Margaritaville Beach Resort in Hollywood, FL.
Oceanview Room with Two Queen Beds
$419.00/Night plus amenity fee of $29.00/night per room
Two out of Five Stars
When we were in Cozumel in the spring of 2016, we stopped by Margaritaville for a Cheeseburger in Paradise™ and it was amazing! The atmosphere, the service, the food – absolutely out of this world! We came home with fun collector bar glasses and great memories. So, when our next trip – a cruise on the Allure of the Seas out of Port Everglades – rolled around, we decided to bite the bullet and spring for a couple of days at the Margaritaville Resort in Hollywood, Florida before we left. If a few hours was amazing, a couple of days would be beyond the best, right?
As it turns out, not necessarily.
Our red-eye flight on Spirit Airlines (the only non-stop flight from Denver International Airport to Hollywood International Airport) was scheduled to land at 5 am, but check-in is not until 4 pm. When I made our reservation, I requested early check-in, which, unfortunately, they don’t offer. They do, however, tell you that you can come to the property, stow your bags, and make use of the amenities until a room is ready. Unfortunately, without a room assignment, we weren’t able to lounge on the private beach or check out towels to go swimming. The only amenities that we were actually able to use without a room assignment were the restaurants.
After catching a cup of coffee in the Margaritaville Coffee Shop, we napped in the comfortable, airy lobby until we visited the Landshark Bar & Grill at lunch time.
Sadly, I don’t have pictures (my phone was dead by then), but the food in the Landshark Bar & Grill was hands down the best we had on the resort. If you like a good Philly Cheesesteak, go hungry! The one they serve is HUGE and absolute perfection. We were still dawdling on the deck and watching the ocean around 2:30 when we were texted that we could check in.
When we received our room, the first thing I noticed was that my “ocean-view” room (an extra charge) actually looked out over a bar and swimming pool. There was no view of the ocean. Of course, we had a room – and we were exhausted – and the front desk very politely explained that if I declined the room I’d accepted the key to, they couldn’t say when my next room would be ready as I’d be moved back to the end of the check-in line. We decided to live with it.
Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. The room was dirty and would have resulted in a bad review of a cheap motel. For a property charging $400+ night, the room was appalling.
In the main room, the carpet, chair upholstery, and bed skirts were dirty or stained.
The sheets on one bed were fine. The sheets on the other bed were wrinkled and had lipstick spots.
On the wall by the sliding glass door, it appeared someone had cleaned their nose and wiped the leavings on the wallpaper. Oddly, this was the wall right next to the bed with the dirty sheets. So, either the things had been stuck to the wall longer than one guest ago, or the sheets hadn’t been changed in more than one booking, or the person sleeping in the bed with lipstick on was a nose picker that was unfamiliar with tissues? None of these scenarios is more appealing than the others.
In the toilet closet of the bathroom, there was red staining on the walls. It looked as if someone had gone after it with a red marker or spilled nail polish that splashed onto the wall.
The shelves of the shower organizer fell as soon as any weight was placed on them.
At full pressure, the water didn’t even have enough pressure to rinse my hair (which is quite short). With the sink faucets on full-force, you can see that there isn’t much water.
Once we had our room, we were able to check out the private beach just outside the resort’s fence. It was a very easy walk to get there, the beach was very clean, and it was not as busy as I would have expected. Unfortunately, the young man running the stand that assigned the umbrellas and lounge chairs was rude and seemed quite put out when we asked for a spot. Once we finally had a spot, we ended up only staying a short time because a couple of local drug dealers were making their rounds and the fact that there was a child with us didn’t seem to faze them. They were loud and vocal – calling out what they had and what the prices were from a fair distance away if they thought they had your attention – so they didn’t seem at all concerned that the hotel might have security.
Our first night at the resort, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant was booked until well after we wanted to eat, so we made a reservation for the next night and ate at a small restaurant on the beach (separate review later, but don’t miss it – it was ridiculously good!). Saturday night we had no trouble getting our table even though the hostesses – again, not the most polite individuals, either of them – couldn’t find our reservation.
The ambiance of the dining room is amazing. The ceiling is beautifully painted and there are beach and ship-wreck type decorations scattered about. The service was slow – our waiter was friendly, but he much more interested in flirting with a woman at the table next to us than in waiting on us – and when our food came, it was cold, over-cooked and disappointing. We also could have done without the music videos that were on a loop at top volume. There were only a handful of videos, and they replayed so many times that it was irritating.
So, in mom’s opinion? I give Margaritaville Beach Resort in Hollywood, FL two out of five stars and even at $100/ night, we wouldn’t go back. The room was dirty (although the common areas sparkled), the entire resort was over-priced and overly commercialized, and much of the staff was rude; not at all the light-hearted family-friendly escape from reality that they advertise.
Next time, we’ll feed our Cheeseburger in Paradise™ craving in the resort towns we visit out of country where the experience is less commercial and more relaxing.
In Mom's Opinion 