Howard Johnson Plaza Altamonte Springs Orlando North

The lock that requires a key for guests to get in was broken so anyone could get in. The door to the hotel room looked like someone threw acid on it. The inside slide lock that makes you feel safe and keeps the maid out in the morning was ripped off the door. A 30 motel not a 60 a night place. Yuck

Stay away! I booked this hotel on Hotwire because of its 3 star rating but this hotel is actually a 1.5 star hotel at best. I felt incredibly deceived. The closet in my room smelled like cat urine, there was a large stain on the carpet in front of the door, the shower looked like it had not been cleaned in weeks and had mold on the shower curtain. The exterior of the hotel looked very run down and there was even duct tape holding glass in a door together. I am not one to complain, but this was just unacceptable. I complained to the front desk and they offered me a new room but it was worse than the first one. It smelled horribly musty and the door lock was broken. After that the hotel agreed to refund my money and I found a new hotel.

Do not stay here. The management is unprofessional. The building and everything in it is rotted and deteriorating. The pictures have to be at least 5 years old. There was mold all over the carpets, broken fixtures, no sheets on beds, 5 lamps in a king size room LITERALLY ONLY ONE LAMP HAD A LIGHT BULB. It took an hour to get someone up just so we could see the room! The women working the front desk are so rude. Breakfast was a joke. Stale cereal and nasty fruit. No good things to say, except for the fact that pool was nice… but staff doesn’t clean it so there were literally tree branches floating around and all of the pool furniture was so worn and beaten up it cut the back of your legs to sit in them. Again, do not stay here. If I could put zero stars I would.

Seemed nice at 1^st due to pool. Stay away! Rooms never cleaned. Dirty pillows. Stained towels. Rude staff. Endured for 2 days & complained to management who then called police due to complaint and had my wife kids and I forced to leave property. Filing complaint with HJ corp. STAY AWAY! Pay the extra $ 20 for a real hotel.

This is a crappy hotel with crappy management. They have a good pool though for such a crappy hotel. I came back after a long day and my room had not been cleaned. their solution was dropping off towels. thumbs down hospitality

I wish they would clean up the property. I live down the street and when you drive by it looks like a dump! Weeds and trash all over. I’ll never set foot in HJ because of this. If what you can see is so poorly maintained, think about what you can’t see, like the kitchen!

This is probably the worst hotel experience I ever had. First the room was dirty. There were long pieces of hair stuck on the bathroom walls. The carpets were heavily stained and it looked like it hadn’t been vaccummed in ages. The bed was the most uncomfortable bed and the pillows were horrible. I may have slept a total of 2 hours between all the tossing and turning. To make matters worse, when I checked my bank account when I got home, they charged me for my one night stay TWICE. I called the front desk and Silva answered and looked into my situation. She told me I had booked the room for two nights. I informed her I did not and that not only did Expedia charge me, but they also charged my card that was only approved for a $ 20 incidental hold for another nights stay. She became very aggressive basically saying I was wrong and booked it for two nights. I told her she didn’t need to have an attitude with me, especially being the mess up was on their part and not mine. She then told me «I’m from New York and this is how I talk. I don’t have an attitude» still with her nasty/​aggressive tone. I told her how I’ve worked in customer service for a decade and this is not how you treat customers and she hung me on me!!! Never in my life has someone I dealt with been more unprofessionally I was in total shock. I called back to talk to the manager and explained my situation. She was much more pleasant and said she was sorry for charging my card twice, and the way Silva dealt with the situation… Well my charges are still on my card 2 days after when both Howard Johnson and my bank said they should clear. NEVER EVER AGAIN.

Pros:
— The location is decent. Close to eating restaurants, Interstate 4 and the mall.
— The pool is gorgeous and clean.
— Staff is «mostly» friendly
— Free breakfast was decent
— Bed were comfortable
— House keeping was extremely nice when you saw them
–Rates are decent but you seriously get what you pay for.
Cons:
— Horribly outdated.
— Lots of outside lights were out, making it look even more dark/​dingy.
— We had almost zero housekeeping the entire time we were there.
— Had to take out our own trash each day — we complained and was provided with new trash bags, trash was NOT taken out.
— Bathroom is extremely tiny
— Mini fridge froze almost all our drinks, one even exploded (it was only set at medium cold and I realize this is kind of a petty compliant.)
— Pool furniture is seriously outdated and some chairs weren’t safe
— Area seemed shady at night
— We ended up having to snag our own towels/​linens from house keeping carts when front desk didn’t help
Overall, I didn’t hate it. It was close to the family we were visiting and pretty centrally located to the things we wanted to do. I was disappointed in the lack of house keeping and the lack of help from front desk when we did complain. They did send up fresh towels one night when we complained but the we only got 1 towel/​1 wash rag for 3 people. We came back several times from a day’s outing to find the linens hadn’t been changed or if they did strip the beds, they did not replace the sheets. Which, we had to call and ask for clean sheets.
During our checkout, we complained (the girl was very nice but didn’t seem surprised) but there was no apology or offer to «make it right.»
I hate complaining but I won’t be staying here again.

I come to Orlando every single year and this is by far the worst hotel I have ever stayed at. You are greeted by dirty carpet up to the entrance of the room and stained linens. The only time it is quiet is during the day. At night there are people cursing and screaming in the parking lot. When you call to let the front desk know, while they may make an effort to take care of it, they send someone to bang on your door at 12:30 AM when you have three sleeping children. The breakfast consists of stale bread and muffins, some fresh fruit, cereal, and hard-​boiled eggs that taste like chemicals. The beds are no worse than any other hotel but the pillows are misshapen and lumpy. This hotel is not worth the $ 10/​night savings from the numerous others in the area! I hope they offer me a refund of one of my nights to make up for the lack of sleep I’ve had two days in a row due to the noisy neighboring guests. In my experience there are good people who can’t afford to pay a lot for a hotel –it seems they weren’t staying here! This hotel is filled with trashy people that can’t afford anything better, as their behavior reflects! On a positive note the Wi-​Fi works just fine!

First I would like to say if you can give this place no stars or negative stars, I would give this place just that. This place I give a negative 3 stars.
Here’s why…
First night, we get into the room. It was cleaned and with the proper set of towels and sheets. But… we wanted to get up a certain time, so we wanted to set the alarm clock, but the buttons didn’t work. We called down to the desk and they brought up another one. That didn’t work. Finally, the last clock radio worked ok.
Second night, we came in and the room was not entirely clean. They made our bed but that was about what they did. They didn’t give any clean towels, wash clothes, and new soap. In fact, we were out of tissues and clean cups and they didn’t replace. So I called the front desk. They said they would send someone with some those items. They didn’t. I had to personally go down myself and get sets of towels and clean cups.
Third night, they cleaned the room during the day, but we still needed some cups and a wash cloths. Everything else was ok.
Fourth night, everything was ok except for lots of noise by the pool area and our room was just above. There were people talking on the top of their voice until 2 a.m. They were having a party and they didn’t care if they talked until the sun came up. We did call the front desk but they never did anything at all about hence the 2 a.m.
Fifth night, they were out by the pool again, but it wasn’t as bad, but we never said anything. It quiet down about 10ish.
Sixth and final night — Our room never get any housekeeping at all done that day. No new towels, no wash cloths, no cups, nothing! I had to call down to the front desk again! They sent someone up and he came up very quickly with fresh towels and stuff that should have been there in the first place.
Please don’t go to this hotel! Also, their interior is sooooo outdated! Their TVs are all old school TVs with shotty cable at best. They don’t care about their hotel at all!

I normally am able to tolerate less than perfect accommodations but this place is terrible. The room smells horrible, there were no pillows on our bed, the second door lock is broken, the bathroom is old and there is mildew in the tub. We were told that there are no other rooms to move to so we’re screwed. Also, some friends who were also staying here found blood splatters on their walls. The worst!

The staff was friendly and our room was immaculate. The breakfast was horrendous-​three slices of stale white bread, stale mini muffins and no bagles, all in filthy case. The tile floor was sticky and dirty. The counter was dirty-​sugar, trash, and the coffee/​hot water containers were covered in sticky fingerprints. There were no «to go» cups”. The outside of the hotel was shabby looking and in disrepair. I didn’t want to leave my car in the parking lot because there were «beaters» driving into the lot and «waiting» for «something or someone»…and it was not well lit.
This hotel needs some serious updating outside. I only gave it one star because of the breakfast, parking lot, and the exterior. The staff deserves 5 stars.

We’ve been on the road for 2 weeks, and this was the most comfortable bed!!! The bed was so so so nice. And they had a lovely breakfast. They don’t get 5 stars (for the price) because a lamp or two had a burnt out bulb, and the chain door lock was broken, and it needed some updating (old 5 gallon flush toilets). But that bed was lovely.

We were here for a convention. Had been here 2 years ago and it was MAYBE 2 stars then. It has gone down hill. Looks like they did a quasi remodel in the bath, with the plastic cover over the old tub. They did have microwave and fridge and coffee maker. Rooms were spacious. That is about all we can say positive.
Friends had many problems with things not working: phone, tv, hairdryer, etc. But my big problem was the BED BUGS! I caught 3 of them at midnight. My roommate was already in bed, so I got her up and went to another hotel. Mgr did not seemed too upset, but we were!
They DID take off the charges, but if our convention is there next year, we will stay somewhere else.

I’d say this place is a wobbly 2.5÷3 star type of place.
When my family and I got there, it was around 4 am on a Friday morning and check in was simple enough. My mom had rented out 3 rooms for what was supposed to be 4 people, but ended up being 3. We were in Orlando for a friend’s wedding, which was actually about an hour away, but since the hotel was free (my parents use this thing called ITex which used a point system sort of as a bartering tool), I can’t really complain too much about it.
We didn’t spend a lot of time here, as we mostly spent it at the wedding and came back here to sleep. But I do have a few videos up that you might find useful. One is of the room itself, and the other is a brief video of the breakfast bar.
Pros:
— Pretty spacious. Each room seemed to be a King suite, with a pull out couch and a King sized bed.
— The bathroom looked like it was the only semi-​updated part of the suite. The tile looked new, and the toilet was obviously a more recent installment from the past 10 years.
— Bright lighting outside in the hallways.
— Seemed like the pool has undergone a recent renovation as well, but we didn’t have time to actually swim in it – only see it from the breakfast room.
— There was a Kerig coffee machine, but no Kerig cups. So I’m not sure what the point of having an expensive machine like that in outdated rooms really does.
— There was a microwave (albeit an outdated one that was timer operated and not button operated), as well as a mini fridge. I could see that coming in handy with other people.
— There were like three locks, so I guess if you’re safety is of a concern, you’ll find that feature a bonus.
— Though the breakfast was small, at least there were things like cold cereal, donuts, and muffins for free.
Cons:
— Everything was thin. Not really threadbare, but… It took two towels to dry off, you could actually see through the toilet paper, and the sheets were thin and inadequate, so I’m glad I brought a sleeping bag.
— Two of the rooms smelled okay, but the room my brother was in smelled truly horrible. There was also an excessively outdated AC unit in that room that made a constant humming whether it was on or off. He was the best man, but he only got about an hour’s worth of sleep because of those conditions.
— Overly dated to the point where it was also almost a farce. Outdated furnishings, outdated TV unit, outdated AC, outdated shower.
— Thin walls. I could hear people urinating several times in the middle of the night. There were conference rooms across from our rooms, and I could hear people shouting and chattering in those rooms. (This is behind 2 doors and about 25 – 35 feet away).
— They may say they have things like a complimentary toothbrush/​toothpaste, but they had «just run out» when we asked from some.
— There was a clogged sink in my unit that would fill up if the water was left running for more than 30 seconds.
THE VERDICT:
This is very much a business type of hotel. If you’re staying in Orlando for business and want a cheap place to crash that is spacious with extras like a microwave or fridge, you’ll find these are pretty good accommodations. I imagine they are best for someone who also only ever sleeps here and stores food here. But if you’re coming to enjoy Orlando, I would forgo this type of place. It’s outdated, has few on-​site enjoyments (other than the pool, it seems), and just has the feel of a stuffy, traditional type of place that you would probably forget as soon as you’ve checked out.

HoJo saved our group from a horrible night at a different hotel!
We were able to book a room with two queen beds & a pull-​out (there were 6 of us) in under 10 minutes; parking was simple and abundant. Attached to this location is a bar/​club that had 30+ year old people getting rowdy and keeping lively; this did not interfere with our sleep whatsoever.
The room was spacious, the bathroom was decent sized, and while the TV worked, it was a CRT with a shaky cable connection; we had to deal with a fuzzy/​grainy TV for the evening.
Oh! We had MAJOR issues with the A/​C! Apparently, the room isn’t really equipt to handle all of the electrical outlets being used at once (we had 3 cameras being charged, 4 cell phones charging, the TV running, and a few lights.)
After we unplugged a few things, the air conditioning started to work… but only for 10 minute intervals. The hotel tried to fix it, but it was kind of a loss.
We ended up just dealing with it going in and out all night.
The free breakfast was okay. Nothing to write home about, honestly. Check-​out was fast and simple — I would recommend this location if you’re in a pinch.

I hate giving negative reviews, but this place is SO DIRTY. I understand you’re in Orlando and there is a lot of traffic in and out, but clean!!!
The staff didn’t even greet me upon arrival. He finally said «I’ll be with you in a minute» after I had been standing there for a few while he finished whatever he was doing. Granted I had been up since 3am for work and wanted to get into a comfy, clean room immediately. Didn’t happen. The room was disgusting. See pics. My door didn’t even lock. As I was going to get dinner (as far from here as possible, it’s a cluster), the door closed but did not lock. So I had to go back to the guy downstairs to ask him to switch rooms. He said they would get it to lock right away and that I could carry on. But I didn’t want to leave all my stuff in an unlocked room, seriously people?
This place is very weathered and the staff is unfriendly. There are also some seriously shady people hanging out around the hotel. The elevator doesn’t always work. The breakfast is actually decent, one redeeming quality. And pool looked ok. I would stay away though.

I hate giving bad reviews, but this place is a cesspool. We needed to visit the Orlando area for a few days, and weren’t planning on spending a lot of time in the hotel room. This is very central to the stuff we needed, and I’m not a fancy person, I just want some very basic stuff.
First, the room smelled musty. It persisted through the three days we stayed. I’m not sure why it smelled so bad, but turning on the air conditioner didn’t help.
There aren’t a lot of accessible outlets. Bring a power strip if you stay here.
The mini fridge was not plugged in, and because of the way it was situated in a wooden cabinet thing (possibly to prevent tampering) I couldn’t plug it in. The coffee machine did not work at all.
One day, the key reader stopped working. My husband ran back and forth from the office several times with new keys and none of them worked. I needed to get into the room and could not for several hours until they fixed it.
The shower was terrible. The water only gets warmish and there’s no water pressure.
I definitely saw a large cockroach in the room.
Here are some good things about the place:
The staff was generally friendly. We’d accidentally booked a smoking room via the third party provider we’d booked the room through, and they fixed it for us without too much fuss.
The ceilings are tall enough that a tall person will be okay here.
There’s free internet. But it’s 2013, free wifi is like running water. There’s a problem if you don’t have it.
There are a lot of hotels in the area. Don’t stay at this one.

I booked this location through
for 4 nights and was double charged by this actual location once we checked in. I have had to go through Hell on Earth in order for the management of this Hotel Branch to realize they wrongly charged me and put the $ 205 they owed me back in my bank account. The manager blamed everyone but themselves and I had to finally dispute this wrong charge through my bank.
This hotel, although very functional, is seemingly managed by a bunch of high school kids. They take no responsibility for their wrong actions and are incredible unhelpful.
Average amenities although our fridge and all of the ice makers on each floor did not work.
Take my advice, look for another hotel and save yourself the migraine I am currently going through because of this hell hole.

This place may not look too great from the outside, but the rooms are very clean and nice inside. Our room included a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker and coffee.
This place also gives free internet no code needed. Also the pool area is very nice and has a beautiful waterfall.
I was also able to wash my clothes in the guest laundry which I desperately needed.
They have a breakfast from 6 to 9 a.m. but I wasn’t able to go.