Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

We were greeted with a rude staff at the front desk. She was condescending in her tone, irritable, always interrupting while we were talking and her demeanor was very unwelcoming. Our room was acceptable and appeared clean. As for the bathroom, the tub faucet was constantly running (very loudly), shower curtains did not have a liner and bath amenities ran out on day 6, which is unusual bc they serviced our room the day before. I had to call the front desk a few times before someone answered. When I asked for replenishment and told front desk I have to leave in an hour, which she said would not be a problem, no one came to refill. After waiting more than 45mins, still nothing. Housekeeping came in the afternoon and got mad bc no one answered. I’m like “what?!?”

Laundry. We were told we had to do our laundry at a different hotel since their machines don’t work, on both floors. We had to carry around our dirty clothes to a different hotel just to be told that the front desk at this hotel needs to call them first to let them know. I tried calling and the other hotel’s staff tried calling, but the front desk never answers the phone. After about 20mins of waiting, staff asked for confirmation to prove we stayed in said hotel and allowed us to use their laundry machines. We had to wait in the car for the wash to finish so we can transfer our clothes to the dryer, go back to the hotel for about 45mins, go back to the other hotel to pick up our laundry. This is after a long day at the tournament and my husb already started feeling sick.

On day 5, my husband started running a fever and coughing. On day 6, I started experiencing the same symptoms, and then, my son on day 7. My husband was closest to the air conditioner and my son the furthest. The air quality in our room was not the best and we felt it as soon as we walked in but didn’t think much of it. It started to all make sense. When we returned to NY, got checked by our doctor, confirmed URTI.

On day 4, my son found a bug on his bed. We were able to capture it and he took it to front desk to show them since they didn’t answer the phone when we called several times. On the night of day 7, while my husband was getting ready to pack, a big cockroach jumped out of shoe and crawled on our bed and out of sight. While my husband was searching for the bug, I called front desk, about 3 times before someone answered. The guy was slow to respond, did not appear to communicate well in English and I had to explain several times what is going on while we were trying to find the bug. After finally understanding what is going on, he said he will send someone. After 15 mins, I called again. At this time, we were able to locate the bug and my husband kept watch to make sure we know where it is. After a few attempts, same guy answers the phone and said exterminator is on the way - he came, sprayed, took the bug, left. Not even 30 mins after exterminating, another cockroach was crawling on the wall, a bigger one. This is while we were eating, my son in bed with a fever. I called front desk, again and again until we got hold of them. While waiting for exterminator, this bug was crawling actively on the wall the whole time and we were all mortified! My husband was able to kill it before exterminator arrived.

Needless to say, they had to move us to a different room, the night before our checkout. This all happened around 11pm. We had to pack our stuff, move to another room, unpack essentials and pack them again. Our flight was 6am so we had to leave around 330am. We were all still sick, fever, chills and coughing and we couldn’t even get some proper rest before checking out.

This is, by far, one of, if not THE worst hotel experience we’ve ever had. From staff experience to accommodations, definitely very disappointing since this hotel is carrying the Hilton brand. I would not recommend this hotel to my worst enemies. What a horrible experience it has been. Our whole team and families stayed in this hotel and the common theme was running tub water....

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. DO NOT STAY HERE IF YOU VALUE SAFETY AND SECURITY!!! This is the WORST hotel experience I have ever had. I’m not one to write reviews, but this experience must be shared. Buckle up for the long read ahead.

My friend and I stayed at the Hilton garden inn at sea world in Orlando this past week. Upon the first night, we noted that the air conditioning did not work, and we were switched rooms by the maintenance guy. The second room we received was not fully clean and smelled of weed so we were moved AGAIN.

The new room we were given was very nice and clean. Everything seemed fine for a few days until my friend and I arrived back to the hotel one night after being out all day.

Here’s some foreshadowing for those who are still reading. We stopped by the front desk to request fresh towels. As we were waiting in line, we overheard the hotel clerk tell a guest that housecleaning services will not be provided unless it is requested by the guest. We were under the same assumption for our stay.

However, when we arrived to our room that night, we noticed that our DOOR WAS LEFT AJAR for who knows how long, meaning that anyone could come into our room and steal our stuff, which is completely unacceptable. Our personal information and belongings were left in that room while we were gone! Once we entered the room, we noticed all of our stuff had been touched and moved around. To be more specific, our open food was touched, water that was in a package in the refrigerator was removed out of the packaging (what the hell?!), our clothes and key cards that we left out on desks and dressers were haphazardly thrown into our suitcases, and our toiletries in the bathroom were all moved to different locations. I have never stayed in a place that has their STAFF TOUCH PERSONAL BELONGINGS. We ended up having to throw out all open food in case it was tampered with.

We immediately informed hotel staff. Staff was pretty uncaring and unconcerned besides sending a security guard up to check our room.They even told us that they have no way of knowing who entered our room. We were told that we had requested our room to be cleaned, which we did NOT. We were informed that we could open an inquiry in the morning if need be, which was not enough. We ended up calling the police as this was technically a break in. Police agreed that it did seem weird to have all of our belongings touched and agreed to act as an advocate for us when talking to the hotel staff, as we did not feel safe anymore and wanted to leave ASAP. Police informed us that the hotel staff told them that the housecleaning request was from the previous guests before us and had not been updated.

Later on, the hotel staff changed their story and informed us that housecleaning comes every 4th day of our stay. This incident occurred on our fifth day of stay.

Hotel staff would not help besides offering another room, which we had already switched TWICE, and we had felt that our sense of security at this hotel was grossly violated. We requested that they find us another Hilton to stay at for the remainder of our stay, to which they declined and offered no help whatsoever. Mind you, this occurred around midnight. So we were left to find a hotel late at night with no help.

We immediately called the corporate number to lodge a formal complaint. We were initially told that we would receive a phone call back within 24hrs. Shocker, we did not. We followed up with another phone call and was told that the manager on duty was never informed of this situation by the corporate employee, who was handling our case. The corporate employee informed us that the manager would refund us 1 night and have another manager follow up with a phone call the next day to get more details on what happened. Again, shocker, it did not happen. This whole situation that occurred is completely unprofessional and...

Stayed 6 nights here recently. I'll break down the good, the bad, and the ugly, and provide my overall thoughts at the end.

The Good: Lobby is bright and welcoming Rooms are clean and modern Kitchenette in room, includes a fridge and microwave Outdoor pool and jacuzzi (there's handicap pool and jacuzzi tub access as well!) Outdoor fire pit On site gym Full bar in lobby (open 5-10pm nightly) in room AC worked very well Quiet hotel Reasonable rates If you're coming to visit Seaworld, Discovery Cove, or Aquatica, you're mere blocks from the action

The Bad: There is breakfast however it's $16 per person! Most of the options are your usual hotel breakfast items... breads, cereal, yogurt, fruit, eggs, They can make you eggs to order and a waffle to order FOR AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE. It's nice, but not worth $16/per person. Just feels like a money grab. If you need something from the front desk, expect to wait... and wait ... and wait. My travel partner needed a new ironing board (hers broke). She asked 3 times ... never had her issue addressed. Housekeeping services rooms VERY late in the day. (Like after 4:30 PM!) Housekeeping services are also inconsistent... my room was serviced 4 days out of the 6 I spent here. Found it very odd. Many of the pool side lounge chairs are broken to some extent and are in need repair Nothing is within walking distance except a 7Eleven and CVS. The tub faucet leaked unless I really pushed down hard to turn off the water

The Ugly: The PILLOWS are horrible. They flatten like a pancake as soon as you lay your head on them I used x4 each night and it didn't feel like enough. Truly some of the worst hotel Pillows I've ever used The bed. Firm. Firm. Firm. Now this isn't an "ugly" item for everyone. Some folks like a firm bed. For me, it was the equivalent of sleeping on the floor and waking with shoulder and back pain every morning Finally ... CHECK IN. If you come here before 5pm don't expect to be able to check in right away. My guess is, because housekeeping doesn't clean rooms until late in the afternoon, rooms aren't available for check in until after 5. It's a pet peeve of mine for hotels to advertise a check in time then consistently turn guests away at check in because rooms weren't ready yet. When my party attempted to check in around 4:30 PM, we were (kindly) asked to come back in an hour. This appears to be a habitual issue here.

Overall, this hotel is fine. Nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) special. Would I stay here again? Probably not, no. In a town with THOUSANDS of hotel rooms, there's absolutely no reason I would book here again over somewhere else. I didn't have an unpleasant stay, but it was very ... just ok. Orlando is a huge tourist area and hotel competition is high. This place just doesn't offer anything that would constitute a...