Hilton Vacation Club The Cove on Ormond Beach — Hotel in Ormond Beach

We stayed at the Cove for a week through an Interval International exchange. Overall, the Cove was lower quality than we normally expect from Interval exchanges.

The hotel has some nice features for young children. It's right on the beach and if they decide to actually put out the lounge chairs (60% chance) then seating is nice. Although the beach is not good for parents to sit and relax while kids play in the surf, since the water is 100 feet away from where the chairs are set up (on the other side of the "beach road" from the water). The pool is also geared towards kids - it has a lazy river with hotel-provided tubes and a gradual "beach" entry. Note that the entire pool is 3.5 feet deep or less, meaning there's no part of the pool that's good for adults. The plus side you don't really have to worry about your kid drowning. NOTE: As of Aug 2016, the water slide features in many hotel pictures has been permanently removed.

Also, they have kids activities like rubber ducky races, Wii competitions, arts and crafts and movie nights for kids. Danielle, who was working the activity center when we were there, was wonderful with all the kids. Give that woman a raise as she single-handedly makes the hotel a much better value.

Aside from the kid-friendly nature of the hotel, however, there were just too many things that were sub-par to recommend this hotel or for us to consider returning. We were lucky enough to get a beach-front room, but that also happens to mean that your door is right next to where they store the trash cans on each floor. So our noses were assaulted every time we went in and out of our unit. Also, our balcony door was half-broken which meant that neither my wife nor kids could get it open - I had to put all my strength into it to get it to open. The balcony drains weren't installed correctly so we had an inch of water on half the balcony almost the whole time we were there. Overall not a huge loss since the balconies are tiny - big enough to stand and look out but not enough to sit and read or have a meal. There's also evidence of water damage everywhere, and when we got heavy rains the water dripped into our room from the ceiling near the window, waking us up in the middle of the night with a very audible "drip drip drip" and getting water on some of our papers. Lots of other things also hurt our impression of the Cove, like the fact that the bath drains that were installed upside down or just didn't work and couldn't hold water in the tub which made giving our kids a bath very frustrating.

We found that if there is any rain or wind forecast for the day, then they will not take out the beach chairs and umbrellas. 3 of the 7 days we were there they did not take out the beach chairs or umbrellas. I can understand the umbrellas if it's going to be windy, but there's always rain in the afternoon in Florida! Often they would bring the chairs in early as well. I understand that it is hard work for the one guy to haul the chairs from the hotel to the beach and back. But we would have liked to take more advantage of the beach in the limited time we had on our vacation.On our third day, they refused to put out the chairs (and explained their silly rain policy) when we asked at the front desk, even though it was only partly cloudy with no rain forecast for hours.

The worst part, however, was the sliminess of the concierge desk. The first night we were there we got a call from the concierge offering us a welcome packet and the opportunity to upgrade to "all inclusive" status. It turns out this was just a sleazy Sales pitch. The welcome packet was just useless coupons. In order to upgrade to "all inclusive" we'd have to sit through a long Sales pitch on Diamond Resorts. "All Inclusive" just meant free bottles of water and periodic free lunches at the pool, which were hot dogs, corn dogs, or hamburgers with a side like beans. They called our room twice more during the week during dinner time to try and convince us to come listen to the...

Good and bad here. I spend 250 night a year in hotels, and have the highest status at Hilton and Marriott, so I have a lot to compare to. I am in the middle of a 2-week stay, in a studio.

Good: It is very clean. Housekeeping is excellent. The staff is friendly and attentive. I did not use the beach or pool (it's 40 degrees outside) but they look nice - but also have chairs, not lounges. Internet is OK 20 up and down. Plenty of parking, but I don't know if the property is actually full. There is a full kitchen with what look like new appliances. Though there are many items you need to cook missing. No frying pan. No spatula. etc...I had to buy these items at Target..... There is a safe. There is a little balcony where you can see a sliver of the ocean.

Bad: There is a $25 per day resort fee, which they say covers parking, internet, and pool equipment. I realize that this is a ubiquitous scam to add more money to the bill for things that should be included, but it sucks. Why am I being told I am paying extra for internet, when I am supposed to get it for free with my Hilton status?

There is NO CHAIR OR TABLE OR DESK IN MY STUDIO. Just the kitchen counter and 2 stools. Nowhere to work or eat (unless you eat hunched over. No couch. Nowhere to sit at all other than a barstool or the bed. This is a first for me.

The TV does not work properly. It is not connected to the internet (it's disabled) so none of the special features work. The guide does not work, and apparently the only channel is MTV. Total fail.

The bathroom has a few problems. THERE IS NO TOWEL RACK, also a first. The towels are under the sink. Where do you put them to dry????? My first shower was cold. I later found out that you had to push on the shower control REALLY HARD to get hot water. The mixer valve needs to be replaced. There is one of those nice curved shower curtain rods in the shower but it is mounted A FOOT INTO THE TUB so it is actually worse than a straight rod in the proper place would be. You cannot get the wet, cold shower curtain off your body while showering. The fan is connected to the mirror light fixture, and sounds like a jet landing after ingesting a turkey - so loud I just leave it turned off.

THE ELEVATOR BROKE. It took more than 2 days to fix it, but they seemed to do what they could to get it running. I give them credit for offering to help with things that needed to go up and down the stairs. Luckily I had an office where I'm working so I just left my equipment there.

There is almost no storage for clothing, which is kind of ridiculous considering it is a vacation apartment concept. One little 12-inch deep cabinet with shelves. IT IS A TV STAND, not a dresser.

In summary, this is my least satisfactory stay of the last few years. I can't think of a property I enjoyed less as I sit here on my bed with my back aching, typing on my computer. I'm tempted to go down and work in my car. The staff seems to be trying hard, but a vacation studio without a chair, table and dresser is...

Back in September my family and I stayed at The Cove in Ormond Beach Fl. While staying Gene at the front desk offered a package 4 days 3 nights for 149 and 100 gift card after a resort tour...Gene stated that if interested we would have to pay BEFORE our check out...I did not have the funds to do so we check out. I later call Gene at The Cove and ask if he would please consider selling is the package even though we had checked out after an ok he allows me to purchase the package AFTER CHECK OUT!! That was October 6. After paying I called the 1888 to book our stay back at The Cove in Ormond Beach Booked our stay and was even given an extra night for booking in the first 30 days of purchase October 27-31@ The Cove in Ormond set dates and resort...Later I get a call telling us about our check in at the Holiday Inn in Daytona! I thought there was a mistake as I never talked about Daytona or the Holiday Inn!! Well that's when things got messy/sour! Ciera the lady that booked the package insisted we agreed on Holiday Inn...I NEVER once spoke about any place other then the Cove!! Ciera said nothing can be done not moving my room and no refund!! She was disgustingly ride so I ask to speak to a manager well Angel the manager was even was staring again the same not moving the room and no refund nothing and laughed...I spoke with 3 different people about this matter and was told in the rudest way NO! So I cancel the room and call Gene explain the problem and ask him to help he does some talking and says I'm going to work on getting you a refund just give me a couple of days... So some odd days go by and nothing from Gene when I called him back he acted as if he had no idea who I was! All the is just so shady!! I talked to these people over and over again about where we had agreed to stay I NEVER talked about any place other then The Cove!! I did not agree to stay in the slums in Daytona...That not want I payed for! This was a family treat and a first birthday and it was turned into a nightmare! I have been treated as if I have done something wrong when if fact after review Diamond Resorts/Mystic Dunes domes this same thing all the time...You visit a place you love buy this package with intent to stay at the same location and then they book you into the roach motel! Unreal! If I could go back our family would not have even stayed at The Cove I hate scammers and do not support myself or others being ripped off by resorts!! I didn't even ask for my money back I tried to resolve the problem by just moving our room but no and no refund THEY SAID...I did not stay in any room I did not get a vacation I got scammed...I have done everything on my part to make this right but can not get anything done. Thanks for you...