Hyatt Regency Orland Airport

I originally reserved a hotel at Disney World—for one reason only, I was a Disney Cast Member (employee) and was going to use my discount. Luckily, my husband talked me into checking out the beautiful hotel inside the Orlando Airport that we’d walked under many times. It’s so beautiful; I just knew we couldn’t afford it. I was wrong.

The Hyatt Regency sits atop the main terminal and is 15-minutes from Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and is convenient to Kennedy Space Center and the Cruise Line Ports—our destination.

We booked online—they offer Internet-only rates, AAA Rates, Senior Citizen discounts, and other special promotions. As we’d be staying only one night, and one of us was a senior, we got an excellent room rate. Add to that the fact that we wouldn’t have to pay for transportation from the airport to a hotel the night we arrived and that made the discount even deeper.

The online booking was easy and when I started to worry that I might have reserved at the wrong hotel, a quick telephone call to their toll-free number calmed my nerves. The site offers glimpses into the rooms so I knew what to expect and the Hyatt name meant that I could expect quality.

We arrived from Seattle, tired and ready for bed. We schlepped our suitcases to the main terminal, located the hotel elevator, and headed to the registration desk. It was so easy! The hotel is beautiful—elegant in creams & gold.

Upon check-in my mom decided she wanted her own room—they were very accommodating and we paid a mere $25 extra for the second room.

The rooms were very comfortable and ours had a balcony overlooking the main terminal. It was great fun to watch the arriving and departing passengers. The room contained: an AM/FM alarm clock radio (although we ordered a wake-up call to be sure), cable movie channels, TV with remote, a computer data port (important because I was telecommuting at the time), onscreen account review & checkout, ironing board & iron, and a hairdryer.

The kids were so enthralled with the balcony that they slept out there to the noise of the huge fountain in the courtyard and the people coming and going.

The next day we were wakened by the front desk, just as planned. Check out was done on the TV and we headed for the garage for our Town Car which was to take us to the Disney Cruise Terminal. This is when we had the only bad experience of our stay at the Hyatt.

About half-way to the Disney Terminal my son discovered his wallet was missing. The driver offered his cell phone so that I could call the hotel—we knew exactly where the wallet was. It had been left on the floor near the end of the bed—each of us thinking the other would pick it up.

I called the front desk—they said they’d immediately send someone up to the room—it’d been a mere 15-minutes since we left so we were sure it’d be a simple matter of getting it back. When we got to the terminal the driver very generously offered to pick up the wallet and bring it to us when he met the boat upon our return.

We went on the cruise expecting to have the wallet, and its $200 contents returned to us when we arrived. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened. When the driver met us he handed us an envelope from the hotel. Inside was a suitcase key with a note handwritten on the outside that it was found in our room. The driver had talked to the person who gave him the envelope and they said there wasn’t anything else in the room.

Discouraged and angry that someone would steal the wallet, I called them when we got to our Disney World hotel. The front desk person who answered was kind until I told him who I was and why I was calling. He had a very unique first name and it was the same person I had called to tell the wallet was missing in the first place. He simply refused to answer my questions and nearly hung up on me. I called back later and asked for a manager. They manager questioned everyone who had been involved, checked the door records (they know exactly who entered, when, and with what key), and determined that we were mistaken. I called his boss and explained the situation. After doing some research of his own it was determined that the front desk clerk who had taken the original call had gone to the room and stolen the wallet.

This experience could have turned me against the Hyatt, but it didn’t. Knowing the amount of security they had in place and the supervisor’s willingness to listen to the whole story and add to it the facts, I was happy with the results. The front desk person was fired and I was sent a check for the cash that was lost and the amount of the wallet. We didn’t get back the credit card but it was cancelled without incident immediately after it was discovered missing.

Would I stay there again? Yes, the room was spotless, a great value, in a perfect location for a one-night stay and the employees for the most part were easy to work with. The entire registration processes starting with the online reservation to the electronic check out were perfect.

My son learned a lesson, we got the money back, and all was well.

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