In case you don't get to read my trip report, here is how my check out (which describes my stay) at the Holiday Inn Universal went:
As I approached the desk to check out I noticed three lines. One was Priority Club and two regular lines. I am a PC member so I get into the PC line.
The employee behind the desk smiled and said May I help you?. I looked at his name tag, and I cant remember his name but he had TRAINEE under it. I simply replied No, Im going to need your manager. At this point DH left as he knew I had A LIST to go over with the manager. The manager was actually working the line next to the TRAINEE so they swapped places.
The manager made the very FATAL mistake of asking how our stay was. I very politely started:
When we came to check in yesterday I came to the priority club line. The two employees working the desk made eye contact with me several times but neither of them said a word to me. I finally had to interrupt to ask if anyone was working the PC line and they said NO I would have to get into the regular line. After leaving me standing there for over ten minutes they finally tell me this. The manager apologized and told me that they do not always have the staffing available to man the PC line also.
Okay, secondly, when we went up to our room, I found that it had not really been cleaned. There was hair on one of the pillows, hair on the bathroom floor and hair in the folded towels. He said I should have called down to the desk because they keep someone on call 24 hours to handle situations like those. I informed him that a) if the maids had cleaned the room right the first time there would be no situations like this and b) I was tired after a day at the parks and just wanted to rest not wait probably an hour or more for someone to come to my room.
He apologizes yet again and tries to give me my bill. But Im not done yet.
My husband didnt get back from the parks until after 10:00 and there was no parking at all at the hotel. He had to park down the road at the Cracker Barrel. The manager apologized and explained that the hotel had been sold out. I replied, so you design your hotels so that there isnt enough parking if youre full? He said no, but there is only one spot per room and if people bring more than one car or have friends come visit for a few minutes it takes up parking. He also mentioned that they do not have guards in the parking lot and he has seen people park there and walk across the street to Universal.
At this point the lady behind me jumps in with weve been here ten nights and had to park away from the hotel for nine of them. She also mentioned when youre paying over a thousand dollars for a hotel you at least expect a parking spot. The manager told her, you heard what I was explaining to this lady and she said yes but it still doesnt make it right.
By this time the trainee is looking on, as are most of the people in the other two lines. I also said to the woman, and the elevators here are possessed!!!!! She agreed.
I turned back to the manager and said, your website said this hotel was recently renovated. The elevators would open, close and then open to let you out on your floor. Once, I watched all three of them come down to the first floor (where I had pushed the button to go up) and then without even opening shoot all the way back up to the tenth floor.
The woman behind me then mentioned that the police had been there are least three times during their stay and I replied well the Sheriff and the crime scene unit are here againtheyre parked out front.
At this point the manager is REALLY trying to get me to take my bill and leave.
I told him, I know I got a decent deal on this roomI only paid $55.00 using the internet rate but that doesnt mean I wanted a substandard property. The lady behind me then starts in You paid how much? OH MY G*D we paid twice that
The manager REALLY REALLY wants me to leave. He pushes my bill towards me and lowers his voice and says Im really sorry for your troubles, here. He has taken $20.00 off the bill. I said thank you but this was the last day of our vacation and we are really leaving on a sour note. I took my bill and then told him " And when I checked in I didnt get my customer comment card I need one."
As I approached the desk to check out I noticed three lines. One was Priority Club and two regular lines. I am a PC member so I get into the PC line.
The employee behind the desk smiled and said May I help you?. I looked at his name tag, and I cant remember his name but he had TRAINEE under it. I simply replied No, Im going to need your manager. At this point DH left as he knew I had A LIST to go over with the manager. The manager was actually working the line next to the TRAINEE so they swapped places.
The manager made the very FATAL mistake of asking how our stay was. I very politely started:
When we came to check in yesterday I came to the priority club line. The two employees working the desk made eye contact with me several times but neither of them said a word to me. I finally had to interrupt to ask if anyone was working the PC line and they said NO I would have to get into the regular line. After leaving me standing there for over ten minutes they finally tell me this. The manager apologized and told me that they do not always have the staffing available to man the PC line also.
Okay, secondly, when we went up to our room, I found that it had not really been cleaned. There was hair on one of the pillows, hair on the bathroom floor and hair in the folded towels. He said I should have called down to the desk because they keep someone on call 24 hours to handle situations like those. I informed him that a) if the maids had cleaned the room right the first time there would be no situations like this and b) I was tired after a day at the parks and just wanted to rest not wait probably an hour or more for someone to come to my room.
He apologizes yet again and tries to give me my bill. But Im not done yet.
My husband didnt get back from the parks until after 10:00 and there was no parking at all at the hotel. He had to park down the road at the Cracker Barrel. The manager apologized and explained that the hotel had been sold out. I replied, so you design your hotels so that there isnt enough parking if youre full? He said no, but there is only one spot per room and if people bring more than one car or have friends come visit for a few minutes it takes up parking. He also mentioned that they do not have guards in the parking lot and he has seen people park there and walk across the street to Universal.
At this point the lady behind me jumps in with weve been here ten nights and had to park away from the hotel for nine of them. She also mentioned when youre paying over a thousand dollars for a hotel you at least expect a parking spot. The manager told her, you heard what I was explaining to this lady and she said yes but it still doesnt make it right.
By this time the trainee is looking on, as are most of the people in the other two lines. I also said to the woman, and the elevators here are possessed!!!!! She agreed.
I turned back to the manager and said, your website said this hotel was recently renovated. The elevators would open, close and then open to let you out on your floor. Once, I watched all three of them come down to the first floor (where I had pushed the button to go up) and then without even opening shoot all the way back up to the tenth floor.
The woman behind me then mentioned that the police had been there are least three times during their stay and I replied well the Sheriff and the crime scene unit are here againtheyre parked out front.
At this point the manager is REALLY trying to get me to take my bill and leave.
I told him, I know I got a decent deal on this roomI only paid $55.00 using the internet rate but that doesnt mean I wanted a substandard property. The lady behind me then starts in You paid how much? OH MY G*D we paid twice that
The manager REALLY REALLY wants me to leave. He pushes my bill towards me and lowers his voice and says Im really sorry for your troubles, here. He has taken $20.00 off the bill. I said thank you but this was the last day of our vacation and we are really leaving on a sour note. I took my bill and then told him " And when I checked in I didnt get my customer comment card I need one."
. No, seriously, I would never stay there again. There are too many hotels in the Orlando area to take a chance on having another bad experience. We go to Orlando frequently (several times a year) and very very rarely will give any hotel or timeshare a second chance. As I said, there are just so many options why risk another bad experience? For the same money we could have stayed at the Fairfield Inn the next street over. Even the Sleep Inn my sister stayed at had better customer service and cleaner rooms.
