My husband I and booked a 5 night trip at the Tradewinds expecting a 4 star quality resort. We wanted a nice relaxing stay with a beautiful beach. However, we were both disappointed and chekcout out early. Let me start with the good things. The staff were very friendly and the beach was beautiful!!! They had nice cabanas to sit on at the beach and several water activities. We don't have children yet, but we could see this was a fun place for kids with lots to do. The food was generally good, a bit overpriced, but within expectation for a resort.

We were very disappointed with the overall quality of the resort. The rooms were truly substandard in my opinion. The beds appeared to have never been replaced since opening. We sank right down to the springs and woke up in pain every morning. The shower was small and it did not drain water out. So you had to shower standing in several inches of water. On the last day I ran out of hot water, although there were several class reuninons there and the hotel seemed at capacity. Further, we had ants and spiders in our room, so we never ordered room service to keep them at bay. Also, the hotel is outside- meaning you walk outside to get to your room. This felt more like a motel set up to me. The carpet was stained and dingy. Next, the elevators were dirty and out of service often. The carpet was stained in there. I know it is hard to keep carpet clean with people coming from the beach all day, but you think they could figure something out. Finally, the pools were very small and way overcrowded. The pools need to be updated and made bigger. Luckily my husband and I prefered to sit on the beach, but if we had wanted to sit by the pool, there would have been no room. Also, they provided towels, but these were regularly sized towels. I mean this is a beach resort- couldn't they provide some beach towels. Finally, one of the resort restaurants which was open for all the meals, so the main one, had very stained fabric on all seats and booths. It was horrible!! I didn't want to sit down. For the price we paid we expected at least cleanliness and certainly not stained chairs and seating.

So, we chekced out as soon as we could, and went and stayed at the Hard Rock in Tampa- which was the same price and much more luxurious and what we were expecting.

In summary, I think your satisfaction depends on your expectations. I read these reviews before we went, but I wished I had payed attention more to the one that complained about the rooms and the overall quality of the resort. This is not a 4 star resort where I come from and our stay was not worth the price we paid. They need to do some updating!

I am actually wriring this review as checkout is tomorrow morning. We booked after reading various reviews on this site. I use it as a guide for all of my vacations. Most were on the money some were drastically exaggerated. I had a conference in Tampa that weekend and decided to have my family stay here I and I drove the 30 minutes back and forth to Tampa

Let me begin by saying that no one or nothing is perfect, however some things should be obvious. Firstly, customer service for booking a complete mess. It was like the first day of summer camp for kids a complete circus. My room was clean and neat with the fresh smell of bleach when I walked in, so that is a plus the room was cleaned prior to me walking in.

I rated this resort as average because of the occurrences during my stay. My shower was backed up and the water would not drain out.
After 4 calls to the front desk and requesting to speak with a manager that never called me back, I got the issue resolved.

At the time of our stay there was an high school reunion and a couple of other affairs going on so I think the staff was spread very thin.

The food was overpriced for the quality and I am used to lodging at the Ritz Carlton, so maybe I set myself up for this one. I would suggest you bring a cooler with your favorite spirits and other beverages because drinks as i overhead someone say are "like paying a ransom, you do want to but you kind of feel you have to".

The resort was well kept and the beach was easily accessible, however, "BEWARE OF THE VALET AND BELLHOPS"

If you do not pull out and tip they display their emotions and drop the script quickly. I paid $10 a day to valet park and felt like I was expected to tip them everytime I needed to access my vehicle, which made me feel uncomfortable. Valet was the only way to go that weekend because of the four major events going on at the resort that weekend.

If you have children, and I was travelling with my 27 month old. My wife and I kept making trips back and forth to the SUV to keep him occcupied and happy. The valet guys were like okay I brought your vehicle where is my tip, not literally but it was very noticeable.

The resort was choc full of amenities and activities, like a convience store (reasonably priced, I was surprised) starbucks coffee and a few bars and restaurants. Room service was a joke they average about 45 minutes for Pizza Hut on site and yes, they add 20% plus $2 for delivery and tip. You do the math.

This family-friendly resort has activities for all members of the family. We swam in three of the resort's five pools, meeting new friends at each water hole. We paddled our way through the resort's winding canal - again and again at my children's insistence. We dove for sand dollars in the Gulf. We dug our heels in the sand at sunset. And when all this activity got to be too much, we cozied up under the tall palm trees in the gently swaying hammocks. We ended most evenigs with a bubble in the hot tub under the star-soaked sky. An added bonus was the huge inflatable slide on the beach that my children spent all day on (for an additional fee).

Our cabana suite opened to one of the resorts five pools. My children couldn't resist the inviting blue water. Here, my children participated in an afternoon belly-flop contest. Winners were treated to ice-cream. My children opted for the virgin strawberry daiquiris, topped with whipped cream, fresh pineapples and cherries that I purchased from the pool-side restaurant. When the afternoon sun got too intense, my chilldren opted for the resort's completely covered and shaded smaller pool.

At night, we dined on our patio. My children opted for pizza, while I feasted on crab-cake sandwiches. Ahhh....life's a beach!

Debi

Our family with two young kids booked for 4 day weekend over Spring Break. Although we had booked a balcony room, it was not available. We were given several different explanations for this by different managers. However, we were not the only family to have booked balcony beachview and be given less attractive options that day. This makes me suspect that it is a policy of the hotel to overbook the good rooms just to get them to the resort. The room we were given had dirty windows and dust under the bed, sand all over carpet and chairs. No working telephone. Cable tv fuzzy. None of these problems was solved despite multiple requests. Nobody really seemed to be in charge or be willing to take responsibility. On the third day, we were relocated to the room we had originally booked. This was a good room and the last two days of the vacation went well. The location is great, the pools crowded, food OK, and activities for kids are good. We would not stay there again. We would recommend to our friends to look for alternative explanation on the beach.