I have never written a review, although I have stayed in many places. And, I am a naturally upbeat, go with the flow-type traveler. Yet, I feel it is my duty to warn others to have a look at a room at this hotel before staying here because I was very displeased with my musty unattractive room accommodations.
The only really good thing was the view of the water, although it was hard to ignore the sublevel accommodation.
The first thing I did was wash the filthy windows so that I could see the ocean outside. The peeling paint on the outside sashes, poor carpentry job done on the new railing, and poor condition of the cement on the third floor walkway, gave me the first clue that this place takes its pride from its history, not pride in aesthetics and cleanliness. The inside window sill was filled with bugs, that I cleaned, and the curtains had stains on them. The door (no screen or window) was again ugly, with a rusting doorknob. The security chain was broken and what remained of it was rusted. The chairs outside the room had rusty nails so that one couldn't sit in them without getting rust on one's clothes.

The unattractive little living room, with ugly furniture, including a hard couch and a dirty recliner, dark rug, and a 1940's ugly bookcase with rust and doors that didn't move did not endear this place to me either. No thought was given to making this old bookcase look better, since it had a few books that were old and musty and an old cheap basket.
The bed was placed behind this bookcase, with a pilly bedspread, a dirty and stained blanket, and sheets that are of the quality found at the poorest hotels...very thin and worn. The sheets were never changed either, as I found the TV changer exactly where I left it...between the dirty blanket and the sheets.
The bed was jammed in this area that made it impossible to walk around the bed. There were drawers on the bookcase side of the bed cubby, but impossible to access...like putting a bed in a large closet. There were rusted floor tracts that louver doors couldn't slide on if one wished to further close this cubby, but then it would have even been impossible to get up from the bed without bumping into these louver doors.
There was a closet, but rust and mold were not inviting, so I never unpacked my suitcase. A large refrigerator, a miicrowave, coffeemaker, blender, and toaster...with old pans...but no hot plate or stove were in the kitchen area. The cabinet where the garbage pail was kept was dirty. The coffee packet was never replaced.
Ceilings were very low, sprayed with a grey-white popcorn finish, and graced with dim, dirty globes.

The bathroom was adquate, not attractive, and not especially clean, with some mold in the grout of the tub, and a toilet not spotlessly clean, either. Towels were found in the closet, with no one bothering to put them on towel racks. On my second day, the cleaning person put fresh towels on the couch, and no replacement of soap was made during my stay. No hair dryer or moisturizing cream, just cheap little shampoo. No soap was placed in the shower dispencer. Fixtures in the tub were old and spotted. Moldings of the bathroom, and throughtout the place were dirty, as was the molding around the mirror.

The walls looked to have been newly painted, with yellow spackle, the only nice thing that could be said about this room. A few nice pictures graced the walls. And yes, the upholstry on the kitchen table chairs were all stained.

The elevator to the room was dirty....

Need I say more? Of three people I met at the front desk, only one was friendly. No one thanked me for staying there, even though I was pleasant all the time.

Waldo's was not especially clean either, and the food poorly presented, with perhaps a C- rating. It was recommended by the only pleasant front desk person.

And no surprise...I would never stay here again.

Stayed 2 nights in room 122A (1st floor beachfront) which is a large efficiency - separate bedroom, living area and kitchen. Thought it was walk onto beach but actually need to walk to stairs that lead down to beach and you really can't see beach from room. Next time will try and get higher room floor which have balconies
I liked the buiding I was in as it was away from Waldos (restaurant/bar with beachfront seating)

2 Pools - one is in middle of Waldo's sitting area off the bar so I opted to stay at other pool although some people were enjoying the drinks poolside while listening to the band.

Also liked that the pathways had lights at night/early AM and next time will use the gas barbeque grill like others did.

This is one of best places that I stayed during my travels and loved the decor

Will be back next year

Stayed at the Driftwood in early December and had a pretty nice stay. They are doing some construction so you do hear the occasional hammer or saw, (but where in Florida won't you these days?). You get a lot of room for your money.

First of all, half of the rooms are practically on the beach. There are 2 pools and a restaurant and bar called Waldos. And things are in amazingly good shape considering the location and the hurricane season they've endured the last few years.

We spent the first night in a fairly low end room at "The Breakers" it had a queen sized bed in a seperate bedroom with seperate full bathroom, a walk in closet and sliding doors leading out to the pool. Also had a seperate livingroom/kitchen area with a small stove, small (but bigger than dorm sized) fridge, blender, microwave, silverware... you name it...a diningroom set, a recliner and a pull out couch and another sliding door to the pool area. My only complaint with the room was a slight musty smell.

Second few nights we spent a few extra dollars and got a "cottage". Very cute, detached from other rooms. No musty smell.

Bedroom with kingsized bed, huge whirlpool tub, and half bath. Large livingroom with 2 recliners and a pull out couch, a (fake) stained glass skylight and bay windows. Full sized fridge and stove, microwave, dining set, blender, corkscrew, 4 frying pans, coffee maker and filters... you get the picture. Another bath with shower off the kitchen/diningroom area. Only complaints here were the construction noise and that the ceilings are a little low, combine that with a tall person and ceiling fans and you have a potential problem, luckily it remained only a potential problem.

All in all, a pretty nice stay, I'd do it again especially if I had a crowd, (and in response to a previous review: all I had to do was ask for a hair dryer and they brought it right away). Make sure to ask for AARP or AAA discounts, one of them got us 10% off, can't remember which.

Waldos' food was surprisingly good and hit the bar at The Ocean Grill and ask Rosie for one of her famous top shelf margaritias, you won't be disappointed.

I stayed at the Driftwood over a 4 week period for job related travel. I stayed in a number of different rooms at the Driftwood. I thought it was a great place to stay and the price was reasonable. The rooms were clean. One thing to know is that none of the rooms I stayed in had a hair dryer, so bring your own.