Plunge Beach Resort — Hotel in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

I always do a lot of research for locations to stay at and thought this resort would be perfect for us. I was very wrong.

Starting at check in: Our flight arrived early and we checked-in with the front desk to get rid of our luggage and to let them know we would wander around nearby so when our room was ready we would change up and hit the beach. The front desk asked for my cell and said "we will call you once your room is ready". I repeated back to them, so you WILL call us then it's ready? Yup they said. We went to the valet to drop off our luggage and there was a guy in the very back of the valet room on his phone and he made brief eye contact and knew we were there. Did he come out after we politely waited 3-4 minutes? Nope. I had to ask him for his help. Really?

We went to backflips beach bar which was pretty nice. The female bartender was very nice and accommodating. My wife ordered their special rum drink. It was in a very small solo cup filled with ice and was $14. Yikes. That was the last drink we ordered from there since it was such a ripoff - could the resort not try to screw their paying guests? Nope. Fast forward about 4-5 hours and no phone call from the front desk - it was now 3:30pm. My wife and I debated whether to trust they would call us when the room was ready and for the first 4 hours we did trust them. But at 3:30 I did call and was put on hold for 7 minutes (I could see it on my phone) and when they came back on the line I asked for the status on our room I was told "we will let you know when it's ready". Low and behold 5 minutes later we were told we could check in. Um, yea they totally did not forget about us, lol. So after over 4 hours of waiting for our room and paying $14 for a small drink we were able to check-in.

The rooms: We stayed in the building where the front desk was attached to. Perhaps the other buildings were different. There were signs in the hallway indicating they were in the process of remodeling. With that said the rooms were sad and outdated. I attached a picture of a spill outside our room. It looked like vomit or something. It was right in front of the elevators so all guests in the area saw it too. It was just gross and yet the property did not seem to be in any hurry to clean or hide it. Our $300 room had one old patio chair likely from the pool area back in the day and THAT IS IT. No other chairs NO table, nothing. It did have decent storage for our clothes but when we ordered pizza one night there was nowhere to sit and eat in our room - not a desk chair nothing. There was no mirror except for the bathroom which is very unusual.

In our room there was NO coffee maker. Really? I had to walk down to pay $5 for a black coffee each morning which pissed me off more every morning. Again, it's a money-grab and the guests are the suckers.

There are very, very few hangout areas inside or out. We grabbed lunch from another location and the picnic tables near the beach (but not part of Backflips beach bar) had signs NO OUTSIDE FOOD or DRINK. Okay, so as a guest paying $300 a night we can't eat there? Also, 80% of the lobby was dedicated to their coffee shop or breakfast restaurant. The feeling was clear - eat our food at stupid prices - but don't plan to enjoy your take out here. There were like 2 couch areas which seemed always full and that was it for hanging out - and as mentioned the rooms were not equipped to allow you to eat your food there. There were 2 really windy days which made it impossible to sit outside and this became really annoying.

Staff - not horrible but we were never greeted or even smiled at - perhaps the front desk team would smile when we walked by but the outdoor staff just seemed angry and like they did not want to be there. I even made eye contact with one guy and said "good morning". He looked at me and just kept walking.

The whole experience was bad. I would NOT recommend...

This is NOT a “posh” hotel, it is cute, artsy, a bit retro and has a fun feel. Yes the rooms can get a little pricey BUT you are paying to be directly on the beach so come with the correct expectations. We came in late at night and our first impression was a bit rough due to dim lighting and stained/smelly carpets in the hall areas but the rooms were simple, spacious and very clean. The bed and pillows were comfortable enough ( that’s a compliment from me, I am picky about my sleep). Daylight brought a brand new insight especially since we had an ocean front room with a balcony that provided a whole new level of pleasure. There is no coffee in the room but I get it… they have a coffee shop on site which is only a few steps away. Bean and Barnacle or Octopus Lounge provided adequate breakfast options and staff there were very friendly. The Backflip beach bar offers great drinks ( love the staff shirts “I have mixed drinks about feelings”), the menu was small but the food was really good, in fact the tacos were better than the ones we had at TacoCraft restaurant in town! We stocked our mini ref from the Publix supermarket, a liquor store and CVS in the plaza directly across the street.. so convenient! The Publix also had pre made salads and a deli sandwich counter if you are looking for quick light fare. There are a plethora of restaurant options within a 5-10 min walk ( our favorite meal was at Billy Jacks Shack ). Some boutiques and gift shops but not a ton. We did not rent a car which was fine for our 5 night/4 day stay but if our stay was longer, I think I would have wanted to take a break from the beach to explore other areas. Back to Plunge : Wi-Fi was a bit spotty BUT you are at the beach, put down your phone! The bathroom had better lighting than most hotels I’ve stayed at but I wish they had a full length mirror somewhere in the room. No microwave but never needed one, iron and hairdryer both worked well. The AC unit worked great- it was a bit loud for me so we’d crank it up before leaving for dinner then turn it off before we went to bed. I was VERY impressed with how quite the room was ( when the slider was shut). I am a light sleeper and could barely here the tractors combing the beach at 7-7:30 every morning. Housekeeping staff was attentive and towels were always available. I’m more of a sand girl so I only spent a few hours at the pool but it was nice and there were almost always a couple of available chairs. We did not use the bikes but other guests seemed to enjoy them and again there always seemed to be a couple available at any point during the day. We utilized the lounge one evening to play games with our daughters ( young adults) and it was a very comfortable space to hang out. We came for the beach and it was FABULOUS!!! Well maintained, super easy access. I know Plunge can’t control the weather but it was absolutely gorgeous all 4 days of our stay! In the beginning of the week, there were chairs and umbrellas still available until about 2pm so no need to reserve early. By the end of the week it was by 11am that they ran out but by 1–2 pm the early risers were starting to leave making more chairs available throughout the afternoon. I love the fact that this is a smaller resort so even when the beach is full, there is still plenty of room to spread out. PLEASE TIP the beach workers even if you get a chair and umbrella without needing their help. I watched them work so hard ALL day every day and I witnessed several guests being inexcusably rude to them. Volleyball court was very active, ladder ball and cornhole were also available. There were many families here but I wouldn’t say that it was heavily populated with children. There were also not a lot of “partiers” here, just a nice mix of guests looking for some beach relaxation. Overall an extremely enjoyable experience and I hope to have the opportunity to...

This hotel does not know what it's doing and worse, it doesn't seem to care.

Pros: the location is beautiful and right on the beach if you request to be in the beachfront building. We got a king room with a "partial view" and it was actually beautiful and on the quiet side of the building away from the pool. The hotel is also a 10 minute walk from the center of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea which makes it a quieter location. The beach itself is lovely, and there's a bar overlooking the beach and pool where you can get beers and snacks. Also a Public and great breakfast place just across the street.

Cons: We paid $300/night for this room in February, admittedly peak season, but paid an additional $30/ day resort fee which, as far as I can tell, gets you absolutely zero amenities. Almost everybody who works there, other than front desk staff, seems miserable. We were there 3 days and every time we went to the beach we were told they were out of chairs, and two times they were out of towels! The pool which is supposed to be heated was freezing. Hardly anybody was swimming even though the weather was hot, in mid 80's. When we asked why, they said the pool's heater was broken but I could feel warm water coming out of the jets. I just don't think they want to pay to heat it properly.

But the worst part was on our second night after our bed had been changed, the pillows smelled foul and moldy. The smell had migrated to the entire bed. After calling front desk 3 times, someone finally came to our room a half hour later. At this point, it was almost midnight and we were exhausted and wanted to change rooms but they said nothing was available. After smelling our pillows and reluctantly admitting they smelled bad, the assistant brought us 2 more pillows that smelled equally bad. So at that point, we had the bed remade and rolled up the comforter to use as a pillow since clearly all the pillows had been sitting in the same funk.

We were utterly annoyed and feeling like we'd been way overcharged for the room, but the woman said she could not address any of our concerns directly and we would need to contact the manager the next day when we checked out.

The manger refused to come out of his or her office and the woman at front desk, who was one of the few pleasant employees we encountered, said that the best the manger could do was waive one night's resort fee or $30. So we spent over $600 for 2 nights of rude service, no amenities and no clean pillows. There are tons of other hotels in same beautiful location so...