South Seas Resort — Attraction in Cape Coral

To say the new ownership of South Seas is incompetent, is a massive understatement. If you've been an owner in South Seas for decades as we have, or just a fan of the resort, you're going to be very disappointed the next time you come. Although in time, more amenities will open up, as of today, July 21st, there are no restaurants, snacks, ice cream shop and today there's no internet, power or pools open. And with so few amenities open, these geniuses have decided to essentially close the beaches as well. They've put up Ballard's blocking any access by golf cart to the north end of the island, as well as removing the golf cart parking near the busier part of the beach you actually have access to. And even though there's almost no one one the island, they have idiots in trucks telling people they can't park any cart rented from Yolo Water Sports and not them, at the sole beach access parking area. That wouldn't be to gouge you on cart rentals, right? So if you've been coming here for years with your family shade tent, chairs and coolers to enjoy shelling on a quiet secluded beach, forget it unless you want to lug a few hundred pounds of beach gear along with your kids a half mile and back. The public portion of the beach of course does not have enough shaded chairs or chairs in general for people wanting to use it. The moonlight rides by the ocean to watch the sunset are gone and the beautiful 9 hole golf course has been decimated into nothing more than a chipping and putting range. If these people think any serious golfer would pay to play this course, they're out of their mind. And if they think families are going to pay hundreds of dollars to chip and putt with their kids, they're even more deranged. The main pool area has only a fraction of the shade umbrellas that it used to. So unless you want to go throw your towels down at 6am or place your children and electronics in full sun all day, you can forget using the pool as well. Hey Greg, the seven foot tall umbrellas don't block the view, the eighty chairs your people lined up on the waters edge do. And same expert decision makers that have decimated the use of the beach and the amenities are attempting to put a 470,room hotel in place of the now demolished hotel. Not only is the island on septic, but the amenities at this resort would never be able to accommodate that number of rooms. The new ownership at South Seas has also decided to kick Hilton Grand Vacations off the island, opting to no longer check their guests in. This now means as an HGV owner you need do not only stop in Periwinkle place on Sanibel Island to get your keys, but then also stop in Chadwick Square to get wrist bands and parking pass. So they won't check in HGV guests even though South Seas itself scarcely manages a single operating unit right now. They have two people in their temporary office all day doing nothing and can't help you with anything. I heard more than one horror story of people locked out of their units until 3am and were forced to get another room. As a person that's been coming to South Seas for twenty years now, the direction this resort is taking is horrendous and they must be stopped from their illegal expansion plans that stink of sweetheart deals with Lee County commissioners. The peaceful secluded shelling beaches we've known are gone and if ownership has its way this Resort will be overrun soon with too many people and not enough amenity space to accommodate them. Thank you to Greg and the fine folks at Timbers properties for destroying a Florida landmark more than any hurricane ever could.

UPDATE: Why in the world would I share my feedback with HVC simply because they handle my booking? And why do you think they would find it interesting? HVC has been nothing but kind and helpful and aren't the ones ruining the resort. We could not enjoy the only natural amenity on the island because as the pictures I posted clearly show, you have blocked access to the beach and stopped anyone with a Yolo cart from getting anywhere near the remaining...

Final Update We paid thru 8/1 but leaving now - 4:30pm on 7/31.Again, service was solid. We received ongoing phone calls/texts to check in.Chantal put in 110% to make our experience positive.Leaving for a couple of reasons.2nd day in a row - (Sat and Sun) - water sports in bay/marina area unavailable due to staff issues.When asked about tomorrow morning, they were unsure.When we returned to our room after the pool & beach, discovered that the sink was leaking directly to the floor.At this point, we packed it up.Ihad no interest in calling maintenance & alerting them or being inconvenienced by them coming to repair a sink while we were ready to be in there showering and relaxing. Again, the service was great, they truly tried.The Harborside Hotel rooms are more modern for sure - much more our speed & style & we appreciate being moved to them by Chantal but they can only work with what they have & we felt our time was up when the sink problem arose.Hoping to see the property revitalized so it can be a 5/5 stars in the coming summers!

Update: The service is solid here.Both Troy & Chantal did their best to accommodate us.After I posted my original review, I attempted to take a shower but found myself under a spout with not much more than a drip.Husband went & spoke w/ Troy, a guest relations manager.Troy offered us another beachfront 1 bedroom villa. It was a slightly different floor plan w/ a shower that worked, but wasn’t worth moving for.Stayed put for the night. Learned that new owners of South Seas are investing millions in revitalizing the entire property.We’re excited to come back when project is finished.In meantime, rooms should be priced appropriately or pictured honestly. Upgrades sound very exciting & desperately needed! In morning Chantal called about our review. She asked us to try looking at 1 more room, a Harborside hotel room near the pool.We were already on our way out door to pool, so went to check out room. Definitely nicer. Room is updated & view of marina is lovely.It’s a hotel room w/ a balcony, & Chantal accommodated our kids by agreeing to send 2 rollaways for them.She also provided ice cream coupons for Scoops.She checked in repeatedly to work to meet our needs & we appreciate her service tremendously.I am happy to say that staff does seem to be on it! We’re hoping to enjoy the remainder of our stay.

Original post below. We truly hope our stay improves but so far NOT SO GOOD! We’ve been guests at South Seas almost annually for about 10 years. We’ve brought family & friends. Today we returned for another relaxing vacation in one of our favorite spots. The grounds are looking very shabby, and I’m not referring to the few areas under construction. The upkeep is definitely not what it was.Scoops, the resort ice cream/candy/pizza joint is DISGUSTING. We walked in while it was completely empty with 2 employees visibly on staff. The toppings area was full of dropped toppings & filth.None of the tables had been wiped down since previous use. The floor was nasty. We then walked through the pool area. The lounge chairs are ripped & moldy.Both Scoops & the front desk seemed to have inadequate ventilation/air conditioning. Both were warm & smelly.This is just not the quality experience we’ve come to expect at South Seas. We tried calling to make a dinner reservation at Harborside - no answer despite endless ringing & too many attempts at calling to count. Maybe this was just the end of a long day/week for South Seas & the weekend will be better.If not, I’ll definitely post another review with photos & more details, if it does improve I’ll happily post an update as well. The 1 bedroom beach villa isn’t luxury resort living.It needs painting & cosmetic updates.The wall in the bathroom clearly had a towel rack that fell, the wall is poorly patched & painted.There is no towel rack & limited space in this studio size bathroom.Doorways are in desperate need of paint or cleaning, so much grime from use &...

Beware NO Soul! I’m writing this so your expectations are set before you spend your hard earned money. For us, South Seas was a Massive disappointment after 25 years of coming here and loving it!! We all realize there was a hurricane, but read on….

I personally embrace change and capitalism but my money is going to Tween Waters and other Sanibel Resorts going forward. Yours should too. Look right past the reviews that are written by the local guides….they’re biased. SouthSeas imposed ridiculous rules that fundamentally prevent your freedom and a positive vacation experience. Examples follow:

1. on check in, expect to be inconvenienced by two stops … one spot in Sanibel and a second spot in Captiva in remote small offices with no sense of welcome. 2). SouthSeas new rule: No more umbrellas at MOST pool chairs because management is worried about the view getting blocked! Ridiculous…. Umbrellas are taller than line of sight. When requesting one due to prior skin cancer, we were told NO.
2. SouthSeas new rule: Rent ONLY THEIR golf carts for almost twice the price (no yolo or other golf cart rental companies), and then SouthSeas limits your range outside the resort which means you can’t get to places like Tween Waters (as you can with Yolo). They want NO money spent outside of the resort. And if you dare rent a golf cart from Yolo, or an outside source, the resort will not allow you to park it anywhere on their property at risk of fines and towing. They do not give a damn about supporting the local community nor businesses. Their talk is cheap otherwise.
3. SouthSeas new rule: no floats at pools. 25 years of joy over. 5). SouthSeas new rule: no riding your golf cart around redfish pass anymore. No golf cart access to the point nor Sunset Beach. 6). SouthSeas new rule: Don’t wear a necklace on the slides or you will be banned.

REALITY — Sanibel and Captiva are largely rebuilt after hurricane Ian . This resort tore down the hotel, lodging, employee, housing, and all amenities except original pools. This means no fun, no food, no shopping, no water sports, no normal bathrooms, locked gates, and very limited service due to an inability to attract employees. In two years, while HOA’s, other resorts and private homes all got rebuilt…. SouthSeas only succeeded at installing Porta potty toilets and two incredibly crappy Food trucks. There are NO restaurants and ZERO pool nor resort activities (Examples: no log roll, movies; s’mores,, yoga, gym, T-dock access; sunset beach live music). The soul of this place is dead. Talk to management and they don’t care one bit. Kyla Burkitt is one of the managers who could benefit from hospitality training at minimum. Timber Company (the new owners) are apparently confident they will make their financial returns for themselves and their private equity partners when they do the massive build out they plan and sell private residences to unsuspecting people who naively don’t understand the complexity of the monopolistic contract they’ll have to sign. Visitors will be begging for the experience of a professional resort management company, such as Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, etc. Timbers is an epic failure at creating a positive experience. Be aware of the lawsuit currently filed by the Captiva Civic Association regarding SouthSeas Development plans. Lee County — do what’s right for the residents and visitors to this beautiful area to provide ACCESS to all (that means more public parking and beach access for fees payable to the county. You did right by the original developer EXCEPT that it’s a public policy failure that the public has largely been CUT OFF from practical access to these beautiful beaches

Sanibel and Captiva are naturally stunning environments everyone should enjoy. Just do it at Tween Waters or one of the many Sanibel resorts …. Sadly, NOT...