Universal's Aventura Hotel in Orlando, FL

We recently stayed at Universal’s / Loews’ Aventura hotel and I felt compelled to write this review to warn other travellers of our experience. Firstly, the hotel room was dirty when we arrived. The bathroom still had dust, hair and dirt in the corners and the floors were not clean. However, we chose not to mention this to the staff as we had been told our room would be cleaned every other day, so figured it would soon be resolved and put it down to an oversight on the part of a likely overworked housekeeping team. On the day we were told the room would be serviced for the first time, it was not done. This was despite us being out almost the whole day at the parks, leaving the housekeeping team plenty of time to do it. We had to chase the front desk several times to ask for housekeeping, who did not come. Instead we were left a bag of towels, and new sheets for us to make our beds ourselves late at night when we returned from the parks. Again, we complained and asked that housekeeping come the following day instead to clean the room. This time they made one of the two beds, emptied the bins and replenished the coffee but still did not clean the floors, bathroom etc. When we complained yet again, we were told that it was already ‘a lot’ that housekeeping had made one of the beds as normally they only empty the bins and that’s it! So this was supposedly going above and beyond their normal service. Frankly that is not good enough for the room rates charged by the hotel. While we were offered a small room credit in compensation for the housekeeping problems, this was not a true resolution of the issue. It took until the fifth day of our stay for the room to be cleaned to a somewhat acceptable standard, and this only after a lot of chasing and complaints. As well as this, the hotel charged us 3 separate times for the same set of drinks, and twice for the same meal. When questioned why this had happened, they accused us of adding additional items to the bill after we signed the cheque for the meal to charge it to the room (we did not) and blamed ‘occasional issues with international cards’ for the triple drinks charges. When we queried why we had been charged over $200 for a meal and some drinks that came to a total of around $70, we were told repeatedly that everything was fine from their end and that all the charges were correct. This was despite us having a photograph of the cheque which clearly stated the amount authorised to be charged to the room, as well as evidence of the multiple charges debited from our account. As unauthorised charges kept getting made to my card I eventually had to contact my bank to put a block on the card before the hotel took all the available spending money I had in my account. All of this wasted hours of my day and wiped out a full day we could have enjoyed in the parks due to the stress and anxiety caused. During discussions with the manager I was repeatedly spoken to in a condescending tone and told that they ‘couldn’t explain it any simpler’ for me to understand. I was made to feel stupid for even questioning the charges, and told over and over that everything they had done was correct. Both myself and my partner were made to feel like we were causing unnecessary problems by simply chasing money that had been wrongly taken from us and asking to receive the service we paid more than £1000 for - namely a clean, comfortable hotel room for our much anticipated holiday. This has left an incredibly sour taste in our mouth and ruined the final part of our trip. As well as this: - the hotel is incredibly noisy. Despite being on the 15th floor, we had constant traffic noise day and night from the highway and the noise of other people’s toilets flushing and random banging noises 24/7. - the tablet that controls the tv advertises the ability to use Netflix, Prime video and YouTube but these do not work and you must cast from your phone. - you must control all the lights in the room using the tablet, which is pointless Overall, the only positives going for the hotel have been its proximity to universal and the better hotel next door, the free shuttles to the parks, and the friendly (but often very slow) service from some (but certainly not all) of the staff. Although billed as a prime value hotel, Aventura is nothing of the sort. You will do better to save your money for fast passes and taxis to the parks, and stay off property somewhere with proper housekeeping and better standards. I’m sure that this review will receive the standard comment that the feedback will be passed on to the manager to ensure other guests do not have the same experience. However, judging by previous similar reviews from other guests dating back several years, there is zero intention to make any meaningful improvements to the hotel and this will continue to be the way Aventura operates. Avoid.

This being my first solo trip, I wanted to ensure I stayed at a safe, comfortable hotel, and I landed on Aventura. This proved to be a great decision, and as my 7-night stay here has sadly ended, I am very happy with the quality and overall comfort levels this hotel provided! Firstly, it is quite small, and doesn’t require a ton of walking to get anywhere you need to. I LOVED this aspect. Checking in was a breeze, and I was pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to a skyline view on the 16th floor, a wonderful start to the trip! Shout out to Tina at the front desk! From my room, I had a gourgeous full view of Islands of Adventure and the beautiful resort next door, as well as sweeping views of the rest of Orlando. I have seen in other people’s comments about the 16th floor that noise from the rooftop bar being directly above was an issue, and I am pleased to say that it was it was NOT an issue for me. Perhaps it was where my room was situated in the building, but I wasn’t affected at all by noise overhead, nor from other rooms. Initially, my minifridge wasn’t working properly. A quick text to the front desk to alert them of this, and within 30 minutes a team member arrived and promptly replaced the fridge. He also helped me set up streaming on the TV and answered any other questions I had. The location of this hotel is conveniently located close to the parks, so a brisk walk, bus or water taxi ride away. The pool area is very relaxing and nicely setup. The rooftop bar is nice, though I’m not a social or drinking person so I didn’t spend a lot of time up there. Urban Pantry has a lot of options for food, and being vegetarian, this was much appreciated. Overall, this hotel was be a great place to chill and hang out as a break from busy park days. I will definitely be returning here on my next holiday. The skyline view is a must!!

We had a Kids Suite with Adjoining 2 Queen Bed Room (booked as one unit) and it was plenty of space for our 7 night stay. The room and hotel was clean and well maintained, with very helpful and friendly staff, and a great location. Between the shuttle, the water taxi available across the street, or the walking path, we could get to CityWalk, IoA, or Universal Studios in about 15 minutes. Would definitely stay again. I did take the advice of other reviewers and have a noise machine to help block out street noise while sleeping. We slept great!

LOVED this hotel. Rooms were so clean and comfy they had all the amenities you needed, coffee machine, iron, hair dryer etc. clean was freshened up everyday. The tablet was a cool touch too. The most amazing part was the view we had of islands of adventure. I could see all the rides it was amazing, as well as the firework drone show at night we were able to see that from our room too. The pool area was great nice pool and hot tub and backs onto the volcano bay water park!! There was a restaurant area and the food was delicious, a handy Starbucks too. The gym had everything you needed for a quick holiday workout. The staff were all so friendly I loved every minute of this stay. We were also a less than 15 min walk to the park, it was a beautiful garden walk. There is also regular free shuttle buses and a free water taxi which was really cute. Definitely recommend this hotel !!