Best Western Plus Universal Inn — Hotel in Orlando

First off, let me start by saying I stay at Best Western Plus on a weekly basis in Oakwood, Ga. Even with their renovations and upgrades I never encountered a dirty room or problem. I start with that because I have recommended this company several times over with the superb service I have received there, so naturally when we decided to visit Florida for a few days to see Universal theme parks and saw a Best Western plus so close we booked a room. We didn’t arrive to check-in until approximately 9pm, we decided we’d hit the park since check in wasn’t until after 4pm. Upon arrival there was no parking but marianna said we could park against curb near door. My expectations were high because I’ve never had a bad stay in Oakwood (they actually go above and beyond!) so we check-in and make our way to our room. Although the hotel is a bit dated I can overlook that, however, as we made our way to the room the elevator, halls and room had a musty mildew smell and was hot. I couldn’t understand why the air conditioning wasn’t on to cool the room when they knew it had been reserved. We start to unpack and get ready to shower and I noticed stains on the carpet and chair. We ran downstairs to get a cup of hot tea because I’m used to having fresh coffee and flavored teas in the lobby whenever I’d like to have a cup. I couldn’t locate either and approached the desk asking if they provided tea and she pulled a small box of limited teas out of the desk drawer anyhow, I made my tea and carried it to the room so I could shower. As I tried to start the shower the knob appeared to be about to unscrew from the fixture but the water eventually came on as I continued to turn so after getting temp right I pulled up on nozzle to start shower and the tub immediately starts to fill like it wasn’t draining. Nonetheless I jumped in and tried to shower quickly because it seriously was not draining and I was ankle deep in water that I’m not quite sure if it was just my own water or backed up from another room or sewage. At this point I’m disgusted and call the front desk and explain that I can overlook some stains but the tub backing up is just gross. Marianna didn’t understand what I meant by it being backed up so she said she was going to come up and look at it. When she arrived she had a bottle drain-o and some cleaning supplies and I showed her what I meant and even ran more water so she could she it back up and it did so quickly. Now we have been in this room maybe an hour and after showing her the tub she never apologized for the inconvenience nor offered to move us to another room, instead she looks at me and says have you been smoking in this room? No I have not been smoking was my reply and she said well it just smells like it. I told her maybe she needed to check the other rooms and my room door was open to the hall the entire time she was standing there so maybe it was the stench of mildew and mustiness I mentioned earlier or maybe she doesn’t visit the floors regularly enough to notice it more often. I told her we were checking out and I booked a room at the Hilton. I asked for a receipt showing we would not be charged and for the managers name and number. Her reply was they aren’t here and won’t be here until Monday and I needed to call the corporate office. I told her no I need the managers name and she finally handed me a business card. I got her name as I left as well. Still no apology or some type of compensation for the trouble of having to change hotels at 1030 at night not to mention the extra cost involved. I’m just so upset about this because as a travel nurse I stay in hotels a lot and the universal location is dated and dirty, smells and has plumbing issues. And I’ll add that there were stains on the linen as well. Will not recommended this location at all. I also made the comment that if the maid had cleaned the bathroom she would have found the tub not draining properly and possibly had it fixed...

t western universal inn

Pros - Price ($501 for a 4 night stay but received a $100 gift card promotion) Service- great great friendly service. Always greeted upon entry. No language barriers. Quick to fix any issues. Put the tv in English, gave me food delivery advice, provided extra blankets, etc. Location- within 30 min walking distance to almost everything you’ll need: Walgreens (2 min) outlet mall (20 min) food (1-20 min depending on where) UO/IOA (25 min) Rooms have a Microwave and large mini fridge- that actually cools Good water pressure and hot Travel sized Soap, lotion, conditioner included and mounted on the wall in the shower for use. Large fluffy towels Has a shuttle to Universal. Basic charter bus setup. If you have a wheelchair, you’ll need to call ahead. No motorized devices authorized. Arrives at 0755 and leaves pretty quickly once boarded. We waited about 3 minutes. Stops at 3 other hotels in the area on the way to the park. We left our hotel at 0759 arrived at the park at 0822. Spot #83 where the other charter bussed pick up. All the way to the end past the universal Orlando resort buses. Arrived to pick us up promptly at 1730. The driver will ask which hotel you came from and only visit those for which he has passengers. We were the second drop off at 1739 Drink choices. They had juice machine with four options, a coffee machine with 5 (I think) options and a hot beverage machine with about 12 different options.

The just “ok” Thin blankets but they’ll give you extras if you ask. shuttle times - only once at 0755/1730 Dining seating- cramped, like 10-12 inches between tables once ppl sit. Breakfast was meh. Staff is friendly and attentive. Basic muffins, sausage, eggs, yogurt bar, toast, pancakes, cereal, fruit, bagels, milk, coffee, and juice.

Neg- Spanish audio tv with English subtitles seemed standard in the rooms Outdated- table wobbly AF. Drawers on dresser hanging on by a thread NOT super close to universal as advertised - .5 mile as the crow flies but 1 mile on foot. Took us about 25 minutes at a leisurely pace. Walls are thin and you hear rushing water every time anyone uses water in adjacent rooms Old ac units. Smells musty. The breakfast roach. Although, this was the only one I saw during our 5 days. There is a very large exit door attached to the dining area so it’s likely that it came from outside. But still, it was disturbing to have a roach crawl up the wall next to us while we were eating.

Notes Ride share: Uber was between seven and eight dollars in the morning (before tip) and around nine to $11 returning around seven at night. Lyft was a bit cheaper by a dollar or two. Lyft also offers the option to “wait for a cheaper fare.” We opted this on night two and selected wait 15 minutes for a $6 fare. The driver was still there in two minutes. Just a note- ride share pickup is AT THE TOP of the Jurassic Park parking garage and you need to know what color zone your driver parked in. This was very confusing as the garage is not well marked. It says rideshare until you get to Jurassic Park garage and then says nothing to indicate which of the five floors it’s on. If you rent a car, parking is free. Highly recommend this. We rented a car on day two for the remainder of our trip, three more days. It was only $100. If we had rented it from the airport when we arrived, we would’ve saved a ton of money on Ubers and a ton of time walking around. Highly recommend this if you plan to see stuff in the area outside...

OUR ROOM LEAKED DURING A HURRICANE

First of all, record all interactions with the staff. They will lie directly to your face. My sister asked right away if there were any fees for having pets with us. The man at check in assured her all fees were waived. We werre evacuated from a hurricane that was at the time a Cat 5 storm. As I was searching for the elevator, the manager came up and told me there was a 'Cleaning fee" with animals. I tried asking for directions for the elevator, but she ignored me and kept talking about the cleaning fee. I had to ask three times for directions to the elevator.

We finally settle the dogs in and bunker down for the night. That's when a myriad of other problems came to light.

Our bathroom was dirty and covered in mold. It smelled funny as well. The furniture is falling apart and the wifi is so slow. The light switch shuts off the TV, which was weird.

Taken separately, all of these could be taken as small inconveniences, if the roof didn't start leaking directly over the bed. We called down to the front desk but didn't get an answer. We went down to the front desk, who did NOT listen to us, and took over 20 minutes to get back to us.

We spent the night listening to the hurricane barrel across the state, wondering if we would have a home to return to. Early the next morning, the manager told my sister she was "appalled" by my sisters review (which is honest) and she had wanted to throw us out the night before (reminder: there was a HURRICANE the night before.) The manager claimed she would "waive the cleaning fee" which she isn't even supposed to be charging during a hurricane. We were meant to say another night, but honestly, we were glad to leave.

I'm amazed this place is still open, never mind in business. I would absolutely NOT recommend this to anyone ever no matter what.

In response to the owner BLATANTLY LYING IN THE REPLY: No. We mentioned the animals immediately. We were not told about the fee until the manager began stalking me. Had she not been hounding me, I would have absolutely noticed the dog had an accident and cleaned it myself. (We do not deny the dog had an accident or that it was our responsibility to clean it up.)

As to having electricity: that does not mean very much when you're up half the night wondering if the entire roof is about to collapse...