A Florida father says a disturbing discovery inside a family resort room was followed by weeks of calls, emails, and ultimately a settlement offer he refused to sign.
Mike Gross said his 3-year-old daughter found what he described as a used vibrator inside a dresser during an August stay at Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort near Walt Disney World.
The company later offered to refund the family’s stay, reimburse nearly $700 in Disney tickets, and provide another three-night stay, according to Gross. But accepting the offer meant signing a lengthy release that restricted what he could say — and who he could complain to.
Gross declined. The dispute eventually went from a private guest complaint to state consumer officials, a public review, and local television.
A Strange Present
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Gross gave his own detailed account in a ConsumerAffairs review posted Sept. 18.
He wrote that the family was staying at Orange Lake Resort for three nights with two young children. On the second night, his daughter approached him and announced that she had a present for him.
The item she handed him, Gross said, was an adult sex toy that had been left inside a dresser in the primary bedroom.
Gross said he immediately contacted the resort and was told a manager would call him back. When that did not happen, he called again later that night.
The following morning brought more waiting.
Gross wrote that he eventually spoke with a resort manager and that the dispute then stretched across several weeks while he waited for the company’s response.
The resort itself is marketed heavily toward families. Holiday Inn Club Vacations describes Orange Lake Resort as its flagship Orlando property, a 1,100-acre destination next to Walt Disney World with pools, arcades, mini golf and other family activities.
The Offer
Gross said Holiday Inn Club Vacations eventually offered to refund the family’s lodging costs, reimburse $699.72 in Disney tickets and provide a complimentary three-night stay.
He estimated the cash reimbursement at roughly $1,300.
It was the paperwork attached to the offer that ended the possibility of a settlement.
News 6 reviewed the proposed agreement and reported that it included language barring Gross from contacting federal, state or local government agencies, quasi-government agencies and private consumer-protection organizations such as the Better Business Bureau about the incident.
Another provision imposed broad restrictions on disparaging the company through television and social media.
The agreement also stated that the settlement would not amount to an admission of liability by Holiday Inn Club Vacations.
Gross did not sign it.
Outside The Resort
Instead, Gross said he filed complaints with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Better Business Bureau.
That government-agency provision is notable because Florida expressly gives consumers channels for lodging and business complaints.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services accepts complaints against businesses, even when another agency regulates that industry. Its consumer division can contact the business and may refer a complaint elsewhere when another agency has jurisdiction.
Florida’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants, part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, separately identifies “room cleanliness and condition” as an issue it can enforce at transient lodging establishments.
State guidance says public lodging operators must provide adequate time to properly clean and sanitize guest rooms before making them available to new occupants.
There is no indication in the available reporting that Florida regulators have found Orange Lake Resort in violation of Gross’ complaint.
News 6 obtained a written response Holiday Inn Club Vacations sent to FDACS. The company said cleanliness and the appropriate handling of guest concerns were important to it and expressed regret that Gross remained dissatisfied.
Holiday Inn Club Vacations separately told the station that it had remained in contact with Gross and had addressed the matter with the appropriate resort teams.
Readers Push Back
Reaction beneath the News 6 video was hardly unanimous.
Several commenters argued that Gross had turned a housekeeping mistake into something larger than necessary, pointing out that his daughter apparently did not understand what she had found and questioning why the incident should ruin an entire trip.
Others focused less on the discovery itself than on whether a room marketed to families should have been turned over to new guests with an intimate item still inside a dresser.
Those comments establish only how viewers reacted, not what happened inside the room.
Gross himself acknowledged in his ConsumerAffairs post that he did not know how the item was missed or whether the problem went beyond one cleaning failure.
His larger complaint was what happened afterward.
Holiday Inn Club Vacations says it addressed the matter internally. Gross rejected its reimbursement and future stay rather than accept the accompanying release.