Hilton Orlando — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

We were looking for a hotel that had a nice pool area that 5 of us could stay at after our flight out was cancelled. We reserved two rooms - King and 2 Queens both with pool views. When we arrived we were almost hit from the side by a valet. When we drove by and pulled up to the front of the hotel he gave us a really bad look like we had done something wrong (while I was inside checking in the other people in the car noticed multiple valets speeding through the arrival area). After that I went in to check in and stood by myself for about 5 mins while front desk staff had a conversation and ignored me. I finally had to raise my voice and ask if someone could check me in since my family was waiting in the car. It was the longest and least personable check in I have ever experienced. There was little to no explanation of what was included at the resort or where we go. This is when I started to question our decision to stay here. Below is the rest of our experience in bullet points so I don't bore you with long stories.

To park you have to go around the entire building and without our knowledge there is a $35 parking fee. When you "self park" you have to park in the ramp behind the hotel and find your way in through two banks of elevators. One of the first things I heard was a couple asking about the restaurants at the hotel and it turns out they were closed other than the sports bar. No explanation why just that the employee had found out just the day before that they would be closed all weekend. Walked into the rooms and noticed immediately how outdated they were. There are limited outlets and no updated chargers for phones or other devices. Everything smells like weed. The elevators, the rooms, the halls, near the pool, etc. Both beds made loud metal popping noises. Hard to explain but it had to be the bed frame and it made it hard to sleep. That and the sheets were the most uncomfortable sheets I have ever slept in at a hotel. They were like sandpaper. This was in both rooms. Queen beds didn't seem like queens. Went straight to the pool and it is a nice pool with slide, lazy river, adult area, hot tubs, kids area/splashpad, and a pool bar. Pool bar charges $10 for a can of beer and $8 for a lemonade (non-alcoholic). For this level of resort that is ridiculous. Realized that they sell day passes for the pool and that it is not just people staying at the resort. This seemed strange but obviously I get why they do it. This made it much more crowded and chaotic by the pool. The only staff around were servers and the people by the slide. I think some were working double duty. Either way it didnt seem like they cared much. Went to the sports bar where better beers were cheaper but still very expensive. Also went in with the kids and saw other kids sitting at the bar, which seemed odd, but we thought ok I guess we can do that. When we attempted it the bar back said "No kids at the bar" and then proceeded to walk past the other group that had kids sitting at the bar. Those kids being younger than mine. We didn't care that much but it was such a strange reaction and situation that it left us confused and kind of frustrated after the other issues. We decided to go outside near the sports bar to play ping pong and there was heavy smoke, almost like a fire outside, that continuously came by us. We figured out that it must be coming from the kitchen. So in the area you are supposed to hang out and play with the kids there are clouds of kitchen grill smoke that make it impossible. We could smell it on our clothes when we got back to the room that night. I texted the front desk about kids activities and was told there were none even though they have smores, movies, and other activities advertised on the website. Just know unless its "a holiday or special occasion" they dont offer much in terms of kids activities like they claim online. No hot water in rooms in morning or evening. AC didnt work correctly. Review is getting too long but I would say do...

Prices - Everything in the hotel is expensive, so be prepared to pay 3x the normal price for anything. For example, a bucket of beer by the pool is 60 dollars USD. There's a small convenience store selling artisan goods and convenience staples like chocolate bars, but it is very overpriced (I would also suggest double checking the condition of the food you purchase, we bought a couple of fruit cups which turned out to look fine but were rancid - the manager didn't do anything about it). There is a 7/11 across the street which has been much better. This hotel also has many hidden daily unadvertised fees, a 2$ destination fee, a 40$ resort fee per day, a 5$ room tax. On top of the cost of the room and taxes.

Restaurants - We have tried 2 out of 4 so far, as stated above, it was incredibly expensive. We tried Trabacco for pasta, which was mediocre and not entirely authentic. For the two of us, with one appetizer, and a plate of pasta each, one drink each, the bill came out to 185 dollars. While I feel I could have made the food better in my own kitchen, the service staff was great and helpful. Our server was David and he deserves a shout out. The FastBreak sports bar had a great ambience, vegan and vegetarian options, the burgers were high quality, and I had a beer tasting of local craft beers all of which were delicious.

Rooms - I stayed in a room with 2 double beds. We had a great view. The rooms are similar to that of a motel. The carpet is old and had a mysterious wet spot that would not dry. The bathtub we considered to be an inconvenience, however would be good for bathing infants or small children. It is very shallow. As for the WiFi in the room, We are not allowed to download anything on it. Which was inconvenient because I would have liked to have done some school work here but Not being allowed to download anything was a hindrance. I wouldn't recommend this hotel for business or school. Our biggest complaint about our whole stay was housekeeping. We had to chase down housekeepers to come take our waste bags, our sheets were finally changed the day before we left, even though we've been here for more than a week. We had to find someone to give us fresh towels, vacuum, dust etc. Even after politely asking a manager for help, nothing happened. Except the day before we left the whole room was cleaned. Must be getting it ready for the next guest, we joked.

Tipping - around the pool we had several different servers. two were memorable. The first was named Terry who, without asking or permission, added a 20% tip to our bill every time plus he had a poor attitude. The other server, Gina, was amazing. She told us that what Terry was doing was improper, and she never stole a tip from us, she always deserved it and we always willingly gave it. Gina was a rockstar. Just be careful, apparently some of the poolside service staff will try to steal your money.

Car rental - Hertz is located in the building, although it has a low rating, we rented for a day and nothing terrible happened. everything went smooth, no complaints. We even reserved a car at the very last minute the day before.

Pools - The water was at best cloudy. There is an adults only pool. I don't recommend staying at this hotel on a long weekend, as the pools were full of people who were drinking a lot, but not getting out to use the washroom. Also, we and another couple of people started picking up cups in the morning to clean up the pool area. I feel like they should have staff go through at night or early in the morning to clean up empty plastic cups and garbage.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this hotel for adults and singles, but it is okay for families. Very family oriented, minus the prices. I felt like it was a glossed over motel. I wouldn't categorize this place as luxury, but charges luxury prices. Also there are not many electric outlets in rooms. There is a free shuttle to take you to...

The hotel did have its pros and cons. Let me explain my experience. My wife and I stayed here July 4 through July 6 for a staycation because we’re from Orlando. We spent the whole day at the pool on the 4th then spent the whole day at SeaWorld on the 5th.

It is incredibly close to SeaWorld like 8-10min if traffic isn’t a nightmare. It is the worst on Saturday. Weekdays are fine though. That was pro number one.

When we arrived, we weren’t greeted by any of the staff and had to check-in then ask about how to get our bags to the room, which was a different counter entirely.

We had a king bed suite. So one room was the living room and the other was the bedroom. The room was nice. We have a one year old, so we were hoping to have a microwave to warm up her milk, but it didn’t. They brought one up for a $25 charge though. We needed to use the sink to wash bottles and plates for my daughter. It was a very small sink, but that’s pretty typical for a hotel like this. Had two fridges in the suite, which was nice. The TV was super outdated for an expensive resort. Even lower quality hotels like Residence Inn or Fairfield Inn (Mariott) have TVs with Netflix, Amazon, etc. this didn’t have anything except on-demand movies and not that many tv channels.

Bathroom was nice. We were glad there was a bath so that we could give my daughter baths. The turn down and cleaning services were probably the worst I’ve experienced at a high end resort. They didn’t take out the trash. Only provide two bottles of water, they didn’t replace any towels. On Friday I asked them to bring up a few water bottles in the evening after my daughter wakes up from her nap, and they brought them up immediately. Luckily my daughter stayed asleep though. We also asked them to take out the trash in the evening and nothing happened. Seems like they forget about a lot of requests.

The pool was honestly amazing. The splash pad / baby pool was tons of fun for our daughter and friends’ daughter. The lazy river was definitely cool, but beware of big groups of obnoxious, entitled teenage boys.

This is the worst part. It was after getting back from a long day at SeaWorld at 8 pm. My daughter is ready to go to bed, and my wife is exhausted and in her second trimester of pregnancy. When we got to our room, the keys weren’t working. The physical and digital keys weren’t working. We informed the front desk and had to wait 20-30 minutes on the floor in the hallway outside our room. Eventually, I went down there to talk to someone face-to-face and they finally said that someone will be up there immediately. The organization of this place is absolutely terrible. I’ve never had this happen to me at any hotel I’ve ever stayed at, and I have stayed at many. Before this happened, I would’ve give the place 4 stars, but this was no bueno.

Valet was always a breeze. But just remember this is a resort, so be prepared for insane prices for food, taxes, resort fees. There was a $40/day resort fee, 6.5% sales tax / day, and 12.5% hotel tax / day. You’re likely going to spend money at the restaurant by the pool for lunch if you spend the whole day out there, so that’s going to be pretty expensive. I definitely recommend getting the breakfast included bundle if you are planning to eat breakfast there daily.

The breakfast buffet was very top-notch and high quality: omelet station, pancake maker, prime rib craving station, pastries, breads, fruit, yogurt parfaits, cereal, and standard breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes.

Anyway, I think that’s all I can think of right now. I hope this review was helpful. I think we would stay here again. FYI, I rarely rate a place with 5 stars unless...