We stay at the Island Grand at least twice a year. Our kids, ages 12, 11 and 5 love it here. There are lots of activities for the kids and I feel very safe there. Our 5 year old loves Captain Redbeard and can't wait to see him and his shows. The restaurants are excellent and room service is great.

My family loves this hotel and would highly recommend it to families with children and adults who don't have babysitters and would like to have a nice dinner alone and not to worry about the kids. They have a kids club for the children. We went there for the 4th of July this year and I have to say it was once of the best fireworks showsI have ever seen. It lasted for about 2 hours on the beach. Better than Disney and more relaxing... I highly recommend this Hotel and we go there at least twice a year. It's a nice place to spend quality time with the kids.

L. Contessa., Miami, Fl.

We wanted to see our daughter Melissa who lives in St. Pete so I got on Hotwire and prayed I'd get a nice fair priced 4 star hotel on the beach. Man, what a surprise! You really get the Caribbean atmosphere in these colorful spacious rooms. Very clean too.

One month later and we are all still talking about the "overall" resort experience. I have traveled all over the world and right in St. Pete Beach was a Diamond.

And the beach...magnificent with great amenities and pools. Although we do not have young kids anymore we will surely bring our 3 grandaughters 6-4 and 2 to this resort as they really offer a lot for the kids to do.

You will not be disappointed, I promise. Extemely helpful and friendly staff. The food is above average and the drinks...well you know -lol. The rate was very fair and when they learned it was our anniversary they went the extra mile at no additional cost to us, WOW.

We will definately be back to this fine resort. Shaun and Jennifer Webb (Ilinois)

When booking this trip....we were considering the Don Cesar and the Tradewinds Island Grand. We stayed at the Don Cesar 2 years earlier and loved it.

We wanted to try something different and something with more kids activities. After some research and reviews, we decided to try the Tradewinds Island Grand.

We arrived and were concerned right away. There was a long line at check in and only 1 person behind the desk. There were 2 people waiting to speak to a manager because they were upset. Our concern was growing.

After check in we went to our room and we were not impressed by the hotel common areas. They were OK but defintely not 4 star quality. They seem worn and not kept up and not as luxurious as we had expected. We booked a standard suite and we were very disappointed when we arrived at our room. The room was more comparable to a days inn than a 4 star resort. We ended up moving to another room because the bedroom had 2 doubles instead of 1 king. The king bed room was just as unimpressive as the other one.

The property itself is huge. Many things for the kids...but just too many people for my taste. The main pool seemed crowded and kids everywhere. They did have an adult only pool.....but we did not venture over there since we had our 2 kids with us.

They had a huge slide on the beach which was great. At $30 a day per child...I thought that was a bit steep.

The beach was great and they did provide for beach chairs and umbrella.

Overall we had a good time....but do not expect 4 stars...do not expect luxury. If you would like luxury....go to the Don Cesar a mile down the beach. It's a little stuffy at times.......but you will get the 4 star experience.

Myself and my partner have just returned from a 6 night stay at the Island Grande. Although we enjoyed the stay in Florida we would not reccomend this hotel.

We were told to wait untill 4pm for check in at 5:30pm we were still waiting and were told that the room does not need to be ready for 4pm only that we could start to check if the room was available - i have never come across this before.

The rooms were not made up by 6pm each evening, on one occasion we returned at 10pm and the room had still not been made up.

Other problems such as leaks in the bathroom and noise. Not recommended if you don't have your own children.

Very nice restaurant across the road - Snappers!