Eo Inn — Hotel in Orlando

I stayed at EO Inn earlier this week while house-hunting in Orlando for a big move I’m making with my three children. As a single mom doing this solo, especially for my daughter who’s going to attend Universal Education Center to see what the world may have to offer her after high school, this trip was deeply emotional. We’re leaving behind a place that no longer feels like home and hoping for a fresh start. EO Inn became a little sanctuary in the middle of all the uncertainty.||When I arrived late Monday night, I was exhausted, discouraged, had a migraine, and hadn’t had much luck finding housing. Marie, I was so exhausted I didn’t catch her name at the time, was at the front desk and welcomed me with genuine kindness. Then I looked over and saw a sign on the wall that said, “ You are exactly where you need to be.” That sign spoke to my spirit, and I knew I was in the right place. I sighed and said, “Yes, Lord, I hear you.” That moment alone made me feel like I was being guided. I was going to relax that night and start fresh the next morning.||I stayed in room 307 and immediately felt at home. My room was cozy, charming, and full of character. This hotel was built in 1924, and if you appreciate vintage style and warmth, you’ll love it. The floors are wood and there’s a rug that was so soft I actually walked barefoot, which I never do in hotels. The A/C worked quickly, a little loud, but nothing fan noise on your phone can’t fix, and the room had everything I needed: a Keurig with pods, coffee stirrers, sugar, creamer, complimentary bottled water, a smart TV, and a refrigerator.||My door stuck a little, humidity and old building, but it wasn’t a big deal. Just one of those quirks you work with in historic places. The bed was comfortable and the pillows were great. I loved the vintage wall-mounted lamps. I really hope they don’t replace those… they’re charming and full of character. There was also a desk, a little dresser with a tray on top that had cups and an ice bucket, and two side tables.||Instead of a closet, there was a wardrobe with space to hang clothes, a shelf to slide your shoes into, and a luggage rack that you can pull out and put wherever you like in the room. There’s also an iron and a mini ironing board. Yes, the rooms are smaller… but this is an old boutique hotel. People are too picky about things.||Shower pressure and temperature were great! Some reviews complained, but I think people just don’t know how to adjust an older faucet. That said, the bathroom shower was clearly updated. It’s obvious the hotel is improving each room as they can. I had hot water every time I needed it. Maybe in the late morning I had to turn it more to the left to get the hot water flowing, but again… this place is 100 years old. No complaints here.||Downstairs, there’s a coffee bar, flavored water available 24/7, a microwave, toaster, and plenty of comfortable seating for breakfast or just relaxing. There’s also a terrace with seating on the second floor, and it’s very cute… although I couldn’t utilize it because it never stopped raining while I was there lol.||Breakfast each morning was a total win and available until 10 a.m.! Tuesday, when I woke up at 9:59 a.m., I was worried I’d missed it. I rushed downstairs. Amanda, I think that’s who was there that morning, knew someone hadn’t made it down yet and kindly waited for me lol. It’s a grab-and-go spread, but one of the best I’ve seen: hard-boiled eggs, donut sticks, fruit and fruit cups, cinnamon raisin toast… please add a non-raisin version lol… bagels with all the toppings, coffee cakes, yogurt, and a variety of juices—orange, grapefruit, cranberry, and apple. It was plentiful and thoughtful. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things that were laid out, but they were items I don’t personally care for.||I had such a nice conversation with Marie again Tuesday night after another long day of house hunting. This is when I realized her name was Marie, just like my middle name! Signs from God everywhere! She even gave me a lead on a potential landlord and lifted my spirits with encouragement. We talked about that sign again and how God shows up in small ways… we both agreed it was no coincidence. I asked if I could extend my stay another day, but there wasn’t availability at the time. She suggested I check again in the morning.||And I’m so glad I did. That next morning at breakfast, I met Kiesha, the General Manager, and let me tell you, she is phenomenal! Talking to her over breakfast, I found out she’s also from Georgia. I assumed she might be from Atlanta, but no… she was born and raised in Valdosta. Y’all! That’s where I’m moving from. Talk about a small world. Another little sign from God… a Godwink, if you will lol. She made me feel seen, heard, and so supported during a week where I really needed it. And I was able to extend one more day, although I debated extending two days because I just didn’t want to leave EO Inn. But I did miss my kids lol.||That final morning, she gave me the pep talk I didn’t even know I needed. That meant everything to me. I was ready to give up before that conversation. She told me exactly what I needed to hear. She was so encouraging throughout my stay… hands down, the best GM I’ve ever dealt with!||As far as location: yes, you’re downtown and you’ll hear the occasional street sweeper or car. If you’re sensitive to noise or light, bring a fan and an eye mask. But honestly, with my phone on fan noise and the A/C on, I didn’t hear a thing. And every hotel has lights… microwave lights, hallway glows, alarm clocks, etc., but nothing an eye mask can’t solve if you’re sensitive like me. And honestly, if you expect to go to a hotel and sleep with no noise in the hallways, then you’re lying to yourself. There’s always gonna be hallway noise… there are other people there. It’s not like when you’re home and don’t have to worry about it.||If you’re someone who needs total darkness and silence to sleep, bring an eye mask and a fan or earplugs. This is a historic building downtown, not a soundproof skyscraper. But for me, I was fine with my eye mask and fan app.||There’s also a space out front being renovated into a bar, I believe. They said it’s been a Panera before and gone through many changes over the years. Honestly, it’s not a big deal that there isn’t a restaurant inside the hotel right now. You’re in downtown Orlando… Lake Eola is literally across the street. You can walk or scooter to plenty of food spots.||If you like sterile, cookie-cutter hotels, this place might not be for you. But if you appreciate charm, warmth, history, and staff who genuinely care, give EO Inn a try. It’s not just a hotel…it was a safe, encouraging, meaningful stop on a life-changing trip for me and my kids.||What makes EO Inn special isn’t just the vintage charm or convenient location across from Lake Eola. It’s the people. Marie, Kiesha, and the rest of the staff genuinely care. They cheered me on when I was ready to give up, reminded me that I am exactly where I need to be, and gave me the strength to keep pushing forward. I’ll never forget that kindness, and I’ll absolutely be staying...

I’ve waited now for over 11 days now for a reply from the manager of this hotel after I did a text review of the property. They send you a text asking you to give the property a rating from 1 to 5. I provided my rating of 2, then was immediately asked to share additional information and would be escalated to management team.

I booked this property as my daughter had a very early morning procedure at Arnold Palmer Children’s hospital the morning after our stay. We live an hour away and with rush hour morning traffic, more. So I wanted to be close by. I even advised Akia of this the day of our arrival as I received a text to check in.

Plus - Kimberly was very welcoming when we arrived. The sheets smelled good. This is the reasons for the 2 stars I provided.

Our room faced a very noise street. It was very difficult to finally fall asleep. A couple hours later, I was woken up by an extremely load guest in room 301, we were in 303. It was 345am and they were yelling in the hallway, banging the doors in their room, stomping around in their room, I believe she fell down in the room. I’ve NEVER called before in all my years of staying in hotels about noise. This girl went on and on yelling and stomping for over 15 minutes before I finally called the hotel. No one is on staff at this hour. No front desk, no security, no one. I went on to tell whomever answered the phone what was going on. I was asked to provide my name, phone number and email. I was asked if this was an ‘emergency’… I thought that was an extremely odd question to be asking. Number 1, I have no idea if this girl is in need of medical attention, or if she is just extremely drunk and rude. She’’s waking up guests of the hotel and there is no one there to handle unruly guests. I never heard back from anyone about this.

Next, there were tiles coming up onto our bare feet in the bathroom. There were zero directions provided on what to do with the room key upon check out. As I stated, we left very early - prior to any staff being at the front desk. There wasn’t even a drop box on the front desk to leave the key. So I walked behind the front desk and left the key on the lower part of the desk near the computer.

We often have early appointments/procedures like this. Last time I stayed at another property right by the hotel. I chose this hotel because that hotel is $40 more a night, plus $15 to park. And since we are literally just trying to be close by for super early appointments /procedures and can’t be reimbursed by her insurance as its not 100 miles away from our home, I’m trying to find something reasonably priced, comfortable, safe, and clean for us to use without spending a ridiculous amount of money to use for about 12 hours.

Also to the owner, you may want to paint the entire highlighter wall. My daughter uses a feeding pump and I needed to plug it in for her 10 hour overnight feed. I looked for a plug outlet that would be closest to the AC unit as she gets very hot at night and I wanted her to sleep on that side of the bed. Due to the size of the plug for her feeding pump, I couldn’t use the same outlet as the AC. I discovered looking under the night table on that side that it wasn’t moved and painted - so there is a big white area in the triangle part where the legs cross on the night table. Its sloppy and if you’re trying to come across as an more upscale boutique type hotel, I suggest not cutting corners.

I also had no idea where I would be able to get bottled water on the property, which should be available for the coffee machine.

Lastly, I needed the disabled parking, when I arrived there was a car parked directly behind where I needed to park. That made parking in the disabled space challenging, I had to maneuver my SUV up right next to their car to park. Had I needed to pull out and leave with it there, would’ve made it again very difficult. I feel sure this was the employees vehicle - maybe they should park...

We booked a weekend room at the EO Inn for around $140 a night on their website. My husband & I decided to book a hotel for our anniversary weekend & get some time away to reconnect. We got a phone call from the hotel at 10:52pm on our first booked night there, before our check-in. Since we went to see a movie & didn't get out of the movie until almost midnight, we were going to arrive late. I tried to call the hotel back at the first possible moment. It was 11:57. There was no answer. They sent me an email describing how we would get our room key from a box after entering a code & doing a series of handle turns. We opened this box & there was no room key, just a key to get inside the main building. Once inside the lobby, my husband peered over the desk to see if there was an envelope with our name & didn't find one... but he did notice a sheet of paper showing that someone had only paid $87/night for their room. We felt duped. Luckily the hotel worker had not yet left the hotel, & she came down from the upstairs, gave us our key for our room. We almost felt like we were going to be locked out of the room for the night when our key wasn't in the box & no one was there at first.

When we walked into the room, we noticed the overwhelming smell of bleach & the slight dampness in the air. Our room had really gross, dark, mysterious carpet & painted tile floors. Yes, paint over tile. Very odd choice. The doorframe to the bathroom in our room had disgusting rust stains corroding through paint. Very unsightly. The side tables next to our bed were really badly scraped-up. The floor in our room was not level. The second night in our room revealed a mildewy smell instead of bleach as we walked in the door. When I got down on the carpet to look for something that fell, I realized that the dark, mysterious carpet was what reeked of mildew. I genuinely can not tell you if I prefer bleach or mildew scent better, but I do know that neither are a good sign in a hotel. When I woke-up on Sunday, I wished I had booked a full-service hotel, instead, because breakfast in bed would have been a nice treat. The bed was actually comfortable, so that was a saving grace for the stay. The bathroom towels, however, unacceptable. As soon as I used one I thought... polyester. I read the label & it was, indeed, a cotton blend. Weird. Never used a towel that wasn't 100% cotton before. I hate the blend.

Also worth mentioning is the bus stop that was just outside of our window. The noisy bus woke me up at 7am on Saturday, kind of a bummer.

The parking for this hotel is inadequate, and we were blocked in on Saturday morning, when our plan was to head-out to Epcot. Another scare for us, as arriving late to Disney is generally a bad idea. Luckily the person who blocked us in was able to move their vehicle within 5 minutes of me complaining about it. However, I was confused to see that the person who blocked us in was an employee of the hotel, apparently working in the spa. Why would she do that? No apology from her, either, as I watched her move her vehicle.

My friend booked this hotel for the same weekend, coincidentally. She only paid $110 for her room. Her room seemed much nicer, had a modern light fixture & hard flooring, possibly laminate. So again, we felt like we had been swindled.

Sadly I wouldn't stay in this hotel again or recommend it, based on my experience. My friend, however, enjoyed her experience....