Grand Bohemian Orlando, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Orlando

The hotel decor looks nice when arriving & amenities look promising but as soon as I arrived I realized the difficulty and experience I would have. Not much to do downtown anymore – mostly quiet which is nice but not any activities near either.

I ordered food for the family at the restaurant as soon as you walk in on the right, within 30-minutes of arriving. Once the food came to our table, all our food orders were incorrect and our orders were very simple. We all got a hamburgers with cheese but with different toppings and cheese. I don't think it is that difficult to write things down if you cannot remember but the waitress refused and thought she would remember. The fries were all very salty, my 5, 10 year old couldn't even stand it - that says something.

Everyday, walking through the lobby smelled like a dirty fish market from the food.

No nearby parking for disabled, combat, handicapped, or veterans. Valet people did not want accommodate free or reduced parking. Even after requested – their manager, they offered 1 charge for 1.5 nights left so I refused. On check-out – they still charged me their outrageous valet fee – while I never parked at the hotel because they were difficult, slow, and over-priced. The entire downtown area is not busy at all - yet their costs are more expensive them South Beach or Chicago or NYC. Everytime I left the hotel, I had to walk a few blocks, so impacted my experience. However, on a positive note - my experience would have been worse if I did valet. All those who did actually valet, I heard nothing but complaints in the long lines – while people had to wait to get their car back checked out of valet. It seemed that the valet service did not staff accordingly or were too slow to bring cars; therefore I'm glad I did not valet. The Wifi never worked, I asked an employee at the pool and she shrugged it off like it should work in your room. No, same issue - asked a password to get on and it wasn't a capture portal. I was never offered waters when checking-in and the front desk told us they had breakfast by the pool but didn't mention it was only for 1 day during our stay. Furthermore, only scrambled eggs and maybe 2 other options were shameless small for an outrageous price $35 so i chose to not eat there. This was a mimso fest in the morning at the pool for certain types with 10 people tops - otherwise not a decent spot for families. Annoyance, no fridge to put even my own waters or small snacks - only weighted fridges to sell people, again not family friendly with those who have vitamins or milk for kids.

The safe is hidden in a drawer look there...

The hotel is well designed to give the feeling of a historical, yet modern atmosphere. Located near restaurants and bars at a reasonable walking distance, making it a prime destination. However, our vacation and experience were cut short due to constant missteps with some of the staff members. When we arrived for our 5-night stay on Friday June 16th, we had a poor first impression of the front desk. The lady at the front desk was very unwilling to explain our rooms, no note of room service availability, and we had to ask another staff member for information on elevator access, etc. The website states that they can take mobile contactless payments, and I also had my card which I used to reserve my stay, however because it was a virtual card, they would not accept it. That may be my misunderstanding as I have used virtual cards for other resort/hotel stays and have never had any issues with it. Our luggage and car were already taken by the valet where my card was located, and offered no other assistance than, “sorry”. While that soiled my wife and I’s first experience, we were able to just overlook it and continue our stay. While we were waiting for our luggage which had our necessities in them, my wife called the front desk, and she abruptly tells us our luggage and its being sent up. While I appreciate the promptness, it sounded rude considering we were waiting around 20 minutes if not more. which we already had a bad first impression with the front desk, and we just did not feel okay with the staff member that checked us in. Once again, we tried to overlook it and just continued our stay. On the third day of our stay, June 18th, we wanted to get our car to go out into the city. Around 1-3pm I gave them my ticket and they left to go get my car. Our car was used to transport another person which I was made to believe was valet, but that was not the case, they had started to walk away from the hotel after we were pulling out. The excuse I received was that he had broken down. At first, I did not complain because I thought he was part of the valet, until he started walking away and clearly wasn’t a guest at this hotel. That was the last straw as it stated that the hotel is not responsible for anything that happens to the vehicle unless it was their negligence as stated on the ticket. After that we did not feel welcomed at the hotel and asked for a manager to check us out early. Our experience with the manager on duty that day was fine, we were refunded for our remaining stay and for our valet. Inna was very understanding and expressed her apologies. She tried to make the best of the situation, but we just wanted to leave and continue our vacation at another hotel. We feel as if not all guests get treated the same at this hotel, whether it was due to the staffing at the time or just the experience in total, I do not believe I will ever stay at a Grand Bohemian again nor recommend this hotel to anyone staying for an extended period. Although they tried to make it right with a refund before we left, that cannot change our overall horrendous experience...

Similar to the Castle Autograph in Orlando, this hotel is below standard for an Autograph. It is worn out (but less so than the Castle). I would say it is a tad dingy and dirty.

Service is also mixed. I asked for fresh towels on day three of our stay in the morning. The Bonvoy app said they were delivered. But nothing was delivered. When I called downstairs that night, they rushed up some towels.

There is no also complementary water in the room for Bonvoy members. You have to ask for waters at checkin. I don’t know why this bothers me so much. Its not that hard to put water in the room. They stock the minibar with it (for $5/bottle) and when I asked, they said I could use the minibar if I had to.

The upside is the hotel is super popular at night. Its like covid doesn’t exist anymore. There is a nice vibe downstairs although I’d avoid it as I’m terrified of catching the virus due to a pregnant wife.

The downside was breakfast. It was a nightmare on our first day. The hotel doesn’t have enough staff so we were asked to wait ten minutes before being seated. Then we waited another 45 mins before being served. Other tables were seated and served before we were even offered coffee. At one point, there was a line of people out the door waiting for breakfast. All of them left. The hotel also ran out of bred.

I know the hotel industry is suffering with labor and supply shortages. The manager, Nicole, was doubling as our waitress but she was part of the problem. When I posted a review on Google and Tripadvisor pointing out breakfast took over 90 mins (close to 2 hours), she called me the next day at 9am to tell me she cares. I appreciate the effort, but the buck stops w her for being a poor manager. And who calls at 9am for guests on a holiday. There was plenty of front of house staff from what we could tell (we owned a sit down place in London at one point). She said they were redoing breakfast and had a solution. Her idea was to turn it into an open buffet with unmasked (and possibly unvaccinated) guests serving themselves. I think a better alternative would have been to have a served buffet. Just my two cents. We walked down to a nice coffee shop about 15 mins away and ate there.

On the last day of check out, our keycard didn’t work. This is normal at Marriotts where the card times out to the original time. When I went to ask the guy downstairs for an update to the card, he said he couldn’t...