Four Winds Beach Resort — Hotel in Longboat Key

Resort in general is quite nice, rooms are clean, stove/refrigerator/dishwasher provided, large closets and fairly well appointed. Some rooms larger than others, our’s was relatively small but comfy enough. ||||If you book here though try to request a room with a Gulf or garden view and a balcony or you could end up with a room facing the parking lot and request a room without a Murphy bed. The bed was comfortable enough but when it is down you have very little room in your unit and we often tripped over the end corners of the bed. The bed is also heavy. The air conditioner worked well but was noisy and blew directly onto the bed and there was no way to redirect the air flow away from the bed. ||||Grounds are beautifully maintained as well as the lobby and washroom. Very nice clean pool with 2 showers and a shower on the beach. Lots of sun cots provided by the pool and on the beach but people save them with their towels and disappear as we have found is done in many hotels. ||||There is a nice continental meet and greet breakfast once a week with pastries, coffee, tea and juice provided and a nice hot dog bbq lunch with salad for a mere $3 once a week. If you like hot dogs they were quite good and the potato salad was really delicious.||||The female front desk staff are friendly, welcoming and helpful but the gentleman who checked us in seemed miserable but we only saw him that one day. ||||Housekeeping staff do a great job and are friendly. Enjoyed talking to them. ||||You will get to witness the most gorgeous sunsets from this resort and on the island in general and there is a beautiful wide beach that isn’t crowded. You need to watch for stingrays while in the water and shuffle your feet to scare them away as they can give you a nasty and painful sting but we never experienced any while here but some guests saw them so be cautious. You may get to see dolphins as well. ||||You may also experience some fish trying to nibble on your extremities too but they are harmless but might freak you out a little.||||The shore birds were amazing to watch: cranes, herons, egrets, willets, pelicans, skimmers, cormorants, terns, plovers and gulls.||||There is a French restaurant on site called Maison Blanche which came highly recommended but very expensive so we passed.||||And finally, tried to contact check-in/reception one evening about a concern and they either don’t answer their phone or there is no one attending the desk at night. Maybe not a great thing in an emergency, especially in a hotel with many senior guests.||||Overall a pretty nice place to stay and recommend if you are lucky enough to get a booking here as apparently most guests are time share...

This resort could have been a 5 star review for the beach and sunset alone. The beach set up with the loungers and umbrellas was perfect! It was so convenient to be able to walk out of the room with just our beach towels and have everything all set up for us to relax on the beach.

Unfortunately, the first impression of the room was awful. I’m not at all sensitive to smells but we walked into a room that reeked of rotten fish, most likely from the previous guests. The air conditioning was off so it was hot in the room, and combined with the high humidity, it made the smell so bad you could almost taste it.

We let the older gentleman at front desk know, hoping he could have someone from the housekeeping staff come clean up a little better, but all he did was add a pack of baking soda to the fridge and said he didn’t smell anything, as if we had some reason to make that up.

We had to deep clean the room top to bottom but we couldn’t find the source of the smell. After leaving the windows and sliding patio door open for a few hours, it aired out and smelled slightly better, but still like the fish counter of a supermarket. It took a couple days to finally go away.

The other big negative was the bed. It’s a queen sized Murphy bed that comes down from the wall so it was very convenient to free up space in the small room but it’s soooo uncomfortable.

After the first night, we felt like we were hit by a car in the middle night. We had to go to Walmart and buy a 3” foam mattress pad which helped tremendously.

There was a small issue with a couple big roaches in the room but I didn’t take off any points for that. Hopefully they add some monthly pest control to the resort.

All in all, this review could have easily been a 5 star review if they replaced the bed, the cleaners did a better job of turning the room around between guests, and most importantly, if the front desk was retrained on what...

Looks like a tiny old Florida hotel poorly converted to condos. After booking we received what felt like a snarky letter from Four Winds regarding the unit we were assigned. They were not joking. A corner studio with one small window overlooking the parking lot, an "efficiency" kitchen, a Murphy bed and a sofa bed. Actuality: the Murphy bed is also a Murphy dining table - you use one or the other full time, or you are constantly converting. The option? Move the coffee table and constantly convert the couch to a bed. Sleeping/dining arrangements are not even the worst of the unit. The one small window overlooks the parking lot, has only vertical blinds, and offers no privacy if you desire natural light or air. There is no cross ventilation. A/C must run constantly or it gets musty! The only place to dry swimsuits is on a chair in front of a/c, or downstairs in the laundry area. The fan in the damp bathroom (towel bar barely connected) doesn't provide enough air flow to dry anything. Bring your extension chords if you want to charge your electronics - one poorly placed usable outlet in living area. This is absolutely the worst unit we have ever stayed in, anywhere! We don't require much, but some air and light would have been appreciated. Plan to be in a hobbit hole if you stay. We asked, "where do the locals go to eat and enjoy an adult beverage?" We were told, "this is an affluent area, locals do not hang out like that. There are a few fine dining establishments if you care to eat out." On a positive note: great beach access, Townie bikes to borrow, two gas grills available downstairs, Publix and CVS across the street. Next time we'll find accommodations on nearby Anna Maria Island and leave the hobbit hole to...