Wingate by Wyndham Hotel

We walked in and the whole lobby smelled like chlorine. The door to the hot tub was right outside of the elevators. Check in was good, we went to our room immediately and found there was no closet or anywhere to hang clothes. There were double doors that we thought was a closet but they were locked; so we asked the front desk about it and they were clueless, so we asked was it a closet or a connection to another room, they said it must be a connection to another room. So we couldn't hang up our clothes. The room looked nice and was clean, but the sheets were very pilly. They were clean, but I think they are too old and need to be replaced. When I took a bath, the water did not get hot enough for my liking. The water in the sink got hotter so I kept filling the ice bucket with sink water and pouring it in the tub to get it hotter. There was a mini fridge and a microwave, a coffee maker, and hairdryer in our room, which was nice. The shuttle to Universal only runs once in the morning and once in the evening and you have to pre-arrange to use it; if no one signs up they don't send it. Also when we asked about the shuttle, the two people behind the desk gave us conflicting information; they gave us different pick up times and locations. There was a sign up about it, which had the correct info on it, just don't ask a person because they don't know for sure. We missed the morning shuttle and didn't want to pay $12 for parking for only a few hours at the park so we walked over to Universal. It was a nice walk although I'd say it was farther that I thought it would be. The free breakfast was ok, there was sausage and scrambled eggs and you could make waffles if you wanted, along with the other normal breakfast things. On the last day there was an invoice under our door with a .01 cent balance--weird. The people next door to us had theirs still lying on the floor in front of their door and theirs had the same thing. We didn't have to pay the penny, though!!!

They had a heated outdoor pool which was very nice.

This hotel made me feel respected: The staff was very considerate and they went out of their way to make sure we knew about all of their amenities.

It was very clean and accommodating.

I had a poor experience with The Wingate Universal a couple years ago, but I was stuck in Orlando without a hotel stay and The Wingate was the closest hotel to where I needed to be. So I begrudgingly entered the premises and much to my surprise, the staff at the front desk greeted me warmly and were able to check me into a standard room, which I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised that it was so spacious and clean.

It was bigger than any other economy hotel rooms I have ever stayed in and I travel a lot. I slept like a baby and joined the rest of the guests for breakfast the day after (Saturday). Much to my surprise, there was a manager there making waffles for the guests. I thought that was great interaction with the guest from the management. Most managers are at home on a Saturday morning. The breakfast included eggs with bacon which I have never seen at an economy service hotel, wow! I was scheduled to check out that morning, but decided to stay an extra night. I did not experience any problems with my stay and I will stay at The Wingate Universal on my every stay in Orlando. I will definitely tell others about this find.

On June 16th, 2006 my fiancée, her 10 year old brother and I were kicked out of this hotel. We had an item taken from our room while we stayed and reported it to the front desk. We were told we would hear back from management about the item and we never did. Finally, we called again and spoke with a manager for the second time.

After politely telling him the story again, he would not even apologize, he insisted we were lying about the item and he even came to our room to argue about it. He told us he was going to call the cops to have us removed. The professionalism was disgusting. The manager and "owner" did not apologize even once, and even tried to call me a liar. At one point, the manager was picking a fight with me and kept poking me in the chest. Stay away from this hotel!