Dolphin Sands Clearwater Beach, an Ascend Collection Hotel — Hotel in Clearwater

We stayed here the week of July 4th and are STILL dealing with this nightmare of a stay. Our credit card was charged multiple times for our stay booked on points. The general manager David has refused to speak to us on the phone the entire time but we have email correspondence where he backtracks and admits the hotel charged us anyway. When Choice Corporate reaches out to the hotel he continues to lie and say we booked our stay at the front desk despite us providing written proof that it was booked on points ahead of time. He ignores the proof and refuses to provide a resolution. Given that this is the behavior of the general manager it is no surprise the rest of the staff behaves the way they do. We have been jumping through hoops, 45 minute phone calls, emails back and forth for almost two months now trying to get back the money they stole. We have been Choice Diamond members for YEARS and stay at this resort multiple times a year, have never had an incident of any kind. On the night of July 4th we walked over to Shepherd’s for their live music. Around midnight we walked through the beach back to Winter’s as we have done many times before. My feet hurt and I laid down for a moment on a beach chair. Not 5 seconds went by and a flashlight was shining on me and a man was screaming obscenities from the bar. He THEN identified himself as a security guard and said the beach was closed. I immediately got up and apologized and explained that we didn’t know the beach was closed at night considering other people were walking around with no issue. The security guard, Antonio, continued screaming at us to “get out of here” even when we told him we were guests. As we were trying to walk away and into the hotel he continued to harass us, blocking me from going inside, pulled out his phone and said he “had something for us”. He accused us of doing something inappropriate on the beach and said something about children (there were none, so I’m not sure what he was talking about) We were first and foremost, not doing anything inappropriate other than not being aware that the beach was closed. As we were trying to get back to our room and away from Antonio, he continued to follow us screaming ALL the way to the front desk where Miss Janice was working. At this point both my husband and Antonio had raised voices as he was relentlessly aggressive, accusing and harassing us. Janice told Antonio to leave and said she would make notes in the account and we could talk to a manager in the morning. Despite this unnecessary harassment ruining our holiday vacation, we decided to just check out the next morning. We were already stressed from the situation and just wanted to go home so we were willing to let it go. To add insult to injury, a couple days after checking out we noticed a $328 charge on our CC. Upon calling today, I was told by the front desk that it was for a damaged TV. This is an error and did not happen during our stay. We did not turn on the TV once during our stay. We had our room serviced on July 4th and no damage was reported. When I spoke to Vanessa today, she stated because of the notes Janice put in regarding the security guard she was not going to remove the charge and I should speak with David the GM. We then noticed ANOTHER charge for $372.51 for the last night we were there despite that being previously booked with points. The hotel manager has refused to speak with us on the phone and ignores emails now. I want to reiterate that we have been Diamond members for YEARS staying at Choice hotels all across the country and have NEVER had an incident, damage, complaint, or anything of the sort. It’s shameful to treat loyal guests like this and then on top of that put us through hell for months to get money back they had no...

When we arrived to check in, I asked the lady working the front desk, "how are you?" and she said, "I am so bored being here". We arrived around 12:30-1:00 and our room wasn't ready yet, but she said she would let housekeeping know we had arrived, and it should be ready soon. She suggested going to the restaurant or to pool until our room was ready. We ate lunch and walked around a bit and then went to check on our room again and it still was not ready. We walked around some more and attempted to go to the pool but the doors were locked. We went back to the desk sometime later and the same lady was there and I inquired about the room again and she said it still was not ready. She told us to go eat or go to the pool and I informed her we did eat and tried to use the pool but the doors were locked...apparently there was potential lightening and it was temporarily closed for safety. When another employee informed us of the lightening, she said, "Wow, I guess you are just out of luck right now!". Three hours from the time we arrived we were able to access our room. Throughout the check in process I asked the lady at check what her name was but she never said. Our receipt says Mjacks0.

When we arrived to our room, the floor was dirty/sandy and the comforter had blood stains on it. We were too tired to deal with the lady at the desk again so we just slept without the comforter. The following morning when we were leaving for the day my husband went to the front desk and spoke to the lady working there, Tiffany and let her know of the floor and comforter issues and that were would like our room cleaned that day. She said she would let housekeeping know and alert the manager when she arrived. We arrived back at our room around 3pm and nothing had been cleaned. I went back to the front desk and spoke with Tiffany again and she told me she had let both housekeeping and the manager know. I asked her to notify them again please and she said she would. About an hour later, still nothing done, my husband went down to the front desk again and requested to speak to the manager. When he explained the situation to her, he said she was so surprised and embarrassed that he knew Tiffany had not notified her. Within an hour of notifying her, the room was cleaned and we were credited for a night's stay, which was very nice. Throughout our stay, having the room cleaned was an ongoing issue. I don't know if they were just short staffed or what. It was frustrating to notify the front desk every couple of days we want our room cleaned, intentionally being gone much of the day to allow for this to occur, only to return back to a dirty room. In short, our room only ended up being cleaned once and I tracked down the housekeeping staff (who seemed to be working very hard) to request towels, toilet paper, and trash bags.

One morning we were out of the pool and when I attempted to use the outdoor restroom by the pool there was not toilet paper. I went to the front desk to notify them and the lady that was at the desk when we checked in was there as well as another man. I told them of the situation and the lady just turned and walked back into an office and the man said, "oh wow" and handed me a roll of toilet paper. The toilet paper he gave me was for a room and not for the toilet paper roll in the outside bathroom and I don't have a key for those because I don't work there!!!!!

Everything, however, was not all bad. The gentlemen that work outside when you arrive were very polite and helpful with good information about the area. The staff at the restaurant and at the beach bar were EXCELLENT and the food was very good.

We would definitely eat at the restaurant again, we would not stay again or recommend...

The location was perfect but that's about it. My trip was supposed to be a break from work and relaxation with my fiancé before I gave birth. I have stayed in some terrible hotels in my life (I didn't expect this one to be the Ritz Carlton) so I understand that upgrades are sometimes needed. This hotel looked decent in the pictures but I can't give it an additional star other than 1. The gentleman at the front desk (Johnathan) was doing his job although I was complaining about being on the first floor with no view (which I could get over) which just made the experience worse. I wasn't happy with the room from the first impression but I decided that I could make due to just not just be difficult. The hotel was noisy and the walls are paper thin. I called the third party that I booked the room through and was told that I could not be refunded until Monday because only the manager was able to issue the refund. As I walked back into the hotel I was told that "I'm only asking for a refund because I want a higher floor (or to change rooms) when in all actuality I wanted to stay at another property (forget the higher floor at this point) I was clear when I stated to him it is not about the higher room but the room is dirty to me and he stated that he "highly doubts" that and followed us to the room to see what was "dirty". I told him that the floor was gritty and he stated that it must be "sand" and offered a free beach chair worth about $20 and exited the room. I took pictures just so I could show that the floor had not been mopped and still had sand from the previous guests on the floor. I am pregnant and I literally just wanted to take a shower so at this point I just decided to stay inside the room instead of sleeping in my car for the night. As soon as we turned the air conditioning on flies flew out of the air conditioner so before I took a shower; I spent time to kill the flies so that we could sleep comfortably. Again, The floor had not been mopped so there was dust and sand on the floors. (See pictures below) The tables had not been wiped in a while so there were left over stains and spots. The hotel parking is $25 per day. The pool is ok nothing special. The bathroom is small but for this terrible experience I was glad to at least see the shower was clean. The sheets and towels are thin and everything else is basic. If you are in Clearwater for some rest and relaxation, Winter the Dolphin Beach Club is not the place. I would choose another hotel or spend a little extra money to stay somewhere else. If you are a pregnant woman, traveling with kids or older individual and you need space or you want some sleep, this is not the place. I am hoping to receive some sort of refund for some compensation of this terrible experience. I felt that the staff member did not want to be wrong about the room not being clean to a specific standard so I made sure to take enough pictures for the third party who I booked through to take some sort of responsibility for even offering this hotel to guests. The staff member told the third party that I was "lying' and that the room was clean when in fact the pictures negated what he said, and that the room had not been mopped in a while. They offer two CANS of Dasani water as complimentary drinks and the room also has a microwave and mini ironing board. In addition as I was checking out I was greeted by one of the parking lot attendants who stated that she yelled at me because I looked "lost" and like I did NOT belong there. This place is discriminatory and we chose to leave and stay at another hotel rather than hassle with the staff and the filth at Winter the...