I would have given this hotel a great review, great location, great staff, however some of the staff obviously over friendly as they helped themselves to my husbands credit card and had a lovely spending spree. We asked several times for a key to the room safe but were told they were on order so we left the wallet hidden in a drawer with his credit card in it but no cash (stupid us). We only discovered at the airport before we boarded our flight home that is was missing as we had not used it. As soon as we arrived back in the Uk we phoned the hotel and reported it to an under manager. We never heard back from them until I emailed the manager who did reply and told me to await a phone call which I'm still waiting on. Apart from that we had a lovely time and would have had no complaints with the hotel, very clean. Lovely toiletries, comfy beds. The pool is shaded as has been mentioned in other reviews but if you are only going for a dip and not to bothered about sunbathing it does the job. This hotel is in a great location on the nicer end of I Drive with plenty resturants nearby.
If you are heading to Aquatica from here in the height of season I would recommend taking the shuttle and not your car as there was a terrible problem trying to turn left across the road into the car park and could take AGES.

We travelled to Homewood Suites on 24th July until the 7th August 2008. We had the best time ever in Orlando thanks to this fabulous hotel. We have stayed in many others on International Drive and were not expecting the elegance and poshness that we got here!


The Check In:
When we arrived at the hotel we were shocked that for what we had paid, this hotel was so much more. We had called the Hilton helpline 2 days prior to check in to request a ground floor room (for medical reasons) and when we arrived to check in was reassured this would be fine and our we had a choice of room views. We decided to overlook the pool. The staff were so friendly and nice we felt at home straight away. We were directed to our rooms and offered assistance from the bellhop.

The Room:
The room was outstanding, it looks as good in the pictures as it does in reality, which is often not the same. The kitchen area was very nice and clean, the dishwasher was free of charge and the maid put it on each day for us. There was nice clean cutlery and pots, pans and crockery provided for us in the drawers and cupboards. The microwave was huge and could cook almost anything. The fridge was very big too. There was a dining table in the kitchen area also with 4 chairs. In the living room was an arm chair and a sofa (which was a pull out bed too).
As a party of 3, finding a hotel with decent bed space is tricky. But this hotel once again exceeded expectations. In the bedroom we had a king size bed, which 2 people slept in. The 3rd person slept in the double sofa bed that was in the living room. All sheets were changed every other day (and was offered to be changed each day).
The bathroom was lovely, nice bath, shower and toilet. Fresh towels provided everyday.
Storage space was decent, the wardrobe had its own hangers and shelf at the top, and the safe inside that (this is a daily charge $1.50, thats automatically added provided you use it). There were 2 bedside drawers and a chest of drawers where the tv was.
There were 2 tv's in the room and had so many channels including HBO, HBO 2, HBO Signature and ABC. We were able to watch pay per view films that were relatively new at the cinema for $12.99.
Air conditioning was very good and easy to use and adjust, quick working and kept our room very cool. No sound could be heard from the other rooms or noises out in the hallway.

The Pool:

When I read the reviews about the pool I was lead to believe there was no sun and it was covered in shade all day long. This is completely untrue. If you decide to have a lazy day by the pool, then there is sun in the pool area from around 10am until 5pm. The pool does shade over during the day but only on one side and sun is still on the other side, I tended to get out by 11am and sit on the side where the sun ended up in the afternoon so that I had sun all day. This was not a problem as the pool area was so quiet, day and night. Only 3/4 people would be outside when I was. The pool is a good size and the sun heats it nice and warm. Deep end is not too deep, which is good. There is a nice jacuzzi, very hot, not good for those with sunburn! (Be warned).

Breakfast and Welcome Home Snack:

Each morning there is a cooked breakfast buffet from 7am until 10am. It consists of: scrambled eggs, spiced eggs, sausages, waffles or pancakes, english muffins, bread, doughnuts, cereals, coffees, teas, orange juice and other fruits.
On Monday - Thursday there is a welcome home snack between 5pm-7pm. It is scheduled a month in advanced and the schedule is up on your fridge. It consists of either, mac & cheese, chilli & mac, baked potato bar, oriental chicken, chicken and rice, hot dogs, burgers and more. There is always salads, crisps and dips available.
The washing laundry room only cost $1.75 a load (far cheaper than any other place we have used).
The gym is fab, small but convienient and easy to use!

The hotel provides a free shuttle to the universal and seaworld resorts and wet 'n' wild and aquatica. The times for universal were: 8.15am, 9am, 10am and 11.15am. Returning at: 5pm, 6.50pm, 7.50pm, 10pm, 10.45pm.
The shuttle for Seaworld leaves at 9.15am. Wet 'n' Wild and Aqautica leave at 9.15am which is not always good if you need a sun shade as the sun shades are normally gone straight away when the park opens at 8am. We got a taxi to the parks on these days, if you go to reception the bellhop will put you directly into the taxi that sits out the front door and the price is about $14 to Aquatica or $9 to Wet 'n' Wild, the drivers do expect a tip (as does about everywhere!).

Restaurants we enjoyed were TGI Fridays (just up from our hotel - TGI also does room service to your hotel room), Sizzlers (good for the big eaters), Ponderosa (for a huge buffet breakfast), Tony Romas (next to Ponderosa, lovely Ribs), Friendlys (good priced food and quick service, also does take out).

Make sure if your not renting a car you make use of the I-Ride Trolley its a dollar a ride per person, or $5 each for 3 days unlimited or $13 dollars each for 2 weeks unlimited. It comes around every 20 minutes or sooner and is air conditioned inside. It goes all the way along international drive and stop 21 is just outside the hotel.

All in all this was a fantastic hotel and we are already looking into booking again for next time. We just loved our stay and did not want to leave. I cannot give you one negative about the hotel!
If you want more info then just ask! I'm sorry if you are now straining after reading this long winded review, but I find it frustrating when people give very short reviews and never explain their reasons for being negative.

Hope you enjoy your stay!!

It is the sixth time we stay in Homewood Suites Convention Center and it`s the best place to stay in Orlando!Great breakfast,clean rooms,nice staff,specially Mr.Magana(manager) and Scott(night manager).There are also manager`s reception from Mon -Thu,which is a nice treat for guests.There are several great restaurants in walking distances,easy access to I-4 from the back exit in Universal Blv.I strongly recommend this hotel!

Great accomodation, very modern, lots of space in the room.

The staff were very friendly and helpful especially toasie who helped us us arrange all our transport and park tickets.

The pool is small and ofter shaded but we spent all our time at the parks or out in the local area.

The location is fantastic and we decided we did not need to get our free hire care that came with the holiday.

We would return to this and other homewood suites anytime.