El Caribe Resort & Conference Center — Hotel in Daytona Beach Shores

1star review I booked a stay at the El Caribe Resort and Conference Center in Daytona Beach from July 18th–21st, and I can confidently say this was one of the worst hospitality experiences I’ve ever had.

Upon arrival and check-in, we were immediately shocked by the condition of the room. It was filthy, dust layered heavily throughout as if it hadn’t been cleaned in weeks, baseboards with visible water damage, and a shower head coated in yellow residue or mold. The lamps on the nightstands had green mildew, the bedsheets were visibly dirty, and the balcony door was unsecured. Even after requesting clean sheets from the front desk, the replacements were just as bad — stained and covered in hair.

We brought our concerns to the front desk and were told we’d be “accommodated” with a better room. Unfortunately, the second room on the 6th floor was even worse. The microwave was severely rusted, the oven and stove were outdated and corroded, and the refrigerator didn’t cool at all. The bathtub had a rusted-out hole large enough for someone to seriously injure themselves. To make matters worse, there was a blood stain on one of the chairs.

We returned to the front desk to escalate the issue, only to be told that there was nothing else they could do — we could either check out or stay in the room. I then contacted Booking.com customer service and, after nearly two hours and repeatedly requesting a supervisor, was finally connected to one who also stated there was “nothing they could do.”

I disclosed that I have health concerns and emphasized how unsafe the room felt. The ceiling had visible black mold, and water was leaking from the balcony ceiling. It was unsanitary and unsafe — so much so that we didn’t even unpack. We searched for an alternative stay and were fortunate to find a new place after six stressful hours.

When we went to request extra blankets before, we decided to leave, we were told there were none available. During that interaction, the night audit named Chad dismissively told us, “You can check out or stay the night, but I’m not dealing with this anymore.” When I tried to officially check out around 3:30 AM, I was told by the night audit staff that I would need to wait until the morning shift for him to officially put it through.

The next morning, I had to return back to the hotel to speak with the Assistant GM, Misti, who initially refused to give me a refund through the booking messaging app, claiming I had stayed the night. I had to point out that the resort has security cameras that would clearly show I returned in the early morning to check out and never stayed. Only then did she agree to issue a full refund and update the Booking.com extranet accordingly.

Even so, I do not feel adequately compensated for this experience. Management was unprofessional and dismissive, and I was not the only guest experiencing issues — the lobby was filled with other families lodging similar complaints about cleanliness, lack of linens, broken lights, and more we honestly felt bad for Jennifer who was the one honestly trying to help and accommodate everyone never once gave an attitude and did what she could. However Misti the general manager and the night audit Chad had attitudes as if it were an inconvenience to help us out when it is there due diligence as employees of the company.

When I attempted to show Chad photo and video evidence, he responded, “I believe you. I don’t need to see the pictures,” which tells me they are fully aware of the conditions but choose not to take action. Roaches were everywhere outside, random wooden pallets blocked walkways, the pool was dirty and poorly maintained with no lighting, and shockingly left open all night, upon leaving exiting the elevator the door would not close luckily it was after we stepped out if you see in one of the photos attached the elevator looks likes it falling apart.

This entire experience ruined what was supposed to be a special birthday trip. The property is not at all...

Beautiful view from our ocean front rooms. It was extremely nice waking up & being able to see the ocean from our bed. Rooms are nice. There was 6 of us so we had to have 2 rooms. Our rooms were joined with a full size kitchen in the middle, which was really nice to have. The pools are heated which is extremely nice & almost made up for them not having a hot tub. But we would have loved for them to have a hot tub also. They have several out door activities available. & They have several grills with seating for up to 6 at each grill. My husband grilled out one night for us which was extremely nice being able to save $ & eat a nice meal right by the ocean. The only problems we had was the free breakfast they offer didn’t really have much to choice from. We only went one morning out of 5. & that’s kinda bad since it was included in the price of our room. But our girls didn’t really like anything they had except for the fruit, so it was no since in getting everyone up early enough to finish eating by 9:30. The biggest problem we had was with the maid. We left early one morning to go to Disney & came back late that night, when we got back we noticed the maid didn’t do her job. She came but only took the dirty towels & wash cloths. She didn’t leave any clean towels or washcloths, or toilet paper, or anything else for that matter, she didn’t do anything at all to our room except empty one trash can. I called & let them know. They said they were sorry but we could come get towels, we were all tired so I told them hopefully the maid would come in morning. At 10 am the next morning we ran out of toilet paper & the maid was no where near us. I called back again & let them no we still needed towels & washcloths & now we were out of toilet paper. The guy said he would let the maid know right then. But we waited in our room till 11:45 & she never came. Thankfully our kids room still had toilet paper we were able to use but we all needed towels. When we got back to our room about 5:30 pm the maid had been there & had cleaned the room. She left us clean towels but none in our kids room & she did not leave us any washcloths. I called office again, a lady said she was sorry if we wanted washcloths/towels we would have to come get them maid left at 3. I told her that was fine but that this was getting ridiculous & I felt like she did it just to be funny. Then the morning we checked out she started beating on the doors at 10:50 am while we was getting the last loud of our stuff out & double checking our rooms. My husband told her we was almost done from our door so she went ahead & went in our girls door while I was in there walking through double checking we didn’t leave anything. I mean I understand check out time is at 11 BUT it’s kinda funny when we needed the maid she was never around then 10 minutes before we had to be out of our room she was basically rushing us & pushing us out, which was extremely rude. & There was also an issue with the elevators not working. When we got there both were working, then within 30 minutes one was broke. We went to the beach & come back up on the working elevator & then within 30 minutes it was broke too. Thankfully they quickly fixed the 2nd one but it was about 24 hours before it was fixed. After that they both worked fine. Also when we sat on the balcony bugs kept bitting us. Thankfully it was just while we were on the balcony & not while we were...

The photos are incredibly deceiving. I have no idea what rooms they took pics of but it surly the wasn't mine. No tiles like those. No light airy colors. That was not at all what it looked like where I was.

The elevator was SO slow. I mean there are only 7 floors and no one on it at times and it still took a good 4-5 minutes waiting for it or riding it. I could deal with that if staying again. There is no a/c in the elevator though or at least it feels like that.

The room.... Oh boy. I initially thought the key card didn't work but it did. My daughter discovered you have to put your hip into the door. You literally have to put your hip into the door to open it and it has to slam or have your hip into it to close it.

The rooms have carpet. Wear your shoes. There's carpet that is bare foot acceptable and there is "your feet will be dirty stained" level. This was that level. It looked clean but definitely did not feel clean.

The bathroom... what it has going for it is a functional toilet and shower. The tiles on the bath tub you could tell on the wall had been removed and replaced with something else. It was sunk in that area. Whoever did mud jobs on the walls and caulk jobs in there did a terrible job. The bathroom looked like it took a trip to the late 80s or early 90s. New flooring does not fix that. It was a hot mess.

The beds were comfyish. No bugs (that's a big plus). :)

We had a balcony Oceanview room. The view out the window was beautiful. I opened the door to the baclony the first time after much effort. It's a metal door and I almost think the salt water and the salty air just did a number on it. It stuck. It was super hard to open and close. I gave up. I did not use the balcony. It wasn't worth it. The view from the window was great though.

We were by an elevator. It was convenient. The noise was so loud from people getting on and off at midnight and 1 a.m.

Location - it was what I wanted. It was beach front. We were able to venture to the beach at night and in the morning. Super easy walk as it's right outside.

Pool - super warm and went to 9 feet I believe. My daughters loved it. Bonus - I left my sunglasses on a table and came back an hour later and no one stole them. :)

Breakfast - it was take back to your room like many hotels. Not much selection. Yogurt, cereal, etc. Not any hot foods. The breakfast room was drab. We stopped for food later.

Overall I was disappointed in how it looked and even had said to my daughter I had no intentions of showering there since it was a one night visit. I would wait until our next hotel (a holiday Inn). I did decide though to shower after coming into contact with something that caused hives. The water pressure was nice but boy that tub and bathroom was a mess. My older daughters who are used to the Holiday Inn standard were also disappointed in the cleanliness and overall look of the room.

We still had fun and enjoyed our time there. Would I stay again? Probably not unless I knew the room I was getting was clean and had tiled floor (since the carpet was gross) and doors that actually opened and...