Palm Beach Ocean Front Inn, Palm Beach

Dirty, broken down pieces of furniture, rusted shower and tiles, dirty blinds on window no drapes or curtains, the towels were gray and dingy, scratchy and not even bath size, and the smell of bleach was so overpowering - burned my throat. We stayed 5 minutes and had to pay one night - very, very, bad. Check their website, see the beautiful beach - the beach was dirty by their area and it looked like the stairs to the beach weren't safe. Sorry but this was the worst case of false advertising and their website claims Expedia rates them the #2 place to stay. I don't think so. Please beware.

Bath towels must be a hot commodity at this hotel, as we had to ask every day for towels. The room could have been cleaned better. My friend and I were wondering if perhaps the maids cleaned the bathroom with any cleansers, as if they did, they would have noticed that we had no towels. Also, the sheets and comforter had some sort of orange stains on them, which we found pretty gross. The hotel's food is extremely expensive, as are the beverages. $10.00 for one drink is ridiculous, as is $11.95 for a 2 egg omelet + $.75 for each extra item you want in your omelet! One evening while having dinner, we ordered steam mussels, which also were very expensive. My friend had a total of 10 mussels, 4 of which did not open. When we commented to the waiter (a very bitter man) that 4 of the mussels didn't open, he shrugged his shoulders, grabbed the empty bowl and walked away. He never came back during our meal to ask us how our food was or if we wanted anything else. Needless to say, we felt that if we weren't important enough to be asked how our food was or if we needed anything else, he wasn't important enough to be left a tip. The other waiter we had, Michael, was absolutely wonderful. Michael was an excellent waiter, and seemed to care about his customers. The evening waiter, who seemed much older, could learn something from Michael! Although the hotel had a sign posted indicating that only guests of the hotel could use the pool facilities, there were a lot of people who were dropped off in the parking lot and entered the pool. Although we could care less who enters their pool, we did find it annoying that we were paying guests at the hotel and that non-paying people were using chaise lounges which we should have been entitled to. Also, we never once saw anyone cleaning the pool. One morning we found glass in and around the pool area. The pool water was also cloudy. We got the hotel rooms at a good price, considering what the other hotel was going for in the area. So we can't complaint about the price. Be forewarned, however, that taxi rides are not cheap and there is not much around the area to go to. If you want to go somewhere for dinner, plan on spending approximately $200.00, $120.00 of which would be for the taxi ride. Ask the owner for Guzman as your taxi driver. He is a sweet guy who won't rip you off. Also, breakfast IS NOT included, as their website suggests. And be prepared to spend $8.00 per day for, what the owners call, a resort fee, which you will have to pay when you check out.

On my way to the hotel, I had purchased a bottle of wine and two glasses to toast my father's arrival and his retirement. We proceeded to find a couple of chaise lounge chairs on the pool deck overlooking the beach. As will become important later in the story, the entire pool-deck area is ajoined to the hotel restaurant bar & grill. At any rate, we poured our wine, raised the glasses and prepared to celebrate his completing nearly 40 years of service as a physician to the mentally ill. At that point, we were immediately approached by (a polite) member of the wait staff, who told us that they had a policy against allowing guests to bring their own alcoholic beverages to pool area, due to insurance concerns. As a native, I knew this was complete bunk. I cannot count the number of dinners, parties, galas, private and public functions I have attended in South Florida that involved hotels, glassware, and pools. I likewise pointed out that there in fact appeared to be half a dozen OTHER guests sitting around the pool... all with glass wear and alcohol. She confided to us that the real reason was that the restaurant space was leased from the hotel, and did not want competition for the bar. I said, "So, we are paying for a room here for three nights...and we cannot drink wine by the pool. But those other people, many of whom aren't even guests of the hotel... it's fine for them to do so, since they purchased it from the bar?" The waitress as I said, was quite kind. She clearly understoof our point. Then said something surprising. She said, "Look the owners of this restaurant are complete assholes, and I suspect tonight will be my last night here, for exactly this kind of reason. We have very little repeat business." I said, "Well, perhaps you can tell them to just throw us out, then?" I was halfway joking with her. At any rate, the waitress said, "I would LOVE to tell the manager to come over here and talk to you himself about this. It's a completely asinine policy and I feel horrible everytime he makes me interrupt people. I’ll ask him to come over, Is that okay with you?" The manager came over to inform us about the unique insurance policy issue, which evidently allowed bar guests to have glass by the pool, but not hotel guests. I told him this was a very unusual policy. He then admitted it was because the bar did not want competition. My father, who is 70 and normally rather laid back, said to the fellow, "I paid for my room here, I'm giving this hotel my business, and i do not think I should receive less use of the facilities than your bar customers." The manager, continued his spiel, shoeing no signs of sympathy, common sense, or customer service. The real issue of course, is how he handled the whole situation. In my opinion, he had several options here. 1) He could have let the issue slide. We were not rowdy teenagers, and we were having a quiet glass of wine. 2) He could have come up to us and, in a friendly and respectful voice, said, "Hey, we've got this silly rule here that I have to enforce. I hate to interrupt you, and you're already here and you didn't know about, so it's okay. But for the rest of your trip, we'd kindly ask you to not bring your drinks to the pool. Is that okay? And can I get you a complimentary slice of key lime pie for the inconvenience?" 3) Or, he could have abruptly walked up and said in a rigid voice, "I understand there's a problem here", and then proceed to argue with us, guests, in front of other guests, all in the general tone of voice of a highschool principal lecturing truant students. And instead of diffusing a tense situation, he actually added fuel to the fire. But in an attempt to no further color my father's vacation and day, I decided to bite my tongue and let it go. So, read this story and make your own assessment about whether or not the Palm Beach Ocean Front Inn is the kind of place you'd like to patronize.

This was the worse place I have ever stayed in. I didn't want to walk on the floor without my shoes. If my reservation was not already paid through a travel company I would have demanded my money back. Very dirty! The stairs were broke so there was no beach access. They didn't appear to be in a hurry to fix them either. The food at Tides was not that great either but sitting on the water was nice. The waitress was very friendly.

The Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn was a good value. For a little over $120 per night in the summer, it's a great value. You are on the beach, it's a quiet area and you are not too far down the road from West Palm Beach. The restaurant and bar is very expensive, but there are plenty of neat places nearby to eat and have cocktails. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We had a plumbing issue and it was resolved immediately. For the value, I would certainly stay again!

I checked myself, my wife, and my young child in on May 2nd 2008 in a hurry as I was late for work. I felt terribly guilty for forcing them to stay there while I was gone as it was readily obvious that any postive reviews of this place must have been posted with someone that has a vested interest in the livelihood of the hotel. My wife and I were in total dismay over everything from the filthy premises to the atmosphere (she did not feel safe). To be specific, the door knob to our room was FALLING OFF (!!), the towels were dirty, the floor was disgusting and had probably never been cleaned, the smell was aweful, and so much for an ocean front room as the view was nothing more than that of a parking lot. The advertised ocean front rooms are a lie in most cases as there is a steep hill at the end of the parking lot blocking most views of everything. Upon returning from work, I immediately checked out and was happy to see the place in my rearview mirror. I placed calls regulary to the manager, but the front desk would only give me her voicemail. It took her nearly 10 days to finally call me back only to completely dismiss my concerns. I travel on a regular basis and am not that picky as to where I stay, but this place was a nightmare.

The memories of my stay linger. I wake up shaking and with a cold sweat. The mold. The smell. The courage required to take a shower. The twilight zone on Palm Beach.

It made us all sick. Mold. Dampness. Mildew. Just hit yourself in the head with a brick. It would be better for you. I wanted to leave five minutes in. Come here if you hate yourself.

If location and low cost are more important to you than luxury, this is your place. It is very bare bones, old, extremely noisy day and night, and has very limited parking due to people who drive to the bar/restaurant. On the plus side, it is very cheap by any standard, but especially for Palm Beach. It was clean, if you don't look too closely at anything. The bedding was fresh everyday, as were the towels (kinda thin and old, though). We did NOT have an updated room, and it was very spartan. You can only get a few TV stations....but you will need to have the TV on at night to drown out the noise from the neighbors - you can hear every word - talking/music/tv. The staff is very pleasant, both at the restaurant and the front desk. I like to believe that they are trying to improve this hotel, and I hope they are successful. I would be willing to pay more if they fixed it up.

The place was very nicely located right on the beach as well as the bar and restaurant. The staff was very helpful and friendly. Would defintely go back again.