SonoHotel I Drive Orlando — Hotel in Dr. Phillips

I contacted the hotel in advance with my room requests, all of which were acknowledged and I was given a nice renovated room on the ground floor just steps away from the pool (which note they refer to as the first floor).||The best asset of this hotel is the desk staff - Marcelo gave a very warm welcome followed by a friendly greeting daily, along with Jose and Paulo, all of which deserve a special mention. Also the maintenance man who I needed on the first night who went above and beyond to provide more hangers (there were only provided on arrival in the cupboard) and help me set up my fire stick on the TV.||Whilst there are clearly renovations being undertaken at the hotel, these are at present limited only to the rooms. The remainder of the communal areas are uninspiring with rusty railings and ceilings and a general feeling of poor maintenance is present throughout. Despite seeing cleaners around all day every day and even into the night, the hotel doesn't feel clean and my room floor remained dirty even after a special request to clean it. Unfortunately if the standard of cleaning doesn't improve, the newly renovated rooms will soon deteriorate if they're not properly maintained. Already there are signs of wear and tear and dirt on skirting boards for example which is a real shame as the renovations are lovely with big walk-in shower. Old Quality Inn phones are still in the rooms, and so is the old furniture. So it's like corners have been cut with the renovations and that's a real shame as the standard could have been higher.||On the positive side though, I was happy with what I received for what I paid and the location is exceptional! An easy 25 minute ride to/from MCO via Uber which wasn't expensive and it's within walking distance to so many restaurants and attractions. ||So much can and should be improved though in order to be competitive with other hotels in the area and I think that the price I paid fairly reflects the current standard of the hotel.||The desk staff (Marcelo, Jose and Paulo) are the heart of the SonoHotel though and they offer a 5* experience so more than made up for some of the more negative things I saw whilst I stayed for 9 nights recently, all of which I shared with the front desk staff which was received in the manner in which it was presented (to be helpful not critical). ||Sadly if the standard of cleaning doesn't improve throughout (and I include the spa and pool and surrounding areas in this statement) SonoHotel will fall short of its competitors and will be unable to charge similar fees to other hotels in the vicinity as simply won't be competitive enough in that regard. I'd love to see Sonohotel succeed is clearly Monreale is spending money on it so I do hope that my suggestions for improvement were accepted and improvements will be made.||Overall I enjoyed my stay and would visit again if the price was right but unfortunately until cleaning and maintenance standards improve, SonoHotel just won't be able to compete with the standards of other hotels in the area.||Thank you again to Marcelo, Jose and Paulo for making my stay enjoyable and for making a single lady solo...

Our family stayed for one week at the end of October 2024. Prior to arrival I was aware that they were renovating the hotel, so during booking as we were staying for more than a few days I requested a room that had already been renovated ( I didnt think that was unreasonable?), however during check-in the old lady on the desk obviously took offence to this and gave us a (clean-ish) but run down room with non-working air conditioning instead. Now, I dont understand why some hotel staff go out of their way to give you the opposite to what you requested as this is not going to encourage anyone to return? Or if what your requesting isnt available then why not just say so.|Anyway, then on to my biggest gripe, upon check-in I was presented with a bill for an additional 25% of what I had already paid for the room to cover resort fees - fees which had not been declared to me at any time prior to checking in or on any signage at the check-in desk either?!. I disputed these fees as my booking said it included all taxes and fees but was told it had to be paid, I also disputed this with Agoda but they were useless! Later on I did some investigation of various booking websites and not one of them mentioned resort fees. I made a complaint once I returned home and received a reply (some weeks later) to say they would be addressing this lack of information and would look at refunding the resort fee I had paid. Some weeks more later and neither of these things has been addressed which now leaves me in the position of making a chargeback with my credit card, Ive given them every opportunity to avoid the extra fees to them involved in this but clearly they have no intention of doing that.|On to our stay, Apart from hearing lots of renovation work the only thing we could see that had been renovated was the pool area, which in all fairness was nice and the pool heated. Our room was on the 4th floor, the lift was not working for 3 of our 7 days there, luckily we are active enough to manage with this but if you had mobility issues it would be a problem. Our room was old and dated with a barely working TV, it was fairly clean apart from a mucky pillow case and the base of the bathtub which was filthy. Our air conditioning was clearly faulty as it was extremely warm, we persevered for the first 3 days and then reported it to reception, a maintenance guy turned up quickly checked the temperature it was pumping out ( 85f!) and took to removing the entire unit and replacing it. Sadly the replacement was a used item and whilst a little cooler it wasnt much better, so all in all it was quite a sticky 7 nights for us. One plus side was we didnt see any cockroaches in the room, maybe it was too warm for them?! It really does seem like luck of the draw if you get air conditioning that works or is too hot/ too cold ( I always prefer too cold!) and maybe if your really lucky and the person on reception likes you when you check in you could get a renovated room - but dont hold your breath! Its a shame as I really wanted to like this place but the lack of action/response from the management really...

A Comedy of Errors at Hotel Sono (minus the laughs)

We booked Hotel Sono for its proximity to Universal Studios and the decent price tag. The reviews were average, which I took as a sign of “not terrible, not amazing”—the sweet spot for a short stay. Spoiler alert: I overestimated.

We rolled in at 3:30am after a long day of travel, desperately clinging to the dream of sleep. The night desk clerk was an angel—kind, welcoming, and the only bright spot in this bizarre hotel experience. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives tapped out.

We dragged ourselves up to the room and opened the door to...well, the 1980s, based on the decor. But hey, we just needed sleep. That was until we walked into the bathroom and found the tub filled with standing water. A relaxing spa moment? Nope, just… a mysterious mini-swamp in the tub. The toilet wouldn’t flush either, thanks to a broken flap in the tank. We fixed both ourselves (because apparently we work in hotel maintenance now), but it definitely set the tone.

When I brought this up to the manager the next morning, hoping for a little concern or even a shrug of sympathy, I got, “And you didn’t ask for another room?” Sir. It was 4am. I was closer to sleepwalking than room-swapping.

Fast forward to night two. After a long, magical day at Diagon Alley, we were ready to crash. Simple goals: hot shower, comfy bed, peace. But our key card said, “Access denied.” No problem—this happens, right? We had it reprogrammed. Still no dice. A kind maintenance kid tried an override. Nada. We were fully locked out of our room for two hours while they summoned an “engineer” from home.

Now, I understand tech fails. What I don’t understand is the night manager’s attitude. His energy screamed “mildly inconvenienced” rather than “concerned that guests are locked out of their room with medication and essentials inside.” I even joked about calling the fire department—only half kidding. He offered another room, which would’ve been great if our stuff wasn’t held hostage in Room Fort Knox.

Eventually, we got in. No apology. No follow-up. Just vibes.

At checkout, the morning clerk was very kind and apologetic (again—some gems among the staff). He offered to reimburse us the $20 we’d spent on their glorified continental breakfast buffet. Yes, they charge $10 per person for bagels and cereal. Let that sink in.

I rarely leave negative reviews. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. But Hotel Sono dropped the ball on the basics: working toilets, dry bathtubs, functioning door locks, and—most importantly—caring that guests are, you know, locked out of their room for hours.

Under new management or not, this place needs serious improvement. The staff trying to help deserve better support—and so do the guests. I’d suggest staying elsewhere unless you’re feeling adventurous… or you’re looking to start...