Cheap, but lots of problems
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 08/07/09
We picked this place because we got a great rate and most of the online reviews were fairly good. I'm afraid our experience didn't live up to that of most of the others who reviewed this place.
To start with the positive, the staff was friendly and helpful on the whole, and the room was newly decorated and clean, really decent for the rate we got. However, the rest of it was really disappointing.
When we arrived, we showed the young lady at the desk our Orbitz.com confirmation, and she promptly told us that we shouldn't have booked through Orbitz. She said we would have gotten a better rate by calling them directly, although the rate on their own website was considerably higher than the one on Orbitz. I know she was trying to be helpful, but I wondered why they were listed with Orbitz, if this is the way they feel about Orbitz reservations. She did give us a confirmation so we could arrange with Orbitz to refund the difference between the rate we got, and the rate we would have gotten had we called them directly. It turns out she was correct, though, that we shouldn't have booked on Orbitz, because it created ongoing confusion for them throughout our stay: they knew someone was in our room, but couldn't figure out that it was us, because we weren't "in their system."
After check-in, we were extremely disappointed to find two things: first, the Baybreeze Restaurant, which had very good online reviews, had recently changed to "A Taste of India," which is fine, unless you don't enjoy Indian cuisine. (They did have a decent complimentary breakfast bar, though.) Also, more importantly, the pool was closed. The pool in a Florida hotel-- in late June-- was closed! Not only was it closed, but the water was green, which is reflected in the cleanliness rating of this review. (I can't complain about the cleanliness of the room.) Another thing that I wasn't going to nit-pick over but that I will go ahead and mention, is that the name "Bayview" is misleading: the facility does overlook the bay, but the rooms don't, and the "bay view" is a very obstructed one, even from the lobby area that does overlook the bay. This was also disappointing, since this place is located quite a distance from the beach, and part of the reason we had chosen it is that we thought we would have a little bit of a water view, if only from the lobby or restaurant.
The day after check-in, we had been at the beach, and came back to our room for a shower before dinner. There was no hot water! When we called the front desk to check on this, we were told the boiler had gone out, and they hoped to have it operating by the following day. So we were forced to take ice-cold showers after a day in the sun and the sand. By the following afternoon, they did have the hot water restored.
A couple of other things that really didn't affect us personally, but that I feel compelled to share were: 1) While we were there, a potential customer called to inquire about bringing a pet. The person answering the phone told the customer that they don't allow pets, even though their website said that pets are allowed, because they "just hadn't taken time to update their website yet." As a pet owner myself who prefers to travel with my pets most of the time, I think it's very important for facilities to make their pet policies clear, online and elsewhere. 2) The bar was not always staffed, even during its posted hours. The staff would offer to go into the bar and serve you if you wanted a drink, but they weren't necessarily on site waiting to serve.
The whole time we were there, it was obvious the place was in a management transition. I hope that once that transition is completed, things will improve, but I can't say that I would take the chance of staying there again, at least not any time soon. If I had to it to do over again, we would have spent a little more money and stayed somewhere else.
