Silver Sands Gulf Beach Resort — Hotel in Longboat Key

I am not sure how to start this review, because Silver Sands has been my happy place for years. We found this place 4 years ago and fell in love! However, many things have changed and I am not sure who’s fault it is; the management company RVA, the Silver Sands Management or the owner of unit #253. Although after speaking to many other tenants, I don’t think it is the unit owner. Many people said their units are the same. We started noticing thing not up to par with our visit January/February 2020. When we arrived we found the furniture to be, not dirty, but filthy! I spoke with the manger and he apologized, but said with us there he couldn’t do anything. He also said he would speak to the owners. I ended up placing sheets over the sofa and chair to be able to use them. When we departed the manager assured us this would be taken care of for our 2021 visit. At our departure we also made them aware of a few other items that needed attention, but mostly the shower head needed replaced. When rebooking (assuming the complaints would be taken care of) they told us the price for the same time frame 3 weeks (one year later) was increasing by $2500.00. After speaking with someone at RVA management, they apologized made a reasonable increase and we moved forward with our 2021 reservation. Fast forward to our arrival on January 23, 2021 to the same filthy furniture and the same shower head. When I ask about these items, they said the furniture was cleaned, but they must of missed the shower head. There was no way the furniture was cleaned! They also claim the kitchens are stocked. Prior to 2021, we never cooked, but with Covid we made a decision to stay in for meals. Unfortunately, the kitchens are not stocked! We had 2 fry pans that were small 6” pans, very old, scratched and dirty. When I requested a different, larger pan, along with a casserole dish and mixing bowl, I was told that is all they offer. They did bring me newer small 6” fry pan. The silverware is a terrible, nothing matches and VERY cheap. The 4 dinner plates and 4 small bowls are so old they are not microwave approved. I will also say, I was disappointed the office girl did not wear a mask, at all during our stay. All other employees did follow “their” mask required regulation. When I requested she put one on, so we could chat, she said it’s difficult for her to talk in it and did not. She was also rude and argumentative with any request! I need to say the grounds are very well kept. The pool area is amazing, which is why it was always our...

We recently spent 4 nights at Silver Sands Gulf Beach Resort on Longboat Key, staying in Unit 251. Overall we had a great trip and enjoyed the resort very much. The location is wonderful and Unit 251 has a view of the pool and the beach. It is a very short walk from the condo out to the beach. While we brought our own beach chairs and cabana, the resort does provide lounge chairs and umbrellas. The website and reservation system worked well and onsite check in was easy. We had the opportunity to interact with both Martha and Emilie at the front desk and both were great.

We were there to go to the beach so we didn’t use the pool but there were many families with children and adults that used the pool. Two amenities that we did use were the Wi-Fi and the gas grills. We didn’t have any issues with the Wi-Fi and it allowed us to stay connected. Having the gas grills (2) was very nice as we didn’t want to eat out every night and grilled burgers one night instead.

Unit 251 could use some maintenance and improvements which I suggested to the front desk when we checked out. The resort is older and the units are individually owned so unfortunately the owners have to want to improve their rental unit. My suggestions to the front desk were:

• Needs to be repainted and some trim replacement • Some plumbing fixtures (kitchen faucet and shower head) need repair or replacement • Both ceiling fans should be replaced with ceiling hugger models to get the blades up closer to the ceiling. This also would solve that one of them you can’t change the fan speed and the wicker blades are harder to keep clean • Wicker furniture, especially the headboard on the bed is higher maintenance and requires more thorough dusting to keep it clean. This was very obvious on the headboard that a deep cleaning is in order.

I hope the owners will invest in some upgrades as we would definitely like to return to...

Week long stay in 241A, window still had hurricane shade covering only window (feb) and was very dark, hard to see in there and not what you come to the beach for. There was black mold in the shower area which made you wonder how clean rest of room was. There were no beach umbrellas as advertised. Many of the beach lounge chairs were ripped and discolored, need thrown and replaced. This was one of the few units that still had a window air conditioner, which was rather inefficient even in mild 70 degree weather, but felt we had to run to get dampness out of room. Most other units now had central air. We did not use housekeeping and feel we are pretty low maintenance guests. When we did ask for towels were told by manager that they didn't have any right now and seemed bothered to help us. They have tons of clean towels with on site laundry, but wouldn't walk to get some and got mad when we asked housekeeping if we could grab our own. You definitely need your own vehicle at this location as public transportation not as advertised either. Lyft and Uber hard to find this time of year as they get slowed down on bridges and avoid area. The best thing about the property is the beach! With almost no other resorts in area you have plenty of space and not a lot of people. Pool area was nice enough and a couple Weber grills if you want to prepare your own food. Have to travel a bit to get to better restaurants. There just are not a lot of options in area and thus maybe they don't feel need to upgrade. Definitely didn't feel like a resort, more of a remodeled 50's motel, should be called Silver Sands Rentals, promote what it is, not...