Aloft Orlando Downtown — Attraction in Orlando

WARNING - BOOK ELSEWHERE. I never leave bad reviews online but felt I had to in this case. What an absolute disgrace of a hotel with no place in the hospitality industry. I’ve never had such a ridiculous experience with a hotel as I did with the Aloft Orlando Downtown and I stay in Marriott hotels 2-3 weeks each month.

On 3/18 I had booked a room for 2 nights 3/20-3/22 for my stay in Orlando while on business. On 3/19, I received a follow up CONFIRMATION email confirming my stay -confirmation number and all. At 12 AM on 3/20, the day I was supposed to check in for my stay, I received a singular email from a Samantha L** with subject line “Your Upcoming Stay” informing me about two paragraphs down that my card had declined in their system and they would need me to call to reconfirm that morning or else I would have my reservation cancelled only because they have a fully booked night. I don’t check this specific email address unless I’m expecting a message or notice something urgent in the subject line. I’m up early every day to begin work and continue through the evening, but I actually did check it that morning. No notification through the Bonvoy app, and not one phone call informing me of this possible cancellation - unbelievable. To make it better, they must have run my old card details in their system just that day to have it decline. I had used my new card to book a stay the two nights before at another Marriott location with no issue and while booking with Aloft, I never received a notification from my bank indicating they’re suspicious of the charge which they ALWAYS do. I made sure when booking to enter in my new card details and I’m assuming that’s why I originally got a confirmation email on 3/19. Isn’t this why they always charge the card upon arrival?

After a long day in a hospital and on the road, around 9:30 PM I was greeted by the hotel valet (the only good experience from this facility) who I tipped and walked to the front desk. All I wanted to do is go to sleep. Well, to my surprise, I get a confused look from the front desk lady, the “front desk manager”, when I tell her my name and hand my ID. Then I get the fantastic news that they had cancelled my reservation. Again, no call, no notification through my Bonvoy app, just an automated system email. I’m pissed. The lady tells me that they tried over and over to inform me that the card declined and my reservation was at risk of cancellation. I don’t know about you, but one email bright and early from a random name, no urgent subject line, and no call is doing absolutely nothing. She tries convincing me that they emailed more than once - nope, just that CONFIRMATION EMAIL on 3/19 and the one that morning at 12 AM from a Samantha with no mention of the Aloft in the subject line, which I showed her. She then tells me they are all booked for the night and have no rooms left - great! But don’t worry, she can call across the street to the AC to see if they have room for me. I think ok - maybe they’ll somehow do the right thing to fix the way this was handled. Nope. I’m told they have room but I’ll be paying full price, close to double the nightly rate I was supposed to pay at Aloft. I’m traveling for business and can’t take on this rate, nor do I feel like I should, as I had a confirmed stay at Aloft. She then tells me she can call over to the Hampton Inn, “a comparable stay a few miles down the road”! That’s not true and it was still more than my agreed nightly rate at Aloft due to the late booking. She then tells me she was going to call me but didn’t get to the hotel until a few hours ago, and out of respect for my schedule, decided not to. I didn’t need her specifically to call me, I just needed someone to, and that didn’t happen. After all this, she’s still insinuating this is my fault. I ask if there’s anyone I can speak to regarding the situation and she hands me the business card for the assistant GM, Edwin. I call Edwin the next day, leave a voicemail regarding the incident, and no call back. Great...

Hi Alyx,

I am sorry to say our stay at your location was very disappointing. I had downloaded the Bonvoy app to my phone and was excited to use this app for convenience. For my reservation I had options to help enhance our experience. Some of the options were extra pillows, towels, request a higher floor, etc. I selected extra pillows and a higher floor. There was also a field to enter the time I would like to check in to the hotel. For this option I selected 2pm. I assumed this was a privilege for members to check in earlier if possible. I also clicked to use my phone as my hotel room key

On our way to the hotel, I used the Chat from the Bonvoy app and asked if our room would be ready at 2pm. I never received a response. I used the Chat again, still no response 15mins later. If the room was not ready we discussed driving to a restaurant to have a drink or grab something to eat in the mean time. Unfortunately, I did not receive a response before we arrived at the hotel to take advantage of that option.

We arrived at 2pm and were told the room was not ready yet. We had requested our friends' room be close to ours. The Front Desk staff suggested waiting a bit in order to have the rooms cleaned and ready for us. So we waited....we played a few games of pool in the bar area of the hotel and waited...we asked about our room but still not ready. So we decided to take a walk and grab something to eat.

At 3:20pm I used the Chat on the app again to inquire about our rooms. I was told both rooms were still not ready. I replied we had just ordered dinner. The reply I received was "OK, wll enjoy dinner and we will have your keys waiting for you at the desk!".

We got back to the hotel at 5:15pm. I would think this was plenty of time to have both rooms ready for us. But I was wrong. Only our room was ready, not our friends. When we stepped into our room #208 it seemed a bit stale and warm/humid. I went to the thermostat and noticed it was set to 75 degrees, so I changed it to 65 degrees hoping to get the room cooler. The room smelled musty and of pet urine. I used the phone app to Chat again. I asked if 2nd floor was used exclusively for pets and stated I have allergies (see screen shot). I never received a reply.
image.png I tried calling the front desk but the headset for our room was not charged. I decided to speak with the front desk personally. On my way there I ran into a woman in black polo uniform shirt...

Shocked at all the 4-5 star reviews for this hotel when our stay here was so bad that I looked up reviews to see if others had the same experience. People have been very nice on here, not so much from the staff at Aloft. Let me represent a more accurate depiction of what you may expect.

Don't be fooled by the pretty lights on the outside of the building and the “modern lounge”. You will step into another dimension or travel 40 years back in time when you walk through your door.

Try to think back to the carpet in your office pre-pandemic, and pair that with the smell of a high school boys locker room and the damp sticky-ness of a bar floor. Bring your house slippers because you will regret the moment you plant your barefoot on the floor.

Next, NOTHING makes sense in the room. All the furniture seems to have been selected from either evacuated office buildings or your local garage sale. Lights are a mix between bright white 80 watt and standard 60 watt but that doesn't mean you'll be able to see anything. Ladies, I hope you can do your make-up with your eyes closed because you might as well be from the lack of lighting in every room. If you’re resourceful and think, “I’ll just open the window to bring in natural light”, you have a 75% chance of that light being blocked by other buildings. And if you're wondering if people can see in from your curtains being open the answer is yes.

Moving on! If you enjoy the sweet sweet sounds of a freeway to put you to sleep Your in luck! Aloft is perfectly nestled by one of the busiest freeways with cars whirling by your window every second of the day. I'd mention the baring alarm of a fire engine, ambulance, or police siren at all hours, however, this is a downtown location so you should expect a siren from time to time.

The bed is fantastic.

Coffee and breakfast options were available 2/4 mornings of our stay. Don't expect a spread just something to get you by.

Staff were friendly enough but it seemed like only one person was actually working (a woman at the front deak) while others stood around.

2/10 do...