B&B HOTEL Orlando International Drive near Universal — Hotel in Orlando

You pay for what you get

Well, I gave 3 stars because 3 stars means "Everything Ok", and even though not everything was OK, I think it is unfair to give them 1 star or something. Why?

We (some friends and I), paid 600 USD for 8 nights, 75 USD the night with breakfast included! Considering the place this hotel is located (walking distance to the Universal Studios Resort), it is too low of a price. So one has to think about, what they are cutting in order to give such a price.

Personnel

The answer to this question can be found in many 1 star reviews (these people want to pay 75 USD and expect the hotel to deliver the same performance as a 150 USD hotel). Basically, paying 75 USD per night, forces the hotel to save in personnel, so they might have 2 or 3 people doing the rooms. Considering that they have lots of rooms, these people only get into the room, do the beds, towels and maybe something else. In one day, they did not even have time to do our room.

The rooms

What they also are forced to save, is maintenance. The whole hotel is painted with oil paint, the kind of oil color that you use in kitchens to be able to clean it quicky. That makes it very easy to clean, but feels cheap and ugly. Our window just did not close. And I guess the most annoying thing was that the air conditioner was not removing the humidity from the room, so the windows were completely wet (wetting the floor at the base). That cannot be healthy, and I do have some concerns regarding moisture. So you are forced to open the windows in the morining to renew the air inside (and try to lower the humidity). We went on february, so it was quite cold in the morning.

Something good, is that the rooms were big enough to accomodate 3 adults comfortably (again, for 75 USD!). TV worked, there was a fridge working.

Breakfast

The breakfast room was quite small, so there was no place to sit (outside was cold). So many people took the breakfast to their rooms. No wonder some people complain about cockroaches (probably in summer as we did not see any in February), as probably lots of crumbles remain for the whole stay on their floors, as those wont get cleaned. The breakfast itself was not delicious, but I guess it was ok. You get coffee, you get milk, juice, waffles, toast, bagels, cereal. We really had breakfast there 3 times, you really cannot be eating that each day. But actually, the breakfast was better than what I would expect for 75 USD.

WLAN

They probably have a 100 Mbit connection for the whole hotel. So forget about being able to do much with the WLAN they provide for FREE.

Shuttle

One day, it worked perfectly. The second time we took it, it was so crowded, you have no idea. On the 2nd hotel, people could not jump in. But that shuttle is not really managed by the hotel, it is contracted I guess. And you get a shuttle for those 75 USD!!!

Location

Simply excellent. You can walk to many places from there (even Universal Studios Resort). You have a grocery store next to the hotel (very expensive one though), a souvenir store in front (had nice things), an italian buffer (where we ate twice, yet it was not thaat good).

Reception

The personnel was friendly and helpful. No complaints here.

Other random stuff.

There are no safe in the room, so you risk on leaving your stuff there. Nothing disappeared, and we left valuables there (the cleaning personal wouldnt have time). It was too cold to use the pool, but I guess that in the summer it is nice.

So as a summary, it was ok for what we paid. You probably get more than what you pay for. We went there as we can adapt. Now, I probably would go for a hotel double as expencive with my wife and kids, but for 3 friends having fun, it was perfectly fine. Of course, the experience would have way better if they just had cleaned the room a bit more, but once again, I am used to pay at least 120 USD for a hotel without the issues I mentioned. (I remember paying 120 USD like 15 years ago in texas for something similar without any issues., that probably costs 200 USD in...

First of all, I want to be fair in my assessment of this establishment. I'll address both the pros and cons and try as much as possible to bring favorable issues to the forefront.

The hotel's were grounds immaculate, beautiful, and well kept. The intake lobby was clean and set well with local sites and coupon booklets and brochures available for the taking. The hotel lobby was prepared for social distancing at the intake area. The front desk associates were efficient and cordial (bi-lingual).

My family and canine companions were warmly greeted. The hotel has a no pet policy, but due to the unusual circumstances - Hurricane Ian - the policy was relaxed for South Central and South West Florida evacuees. This was much appreciated. We maintained control of both the nature and temperament of our companions during the 3-night stay and left the room clean and sanitized. (Emotional support canines)

We observed the 'not on the bed' rule and brought fleece palettes for our pets to sleep on the floor near the room door. We disposed of all trash and waste from our room and Febreezed the room upon leaving.

Now for the issues that need to be addressed by the property management. The hotel is dated and serious consideration to making upgrades soon. There was no ice bucket for our room, no washcloths with the two towel limit, and no towel mat to step out of the shower. The lid on the toilet back was not secured or fitted properly. There were signs of mold in the bathroom. The bathroom sink faucet was loose and there were no personal hygiene amenities provided.

The a/c unit was cold and the TV had 4 local only channels. The TV remote malfunctioned and had to be replaced. The room took on water and anything on the floor near the sliding glass door was soaked. The rain was very heavy and the wind outside was about 90-95 mph according to our personal weather radio, so the water seeping in was a foregone conclusion for the first-floor rooms.

The room phone had no inbound or outbound call capability other than to the front desk. There is no elevator at the 2nd-floor story hotel. The room microwave, mini fridge, and blow dryer worked. Free coffee was available in the lobby, but no continental breakfast or snacks were provided. Restaurants, nationally branded were within walking distance across the street. No gift shop. Some of electrical outlets in the room don't function.

Here's the biggie, access to the handicapped parking lot and spaces were barred by a padlock on the wrought iron gate access. I am disabled with obvious mobility issues and upon booking, I advised the property management of my need for access.

During the entire 3-night stay, the handicap access gate remained padlocked even after requesting it to be open to access my car parked in a handicapped space with a valid handicap placard displayed in full view. I asked, Sharon, the day front desk clerk 3 times to remove the padlock.

There was no housekeeping available. It was like camping out in the woods roughing it. The room rate was ridiculously low (TGFT) and a refundable deposit was paid at the time of check-in and both check-in and out were fast. That's the gist of our stay at this...

After our flights home were delayed it was necessary to stay for three nights in Orlando. By the time I started searching for a room they were rapidly being filled elsewhere and we ended up here. Many years ago we stayed here as the Howard Johnson and although at that time it was basic it met our needs. Expecting a similar appearance on getting to our room it was obvious the entire place has been left to deteriorate over the years and was not attractive at all. The room was basic with two large beds, a TV and fridge. Our first surprise later the same night we arrived was unwelcome in the form of a cockroach which immediately put us on edge. Later on I was in the reception area where there were two incidents that summed up this place, firstly one of the checked in guests was complaining to reception that the room they had been given could be accessed from outside via the windows which were not secured and could be opened. The second incident is probably something a lot of guests feel after checking in, a man came into reception, didn't wait in the queue, popped their room key back on the counter advising they wouldn't be staying. This was after checking in only 10 minutes earlier, so they felt better losing money and going elsewhere. Which to be honest is something I considered but I had paid for the three nights in advance so we stuck it out. Our room was parallel with the main road so it wasn't the most peaceful night's sleep. After the guest advising about their unsecured window we took no chances and when leaving the room to go elsewhere on international drive we by carried all our passports, phones, cameras and tablets on our person. On our second night I needed to visit reception as there was an issue with the toilet in the room. They did try contacting maintenance but after a follow up visit an hour later with no action they agreed to transfer us to a new room. Our new accommodation did look a bit better than the first room and it was not near the road so was significantly quieter. However there was two issues with the room that we ended up just living with. One of the beds would creak loudly with only the slightest movement, I hate to think what it would sound like with more active shifts of body weight. The other problem was the floor, although it looked clean, it was very sticky, to the extent I wore a second pair of socks which were sacrificed at the end of our stay (see photo, they did start clean). Other members of my family had other inside footwear they wore otherwise they would have resorted to the same action. The remainder of the stay passed without any further incidents, but we were just counting down the time until we could arrange our travel to...