Kate L.
Yelp
The Aloft Orlando Downtown serves its purpose but I wouldn't exactly make this place a destination.
I was visiting family close by, and we were thrilled to find a dog-friendly Marriott. Our room was clean, had a bed, and allowed us to bring our pup along. All basic needs met. But beyond that, I wasn't super impressed.
When we checked in, all of the elevators were out of service, meaning we had to climb seven floors to get to our room. We're young and active, so it was fine, but clearer communication on the expected date they might be fixed -- or at the very least, an apology -- would have been nice. Another bummer: the valet staff was so very very slow. They had a text-ahead feature, but several times we texted, went down, waited 10+ minutes, inquired about the status and were told "oh we haven't even had a chance to look at those requests yet." Yikes!
There were some other minor things too -- the bedding is basically just a top sheet so I got super chilly at night, and the TV felt ancient and didn't work very well. The "modern" layout also wasn't super conducive to just sitting and hanging out anywhere other than the bed; the couch is more of a rigid bench. But mainly, we were just bummed by the service issues that made getting to and leaving the hotel pretty difficult at times.
If they weren't dog-friendly, I probably wouldn't consider staying here in the future. But maybe with a few kinks worked out or at a different location, the Aloft brand could be a success.