Do not stay at this hotel
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 8/15/07
My family and I have been coming to New Smyrna Beach for over 10 years, and finally decided to stay in the area for a weekend. We chose this hotel after two others with a comparable price and location were unavailable, AND after reading the glowing reviews that other guests/patrons had written. To our disappointment, the hotel and the management were not at all what we expected. The pool, which is to the side of the one-building property, was dirty and looked like it hadn't been cleaned/filtered in at least a month. Additionally, when you ran out of towels, either poolside or within your room (and we were in a suite (2 rooms) that accommodates 6), you had to go to the front desk to "exchange" them. And when you did approach the staff, they were not very friendly or helpful. The hotel appears to be pretty old (circa 1970's?) and the rooms we rented were not very clean, and as another reviewer mentioned, the bathroom was very small, and there is no A/C vent in the master bedroom, which meant you had to crank down the air in the adjacent living room just to sleep without sweating. But the WORST part of staying at the hotel was that you needed a key to open the gate to get TO the beach from the hotel. I understand why this is a legitimate method of keeping non-patrons off the property who come IN from the beach, but it was such a hassle to carry your beach towels, umbrellas, etc, all the way to the gate, only to realize you need a key to get OUT, which is a real problem when you are traveling with more than one person - because if you left/forgot your key with the rest of your party on the beach, you would not be able to get to them unless some other hotelgoer with a key showed up from EITHER side. We were locked IN several times which was pretty bizarre. Overall, as another reviewer put it, the only good thing about the Coastal Waters Inn was how cheap the rental was. But I would NEVER recommend this property to a family who values cleanliness and good service over price.