Orlando Grand Hotel, Orlando

Stayed here in Sep or a night when I visited some friends in Orlando for a tournament. The bar was nice, hung out in the pool for a bit and that was good too. Hot girl at the front desk was cute. Everyone was really nice and treated me good. I'll come back again.

I came down with some buddies for a party situation in the city. We stopped over at Firestone, I-Bar and Cairo. The hotel was a great cheap price so we had cash left over to chill. We didn't really see the staff all that much but the food in the morning was awesome. They had a great bar and the front desk staff did get us an awesome limo to pick us up at the hotel. All in all a great time.

This hotel was horrible from beginning to end. The staff was very unhelpful, rude and refused to acknowledge their faults . The one and only night we stayed there someone tried to break into our second floor room from the balcony in the middle of the night. The prison is right next to the hotel so no doubt it was a runaway inmate or worse. There was no hot water in any of our rooms.The doors were so old and warped you had to kick them closed and use all of your body weight to then open it again. The front desk was not helpful in our check in process of our group. Even if the rooms are 40 dollars a night on special, nothing is worth the headache and safety issues this hotel has.

We booked 3 rooms through an online hotel site. When we arrived at the hotel we were very disappointed. The rooms have an old decor. Looks like a rent by the hour type of place. The tub in our bathroom was leaking everywhere. When we spoke to the front desk they said there was nothing they could do except have someone look at the tub.The pool area was dirty, dishes and food everywhere. We could not get our money back since we booked online. To say the least we left after one night and lost the cost of 3 rooms for a week. We went to the Radisson Celebration, beautiful place.

These pictures are from 1984. The items in the pictures are the same from then in the rooms now. The pool was gross. There was a total of 6 cars in the whole parking lot for the whole weekend. They didnt even have an ice chest. They had a cooler in the lobby filled with ice that all floors were to use. Then, they gave us the key to a room already occupied. The room smeeled like chlorine and all of our luggage and clothes stayed damp the whole weekend from the rooms moisture. They had caulking all over the place in the room with those same 1984 bed spreads. Horrible conditions, should be shut down!

Let me add first the people who thought this htel was acceptable @ all, must be blind with no sense of cleanliness or smell. Below is my letter to Ramada: TERRIBLE!!!Let me start off by saying prior to making a reservation we spoke to the hotel directly about our daughters disability. She has a life threatening allergy to peanuts & nuts. We had to make sure that the room would be free of all nut residue prior to staying. we were assued it would be... HOWEVER... There are so many problems i will just list them. I want to clarify that when I use the word filthy I am refering unsanitary conditions with visible, layered dirt that you can see from 20 feet away or more. 1. Foul/ wet smell in entryhall 2. Urine order in room hallway 3. Dirty bedding: numerous hairs 4. Large burn holes in comforter 5. burn holes in blankets 6. filthy walls 7. filthy light switches 8. filthy bath tub 9. un vacuumed floor 10. walls & doors filthy 11. toilet dirty 12. unlined trash cans / filthy & smelly 13. head board: peeling paint, filthy 14. border falling off walls 15. large area of mold in corner of ceiling 16. air unit filthy 17. chairs filthy & greasy 18. table filthy 19. unworking alarm clock 20. No staff after 11 PM 21. lamps all unplugged 22. tv unit filthy & dusty 23. cob webs / spider webs on lamps and tables 24. bugs 25. rust & pile of dirt behind bathroom door 26. coffee pot beyond useable! We stayed in room 203. I could continue of in more detail if needed. We have stayed at many hotels that are rated from 5 stars down to 1 star. (Infact apid as little as $9.00 a night & had better cleanliness there.) Several of those are Ramadas that were very nice. This is a flop house! This hotel would not even recieve a rating. It should not be open. DISGUSTING! We were not finished with our evening in St Cloud and called to make sure our reservation was still being held, we were told we had to check in prior to 11 PM or it would not be held & our card would be charged if we got there or not & we had to do it in person. So we ran over (from St. Cloud) to the hotel @ 9 pm to check in. My husband questioned the reason for only 5 cars in the parking lot & the smell & the saftey of the hotel. He was assued that it was a slow time & that most people check in very late and that is was safe. The smell was not addressed. He was informed that even if we did not stay we would be charged anyways. Unfortunatly he accepted the reservation. We did leave immediatly to finish our night & returned just before 11 PM exaused. We planed on showering & sleeping for the evening. We had to leave by 3 AM due to our daughter having an allergic reaction, (should have expected it with the filth in the room) and us not being able to sleep due to the smell, bugs & headache that was brought on by the odors. We were unable to shower due to the filth in the tub & behind the door in bathroom. I really am sick @ this experience! We did stay @ the ramada speedway in daytona the night prior & had a GREAT experience! THIS HTEL NEEDS TO BE CLOSED! We are returnign to the orlando / new smyrna / daytona area in August for a 3 week stay + 2 times a year after that for extended stays. WE WILL NOT BE USING A RAMADA (even @ a different location) after this experience!!!!Please check this hotel & do something! If you would like to speak with me please call. By the way, I do not complain about things easily. Everyone deserves a second chance in my book. But this was beyond a second chance!!! SICK!!! *dumb us, we should have read reviews, but did not have time.

Wow, where do I begin? So, first let me start with saying that I understand you can't expect much from a 40 dollar a night hotel stay. However I was preparing myself for a simple room for that money, not a dirty one. Entry to hotel is very misleading with chandeliers and tidy lobby. Once I stepped off the elevator and on to the fifth floor I had sudden flashes of something from the twilight zone. The hallway itself smelled of cigarette smoke and rotting corpses. The walls were covered in filth and grime and the doors all looked as thought they were once kicked down by the police. Which I'm sure they were as the hotel is across from the county prison!!!!!!!! My room smelled worse than the hallway. The sheets, bath towels and chairs all reeked of urine and all around filthiness. But the bathroom covered in boogers and dried blood was by far the icing on the cake. One would think the best feeling in the world would be to shower, however that was not the case. The shower itself was so putrid and dirty; I had to wear my flip flops in fear of catching some parasite or bacterial infection just from standing in it. After drying myself in the urine towels, I felt immediately grimy the moment I stepped back into my room. Sleep never came that night as not only could I hear my neighbors talking, laughing, and watching TV until 3am, I could even merely hear them breath in their sleep the walls were so thin. I was then woken a few hours later to the sound of a police chase outside of the hotel. And this is just a snapshot of my hotel stay. I will save time and space by sparing you the details of the 'continental breakfast' and the award they proudly display for winning the "Best Hotel Renovation" of the year. My question is what did the hotel look like before?! So if $40 is all you have and you don't value your safety or all around well being, stay here. But I highly recommend staying ANYWHERE else. I've stayed at nicer hostels for $10 a night in third world countries.

We can't wait to check out, and we would not recommend it to others. Not worth the time and money.

I'm going to paste the complaint letter I'm sending. My husband and I booked a week’s stay at the hotel through Travelocity. We booked a King bed at, what we thought was a bargain, $28 a night. We arrived at approximately 12:30am on September 13th with the intent of checking out on the 20th. According to the listing, we were going to be staying at a 3 to 4 star hotel with amenities ranging from an ice cream parlor to a bakery and bar. Due to the time of year we were staying, we assumed the $28 a night fee was because of a special on room rates. Having stayed at Ramadas before, we thought we had found a great deal. When we arrived, however, we were surprised at how wrong we were. When we came to check in, we were told that there was an additional “resort” fee of $10 a night. When we asked what it was for, the night clerk became irritated and did nothing but point us to a sign that “broke it down.” In addition to all of the fees listed, there was a $1 “charitable donation,” I never did find out what charity it was for. As we arrived so late, we went straight to our room. When we got to our room, we were shocked. It was filthy dirty, I don’t say that lightly. The walls were covered in dark marks that I can only describe as dirt that had not been cleaned off in some time. There was a refrigerator that looked like it had been rolled around in mud, the door to our balcony wouldn’t close, there was a lamp hanging by its wires from the wall, holes in the carpet, peeling paint, cracked floor tiles that had loose pieces that weren’t swept up, missing grout, missing caulk, the shower head was off, and two outlets didn’t work. Being so late, our only option was to sleep and try to change rooms in the morning. The next day, we began our vacation at a local attraction. Since we realized the air conditioner hadn’t worked well, we turned it on to run while we were away in case we were unable to change rooms. When we returned, the room was hotter than the hallway. We called the front desk, which sent a repairman, who told us he couldn’t fix the air conditioner, and we were put in a new room down the hall which, instead of a King bed, was two Queen. Our new room was marginally better. It was just as dirty; it had a 2 to 3 inch gap between the floor and the door. Meaning, you could lie on the floor (if you wanted to brave the obviously un-vacuumed carpet) and see down the hall with the door closed. Our shower was covered in rust, and the paint and trim were peeling off. Of the amenities, the ice cream shop was closed, for at least months (I’m guessing since all the equipment was stripped out and there were layers of dirt on its counter,) and now sells attraction tickets, the bakery had been closed for some time. We did try the buffet, and found that most of the food was old and cold. When then went for a swim in the pool. No complaints there, it was the most enjoyable part of our stay. At the pool, we met another family who was staying for a couple weeks. We struck up conversation and told them about our problems. They told us about theirs. They had INCHES of mold that went completely around their ceiling. They slept in the room for a week before checking their pillows and finding it there as well. When they complained and asked for a new room, they said their housekeeper tried to say the guests brought the pillows. When we returned to our room, I found a LIVE lizard on my bed. We then checked our pillows, finding stains on them; one had what looked like blood in it. We ended up at the Days in down the street, which was the same price and was extremely clean and comfortable, not to mention its amenities were in working order. In the attempt at getting our money back, the manager told us he would not refund 2 days of our stay, even though we had only slept there 1 night. We were there fewer than 48 hours.

This place makes a third world hotel look like the Ritz. We had just returned from Panama and stayed in hotels in the interior of the country that were cleaner, better furnished and had less mold and mildew in them than this place. It has to be a health hazard. There are holes in the sheets, the bedside tables are filthy as are the bathroom fixtures. The furniture looks like it didn't sell in a garage sale so they got it cheap. In a word the place is a ceptic tank - which is a euphimism for what I'd really call it but the Yahoo guide lines won't let me say what I really think. And to top it all off they charge you a $10 resort tax on top of the price of the room. Cheap room - yes and over priced at that.