Destin Holiday Beach Resort — Hotel in Destin

From first glance, I thought I would hate this resort. My parent's travel agency had reserved the place for us, and we arrived with heightened trepidation in the dark. You can't see the resort from the road; it's located behind the store fronts, and tucked away back and between two high-rise resorts with no view of anything but a parking lot. I was very disappointed that I wouldn't be able to sit on the balcony in the mornings and watch the water. Instead there was a smell of marijuana coming from the neighbor's parking garage and the loud sound of the AC compressor kicking on right next to the bed. The room itself had a leaking toilet tank, squeaky bed frames and pillows that break your neck. A dog barking in the unit below us even though pets were not supposed to be allowed here.

It feels like a very forgotten location and the place needs updates in the worst way. All the current affixes feel very 1990s. Dish washer and smart TVs are needed in every room. The bedding needs updated. Queen size instead of full size beds. Every bed should have 4 pillows at least; two firm and two soft. More than one roll of toilet paper and one garbage bag in the room. More than 2 coffee filters. Leaking toilet tanks need to be repaired. We ended up buying paper plates because we got tired of washing dishes on our vacation. And for the love of god, please do away with the awful fluorescent lighting and mirrored walls. Nobody wants to see themselves constantly in that light.

Otherwise, we have enjoyed our stay here. Looked forward to coming back in the evenings to jump in the hot tub and sit around the table with a game of cards and a bottle of wine. By the end of the day, I was so exhausted, the couch even felt pretty good. I am not so disappointed with the location and would bring my family back here if some or most of the issues I have mentioned were addressed. Destin is a beautiful place full of kind people that have made lasting impressions with me. I would love to return someday and see this resort thriving. I'm not so sure my parents feel the same way since they paid to stay here and don't feel like they got what their money was worth.

I am hoping my review is fair and isn't seen as unkind. It's not meant to deter others from coming here, but to let the public know what to expect and bring with them. And I hope management will understand from a customer perspective what...

I’ve read some negative reviews and some positive ones. I can say my review is based off of no expectations when I arrived, other than being near the beach and what little I was told about it.

In Destin there is a million things to go and do. My room I shared with someone is the same room she’s used since she was a little girl many years ago. And one of my favorite things to do was sit on our patio looking out at the dunes and just feeling content and at peace. My room wasn’t ultra modern and fancy, but it was clean, convenient and comfortable. The staff was attentive and kind. I sat looking at the high rises surrounding me and was thankful I didn’t need to be concerned about the logistics of elevators, congestion and lugging everything from a dozen stories down every day. This resort is one of the first in the area, and it was heartwarming to look at all of the growth in the area and know HBR was among the first.

Being on the beach was NEVER crowded! It was the perfect amount of people and plenty of room to do anything you could possibly want to do on the beach. Their slice of the beach was one of the prettiest along the coast. I spent most of the first half of my life near beaches on the both oceans, as well as swam in the Persian Gulf. This was the first time I didn’t want to leave the beach.

I was so happy with everything that I’ve decided to buy my own little piece of this Resort and spend more time here. It didn’t take sales marketers to convince me, it just took an incredibly enjoyable week in a place I felt comfortable in. Oh! And everything you NEED is walking distance, everything you WANT is a short drive.

Thanks for the great experience, and to whoever reads this, they are currently remodeling all of the rooms. So that should no longer be a...

It troubles me to have to leave a poor review for a place I've been visiting for 25 years. In the beginning (1999) the rooms and resort were top notch. Clean, well-maintained, comfortable, nicely furnished. However, now the rooms are run down and dirty, and have been getting steadily worse the past 6-7 years. Every year I leave a private review with the resort about maintenance issues and cleanliness and get no response and no indication they care to improve. I have even directly sent a letter to the resort manager with no reply. The past 3-4 years we can't even settle into our room without deep cleaning it first. The floors are always filthy and disgusting, and our bare feet and the towels we use to wash floors turned black. All the dishes had to be washed. The furniture, probably 15-20 years old, is grimy and stained. The clincher this year were the mice infestation and the portable AC units shoved into our unit in a shoddy manner. Hoses poked through windows and doors, falling out because the duct tape wouldn't hold. When we arrived another guest approached us with pictures of her room, full of mouse droppings in the mattress pads. The talk on the beach was the number of rooms dealing with mice. Trapping several each day. Then 2 rooms from our group had mice in their food and had to call for traps. We were embarrassed we had brought guests with us who will likely never want to return. We heard that the Phase 2 units had bed bugs. Basic cleanliness and maintenance would go a long way. But it is hard to enjoy yourself when the room accommodations are grossly filthy and broken down. We have loved this place so much and just want it to be more like it used to! We are too embarrassed to bring...