Pelican Grand Beach Resort — Hotel in Fort Lauderdale

I think the “Grand” in Pelican Grand Resort means you’d better bring an extra couple of grand—or find a better place to stay.

Hidden Fees & Overpriced Everything: First, parking is $55 per day plus a $4 tax, meaning you’re shelling out $60 per night just to park. Keep in mind, the parking garage is right under the building—it’s not like they’re moving your car or parking it in some exclusive lot. They simply charge it because they can, and since there’s nowhere else to park, you have no choice but to pay.

Next, get ready for an automatic 22% tip on everything—food, drinks, you name it. The staff even reminds you that you can tip extra for “exceptional service.” The menu states:

"The service team receives industry-leading compensation, including commissions, health insurance, 401K, and extensive education and training for a successful career path. To make this possible, a 22% tip is included."

Wait… shouldn't every employer offer health insurance and a 401K? Why guilt-trip guests into paying for it? To make it worse, there’s a second tip line on top of the 22%, so they really push for more. Two average drinks cost over $40, and they highlight both tip lines with an asterisk—just in case you forget you’re being fleeced. I don't have a problem tipping at all, but I do have a problem when places assume the amount the tip for the service provided to me--and have the audacity to then ask for even more.

Service & Staff – Hit or Miss: The staff was generally unfriendly and indifferent, with the exception of Victor (valet) and Carlos (one of our servers). The beach staff, however, acted annoyed when we interrupted their phone time to set up our chairs. And while they weren’t particularly pleasant, they sure made time to leave us a business card with a QR code—another not-so-subtle nudge for tips. Reminder: You’re already paying a daily resort fee.

Insane Prices – Watch Your Wallet: For three nights (Fri–Mon), we paid $2,656.84 for an ocean-view room ($885 per night). But that was just the beginning. A bag of M&Ms? $5. Room snacks? Outrageously overpriced. Final credit card hold bill after parking, snacks, and a couple of appetizers? $410. Sunday brunch? $80 per person (which, with their forced tip, brings your total to $195.20 for two people)—for just okay oysters and a few slices of prime rib. The only bright spot? The overpriced gift shop doesn’t force a tip when you buy an espresso or a bagel. Small wins.

The Room – Nice, But Lacking Key Amenities: The room itself was clean and comfortable, and the ocean view was lovely. However, for a resort of this "caliber," it’s shocking that there’s no hot tub or jacuzzi. Instead, you’ll be stuck in a small pool area with 30 screaming kids.

There is a spa upstairs, but it's eerily empty—probably because of the sky-high prices. When we walked in, the staff looked at us like we were bothering them.

Oh, and in the bathroom of the room, there’s a sign inviting you to take home their "boutique" shampoos and conditioners for the low, low price of $22 per bottle. They weren’t even that great--and definitely not worth $22 each.

The Verdict – Not Worth It: If you browse other reviews, you’ll see a pattern of similar complaints. And from our recent experience last weekend, the resort has done nothing to fix them. Unless you’re super-rich and/or don’t mind being overcharged for everything, I’d suggest skipping this place.

Although I didn't meet him on my stay, I’m sure TJ Pierri, the general manager, will have a well-crafted response to my review, just like he does with other negative reviews. A quick look on his LinkedIn profile states that "My expertise [in hospitality] lies in surpassing financial targets." Well, mission accomplished, TJ. Between sky-high room rates, endless tip prompts, and excessive fees, this place is a cash machine. Good job.

In the end, our stay felt uncomfortable, overpriced, and underwhelming. First and last time at the Pelican Grand Beach Resort. It wasn’t...

To say my experience at the Pelican Grand Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale Florida was a tumultuous one is an understatement. I booked a room from 10/4-10/6 for a wedding I was attending there. At first glance the resort is beautiful, great view of the ocean, a spacious pool, the staff in charge of checking me in and handling my luggage were amazing and attentive and upon check in I was given a nice cold glass of champagne! Overall it was a great first impression but unfortunately that was merely a “love bomb” before the resort showed its true colors.

Before I get to the negative let me briefly (very briefly) go over the positive things at the resort. I was given room 802 which is located on the left side of the building and has a great view of the beach and the pool. The rooms were clean, spacious, and had all the free amenities one would come to expect as well as the overpriced snacks and beverages that you should also expect. Eat at your own wallets risk.

Now let’s get to the bad because that’s where the Pelican Grand Beach resort’s true colors begin to show. As I stated earlier, I was attending a wedding at the resort and on my first day there I had to go to the rehearsal, not just me but some of my family members. The rehearsal was on the second floor and we all gathered together in the lobby before heading up. Little did we know that we were walking into a possible death trap. Now the hotel might tell you there was 16 people in one elevator- which far be it for me to deny that- the thing they might leave out is that 2 out of those were small children and the weight capacity on the elevator with the expired maintenance (expired on 8/1/2024) is 3500 lbs. There were no signs outside of the elevator for maximum occupancy and I was with a pretty lean group of people so I think it’s safe to say we were definitely under that weight limit. Maybe since the maintenance was expired the maximum weight capacity was less, who knows? I guess that’s for the inspector to decide. The point being that as we start ascending we feel the elevator jerk and before you know it we’re stuck between the lobby & the second floor. We were there for over 40 minutes slow roasting, drenched in sweat, & running low on oxygen. So much so that my step mother was losing consciousness. Nobody in the elevator could get through to emergency services but some how, some way, I was able to contact 911 and try to get some assistance. The fire marshal arrived and the engineer was still fumbling around trying to reset the elevator with no success. We’re begging to at least get a door cracked so my step mother can at least try to get some oxygen. You have no idea how emotionally stressful it is to be trapped in a situation like that with your family while trying to keep everybody calm so we don’t run out of air to breathe. Between feigning a calm, cool, and collected demeanor, trying to keep spirits up and repeating phrases like “he’ll get this opened up soon”- it felt like a nightmare sauna. The fire marshal got tired of waiting on the engineer due to the gravity of the situation and took the executive decision to force open the elevator doors and carried us out one by one.

Now reading all of that, you would think that as soon as we got out the staff would try to make sure everyone’s okay but no. We were bombarded with “why did you all get in there” or “you should have known better”. How dare you? The icing on the cake is that only AFTER all of this transpired they put up a sign saying “maximum 4-6 people”. The funny thing is we have a video of us being pulled out of the elevator by the firemen and that sign was nowhere in sight. I have pictures of the expired inspection, maximum capacity, videos of the engineer, videos of us getting pulled out and I can provide them...

We regret staying here. While the location is great, the 4 pm check in “guarantee” listed in their website FAQ is a lie, there is no guarantee. The ice maker on our floor didn’t work, the complimentary waters were nowhere to be found, one of our room keys didn’t work and they ran out of beach towels. They also said they upgraded our room, but actually didn’t. While individually nothing major, overall not the experience we are used to at a 4 star hotel that costs this much.

Follow up: I ended up posting the above review only 3 hours into our 4 day stay at the Grand Pelican. It was a bit of an experiment to see if TJ would be proactive in reaching out to make sure our "shortcomings" were resolved. Obviously, he opted to let ChatGPT take the wheel. As our stay progressed, it really got me to thinking, what is this place and who is it for?

With the whole "guarantee" mess, I think the word TJ is looking for is "aspire", they aspire to get you checked in by 4 pm. A guarantee with no protocols in place for when the guarantee it is not met makes the word meaningless.

Also, I was a bit blown away by how TJ (or ChatGPT) essentially takes the stance of , "Sorry you feel like you were scammed, please give us more money and we will try to scam you less next time!" Can you imagine if all business were like that, what if McDonalds was like, "Sorry we got your order all wrong, rather than replace it, refund you, and/or give you a coupon for the next visit, we will suggest you place your order again and this time we will try to get it right". People would go McCrazy!

I ended up increasing the service rating because we met a number of wonderful, hard working, kind people here. The few "shortcomings" where no doubt isolated incidents where the workers were just parroting what they have been told to say in response to "shortcomings". I think the issues with this place are top down. This leads me to the theory I ended up landing on for what this place is all about:

I wouldn't be shocked if top level management has determined to go all in on churn. By that I mean they don't see a financial benefit in promoting long term customer loyalty, rather they are laser focused on churning through their customer base. And what is that base? Families with young children. The setup of this hotel is great for people with small kids who don't want to deal with the hassle of lugging them between the ocean, pool, and hotel. Even with the valet, while a pain to the wallet, it's nice being able to have the car right there ready to load kids into. The problem with focusing on loyalty with such a customer base is kids grow up, and fast, but luckily young couples are having kids all the time.

If you want to push the theory even further and put on your tin foil hat, I also wouldn't be surprised if management has taken a look at the models for sea level rise and and that has informed their focus on customer churn. Cash in before the inevitable happens.

Anyway, that is my theory on the Pelican Grand. Could be completely wrong, but it would explain the place's unique approach to customer service.

TL:DR - Unless you have children (specifically young children) and money to burn, this is not the place to get a proper 4 star beach front...