We have just returned from a 2 week stay at the Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach with 2 daughters aged 21 and 18. The location iwas excellent, across the road from the beach. With majority of hotels located either end of Fort Lauderdale, with this being centrally located, the beach was not at all crowded. Close to good restaurants and bars, many within walking distance.
Great deck area with views over the Ocean & cabanas if too hot. Pool & beach toels provided.
Negatives
Pool was not good & looked dirty. It was closed for a couple of days during our stay due to broken filter. Not an issue for us as we preferred the Ocean.
Bar prices at the pool bar were expensive, and during happy hour the frozen cocktails were excluded. No wonder they kept complaining how quiet they were!
Food options not good with breakfast very expensive - try the Deck further up the A1A (c 1.5 miles) good service, views and food, always busy - just past the Atlantic Hotel.
Food option at pool bar finished at 2.30pm and again was expensive.
Many guests used Bubba Gump adjoins the hotel and ate on the pool deck. You can order from room.
Valet expensive, but if you stay a long while will give you a reduction.
Pool towels sometimes took a long time to arrive.
Valet & hotel service was very good. Hotel is good value for money and we preferred it to the more expensive Marriott Harbour Beach where we stayed some years ago - mainly due to location & friendlyness of the staff.
Other good food restaurants were Coconuts opposite the hotel with intracoastal view, 15th Street Fisheries (again water view). Avoid Shooters, did not honour promotion of appetisers. There is good German Bar, up from Bubba Gump up an alley way - 22 drafts on tap.
Overall a great holiday and the negatives didn't really impact on us directly and we would definitely stay again.

If you plan to visit the Fort Lauderdale area and tops on your wish list is a good ocean front hotel, close access to lots of watering holes and you don't need 4-5 star quality, this resort is for you. My wife and I stayed here for a brief 4 night trip in April and had a good (not necessarily great) time. There is a pool bar on site but the drinks are quite expensive (the hotel restaurant inside is kind of pricy for the quality as well). The pool was virtually unused while we stayed because most of the afternoon the building shadows put the pool in the shade. There is a nice sunning deck by the bar above the pool that was used much more than the pool area. The rooms were well kept and of good quality! The front desk staff was curious and the concierge on site to help book any excursions you might be interested in taking was outstanding. She was extremely helpful and is located right by the front desk. I would definitely recommend a trip through the intracoastal waterways to see all of the beautiful homes and yachts. And the trip to the Everglades was definitely an interesting trip. All in all, this was a nice trip and while it wasn't all attributed to the hotel itself, I wouldn't hesitate recommending this hotel as a place to stay. If you are looking for seafood fare, stay closer to the beach but if you're looking for really high quality steak and really trendy shopping, head towards the downtown area. It makes for a good trip to take one night.

We stayed here for one night in March 2009 on our way to Key West. I wish we had
been able to stay longer. This is a very nice hotel right across the street from the beach.
It was easy to get here from the airport, and it's close to Las Olas Blvd also. The front desk clerk was very friendly and helpful when we checked in. The attractively furnished room was the nicest one we have stayed in this year, and we loved having what felt like a 2 room suite with french doors between the living area and the bedroom area. The bathroom was spacious also. We did not experience any noise problems during our stay even though the hotel seemed to be full of college kids. My only very minor complaints were the pop machine on our floor that didn't work and the waiter in the restaurant who didn't want to give us breakfast menus. He insisted we take the breakfast buffet (less work for him?), but we insisted on menus, and actually the food we got was better than i expected, although certainly overpriced. We expected that and the exorbitant overnight parking fee, so there were no surprises during our stay other than how much nicer the room was than what we had anticipated. I would certainly stay here again and would recommend it to anyone.

The Courtyard Ft. Lauderdale Beach is perfectly located. We had never visited Ft.L before, but this was the perfect place to experience hip night life, a semi-private beach, & roomy rooms. We really enjoyed the 2 separate components of our room: the front "foyer" with hide-a-bed with television & the bed with television beyond the dividing wall. The beachfront in front of the hotel was very clean & less crowded than the areas just north of our strip. It's semi-seclusion without paying any exorbitant fees. The one thing that did bother us was the complete rudeness & inattentiveness of the staff. Upon check in, the front desk clerk treated us like we were hassling him. The same feeling of annoyance flooded upon us whenever we encountered him over the next 3 days. It was very odd. And while it's nice the hotel has free beach towels to borrow & bring to the beach, the staff very rarely refills them. And when they did, it took several phone calls to bring them out to the 6 or so families waiting for them. Word to the wise: if you need a cab, HAVE THE VALET CALL YOU A REAL CAB. We asked for one but the put us in a waiting privately owned van service who ended up scamming us by driving FAR out of his way. Staff aside, the hotel was perfectly located on a great stretch of beach.