Sheraton Orlando North Hotel — Attraction in Maitland

So this isn't a one star due to the hotel itself but rather tye transport. And even with that it's really only about one driver. Robert/ Roberto who is the one with the greyish hat, usually wears shorts, has a headset on, large sqaure frames (glasses), and is known for those gaudy rings he is always wearing. How do I know Robert? Well I'm one of the ABF drivers that roll through. And on one of my recent trips down he pulled out the work phone while enroute to the hotel. Not becuase he was receiving a call but to look at something in the phone. That's when I saw something funny. It was a comtact name. "Indeseable", which means "undesirable" in english. Then I noticed the contact number.. well it was mine. Which means he searched out my number either by cross referencing it with the info the desl has for us or by some other means becuase even with caller ID it comes up as my father in-law's name. This is an issue becuase despite him not being the driver whenever i've called the transport van (just act of fate) he may now "miss" my call if the front desk doesn't answer (it happens sometimes) for pick up. Which honestly road drivers get paid wait time at an hourly rate if transport takes a long time to arrive which I'm not going to complain about making more money but then the question may arrise why the transport driver is taking so long to pick up the driver (things are escalating). I've made a complaint about him before to Javaugn (sorry if I misspelled your name) about him trying to tell me about ABF policy and getting our stamps/ locking up the facility when we leave. Robert got mad that I went back into the building (aprox 3 to 4 min) to stamp myblog and see if anyone else was inside before leaving. He then proceeded to tell me about hownI should be out there ready and to never go back inside when he rolls up or next time he'll just leave. This ia after the times when I go to put my stuff into the back of the van at the hotel and he takes off with the doors open, drives around the parking lot, then comes back to park in almost tye spot as he was before and I'm not the only driver he does this to. I was talking to another road driver (i think he was either atlanta or winston) and Robert likes to shift the vehicle into reverse but keeps his foot on the brake while he loads his stuff into the van. There are people out in the front that get to watch this happen as they park and walk about the entrance of the hotel and more than likely use the event as a conversation piece later. Then while in transport he likes to go 60mph in 45 mph zones and 50 mph in the 25 mph zone right before we reach the hotel and if there was a dash cam you would be able to pull the footage and see this. Just ask an ABF driver about it. Sometimes even though he gets to hold the wheel you can see him lean into the turns he's making becuase he's going too fast for seemingly no reason. Now I don't know what side/ version of this guy Samantha, Vince/Vance (sorry man, I forget), or Katrina get of him but if you ask Big David, Little David, or Harold I'm sure they'll tell you how unpleasant he is to be around and how he tries to be a "bully". I say it like that becuase when he goes inside and Rola is working the checkout where tge food ia at he goes frok frownies to smilies real quick as he goes to chat her up. So I'm unsure how he is with the others working the front desk there at the hotel but I know that he can at least act like a decent human being for the times he's at work. That brings up another issue, he's starting to be there more than the other guys (not an issue in/ of itself BUT...) but he acts as if he's burdened by driving us back and forth and doesn't want to be there. I am happy he didn't video chat the last couple of times he's transported me to and from the hotel (the time I spotted my contact info) but he did call up a guy while driving wild just to say a few words and hang up. I HAVE TO CONTINUE THIS FROM ANOTHER EMAIL AS IT IS TOO LONG FOR A...

I have never despised a "higher end" hotel as much as this one.

Firstly, there is NO parking other than a gated lot, which is a flat $17 PER DAY fee. Which was NOWHERE on my priceline info or charge summary. Zero street parking or anywhere else. This isn't an urban hotel or one with a parking garage. It's a fricking plane Jane surface parking lot in suburbia. This charge is RIDICULOUS and infuriating.

Second, said parking lot is terribly designed and makes you drive one way all around to park or get out. Then if people don't have their key or whatever, it WON'T OPEN. So many people got stuck because they got in and it wouldn't open, had to back up. Apparently the in gate was open for a function or something and lots of folks got in without paying or a card. Regardless of why, it's infuriating to have to roll down window get a key out and scan just to leave. That should be automatic.

Second, idk how many rooms are remodeled and look like the photos, but a TON are not! The old rooms are absolutely awful. Terrible beds, disgusting carpet, the furniture looks like 1980s crap that lived thru a war, stained everything, lighting thats literally falling apart -- a chunk of its sirfsce broke off my second rooms light when I turned it on ...a motel 6 looks better.

Then the hvac units. They're all old and the motors SCREAM. I changed rooms 3 times bc of the screeching of the hvac. I recorded it and showed it to the front desk staff. Finally on the 3rd room, I got a "renovated" room which was like the photos, and the hvac still is obnoxiously loud and you can't turn the fan down bc it's controlled by the stupid wall thermostat which doesn't have the option, even tho the option is on the unit itself.

I went and sat on the new designer chair at the table... and immediately hit the floor. The metal frame was cracked in half, and the seat was just sitting on the frame unattached. Someone before me literally cracked the puny metal frame.

Lastly, I went tonight to use the hot tub. All lit up beautifully with architectural nighttime lighting on the palms... and it was locked. Apparently, THEY CLOSE THE ENTIRE POOL AREA AND HOT TUB AT DUSK. *DUSK!!! Are you freeking kidding me? This is a high end hotel in a tourist mecca of a major city in year round good weather florida, with a gorgeous looking hot tub lit up, and you close at dusk?!?! Not even 10 or 11, mind you .... DUSK. Which is 6pm now. Absolutely utterly stupid, ridiculous, infuriating, and insane!

Also the only elevators are all glass amd if you have a heights issue like me, be prepared for hell. There are no interior access stairs to go up, only exterior access. That's just a me thing, but it is what it is.

All in all, I hate this hotel. I wish I'd never stayed here. I will never stay again. And I'd advise you not to. Simple easy administrative changes would resolve some of this .... and bothering to maintain hvac motors.

The staff was nice in my many trips to get new rooms and things fixed, that's all...

I would never patron this hotel ever again. 1: There is no way to contact the front desk, period. Or, they do not answer...Either way, that's messed up and no hotel I've ever stayed at has had this issue. I've traveled to all 50 states (many times), and 8 countries. So my travel is fairly extensive, for comparing hotel purposes. Also unique to this hotel, there is no way to contact the front desk from your room, should you have an issue, which we had 3 during our stay... 1. Dirty pillows with pillow cases too short to cover the filth. 2. Not enough towels for the number of guests staying in the room, which they knew the number of guests (4) ahead of time, from our booking. And they did not take care of it until I asked a 3rd time, over a span of 6 hours (very unacceptable). 3. A bath tub with a stopper that did not work, so we could not give our children a bath after the pool. Thankfully the maintenance worker was friendly and got a new one to fit. - With all those issues, it required us to interrupt what we were doing and go all the way down to the front desk for issues that were their fault to begin with, due to having no way to contact the front desk from your room or by phone.

More... Our beds were okay, but not very comfortable; even our 5 year old said her back hurt in the morning. And the beds had no zippered bug covers, which is ridiculous for 2024; most hotels have them by now. The TV selection blows and there is nothing for children unless you want them to waste away their brains on 4 minutes of commercials every 10-15 minutes on the 1 okay channel. There's no Roku access. The mini refrigerator in the room is a whole new take on mini, the tiniest I have seen (stateside), and it was not turned on when we got there. Both the size and it being off required us to make many trips to the floor with an ice machine, since we couldn't put anything in the warm refrigerator for 2 hours while it cooled. Luckily we had our own cooler, but what an unnecessary hassle had the maids made sure it was turned on. There is no microwave in the room either. There is no free breakfast. If you want an extremely basic breakfast it is $10/person, so for a family of 4 that's $40 for very little food.

The pool is not heated, so don't trust when the website says "Pool/heated," it isn't. The hot tub is nice, not super hot so for those who need that, it's more of a pleasant warm to hot, not super hot. My children appreciated that and we spent our time only in the hot tub.

To get in and out of the parking lot you have to waste time using a card, so that's another nuisance to add to the 'reasons not to stay here' list. There are a ridiculously high number of reasons not to stay at this hotel. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, ever, and we will never be back even though we're in Orlando from...