Postcard Inn Ascend Hotel Collection Member, St Pete Beach

I'm a St. Pete local. I had heard mixed reviews on staying at The Postcard but because of the location and decor I wanted see for myself. The place is beautiful. surely it can't be bad, right? Wrong. We stayed over memorial Day weekend hoping for some fun in the sun. What we got was disappointing. Upon our arrival the place was a mad house. The parking lot was a mess. They had one lone parking attendant who was obviously over whelmed who simply told us to do our best to get to the check in area. We had reserved three rooms on one card(this comes into play after checkout.), one king for myself and my boyfriend, and two double rooms for the rest of our party. They had a mix up and gave our king room to four of my girlfriends. Imagine their surprise when the walk in and can only assume that on a fully booked holiday they may be sleeping four to one bed. At the desk we finally get this straightened out and they give us our parking passes to get to the gated parking area. They give you a swipe card to raise the gate to get in. I swipe the card, the gate raises, I start to drive through, and when my car is half way, smash! smash!, the gate starts playing whack-a mole with my car!! My boyfriend lifts the gate pole off of my car and I get through, park, and go to the front desk to alert them of the incident. I'm polite, things happen, these people are hospitality professionals. Things will be fine, right? So the manager on duty reviews the security footage, and recognizes this was an issue at their fault. He says sometimes someone walking by with keys in their pocket can trigger the gate sensor and cause the gate to close. He makes his apologies, we exchange cards, and he promises to make it right. So we go to our room and start to settle in. The manager comes to our room 15-20 minutes later says that they will either give us $100 off our room or we can file a claim. After seeing the two dents resulting from the whack-a-mole parking pole I know it will take more than $100 to fix, so opt to file a claim. We've got that pretty much squared away for what can be done for a holiday so my boyfriend and I decide to over look the rocky start and try enjoy the rest of the stay. In efforts to not make this too lengthy, I'll list. - The room decor is fun and beachy. The bathrooms have not been updated and are old and small. But they do stock Rusk travel shampoo and such which is nice. - We had an outside room. These aren't really worth it. The ambiance is the courtyard which is beautiful. You get none of that in the outer facing rooms. - Beds are comfy, rooms are clean. Rooms are also noisy. If you are a light sleeper, this is not the place for you. I can sleep through anything so it wasn't a problem for me. However, I did get to hear every conversation that passed our door. - For a holiday weekend, they were sorely unprepared. Under stocked and under staffed. They ran out of food and closed the snack-bar for the late morning/ early afternoon. The alcohol selection had been depleted to very few choices. And the bartenders seemed stressed, rude, and ready to snap. I used to be a server so I cut a lot of slack here considering what they were working with. - Woody's, the on site BBQ restaurant, was delicious. We had the pulled pork sandwiches. they were very good. After check out, where 3 rooms were paid by 3 separate cards, we discover that they had all been billed to the card used to reserve the rooms as well. This took some considerable effort on behalf of the card holder to get resolved. The insurance company for Postcard did not contact me as promised. however, I did receive a letter today from them denying my claim. I do intend to contact and hopefully come to a more amicable resolution with Postcard. Oh, they did give us a late check out which was little consolation. Bottom line- Cute place with a lot of potential, but I would be hesitant to recommend. I think the issue seems more with the management than the hotel itself.

If you like rooms that smell like mildew, music that blares until 2AM daily, sleeping with ear plugs in, windows that are screwed shut, one bar of soap per visit, room keys that rarely work consistently then this is the place for you. We were a group of 5 women, age 55-65 who stupidly went on good reviews from the Today show and Travel &Leisure magazine and completely forgot that it was spring break - this obviously was not the place for us. And the rooms were not inexpensive - we were very relieved when we could finally check out. The food at the restaurant was average at best but the staff was friendly.

We're local to the area and stayed because there was an event going on. Nice courtyard area, nice pool, great restaurant and decent bar by the beach. However, we stayed on the 2nd floor and there was no electrical outlets in the bathroom or anywhere by a mirror...ladies, you can imagine how inconvenient that is. Our friend who also stayed also had no outlet in his bathroom. When I told the front desk at checkout, she talked like I was crazy - they all have 1, right under the towel rack--mmmhmmm. The A/C unit is shared so you can't control your own room temp and it was 65 degrees. Front desk said to close our vents. The shower frequently spits out all hot water on you without warning!! Bed is okay - but not real soft. There's some things that are cheaply put together, like the loose cover behind the bathroom faucet and the flimsy towel hooks. The bathroom has a rack under the sink since there's no counter space. If it was $70-90/night - I could say go ahead - but I expect more for $145. I want to see them do well, since we play volleyball right there, but they've also started charging us $10 to park every Saturday. Can definitely tell it's owned by investors and not locals even though it's a better place than it was before renovations.

I stayed here with my family over Christmas, and was very disappointed. The hotel website shows beautiful newly remodeled rooms and fabulous beach views. The reality is that this was a sleazy Travelodge not long ago, and all it has now is a new coat of paint. The hotel has been nicely redecorated, but far less money was spent fixing the building. There are loudspeakers in the courtyard that pump musak throughout the hotel from 10am to midnight. There aren't coffee pots in the rooms, and the free breakfast is only cereal and muffins. Our door didn't latch properly and the alarm clock was broken. But most disappointing to my son was that the pool was unusable. We asked repeatedly for the front desk to turn up the heater on the pool, but we were told that the pool was heated to 70 degrees and they didn't need to make it any warmer. My advice to management is the following: 1. Install pressure valves on the hot water system. In the shower I was scalded whenever anyone in the hotel flushed a toilet. 2. Put in individual heat/ac units in each room. There is a thermostat on the wall now, but it is only for decoration. Hotel maintenance decides weather the main AC or heat is on. 3. Put one or two microwaves in the lobby breakfast area. There are mini fridges in may rooms, but no microwave. 4. Remove the loudspeakers next to the rooms. They're ok out by the pool, but annoying in the courtyard. 5. Add a few more ice machines. Ice is only available on the 2nd floor, and there is no elevator. 6. Heat the pool to at least 80, and add a hot tub. Snowbirds expect to swim when they come to Florida.

I have stayed here twice-once without kids and once with the kids. The rooms were outdated but were clean. The beach, tiki bar, staff, and pool were all great. Reasonable rates especially since it was right on the beach. I had a fridge in our room the first time when we were upstairs next to the parking lot but not in the courtyard inside. This wasn't a big deal though as there was a convenience store across the street to pick up a cooler. I will definately stay there again...after all who goes to the beach to stay in the hotel room the whole time?

You can't expect a whole lot from a budget hotel. The lobby is a time warp to the 1980s. Definitely no remodeling since then. Carpet in my room had 2 rips in it, toilet seat screw was loose and fell off outright, and there was a spider in the tub when we first went into the bathroom. I left it alone and I don't know where it went. Cable TV selection is so-so. Maybe 20 channels. Shower water pressure not the best, either. Walls aren't the thickest and the racket at the Swigwam/Snackwam outdoor bar/grill by the pool (live cover band) on Fri and Sat night until 11pm is annoying. OK, it wasn't quite as annoying when they played Pink Floyd, but still.. Bring earplugs to sleep. The hotel does, though, have great central air conditioning. If you sleep in, don't expect room cleaning, the staff seem to work only part time and leave about noon. If it wasn't for the proximity to the beach, I really don't think there would be a reason to rent a room here. Staff are so-so depending on who you're dealing with, some clearly don't give a damn. I emailed after I left trying to see if they found a missing MiniDV tape I lost, and I got no response. That wasn't nice. Personally, I'm not going to be staying here again. It's not that the place is horrible, its just I'd at least hoped there wouldn't be ripped/broken things in the room and they could answer a query about a lost tape. The sheets and pillowcases are very thin although the spreads look new and nice. St Pete Beach looks a bit economically depressed immediately around this hotel, several closed storefronts and an unusual number of tattoo parlors. There are other affordable beachfront hotels in Pinellas that I'll consider trying in the future. Where the hotel property ends, the beach begins, and that is just awesome. Sunsets are spectactular and you can go shelling right there on the beach. The Gulf here is very shallow, 1 or 2 feet at most. The inner courtyard and pool are nice, lots of brown anoles living in the bushes that dart around on the courtyard sidewalk. Nice mature palm trees there also. Laundry next door is wonderfully convenient albeit pricey ($2 one load wash), and there's a 7-11 across the street where you can get ice, etc., and there's a smallish Publix grocery down the street a couple miles to the south at Dolphin Village. Oh yes, and if you don't like very firm beds, definitely stay away.

I loved the Travelodge. Our group wanted to stay somewhere with a bed, a bar, and the beach. Everything was within 20 steps. It was in a great location and close to food and entertainment. If you are looking to go to a nicer place there are plenty more places along with the price. The staff made sure everything was in order and was very helpful. The rooms were large and accessible!! I hope I am able to visit again soon!!!

Unlike what alot of people are saying , I love this hotel. the only place I will stay when in St Pete. The price is right and the rooms are just fine.Best location on the whole beach. If someone wants to stay at a great family orented hotel with nice people , great staff, great pool and a fun fun tiki bar right on the beach in the back then this is the place for you . If you want to stay in a at place like the Hilton and only pay the Travel lodge price, Get a life. Its not the Hilton but it is a great place to go with your family. Never saw a bug , never saw a fight, Not sure what these people are talking about. I would not stay at any dump and this is not a dump by far just remember its not the HIlton so dont set your expections to that level and you will have a great time!!!! Again thats why I am staying here again for the 4th yr in a row!!! Hope this helped you out. From Rick D in NY

This hotel had everything we needed. On the beach, clean cold room, hot water, and reasonable rates. The staff was friendly and even helped us with suggestions of things to do in the area.

Because this was a chain motel, I didn't hesitate to book my stay online. However, upon check out they overcharged me from what they quoted me online. (I'm still waiting to hear from them, to get my credit.) Plus they did not read my request for a ground floor and put me in an upstairs room. When I pointed this out to the clerk, she told me, "oh, I guess whoever checked you in, online, didn't pay attention to that." The room I was put in did not have a working phone, so they transferred me to another room. This room had no AC!! Apparently none of these rooms have AC. In those rooms, I was told, they never set the central air to below 71!, even in the summer! So the next day, I switched ('upgraded', what a joke) to a pool-side room. I didn't need that, just wanted AIR! Even though this room had AC, it didn't go below 66. Discovered the place has roaches and some other kind of bugs! You have to try the key card at least three times and bust into your room with your shoulder to the door. The place is disgustingly dirty. You get full body exfoiliating every time you use the towels - very rough. Still not sure if they changed the sheets, which were paper thin on very lumpy and uncomfortable beds. I guess the ONLY redeeming thing about this place is that it is on the beach, as long as you're willing to dodge the motorcycles and drunks at the tiki bar. Like another post said, don't stop here, spend a few more bucks and stay somewhere else! By the way, for one person I was quoted $93., charged $109. for the rooms without air, charged $20. more for the upgrade to get air conditioning. This was in the off season too.