CLC Encantada Resort Florida

I enjoyed my stay at Encantada with no problems but unfortunately, I will not give a good review. 3 weeks after I left I got a charge on my credit card from the resort. I called to inquire about the charge and was told that it was for taxes that they didn’t bill me for.

Apparently, a glitch in the system was the reason. I bought a voucher for the resort and asked twice, once at reservation and again when i checked in, are there any other charges. I was told NO both times. Never was I told that taxes were additional nor was I ever given a receipt. I’m disappointed that I was called and informed about this charge before just billing my credit card.

Because of this, I will not be staying at this resort again.

Some family and I recently stayed at Encantada Resort, within the past month.

We did not have a car while we were out here and anticipated riding the Maingate Shuttle to the theme parks for the convenience and because we were not familiar with Orlando and it was our 1st time ever in the U.S. Oh, wow what a let down that was! The times were inconvenient for us. We were picked up 9am to go to Universal Studios.

There was no one else on the shuttle with us, and since it was only a few of us, the driver told us that he was not making any money on this run with us only because there was just a few of us. I found that quite awkward that they would tell a guest that. It was quite also a hot day and i don’t think the air conditioning was working on board as well, which was quite uncomfortable.

When we were working out pick up times with the driver, he told us it has to be a specific time already set on the shuttle sheet. We didn’t want the time on the sheet because we had a dinner reservation at a restaurant at City Walk, and asked if they could get us at a different time.

We knew we may have to pay a little extra for this and was fine with it, but he said just jump in one of those Mears taxis to get back in a rude kind of tone. That kinda sucks for us considering the shuttle is supposed to be a round trip price. Well, we had a nice dinner and all and got in one of these Mears Taxis and the driver had no idea where Encantada was at, and charged us about 55$ to get back. Remind you that we already paid for a round trip with the shuttle already which was not a help to us at all!!! Next time we should maybe call a taxi and we can go to and from places as we wish and when we want, not when this company tells me to, there is more flexibility and freedom that way.

We took a CLC (Club La Costa) timeshare tour on the property when we here. It was a pretty good deal they offered and the numbers made sense when they were breaking it down for us since we like to take a holiday 2 to 4 weeks a year. Now don’t get me wrong, when they showed us the units, they were beautiful, very spacious and fully furnished with everything we would need, and the amenities on the property were great as well.

Unfortunately, we respectfully had to decline the salesperson offer. I didn’t want to have to tell them why at the moment. But it was because of the shuttle system to the parks they had, and how it ruined our holiday. We asked the resort to call us a taxi company to go out for dinner one evening and they were great, we loved them, I wished we actually had them throughout our entire stay here.

So all in all our trip seemed more like a headache rather than a Holiday because of the transportation. Although the location is peaceful and quiet. Room was clean. It would be nice if the resort pool and bar were open later. I would probably not recommend this resort to my friends, pretty much due to the transportation shuttle they have. If you ride the shuttle, be prepared for a very inconvenient holiday

We stayed at Encantada from 21st July to 3rd August, apartment 3021 Bird of paradise. I travelled with my husband and 2 teenagers. The apartment itself was lovely, spacious, clean and with everything we needed

Minor criticisms would be no DVDs to rent as mentioned in the welcome pack provided, the receptionist looked at me as if I was an idiot when we went to the clubhouse to rent a dvd for the evening! A small shop on site would have been an advantage, and the pool area was not always as clean as it could have been – my daughter noticed fingernails on a table one day and they were still there several days later!!

Our main problems occurred during the second week of our stay. By that time the building work that was going on next to and behind our apartment was advancing; it was only at ground level during our first week. We were awoken several mornings before 7am by huge trucks outside, loud beeping, machinery and loud shouting by the builders. After complaining we were assured the building work would start later. This was the case for one morning, but the morning after we were awoken before 7am again. I am aware that several guests had made complaints about this. Our road was also blocked by wood at one point and we were unable to park our car near our apartment.

The hot tub on the patio was wonderful, but the close proximity of the building work meant that our experience was completely spoiled – how could we relax in the hot tub with sawing, nail guns, articulated trucks, etc. making a deafening noise in the background? We could barely hear ourselves speak.

I requested to speak to the manager. The receptionist told me that late rooms who we booked with should have told us about the building work. Laterooms stated that our contract was direct with Encantada. On checking Encantada’s website I found no mention of the building works either!

My message to speak to the manager was not passed on and I had to request a meeting again. This time I met with Laura Sherman the manager, who apologised for the noise and disruption but said there was nothing she could do. I felt that our apartment should not have been let with building work going on so close, but she said that was not an option for the company.

All in all our stay at Encantada was a poor experience. I am sure that when the work is complete the resort will be very good, but from the map of the resort, it appears that there is still a lot of work to do, and I would not recommend staying there in the near future.

We stayed at the Encantada Resort over Thanksgiving week.

At first, we were pleased with the price and size of the unit. We had 6 adults and 2 children in a 4 bedroom unit. We were not pleased at all that we had to call several times to get the heat turned on at our pool and it was never done. I was told that since it was Thanksgiving weekend that the management was not around. Then our unit was broken into.

We came back from the parks one night to find our front door kicked in and many of our items stolen, We were very upset and didn’t want to stay there that night. Again several messages were left for the Encantada management who didn’t call back until the next day and told me that it was their answering service’s fault not theirs. There is no security there at all. There is a gate but there were construction workers & others in and out all the time.

Next time, I will pay the extra money and stay at a Disney resort.

As the Agent to whom the management refer on my client’s review below (RemyFrost), the agency has not gone bankrupt, we had news overnight that one of our many suppliers went into administration on Friday. We immediately re-protected all of our clients’ hotels all over the world by taking over the existing bookings and paying directly.

However when we got to CLC Encantada we were refused the opportunity to do this, they seemed happier from a business perspective to cancel the booking without ever having given the agency or client a chance to pay them directly.

They used the word ‘tough’ in their correspondence with us, we have calls and emails with this information from them.

They make it sound like they had no choice but countless other hotels were more than happy to take care of their clients and give them a chance to keep their holidays as booked. We had payment ready for them.

Only CLC Encantada know the reason why they felt this was the most professional way to deal with their clients.

My family of eight arrived after travelling over 4000 miles from Ireland (not to mention 3 years of saving and planning for our holiday of a lifetime). Every detail planned and researched to a fine art. Nothing could have prepared us for being met at the Encantada reception with ‘your room had a leak and we have no other 3 bedrooms available for you.’

You can either cram your 8 people into a tiny 2 bedroom property for 4 nights of your holiday until a 3 room becomes available or move to our sister property the regal oaks.

We had never heard of the other property and were obviously devastated by this news as we had our hearts set on the 3 year plans of our holiday of a lifetime. The receptionist said there was nothing else he could do but send us packing as he was the only one working at that time.

Luckily we had a rental car, other guests would have been left stranded in the middle of the night/nowhere with a tired family and crying 18 month old baby, never mind the disgruntled in laws.

We moved to the other property by our own means and own sat nav. We were so tired and angry that we set up home in this sister property the ‘regal oaks’ with the promise we could return when the Encantada sorted us with a 3 bedroom townhouse.

After the 4 days we never heard from ‘Jonathan’ and to be honest we didn’t want to. The regal oaks chain from CLC was much better than the Encantada. We were right beside the old town, 5 minutes walk, and the pool had watersides for the kids. Compared to the Encantada which was in the middle of nowhere with nothing beside it.
This was a blessing in disguise, beware the Encantada, poor customer service leaving us stranded in our time of need and after paying so much money.

Book the regal oaks for a much better time and much better staff. Regal Oaks saved our holiday. 3 weeks on we’re still here and would NEVER book with the Encantada again.

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