Warm Mineral Springs Motel — Hotel in North Port

My girlfriend and I stayed in the motel for a Monday to Friday visit with her family that live in the area. She had always been curious about it, and I found the late 50's early 60's architecture interesting. We had no problems with this establishment. Everyone was very friendly that worked for the motel. Everyone, the lady who took our reservations, the desk manager, the room attendants, and the maintenance man were all very nice people. We found our neighbors to be very friendly too. I swam in the pool and used the hot tub daily, with no problems. It was clean, smelled good, and was great. The room was a king kitchenette and it was dated, but clean, and partially renovated, and well stocked with a full kitchen. A full size refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker. We did not use the two electric burner stove, and there was an air fryer underneath the full size sink. The king bed was not brand new, but we both found it to me extremely comfortable, and we have an expensive Serta at home, and are used to Hilton and Hampton quality mattresses. The bathroom was very clean and had nice updated tile and fixtures. Great water pressure, and excellent towels that were bleached clean and soft. There were some quirks about the place, the freshly painted walls were not completed to the ceiling, my girlfriend felt she needed to clean the remote control to the tv. There were not an abundance of lights and outlets, but it is an old old motel mind you. But it worked for us. We will be staying there every time we return to visit family there. We enjoyed the good AC unit, the tables and chairs on the patio outside the big sliding glass doors, and the overall tropical feel of this dated yet very functional motel. As soon as the owners dumps some money into the upgrades, and general retro fit of the entire place they are gong to be able to charge $300 a night guaranteed. It is retro, cool, quirky, and clean. My biggest regret is I do not have any...

We came to this Motels to feature it in a travel VLOG that highlights all things Mid Century. We had high hopes that it would live up to other Mid Century motels in the Sarasota Area.

Huge Disappointment.

Check in: Check in was easy and the woman was very polite. Office was clean. Original desk is still there and amazing.

Motel Grounds: Vegetation is overgrown . Random potted plants all over make it look trashy. Collection of random potted plants around shuffle board area makes the motel look cheap. Pool deck was filthy and covered in leaves and piles of dirt in corners. Corners of building wings are stacked with broken furniture and mattresses, rusted grills, pool flotation devices and mildew. Grass needs to be better mowed and edged along walking surfaces. A lawn service company can make this look amazing if the owners spent a little bit of money once a month.

The motels sign does not completely light up at night. This was disappointing. The sign is part of the history and brand. If it doesn’t work, then it says a lot about the rest of the motel.

Room smelled clean and looked clean when I first walked in… but then I turned the lights on.

Bathroom was filthy. Mold, mildew and calcium build up can be easily fixed with proper cleaning that is clearly not happening.

Blinds for the sliding glass doors were nauseating to look at. I couldn’t tell what was all over them but it looked like old vomit or perhaps cooking grease.. either way, they were disgusting and clearly not maintained or cleaned.

Wall by the stove is covered in grease and food. Something that could have been cleaned but was obviously ignored by staff.

A/C unit in room cannot be controlled. Buttons have been punched out either on purpose or due to lots of use. Room was uncomfortably cold and thin blankets offered no warmth.

We checked out a day early.

Do...

Well quite interesting how my perceptions changed over the 3 days I stayed. This "quaint" little place is actually the remnant of an architectural masterpiece for its time by Victor Lundy, whom I have heard still lives in Sarasota. As I searched through photos and other information on the internet I found this place to actually be a world class tourist destination, if you would like to join the actual Warm Springs just down the road for swimming it will set you back nada as a resident, BUT $1100 per year if you would like to just hang around and swim. SO along the road from the motel to the spring is an abandoned outbuilding with an outlandish GIANT triangle vestibule similar to the motel's design. The classically designed building tragically stands empty and lonely, however in some way also embodies Lundy's vision - my challenge is for some architectural specialist or group to repurpose it as it lies directly midway between the Motel and Waters. Interestingly at the motel in any case are folks from all over, and outside at the large warm, deep pool at 2:30 am it's quiet but active. Private room with a big heavy-duty AC unit was relatively clean after visiting the nearby Walmart, and the help is excellent, kind and friendly, fresh fruit and Danish galore for breakfast - especially Homanchu my young Indian lecturer who reset the router for me and I reassured teaching in America was possible with a bit of strategy, many thanks please persevere. Go here if you are up to the adventure along Highway 41, room 10 bathroom is the cleanest and walking around the outside you can decidedly reminisce if a fan of architecture. This IS a ghost story, there just hasn't been a...