Our family was at Sterling Beach for the 6th year in a row the 2nd week in June 08. This year, we stayed in Unit 1603, a very well appointed 2br/2bath unit. The manner in which this unit was furnished/decorated was impressive. I have talked to many other people in PCB over the years and no one has been able to recommend a complex with units as large as you will find at Sterling Beach.

Checkin process this year was pretty easy however looking at the parking lot every day, occupancy must be way, way down. I suspect the price of fuel/travel is keeping many people away. Also noticed the one night we ate out at our favorite restaurant that there was no waiting in line, plenty of parking spaces. Again, I suspect many are just not traveling.

On the downside...the pool area did not appear to be as well kept this year as it has been in years past. Other than that...nothing else I can really complain about.

Stayed at Sterling Beach in July 2007. We were there about a week and we enojoyed our stay. We had the 3 bedroom suite. It was very clean and the two bathrooms were big. We were very pleased with the hotel. Just make sure you don't smoke on the balcony and then put the cigarette butts in the garbage that is inside because we got hit with an extra $200 fee because they thought we smoked in the room.

We had planned a trip with another family to visit PCB and wanted to stay in close proximity to one another. I had contacted Sterling Beach and (thought) I had everything set. When we arrived, we were told we were on the 10th floor, or friends on the 3rd (not what I would call close). After jumping through hoops for 45 minutes, we were finally moved to the 4th floor (better, but not what I had hoped... oh, well). There were plenty of baggage carts to help get things to the room. When we arrived at the room, we were initially pleased at the quality of the room. But the temperature was 80 degrees inside. Called down to the desk and a maintenance person arrived within 30 minutes. He confirmed that the A/C was broken and would TRY to have it fixed by the next day. Next day comes and goes, still not fixed. Come to find out that the maintenance person dropped the ball and the service order was never written. Finally had it fixed the next day. Also, the internet connection did not work or worked very slowly for the duration of our trip. Calls to the desk did nothing to fix the lack of internet. The property was well kept and the pool area/hot tub is very nice. The gas grills are terrible. They will not get very hot and take forever to cook anything. Other than a rather funky smelling couch in our condo, everything else was acceptable. Well stocked kitchen and comfortable beds. I will say that the front desk personnel seemed very disinterested in helping with our problems. The only reason I don't give it a lower rating is that I went in December and the rates were ~$140/night. If I was paying peak rates of ~$350/night, I would have been livid.

I did Ironman Florida on November 3rd. Because of injuries, I didn't book my hotel stay until very late in the game, when many of the places close to the Boardwalk Beach Resort (where the race is headquartered) were already booked solid. I found Sterling Beach on the web, and ended up renting a 3 bed, 2 bath condo. Honestly, it was a fantastic deal. We were on the 16th floor, and had a beautiful view of the beach. The place was very modern, clean, and had everything we needed. I had never rented a condo before, but had always stayed in hotels. This was a great experience. One of my friends who came down to watch me in the race signed up for next year, and we agreed to get the exact same room if we could do it! I didn't actually go in the pool (I had to train in the ocean) but it sure looked nice. My wife used the gym, and she liked it. It's convenient to everything we needed, and the place across the street (the Shaggy Marlin) was fun to watch the Pats play the Colts the day after the race. I'd definitely recommend this place.

The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is that I think that should be reserved for truly outstanding, world class places. I also don't have a basis for comparison with other condo rentals. Still, this place was a great deal, better by far than most hotels I've stayed at (and I've stayed at a number of very nice places).