Smart Traveller

The Clarion Hotel Universal, Orlando (7299 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, Florida) is situated just across the road from the Wet n’ Wild water park and a few minutes’ walk from Orlando’s famous International Drive, so it’s a great place to stay if you want to explore the northern end of i-Drive.

The hotel also provides free shuttle buses to Universal Studios and SeaWorld (although there was only one bus running to SeaWorld each day when we stayed there, so make sure that you check the timetable available from the reception desk carefully). If you hire a car during your stay, you can also visit Walt Disney World - the Downtown Disney area is about 20 minutes’ drive from the hotel.

The Clarion Hotel Universal is a mid-range hotel, with average room prices starting from $99 per night, but you can get some great deals by booking through sites like Expedia. There are three types of room available: the Deluxe Guest Room, the Leisure Guest Room and the Mini-Suite.

Some parts of the Clarion Hotel Universal look like they could do with some renovation - the room doors and some of the decor looks slightly tired, and there was occasionally a slightly peculiar smell in some of the corridors  - but our room was clean, bright and comfortable, and overall it was great value for the price that we paid.

The hotel has a heated outdoor swimming pool, two hot tubs, a sun deck, a tennis court and a basketball court, all of which were in good condition and being used regularly by guests. It also has a business centre with free internet access and a deli, where you can buy salads, drinks, newspapers, cakes and a range of toiletries and other products.

If you fancy a drink or something to eat in the hotel, you can visit Sharky & Jack’s Bar and Grill, on the ground floor. The food on offer in the evening is somewhat expensive compared to the i-Drive diners and restaurants, but it’s excellent quality and the portion sizes are large. The best thing about Sharky & Jack’s, however, is the range of cocktails on offer. Each night we were there, there was a cocktail special available for $5 and they were delicious!

We tried breakfast there one morning, which was a buffet, and unfortunately it was slightly disappointing, but according to the staff, the hotel is changing to an a la carte breakfast menu in the near future, which may be better.

A few words of warning - every day when we returned to our room, we were greeted by a heap of pizza delivery leaflets which had been put through the room door. Other guests told us that they had ordered from these and were all very ill the following day, and we have also since heard stories of people having their credit cards cloned by some of these companies. Don’t, under any circumstances, order from them! The hotel offers room service and there are plenty of places nearby where you can eat, so there are much safer options available.

The Clarion’s main selling point is its staff. Everyone from the receptionists to the security guards were helpful and chatty, and by the time we left we felt like they were old friends. Particular thanks go to the following people, who made our stay at the Clarion relaxed and memorable: Mindy, Mike, Kara and Erika at the bar; Chris the chef; and Tracey at reception.

All in all, we had a fantastic time at the Clarion Universal Hotel and if we go back to Orlando, we will definitely stay there again.

According to The Times Online, Travelodge has just launched an advertising campaign criticising its competitors for being expensive. Travelodge does offer some low deals, particularly if you book online, and as we were simply looking for a hotel near to the airport for one night prior to flying to the USA and one night on the way back, the Gatwick Travelodge seemed like a good option.

We weren’t expecting luxury - after all, the average charge for a room for one night at the Gatwick Travelodge is only £44 - but we were expecting basic, clean and functional accommodation. Unfortunately, we were disappointed.

When we got on the shuttle bus from Gatwick to the hotel, the bus driver looked at us with pity. When we pulled up at the hotel, he told us how close to the airport we were. We’d stopped off at two other hotels on the way, so the distance was difficult to judge, but we got the impression that he’d said it because he knew what we were about to face.

The outside of the hotel was grim - it looked like a 1960s car park building - but hotel exteriors can be  misleading, so that didn’t worry us too much. However,the interior wasn’t any better. The reception area looked dirty and the staff were unwelcoming.

We took the grimy lift to our floor and then trekked through the long corridor to our room, which was at the back of the hotel. On the way, we passed an abandoned cleaning trolley, stacked with towels and cleaning products - my best guess is that it had been left there at least a month ago.

When the shuttle bus driver had said we were close to the airport, we didn’t realise that he meant that we were right at the end of the runway. If the view from our window had actually been of the runway, it might have provided some entertainment, but to see the planes you had to try and ignore the view of the hotel’s back yard, which was filled with rubbish. To be fair, the soundproofing was excellent, but the standard of the room meant noise was irrelevant as far as a getting a good night’s sleep was concerned.

We’d booked a family room with two double beds. Unfortunately, one of the beds had a mattress which was too big for the base of the bed, so had I have actually attempted to sleep in it, there was a fair chance that any movement would have made the entire thing collapse and I would have ended up on the floor with the mattress on top of me, which was not really what I was hoping for after a day of travelling and a long flight the next day.

The room wasn’t just basic - it was thoroughly depressing - and the rest of the hotel was much the same. The thought of using the bathroom with its cracked tiles and chipped sink really didn’t appeal, so we headed to the bar (which didn’t open until 5pm). The food was reasonable but the atmosphere was non-existent and not helped by the barman nonchalantly kicking a beer barrel across the room in front of people eating. Unfortunately, it was one of the coldest nights of the year, but you’d think there’d be a little more heating than a few portable heaters that the staff had obviously rustled up from elsewhere in the hotel.

By the time we got back to our room, whatever air freshener they had used in it had worn off and the smell was revolting. The idea of staying there for the night was too much for us, and the thought of returning there after our holiday when we had jetlag was enough to make us want to cry, so we hastily made a booking at the Crowne Plaza and checked out. The receptionist didn’t even bat an eyelid when we checked out and asked for a taxi to the Crowne Plaza.

I’d like to think that we were just unlucky and that this is just a poor hotel in an otherwise reasonable budget hotel chain, but when we got to America, we heard about a couple who had changed hotels because the Travelodge there was so vile that they didn’t want to risk getting into the beds.

Perhaps, instead of criticising its competitors’ prices, Travelodge may want to turn its attention to the quality of its hotels - they may be cheap, but the Gatwick Travelodge certainly didn’t provide value for money.