The Grove Resort & Water Park Orlando — Hotel in Four Corners

I rarely leave reviews, but I rely on them when deciding where to stay, so I felt I owed it to others to share my experience. The simplest way to put it: I would never return. They call themselves an upscale resort, but I feel I was tricked and duped by misleading photos and descriptions. The property is huge, run down, and dirty, with little effort to maintain it. Guests treat it with no respect, and staff either cannot or will not keep up. We had a three bedroom unit. Everything was worn and unclean: stained couch, damaged furniture, burned out lightbulbs, sinks that backed up, and floors so filthy our kids’ feet were black in an hour. Blinds were torn, windows coated in grime. The hallways on the guest floors smelled very bad and musty. For the water park, they leave thin, worn out “pool towels” in your room with a note saying you will be charged if you do not return all 8 you are supposed to get. Our unit only had 6, right next to the note threatening the charge. For a unit that sleeps 8, we also got just 4 bath towels. Smoking was rampant, even around children and in dining areas. Staff ignored it. We were here on a Saturday and Sunday night at the end of a trip to visit an ailing relative near Orlando, hoping to give the kids a surprise before flying home. If it had been a longer trip or a real vacation, I would have left. On our first night, a storm closed the pool and water park, so we ate at Valencia, the on site restaurant. The food was Denny’s level at best. The Springs, which they market as a separate bar and grill, was really just a few outdoor tables off Valencia. Despite being half full, food took ages while unsupervised teens ran everywhere. Tables at Valencia were dirty, with trash on the floor. To make matters worse, people were smoking and vaping in the dining area. At one point, a woman a few tables away exhaled a huge cloud from a vape pen toward the server as she took their order, with several children including ours nearby. No one said a word. We passed the “health club” on the way to the arcade. It looked like something out of Lord of the Flies, completely taken over by kids climbing on gym equipment. Two boys were swinging from the pull down bar of a weight machine like it was a ride while others were turning on treadmills and playing on them unsupervised. Obviously dangerous, yet no staff in sight. The arcade was no better. It was packed with far more people than should have been in the space. Older kids were roughhousing, people were openly cheating games, and teens even lifted a toddler into a machine to help them cheat. No supervision anywhere. My kids begged to play, but we left halfway through our credits because it was too much. To make up for leaving the arcade so quickly, I promised the kids ice cream and took them to the on site shop. I bought two popsicles and two bottles of water. The cashier swiveled the screen and asked me to answer the question on it, which was how much of a tip I wanted to leave him. The next day at the water park, over 100 people were lined up at 10 a.m., then ran to claim chairs. Within an hour, it was packed: main pool like “human soup,” lazy river jammed with roughhousing kids, people walking through without rafts, others hoarding rafts at their chairs. Many pavers were loose, causing people to trip. Not relaxing in the least. That night we ate off property at Sunset Walk, which was far more pleasant. The one bright spot was a kind young woman who gave us a cart ride from the water park to our building, which helped my elderly father. But even that had a Solo cup taped on the front for tips, nothing complimentary here. Executive management should be embarrassed. This is a place for guests who want to stay somewhere that lets them do whatever they want, including abusing the property, smoking around kids, ignoring rules, trashing their rooms, and not caring about cleanliness or anyone else’s experience. I left feeling completely duped. My wife said it best: “You could not pay me to stay here again.” I would take any 3 star chain...

If you only read one review for this location let it be this one:

There were problems from start to finish. When we checked in the young man who helped us tried to tell us that we were being charged an additional amount on top of what we already paid "because we had not paid it yet", which was false. I paid in full before we got there. We understood there were hotel fees and incidentals, which is fine, but he told us we owed an additional $385 or so. After I confirmed with my credit card company that everything was all set on my end, we got back in line and were helped by another customer service rep. This rep explained that the fees and incidentals were included in the $500, and we did not owe an additional amount. The young man then came over and explained that to us, which he did not. From there, we got our room keys and headed to our room. The issue is that our keys worked to enter the room that was already occupied. We were very surprised to open the door and see another family's belongings in the room. HUGE breach of privacy and safety. We called down to the front desk, and we were told that we would have to go back down, without luggage, and get new keys. There was no way for them to bring the new keys to us to avoid lugging our things around the hotel after an already stressful and lengthy check-in. We finally get the room issue resolved and head back upstairs.The room was clean, but the hallway had a funny smell. There was also a bag of laundry left in the hall the first two days we were there.

The next day, we called the spa to set up an appointment after seeing the posters hanging in the elevator, but apparently, it's no longer open. So, we went to the pool area instead. It was dirty and unattended to by any staff members. The pool area had trash, including Band-Aids stuck to the table and a dirty diaper left on the patio next to the pool for the entire afternoon. We didn't see a single staff member come around to clean the area or check on guests. Additionally, the tables had built up grime covering them. The last two times we stayed here, the ground, tables, and chairs were power-washed regularly, which I know because we saw them doing it. It is obvious this is no longer the case, and it makes the outdoor amenities feel dingy.

My husband went to the bar to order a drink, but the room key wasn't working. We went back to the front desk to find out why the key didn't work... even though we'd already paid the fee to charge stuff to the room. The customer service rep explained that we did not have a card on file. Of course, we had a card on file... we had already been charged the $500. The manager came over to assist at which point she explained that she had accidentally deleted our card from the file when she made the room switch. We were told that we would have to present our credit card again to add it back to the file. My husband asked to see the bill, at which point he noticed that someone else's credit card information was on our bill. We can only assume it was the credit card of the people whose room we were originally put in. Frustrated is an understatement. The manager explained that this never happens, and she's unsure how it even happened, but it has now happened two times in two days that we were given access to this other family's room, belongings, address, and credit card info. I have no idea if they told the other family about the issue, but I know for a fact I would want to know if a hotel had messed up this badly.

The manager mentioned that she had comped us a few things: parking, an upgrade to a 3-bedroom, and a late check-out. The issue is... There were only two of us, so we didn't need a larger room, and we had a flight to catch, so we couldn't use late check-out (not like I would want to stay there any longer than I already was). The only reason we stayed the weekend was because I wasn't going to pay to stay at another hotel and lose the money I'd spent at The Grove. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, the elevator to our building (Landing 7) expired...

This resort had beautiful grounds and some great staff, so I wanted to give it a 5-star review. However, I can’t because of my experience. Our room didn’t have working TVs, but I didn’t ask for a refund or a different room. 🙄 unfortunately the “tech guy “ never came and I was too busy at Disney too fuss !

However, the major issue is the booking process. Booking.com seems to promote the idea that “nothing beats a Jet2 holiday!”

I’ve been a booking.com customer for over 11 years. Every year, I stay in Florida for weeks at a time, and the Grove has been one of my favorite places to stay.

Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by 9 hours, so I wanted to extend our stay. Unfortunately, booking.com advised me that I needed to contact the property directly to do so.

I called booking, and they told me to contact the property, and the property said booking works the room to contact them which went on for over 7 hours! Finally, I caught a uber back to the resort and met with two staff members who were nice and accommodating and extended my stay for $75 for the “late checkout.” (1:00pm) instead of booking an additional since we was only delayed a few hours after they heard the booking rep on SPEAKER giving false information.

Next day : (checkout day 10/12) We then met a nice gentleman at the front desk who gave us free drink cards. We enjoyed ourselves at the waterpark in the back of the property and then left for our flight.

Here’s the issue: the next day,(10/13) I received a call at 8 am. They were trying to charge my card for the additional $266. I explained that I was back home in Philadelphia and had checked out yesterday and was already charged the $75.00 They apologized and said they would contact our team.

Overall, we had a great time at the resort, but the booking process was frustrating. No one is taking accountability but taking payments .

(10/15)my bank called to inform me that the GROVE was attempting to retrieve funds from my account. I called and spoke to someone who was extremely rude. Thankfully, I had my iPhone recording handy.

I explained to her that I had been charged for parking for three nights, even though I had never had a car. I also mentioned that I had been charged for an early check-in (which the NIGHT manager had canceled the day before since it was 2 hour before check in time and the room was already ready ) and for a late checkout of $75 at a $25 discounted rate (thank you )

However, the most infuriating charge was for an additional night, which I had not stayed at the property. (I couldn’t get anyone to extend the stay for the next day only for the additional 3 hours ) She insisted that they could not refund me , and I had to call the booking directly. When I informed her that I was upset, she became angry and hung up on me.

I then called booking, and they informed me that the GROVE had extended my stay 10/13 at 3 p.m.

How could this have happened? I had already left the property! 10/12 I was furious and frustrated with the lack of accountability and customer service.

Initially, I was informed that the stay could not be extended until the next day. However, for an additional $75, I could extend it until 1:00 p.m. Unfortunately, I was charged the next day (October 13th) for the early checkout (October 12th). To make matters worse, they later informed me that it wasn’t their problem. How could they extend the stay request two hours after the guest had already left? You didn’t mention that the guest had left; you simply said, “Sure, charge the card?”

I am so glad I have screenshots, phone recordings, a bank statement, and a video of a young man cutting our wristband off. TIMESTAMPED

I am exhausted and sad that I am not sure if I will return to the GROVE. I had really wanted to bring my kids back next month for the experience, but this has really put me off. They will probably ban me anyway for an issue that had nothing to do with me they received the proper funds .

Below is PROOF of Checkout ! Time stamps ! Ubers and flight tickets GOING BACK HOME...