Ok so we took the kids on a family vacation for xmas again this year...we landed in Daytona and 5 days later we were so cold (wind chill warning there!) we dropped down to fort lauderdale... we rolled the dice for sure. We left $220 a night suite and knew we might not find anything with availability due to the hoiday and New Years coming up. We tried 3 hotels (some $400 a night) with no luck... my girlfriend used to live at a local motel some 15 years ago so we figured what do we have to lose... the girl working at the desk is AMAZING!! I hope they are paying her well! Her name was leslie and we loved her from the moment she did what she could to help us LOL Yes this hotel is tired, and its old and there is rust on the fridge, and the shower etc. but its a QUICK walk to the beach and we discovered we like the feel of this kind of hotel where we can prop our door open and our 3 children could come and go back and forth while we sat at the pool. Since this company owns the 4 motels in a row, you could use those pools...although we stuck with ours and the super hot one next door. A bit of concern about the free pouring of pool che3micals each morning from a giant container and the 'crunchy' hair my children ended up with but...the lush vegetation and adorable ghekos and the family feel was pretty awesome.Sure beats being on the 14th floor of a highrise and having to carry all your stuff and kids down to the pool...we just stepped outside our door. although it was sold out you really only saw the odd family or person- well unless they were avoiding my kids LOL the weather was cool and cloudy but nothign like Daytona where I had to wear my coat haha but seriously leslie was just an amzing, calm, friendly, find a solution type of person. We all crammed into 2 doubles and we made3 it work. Sure we could have complained but come on its Fort Lauderdale, go with the flow (and fwiw I NEVER go with the flow hehe) not Daytona so $130 a night doesn't get you the same thing in both cities and fwiw my husband would have paid the $400 but they couldnt accomodate us on the Saturday or new Years and there was no kitchen... with 3 kids with food issues, we really needed that...AND the WHOLE FOODS is minutes away over the bridge- YAY! We were just thankful to have a room over the holidays with a kitchen and as long as nothing was moving in my room I was good ;-) The odd thing was no maid service on Sundays or holidays...?? Its over the HOLIDAYS?? .... never heard of a hotel or motel without 365 day service. Good for them for giving their staff Sundays off, but still.... in this day and age, very odd. Despite having high standards and having stayed at Atlantis and several other hotels in Nassau, and the Hiltons , THIS is more what we prefer- would be even better if it were fixed up and brought back to new- we'd pay way more because the concept is perfect for families ;-) and its nice trhat its not busy with 1000 other people and kids and that one of us has to accompany each child to the bathroom or the elevator when they forget their goggles or have to use the restroom- here they just go back to the room, I can see the door from my chair at the pool and our blinds are open ;-) a cool thing would be if it was gated like its sister motel 2 doors down ;-)

Due to a scheduling snafu, we had to find a hotel for the extra night. I located The Shell Resort through TA. The price was right and we are not opposed to staying in a hotel/motel with "character." Denise at the front desk was great, as were all the other staff we dealt with during our stay. But... This place is tired, very, very tired. As some of the other reviewers have noted, perhaps it has to do with which room you have. We stayed in one of the queen rooms with a kitchen on the bottom floor. It was clean and spare, which was fine. But the kitchen was horrible. It had a refrigerator that had to be at least 20 years old and whose paint was worn off, a stove with a BBQ lighter resting on top that I can only assume you use to light it, and the cabinets have seen better days. Thankfully, we didn't need to use the kitchen. The bathroom was serviceable, but when you shut the door, you see that all the paint is peeling off it. The toilet was not updated so it took forever to fill. The amount of money the resort is throwing away on water/electricity bills must be astronomical. And the tiki hut is just a thatched overhang with two round worn wooden platforms for sitting. They serve coffee out there in the morning. I guess when I hear "tiki hut" my imagination is too large. We didn't use the pool which I was told was heated. I want to reiterate, the resort staff is very friendly and helpful. The resort itself needs a great deal of updating. For one night, it was alright, but I would never recommend this place to any of my friends

Had a nice experience with staff member, Denise, and the motel itself. I agree that the location is nice and the place itself is quite and peaceful. I had the opportunity to interface with Denise and she was extremely pleasant, honest, and very friendly. I would recommend this place.

The plus :
* great location - 100 meters from the beach and 4 blocks away from the center with restaurants and bars
* Large rooms with or without kitchen
* Sitting area outside where we can have breakfast and lunch
* Nice swimming pool in a little garden
* friendly size
* free parking
* friendly staff

The minus :
* Not very modern
* We had 2 queen beds in our rooms, one was good and hard, the other one very soft - good for kids but would have been difficult for 2 adults.
* View on the buildings and very high standing hotels.

Total : very good quality value motel for 80 USD the night in August and we enjoyed our 2 night stay and would come back.