Allure Resort Orlando

[Brian G.]

Well since we are expanding our coverage back onto the I-Drive scene, I figured I'd share the first review of a hotel - The Allure Resort Orlando.

I stayed at this hotel last year after booking through Priceline. I was a bit skeptical based on the latest reviews, but it was cheap and I give everything a shot. What sucks though is that it seems that instead of creating 2 different profiles, sites like TripAdvisor, Priceline, etc, just merge them together. The hotel used to be a Radisson and received good reviews. However as soon as the hotel was picked up Allure, the hotel's quality went down.

Anywho...I stayed and it wasn't totally terrible as others have experienced, but it's not somewhere where I would want to stay again. I'm not looking for luxury when I do my random trips to Orlando. I want a clean room, comfy bed with an affordable price.

So low and behold, I book this week on Priceline and get this hotel again. Since I couldn't cancel reservation, I had no choice. I called to complain to update their review settings as it's not really an accurate representation.

So Friday night, spend a bit of time at MK and finally head to the Allure a little after midnight.

The guy at front desk was worthless. Give him my name, he hands me the room key without even checking ID. I Check the room number and come to find out it's not even for the hotel.

Due to "overbooking", they needed to move me to their "sister" hotel "The Metropolitan". Now if you wanna take a gander at their reviews, be my guest. I'm not staying anywhere where there was recent (as early as the day before) reports of puke on carpets, black stains on sheets and a stink that's "normal" according to the staff.

I asked to cancel as it was not hotel I paid for, and the Allure refused. Ended up just walking out and calling Priceline. Given the time of night, they did their best. Didn't get a room until 2:30am, but they refunded me a night's stay and the replacement hotel was great (also a 3-star).

In summary.... 2 experiences with this hotel now and both have been terrible. Please, please, please... use caution when using Priceline and selecting I-Drive SeaWorld area 3-star hotels.

 

[Frogki]

Sorry to hear about your experience - it seems the area has it's fair share of seedier hotels... Glad Priceline was somewhat able to get it resolved for you. This is why I love going with my family - my parents insist on staying on-site for all the perks, so typically I know I'll be staying in great quality hotel... But I agree, as long as it's clean and somewhat comfortable, if I'm on a short trip I don't really care where I stay.

 

[Brian G.]

I usually do Hotwire. Betterbidding.com can really help narrow down what kind of hotel you're going to get. I've only rarely missed, probably a total of twice...

There are a lot of good hotels in I-Drive - such as Rosen Inn and the Wyndham - even the one I stayed at, which was the Homewood Suites by Hilton, was great. Just gotta be a little informed when booking.

 

[MrRoamer]

How much did it cost for the room? We generally stay onsite making use of DVC points or deals at one of Universals depending on what is going on event/crowd wise (even though we are locals we stay at the hotels way more often than one would think). If we do stay offsite, my favorites have been Doubletree generally a pretty good price, good rooms, and the taxi to Universal is pretty good. The last one we tried was Embassy Suites, which I liked quite a bit. It had that old balcony inside feeling and a free happy hour every night making for a pretty good place to meet up prior to a night at HHN, plus rooms were pretty nice.

 

[Brian G.]

How much did it cost for the room? We generally stay onsite making use of DVC points or deals at one of Universals depending on what is going on event/crowd wise (even though we are locals we stay at the hotels way more often than one would think). If we do stay offsite, my favorites have been Doubletree generally a pretty good price, good rooms, and the taxi to Universal is pretty good. The last one we tried was Embassy Suites, which I liked quite a bit. It had that old balcony inside feeling and a free happy hour every night making for a pretty good place to meet up prior to a night at HHN, plus rooms were pretty nice.

It was $70 plus tax. Not bad since it was Easter Weekend/Spring Break and everything was around $100. I think that's how they rope people in though. No one in their right mind would book directly after reading the reviews so bait em with Priceline and the like. Offer a nuts deal where the guest has no idea where they'll end up and they can't cancel once they realize the outcome.

 

[UNIrd]

I got excited thinking this was a new resort coming to the area. But I'm sorry to hear about your experience with them and Priceline. I always go thru Hotwire (well, used to before Cabana Bay but would still do it) and never ever had a bad experience or a bad hotel. I would use that. Not a fan of the Rosen properties I've gotten but there's not anything particularly wrong with them, just don't feel like there's any real brand identity.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Ive always been to nervous booking anything thru Priceline for this reason right here. I like control of where I am staying and don't really like to leave things to chance. Now with that being said I would have been pissed if they switched me to the Met. As someone who has stayed there by choice in the past looking for a cheap place to stay on Idrive int the thick of things I can cornfim the pthe place is a :censored: hole

 

[Brian G.]

Ive always been to nervous booking anything thru Priceline for this reason right here. I like control of where I am staying and don't really like to leave things to chance. Now with that being said I would have been pissed if they switched me to the Met. As someone who has stayed there by choice in the past looking for a cheap place to stay on Idrive int the thick of things I can cornfim the pthe place is a :censored: hole

Well the good thing about Priceline is that they guarantee satisfaction and you can get some crazy deals. I ended up with a 4-star for $60 or so a night one time. I definitely recommend Hotwire though as the better option.

 

[fryoj]

I won't use priceline after an experience in Tampa once with them. I'll save you the details, but if the hotel overbooks, Priceline reservations are the first to get kicked out. I'd rather pay a little extra and be sure I have a room. Sounds like what happened to you in this case, but the hotel had another property they could dump the reservation into.

 

[sierrak5]

I can tell you that Starwood will match a third party website's rate if you call in. This excludes "name your own price" deals. Saves you the hassle of having to contact the third party if any problems arise. Plus you can earn SPG points that way.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I booked once though priceline and got an ok hotel for $100 over two nights right outside of UOR. I still was scarred to do it and researched a ton.

 

[Jon84]

Not being used to Priceline from over the pond, but it sounds like a website we have called Secret Escapes where you pay for a posh hotel, but they don't tell you where it is till you've paid.

In terms of Orlando, I think (for what I think of as cheap), there are plenty of comparison or broker sites out there to get a good deal.

We're over for a week (2 weeks 6 days!), staying as a package at a Rosen this time, but have booked one room for one night at Disney All Star Music for 4 people, just to take advantage of EPCOT and MK Magic hours. Used Travel Republic and got it for $60. Bring on Drinking Around the World!