Orlando World Center Marriott — Hotel in Kissimmee

Context: Stayed here for a week for a business conference held at the hotel. I was staying in one of the cheaper rooms on the 19th floor of the North Tower.

Note on my star ratings: 5 Stars - Above and far beyond the norm 4 Stars - Excellent overall 3 Stars - Average 2 Stars - Below Average, but not poor 1 Star - Poor or would not recommend

Short Summary: The hotel is pricy and much of the benefits of said hotel over others are niche. ALL the food at their restaurants is overpriced and usually not worth it. If you only need a hotel to stay at while you visit Disney World, ect.... pick a cheaper one. If you actively enjoy lounging at a big pool, golfing, or your kids love waterslides (and money is less of a concern) then this hotel might be more up your alley.

Long Summary Below: Rooms=== I can't speak for the more expensive rooms, but the cheap rooms are tolerable if only staying in them to sleep/shower. That said, the water pressure in my room was inconsistent throughout the week with it periodically lowering to almost nothing before sputtering back to life.

In addition, my bathroom faucets would randomly sputter water strong enough to spray directly away from the counter. (Could potentially get your clothes wet if you are say washing your hands before heading out)

I chalked the water pressure issue up to the hotel being fully booked that week so don't assume all their rooms share the same issue. Even so, a hotel this expensive should have more investment into its plumbing infrastructure.

Outside of water pressure, my three minor complaints for the room was the low pressure shower head, the lack of a microwave (You have to go down to the 2nd floor to use their microwave), and no free wifi. I understand hotels wanting to save on cost and avoid fire hazards but for the price the room should have a better pressure shower head, microwave, and at least a low speed free wifi. (Note: Marriott Bonjour members get the basic tier of wifi free, but if not you're getting charge $15/day)

Staff/Service === No complaints here. Most of the staff are obviously local Floridian's working their normal 9-5 jobs. Every staff member I interacted with was friendly and helpful.

Location === Located a very short drive away from all the big parks in Orlando. From a location perspective this hotel is great!

On-Site Food === Eat anywhere but the hotel. You WILL save money and very likely get better quality food. If all you want is a light snack and alcohol though the hotel bars were generously stocked.

Service Fees === $50 a night service fees for perks you may or may not use. (Waterpark, one free bag of golf balls/rental clubs for the driving range, ect......). No matter what hotel I am at I generally consider service fees to be a scam hotels use to make their rooms seem lower priced than they actually are. Your milage may vary if you end up using these perks often.

Thoughts for Hotel Management === Consider lowering your service fees and making things like the waterpark optional pay to use features. I understand from a business standpoint how it is more lucrative to just charge folks for things they won't use, but if you advertised lower service fees than nearby hotels you'd generate more goodwill with your customers Add a microwave station on each floor next to the ice machines. This still saves on your hotel costs (IE: Not needing a microwave in every room), but makes it easier for folks to cook food without needing to go all the way down to the 2nd floor Add a free low speed wifi. This does not need to be fast at all, but $15/day for wifi in this day and age is just a rip off. (And yes I am a Marriott Bonjour member so I did get the "free" wifi) Consider replacing those square shower heads with smaller "high pressure" shower heads. Heck, maybe you can find some that also use less water. Your customers will thank you and you may end up saving money on water costs.

All that said, I would still like to thank the Marriott staff and management for my stay. For all my gripes, you all are...

I took my 3 kids here to celebrate my youngest's birthdays on the recommendation of a friend.

The hotel grounds and buildings are beautiful.

Parking is $32 a night or $50 for valet.

The room is like any other room with a mini fridge and coffee maker. If you like cream in your coffee and your room, you'll have to get extra. The bathroom is beautiful, but unfortunately, there is a design flaw The toilet and the shower are in the same room, and the sinks are separate. So if you have to use the toilet and somebody's showering, you have to wait until they're done or vice versa. The balcony is lovely to have. Especially if you can either face the pool and the laser show or where we were, we faced disney, so we saw the drone show. The AC was not cold enough even set at 65.

Upon check-in, we received silver wrist bands. We were not told what they were for. We assumed to be at the pool and water park. They were just for the water park. We did receive a welcome snack of salted caramel chocolate, which was very good and some trail mix.

It rained when we first got there, so we had to wait to use the pool and the water park was closed, so we went to the game room. I like that the pool has four big screen TVs above it. We were not able to use the slide at the pool because of the rain, but it did not reopen when the pool did. The game room is open 24 hours a day.

The sports bar had good food. Sliced beef sandwich and garlic potatoes were the best. We made reservations for the Mikado, but I was not told I would have to put a credit card in to hold the reservation. I did, but that should be something they inform you of in case you were uncomfortable doing that. Unfortunately, they lost power and were unable to open the second night.We were there. We went to a restaurant off-site called Nagoya. The food was fantastic. The restaurant was nothing fancy.

Day 2 - We went to the pool first, and of course, it began to rain as per usual in the afternoon, Orlando. Once it stopped raining and it was completely clear and sunny, it still took another hour to reopen the pool and water park. I called the front desk for a time and was told soon. The water park is shown to be open until 8 pm. We went shortly after it reopened around 5:20. The sign said it closed at 6. This was very disappointing as the waterpark was one of the main reasons we looked at the hotel It actually has three really cool slides and a lazy river. We got to ride one slide and go run the lazy river once before the park closed. I know that the hotel is all about safety and can not control the weather.But on the hotel map with things to do.The hours indicate that the water park is open till eight p m. There have ever been on, we planned accordingly, and I think that the slides by the pool should also reopen when the pool reopens.

The hotel has a golf course, which I did not know anything about until I was at the waterpark, so if you golf, that would be something to plan.

The hotel does have some fun games outside that include ping pong, corn hole, stand-up checkers, chess, and connect four. Unfortunately, the building where you get the needed equipment looks closed at all times since the workers are not required to lift open the window to show that they are open. This was very disappointing because we were looking forward to playing ping pong. You have to get the paddles and ball from that building. We went to the bar and asked, and the bar said that they must be closed, but they were not, because someone else walked over to the ping pong table to play with the equipment. We chose to play cornhole and had to knock on the buildings window to ask for bean bags. The employee never came back with them, so I had to go again & got 5 bean bags, 1 w/a hole. We did play ping pong for a few minutes but struggled. It was because the ball was cheap and cracked, and they didn't have another one.

We did not plan on really having to leave the hotel for anything except for going to Sea World, but due to the amenities not being reopened or being reopened very...

So many problems at this hotel from booking to checking out. This place calls themselves a family resort, but booking a connecting room was a nightmare. I called 4 times to verify rooms were connecting. Finally got it figured out after being on the phone for a total of 4 hours prior to arriving. Ended up being charged for 4 rooms total and racked up my credit card bill. This is because they charged me for 4 rooms with mobile check in. Originally checking me into rooms that were not connecting Zero idea when this will be fixed on my credit card bill, but my CC payment is due next Tuesday. My mobile app was never correct and I could not use the key on my phone.

The only way I can describe the pool is a Las Vegas Scene combined with a cruise. Impossible to find a pool chair and the lazy river is packed like sardines. Long wait times at every slide. Resort fees for everything , but it’s not a resort. It’s a massive hotel. Every time I interacted with the front desk I was treated rudely. It must be a requirement to be rude to work at the front desk. I called after 11pm and it took 1 hour to get someone to answer the phone. My husband had to fix the toilet himself.. because they did not answer. When you call the lobby it’s an automated person and not someone who is eager and readily available to answer your question or help you. I don’t want to talk to a computer if I’m calling the lobby it’s because I need to talk to a real person. I’m surprised they have a Marriot endorsement because it’s not like any Marriott I have stayed in prior. A courtyard would have been luxury compared to this and the worst part.. I got this on a group rate for a basketball tournament and it was still over $250a night. Walk in price is over $600 That does not include valet and fees. Once your on site.. your pretty much stuck here. They make it difficult to get your car so you just spend massive amount of money at every little thing. There might be nice restaurants here, but we did not get to eat at them so it was bar food for us all weekend due to tournament schedule. Not their fault, but with the money they racked in for this basketball tournament. It would have been nice to extend hours to accommodate those of us that had to play till 10pm ( which was a lot of people) Gratuity is included in everything even with the horrible service. I will give credit to Bell Hop and Pool Service. The lobby could take some lessons from them. But you must have the worst customer service if you want to work in their lobby. You would think for this cost of a hotel a nice continental breakfast would be served. Nope $30 per person. Another reason I would prefer a Fairfield or Courtyard After spending 2 hours on the phone with a manager while I was trying to enjoy my little bit of free time at the pool. I instead spent that time trying to figure out why I had been charged so many times. The manager did say she would fix my credit card, but since that is not immediate. I’m still very concerned if they will fulfill that bargain. Also, if you need to speak to a manager. You have to claw yourself to be able to get one on the phone. The lobby staff is their body guards and under no circumstances do they want you talking to as manger. I can only imagine that is because of the massive amount of complaints. I travel a lot for work and for my kids youth sports and this is the first review I have ever written. I truly believe people need to know what to expect before you pay these outrageous fees I will make a habit of writing ones in the future especially if I get excellent customer service, but to he honest. I can’t wait to go back to a Hilton where they answer the phone with a real human being when calling the lobby and and get make up wipes. Now if you’re the top of the Marriot food chain you might experience better service, but us peasants that are not elite are standing in long lines and waiting for hours to get an answer on the phone.

Also, you have to be invited to leave a review on the marriot website....