Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Across From Universal Orlando

This hotel gets my 5 stars! The service is impeccable and the staff is friendly and helpful. Especially Kay from Jamaica, she made our stay perfect! She was so kind and really went the extra mile to make our experience special.

Hotel is good, with access to restraunt, nice employees, a convenience shop inside. The thing preventing me from putting 4 or 5 stars is the house keeping of the rooms is terrible. Dont get me wrong, its clean. But i dont understand why they even come in during the day. The beds are made… Nothing else.

Worst stay… Lobby is really nice and updated. Staff was very friendly. That is where it ends. I checked into my room to find unclean bathrooms and food and ants on the counter. Baseboards coming up from the wall, mildew in bathroom. I called and they politely gave me another room that seemed clean but yet still had baseboards coming up, mildew, mismatched appliances etc. never staying here again.

I am torn on this review. Part of me wants to give it two stars and part of me wants to give it four stars.
I reserved this hotel room a few days in advance. Cost for a Monday — Tuesday was about $ 200. The location is awesome. You can walk to Universal it takes 15 mins. The service was excellent. Dale the manager on duty was very pleasant and helpful. The rooms were large (I had a suite). There was something about it which made me feel as though it was a little unpolished.
When I arrived I met Dale and checked in. There was some commotion in the lobby and I heard «Call Security». They arrived and I didn’t think much of it. The lobby was clean and very «Florida». I was given a room on the 9^th floor.
I take the elevator up to the 9^th floor. A very nice and fast elevator. I start walking down the hallways. The carpet looks ok, dirty in spots, but the doors are this ugly brown. It made the hallways look dark and dingy. A nice lighter color coat of paint would really make the hallways look much better. MY door had what could be described as locksmith scratches near the door lock. You think they could have fixed that with touchup paint.
I get into my room and it is a 2 bedroom suite. I have a couch, kitchen and a bedroom. Nice!.. As I inspect a little closer to the kitchen I notice a sticker on top of the stove that says «This has been permanently turned off». Sort of odd. They have a dishwasher and full sized fridge. Since I wasn’t using the kitchen I didn’t think much of it.
The only terrible part of the stay was the bed and the thermostat and the wifi. It was not up to Holiday Inn standards. The Thermostat was manual and periodically (despite being on cool) would turn on the heat. The beds were hard and bumpy. The kind you would get for $ 30 at a used mattress store. The bedding also didn’t have the standard comforter you would expect from Holiday Inn. The wifi was slow.
All things considered, the excellent service from the Manager Dale, and the ok room. This is a solid three stars. IF you want fancy there are other properties around the area.

My stay was not stellar, however, Karen was. How she doesn’t run this place is beyond me. Exceptional customer service, goes above and beyond and honestly cares. She’s the only reason this place gets all of the stars. My room is much warmer than I would like. Thank you, Karen, for actually caring.

Three star review is pretty accurate because overall this place appears to be a good choice, but there were a couple of downfalls during my one-​night stay.
Pros: near International drive and supposed to be a 15 minute walk to City Walk (Univerasal/​Islands of Adventure). All areas, including the bathroom, looked and felt clean.
Cons: walls are thin. I could hear coughing from the room next to us and could always hear when someone was walking. There was a light (possibly an emergency light or fire alarm) that blinks throughout the day, and I didn’t notice it until the lights were out. It was higher up near the ceiling, but it was a bit distracting as I was trying to go to sleep.
Service: Staff interaction was decent during my interactions check-​in and check-​out. Communication seemed just a bit scripted though
Ambiance/​environment: walking through the halls made me feel like it was outdated. I think it was the dark brown color of the doors that didn’t give me a luxurious vibe. Inside of the rooms were nice though. A/​C was easy to adjust, since it was a digital thermostat, but I felt like adjusting it didn’t do much cause the heater got to be too much through the night.
I don’t think I will be staying here again, unless I’m in the I-​Drive/​attractions area.

4 star review is based on:
price, location, cleanliness and friendliness of staff. it’s not a luxury property, but certainly much nicer than hotels that charge the same room rate.
we are in the king suite.
very comfortable bed. small bathroom (really small) but nice size vanity area. good size living room with lots of seating choices. couch, desk, chairs. kitchenette with full size refrigerator, microwave, smallish sink, 1 cup coffee maker and the stovetop which the property has disabled, presumably for safety concerns. toaster is there. and you can use the microwave for making ramen if you are careful. there are bowls, cups, plates and glasses. I did not find any forks, spoons etc. there is a dishwasher.
10^th floor has a nice view.
staff is extremely nice. but since this is florida, don’t expect to hear much English. smiles are universal (no pun intended) and they make every effort to get you what you need, even leaving fresh towels and toiletries outside the door if you are asleep or have a do not disturb sign on the door. never saw that before, thought it was pretty cool.
because of the excellent location you can either walk to or take the shuttle to universal. if you travel as a group, it’s awesome because people can leave early or late or whatever they wish without affecting anyone else in the group. late sleepers and early risers, no problem.
this property will need a facelift in the future but it manages to be clean if a little dated in appearance.
not a luxury property, but they aren’t charging you luxury prices. you will be happy with the value and the location and the staff and convenience.

The hotel is in a very congested area. They are starting some construction in the parking lot. Budget rental trucks and rental card are parked in lots which makes it hard to park.
The lobby is pretty, but don’t let that fool you. Our room had a view of the 1^st story roof– gross. Our room also had a weird smell.
The people who work at the front desk and who clean the rooms are very nice and friendly. The hotel is dog-​friendly, but you cannot leave them in the room unattended. This means someone in your family has to stay back or you have to get doggy daycare.
We were supposed to have our room free if we went to their 2 hr. sales pitch for their Resort. My husband got talked into this vacation package peddled as a «free vacation.» Don’t fall for it. (I warned him, but he did it anyway.) We booked a dog sitter with a local business just so we could attend this sales pitch. That costs $ 35 an hour. $ 70 plus tip. Gas to drive from NC to Orlando. Tickets to Universal for our child and one adult. Then because of our truck and trailer, we needed a shuttle ride to the Resort, but the customer service rep at the hotel and the salesperson at the Resort would not provide one. The salesperson’s reason? We booked with a person over the phone, not through them. What great service, Holiday Inn! Not! We cancelled the stupid sales pitch and tour of their resort and got outta Orlando. It costs us more money, but we didn’t want to deal with these people anymore. You will not see me step foot in a Holiday Inn again. Stick to nature and visit your state and national parks.

Starting my stay here. Room was clean. All that you would expect from a HI. The air conditioner in our room seems to work as a refrigeration machine for a industrial refrigerator. Keeps room almost too cold.
I was sad so far to not see free coffee in the lobby. I have stayed at many HI’s and HI Express locations and they all have free coffee.
Here is the rub on that. I was told by hotel staff I could walk to the Hilton and get coffee from Starbucks. So, I did. I had my phone and cards on my phone. The Hilton couldn’t take my Starbucks gift card like that. And with no wallet I was in a pickle. So, the guy gave me a Venti coffee for free.
This made my morning. This holiday inn could offer free coffee in lobby and gain a few more customers.
Be prepared. You are in an amusement area. And, even though it’s October. There still a lot of teens, pre-​teens, and younger staying here.
This hotel is in perfect walking distance to park and they offer shuttles. But, you have to catch the shuttle to park super early in the morning. So, we just walked over.
We were going to stay at the doubletree next door. But, opted to save $ 30-​$ 40 a night and stay here. And, use the extra $$ on stuff at the park, etc.
Book a two bed room for extra savings. It’s cheaper than their one bed room options.
I’ll update as my stay continues.

The hotel is very close to the Universal Studios them parks. It’s literally across the street from the park’s main gate.
The hotel itself is nothing too fancy. You get what you paid for here and on most nights the price is not bad at all. They DO NOT offer free breakfast, but you can go to the TGI Fridays next door for some. I heard that kids can eat free there, but I couldn’t confirm it. You can also buy tickets for the theme park there for a supposed discount, I just bought mine at the park instead. They have shuttles that will take you to both Disney and Universal, as long you confirm with the front desk you will be needing a ride.
The room was made and cleaned well when I arrived. There was a broken light bulb however, but I just ended up switching it with a lamp that wasn’t being used. The rooms are not sound proof and you can pretty much hear everything that’s happening outside of it.
The hotel doesn’t have that many amenities outside of the swimming pool. So don’t expect to be doing much besides sleeping here.
Overall this is an okay hotel, you get the benefit of being really close to Universal though so that’s a plus and price wise, the hotel isn’t too bad either.
Hotel Website:

We stayed here because it was one of the few hotels in walking distance of Universal Studios that didn’t mention bed bugs– and they also offered King sized beds, I didn’t know people still slept in queen sized beds let alone a double beds until trying to book this trip. It was a struggle trying to find something.
We booked a packaged through the universal studios website. (It was a harry potter package) It was an incredible deal. We were here for 4 nights, The service was amazing, the staff was extremely helpful and friendly. (We LOVED Sunny– she was amazing.)
They were remodeling while we were there, but there was not a lot of noise from it.
The room we were in was newly remodeled so it was very clean, bu smelled a bit like paint.
Be sure to take short showers though– the windows of the room don’t open and there is no vent fan in the bathroom, so the room was always damp and soggy and seemed to never dry. It was really frustrating coming from AZ where we don’t know what moisture and ‘damp’ even is. (Ha!)
The fire alarm was really obnoxious– I am assuming it was just the light to tell you that it is plugged in and monitoring– but it was really bright and flashing all night. (Must be an FL thing– all 4 hotels we stayed in on this trip had the same issue-​along with the no vent fans in the bathrooms.) so we ended up buying some electrical tape to cover the light while we were there.
They do have a free shuttle that drops you off at universal studios-​and give you a ride back, but this hotel is the first stop on the way out and the last stop on the way in– so it ends up taking longer than walking– and really doesn’t shorten the walk all that much. With waiting at stop lights the walk would take 10 – 15 minutes.
The elevators were a little sketchy and dingy dark, they just had dinky little LED lights on two of them, the service elevator was a little brighter though.
They had ice machines on all the floors– but they were at the far end of the hallway and most of them were not working/​plugged in, I had to go to 4 floors to finally find one that was working. Literally they were on the opposite end from the elevator– it was a bit of an adventure to find them.
This was not be any means a ‘nice’ hotel, But for the price and location, and the little bit we were even in the room– it was great.
Excellent service, clean room, free parking, and convenient location.

Two words: pitiful dump. We thought it would be a hit being so close to the park and connected to TGIFriday (hey, kids eat free with the hotel vouchers). However, we became concerned when we walked the halls and the carpet was filthy. The front lobby looks decent from a distance but what you’ll find is crumbs all over the floor and tables and old furniture. The room – so we thought, was decent enough until we returned that evening to find the carpet at the threshold of the bathroom was soaked. We just assumed that the cleaning lady had spilled water while cleaning.
The following night it was still soaked. Not only was it soaked, but the wet spots were spreading and also in other areas nearby! We didn’t know if it was water or sewage! Clearly there was a leak of some sort so we called for maintenance. It took two calls for someone to come and confirm that yes, there was a leak… duh. Apparently, the maid hadn’t cleaned or she would have noticed and reported the damp carpet. When my friend went to the front desk to see about moving us to a different room she was met with snide indifference and refusal to make accommodations. She even refused to acknowledge that there was a leak and became argumentative. After insisting on another room and being told there were no rooms available, my friend had to demand that our room be changed.
All five of us moved from a suite to a room with a queen size bed and a pull out bed… at around two in the morning… after a loooong day/​night at the park. We thought the room was a bit fresher, cleaner until I took a shower. I looked down at the shower curtain to see two, yellow boogers stuck to the liner, and you know they weren’t small if my gaze caught them from a standing position. Add to that my towel that had makeup (or something) and dirt smudges on it BEFORE I used it. This hotel was a bunch of yuck.
With the exception of the desk attendant last night, the staff seemed friendly. After speaking with the manager the next morning, my friend was accommodated with points for a free night’s stay at another Holiday Inn (as if…) and told that the rude attendent would be handled.

Came to this hotel for a Convention held across the street. Stayed on the 3^rd floor. The hallways and lobby of the hotel were unusually warm, but the room ac kept me cool. My room was at the end of a hallway, and apparently the building is somewhat sound proofed as I didn’t hear much road traffic, even with this being right up against Kirkman road.
The room was large, had two double/​fullsized beds in it. I liked the varied options of the pillows, from soft to firm and they’re labeled for your pleasure! A new tv with lots of cable selections, free Wi/​Fi and a Microwave/​fridge combo in the room make the place quite comfy.
The only thing really odd is that the toilet paper dispenser is low and on the wrong side of the toilet. Over all, nice enough place to stay. Reasonable rates too.

Great place and awesome customer service. I once needed to print a copy in the business room and didn’t have a room key on me. The gentleman at the front desk was nice enough to take time out of what he was doing and open the door for me. Another time I just asked for directions and the lady at the front desk offered me cheese and crackers after our conversation. Such great people, good rooms. And a very professional conference room as well.

Convenient and great value at this property. You are close to everything you need in this area. The rooms are a bit dated, but still clean.

BEWARE! Very Outdated and Standard Room = ONE SMALLEST FULL SIZE BED
It was the worst standard room we have experienced so far [i.e. very outdated, the smallest bed (for 2 adults) for a standard room, and very old carpet].
My husband, our dogs, and I stayed there for a night (thanks goodness).
We checked in around 1.15 AM. We were so exhausted that day.
Once we opened the room door, the first thing I noticed was the «tiny» bed on a quite large and very outdated room.
I went back to the front desk, and asked about it.
I asked why the bed was so small (considering there were two adults).
She said that the standard room came with ONE full size bed.
Hhhmm. That was the smallest full size bed I have ever seen.
I asked her if we could change to a room with bigger bed and were willing to pay the difference. She said that there was no room available.
We were super tired and decided to stay there.
I usually take a shower after getting to a hotel room.
That did not happen in this hotel.
I feed disgusted to do that in this hotel.
We decided to check out around 6 AM (we were there for a little less than 6 hours) since we could not sleep.
That would be our first and last stay at Holiday Inn.

Cumple su cometido, ser un hotel de paso. Un lugar limpio y confortable donde descansar luego de un día de parque o shopping. Los pros: la gente de recepción es amable, tienen estacionamiento incluido, reciben y guardan paquetes sin costo y las habitaciones tienen microondas y heladerías. Los mmm: no esta taaaan across de universal, o sea, técnicamente esta enfrente pero para acceder al parque hay que caminar aprox 6 cuadras, lo cual es poco pero si alguien lo contrata meramente por q piensa que cruza y entra al parque esta errado. Los contra: la habitación que me dieron tenía un notorio aroma a encierro, pero muy notorio.

We checked in with Sunny at the front desk and she’s by far my favorite customer service person during my whole trip. PERIOD. She’s awesome. After a long flight, it was really nice to be greeted by her. No shit, she’s a ray of sunshine.
We had a room with double beds on the 3^rd floor. The hall has a certain smell to it but it didn’t leak into our room. I was surprised by the size of the room. I’m used to enough room for the furniture and room to get by it but this was roomy. The only thing that was weird to me was the location of the toilet paper dispenser next to the toilet. It’s oddly low. I used the free WiFi while in the room and it worked fine for me.
The hotel does not have it’s own kitchen/​restaurant. It’s actually attached to a TGI Friday’s. We did not use this facility. The hotel is about a 15-​minute walk to Universal City Walk and we ate there.
In the lobby, there’s a gift shop, a guest service counter, and car rental counter. They also offer a complimentary shuttle to Disney or Universal at scheduled times.
Overall, it was a good place to stay.
Also! There’s a Doubletree across the street that has a Starbucks in it.

NPWH = Nice People Work Here
Pros:
* Nice, new rooms.
* Convenient location off I-​5 (literally across the street from Universal Orlando).
Cons:
* Slow WiFi (it’s similar in quality to what you got on airplanes 5 years ago).
* Small Bathrooms.
* Limited Parking.
Overall it was a good experience. Edward L. and I had a very comfortable stay earlier this month for Rangerstop. They have banquet/​convention facilities and an attached TGI Friday’s.
Priority Club members get reserved parking, which is worth the time it takes to sign-​up. Take advantage of that and their close proximity to convenience stores. It’s much cheaper to go there to stock your free mini-​fridge than it is to use the onsite vending machines.

Our AC was wimpy in our room. Normally I like to keep my room ICE cold so I can sleep. But even when we had set our AC to high and the temperature all the way down, the air barely came out. We had to call maintenance, which they said it was working fine but he switched the AC to manual control on the AC unit. It improved slightly but was not right.
The room was decent and clean. The beds were firm and pillow super soft with no support. The pool was small but deep. The pool towels are similar to sand paper.
The conference room was nice and the breakfast and snacks were good. The pastries were the best thing out of the selection. The pretzels were heavy and dry…
For the price this place was not worth it.

This hotel is so close to Universal! We walked to the parks every day (even one time twice in a day to go in the morning, take a nap/​go to the pool during the high traffic time, and to return again in the late afternoon). It’s about a 15 minute walk (leisurely pace) that is really easy to do. This proximity to Universal is probably the BEST thing about this hotel!
We stayed here 4 nights, and our room was definitely big enough to always feel comfortable. It had a complete living area with desk, sofa, and coffee table, as well as a King bed and microwave/​fridge combo. The television was in HD (which was a plus for us considering the Sheraton we stayed in two nights before this Holiday Inn, which cost much more, did not have this) with lots of current movies available for purchase.
You’re also within 10-​minute driving distance to Whole Food’s for dinner (we got a pizza to-​go), but if you want to stay closer to home, a T.G.I. Friday’s is attached.
When we walked down the hallway to our room, we were expecting the worst. It was extremely old. Do not let that deter you. The room was up-​to-​date with new furniture and light fixtures. My only complaint was the bathroom sink area was a little tight, but it was very clean.
We got an amazing deal for this hotel through the Universal website. The staff was very helpful, especially with getting us a King size bed. It definitely exceeded my expectations.