My wife made the booking; my mother-in-law previewed the property since she lives nearby. On arrival, I checked into the room and the others went to the beach. When they eventually saw the room there was much distress: it didn't match the room that had been previewed, wasn't as nicely appointed, etc. They talked to the manager but he couldn't placate them.

I was *not* in the mood to deal with this but finally agreed to go down and see the manager, expecting to lose my temper.

The manager Blake couldn't have been nicer. It took me about 10 seconds to completely de-stress. He made several offers to compensate us for the mix-up in our booking. I give the property 4 stars on the manager's willingness to satisfy the customer quickly.

Beautiful beach: spacious pools with plenty of chairs, tables with umbrellas; Courteous staff throughout the resort, who go out of their way to accommodate the guests: A well run facility without being constantly surrounded by staff members hounding you; clean and spacious suites that are fresh and newly decorated; access to parking lot from room floor; a real getaway to relieve stress ( some places create stress - not this one! ) Complimentary coffee/tea each morning in the lobby, which I loved! Clean, well-managed and super friendly!

If I were to make a suggestion, it would be to have a morning take-out area in the hotel, for guests to get cereal, muffins or bagels, as opposed to sitting in the restaurant each morning. Some mornings, you like to head right out to the pool or beach. I suppose getting room service would accomplish the same thing!

We got home Thursday night and want to go back already! My fiancee and I took my 72 year old mother. We had a room on the side of the tower and the view was beautiful, we could see the beach and the bay! My mom raved about the big balcony and spent a good deal of time sitting out there reading and enjoying the view.
The staff was amazing. Everyone was friendly and accomodating. Felix the bartender in Cafe Lido was great!
My mom uses a walker and she was worried about climbing aboard the shuttle bus, but the bus drivers were helpful and got her on with no problem! They quickly picked us up from Armand Circle when we called.
Although I love kids, I was glad they had their own pool area! I enjoyed swimming in a pool that was just for adults! It was rarely crowded and close to the Tiki bar!
We also enjoyed sitting downstairs in the shaded area every morning while drinking our coffee. It was also a nice spot to sit in the evening with a bottle of wine!
The girls at the front desk were so helpful and friendly and I appreciated them helping me with directions. I picked up a few items in the gift shop and the young woman who helped me out in the shop was so sweet!
Overall we had a very nice time. Calm and relaxing which is what we were after!!

After seeing all of the positive reviews of this resort on this website (which we have used to book many trips in the past), I have to say that we had pretty high expectations. I gave this a 'neutral' rating, because there were some positives. However, the negatives left me feeling that I probably will not return to this resort again unless it is the only option for us, OR if we were able to secure ONLY an oceanside room in the south tower (some of the negatives were because were in the other building).

POSITIVES:
*Nice pool and beach area--plenty of room for everyone, even during a busy time.
*Good food/drinks at the Tiki Bar--good place for lunch.
*Close proximity to shops and lots of dining options
*Good coffee in the lobby in the morning
*Room items replenished daily (bottled water, etc.)

NEGATIVES:
*Ants in our room (in the kitchen area--we had to store everything in the refrigerator)
*Broken telephone in our room
*Refrigerator that opens on the wrong side (ie handles are on the right, but it opens on the left, so you have to move a chair in order to open it at all)
*Poor service in the restaurant
*LOUD noise from the hotel bar at night--well past 1am
*LOUD noise from the parking structure (motorcycles, car horns, etc. at all hours)
*Rooms that are in the smaller building are said to have a balcony--the balcony is actually the walkway everyone uses with two chairs. The problem is, you can never open your drapes because everyone walking by can see directly into your room--therefore, you never see the outside when you're in your room (problem only if you are staying in the smaller building, and not oceanside)
*Staff was neutral--some extremely friendly, some just ignored you.

Overall, I think there are some things management can do to make this resort a more pleasant stay for their guests--some are just simply 'quality control' issues that could be easily fixed. I can see why people stay here, but our feelings were not as positive upon our departure.