Universal Palms Hotel & Conference Center — Hotel in Oakland Park

I don't even want to give 1 star, but this form is forcing me to do at least that.

Let me open by saying this. I travel, "FULL-TIME" for my job, and have been in living in hotels for the past 15 years. I've stayed in some pretty-bad and amazing-hotels, I thought I've seen it all. Out of all the hotels i've been in, "Never" in my life have I felt compelled to write a review, until seeing the Universal Palms Hotel & Conference Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The pictures of the lobby do NOT match the rooms! AT THIS POINT, SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE NOW AND MOVE ON!

Still interested in this dump-Hotel? Keep reading below.

I started my journey speaking to a very-nice lobby secretary! Initially I thought, "what Great service they have", (NOT). We waited hours for check-in, (still thats not a big-deal for me). Then, we finally headed to our room on the third floor, (note: if you do choose to stay at this DUMP make sure you're at least on the third floor, which is where the LEAST AMOUT OF WATER DAMAGE IS-will get to that part in sec).

Security Issue: We took tiny elevator to the third floor where our hotel room neighbor was using duck tape to drape towels over her window for privacy. Upon walking in our 3rd floor room, we also had window curtain issues, and there was a smell of mold. But, at that point, I thought the window-privacy and little bid of mold wasn't enough to complain about, (even though I'm an asthmatic). The door shut behind us and immediately, I noticed the dead-bolt was broken. The dead-bolt was SO BROKEN, that ANYONE could let themselves in at any moment. Let's also keep in mind the parking lot has signs every-where stating that "you must keep your car doors locks and windows rolled up, and that they are not responsible for stolen items". Yes, this is NOT a good part of town, you will be staying the ghetto. And, the hotel will even warn you of this, via their signs to keep things lock up! So, I called the lobby, and spoke to the very-nice lobby secretary, who then put me on with the a manager that insisted the dead-bolt was fine. I told her, IT IS NOT FINE and I have pictures and video of it!!! She said, I will send some to fix it. I said, "NO, your going to put us in a new room". 10 minutes later, a few Mexican guys decided to let themselves into our room. At first, I thought I was about to try and take on, (fight) a few guys that broke into our room, but then they said they worked for the hotel, (how would I know as they we're dressed in beat up jeans and hoodies? They had no-identity showing they worked for the hotel?). Now with random people & unannounced people in our room, we then directed them to the dead-bolt. Immediately they said, "WOW, THIS IS BAD. ANYONE COULD COME IN AT ANY MOMENT". 10 minutes after that, we were moved into a new room.

Mold & Water Damage: OK. here we go again. Now, we're feeling better that they moved us into a new room! We walked downstairs to the 2nd floor to a new room. Immediately when we walked in, the room STANK OF MOLD!! THIS TIME TO THE POINT WHERE I COULD BARELY BREATHE. Within 5 minutes my asthma kicked in and I found myself puffing on my inhaler! I ran to the door and chucked it open to let fresh air in. After walking around the room, we noticed ALL of the light fixtures on the walls were covered in rust! The trim molding on the bottom of the walls were expanded from water damage and falling apart, and the ceiling in and outside of room were poorly patched up, (which is where the water was coming in from). At this point I walked outside of the room to breathe. This all felt more like being in a horror movie. I than walked over to neighbors room b/c I noticed his door was chucked open too! I said to him, "are you smelling the same?" He replied, "Yeap, gonna have to sleep with my room door open tonight to get fresh air in the room, otherwise i'll be in the hospital!"

We checked out and they WOULDN'T REFUND US!, (wow), nor would the manager come out to even speak to us!, after we waited for 30 minutes for her.

We got our money back from the...

So when the ceremony began he informed us that the same door we had rehearsed coming out from was not to be used even though we practiced coming out through that entrance. He locked the door and said no one can use it. He made my wedding party and myself go through the guest filled bar. While the ceremony was taking place he was hanging of the pool railings smoking his cigarette. The sound for the gazebo area was promised to be provided by the hotel and if need be the DJ could use their system but the whole time the mic kept cutting off and no one heard what was happening inside the gazebo. To make matters worse the statues around the gazebo were supposed to be pressure washed but they looked as though fresh dirt was thrown on to them and there was bird poop in the center on the gazed were the ceremony was being held. When I brought those issues to Joel’s attention he rudely said “oh the statues were cleaned earlier in the week, I can’t do anything about bird poop” After the ceremony was over the guest was surprisingly able to use the garden room door entrance to go get seated for the reception, yeah he finally unlocked the door. My wedding party was supposed to be outside taking pictures. That I thought was going to go smoothly but Joel kept coming back to see what was happening and because he couldn’t be in two places at once he was going back and forth and back and forth. He was unbearable. Making my photographers VERY uncomfortable. When we were all done and went to get introduced in for the reception he of course was right there smelling of smoke. He came to me three times asking what’s going on (keep in mind him and I went over the whole day before the wedding so he knew what was happening but like I said he was very forgetful). Once we were all in he stood inside like a stalker watching its prey. Everyone kept asking me why was he there? Is something wrong? Who is that guy? He made me and all of the guest even my hostess felt like thieves. Once the food was served my husband and I finally sat down and the food came the salad that was served wasn’t the salad I chose . The food I heard was great I asked the waiters to put our plates aside to take upstairs since we knew we wouldn’t have time to eat. We never got it at least I heard good things about the food. The $400-dollar cake we had brought with us; was cut and only about 10 or 15 guest received a piece of the cake. When I asked where was the rest of the cake no one from the kitchen had an answer. Finally, the night was complete and everyone left Joel was there watching like the lurker he was the whole entire time luckily no one was there and the designer Deena was cleaning up, she was a great. I would totally recommend her services to everyone. If someone was to ask me I will let them know if you want to feel like a thief and have a cigarette follow you the whole time, not have any practices because they cannot trust anyone or remember anything and get rushed through the entire event then have a party there. I regret having my special day at this establishment. They did gives us rooms for free but the cost of our wedding being treated like we were convicts; I would have had it someplace else. Take my word for it DO NOT have anything at this hotel. The customer service was piss poor and you will feel like a fool to the guest that come to see something that supposed to be meaningful. My husband and I were supposed to stay there till Tuesday morning but I was so upset with the whole thing we left Monday afternoon. Universal Palms Hotel is NOT the place to hold events until they know how to treat...

Where should I start. The hotel is still under construction, now Rodeway/ Travlogde. I arrived at 1:30pm, and because checkin is set at 3pm I understood why my room wasn't ready. I called ahead of time and a gentlemen told me in the case of early arrival they would be able to store my luggage until I checked in. When I got there the lady at the desk told me they don't have anywhere to put my luggage and if i had to travel with my stuff. When i was able to check in my room was nothing like the advertisement. They sale you this beautiful resort with nice views but in reality your coming a motel with 1set of towels, wall unit ac, no phone, no dresser draw, table lamp with no bulb, 4k tv that shows digital pictures, direct tv without any channels (unless you like cartoon network & direct tv news), yellow toilet water in a toilet that won't flush, a guy was painting our door while we was in our room. He never knocked to let us know what he was doing, it wasn't until I opened the door to see what the random noise was when I saw him and his brush, a sign that says the ice machine is on your floor but its not....its on the first floor by the pool. Breakfast is open 6am-9am so I apparently don't wake up early enough to get. Housekeeping only came by to drop off towels. I asked the housekeeper about taking out our trash and tissue she ignored me. There's a lot of trains that will pass through the day right behind the "hotel". Headed out for the night I slipped and fell outside my room from the condensation from the ac units. I told the guy at the desk and he said it will be token care of, when I came back in there was still no wet surface sign or anything, he didn't do an Incident report or a written statement. This hotel seems more like a apartment complex. Beware when booking this place. Brunch and the pool were the best past of my stay.The restaurant is only open on Sundays, black owned was definitely a plus. The restaurant owner was very hospitable and the music was great considering every club we visited played an up tempo beat something we're not used to. It felt good to listen to music I can...