La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Orlando I Drive/Conv Ctr — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

My partner and I needed to bring my mother up from Tampa to catch a flight out of MCO. We figured we’d make a mini-break out of it and stay overnight to have a day of fun in Orlando before heading home. We booked a night at the La Quinta, I-Drive Convention Center, through a third-party site.||||Check-in went smoothly, and our room was clean, pleasant, and spacious. A couple of hours later, though, we had an encounter that left us pretty unsettled, which is really why I’m writing this review. One member of staff deserves commendation for his actions during our stay.||||My partner took a shower a few hours after check-in. The room got a little stuffy from the steam and scent of his products, so he opened the door to let some air in. While he was standing in the doorway, a woman approached our room from the elevators and started talking to my partner in the hallway. She seemed erratic and not entirely coherent (she may have been unwell or perhaps imbibing), but some of her comments were unmistakably racially charged. My partner is Puerto Rican, and he was extremely uncomfortable. He calmly disengaged and closed the door, but the whole thing left us both really uneasy.|||We briefly considered booking another hotel for the night. However, we decided that we shouldn't have to go to the expense and hassle when we did not instigate this problem. We thought perhaps we should just change floors, even though we hated causing inconvenience to the front desk and housekeeping staff. It seemed the most sensible way to stay at the hotel but reduce our chances of running into her again, since we figured she was probably another guest on our floor. We went downstairs and spoke with Quency at the front desk.||||Quency was incredibly kind, understanding, and professional. He listened, took our concerns seriously, and moved us to another floor quickly and with no fuss. We didn’t ask for or expect any kind of special treatment, but he very generously gave us an upgrade to a more spacious room, which honestly went a long way in helping us reset our state of mind and enjoy the rest of our night. We had a peaceful evening and a nice hot breakfast in the lobby the next morning. We didn’t see the guest in question again, and we were able to move on from the incident and enjoy our stay.||||I later learned something which made me doubly grateful for Quency's assistance. After we moved rooms, I was in the lobby when a long-term guest of the hotel informed me that he had been present when we were requesting a room change, and that the woman in question was a guest who had been complained about for erratic and unsettling behavior before. What's more, the long-term guest told me that the woman came down after we left to move floors to complain that she felt unsafe because "a Hispanic man had broken into her room". Quency was able to determine that the guest had muddled her room number with ours, and he advised her of the correct number. This does not excuse what she said to my partner by any means, but it does at least explain how this mess started. ||| |If what that long-term guest said is to be believed, then Quency's sound judgment, professionalism, and discretion stopped a single strange and troubling encounter from escalating into something that could have become entirely different and much more serious. His care and kindness made us feel heard and valued, and his handling of the other guest put a stop to further recurrences. ||||We’ll absolutely be back here the next time we’re in town. Not only did we get excellent service, but the hotel is in an excellent location. It is not easy to find a quiet stretch of I-Drive, but this La Quinta is situated in a section that is peaceful and quite charming. Both of our rooms, as well as the lobby, were bright, cheerful, clean, and inviting. Our rooms were comfortable and spacious, and the waffle station at breakfast is so fun. We won’t forget what Quency did for us, and we’ll be glad to return to a place that made us feel safe, welcome,...

I was thoroughly disgusted with the cleanliness of this hotel. First off, nowhere during the booking process was I notified that this hotel was under construction. And if there was a notice, it certainly wasn't in a prime location that was easily viewable to users. So to my surprise, I was greeted with dust, scaffolding, and dirty tarps. I will say however that the staff at the front desk was friendly and courteous.

As I waited to be checked in and looked around at the dirty lobby, I did have hope that the room would be better. Boy was I naive. I made my way down the dusty hallway and to the elevator that smelled. The elevator doors opened on my floor and I dodged the tarp that had piles of water laying on it. Got to my assigned room and my key didn't work. When finally in my room, I was greeted with a sad note from management saying "apologies for our appearance" -- well, would have been nice to know this ahead of time. While the room itself was better than the overall condition of the lobby and the hallway, it still was no picnic. There was chipped paint, cracks in the mirror, and dirt in the crevices of the shower as if it hasn't been scrubbed for the last 2 years. I couldn't bear to spend the night in that room or that hotel, so I got my things went back down the dirty hallway, dodged the watered tarp one more time, rode in the smelly elevator, and turned in my room keys and ask to be checked out. Again the staff was nice, but the cherry on top of this wretched experience would be the lack of actions by the staff to even try to retain my business. Never asked once, "is everything okay?" or "how can we make you more comfortable?" Nothing of that nature. As if me checking out the same night as checking in raised no concerns in their eyes.

Having never stayed with this chain before, I booked this room because I was traveling with my pet and I have read multiple positive reviews that this chain is great with their pet policy. Well, in short, let me tell you, I will never give this chain a second chance. I refuse to give my business to a chain that doesn't value the customer experience, customer service, and customer loyalty. And, I love my dog too much to let him stay in a...

Had to update my review: one elevator is out of service, one’s door doesn’t close properly, and the one on the Southside of the building is operating but dangerous. My dog and I got onto the elevator on floor 1, hit button for floor 5. As we were going up, the elevator jumped and came down fast (like Hollywood Tower of Terror) and opened on floor 3 instead. When the door opened, the elevator was bobbing up and down and the floor was about 1/4 of the way above the floor of the elevator. This place needs to be inspected.

Staying in the hotel? Must pay $18 per night for parking! They’re under new management now and just started charging for parking. We were shocked when we checked in not expecting this new expense added to our trip.

They have two parking signs. One is new that they initially were using to charge non-hotel guests to park, assuming people going to ICON park. It’s a QR code. Now they use it to charge hotel guests to park. Then they have the other sign that says courtesy parking is for hotel guests only. The fact that they have both of these signs up, next to each other, shows they’re clearly trying to be confusing to people and guests.

We live in Jacksonville and come to Orlando frequently. So frequently that we were here a month ago and didn’t pay for for parking. We have stayed at this place for years solely because of the more economically friendly atmosphere. We will not stay here again.

Plus, our TV did not work and they wanted to come up and “fix” it. Then we were told the TV is beyond repair and they’re going to move us to a bigger room, which doesn’t help our issue. We have to now spend time packing up our pets, our clothes, and our toiletries all on our first day here. We are here for work and to see family. This is so unacceptable and a huge inconvenience.

The door to the hotel facing the mini golf company across the street does not work and is not locked, making this hotel unsafe and not secure.

There are far better hotels with the same fees but with more amenities (that work!)

We never had an issue under the previous management. I feel bad for the...