My husband and I spent a couple days in early May at the Island House Hotel. It was a quick getaway, and the weather was perfect on the beach. The Island House was pretty nice, and very clean, but needs a bit of updating. For starters, the double doors to the parking lot and beach are not automatic; they have crash bars, which means that while toting luggage and beach gear, you've got to have a hand free to hold open the door. Once in the room, the view WAS beautiful as promised, BUT the mattress was horribly uncomfortable...you could see the sag in the middle as soon as you walked into the room. In this day and age, there's no excuse for an old, squeaky spring mattress anymore. The only other complaint is that there were no "Do Not Disturb" signs to hang on the door, so while trying to sleep in on vacation, we were awakened at 8am each day by housekeeping, and they wouldn't quit knocking until we got up and opened the door to tell them that we were still in the room. A small oversight, yes, but for that reason, we won't be going back to the Island House the next time we head to beautiful Orange Beach.

We haven't been to Orange Beach in about 10 years, but our last time there we stayed at the Perdido Beach Resort. After reading the recent (not-so-great) reviews of PBR, however, we opted for Island House instead... GREAT decision. We checked in around 6PM but were told the room wasn't ready due to some intensive cleaning. No problem - Paul at the front desk upgraded us to a penthouse suite! He also recommended Geno's Fresh Catch (right across the street) for dinner, which was EXCELLENT. Charlie, the umbrella guy at the beach, could not have been nicer or more attentive. And Pat in the restaurant was super friendly... keeping my mother's coffee cup filled! Even the porters were extra nice - reminding us to check the room carefully before we left. The beach has been widened since our last visit... and the sugar white sands were just gorgeous. The staff were exceptionally nice and the property was well-maintained. I will definitely stay at Island House during my next trip to the Flora-Bama coast!

If you want a balcony view on the beach, don't want to see a stove in your room because your going to have someone else cook and clean up after you, you want good food available at the place you stay at a fair price, you want polite and caring staff, you want a clean and comfortable room at a good price, a clean pool, a nice beach front with ($25. a day so we went to the store and got our own umbrella) double lounge chairs with pads and umbrella this is the place for you. The rooms have iron and ironing board and a 1 foot square key type safe and cup at a time coffee maker. They also keep the rooms stocked with shampoo, soaps etc. Coolers are a must! They let you take coolers to the pool along with floats just NO glass. We stayed 3 nights and with hotel food and drinks our tab was around $530 with a military discount $134 a night. Try to get a room above the third floor because some rooms below the 3rd have their beach view blocked by the trees. We had one such room and went back and the front desk clerk put us on the 9th in a penthouse with a GREAT view. The staff was great and we will return soon to enjoy more. Oh, on Saturday's they set up a BBQ and outside bar with a band. The parking lot was a third full on Fri after noon but by Sat morning was almost full. It never felt crowded anywhere. They have a breakfast buffet or menu order. Don't forget to travel west on the road the hotel is on to US 59 N to the outlet mall it's about a 15 minute drive. If your looking for a hotel NOT A CONDO stop looking this is the place!

I have been to the Island House many times and love this hotel. I am getting ready to go back for Memorial Day weekend 2007. The staff is always very friendly. Reservations and checkout are a breeze. Rates are reasonable. The restaurant is really good especially the breakfast buffet! Rooms are nice. The best part is that every room is ocean view overlooking the pool. The pool is nice and the chairs on the beach are comfortable. I wouldnt stay anywhere else in the area. I do not have kids but seems to be a great family place to stay.