Bellwether Beach Resort — Attraction in Saint Pete Beach

We had numerous issues with finding parking. When we mentioned it to valet we were told just move one of the cones blocking a parking spot and park there.On my 4th!!! complaint we were told about overflow parking below the resort.Why was this not told the first time we pulled into valet or the other 3 times we addressed the issue? The next problem was the cleanliness of our room when we first got into our room.Before we even got food in our room we killed two roaches in our bathroom.The next day we found one in between the two beds.There was sand all over our room when we first went into room.We travel often and never have we seen a roach anywhere we've stayed. I didn't bother even saying anything to staff because the last thing I wanted was for us to have to pack all of our stuff up and be moved to another room.Whoever cleans once you're checked out clearly doesn't pay attention to detail.The next issue was with the barista Tabitha that works in the cafe by the customer service desk. We were asked for IDs for our alcoholic drinks which of course is obviously fine.My wife explained to Tabitha that hers was in the cabana out on the beach. We politely asked since I showed mine and I'm 38 and she's the one who rented the resort if we really had to walk all the way out there to get it.She proceeded to say yes.So I respectfully told Tabitha okay no problem I will go get my wife's ID.As I get back I see my wife is extremely irritated and almost in tears.Of course when I'm gone Tabitha decided to be extremely rude and disrespectful to my wife.She was nowhere to be seen when I got back with my wife's ID because my wife asked to speak with a manager.A male worker behind the counter started to make my wife's drink since I was getting my wife's ID.Tabitha told the worker to stop making it because my wife didn't have her ID yet which she knew I was getting.My wife proceeded to tell Tabitha are you kidding me that you're telling him to stop making my drink when you know my husband is getting my ID.She then gave my wife a dirty look and rudely said it's common sense.My wife told Tabitha don't speak to me like I'm stupid please.Tabitha proceeded to say then "I don't care" and rolled her eyes. After all of that is when my wife asked to speak to a manager and Tabitha then walked to the back and never came back out . Tabitha acted very entitled it seemed and felt she could just talk to my wife however she wanted.We ended up speaking to the bar manager.Which he seemed professional and apologetic for the situation and stated he would speak to her.He told us he would give us a few free drinks at the bar he worked at which he did.I worked in customer service for 7 years before I was in the military and honestly I felt the whole situation wasn't handled properly and typically you have the employee apologize to the customer.In my experience of customer service I had been called hateful names and way worse and I still was respect to the customers no matter what.Tabitha on the other wasn't one bit. I proceeded about an hour after the incident occurred and I spoke personally to Tabitha.I explained to her what the issues were and what my wife was so upset about.Tabitha lied through her teeth and said that there was no male worker that had started my wife's drink when clearly there was.Given Tabithas disrespectful it's common sense comment to my wife when Tabitha even told the guy to stop making her drink.After realizing that Tabitha was making up lies about things that never happened and didn't happen the way they actually did I decided to end the conversation peacefully with being the better person and saying no hard feelings and not to worry about it.I quickly could tell she's just one of those people that will lie no matter what to protect her job.You'd think paying 2,300 to stay at a resort like this there would be much better communication by staff about parking, cleaner rooms, amd respectful staff.We are now staying at a different resort and customer service is way better as well as cleanliness and...

We just visited St. Pete Beach for the first time ever and stayed at the Bellwether. I tried to do as much research as possible because we have spent over 30 years going to Sanibel Island and it is difficult to know where to stay when you are just starting out some place new.

The pictures I saw of the Bellwether looked beautiful and the location looked perfect. We paid for the "suite experience" which is basically booking the most expensive room/stay. (I do know in my many years of traveling, all over the world that you do get what you pay for). In this instance, we did NOT.

I won't say that the Bellwether wasn't a nice place to stay but it certainly wasn't worth the money per night that they charge. First let me say that we went to several of the other "well known resorts" to get meals and look at their amenities because we felt we had made a mistake in our choice but what we found pretty much every where we went was the fact that all of these places are TIRED! That is the best way that I can describe our stay at the Bellwether. VERY TIRED.

You can't just paint over something for pictures and think you can get away with it. When a hotel or a room feels dirty (and I honestly don't think they are dirty), it is because they need total renovation. I get it that it is very costly to renovate, especially because places loose revenue while in the process, but honestly how long can they go on making money hand over fist and charging prices of true LUXURY and delivering a moderately OK product.

Average is the "best" rating I can give our whole experience but that is because of the hotel itself. Old furniture (broken and ripped), Carpeting in halls that not only look like they were last re done in the 70"s but smelled like that as well. I will say that the bed was comfortable!

With the "Suite experience" we were to receive turn down service every night. Having the same kind of cheese cake delivered (probably from the same cake) for 1 with Plastic Cutlery and not "turning down the bed" is hardly a "special amenity"! It was almost silly!

Having to "wait in line" starting at 7:30 am to get the 2 chairs and umbrella that they walk people to one at a time starting at 8 is hardly a luxury experience. Selling that same service to people who aren't even staying at the hotel for the exact price that you see on your room charges is outrageous! I actually purposely chose the Bellwether because although we love kids, we figured there would be less kids there because the pool is small and the outside amenities weren't as great as other resorts. BUT Allowing outside patrons to "use the pool, the beach, the bathroom etc, adds to the Clustered feeling!

I do understand that all the resorts allow these "day passes" but I find it a bit disingenuous that you are paying for a whole experience and someone else can come in for the entire day and pay maybe $55. (parking included) and have pretty much the same experience that you are having for $747.00 Per day!

Bongos was great and service throughout the whole property was great! Daniel out on the beach was the BEST and we made sure to tip them all well. They were all hard working and appreciated!

Spinners, I will do a separate review for but it was average and overpriced as well. Actually just getting a drink on 11 and watching the sunset was a better experience.

We had high hopes for this trip and for St. Pete Beach in general but I must say we will not be back! We booked our next getaway for January at JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort and Spa while we were sitting in the rundown suite at the Bellwether. We have been there before! We will be paying the same room price and know that we will get that Luxury Experience!

In closing, I want to share with the Bellwether. It has all the potential in the world to be an amazing hotel! RENOVATE, not just paint! Make it a "special" place, don't try and be like the "resorts". Don't allow the "day passes". you simply don't have the space for the extra people at the beach or...

We stayed for a weekend visit. Overall, we had fun. However, we did feel as if we were bamboozled several times in the experience.

I will start with the good. The staff and service was second to none. The front desk staff was incredibly nice, welcoming, and helpful. We showed up prior to check in and they were very accommodating in holding our bags so we could begin enjoying our vacation. At the onsite beach bar, Bongos, the service and quality of food and beverages was really good with reasonable prices. The bartender Keith, is the best around. I would highly recommend watching the sunset and enjoying dinner and drinks at sunset on the beach. The rooftop bar allows you a 360 degree view of St Pete beach was a great atmosphere to relax. Suncoast Water Sports also has a stand where you can rent jet ski's, banana boats rides, and boat tours (Booze Cruise) at different times. The gentlemen running the stand where very helpful and we were lucky enough on our jet ski ride to see dolphins about 10 yards from us. It was an awesome experience. Something that caught our eye was the complimentary 25 minute professional photography session. Our photographer, Katelyn, was amazing. She really made the experience very relaxing and fun and was able to capture very natural and comfortable moments (which is quite the task with us sometimes lol). Additionally, the cabana workers were very nice and provide games and floats for hotel guests at no charge.

However, please temper expectations when considering The Bellwether. To be fair, we may have come in with higher expectations, but we based these expectations based on pictures from the website. To begin, the hotel was much smaller than expected. The most memorable is probably the pool area. It is very small. The pool area was also under some minor renovations which we understand is just part of hotel maintenance. It is nice that they offer complementary cabanas, however we were just expecting nicer cabanas. The lounge chairs you sit on are kind of uncomfortable, similar to the ones you would see at a local public pool. Also, they will only line up 5 or 6 cabanas in a row for ocean view before the cabanas go back towards the hotel. Unless you are in the first two rows of cabanas, you will not have a view of the ocean and will only be able to see the cabanas directly in front of you. The cabana stand opens at 8 to reserve your cabana, first come first serve. In order to get one of the first two rows of cabanas, expect to be at the cabana stand at 7:15AM. We arrived at 7:45AM and were only able to get the third row of cabanas. The hotel hallways to the rooms have a pretty bad smell that can creep into the hotel rooms. Our room was nice. Our biggest complaint of the room itself would be the TV didn't allow for you to pull up a guide. You would have to find the guide channel. Also, if you type in a number on the remote to go to specific channel, it would not work. We had to channel up or down all the way to the specific channel which was annoying. The outside shower by the pool and beach were not working the first two days, which led to us tracking a bunch of sand into our hotel room. The hotel cleaning service is supposed to come every other day. However they did not come during our 4 day stay. Finally, the complimentary photography session. We did have an amazing time, and did not expect the photos to be free after words. However, the business structure of buying the photos was odd. This is no reflection on the photographer we had, because we felt she was amazing. There was close to 700 photos taken during our session. The pricing for the photos was $399 for all of the photos. The next package down from that was $299 and included 12 photos with 1 free (call it 13 photos). The third package was $199 for 8 photos with 1 free (9 photos). Or individual photos for $35. It just seems like there should be a package in between the first and second. That is a huge jump in the amount of photos to select from. We were simply hoping for a 25...