Holiday Inn Resort Orlando The Castle

Where do I start? This was an awful experience. First and most frustrating, is the two men who serve as "taxi drivers" for the Holiday Inn - The Castle hotel. They are using their private cars and charging people a fortune to give them a ride to somewhere. As someone coming from out of town I did not know where to go and how to get there. I tried to ask the hotel concierge, but the taxi driver interrupted her and said he would give us a ride. We thought they were official hotel transportation as they said they were. They charged us $45 for a ride to Disney and wanted $45 to return. We tried to ask what were the transportation options so we could decide which was the best rate, but they said there was no other way to get around. When we tried to ask other hotel workers and even the Universal Studios shuttle driver these taxi drivers would approach us and not allow the other people to tell us how to get around. On the third day at the hotel, we were speaking with the Universal Studio's shuttle driver and he was trying to tell us about a bus service when the taxi driver came into the hotel and said, "you want to go somewhere Where do you want to go?" We told him nowhere as we did not want to use his services. We walked away and watched as he yelled at the shuttle driver and then he followed us into the elevator. It was awful. We did find out at the Orlando convention center there is a nice trolley that you can ride for a $1 per ride or unlimited for $7 for three days. We also found out there is a bus that picks up in front of the Hilton and will take us to Disney for $2. There are also several other shuttle services that will only charge $19 for trips to the airport, Disney, and many other locations. After we had spent a lot of money on these "taxi drivers" and not being told about these other options we were frustrated. The hotel staff are completely aware of the situation and allow it to continue. When I complained about this setup the night of the incident with the Universal Studio shuttle driver and the taxi driver, the hotel staff member said they had hotel shuttle service for only $5 in the mornings and afternoons to Disney. We had asked about this and no one would tell us. I asked why no one had told us about this service and why when we asked the concierge she had not told us, and the answer I received was that she worked for Universal Studios. I was furious. Regarding the obnoxious taxi drivers, the hotel staff member said nothing. This is a set-up and I am not sure if the staff and manager of the hotel are all making money off of this, but it is awful. Second, the hotel has various amenities (Including a shuttle to Disney), but none of these were mentioned when I checked in. The staff weren't busy when I checked in as there was no other people in line and they were standing around talking, but nothing was mentioned. It wasn't until the last day that I was there that I found there was a nice patio on the roof for viewing the city. Third, I booked the hotel thinking that breakfast was included. I stayed for 6 days as I was attending a conference and would have chosen a different hotel had I known it was not included. The hotel next door was $40 less per night and offered a full breakfast. I will be reporting this to the conference I attended as they will want to be aware of this and offer other hotels with better rates, amenities and service. Fourth, Our rooms were not cleaned everyday. Once of the nice things about staying in a hotel is having your bed made. The maids came in and threw the sheets and blankets into a pile on top of the bed. In addition, the staff are rude. Everything is fine unless there is a problem. If there is one, this is when they should be at their very best, but they are not. The staff are rude. Even, when I tried to check out and move to another hotel due to me disappointment and frustration with the hotel on the second and third day, I was told if I attempted to cancel my 6-day reservation they were going to charge me a $50 cancellation fee. I can go on and on. This was an awful hotel.