Destin Army Recreation Area — Hotel in Destin

Great price at a great location. The 2bedroom standard villa is basic but it meet our needs. The villa we stayed in was like a duplex and not the big buildings, which was nice. I would stay here again. We had an 8 month old and a teenager and it meet our families needs. We stayed on the grounds most of the time as it was convenient and going out in town was always busy it seemed. Bring a casting net, a bucket, and some fishing poles and you will have a blast. The dock is a hot spot for people fishing, catching crabs with their nets, and etc. they have corn hole and a big connect four for you to play games out near the doc. Planet of outdoor chairs, picnic tables, and such like. The pool is not that big for the amount of guests but it meet our needs. I like how it had a ledge that you could sit on that went around the inside of the pool. The splash pad was out of order. This location felt like a safe place for kids as there were kids running all around, riding their scooters, bikes, you name it. We didn’t use any of the marina services. The water was pretty choppy for kayaking or paddle boarding to me. Lots of people would rent their pontoon boats as crab island was viewing distance away. The fishing charter on location was booked everyday while we were there. Check in with the front office though to see if they have any openings from no shows. The marina does Not sell bait. You can buy squid and shrimp (highly recommended to do especially the squid) from a bait and tackle shop or a seafood market that is 5 minutes away for fishing on the dock. We mostly caught pin fish (they are sharp), some mullet, a lizard fish and crabs. They have play grounds on site with swings as well, including baby swings. The Eglin beach access was a super close 5-7 minutes away drive. We first went to the beach spot that was further down from the paid entrance and had the beach to ourselves in June. It was a long walk through thick sand with our buggy (never do that again lol) to get to the beach but worth it. We went to the main paid beach entrance the 2nd time and there was a good amount of people there by the time we left. You can bring your own umbrellas, chairs, and such. The Elgin paid beach access is not open to recreational rentals(surf boards, kayaks, and such) this summer. They have showers at the main paid beach entrance and paved parking. I would recommend packing extra trash bags, paper towels, zip lock bags, dish soap, sponge, tin foil for left overs or grilling, spam cooking spray as the skillets are not non stick (which was not fun to cook with). The rooms have the basic kitchen cooking necessities. Full kitchen in the room with full size fridge, oven, stove top, microwave, coffee maker, & toaster. I would bring our own non stick skillet next time to make cooking easier and less messier. The villa doesn’t have any cooking oils, cooking spices, and supplies like that so be sure to bring your own. Bring your own fillet knife if you plan to cook some of the fish you catch. The main bed was firm which was nice. I slept well. The AC worked great. Ceiling fans were in the living area and master bedroom. The kids bunk beds were very squeaky, seemed a bit loose in certain areas on the railing. We traveling with a baby and didn’t have room for our baby’s play pen in the room so just an fyi if you are traveling with a small baby that you will have to set the play pen up in the main living area. We brought our baby monitor thankfully. Fireworks go off on Thursday's at the boardwalk so if you go outside near the dock you can see them. Bring games for when it’s a rainy day. They will close the pool if lighting is so far away.

We tried eating at two restaurants out in town. I wouldn't do that again. They were both highly recommended but the food and prices were not worth it. It would have been better just to cook something and eat at our villa. There are charcoal grills at each villa and throughout...

Great price at a great location. The 2bedroom standard villa is basic but it meet our needs. The villa we stayed in was like a duplex and not the big buildings, which was nice. I would stay here again. We had an 8 month old and a teenager and it meet our families needs. We stayed on the grounds most of the time as it was convenient and going out in town was always busy it seemed. Bring a casting net, a bucket, and some fishing poles and you will have a blast. The dock is a hot spot for people fishing, catching crabs with their nets, and etc. they have corn hole and a big connect four for you to play games out near the doc. Planet of outdoor chairs, picnic tables, and such like. The pool is not that big for the amount of guests but it meet our needs. I like how it had a ledge that you could sit on that went around the inside of the pool. The splash pad was out of order. This location felt like a safe place for kids as there were kids running all around, riding their scooters, bikes, you name it. We didn’t use any of the marina services. The water was pretty choppy for kayaking or paddle boarding to me. Lots of people would rent their pontoon boats as crab island was viewing distance away. The fishing charter on location was booked everyday while we were there. Check in with the front office though to see if they have any openings from no shows. The marina does Not sell bait. You can buy squid and shrimp (highly recommended to do especially the squid) from a bait and tackle shop or a seafood market that is 5 minutes away for fishing on the dock. We mostly caught pin fish (they are sharp), some mullet, a lizard fish and crabs. They have play grounds on site with swings as well, including baby swings. The Eglin beach access was a super close 5-7 minutes away drive. We first went to the beach spot that was further down from the paid entrance and had the beach to ourselves in June. It was a long walk through thick sand with our buggy (never do that again lol) to get to the beach but worth it. We went to the main paid beach entrance the 2nd time and there was a good amount of people there by the time we left. You can bring your own umbrellas, chairs, and such. The Elgin paid beach access is not open to recreational rentals(surf boards, kayaks, and such) this summer. They have showers at the main paid beach entrance and paved parking.|I would recommend packing extra trash bags, paper towels, zip lock bags, dish soap, sponge, tin foil for left overs or grilling, spam cooking spray as the skillets are not non stick (which was not fun to cook with). The rooms have the basic kitchen cooking necessities. Full kitchen in the room with full size fridge, oven, stove top, microwave, coffee maker, & toaster. I would bring our own non stick skillet next time to make cooking easier and less messier. The villa doesn’t have any cooking oils, cooking spices, and supplies like that so be sure to bring your own. Bring your own fillet knife if you plan to cook some of the fish you catch. The main bed was firm which was nice. I slept well. The AC worked great. Ceiling fans were in the living area and master bedroom. The kids bunk beds were very squeaky, seemed a bit loose in certain areas on the railing. We traveling with a baby and didn’t have room for our baby’s play pen in the room so just an fyi if you are traveling with a small baby that you will have to set the play pen up in the main living area. We brought our baby monitor thankfully. Fireworks go off on Thursday's at the boardwalk so if you go outside near the dock you can see them. Bring games for when it’s a rainy day. They will close the pool if lighting is so far away.|We tried eating at two restaurants out in town. I wouldn't do that again. They were both highly recommended but the food and prices were not worth it. It would have been better just to cook something and eat at our villa. There are charcoal grills at each villa and throughout...

We love staying here (3-4 times a year). The rates are unbeatable for the area, we can rent boats for cheap, and it's on the bay with amazing sunset views. Having said that, however, I have serious issues with housekeeping. The housecleaning staff is horrible. And I'm not talking about we have had one bad experience. It's absolutely horrible every time we visit. They empty the trash but do not put trash bags back into the cans and we have to do that ourselves. They are supposed to make the beds daily and our beds are NEVER made. When we return from the beach the beds are exactly the way we slept on them even though staff has serviced our room. When they do make the beds they just throw the blankets haphazardly across the bed. I thought this was a hotel? Aren't they supposed to actually make your bed?!??? Two weeks ago I was down here and the room I was assigned smelled like a dog kennel. There was a strong dog urine smell. I called the front desk and was told to call housekeeping the next day. The smell was so strong I had to go buy a mop and disinfectant and mop my room myself. The woman at the front desk told me she had no idea why it would smell like that since it was not a pet friendly building but the people upstairs had a dog with them?

Staying in a suite this trip with kitchenette but we sat down to dinner and realized there were no forks in the silverware tray in the suite. Ran out of toilette paper and housekeeping couldn't be bothered to restock so we used paper towels. Also, the room where they keep housecleaning supplies has been wide open for two days and anyone who wants to steal something could clean that room out. Perhaps they left it open so we could get our own toilette paper?

Once we arrived at 3 PM with groceries in tow and our room wasn't ready until 5PM because of slow housekeeping. I understand this is an MWR facility. I've worked for MWR in the past and it's a low-paying hourly job but there needs to be a standard of cleanliness if it is a hotel.

Every complaint we have about this place has to do completely with housekeeping. It literally blows my mind that this is a hotel but there is little to no servicing of the rooms. They can't even put the bath towels in the bathroom and just leave them lying on the sofa in a stack. I think this place is...