Comfort Suites Maingate East

Cari Henderson

When you walk in the lobby it smells clean and looks nice. Arcade games are $1 each game. Walked into our spacious room. We booked a room with 5 people. They only gave us 4 towels and two wash cloths. On the second day we asked for more towels at the front desk. They said they only have three towels to give me, no wash cloths. Hardened boogers on the walls of the bathroom in our room. Shampoo and conditioner dispenser were not refilled. First night we woke up and the floor was sopping wet from the a/c. Ruined my purse that was sitting on the floor next to the bed. Also smelled like urine. Beds are not very comfortable with used and abused pillows and hand prints on the head board. The pool is open 24 hours and has no supervision. This sounds great at first until the clientele comes out to the pool smoking weed, loud speakers, alcohol, cussing and talking about highly inappropriate things. Children are running around unsupervised. Couldn’t sleep due to the loud music playing at the pool. We were on the second floor. Breakfast was mediocre. Powdered eggs, Mickey Mouse waffles, underdone sausage and yogurt. Not enough seating, had to wait for someone to get up to sit down and eat our breakfast. Front desk staff was not friendly or accommodating. They checked us in without a smile or never asked how our stay was when leaving. No house keeping during our three day stay so you have to continuously ask for more towels. House keeper was busy on her phone sitting at the end of the hallway on top of the a/c unit. I was definitely missing the hospitality piece. Had to use the stairs several times because the elevator takes forever. You definitely get what you pay for. I will not stay at this hotel again.

Charm

My friend found this hotel on a booking app. It had good reviews and offered free breakfast and free parking, which is why he booked it. When we arrived, there was already a parking fee, but since we had booked before they implemented it, they still honored our reservation and gave us free parking, which was great! Good points: The location is great. It’s about a 15-minute drive to Disney Springs and 20–30 minutes to Universal Studios, depending on traffic. It’s also a convenient location if you’re planning to visit St. Augustine. There are plenty of restaurants nearby as well. The breakfast is enough to get your day started. There isn’t much variety, but it’s decent. I also loved that coffee was available all day. The staff were friendly, and the front desk team was very helpful. We also enjoyed Old Town, which is just across from the hotel. If your room is facing that area, you might hear some noise from the roller coaster. It was fine for us, but if you’re sensitive to noise, you might want to keep that in mind. As of this writing, they offer a free shuttle to Disney and a shuttle bus to Universal for a lower fee. However, the shuttle leaves too early, so we ended up driving to Universal. Downside: Cleanliness. At first, everything seemed okay. The hallways and rooms are old, but that was fine for us since we were only using the room to sleep. However, on our first night, I saw a small cockroach. I tried to overlook it, but later, when I came out of the bathroom, I saw a large cockroach by the ceiling. I called the front desk, and they immediately sent someone to perform pest control. Since they were going to spray the entire room, I asked if there was another room available, and they accommodated our request. The second room was much better than the first, although we did find some leftover bottles underneath the air conditioning unit. On our last night, only one elevator was working, and it wasn’t fixed until the day we checked out. We ended up taking the stairs down from the fifth floor because we had already waited about 10 minutes for an empty elevator. Overall, if you’re traveling on a budget, this place is worth considering because of its convenient location.

Ricky Bustos

Comfort Suites Maingate East has a great location, within walking distance to popular spots like Old Town, Fun Spot America Theme Park, and World Food Trucks—very convenient for tourists. They also offer free parking, which is a big plus. The hotel has nice amenities including a heated pool with a jacuzzi, strong Wi-Fi, and available ice and laundry facilities. The place also felt safe and secure throughout our stay. Our room (2 queen beds with a sofa bed) was clean, spacious, and comfortable. One thing I appreciated is that they did not require a deposit, which made the check-in process easier. Breakfast is typical American hotel style—decent and filling, with standard options you’d expect. However, there are areas for improvement. Check-in took about 45 minutes, mainly because only one computer/staff station was being used despite a long line of guests. The hallway floors could be cleaner, and while the staff were friendly, the service was quite slow—even simple requests like asking for extra towels took time. The elevators can also get busy, especially during peak hours. They also offer theme park services, which is helpful for planning your visit. Overall, a solid hotel with great location and amenities, but improving efficiency and cleanliness would make the experience even better.

Brian Campbell (tbc40fsu)

Try to stay here when going to WDW. Affordable and breakfast is fine. Great location. Hotel just seems to get dingy when we stay. Room is spacious but just okay, it seems "old". Plus, room was always cleaned, but they never left fresh towels. Small inconvenience after a long day at WDW. The property is safe, just set your expectations. Found a new secret, pizza from the pool bar is sneaky good and guy was super nice.

Isaac Gunn

Avoid it if you can. The first room I received smelled like rotting pee. The second room had a leaking AC and smelled strongly of mold. The 3rd room was acceptable but still smelled old, weird, and dirty. The elevator is unbelievably slow. The breakfast was just ok, but omelette day helped. The staff was helpful in getting me new rooms multiple times. It just seems a bit old, run down, and understaffed. Especially in the deep cleaning and maintenance departments. Being able to walk to the old town area was very nice though. If you can pay $20 more for something better, do it. I have no idea how the average rating for this place is so high.