JustaBXgirl and I got back from a really wonderful vacation last week and the only thing that was disappointing was our hotel. I need to preface this with a few things. At no time on the trip did I complain to the hotel staff so they were not given a chance to rectify the issues. I entered into this trip with a preconceived opinion of Best Western.
In true #transparentparenting fashion I will share with you that I am a mom on a serious budget. I’m the queen of discount codes and am always looking for a good deal. For JustaBXgirl’s birthday trip this year I needed to cut corners where I could. This is how we ended up at The Best Western in Lake Buena Vista.
A few years ago I had a really bad experience at a Best Western Plus in Puerto Rico. They attempted to rectify the situation by offering me enough points for two nights free in the future. I begrudgingly accepted it because it was that or nothing but didn’t really know if I would use it. Fast forward two and a half years and I used those points along with ones I purchased to complete the booking for JustaBXgirl’s birthday trip.
Check-in was great! We arrived early and they gave us a room with no wait. The woman checking us in was very pleasant and friendly (even though she didn’t give us a hotel map or direct me to where anything was). Our room seemed acceptable. We were just happy to be there and ready to start our adventures. JustaBXgirl was excited that we had a balcony.
This would be the first issue. Our balcony didn’t seem to have a lock! We were on the 16th floor. The door was extremely heavy though so I didn’t have to worry about JustaBXgirl opening it. Even still I reminded her that she was not to go near the window without me present.
Pretty soon after being in the room JustaBXgirl expressed she was cold. This should be simple to rectify. Thing is at this hotel you need to call to have someone come and change the temperature on the thermostat! Fortunately you can just turn it off. That’s what I ended up doing as I didn’t want to worry about having someone come to the room every time I needed the temperature adjusted. We left it off for the whole trip.
The next issue was my own fault for not paying attention when booking. They don’t have a hot tub on site. JustaBXgirl is a huge fan of hot tubs (so am I). One thing that I liked was they had a kiddie pool (1 1/2 feet). This was a huge plus because the regular pool started at 3 1/2 feet which is above JustaBXgirl’s head. The downside was there were a lot of bugs in the pool.
Breakfast wasn’t included which is something else I should have checked when booking. They did have a kids eat free deal which I took advantage of and it was buffet style with an omelet bar and a mickey waffle bar. I really wasn’t impressed with the food. The waffles were the best part. I much would have preferred getting food somewhere else after trying it for the first time. JustaBXgirl insisted on returning a second time to get her Mickey Waffle fix.
The staff was very nice the whole trip and if it was based on customer service I would return but sadly I can say the negatives outweighed the positives. A few of the things in the room that were the extreme deal breakers for me were noticing that the sink wasn’t proficiently cleaned. At first I thought maybe it was an oversight, or even something we caused as I don’t allow housekeeping in the room on days where I am not in and out of the room. Since we went to the parks our first two full days in the room it hadn’t been cleaned since our arrival. But nope, after housekeeping cleaned it still was dirty. I’m also completely oblivious so I didn’t notice the first few days but the cover to the toilet tank didn’t fit and the enamel on the tub was chipping.
Again I want to reiterate that I did not bring these issues up to the manager or any staff so they didn’t have the chance to rectify. I think part of the reason why was based on previous Best Western experience. I’m just sharing as a reminder to myself that I will no longer be frequenting the Best Western brand.
