The Pelican Resort is one of the best and beautiful resorts on the beach!!! Do not listen to any of the bad reviews it is completely not true. The resort opened Dec. 2004 and its impeccable. The rooms are beautiful, they have high ceilings, comfortable beds with pillow top mattresses and amazing views. All the rooms are decorated tastefully, it reminds me of a countryside cottage. The resort itself looks like a old countryside hotel, complete with beautiful carribean fans, a piano located in the lobby and a decor to die for. The service we received was of a 5 star resort, everyone was helpful and friendly. The pool and lazy river was small but very relaxing and enjoyable. The beach was amazing, you walk through the lobby and couple steps down and the beach it right there, you can't beat that. The water and sand was so clear and clean, my niece loved playing on the sand and building castles. This resort is great for families and couples, I totally recommend the resort. My family and I are going back in September to make even more memories at the Pelican. TIP: book through expedia and you'll find great offers.

So many things have been written about the hotel already so I will try to add new information. We stayed four nights and had rooms 522 and 523, a suite with an ocean view and a king bed city view room. The rooms are very large and either one would work for a family of 3, but would be difficult for a family of 4 because a rollaway bed would be needed and the bathrooms are not huge. The rooms and hotel itself are beautiful with great attention to detail.
The food is delicious and reasonably priced for a resort. For breakfast, you can have an omelet made to order right in front of you for only $6.00. The wraps on the lunch menu are huge, turkey, tuna, etc. and the food presentation is lovely with Orchids on the plate, etc. The new ice cream parlor is now open until 11:00 PM and also has some premade food items like fruit salad, sandwiches, and bakery items. They also sell a tiny selection of groceries/toiletries.
The beach area is spotlessly clean and the pool area gets crowded. You may want to buy a beach umbrella since they don't have any. They do not require wristbands.
All in all, this is a wonderful, relaxing hotel. It is very clean and well decorated in a Bermuda style, and the staff was friendly. We loved our stay here, but it's so quiet without much to do nearby. Don't stay here if you won't have a car. We were in town for a family visit and had a car so it worked out well for us since they were able to visit our rooms and use the beach.

MY girlfriend and i just got home from ft. lauderdale, with a stay at the Best Western Pelican Beach Resort. I have stayed at many hotels in my time and this place is in the top 5 of my travels. I am sure you people will read many reviews before you book your trip, but this place is a very nice hotel!!!

First of all, you will need a car, for the hotel is at the north end of the ft. lauderdale strip. This is not a bad thing, it kinda takes you away from the hussle of the strip, but yet it is close enough to the action of the night life. The rooms are great!!! truely one of the nicest rooms i have ever been in, we were on the 6th floor ocean front, with tons of room. the suite which we were in had 2 rooms with a spacious bathroom, in the shower they had a body wash, shampoo, and conditioner unit, which i though was cool, each room had a ceiling fan in it, which i have not seen in any other hotel, 2 tv's, 2 phones, hair dryer, iron, microwave, small refridgerator, and very very clean. And the view was worth every penny, we could throw a baseball in the ocean from our balcony.

Just a couple little things to keep in mind about this place, they do put a 250.00 hold on your credit card for whatever reason, but many places do do this, so it was really no shocker to us. And upon check out the valet service for your car is 12.00 dollars a day. Other than those 2 things this place is worth the money, it's great for families, the pool is very child friendly and they also have a lazy river. make sure you request the new building.

Just got back from Fort Lauderdale today. We stayed at the Pelican Beach Resort and loved it!!! This is the most relaxing vacation that I have ever had. We loved that the hotel was right on the beach. We loved the two clean pools (the pool at the older sun tower was completely empty when we went to check it out -- we had it all to ourselves) and the lazy river. The main pool is not huge or very deep (5 feet), but it was not crowded at all when we were there so it was big enough. Our room was clean, the bed was so comfortable and we had a patio that overlooked ocean drive (not the ocean unfortunately). There is a microwave and refrigerator in the room. Our room was very comfortable and a pretty decent size. The only thing we would do differently is to rent a car. If you don't, you will have to either take the bus or a taxi to go anywhere. There is nothing within walking distance. Taxi rides usually ended up being at least $15. Buses are fine and cheap, $1 each way, but you have to stand in the heat waiting for the correct one to pass by. I agree with the other reviewers that the breakfast buffet was too expensive ($15), but it was close and fast and delicious so we ate there every morning. They have pastries, omelets, fruit, cereal, grits, oatmeal, toast, french toast, belgian waffles, yogurt, sausage, bacon, anything you could possibly want for breakfast. We usually had a late lunch/dinner at the bar which was reasonably priced. My favorite standby was the chicken quesadillas. We loved the rocking chairs on the long porch that overlooked the beach/ocean. We just sat there sipping our drinks and enjoying the calm waters and the view. Front desk was never overly friendly, but the rest of the staff definitely was. We would definitely go back and I would recommend this hotel to anybody that was staying in the area.