Aloft Orlando International Drive — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

I stayed there for 3 nights on business, and I wish I stayed elsewhere. Perhaps, sister hotel Element next door would work out better for me. To be honest, I've had better luck with Element hotels, than with Alofts lately.

Here are the facts:

I checked in on Monday night and asked (as usual) for nice quiet room on a higher floor away from elevator. To my dismay, I was assigned the room on 2nd floor, next to elevator, and, even worse, next to ice/vending room.

My Bonvoy Titanium Elite status wasn't acknowledged either and I had a feeling that the staff member was disinterested and possibly had a problem with English language (as many others staff members, unfortunately).

I had to come back downstairs and request different room. After some reluctance, I was given a larger and nicer room on the 3rd floor. It is much better location, but there was a problem with HVAC system, A/C and heat. I asked for maintenance to check it out, but nobody came on Mon night. The issue was addressed on Tuesday only, and it worked ok.

The room didn't look too clean to me, and there was dirty little towel hanging on top of the bath. Moreover, there were few potato chips dropped weight by the door of the room, and the floor wasn't vacuumed there for 24+ hours.

Then there was an issue with water. Water smells really bad in the sink and in the shower, but I understand this is not something hotel can control. What hotel could've done at least is to provide water bottles for drinking and teeth cleaning. This is one of very few Marriott properties that doesn't bother to leave bottled water in the room. I don't mind too much filtered water, but there was nowhere to refill my bottle. The bartender recommended using bottled water only due to the smell, and taste of the water. I asked to leave few bottles of water in my room, but it was refused. They even had a nerve to suggest that I should buy the bottled water from the pantry! That is not acceptable, and I made myself clear that I have zero interest to pay for the bottled water and would grab at least 2 bottles per day, complimentary, of course. I am never asked to pay for bottled water @Marriott properties, and I stayed for 600+ nights.

Finally, and I might stop at that on long issues list: Aloft letter clearly states that "you will receive a tidy refresh of the room every day, which includes garbage removal and towel replacement". This is a lie, pure and simple. On Tuesday I had to beg a lady who was cleaning the other room for the refresh. She didn't understand English, but was king enough to take care of this refresh. On Wednesday morning I stopped by front desk and politely requested refresh, as promised. The front desk rep wrote my room number, and nothing was done, of course. Zero. Nobody even bothered to enter my room for a whole day, while I was out. There were few positives too: the rate was quite reasonable; the complimentary breakfast for the Elites in Element next door was adequate, and everyone was quite friendly...

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here. It is very new still and very loungey type of atmosphere. They have a pool table and bar in the lobby area open pretty late well past midnight. My room was a great layout with a decent view. The bed was ok its not as comfortable as Id like it to be but not a deal breaker. This hotel is verry busy. Lots of people coming and going. I will say there are two sides one is the "Aloft" and the other is "Element" so just be sure on your intinerary which one your supposed to check in at (realized that as I was on the wrong side 😆) Front desk staff were extremely courteous beginning to end. The location is right by sea world pretty convenient for whatever your day involves it has many restaurants around and def close to I Drive. I would for sure stay here again no doubt. There is 2 cons I will say : 1. parking...there is plenty of parking space spots however they get filled pretty quickly so if you get one keep it. 2. Whoever the manager on duty was this weekend did not provide a good impression at least to myself and other guests..he lacked empathy and personality was very curt and dry even with my encounter speaking to him. He was matter of fact with guests who were checking into the element side who came from out of town and did not speak very much english, there room apparently was not clean due to his housekeeping staff being injured and not having enough employees to help clean the rooms ...in which these guests asked how long it may take he simply said "a long time" but he he did offer an option and that was to give the 3rd party booking company a call to obtain a refund...😒...because after traveling so long and wanting only just to check in and get settled all they would want is to get their money back in 3 to 5 business days and still have no where go at 1030 at night. Instead he could as a manager in charge have done something other than shift accountability to someone else, and with my encounter over a remote exchange he was less than pleasant to deal with. Hopefully they have a more courteous and responsive manager to provide guests with a more accomodating experience than what myself and those poor guests I witnessed had. Rant over. Other than that this is a really nice...

This review is based on our stay and opinions. We have stayed at this location twice, once in February and once in July 2023. This is a contemporary in look and design hotel and not family friendly. From the moment you step into the lobby the smell is overwhelming like it’s trying to cover up another smell, then the hallways on the floors had a musty smell and no air flow. Not sure if they have rooms for couples, but would like to be given a room with one bed when we don’t need two.

Pros: Price (with the exception of $12/night parking) and location.

Cons: Room: air conditioner leaked; no iron/board (slow to get when requested, both visits) table top type when it did come and kept folding under on the table in the room; bed was not comfortable, the sheets (too big) and mattress pad (too small without corner attachments) did not fit. Had to pull pad off to try and sleep better; room service put it back on🫤 safe would not open not enough room/hangers for your stuff/clothes no microwave no privacy between the sleeping area and the shower not to mention the shower/sink is an open area and when you enter the room from the outside you are right in view, not an ideal location for the a shower. We would prefer a work area in the room instead of a longe seating area.

Hotel Lobby/Fitness Area: smell (not a good scent, explained earlier in review) equipment/TV not working and missing attachments in fitness area pool table (why bothering having if the pool sticks don’t have the correct tips (aka none at all), no chalk for hands nor pool cue (oh wait the sticks didn’t have a cue🤨) limited food options inside hotel (however, several nearby)

I’m sure I’m missing something but this review is long enough. I hope this helps someone that is trying to decide on whether or not to stay here. Again, this is our prospective and obviously other reviews say the opposite, but unless our work requires us to stay here, we...