Avanti International Resort — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

We are a couple whom were travelling with our daughter. We got married in Orlando 25 years ago and as our daughter just turned 21, we decided to celebrate both occasions with this big trip from the U.K. We paid nearly 4k for the privilege, and travelled with TUI.||The reception was in darkness when we arrived late afternoon, the bell desk and Starbucks was closed, the lights were off and a solitary staff member was present in reception, she did not greet us, but wordlessly checked us in and sent us off to our room which was furthest away from reception and the penultimate one of the top floor of a block adjacent to the 10 lanes of Interstate 4. The room was noisy, smelt of 'weed’ and disinfectant, there were old clothes left on the landing - so we returned to request a new room. She offered us one in an alternative block but we were not permitted to view it before deciding to occupy. We were also asked to prove that the room allocated only 20 mins earlier had not been used or disturbed. We went back to the original room, collected our luggage and provided a video to the receptionist to evidence it was unused before receiving the new room key. We left reception and were immediately drenched by a thunder storm.||We went to the new room but found this to be no better. The floors were sticky, the furniture had sticky labels and food debris on them but it smelt better. The rain was very heavy at this point and we were so tired we agreed to leave it and talk to a manager/housekeeping the next day.||It was then we realised that the bathroom was so small my husband was unable to sit on the toilet with the door closed. We then saw the mould and blood stains on the walls, the hair and dust in the bath, on the skirting, around the door frame which was also swollen and damaged and would not close properly. The extractor was also full of dust. The clean towels were placed over a rail that has mould growing on it. My husband wanted to return to reception and complain. He proceeded to the lifts and saw that the safety inspection certificates had expired over a month prior. ||We then made contact with TUI through the messenger service in the app and were told to see the rep.||We proceeded to reception to meet the rep as arranged the following morning, she did speak with the hotel manager and another room was offered. We asked if we could see it first and were taken to view, however the floors were just as sticky, hair was seen in the sink and on the bathroom floor, and this block had no working elevator. We declined and took the decision to move hotels at our own expense out of concern for our daughters health. She is registered disabled and has a respiratory auto immune condition. After the first nights 'rest' the filters in her respiratory machine were discoloured and full of dust. We told our rep that we would leave some of our luggage in situ but book elsewhere. It was our expectation that the raised cleaning issues would have least been rectified during our absence, but although the beds were made, none of the hygiene issues raised were resolved during our ‘stay’. However we did note on one return to collect luggage that the safety inspection certificates had been updated.||The Avanti International Hotels hygiene is not to expected basic standards. We were advised by a staff member that there are known issues with some rooms being sub standard but it was agreed locally that TUI guests would be prioritised for the refurbished blocks. Disappointingly though this refurbishment is literally some new furniture which still has the labels on! The sealant applied to the external flooring is known to have a fault and is causing the 'sticky black debris' to track into each room. The artex that is on all of the walls and ceilings has trapped years of dust and mould and both the air conditioner unit and extractor fan in the bathroom are relics of the 1970's, constantly whirring and rattling as years of debris and dust have built up. It is certainly not a vacation resort or holiday hotel, but more of a no-tell, motel rented by the hour, this was supported by our experience on the last night where a group were smoking weed on the hall/walkway...

I usually come here when I’m the area because it’s decent ,I checked in at the front desk and I was the only one the girl who checked me in was ok she took so long to check me in and she was asking personal questions like how much I paid ? Does it even matter I prepaid for the room just give me paper I need to sign and let’s move along with our life . Also I booked through a third party so she insisted I pay extra for the “resort fees” . I was so uncomfortable that I was willing to pay anything to get to my room because it was literally my birthday !!!!!!! Like hello what is wrong with people . I clearly showed her my end of things and my receipt and she still charged me whatever . I knew it wasn’t organized because she didn’t even have a legit calculator she used her phone to make up her own numbers . And at no moment she explained the numbers she was calculating. So I’m literally standing there with all my belongings for about 20 minutes . And then after I pay whatever amount she made up with her calculations , I tell her how do I make reservations for the shuttle bus to sea world . She then hands me a paper and says these are the times and I asked are you still making reservations. She said “ oh you do it yourself” . I knew she had been lying or she didn’t know because I stood there before and you always had to make reservations. I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I’m not a FL resident I don’t stay there that often maybe they changed things . I finally get to my room and there are no towels whatsoever. And there’s ** and * on the seat . I called and complained so then they changed my room. No other accommodations just a room change ok whatever . So I get to my new room it feels better and definitely cleaner. So the day comes when I’m going to sea world and I wake up early to catch the shuttle bus . The paper the girl at the front desk said 10:05 am . I’m there early at 9:50am . I wait until 10:30 and then I complain to the front desk again . Where’s the shuttle to sea world . They tell me I have no reservations. I literally tell them when I checked in I mentioned it and she told me I do it myself . And then they later say they can’t accommodate me because I took too long to let them know . What am I paying resort fees for ?????? Please explain to me . So then I have to order an Uber back and forth . When I get back to my room I brought food from outside to my room because there’s a microwave . When I try to use the microwave it doesn’t work . So it’s another thing after another thing . It was more problems than actual peace .so then I call the front desk again and they told me maintenance has to come by and see what’s going on . After all that time passes I just end up eating my food cold . And he finally comes and he says he’s going to replace the microwave. Also I mentioned to him that the fridge isn’t keeping my water cold and he tells me that it isn’t a fridge it’s a cooler and it just keeps it around room temperature. The maintenance man was very nice and respectful he knocked and he asked if he can come in as he should . The next day a random cleaning lady knocks on my door so early about 10:30/11 and after one knock she just comes in and I’m literally startled and ask her what she needs . She looks at me and says check out and I’m like no you got the wrong room or something and then she just leaves . The next night there was a fire alarm that kept me up for an hour obviously it’s out of their control but it was really loud and it was going on for an hour at 2am. I was really enjoying the pool till I got back home with pink eye and they asked if I was in a pool recently that sometimes the water is contaminated with tons of urine from other guest . Also on top of that it’s been over a week since I checked out and I still haven’t received my deposit back . That room was cleaned when I left the only thing that had to be done was the bed . So basically I paid to get pink eye and...

I have been holding on to this review since Mid January in an effort to make sure I was not overreacting or just reacting a bit emotionally as I work in customer service and know these reviews can often make or break a company but I felt it was necessary to put the info out there so others can make an informed decision.

To start with I stayed at this resort for a conference and received a "discount" upon booking. I paid at time of booking but somehow ended up never actually getting charged so I had to pay upon arrival. At check in I gave my card info as normal and went to my room (check in itself was fine I was just done in from travel) which I was under the impression I was supposed to be in a single King size room but was put in a double Queen room but since I booked through my conference's website I couldn't pull up the booking beyond just finding a room for 6 nights was booked.

When I arrived at my room I noticed how warm it was and wrote it off as its Florida, of course its warm, I assumed that as the day ended the temp in the room would cool. I also noticed what appeared to be a water bubble in the ceiling right over my bed that luckily was dried out (yes I touched it because I didn't want to have water all over the bed, but when I touched a piece of the popcorn ceiling fell off). I called down to the lobby to inform them of this as I didn't want to have anything blamed on me at check out and was offered a new room which I DID decline at that time as I had just dealt with a very long day of travel and delayed flight and missing lyft drivers etc and I had just unpacked so I didn't want to have to deal anymore. Fast forward to 12:30 at night when I woke up sweating (I'm from Houston, TX the environment and humidity is not dissimilar to Florida) I reluctantly called down to see if someone could come in and fix it (I was a female traveling alone and I didn't want someone in my room in the middle of the night) and luckily he was able to come in and fix it and I was able to rest the remaining few hours before my classes started the next day.

The next day I learned that the elevator in the next building over (I had friends that ended up at the same hotel) was broken and multiple people with physical disabilities were being forced to take multiple flights of stairs to get to their rooms as they "had no other ground level rooms available".

The next day after that I came in from my day of classes and noticed that housekeeping was in my room so I went to the cafe for dinner and to hang out by the pool bar to give them time to finish their tasks for about an hour to an hour and a half. When I arrived back at my room the maid cart was gone but MY DOOR WAS OPEN! I called down and asked what was going on and what could be done to make this right. (Mind you by this point the AC was broken, the door left open, broken elevator and staff members being rude/dismissive as well as telling all of the conference goers ALL of the wrong information) The person in the lobby told me I would have to talk to a manager and the only way to do that was to go in person to the lobby so I did. The manager kept asking why I turned down the original room move when I arrived and I explained that I didn't want to deal with it after the travel day from hell and that I was scared I'd end up in another room with no AC. She was only willing to relocate me in a new room which at this point I felt was minimum they could do since it was a safety issue with the door not closing. They "upgraded" my room to a single King room (if you recall I was sure this was what I booked anyway). I asked if there was anything they could do additionally and she said no that I already got a discount when I booked through the conference website for the room. The only discount was I think a $10 resort...