Cambria Hotel Orlando Airport — Hotel in Pine Castle

Our stay started off well with the hotel front desk receptionist giving us early check in at around 12pm for our 3 rooms. However, shortly after our check in, problems started to happen and made our stay very uncomfortable.

1. The two elevators shortly went out of service after our 12pm check in. It was very inconvenient that both elevators stopped working on the property and our party of 10 had multiple large luggage that we needed to bring into our 3 rooms after a multi-day trip back from a cruise. The front desk couldn’t offer us any rooms on the first floor. They had offered to send a porter up to our rooms to help carry our large luggage down to be stored in a secured room behind the front desk, but said we needed to ask before 8pm. When we called back (approx 7-7:30pm) to ask for the porter, the employee just stated that the elevators should be working and to call back if it wasn’t working again. We checked the elevators and they were working and didn’t bother to bring the luggage downstairs. However, by 8:30pm, the elevators stopped working. We were in the lobby eating and asked the front desk again for help with getting a porter for our luggage to be brought down and the employee looked at me and answered, “I’m the only one here.” I can sympathize that there may be limited help at night on Sundays at the hotel, but don’t just look at the customer and state that you’re the only one there without any apology or sounding slightly remorseful for the inconvenience. It seemed like the employee that we dealt with in the latter half of the evening was very unwilling to help and unhappy to be working at the front desk.
2. We were really happy that the rooms were ready early, but it seemed that they were cleaned very hastily. In room 314, the safe was still locked with the previous guest’s password and we could not access it to lock up our valuables. The coffee machine was dirty and had coffee stains all over it. The walls of the washroom near the sink had toothpaste stains all over. The shampoo/conditioner/soap dispenser was dirty and rusty and not properly clipped back into the holder. Additionally, the housekeeper didn’t seem to realize that we had checked into our room because she suddenly opened our room door without knocking and when she saw us just asked “are you checked in?” That was very odd and made us feel slightly uncomfortable with our safety. In room 304, the fridge was not working and our food was ruined. When we talked to the front desk about it during check out, again the employee didn’t offer any apology but just told us to complain to corporate about our dissatisfaction.
3. when I called in to confirm our check in time because of a mistake I noticed on my third party booking, I spent over 10mins to be signed up for the hotel rewards program and at the end to be told within 10 secs that the check in time couldn’t be corrected and to just show up at the hotel when we arrive. Afterwards, I was transferred to another agent and spent 20 mins being pressured to buy a prepaid package for a 4 night stay and the “privilege” of listening to a 2 hr time share presentation for a $200 gift card. When I consistently stated I did not want to go ahead, the agent over the phone was very condescending and said “don’t apologize to me. I feel sorry for the full price you will need to pay for your next hotel stay”. And she kept trying to keep me on the phone, until I had to finally hang up on her. This was ridiculously uncomfortable and unnecessary for a customer just trying to find out about correcting their check in time on their...

At first, I was very happy with the stay. I was texted the day before the stay, by a "Cam" and I asked whether I could check in early. I was eventually able too. Then upon checking into the room I noticed that someone had spilled something sticky on the floor and I called the front desk to have it cleaned up. It was. Then I was texted a second time asking me about the stay. I told "Cam" that the ladies at the front desk had been very helpful. Cam responded, "that's good." However shortly thereafter that I had nothing but problems. On the evening of the second night I came into the hotel after dinner at the local Denny's, and asked the young lady at the desk for a 4am wake up call as I had to catch an early flight. She asked whether I had a cell phone so that I could set the alarm on the phone. I told her that I shut my cell phone off at night because I don't want to be awakened by all the notifications that I get. She then asked me if I could set the alarm on the radio in the room. I told her that there was no radio clock in the room. I could see that this was going to turn into a problem. She picked up a clipboard and flipped through a few pages before noting that I needed the 4am wake up call. I asked her whether she had the capability of entering the information into the computer as most hotels do and she claimed that she did not. I never received that wake up call and awoke at 5:30, much later than I wanted too. I had to get washed and dressed very fast and had to check out of the hotel. Upon getting to the front desk I found another young lady practically hiding in a side room and holding two cell phones as she was having two conversations at once. I asked her why I never received the 4 am wake up call that I needed. She grabbed the clip board and thumbed through a few pages and then said, "oh, no one told me." I then said that something as important as a wake up call should be her priority every morning even if no one told her she should be actively looking for that information since their computers didn't allow them to set up wake up calls. I could see that she was upset and then handed me a copy of the bill. The bill did not make any sense to me. Apparently, someone had charged their food to my room number twice. When I complained she told me that it wasn't her fault and that she couldn't do anything about it. I asked whether the hotel had a policy where whomever charges their room has to show some kind of proof such as a name rather than just a room number. She told me she had no idea. By now I was running very late and had to catch my plane. I left without resolving the situation. My account number was 953238132 and my name is Rein, Arthur. You can look up the bill. I did charge two packages of Tide detergent to the room which was the $4.00 cost and the 26 cents tax. The $36.92 room charge on 12/23 was not mine and neither was the $36.98 charge on 12/24. And one other question. While I used Choice rewards points to get the room free, I was charged the sales tax. In the other Orlando hotels that I stayed at, I also used Choice Rewards points for free rooms but was not charged tax by them. So what gives? Thank you for any help or response that...

I want to preface by saying that I don’t usually write negative reviews and try to give businesses the benefit of the doubt when issues arise. Unfortunately my experience at this hotel needs to be shared.

I booked my reservation via Expedia in July 2022 for a King suite room for my husband and I, for our November 2022 stay (2 nights shortly after Thanksgiving). I called the morning of our check in day to see if our room would be available for early check in. Understandably, they said no because the room would not be ready due to the holidays. Check-in is at 3 pm, so we arrive at that time. After waiting about 30 -45 mins, we were told our room type was not available. They seem to blame it on Expedia for the booking error and that all they could offer us was a 2 queen suite. I told them that would not be ideal for us since we specifically book King due to my husband’s height. When I suggested going to a regular King room and get refunded or credited for the difference of a downgraded room, they said they couldn’t do that because we booked through a third party website. I spoke with the manager and asked if we could get compensated with a meal or something in house instead, and he said he could offer me a drink. That definitely wouldn’t make up for the difference. So, with hesitation and since we were tired, I agreed to take the 2 queen suite, as to not lose any of the money we prepaid for the King suite. When we finally make it up to the room, within seconds we notice a strong odor of weed. There is no way this room had been cleaned and had such a strong odor. It was like it had been recently smoked in. Why is a room in that condition not reported to management by housekeeping? It should not have been available to issue to a guest. We walked right out of the room and asked for another suite. They then tell us that they have no other suite room to offer us. Neither the front desk nor manager seemed too surprised or appalled that the room was smoked in. They asked if I wanted housekeeping to check on the room and I was dumbfounded by the question. At this point I ask to be released of my reservation, which the manager agreed to. My husband later mentioned smelling the weed in another part of the hotel and believed he witnessed what he thought was an employee smoking and trying to hide it.

I called Expedia and after another hour, managed to be relocated to a new hotel.

Today I had to call the hotel to request a refund for the $25 incidentals fee they charged on my credit card at check in. I requested a copy of the refund confirmation, but it didn’t arrive to either of my two emails that I provided (outlook and gmail). I will have to take additional time to follow up on this.

I really hope they make changes and improvements to this hotel. Their service and efforts to resolve this issue was below minimum standards. I will not be returning here, for sure. I would caution anyone considering making a...