Holiday Inn Resort Panama City Beach by IHG — Hotel in Panama City Beach

This was our second stay at this hotel. Our first stay was good which prompted us to return. Parking for this hotel is across the street so the hotel has a cart valet service running continuously between the parking lot and the hotel, or that is the way it is supposed to be. We were there for a whole week and we only saw this service once, so I had to walk the distance each time at least twice a day and one day three times.

Check in was fair. No explanations about the property or the valet service. Going to the room we noticed, due to the wait, that out of four elevators one was out of service leaving three elevators to service 15 floors. Before we left that went to two elevators out of service extending yet again the wait times.

The room was clean and bright with a great view of the Gulf. The only complaints about the room was the sink in the bathroom drained very slowly filling the sink whenever used. There was grime on the bathroom light switch. The TV remote did not function properly and a call to the front desk did result in another remote being delivered to the room. An inspection of the remote in the room revealed the batteries in the remote had corroded and leaked. Obviously that did not happen overnight.

On Tuesday night when we returned to the hotel I dropped my wife off at the front as I had to go park the car and no valet service (around 7-8pm). When I got to the room I found my wife in tears as she had fallen at the elevator. The elevator was full that she got and on and on the 6th floor others on the elevator needed off so she stepped out and as she returned the elevator was adjusting due to the weight change causing her to trip and fall forward. One of the men on the elevator moved to help her up, but stopped and decided to get help. He got off the elevator briefly and returned with a man in blue uniform on that my wife thought was a hotel employee. The two lifted her up and she told them she thought she was ok even though her glasses had been knocked off and she hit hard on both knees and elbows.

She went to the room and waited for my arrival. She told me she felt that feeling the soreness, especially in her knees and elbows. She did not want to go be checked out. We stayed the night in the. Hotel and took it easy on Wednesday due to her soreness. The pain continued to get worse, primarily in her hip. By Thursday morning at 5:30am the pain was unbearable and I had to take her to the ER.

She was treated and released for her injury, with multiple meds and with a referral to her primary physician upon return home. We stayed at the hotel Thursday as my wife was in too much pain to travel.

I informed front desk staff, in person, on Wednesday evening of the fall. There was no inquiry of her well being, no mention of filling out a report, much less any words of sympathy.

On Thursday morning I tried, in vain, to reach one of the four restaurants to order food and either the restaurants did not pick up or it would forward my call to the front desk. The front desk reasoning was the restaurant was too busy. I needed up having to go down to get food.

When we checked out on Friday morning the young lady that was checking me out asked how my stay was and I simply made the remark that she and I did not need to discuss the stay that I just wanted to leave. The young lady pressed so I began to explain the issues. The front desk agent inquired if anybody filled out a report and I told her no and that it had not even been mentioned. The young agent did take notes on what I was telling her. I then paid the bill and departed.

About five minutes after departing I did receive a call from a lady who identified herself as a member of management making an inquiry about the fall. I again repeated my issues. The lady had zero concerns about the issues with our stay focusing on the fall. She was concerned about it not being reported once staff was made aware. The lady apologized for the incident and informed me that someone from their risk management management would reach out to me to take the report.

A short time later I did take a call from one of the risk management staff who again inquired about the fall. I repeated what I could while driving and he asked to take a statement from my wife which i declined as she was on meds for the pain and she was uncomfortable due to her pain level. We agreed to talk again in a couple of days.

On another note, one of the reasons we chose this resort was the addition of the lazy river feature beside the pool. It was under construction during our previous visit and we both wanted to try it out. The feature itself is well done, but there is a serious lack of supervision. Plenty of signs with the rules around both the pool and the lazy river, such as no lifeguard, no ball throwing, no children under 18 in the hot tub, etc. We could not enjoy the pool, due to multiple people throwing balls in the pool, the hot tub had 8-10 pre-teen and teenage children with one preteen male in snorkeling gear going under water repeatedly. At one point a staff member did come out and ask three teenage boys to take their “boogie board” out of tub but nothing else.

The lazy river was clearly anything but peaceful with children using the river for races without flotation devices running in to others on the course. Pools are pools and people should have fun, but at some point, going unchecked, it...

Resort notes This will be a review after not visiting this facility for approximately 10 years. This visit was for 7 days and was during the second week of August.

For context, I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on IHG properties over the last 15 years. So I am not new to how things work or what is to be expected. I also think this is the most overrated property in the IHG portfolio. If I do return to PCB I would likely stay at a different property.

There is an additional $40 fee applied to the rate of the room for every night of your stay.

The maids will come into your room no matter how many times you tell them to come back later through the door, happened twice during our stay. I think is most likely due to English being a second or third language.

They offer fruit infused water and tea at multiple locations in the property.

Towels are provided poolside (not for the beach).

A word of caution to first floor guests, keep your belongings close to the window. The first floor has larger balconies than the upper rooms, another guest above us decided to dump a cooler full of ice and water from their balcony which landed on our balcony on top of our belongings.

The beach showers are definitely an upgrade from my previous visit.

The room shower has low water pressure on the first floor. It leaked into the rest of the bathroom and the showerhead was leaking and spraying up into the ceiling of the shower. The shower drain rang like a bell as water dripped on it constantly, so it was not very quiet.

The toilet ran constantly. No way the maids didn’t

There is a golf cart shuttle that will take you across the street as this is where 99% of the parking is located for the property. They do have an under the highway designated tunnel for guest to make crossing the road easier and safer for guests.

The pool lounge chairs are so tightly spaced it’s almost impossible to walk between them.

The best features of the property are outdoors while the rooms take a very minimal approach. Namely the pool, lazy river, and beach access.

I would imagine the property response to the inconveniences we encountered in our room will be something along the lines of “You should have called us if there was a problem.” To which I say there should have never been a problem, and it is a major inconvenience to repack and move rooms for a family of 4 who pack for a 7 day stay.

My view of the property is, it is ran a cheap as possible, not for the experience of the customer but “just good enough to charge a premium”. About half of the staff is very friendly while the other half is rude and not polite. I hate there are not more positive things to review, but you’re getting a cheap motel experience combined with a hand full...

Staying at the Holiday Inn Resort in Panama City Beach was a highly frustrating experience. Our room had a severe ant infestation, with insects found in my hairbrush, baby’s diapers, our bed, and on the bathroom walls. Additionally, old food between the bed and nightstand raised serious concerns about housekeeping. I reported these issues immediately, but the response from the staff was minimal, and despite multiple requests, I never heard from the general manager.

One particularly stressful moment came when we were assured that our belongings, including my baby’s refrigerated food, would be moved to a new room while we were out. However, upon returning, no one could locate our things, including essential items like medicine and diapers. This took hours to resolve, and when our items were finally delivered, there was no apology or explanation for the delay.

Adding to the frustration, only two elevators were working, which meant long waits, particularly challenging when moving around with kids. To make matters worse, on our last night, a staff member enforcing the wristband policy refused to let me back into the hotel without my wristband, despite the fact I was carrying an infant and had my other children with me. He even suggested I leave the baby in the room and come back to get the wristband—an unreasonable and frustrating suggestion.

At the pool bar, I was also met with a lack of basic customer service. When I asked for a menu, the waitress silently handed it to me without acknowledging me or engaging at all. After that experience, I chose not to order anything and left. This made it even more annoying when I discovered additional charges on my room during check-out, as I hadn’t even been able to place any orders due to the lack of service. To cap it off, no one had spoken to me about a restaurant ticket for free food, which was only offered to me during check-out, but at that point, I was ready to leave.

At check-out, the incorrect charges added another layer of frustration as I had to wait even longer for them to be sorted out. It felt like all I did during this stay was wait around for the staff, with constant delays and a lack of communication.

The only bright spot was Ethan, the chief executive officer, who finally apologized for the inconveniences, but it came far too late in the process. The overall lack of communication, poor service, and multiple issues throughout the stay left a lasting negative impression.

While others might have a different experience, I found this stay to be one of the most stressful I’ve had, with constant problems that overshadowed what should have been an...