When we stayed in Orlando, Florida last month, we stayed here at the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel. It's located in the heart of the tourist area. Complete with conference centre and several hundred rooms available, it's always busy and bustling - which we didn't always find to be a good thing.
Where the overall stay was comfortable, I'm not sure I'd stay there again given the amount of people who come for conferences. They fill up the car park (which means you have to park miles away from the hotel itself) and they use all of the hotel's facilities, meaning we felt like we couldn't just go down for dinner at the hotel one night because every single seat was taken with business people. They were also incredibly noisy, so it didn't always make for a relaxing stay at the end of a long and tiring day, let me tell you.
One day, even the pool was closed to us hotel guests so that they could host an outside breakfast for those who were attending the conference and there'd often be more than one organisation attending, the conference centre was that big.
I think the conference bit needs to be completely segregated from the hotel in order to make things better for paying overnight guests. That was really the only downside to staying at the Rosen Shingle Creek, but that alone has stopped me from wanting to stay there again.
The lobby
The lobby was clean and very spacious. The staff were very few and far between so we were waiting a while to check in and also to make enquiries at the desk thereafter. I can overlook the staff shortages, however, given that we're only just coming out of the pandemic and it seems every business is struggling by way of help.
It was also incredibly well air-conditioned so it was divine walking in through the front door after enduring thirty-five-degree heat all day. It was also only a short walk from the front to the lifts round the corner, so before you knew it, you were being elevated up to your floor! The walk from the car park, it should be noted, was incredibly long.
This is made even worse if you can't get a parking spot because of the conferences going on every single day (even over the weekends). To say we were there for two weeks, the conferences never let up, which was disappointing.
Anyway, the lobby is very well looked after and there's plenty of seating for those who are maybe waiting for an appointment with someone who is staying in the hotel. There's also a huge bird cage in the middle of one of the rooms with beautiful birds chirping away, so that's a great focal point while you wait to get to the front desk. The lobby reminded me of the hotel in The Shining, not in a bad, ominous way, but in terms of its overall grandeur, decor and size.
The hotel room
The hotel room was somewhat clean and very tidy. I say "somewhat" clean because it was pretty dusty and the bath wasn't up to the standard I had expected for a four-star hotel. The bath was also stained at the bottom with something blue, like someone had drawn a line on it with a Crayola crayon - that sort of texture.
The beds were lovely - not too soft but not too hard - but by the end of the holiday, I was missing my own mattress (which is really firm). I think you'd get there anywhere. Everyone says that you can't beat your own bed and it's so true! I had a decent night's sleep every single time though so it really didn't disappoint in that sense!
Housekeeping was very hit and miss. Some days they'd clean up and wipe down the surfaces, give you new towels and soft sheets and they'd even hoover for you as well, whereas others weren't particularly bothered about hoovering so there'd be crumbs on the floor when you got back or the towels hadn't been changed or they didn't bring your dressing gowns back. They're all small things, but like I said, for a four-star hotel, you'd expect pretty consistent housekeeping results.
The room in general had a bit of an old, more run-down feel to it. I think it really needed an update. Not only did a few things need replacing, like a few new towels because some were worn and thread-bare, replacing the glass surface protectors because they're heat-damaged and stained, the bath needs replacing because it's permanently marked - small things like that, really, would make all the difference to someone staying there for any length of time.
The view, however, more than made up for the disappointments we experienced. You had almost a complete view of all three pools, the lake at the back and the 18-hole golf course. We even managed to spot an alligator or two in the lake - scary stuff!
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post? Let me know in the comments whether this sounds like your kind of place to stay or if you'll hold off and look elsewhere. Have you stayed here before? I'll see you again soon with a brand new blog post :)
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