We stayed 11/30 & 12/1/2012, pre-cruise. We found the hotel staff friendly (especially Reese), helpful and accommodating! We were given excellent advice for dinners... Fish Tales & Gaido's! Could not have had better food at either location. We had a great view of the beach from our small balcony and the room was clean. The shuttle driver was very polite, got us to the pier and promptly picked us up. We left our car in their gated lot and had no problems. We would definitely stay here again!

We stayed here 11/30/12, the night before we boarded the DIsney Magic. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. My mom asked if there was anywhere nearby she could purchase some bottled water and the front desk gave her about 6 bottle complentary. We took the free shuttle to the port which was timely and super convienent. We flew in but I believe they let you park your car there. The hotel is certainly older, but appears to be reinovated in most areas. The rooms were more than adequate with kuerig machines in them and bath and body works products. I woul definately stay here again.

We've stayed at this hotel many times throughout the years. There is a reason why this hotel is so much cheaper than the other beach front hotels.This hotel is a party type hotel, by that I mean loud music, lots of drinks, and basically an all night party (the bar doesn't shut down until two AM and is connected to the hotel right off the balconies, they play loud music until they leave). Every room above the 1st floor, has an amazing ocean front view and you're not getting charged an arm and a leg, you can literally walk across the street to the beach. There are many "repairs" that look like they were not performed by a licensed professional (example - the wood flooring has majorly bowed up and buckled in the lobby near the elevator and looks like it was just cocked together on the seams, major trip hazard, and has been there for years.) It also depends on the staff member you get. I had some that were downright rude, uncaring, and very unhelpful (one employee was too busy playing on the internet in the computer room to even get up to speak with me about an issue). I've met some that went the extra mile and were fantastic. The pool is not heated, but it's bareable during the hot summer days, not so much the rest of the time. Generally, the rooms are cleaned. Only once do we have an issue with towels (our dirty ones were left on the bathroom floor, and we were left with one clean towel. . .apparently the hotel was low on towels on a busy weekend. I wonder why they left the dirty towels behind?) So, this hotel is a draw. Will I stay there again? Eh, I'm not really sure. It's hard to beat a beach front property at that price, but the more issues I run into at this hotel, it's hard to justify the money for the frustration. If you want a cheap beach vacation, this is the hotel to choose. It's close to everything and walking distance to some great restaurants/attractions, but be warned, you get what you pay for.

First off, I've stayed here several times (2010, 2011, & summer 2012), and loved it. It has a nice pool right across from the beach, with a small swim-up bar, which is attached to a nice bar / restaurant right on the beach called "Captain Jack's". HOWEVER, all of this was OPEN when I stayed the previous three times. It was all CLOSED the week of our last stay.

So if you're thinking about staying here, be ready for the pool to be ice cold; the nice little restaurant on the beach (Captain Jack's) to be closed; the hairdryer on your bathroom wall to be missing; the vending machine (3rd floor) to be broken; NO MAID SERVICE UNLESS YOU REQUEST IT EACH DAY; window overlooking the ocean to have a big crack running down the middle of it; no table on your balcony (some have it, ours didn't); hotel bar / restaurant is like a sauna. More details below.............

Here's the FACTS (not opinion) from our current stay (11/19/12 - 11/23/12): My parents came in for Thanksgiving week, and were set on renting a house in Galveston so they could have some "beach time". I highly recommended the Holiday Inn Sunspree due to my previous stays here, which were fantastic in the past. We stayed in room 320.

Problem 1: The pool was closed.

Problem 2: The pool isn't heated. (I called the Hotel Galvez & Hilton just up the street, and found that their hotels are heated. We were going to switch hotels (beings they were the same price), but we didn't want to go through the hassle after we checked in and got situated).

Problem 3: Hairdryer was ripped off the wall in the bathroom. (Lucky we brought our own).

Problem 4: Window overlooking the ocean had a crack running down the middle of it. (Nice to look at when you're looking out at the ocean :-))

Problem 5: No table on OUR balcony. All the other rooms had tables, but ours didn't.

Problem 6: No maid service / housekeeping unless you request it. When we did request our room to be serviced, we were brought a few towels. Our room was serviced twice during our week stay.

Problem 7: Hotel bar (across from the lobby) is so hot that it feels like a sauna. The one time we went in there to watch the football game (beings Captain Jack's was closed all week), we watched the one other person in there dripping sweat from how hot it was in there.

Problem 8: The lights this hotel uses are like heat lamps. In all of the hallways leading to the rooms, and in the elevator, it's very well heated (from the lights). Not the best way to insulate a an area :-) Ever heard of compact fluorescent's or LED's???? Would save a bunch in the power bill and be able to heat the pool & keep Captain Jack's open with the money they save!

Problem 9: The vending machine on our floor (3rd floor) was broken. There's a number on the machine to call if it rips you off, so the hotel doesn't have to take responsibility for it. With Captain Jack's being closed, and the hotel bar being like a sauna, we were left with the vending machine. When this didn't work, we were left laughing at what a joke this hotel has become.

All in all, this is just another example of why businesses go under. No, it's not the economy. Not, it's not George Bush's fault. These businesses go under, because they stop doing what they were doing to be successful in the first place. They hire employees who don't take care of the issues brought to their attention. (Why weren't we moved to another room when we brought these issues to their attention? The hotel was at 20% occupancy when we told them about these issues. It's not like there wasn't SEVERAL other rooms we could have been moved to). They start cutting costs, not realizing that the very things they're cutting will lead to reviews like this, costing them much more in business than the money they're saving by NOT HEATING THE POOL, CLOSING ONE OF THEIR MAIN ATTRACTIONS ("CAPTAIN JACK'S" ON THE BEACH), NO MAID SERVICE UNLESS REQUESTED, CRACKED WINDOW, BROKEN VENDING MACHINE, NO AIR CONDITION IN THE SAUNA-LIKE HOTEL BAR, TABLES ON SOME BALCONY'S AND NOT ON OTHERS, ETC.)

So why did I give this hotel 2 stars vs 1? The A.C in the room worked great and we were kindly given some bottles of water when checking in. The lady checking us in was very nice to us. The balcony is a nice feature, as the view is great. It was all downhill after that though.