We stayed at the Surf Beach the first week of April 2006. We checked in to a somewhat dirty room. During the week we talked to many others that were also complaining about dirty rooms. Very dirty floors - our feet were black! All of the extra blankets had stains on them! Yuck! We also had no cable in the bedroom - my husband notified the front desk, the Sunsational Management Co. who owns the Surf Beach, told housekeeping(who was cleaning a room next door) and no one called us back! Everyone assured us that someone would call us back and get it fixed, well, we ended up having to go to Walgreen's and buy cable and a splitter so we had tv for the week!
We also didn't realize that the room we checked into was a handicapped room - rooms 203 and 204 are handicapped. The bathrooms are very weird - no vanities - nowhere to put your stuff! We had to put our stuff on the back of the toilet! One bathroom didn't even have a mirror! We looked at a "regular" room and the bathrooms were "normal" with vanities - so anyhow, unless you really do need a handicapped room - make sure to request a regular room.
Obviously we were there during spring break week and there was a lot of families with teenagers and young children - we have 2 children ages 8 and 5 too - but the pool area was crazy with teenagers swimming and yelling until midnight - no parents in sight and no management to take control. The pool is right in front of the patio of your room - don't expect a quiet drink on your patio! This is a new condo and pool area, but the pool was only cleaned once while we were there and there were times when there were up to 35 kids in the pool and hot tub at one time!! Yuck again!!
You are right on the beach and boardwalk, but the ocean is a good 1/4 mile walk - it's far! There are some pluses though - there is city beach access next door with a small "junglegym" which our kids enjoyed. The Surf Beach is also close to John's Pass, maybe about a mile and McDonald's, Sloppy Joe's, Walgreen's and a Topp's Supermarket are all within walking distance. Don't get me wrong the rooms are very nice - all brand new everything - and it's in a nice area - but there just isn't any kind of security or control here.
I would definately go back to the Treasure Island area again - but would probably try a different condo - I don't want to discourage anyone from going to the Surf Beach - maybe during a slower time it would be different - but I guess if they changed some things there... All they really need is a manager - someone to close the pool and to keep some kind of control.
Over all our stay was nice - just don't expect any help from management - this place is called the Surf Beach Resort Condo/Hotel - well it's certainly not a resort and it's not a hotel because there is NO service or front desk after 3:00PM - at this place you are pretty much on your own.
