's things.

For my husband and I, I hung shirts and put only pants/shorts in the drawers. The beds are higher than average and the suitcases slid under just fine. (By the way, for what it's worth I looked under the bed before I slid anything under and it was clean)

The bathroom has 3 (maybe 4 can't recall) storage shelves. There is not storage issue there. Be aware the shelves are wire shelves, things do fall through. To remedy this toss a hand towel ont he shelf, spread it out and no more dropping through of hte eyeliner pencil.

There is one more thing I feel compelled to comment on... the original poster of this thread said something to the effect of HIFs being a marketing machine sucking every red cent out of it's guests.

I personally feel this is not a truthful comment. We had a great rate. We had free bingo, free karaoke and a great free magic show while we were there. We throughly enjoyed those things. Much fun! The Pizza hut meal was just fine. it's Pizza hut for goodness sakes and quite a bargain compared to Disney dining offerings. Our only in hotel expenses... hair braiding for the girls (totally our choice and offered elsewhere too), a couple drinks from the lounge, and dinner the 2 times we ate in the Club Car. Certainly not sucking every penny. NO pin carts at every turn, no fanastic gift shop, no souviner carts in the lobby.

Sorry I got really long winded there, but I just don't see where such harsh critisisms are valid. But of course, every one is entitled to there opinion.

 

[boltjames]

FWIW, I'm paying $184.00 per night which is more than I'd be spending at CBR had I made that decision months ago when I made my reservations.

For those of you paying $99.00 or some other deep-discounted rate, I can understand how you could rave about this facility (with concern however).

Director James: If you're still reading this and are willing to reduce my nightly rate from $184.00 to whatever the deep discounted rate is that would definitely make our feelings about this hotel a little easier to manage. Please post a response and, if favorable, I'll contact you this evening to discuss with many thanks. This place may very well be a steal at around a hundred bucks a night; at $184 it is not and I feel that my family is paying a lot more than it should for the subpar experience we are having.

BJ

 

[bigsis1970]

I think its unfair to ask the MGR to post his discount for you here then everyone will be asking him for your rate.. I think he should PM you or you should just go to the desk and ask to speak with him in person..


Ps we stayed here for 7 days in Dec 2001 and for us it was great . on vacation we do laundry and live out of our suitcases . we also expect the pool to get crowded but if was off season and never was ( lucky us ) the breakfast for free is good for what it is we did use the kids eat free for lunch but I don't remember them having to come with me each time but maybe it just worked out that they were with me anyhow and we never tried the dinner . we found parking without trouble .. to each his own I guess is what it comes down to .. Looking forward to see the changes when it becomes a Nick Hotel.
Oh ediited to say - we stayed on the Senior Saver rate
Michelle

 

[keswick1uk]

Would deep discounted rates have ever been available for Easter?

 

[taylor1293]

You are there during one of the busiest times of the year. I can only imagine how over crowded the hotel is. I'm sure you knew you were visiting Florida at one of the busiest times, therefore, I'm not sure why you are so surprised at the lack of tables in the dining room and chairs in by the pool.

Just for the record. I've been to HIFS 4 times. Not once have we not been able to find a place to sit and eat breakfast. Also, not once were we unable to secure a lounge chair by the pool.

Your main concern seems to be with the crowds. HIFS is not alone this week in overcrowding. I'm sure the Disney hotels are full and have limited space (seating) for their guests as well.

IMO, no HIFS is not worth $184 a night. It is a family style, budget resort. They offer a ton of things free items/events that Disney would never dream of giving away without a price tag attached. As much as our family loves HIFS, we would never pay that much a night.

However, do I think you deserve a refund? No. Not for the reasons you listed. I think refunds are necessary for issues such as unclean rooms, rude staff, problems with the rooms itself, and so on. I don't think you should receive one for not having enough storage space and not having a chair by the pool. As for the food at dinner. You should ask for and receive a refund on that if you were not satisified.

I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your stay.

Teresa

Originally posted by boltjames
FWIW, I'm paying $184.00 per night which is more than I'd be spending at CBR had I made that decision months ago when I made my reservations.

For those of you paying $99.00 or some other deep-discounted rate, I can understand how you could rave about this facility (with concern however).

Director James: If you're still reading this and are willing to reduce my nightly rate from $184.00 to whatever the deep discounted rate is that would definitely make our feelings about this hotel a little easier to manage. Please post a response and, if favorable, I'll contact you this evening to discuss with many thanks. This place may very well be a steal at around a hundred bucks a night; at $184 it is not and I feel that my family is paying a lot more than it should for the subpar experience we are having.

BJ