DiamondHead Beach Resort — Hotel in Fort Myers Beach

Thankfully the resort did not sustain a lot of damage from Ian, although the island is so devastated. However, they are in the middle of a big exterior renovation after being affected by an huge hurricane.||Some of the choices they are making don't make sense to me, but it does surprise me that in South Florida they are changing over light colored metal to black colored metal - including all balcony railings, balcony furniture, pool hand rails, tables, etc. I would have thought that they learned from years ago when they switched to dark brown furniture around the pool. During that time, most of us had to use three towels just to sit on a lounge chair on the pool deck - just to not get burned when touching the edge of the chaise.||I do realize my review list items that are first-world problems, but, I do feel like if you’re looking to spend money & stay here you need to know some of what we experienced.||1. From the moment we walked into the room… we had a very dirty floor! When we showered we had to immediately put on shoes inside because not only could you feel the gritty dirt on the bottom of your feet, but the bottoms of your feet would immediately turn black. I just feel like there is no excuse for this. Sweeping & mopping between guests should not be an option. ||2. It is 2025 and the rooms are NOT equipped with smart tvs. ||3. The “Freezer” does NOT freeze. It is just an open door-dorm style refrigerator/freezer. It did not keep ANYTHING frozen.||4. Again, just FYI... The Shower pressure is not great all all and yes, the water still splashes out of the shower. The open-concept (no-door style) makes it impossible to actually shower without getting water onto the bathroom floor.||5. There is no ventilation fan in the bathroom. Fogging up the mirror was a given with each shower. Who knew this would pass code?||6. The hotel does NOT OFFER breakfast. With so many places closed and so few breakfast options, it seems like a no-brainer to open the restaurant - even a given. ||7. In the past we have had some issues with a humid room and once again, the humidity in our room was BAD. This is not a "beach-thing" or a "Florida thing"... we have lived-in & owned an oceanfront condo and this has NEVER been an issue. Even the bed sheets felt sticky & damp. This is a Diamond Head issue. ||8. The location on the island has always been great. The beaches are some of the absolute best! . I’m heartbroken seeing the island so hurt & broken, and it is hard to make these complaints. ||9. I heard a few people (6) complains about the pool (size and super warm temps), but we only used the pool once for a few minutes. It was small (same size it has always been) and crowded... the water was so warm too, but we come there for the beaches, so it did not affect us much at all. ||I have been to Diamond Head since shortly after they opened (sooooo many times). There were times that things were not good and we opted to stay at The Pink Shell, but Diamond Head has always held a piece in my heart. I just don’t know if I can come back. The last time I stayed here was before Ian hit and there were quite a few similar issues then as well. At the time, I just thought it was because I was there during college spring break time.||We have always had a high floor and either an ocean-view or oceanfront room. Sadly this time they stuck us on the 3rd floor (Don't let them put you on this floor) facing the pool. it felt like a dungeon. I don't know what they did, but it's dark and almost creepy (see photos).||Bottom line: The resort needs to pay attention to the details and do a true renovation, maybe new management or better attention to details. The mini-kitchen-ette is in need of serious renovations. It has not changed at all over the many years. ||I will say that the island still has the best sunsets and the best sand!!! Cabanas (the outside restaurant) is not bad. ||I just don’t feel like we got what we paid for & sadly, I can’t in all honesty say we will come back to Diamond Head.||My suggestions: do your homework & make your decisions on what you are looking for. Ft. Myers needs tourist and tourist money, but you should know what you are...

Based on the good reviews we took a chance on the DiamondHead. We had our son and his friend with us - both 17 yrs. From the beginning we realized it wasn't what we expected. My list of pros & cons is below. The main issue was realized upon check out on Feb 27th, 2020 after we left the hotel and went to our next destination on Sanibel. I quickly realized that I'd left my engagement ring, cosmetic jewelry (which was in a box) and face lotion tucked in the back of the top left bathroom vanity drawer. I immediately called the hotel and someone said they'd look into it. They called back Friday and said that housekeeping hadn't "found" it. This left us very upset. My husband decided to go back to the hotel to fill out an incident report and to get with the hotel's insurance. I truly believed that the ring & other items would be placed with the management and we'd get an immediate call, but that didn't happen. It's now been 6 days since they went missing and we're working with the management to find them. Heather has been very supportive. I don't want to file with the police or go through insurance filings, but that may have to happen. I'd like to know if anyone else might have had a similar experience?

I would have given this hotel a 1 rating but because the staff was very nice, I gave them extra point. However the cons outweigh the pluses for our family.

Pros: Staff was friendly from check in to check out and calls to housekeeping were promptly responded to. Close to the Times Square with lots of food choices. Walking or biking to places is the only way to get around, so you stay fit. *See traffic issues under Cons below. Hotel "wrist bands" got us into our rooms and allowed us use of facilities. Cell phone service/wifi was good. Large Screened Balcony overlooked the pool with a little bit of ocean view, but that was a great room asset!

Cons: Traffic! I've never seen this kind of bottleneck on vacation. The locals all say it's normal to wait 2 hrs to get out? Just for that I wouldn't stay near Fort Myers Beach this time of year. My husband and I went to Publix (sound on Estaro about 1.5 miles). It took us almost 2 hrs to get back! This needs to change. All items were ala carte... chairs were $15/day per person; umbrellas were additional for 2 people. Bar restaurant food wasn't that great (fried foods were better than the grilled); drinks were good but quite expensive - except at happy hours. Pool chairs were always filled - very tight quarters; the 1 pool was quite small for the hotel and was filled body to body most of the time except for after dark and very early am; same with the 2 small hot tubs; these hot tubs were right out in the middle of the pool area, not isolated in a corner area like most hotels. Happy hour crowd - we like a couple drinks during vacation, but the atmosphere at this hotel was a "spring break like crowd of over 55's". Happy hours are promoted at most hotels from 2-6 weekdays so many take advantage of hopping around. Not that the people weren't nice, all were very friendly, but most were very tipsy by 5pm. Our boys found this humorous, but it got old quickly for us since that wasn't our main reason for being on vacation. The weather wasn't cooperating and hotel had very little to offer. The strong winds caused issues with getting out on any craft or boat or flotation device, so we had to find other ways to keep our teens busy. Since the hotel doesn't offer activities we had a hard time finding things to keep our teens occupied. We played some volleyball, but there wasn't anyone there to organize games so that became boring quickly. At other "resorts" we've been to we were offered other activities. Pull out sofa bed was very uncomfortable. Asked for extra mattress and that helped a bit. Workout room was tiny and had a terrible view of the roof top and another building. No hooks for towels! No bathroom fan! Hallways looked dismal like a grey cement...

I will say currently they are in the middle of an exterior renovation after being affected by an huge hurricane, yet it does surprise me that in South Florida they are changing over light colored metal to all black colored metal - including all railings (on the pool and hot tub as well as the exterior balcony railings & balcony furniture) and even some tables outside. I honestly would have thought that they learned that when they had dark brown furniture around the pool before. When they had that, it was so hot you’d have to use three towels just to sit on a chair and not get burned.

While I realize the below items are first-world problems, I feel like if you’re looking to spend money & stay here you need to know these things:

From the moment we walked into the room… we had a bery dirty floor! When we showered we had to immediately put on shoes inside because it was so dirty that the bottom of your feet would immediately turn black, plus you could feel it.

There is no excuse for this upon check-in. Sweeping & mopping should not be an option. At least mop rooms with clean water and or a clean mop!

Just FyI… there is NO smart tv - what!? This is 2025 & makes no sense. No watching Netflix and no streaming or mirroring.

The “Freezer” does not freeze. It is just a (maybe 4-5”) open door -dorm style refrigerator/freezer. Sadly we bought 2 containers of Ben & Jerry’s and it melted while we were at the beach for the day.

The Shower pressure is not great all all and yes, the water still splashes out of the shower. They are small and with open-concept no-door it is impossible to actually shower without it getting water outside of the shower onto the bathroom floor.

There is no fan in the bathroom, so if you take a warm shower, the steam fogs up the mirror. I would have thought that was code.

The hotel does NOT OFFER breakfast. With so many places closed and so few breakfast options, why not open the restaurant, even a small section for a limited menus? We went for a long walk at 7 and most places don’t even open until 8 or 9. We did find a breakfast restaurant about half a mile or so south. They were very nice in there and it was super cute.

They still have huge issue with the humidity in these rooms. And we have owned & lived in a condo southeast of here on the ocean (and currently live a few minutes from the The Beach) & we have NEVER had these issues, so it’s not the fact that it’s at the beach… it’s for to be a Diamond Head issue. The bed sheets felt sticky and ever-so-slightly damp.

The location on the island has always been great and they have been devastated by the hurricanes. I’m heartbroken for what they are going through so it’s really hard to make these complaints, yet… They need to be upfront and honest about the situation. I have been to Diamond Head since shortly after they opened (sooooo many times). There were times that things were not good and we opted to stay at The Pink Shell, but Diamond Head has always held a piece in my heart. I just don’t know if I can come back. The last time I stayed here was before Ian hit and there were some issues then as well. I just thought it was because I was there in March and it was college spring break time, but it’s in need of a TRUE, REAL Reno!

The island still has the best sunsets and the best sand!!! Cabanas, the outside restaurant is not bad at all. There is so much that has changed and it was really sad. I just don’t feel like we got what we paid for & sadly, I can’t in all honesty say we will come back.

End of rant… do your homework & make your decisions on what your options are and exactly what you are looking for. Ft. Myers needs tourist and tourist money, but you should know what you are...