The Florida Hotel & Conference Center — Hotel in Pine Castle

This hotel overall is a fairly good location. The only things I dislike about the location is the fact that it is directly attached to the mall which may seem as a benefit to some but with the fact that it's listed as a four-star hotel it kind of detracts from the quality especially because of the views are nothing but parking lot. This location is not easy to get to and if you don't know your way around it will be difficult to get over to the actual hotel. Parking is gated and secure with cameras and they do have security on site at night. Electric vehicle charging is available inside the secure fence. You have to be careful of the surrounding areas as there are a lot of ladies of the night in the neighboring areas and typically where they are crime follows. For a four-star hotel it has more of a two-star feel. Quality of the room itself was definitely one or two star quality. Cleanliness was definitely two star. They do have Starbucks and other options inside which makes it much more beneficial but there's also a bunch of negatives that offset that. As you can see from the picture there were several dirty spots dingy spots moldy spots in my room. Water damage was clearly visible on several of the walls one of the mirrors was completely loose from its mounting point. For the price of approximately $200 a night I would expect it to be four star quality this hotel should actually be somewhere around 75 to $90 a night and two star. The shower was really nice and had a adequate pressure however there were problems with the shower head not being installed correctly. Whoever remodeled the bathroom didn't consider toilet paper location very well so you have to reach a good 4 ft to reach toilet paper. The hotel is somewhat accessible friendly the rooms themselves not as much based on design. Security of the room is fairly good and locks etc are all in proper working order which is not common at most hotels. The one feature I did like was the do not disturb light almost like a doorbell type setup which I have only seen at a few hotels. The bed itself and floor were clean for the most part and cleanliness was not horrible but they're definitely are some lacking qualities for a four-star hotel. If you list your hotel as a four-star hotel I expected to be almost immaculate and that is not the case here. Would I stay here again probably yes. Would I pay the price that they're asking no. Guest staff was super friendly however one thing I did notice was it was a skeleton crew at night. Only saw two staff members in the entire hotel at night and the valet was no longer on staff. When I departed the hotel it appeared that vallet was there because I saw some of their stuff sitting on window seals on the way out but never saw them. I would think that a four-star hotel would have valet 24/7 especially at the rates they...

I came here for a week-long work-related conference. A very cold week in January. My first impression of this hotel was that it was very weird to be attached to a mall. But I soon learned the many benefits of this. The main one being able to go shopping and having access to lots of food choices without having to go outside in the frigid cold. Or I suppose the heat normally.

The rooms are nice. They're sufficient. Everything worked well. The room included a microwave, or refrigerator and coffee and tea service.

I was lucky enough to have my room on the second floor very close to where the conference classrooms are. This meant during breaks I could just go back to my own room for a few minutes very easily.

Another major benefit to the second floor is that I am mostly a stairs person instead of the elevator and the escalator was right near my room.

I made good use of the hot tub in the gym while I was staying here. The hot tub was very nice to enjoy even though it was cold outside. After a long day of work sessions the hot tub could be very relaxing. I used the fitness center in the mornings. This is more than a treadmill and a weight station like some hotels have This is an extensive gym. Several bikes, ellipticals, treadmills and weight lifting devices. I made good use of this every morning. The pool is a nice big pool that I would swim laps and if it were warmer.

As far as the conference facilities go the rooms are very nice but like every hotel they are frigid. I strongly recommend a sweater for this. The food served at events during my week were sufficient. The desserts were the best thing. They did a good job with the desserts.

I really enjoyed the hotel being attached to the mall. Several of my colleagues made good use of the Chick-fil-A and the Starbucks. I went to the nearby JCPenney and did some shopping. A group of us made use of the food court. At the end of the conference I went to the Crayola Experience that's attached to the same mall. As you can see the location of this hotel is very useful.

The staff was very friendly and very helpful. Whatever I needed at any point. They are very pushy with survey cards so that may be a reason.

This is a very good choice for a conference. I...

The worst service that I have ever received in my life. I have worked in hospitality for many years and customer service since high school and my experience in this hotel was horrendous. We arrived after 5 hours of driving at 1am with a reservation paid in full for two nights. The intermediary that made the reservation made a mistake and did the reservation for the day after it was supposed to be. We asked kindly with two kids in the car to please transfer the reservation to that same day and Marcelo wouldn’t let my husband speak and speak over him. Marcelo wouldn’t make an effort to help and told us we needed to deal directly with AirBnB who made the reservation at 1am. If everyone knows how this work no one will answer at airBnB at 1am. Marcelo’s idea was to send an email. We just needed a solution and he was decided to not help and be extremely disrespectful until my husband snapped. I had to go to the counter myself to get proof that the reservation was done wrong so I can get refunded and find another place to stay with a toddler and a 6 year old daughter. When I talked to Marcelo and asked him why wouldn’t he help he said he would give us a room for $250/night. $100 more than we originally reserved the room for…. but he would not longer give us an option to stay in his hotel. Very disappointed and unprofessional staff. “Only person in charge” that night. Disrespectful and then he was telling us we were rude. Rude, how? Asking to help with moving the reservation and his only help was charging us a ridiculous amount of money a night when we had already paid, plus speaking over us not letting us explain the situation with airbnb. We take volleyball teams for tournaments to this hotel twice or three times a year and we will not longer be using them. We drove an hour to the closest hotel available that night and got a refund the next day from airbnb that at least they assumed their mistake. We just asked for a solution to be able to sleep and find a solution the next day and Marcelo was the worst employee a customer service job could have. Do not recommend this place at all and we will never bring our organization to this...