After reading reviews from previous guests about how horrible this place was, my boyfriend and I tried to give this place the benefit of the doubt...but as we should have expected, it was pretty much just as the reviews said it would be...awful and uncomfortable and nothing but a headache.
We arrived here around 10 a.m. after driving over 14 hours OVERNIGHT from Maryland. We went inside to see if maybe a room was available a little early since we just wanted to sleep but the receptionist at the desk was very rude and told us don't even bother trying to get a room until 3 p.m. We again tried, maybe 3 times, through out the day to check in a little early but all they told us was there are no rooms available. But we found that very hard to believe when the parking lot was close to empty and we saw many people leaving earlier that morning. Finally, around 2:30, we were able to check in. But of course, something else was wrong. We had made our reservation from Sunday the 10th through the 16th, Saturday. But the receptionist handed us a reciept for only 2 days...Then was trying to charge us more then what we had booked our 6 days for. Ridiculous.
Now, I'm not uptight about a hotel room that we barely paid 500 dollars for for 6 days...but my god. How uncomfortable and unattractive can a room be. The bathroom wasn't bad, but the actual room was just terrible.
Then, there is the elevator. Slow as can be and the stairwell for some reason, does not lead to the ground floor, it leads to the 2nd floor. Very inconvient.
Then, the staff. I think the whole time we were staying at this place maybe one employee said hello to us. (And it was on the elevator so she probably felt obligated to say something.) The cleaning service staff was unhelpful and lazy. We were bringing our things to our room on the little cart thing, and one of the maids had their cart with the cleaning supplies in the middle of the hallway, blocking us from getting to our room. When we asked if we could get by, she said yes...and walked away, not even moving the cart or the trash bags she had in the way so we could get by. My boyfriend had to move the cart and run over the bag just to get by. Absolutely rude.
The hallways smell of garbage and are very hot because there is no A.C. there...so you sweat waiting for the elevator that takes forever to get to where you are.
The walls in the room are very thin and you can hear everything going on in the next room...The doors slam, the showers are loud and you can hear the flushing toilet NEXT door...and it's a long, loud flush.
The only good thing about this place is the pool...and that's about it.
I love Daytona Beach and look forward to the next time I can come here, but I will never stay at the Islander Hotel again. I would say this hotel is suitable for college frat boys that just want to come to the beach and get drunk and sleep.
