I am writing about my experience staying in the Sheraton Vistana Villages I-Drive Orlando. I visit Florida annually and have done for the past 7 years. I normally stay onsite either at Disney or Universal as I like the buzz and the tend to go that extra mile when it comes to Customer Service. This year my mother came with us who is 75 and has mobility issues. We done lots of research and decided for the first time to stay off site as due to my mums mobility and age we opted for a larger room, with the main positive being a balcony, so we could sit and eat breakfast, for my mother to chill during the day whilst we were at parks, and to relax with a drink in the evenings.
We arrived on the 30th April around 2pm to check in. Previously we had contacted the hotel asking if possible, we could be located at either the Bella or St Augustine area, again due to my mum's mobility issues. We had no reply however I would have thought it would have been added to our booking notes however the receptionist at hotel reception knew nothing of the request. I think his name was Larry, he was so helpful and asked if we gave him our mobile number, he would relocate us from Key West to one of these areas and call us when the room was ready, should be around an hour. We waited nearly 3 hrs with no phone call. I then returned to the desk and spoke to Jesenia, who told us our room was ready, in the Key West area!. I explained to her we were waiting nearly 3 hrs on a call, for her to reply I'm sorry this is the only room we have. I said this was unacceptable if this was the case I would have went to the room on arrival. She basically called me a liar, her customer service was atrocious, not the first impression we were expecting, certainly no Disney magic, what we were used to. We waited at the desk for around a further 30 mins before I asked to speak to the manager, within a few mins, she went through the back, came back through and allocated us a room in the St Augustine block? I'm not sure what her problem was but she was very rude yet again and basically threw our keys at us. Definitely not the best start to our vacation.
Our room was fantastic and spacious, and in a great location. We stayed 2 nights then boarded the Disney Cruise. We returned the Friday to our room, and to our disbelief my daughter is night nappies and had an accident on the sheets, there was dried in urine still on our sheets nearly a week later. The towels had been changed and bed made but no sheets changed, these were not actually changed until the day before we checked out, which was pointless.
Now to main gripe, as previously stated we booked this hotel for the balcony area, for breakfast, in the evenings , and for my mother to relax during the day whilst we are at the parks. This was not the case for the constant strong smell of marijuana. When we returned Friday the stench was unbearable. We contacted reception , and Darius from security attended, he could smell it from inside our room!. He apologised and said he would investigate, I heard nothing back. We went out for the day and returned to an even stronger smell. This time I went to reception and spoke to Jesenia, who said she would yet again contact security. This time Pedro attended. He again apologised for the strong smell and said he would investigate, he gave us his number to contact him again if this happened again. This continued every day until we checked out. We could not sit on our balcony once to have breakfast, chill out, have dinner due to this constant smell of marijuana. This ruined our vacation as this is why I paid extra money to have a balcony, whilst at the same time missing out on the "buzz" on site at either Disney or Universal. We complained to Darius, Pedro, Alex and Jose from security, and Jesenia, Larry, Nia and Delilah from reception. Not once were we given option to move room, just a simple apology and they would investigate. This is not good enough, and not what I would expect from such a large hotel chain. My mother was a prisoner in her room whilst we were at the parks as she could not bear to sit out on the balcony. My child could not play on the balcony but had to stay indoors. I thought there was a "no smoking" policy in the rooms. The smell of cannabis around the whole resort was disgusting, from the balcony, to around the pool areas, outside the Marketplace. Just simply not good enough.
We are returning to Florida in September with friends are were looking to return to the Sheraton, however this has totally changed our opinion, the sheer lack of empathy or understanding from the staff, and the no care attitude from reception is very, very poor. We are members of various Florida and Hotel social media groups and will be sharing our terrible experience with them to ensure they don't have the same experience as we did.
Lastly, when I asked if we could keep our room a little later due to a late flight, I was told I would have to go online and rebook a room for an extra night if I wanted a late check out!. This was from the receptionist Nia. In my opinion, someone who should not be dealing directly with the public. Honestly the worst customer service I have received in my life.
Whilst checking out I was also charged for a night parking, even though I never had a vehicle. I got this fixed as I asked for a receipt.
