It wasn’t all bad, though. In fairness, I’ll cover the good points about this hotel first.
The Good
Location
- This Comfort Inn is located a short drive from the Ft. Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and offers a free shuttle running every hour on the hour.
- The hotel is located just a short distance from the Port Everglades cruise ship port and has regular shuttle service.
- Dania Beach is within a ten minute drive.
- Shopping and restaurants are located next door and within walking distance.
- The hotel is located at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Stirling Road. To get anywhere by car is very convenient from this location.
- Alligator Alley is within a 15-20 minute drive via Interstate 95 and I595. This is your best bang for buck to see the famous American Alligators of the Florida Everglades.
- The BB&T Center is a short drive away via Interstate 95. The BB&T is home to the NHL’s Florida Panthers and the NBA’s Miami Heat. This is also a busy venue for first rate concerts.
- Miami is about a half hour’s drive south.
The pool / bar / restaurant area of the hotel is an outdoor oasis for travellers relaxing before or after a Caribbean cruise. The staff is thin but quite friendly. The brightest lights on the roster are the bartender and the front desk people.
The Bad
- (see pictures) The carpets are hideously filthy! Our eight month old is not walking yet and does all his self-propelled travelling by crawling. When we first noticed it, we thought he had severe bruising on his knees and feet. Turns out, it was dirt from the carpet. We stayed three nights before our cruise and two nights after, staying in two different rooms. We visited friends in a suite on the first floor. The results were always the same. For those of us who walked, the soles of our bare feet were also blackened.
- The elevators are a joke. This is just a three storey walkup and the stairs are easily accessible for able bodied patrons. However, this is Florida. There is a high percentage of the clientelle over the age of 60. It is near the cruise port. People cruising are carrying a lot of luggage. Elevators are necessary when transporting several suit cases. There are only two elevators. One of the elevators was not operating for the whole time we were there. The other was often tied up as a service elevator for the cleaning staff.
- The on-site car rental company (not a major chain) is a rip-off. There is a major car rental centre at FLL. You can get to the rental centre via the free shuttle from the hotel. The same vehicle that would have cost $55 per day at the hotel was just $30 per day at Dollar Rent-A-Car at the airport.
- Although I added the pool to the ‘Good’ side, it’s also on the bad side. The pool is too tight with the bar and restaurant area. Consequently, there is constantly garbage floating in the water.
And then there was the incident with the grounds crew…
We were loading up the rental on the final morning at the hotel. After taking several trips down the stairs with luggage from our second floor room because the elevator was unavailable, we came to the final stage of getting the baby in the car.
The whole time, there were several members of a grounds crew using leaf blowers to blow non-existant leaves off the ground. While strapping the baby into the vehicle, the crew didn’t impede their process one bit. They continued to blow dust and grit into the air, in our eyes and onto the vehicle. All the time with smug looks on their faces.
Would we stay there again?
No. For $100 to $150 per night (our price changed with the day. If there were cruises leaving the port the next morning, the prices were jacked) we’ll take our chances somewhere else.
