Reviews of International Plaza Resort & Spa, International Drive

we have just returned from our honeymoon and stayed at the international plaza. After reading the some of the reviews i felt a bit worried about the acommidation that was awaiting us. But i can only say that we found it to be very good. The hotel was clean and the staff polite. The gardens were kept in a beautiful condtions and the pools was nice too. The only thing that we found to be a little disapointing was that the hotel was a little bit far from the attractions on the drive. With the i ride trolley finshing at 10:30 pm it made night time entertainment a bit restrictive. I would recommend this hotel to anyone.

I travelled with three children aged 16, 12 and 11. The reception and concierge staff were very friendly and couldn't be more helpful. The hotel operated free buses to and from all the parks on the park tickets I bought online (which saved a pretty packet). The room was very comfortable and clean considering three children and all their clutter lol. Air-con in the room was fantastic - hot and cold as you want. Pools don't get too busy - though we only had one lazy day by the pool. We visited all four Disney parks, Aquatica, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Blizzard beach, the two Universal parks and did a little shopping at Prime and Premier outlets on International drive - all in 14 days. Kids rated Blizzard beach better than the new Aquatica. Think that's because of the 120 ft vertical drop water slide - Summit Plummit.



Didn't go to the spa or gym at the hotel as didn't have time (though after all the trecking round my feet and legs were crying out for a massage lol).



I bought theme park tickets on the net from American Attractions after much deliberation which / where would be best value. On entering the parks I checked the park prices on the day and my tickets were definately the better value for money - will book with them again. Ponderosa's on Int drive definately worth a visit - check out their all you can eat breakfasts for $3.99. We all had a GREAT time here in Florida. Would definately stay here again and been trying to book for next year but I guess they're not taking bookings that far in advance yet - must e-mail them. My only advice is although we were glad we did all the parks it was very tiring, so if going for the first time and you wanna do all the parks, book for three weeks so you get some lazy days - you'll be glad you did!! Next time we go we won't do as many parks or i'll book for three weeks. Another word of warning for all you ladies who like to use hair straighteners, American voltage is different to here in the UK so take a voltage converter else you won't be able to use your GHD's. I didn't take one and to buy one out there was $100!! Guess who had curly hair on hol??!! ENJOY

Oh my God!!! Read the reports before hand and thought it couldn't be that bad due to the prices being paid to stay here - it was!!! We were a party of 9 and had three rooms booked. All were in different areas of the hotel, but all rooms were the old style and pretty disgusting. Mould on the walls and ceilings, thread bare carpets, not been cleaned for a long, long time. Asked to be moved and was told we could have a newly renovated room for an extra 30 dollars per person per night. Complained to the rep who was as much use as a cholocolate fire guard. He too said the rooms aren't that bad, but he wouldn't come and look at any of the rooms and then disappeared never to be seen again. i have pictures to send to Thomsons and will be seeking a refund for the appaling conditions of this hotel. The building work is intense with no kids pools open, limited food, wet paint and at least 1/4 of the buildings are closed. We paid over 14,000 uk sterling and would not reccommend this place to anyone!!!

We have just got back from 2 weeks in this hotel. On first impression this hotel is beautiful with reception and pools being very plush.



However once we got to our hotel room that was another matter. Obviously it was a room that had not been upgraded and was just awful, very dated and shabby. It was also a smoking room and smelt very stale and the wallpaper was yellow from previous smokers.



We booked this holiday over a year previously in July 2007 and paid £3000 and had asked for a non smoking room. We complained to very unhelpful reception staff and they said they would move us to a non smoking room but to be honest all the rooms looked the same so we decided to stay put. I could not believe that people who had booked later than us were allocated better rooms than us. The reception explained that the non modernised rooms go for 139 dollars and modernised rooms go for 179 dollars and the tower go for over 200 dollars. I would not pay 139 dollars a night to stay in the unmodernised rooms at all they are disgusting!



Virgin welcome meeting - we asked reception were to meet for this and they said the lobby so we waited an hour and then someone said she had decided to hold the meeting in a different area of the hotel. We never saw the rep once all holiday and never received a welcome pack. A couple we got talking to who were on their honeymoon were promised free meal vouchers for their 2 weeks and got them off the rep the day before they left.



Beware the consierge getting a taxi for you. We went shopping to Prime Outlets (fantastic shops by the way) and it cost us 27 dollars going with the hotel taxi and only 12 back with yellow cabs.



The hotel transport to Disney was disappointing and always late. One of the buses was falling apart and very old. The return times were something like 3pm, 6pm, 9pm and 12am so quite restricting. If you got picked up at Magic Kingdom you were on the bus for 1.5 hours (which should be a 15 minute trip) due to all the pickups which was not nice when all you wanted to do was dip into the pool.



Anyway apart from that America is amazing and I cant wait to go back but not his hotel.

It will be great when it's finished! That's my overall impression of the International Plaza and I think it's a little unfair to be too critical. In the fortnight I was there it was apparent that works were ongoing - some alterations were noticeable in that time - and the signs are promising for the future.



Firstly, the surroundings and pools are beautiful. Three pools and one red-hot whirlpool. One pool has its own bar (not open quite as long as one would wish) and music was piped to speakers surrounding at least two of the pools. The surroundings are oasis-like, tall palm trees, lush lawns and at night, fountains are lit up and there is other illumination around the pools and trees.



Work was ongoing around one of the pools but there was hardly any noise or dust whilst I was there (work may well have ground to a halt?). A new restaurant was being constructed behind false walls - you might not even notice that the wall was temporary! The main lobby and its fab air conditioning is very impressive and welcoming. The staff were exemplary and most helpful (although the porter's insistence on hiring their own more expensive taxis over Yellow Cabs was a bit cheeky).



However, my family of four found our room a bit on the plain side. We complained about wet carpets from the air conditioning and this was sorted by the time we got back the following day (the wet carpet created a musty smell in our room which also disappeared once the problem had been sorted).



As things stand, this is a three star hotel, not a four. Potentially it could well deserve its fourth star. Other than the ordinary room, my biggest moan is that there was no life around the place. Most hotels have some form of entertainment, particularly of an evening, but as yet there is none of this at the International Plaza.



Like the ongoing improvements, I suspect and hope that this is another thing in the pipeline for the future.

We Arrived late in the evening and were shown to our two rooms in block 12 as my granddaughter and daughter came with us.

After reading some of the horror stories about some of the rooms we were prerared for the worst or so I thought. The carpets were thread bare to the extent that the gripper stuck in our feet when we forgot to step over it, light fittings corroded and shades in tatters air conditioning unit caught fire after an electrical fault,standard lamp worked when it felt like it and was taken away for repair never to be seen again.



Yes I did complain the next day and asked to speak to the manager but he never returned my calls so we just put up with it until we spoke to services manager when passing nine days into our holiday who said she was appalled with the condition and upgraded us to the tower rooms.



The older rooms are desperate to be upgraded and should be taken out of the system there not fit to keep chickens in.



The grounds,pools etc are lovely and compansate slightly for the poor rooms

Just got back from 2 weeks staying at International Plaza and Spa resort and it was fantastic!!

We were in block 10 which had 2 double beds, plasma tv, microwave, fridge, iron, plenty or drawer and storage space. After being in the room for 2 minutes reception called to see if we were happy with our room, I explained there was no hairdryer although this is advertised in the brochure, within 5 minutes one had been sent to our room.

The pools are gorgeous and towels are provided for the sunbeds which is handy. The pool bar is reasonably priced for snacks and do lovely cocktails! We didnt eat at the hotel restaurant as there are many to choose from on International Drive.

The hotel is a little out from the main action on I Drive, we had a car so were fine getting to the main area and there is a bus stop directly outside the hotel if you do not hire a car. Sea World and Aquatica are within walking distance.

The hotel is still having quite a bit of work done and i think in the next couple of months it will be in excellent condition.

The only problem we had was there were no safes left for us so we were a little worried about all of our currency and the cleaners left the door open 3 times to our roomw hich didnt please us, I reported to reception twice however the day before we left we found our door hadnt been shut properly again, other than that what a great holiday at a lovely hotel!

Stayed in a tower room. Had a fantastic time. Room was absolutely beautiful and enormous. It was a large Kingsize room. The facilities were excellent. I don't know of another hotel in the area that has better facilities.

A lot of work is being carried out on this hotel and it will be absolutely fabulous when completed.

Staff were all helpful and polite

I had no complaints at all and was there for three weeks.

First choice holidays, on the other hand were rubbish. The flights were awful. Stewards were rude. Rep was useless.

THE BEST PLACE TO STAY IN INTERNATIONAL DRIVE, We stayed here in sept 05, it is the best hotel we've ever stayed in, we had the challet type by the pool area. The rooms were spotless and very comfortable beds. The hotel grounds are beautiful, and the staff go out there way to help you. All meals there were prepared & set out to high standards. My family & friends liked it so much that we are returning again nxt yr, We wouldn't like to stay anywhere else.

SUPERB!!! This is definatley the best Hotel on I-Drive. We stayed here for over a month in August and it was better thean excellent. The Hotel has such perfect placement too, I_Ride stop just out the front and Sea world 5 min out the back. This hotel had everything we wanted and the service was excellent. The breakfast here were amazing, enough to fill for the whole day and every thing you would want tp eat then some. My partner and I have stayed here 5 times and wont change and go else where for fear of the next one not matching international's style or service. I urge you do reasearch of the area nd and the hotel, everthing about this place is excellent. Go there, Book Book Book NOW!!!

FANTASTIC !!!!!



Me and My Boyfriend stayed at this hotel for two weeks in April 08 and we were a little hesitant after reading some of the reviews, but we found the hotel to be fantastic!



We stayed in the resort style room which was pretty basic but very clean, and had two king Size beds, Iron, Coffee Machine, Terrace looking out at the lush well kept gardens they have, Tv.



We could not find anything to complain about.



The location of this hotel is very good too, you can walk to Sea World, Aquatica and Discovery Cove, and they have regular running shuttles to Disney and Universal parks if you do not have a car, which we did not so found these very useful.



People at reception were very friendly and helpful.



They are undergoing some renovation work, i think we got put in on eof the rooms that had already been redone so if you are a bit worried just send them an email asking if you can be put into a room that has already been refurbished. But they have nearly finished them all anyway.



The i ride stops right outside the hotel which is handy to get up and down i drive. And very cheap.



The only thing i can say that was wrong about this hotel was the food is a little overpriced but there are hundreds of hotels/diners on i drive so we just got on the iride and went there.



We loved staying here and will be returning next year probably.

I was very suprised to read the nbegative reviews of this hotel, i supose people expect difference things the wife and i stayed in this hotel for 1 week before travelling over to clearwater and it was absolutely perfect. The staff were polite and helpful yes mam no sir as you would expect! the deli on site is divine and its very handy on the way home after a night out! the rooms were spotless and very large with 2 double beds the only negative was the lizards (very small ones#) not sure what there proper name is but there were every where around the pool and in the under growth! Fortunately we found them everywhere in Florida and they seem native to urban areas.



10.10 From Alan & Julie :op

ABSOLUTELY AWFUL DO NOT STAY HERE!!

As you have probably seen with previous comments, the lobby area is beautiful and smells great too.

Then, when you get your key (credit card key lock key for room) the problems begin.

We were part of a group of 10 people staying here and our problems are as follows.



1. The room was filthy dirty with other peoples pubes over the bathroom floor, very grubby and never been hoovered.



The room was very dated and in desperate need of an face-lift.



2. Three days after we had been there, my laptop was stolen out of our room along with case and camera also. Next door room on same day (another family member) they were also robbed of an electric shaver, SLR Camera and a few other items.

Security and the police were informed of our losses, and statements were taken by police and security.

Security staff downloaded the log of the entry into the rooms and it turned out that the only person who had accessed our room that day was the cleaner.

I got in touch with security again the next day as with our horror, the same cleaner turned up to clean our room again!

I said to security, "why is this woman still working here when she's been stealing?"

Their answer was that they couldn't sack her because of no proof!!!



This just got worse and worse.



3. Over a week later, there was still no feedback about our items and news etc which was promised the day of the theft.



The nightmare became worse.



Into our second week, the car park outside our room became a parking area for about 10 VERY BIG mobile homes. These all had engines and generators running 24/7 with their air con switched on and they all had make-shift dog kennels built by the side of their vehicles with dogs in.



All night every night the dogs were yapping and barking, waking us all up and when I complained to the front desk, the answer i got was "Sorry sir but there's a dog show on."

Nothing was done night after night and we were all tiring very much of this.



Why were these vehicles allowed to park outside our rooms stopping us from resting at night etc?



4. There was dirty laundry strewn all over the hallways and left by the cleaners for days on end.



5. The safe was inoperable.



6. Our belongings were being looked through daily when we weren't there.



7. Washing up not being done (and we were leaving tips daily for our room to be cleaned!)



8. We got back from a day out, we got to our rooms and found we were unable to enter our rooms with our keys, because they had changed our cards my mistake!



9. My sister found a woman in here room one day who had been given a duplicate key for her room by mistake!



Towards the end of our holiday from hell, we got in touch with a lady manager called Casey Mccanies and explained our holiday from hell problems we had there.



She appeared to listen intently and offered to fully refund the cost of our two rooms out of the three that were stolen from. This appeared a good hearted gesture and she seemed a nice woman.

She agreed a compensation for the above trauma's and said the money would be in my dad's account within 4-5 working days. It is now 18 days later and no sign of any money and the emails we are sending to her are being ignored completely.



The people in charge of this hotel do not seem to care about their customers at all and we would recommend that no-body stayed here EVER!



This is the nearest to Fawlty Towers i have ever seen in my life.



I will make it my business to visit as many websites for holiday reviews and leave this text for people to see exactly what this hell hole is like.



You have been warned.



Rob.

Had a fab time at this hotel, we’ve been before but stayed in a villa but definitely stay in hotel from now on. As we arrived with our 4 year old twin boys we couldn’t believe the bellboys at the lobby - very impressed.



We ate breakfast across the road at the Village Inn - lovely food. We found the laundry room brilliant; we put laundry in then had a dip in the pool until it had finished, and we took most of our clothes home washed fab.



They had a pizza place for snacks when you arrived home after the parks. All the staff very friendly. I recommended this hotel to my parents, sister and her children in 2007 and they were upgraded to the tower free as building work was carried out - they loved it.

Despite all the horror stories about this resort we have just come back and had a great holiday. Don't go expecting a 5* because it isn't but is a good budget resort.



The room itself was spacious the bathroom was a little small but usable. The maid service was great she even came on Christmas day and New Year ’s Day. The grounds to the hotel were spotless and all the staff we dealt with where really friendly and helpful.



There is 2 launderettes onsite which we found useful and a little shop where you could buy snacks and pizzas etc open until midnight.



The hotel itself is in a quiet area it is at the end of int. drive but the trolley bus stop is right outside and for a dollar you could go anywhere on the route. The drinks in the hotel were expensive but over the road you have got a cheap bar (6 dollars for a 4 pint pitcher of lager) and restaurant called the village which was reasonable you can use.



The hotel is great for SeaWorld fans as you can walk out the back and over the car park and you are at SeaWorld 10 min walk. There is also a free shuttle bus to all the other parks so if you don't have a car you can still get about without any problems. (We only used our car to get to and from the airport and to go to the supermarket twice in 2 weeks).