Osprey on the Gulf — Attraction in Panama City Beach

We've stayed at The Osprey since 2008 and we enjoy it a lot. Our most recent stay was in July of 2017. It is within walking distance to Pier Park and the staff working AT THE HOTELS are very nice. The feel at the sister locations (The Driftwood and The Osprey) is very family friendly. I like the fact that you get access to both places' pools and private beach access as well. The ladies that clean the rooms are very sweet and accomodating. There were only a few things that I did not care for this year, which were no fault of the staff at The Osprey. #1 People smoking marijuana on the balcony somewhere around our room that made it impossible to sit on our balcony many times. The ocean breeze that we would have enjoyed on our balcony, was clouded by the smell of skunk. I called the office to complain but was asked what room it was coming from so they could check it out. How was I to know? It continued most of our stay. I urge you to make designated smoking areas for people, as I was also constantly moving ash trays away from our table at the pools and throwing butts away I found in the pool. #2 The first day we went down to the beach, we took a canopy to shade us and our little ones from the sun. Before we could even sit our bags down, we were bombarded by the man that rents the blue chairs and umbrellas on the beach. He was very rude and pushy. He basically scolded us for being in front of "his" chairs. He proceeded to tell us that we "had better not" set up our canopy or chairs "in front of his chairs"...When we questioned him about his tone and his rudeness...and ALL of the others that had set up shop in the same area (in front of "his" chairs) he laughed and said "I can't argue with everybody" and shrugged his shoulders. He then added,"If you've got a problem with it, I can go grab Tracy Gilmore"...(We didn't know who Tracy was, but assuming he said "Gilmore" and WE had bracelets on that said "Gilmore Resorts"...we put two and two together). We moved, but later found out from beach patrol that we did not HAVE TO. I urge those in control at THE OSPREY AND DRIFTWOOD to get this little man under control. He is enough to kill anyone's peaceful beach vibe. And if what he says is your facility's rule...please let people know when you are giving them the tag for their canopy. I am hopeful that these things will not be an issue next time. **Update: We went back this year, stayed in early July 2018. Room was perfect, housekeeping was amazing (Thank you, Wanda), tiki bar was fun, staff was super nice. The only two things I'd say needed help were that the chlorine levels were ridiculously high in the pools and hottub. Burn your eyes high...fade your light purple suit to WHITE, high. Baddd. Once I mentioned it, they immediately took action though, so thank you. The other downside was staffer Marcy who was relentless with the bracelet checks. I get it, you know, as in why they do them, however...six checks in four hours is overboard - I literally counted the last day just to see...(especially when no one NEW was at the pool since the last time she asked, less than an hour prior)...Overall, great place to stay. I'm sure we will be back, we've actually met some really nice people over the past 10 years there that come the same time we do...

I was nothing but over the moon for this trip I booked almost 2 months ago with Osprey. I loved everything about the property, hence why I was so excited to stay there and payed in advance to ensure I had the room for four whole days, until I came in contact with the most outwardly disrespectful office attendants. Susie and Larry, Susie being an office attendant, Larry being a manager, were dismissive of me because I am a young woman. When booking, I had to submit an id (my drivers license) and my credit card. Both were taken and ran when I made the booking with NO ISSUES ABOUT MY AGE AS IT IS CLEARLY ON MY IDENTIFICATION. Upon receiving at the front desk when I arrived for check in, Susie then told me that the person checking in must be 25. I said, okay no problem at all my sister is 25 and staying with us as well as myself (21) and our close friend (23). All being young females in an unfamiliar city, Susie told us to leave and suggested finding a motel while rolling her eyes at us and refusing to give us a managers name or phone number to dispute the situation, then stated that everyone occupying the room must be 25 (she claimed that I would have received an email stating that, I never did, I even went as far as giving Susie my phone to look through my email, she couldn’t even find the email making that claim). While stressed and down 700$, we had to scramble at almost 9 pm to find a place to stay or be stranded away from home which was then hours away. We were hung up on, ran in circles, and just completely dismissed for our concerns. Larry was very rude on the phone and said he didn’t want “people like us”, staying there (interpret that how you want). I was very confused what about my “kind” was not welcome. I would never any young women to go through what we had to last night, very scary situation and unfortunate we had to be in it. I really hope the owners of this family owned property take this situation into consideration. If I had known about it, I would have never proceeded with the booking, however, Osprey failed to inform me of any such rules and instead left...

I was nothing but over the moon for this trip I booked almost 2 months ago with Osprey. I loved everything about the property, hence why I was so excited to stay there and payed in advance to ensure I had the room for four whole days, until I came in contact with the most outwardly disrespectful office attendants. Susie and Larry, Susie being an office attendant, Larry being a manager, were dismissive of me because I am a young woman. When booking, I had to submit an id (my drivers license) and my credit card. Both were taken and ran when I made the booking with NO ISSUES ABOUT MY AGE AS IT IS CLEARLY ON MY IDENTIFICATION. Upon receiving at the front desk when I arrived for check in, Susie then told me that the person checking in must be 25. I said, okay no problem at all my sister is 25 and staying with us as well as myself (21) and our close friend (23). All being young females in an unfamiliar city, Susie told us to leave and suggested finding a motel while rolling her eyes at us and refusing to give us a managers name or phone number to dispute the situation, then stated that everyone occupying the room must be 25 (she claimed that I would have received an email stating that, I never did, I even went as far as giving Susie my phone to look through my email, she couldn’t even find the email making that claim). While stressed and down 700$, we had to scramble at almost 9 pm to find a place to stay or be stranded away from home which was then hours away. We were hung up on, ran in circles, and just completely dismissed for our concerns. Larry was very rude on the phone and said he didn’t want “people like us”, staying there (interpret that how you want). I was very confused what about my “kind” was not welcome. I would never any young women to go through what we had to last night, very scary situation and unfortunate we had to be in it. I really hope the owners of this family owned property take this situation into consideration. If I had known about it, I would have never proceeded with the booking, however, Osprey failed to inform me of any such rules and instead left...