4 Stars
June 18th - June 21st
Backstory
What a much need vacation! To all the parents, especially the ones without in town family raising kids, please take the time to carve out 2 or 3 nights to enjoy a childless vacation at the beach each year.
About a month prior to our vacation date, my sister in law invited us to join her in Siesta Key for her birthday. We've vacationed there before, so we took our time to begin to look for a hotel and that is when we realized we are going to have issues finding a nice affordable hotel in this post pandemic travel society! After hours and hours of searching we finally found an affordable hotel with a nice view from the room (wife wasn't too pleased about no balcony) and nice amenities but, there was one major issue...there were reviews about the mistreatment of African Americans at this hotel.
We read about 5 reviews from disgruntled travelers about their personal mistreatment or mistreatment that they witnessed first hand. This was a major concern of ours to say the least...
Hotel Review (Review starts from the moment we arrive)
Valet: The valet service was busy when we arrived but we were greeted by one of the nicest valet servicemen we've ever met, Gabriel. He greeted us with a smile and brief conversation before directing me to the front desk for check in. While checking in, Gabriel noticed something on the ground of the passenger side, it was my wife's birth control. Lol! He picked it up and asked if it belonged to my wife and begin to talk to her about his kid and family.
After I checked in, Gabriel quickly assisted in grabbing a luggage cart and helping me unload, all while sharing with us where he is from and more details about his family. His demeanor and conversation were very important because it helped set us at ease from the bad reviews we read prior to arrival.
Check in: As I entered the lobby the first thing I said to myself, "They are playing 90's R&B in here, ok." Lol. The front desk clerk who checked me in was very hospitable and courteous. He was wearing a mask and behind the clear protective barrier. One thing I noticed was they don't charge a reservation holding fee, you pay the full amount once you check in. After the easy check in process I told him thank you and he responded "My pleasure!" If you have ever eaten at Chick-Fil-A, you know those words equate to a high level of customer service.
Room: We booked the King bed Corner Suite (RM 1127) @ $391/night. The room was clean and looked exactly like it looked on the hotel website pictures. As you enter directly in front of you is the living room area and right outside the window is a nice water/city view. Then as you look to the left you have your small kitchenette area which contains a sink, microwave, mini fridge, and coffee maker. Take a couple steps forward to the work desk area which is a table, phone, and lamp. To the left is the bathroom which was very spacious. Granite countertops, double sinks, large horizonal mirror and duel head shower. Unfortunately for me, no jacuzzi tub with jets which I love but still nice.
As you come out of the bathroom and walk to the left you'll find yourself in the living room area. Couches were comfortable and enough for 2 or 3 people. Nice sized TV in the room and plenty of surfaces to place food and drinks. Also, there was a storage type area with a two drawer cabinet in the corner of this room. Good use of space IMO. What I enjoyed most about this particular room is the same thing I enjoyed about the bedroom. The large floor to ceiling windows overlooking the water and city. Plus during the daytime I love the natural lighting these windows provide.
When you walk out of that area the bedroom is on the right. As you walk in the entire forward facing wall is floor to ceiling windows. The first thing I did was move the curtains back and take in the view. The TV sits on an island attached to a swivel stand. The bed was comfortable but upon my wife's examination had a stain. We called room service and they replaced in like 10 mins no problem. I thought that was good guest service. The night stand has charging ports and a cool two-way clock, I weird like that, lol. The closet sits behind a barn yard sliding door with just enough space to store luggage.
Now, some of the things we were told:
Don't use Lysol spray, use wipes. They have sensitive sensors and the spray could set off the sensors. No way we were sitting on the couch without spraying it!
To reduce foot traffic in and out of your room , house keeping would not be routinely visiting rooms. If you need house keeping, give them a call. Not a problem. Called and service was always available and timely.
Beach: Siesta Key Beach is our most favorite beach, hands down! It was ranked the #1 beach in the US by TripAdvisor and is well known for its 99% quartz sand. You might ask what's 99% quartz sand, it basically means the sand is white and gorgeous.
Grab you a tent, bluetooth speaker, and some drinks because you can spend all day enjoying this beach. We don't really like large crowds of people (especially during covid) so we tried to keep social distance while there and didn't stay too long but long enough to enjoy ourselves.
By the way, parking is a beast! They've added 150 additional free parking spaces but you will still have to follow someone to their car or park far and hike.
Check out: It was the night before checkout and naturally my wife and I were not ready. Lol! We talked to the front counter employee about extending our stay and to our surprise not only was the room available but for a discount. It was about $100 cheaper to extend our stay for an extra day than the booking price we paid of $391. So we called the dog sitter to book an additional day with her and we stayed an additional night. Woohoo!
The next day we checked out and it was a breeze. We really wished we could have seen Gabriel, the valet from when we arrived, one final time so we could tip him but he wasn't there. My wife is a giver who keeps greeting cards in her car. So we wrote in a card and put our token of appreciation in it. I went back in and asked the front desk employee to please see that he got it. I hope he did.
Conclusion: Despite being worried about our experience based on other reviews, we decided to book any way and we could not be happier. We had a great hotel experience and we give this place an overall 4/5 stars.
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