Before Steven Barlow returned his rental car at Orlando International Airport in December, he did what most rental customers do who are trying to avoid a fuel surcharge: He found a gas station and topped off his tank.
ORLANDO
When I lived in the Florida Keys, an area heavily dependent on tourism, I remember seeing a bumper sticker a time or two: “If it’s tourist season,” it asked, “why can’t we shoot them?”
When Mike Ray checks into a timeshare hotel in Kissimmee, Fla., he’s told he has no reservation. He goes to another property, but then finds out that he’s been charged for the room anyway. Now the reservation service refuses to refund the room. Is it allowed to do that?
Virgin America begins service to Orlando tomorrow. Remarkably, the three-year-old airline has stayed off my radar, when it comes to customer complaints. I asked David Cush, Virgin America’s chief executive, how he’s done it.
It’s a waterpark. No, it’s a hotel. No, it’s both.
Leu Gardens is one of Central Florida’s cultural centers. At this 50-acre enclave near downtown Orlando, we found America’s largest Camellia collection outside California, a museum, and several impressive botanical gardens, including a butterfly garden.
For the same reason people go to a car race (to see a fiery crash) or a hockey game (bare-knuckled fight) Shamu Stadium was packed to the gills for the 12:30 p.m. show Sunday, on Shamu’s second day on the job after the unfortunate incident in which he killed his trainer. Everyone wanted to see if something would happen.
Maybe there’s something in the water in Orlando, but the Transportation Security Administration just can’t stay out of the news there.
When I asked my kids if they wanted to see ICE at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, I heard a groan from the back of the car.
Terry Capps finds a $28 a night room rate at a Westin hotel in Orlando. Turns out the hotel made a mistake, and that the real price is $289 a night. What now? Should the resort honor the original price or can it change the rate and force Capps to pay?
Can you tell that half of this hotel is under renovation? Neither can I. You have to walk to the other side to see the scaffolding.
Conventional wisdom says that during a recession, you cut, cut, cut your way back to profitability. That includes slashing resources devoted to customer service. But some hotels are going against the grain.
Heads up! Orlando’s theme parks are preparing for their Independence Day fireworks extravaganzas. Pyrotechnics expert Andrew Hage checks the connections of several fireworks at the top of SeaWorld’s 400-foot-tall Sky Tower.
Golf and pirates! Who can imagine a better combination? Not Aren, Iden or Erysse, who tried their hand at minigolf today.
I stayed at the Hyatt Place in Lake Mary, Fla., this weekend, one of the “new build” Hyatt Place properties that opened in January. Sharp looking hotel, isn’t it? That’s the first thing I liked about it.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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