The Beach Club Resort & Spa — Hotel in Gulf Shores

Doral 0902 is not what is appears to be online. It is not maintained, & you will not want to stay in this unit! We had several issues with our condo & the resort’s response times, communication, follow-up, & urgency was less than adequate.

The sofa bed was broken & unusable. I had to sleep on a child’s bunk bed in a closet for 3 nights & on a twin air mattress for the next 3. The master bed mattress was far too soft & the bunk bed mattress was far too thin & hard. All the pillows were old & dirty. The cushions on the sofa were so dirty & worn out that we did not sit on it throughout our stay. The curtain rod in the living room was completely broken off the wall, rigged up & held together by tape. It was impossible to open & close the curtains. It was not ideal since I was sleeping in the common area. The shower head in the bathroom was so clogged that it did not put out enough water evenly in the bathtub. So, we had to hover underneath it on one end of the bathtub just to get in the water. The shower rod was so rusted that we could not get the shower curtain to open & close properly. The overhead light in the kitchen would not turn on. Each time we needed to turn it on, we had to jiggle the switch several times until it worked. And, a bulb was out in overhead light above the stove. We got 4 towels total. This unit is advertised as “sleeps 6”. But we received enough towels for 2-4 people. The patio furniture & cushions were so dirty that we did not want to use the table or sit in the chairs. The cushions were disgusting. We put towels over them the whole week.

We emailed the resort on Mon. about these issues & the email went unanswered. On Mon. afternoon we called to follow up & the lady we spoke with said she would call us right back. We never heard from her again. A maintenance man did come by to replace the shower head that evening. Tues. we found out our email had been forwarded to a manager who wasn’t even in the office for the next 2 days. On Tues. we called back again because we never heard back about the rest of the items on our list. They replaced the shower curtain rod, light bulbs, & brought us more towels. And, they said the owner had agreed to replace the sofa bed & it would be delivered that same day or Wed. They sent a twin air mattress for me to sleep on in the meantime. Wed. we waited all day for the sofa bed & when it never came I called back again that afternoon. After leaving a message & waiting for a response for 2 hours, I had to call back again to get an update. It was then that someone informed me it would not be delivered during our stay. So, I did not have a decent bed to sleep on our entire stay. We never heard anything back about the curtain rod & none of the cushions (inside or outside) were ever cleaned.

During all of this, no one from The Beach Club called us or reached out to us with any updates or even to just check on us throughout our entire stay. Every single time, I had to call them & wait on hold for 20 minutes until I could talk to someone. Finally, after the 1st email, 4 phone calls, & another email we were able to get someone to reach out to us. This was after sending a very lengthy email with “URGENT! PLEASE READ!” in the subject line late Wed. night. Still, another full day went by without my message being acknowledged. Fri. morning a manager called to discuss our experience with us. At that point all she could do was just apologize. The damage had been done.

I’ve attached pictures of what Doral 0902 actually looks like versus what is...

Prior to this past week I’ve been to this resort several times dating back to when I was a kid with my family. I’ve always loved it and never had any problems. So when they explained that there were going to be inconveniences due to hurricane sandy, I was more than understanding. I read every piece of literature they gave me on it, watched the video detailing the construction areas. In order to better enjoy my stay, I decided to move into a cottage on resort. They assured me that the construction would not impact me as greatly there as it would in the towers.

All that being said.....it did. Very much

Walked in the cottage check in day to at least 3 boarded up windows. The A/C upstairs was broken and not set to be fixed until the week after we left. There were doors off the hinges, doors straight up missing. Bugs ALL OVER the cottage. Our jacuzzi was ice cold and not working. Furniture had been rearranged. There was minor water damage in the ceiling. Even the guy who came to try and look at the A/C said he couldn’t believe they let us check in to this house. I had ten people with me so we were all very stressed and very much frustrated, especially paying the price we paid.

As far as the resort as a whole, I was led to believe that the only “offline” amenities were the pools and hot tubs at both Bristol and Avalon towers, well, wrong again. Half of the club house was still not functioning at 100%. Only 2 hot tubs were functioning. Catalina tower tub was freezing cold and not working. The Sona and steam room were not working in the club house. The volleyball court and corn hole are gone.

The service was not good either. The second day I went in there to tell them we needed to either be moved or be reimbursed some money, Marie from The front desk tried her best but there was no cottage to move us. She offered two condos, but it would have been too cramped and didn’t have the grill outside for the burgers we had already bought for everyone. So I asked if we could just tough it out and get some money back. After some negotiations, she gave me 30% back. Which I agreed to because I wanted to start enjoying my vacation as soon as possible and I had already wasted a day with all of that. I thought I deserved more. Everyone else on staff seemed either annoyed with my concerns or just uncaring. We asked for towels and toilet paper that still hasn't come to us. The 24 hour emergency line to talk to someone in reservations after hours is not what they make it out to be. They used to have someone on call to handle all of that, now a phone call there just sends you to the guard shack. I called the first night and the guard shack picked up and laughed at me explaining “I don’t know why they keep telling people it’s a 24 hour customer service line, they keep giving them the guard shack number”.

Advice: DO NOT go right now. The construction is too much and not looking close to completion. The towers are torn apart right now in both lobbies. If you stay in a cottage, make sure you know what your paying for. For the price they are charging, you’re not getting what you pay for. It’s clear that the resort lost a lot of money last fall and this spring and are trying desperately to get people to pay them too much for very little so they can survive. This experience has ruined the resort for me and I will not be back. My father and mother are set to come in the fall and I would tell them the same thing. MAYBE when the construction is way past done, it could be somewhat enjoyable but right now it’s a mess. Hope this...

We stayed in Avalon 1505 in June 2018. Fort Morgan is awesome and the beach is perfect; far away from the chaos and crowds of Gulf Shores, and a little more secluded—expect a 25 minute drive to tourist spots, restaurants, or stores.

The Beach Club The complex, property, and amenities at the Beach Club are outstanding! It’s a really cool place in an awesome part of coastal Alabama. I would say it looks pretty old though. Everything just kind of looks dated, like maybe it was super nice 20 years ago but hasn’t been kept up or remodeled. The elevators take absolutely forever to get to the 15th floor, and they’re extremely hot (a/c may not be common in elevators but these don’t even have fans). The activities and the pools are great (you have access to all of the outdoor pools and hot tubs). At the front of the complex there’s this town square-type place called the Village Lawn, with food trucks, live music, and tons of entertainment for kids—every night of the week. We went on Friday and it was great; you can walk or ride the complimentary golf cart tram.

The Room Avalon 1505 is nice, roomy, and fit our family of 6 + a nanny quite comfortably. 3 bathrooms made a huge difference, and the bunkbeds are beneficial. 15th floor means really cool views; the balcony is big enough for the whole family, and there’s a table and 4 chairs. The guest room has 4 beds, but otherwise there’s no space in there—I mean you can barely get dressed between the beds. King bed in the master, with a jacuzzi tub and a walk-in closet. The shower is also the tub. The whole condo looks like it was decorated in the 90s. It’s fine, and doesn’t change the quality of your stay, but it’s definitely dated. Chrome and shiny gold faucets and hardware in every bathroom. Old appliances and cabinets in the kitchen. The closets and pantry have aluminum foil wrapped around the knobs? The drawers are lined with old newspapers; most of the cabinets look dingy or stained. Minimal supplies, as stated, but seriously they don’t have much for you to use. Don’t plan on finding salt, pepper, or anything useful for cooking or cleaning. The coffee pot is an old style drip coffee-maker, you’ll need filters.

There were several minor issues: the “popcorn ceiling” is flaking off in several places; one of the kitchen cabinets was broken and off the hinges; the bathroom faucets leak; the chairs at the kitchen table have plastic covers that are completely torn and dirty—nothing that made a lot of difference, just noticeable and not what you would expect. There are two gas grills on the porch, and signs around the property that say open flames and grills are not allowed “on any balcony.”

Management I appreciate these people so much! We had a small problem with a lock on our first night. I contacted Pam, she was super nice and helped a lot with our issue—maintenance showed up in less than 10 minutes and took care of the lock. I called the housekeeping manager about a broken iron and received a replacement the next day. They were all super helpful and responded to every issue very quickly.

Our family will definitely return to The Beach Club, we just probably will not stay...