The Beachcomber — Hotel in Saint Pete Beach

I have been coming to this hotel now since 2015. I think out of all the bars, this is the best on the beach. I have always had great service from the hotel staff, until this year. I don't know what is going on but so many staff members behind the counter seemed like they hated their job. People from all over the world literally spends thousands of dollars to come here and the way my family and I were treated this year, makes me want to stay next door, next year. Please note, not all staff were like this, some were really nice, and we really appreciated that. But this one incident made me want to write a review, even two days after I got home. There is a guy behind the counter named David. Other customers staying there had mentioned how grumpy he was but I didn't experience that until one night when I called down to the front desk. I had my two young kids in the room who wanted to settle down and watch a movie. I couldn't get the TV to work so I called down to the office to get some help. Here is how the conversation went, "hi, I was wondering if for one you had any apps on the TV that allowed us to watch movies, and also I cant get the TV to navigate through the apps." David replied with "it is a normal tv I don't know what to tell you.” So I said "I was just looking for some assistance you don’t have to be so rude because I’m confused on how to fix this." He proceeded to say " well maybe I should send an engineer down to help you if you cant figure it out." I realize his reply is kind of funny. But when you pay thousands of dollars to stay there and you have tired kids, its really not funny. He was just being disrespectful and he was being dead serious, he wasn’t joking around. So, after I got my kids settled in, I walked down to the front office. My intentions were to talk this out with him because I was going to be there for several more days and I wanted no conflict, but I also wanted to be assisted with small things like that when needed. I don't think that is too much to ask when staying at a place like this. So when I approached him very calmly and very content, he started gaslighting me and saying he did not say those things. I continued to remain calm, and he called security. He was also calm he wasn’t yelling wither. He was just scary calm. It was really weird that when we were was face to face how much he denied what he said and ran straight to security without discussing anything. Security then came down, and I walked over to the 711 as I was planning to. He also accused me of being drunk because I had a water bottle (that was full of water). I was not intoxicated in the slightest, but since we were at a resort where a lot of people have consumed a lot of alcohol, I was labeled that and it was an excuse in his eyes for his behavior. I also asked for a manager and he denied that. So, my problem never got solved, and he used his badge power to gaslight me, take no responsibility, and call security. When I came back from the 711, a lady was standing outside and she said "you handled that very well and I believe you because I have experienced similar circumstances with him." So my point to all this is not to sway you away from this place because it really is great, but for one, a manager needs to be one site for this kind of thing, and for two, ignore David at all cost. I didn't feel comfortable calling up to the front desk the rest of my stay because I was there to have fun, not deal with inconsiderate staff members. I will say the next day I had to pick up a package at the front desk and David was polite, but to me that doesn’t make up for the lack of responsibility, poor customer service, and gaslighting that took place the night before. It seems to me that he knew he was wrong but just ignored the issue all together and thought being nice the next day would clear things up. If I was rude, yelling, screaming and using offensive language I could see calling security and not addressing the issue. But I wasn’t any of those things. No excuse for...

I've been coming to this hotel for 25 years from when it was Best Western to now beachcomber. I've stayed here and I'm also a local regular at Jimmy B's beach bar and grill. Live music and great times. As a local and other locals who are regulars keep the bartenders afloat during non busy season through the year. Well I went there today July 4th and now where I've parked for over 25 years for free, was All of a sudden $60. I understand making money but not off your regulars who often spend hundreds of dollars a week and maybe a thousand a month. At the establishment. I went and talked to the management and they said there commercial now and I said you were commercial on Monday as well. So in my opinion as a business owner I wouldn't cut off the people " locals" who help their employees pay bills when not in season and they are contracted it out. Also I'm not taking about parking in the resort, I'm taking about the parking across the street and walking over. Yes the resort has owned that piece of land for years and have allowed it to be a safe haven for locals to come and have a good time without worrying about their vehicles and if the customer was impaired, they we could leave our cars overnight and not get towed but make it home safe. I believe they could implement an exception by if you're a St Petersburg resident then you can continue to use their parking as it has always been. They're also going to start charging even on non holiday events $7 a day. Which again is a disgrace to the patrons who pay the bills for the bartenders. The company would rather hurt the bartenders and employees who work off tips and making relationships with regulars who in the end may hesitate to come back. It may not seem like a lot to park but in the end it hurts the employees more than the regulars who have been coming there for years and decades. I love the employees and I lost a lot of respect for the managers today not because I didn't get my way but because of how they addressed the situation. Which yes I may be the only complaint or could be more of regulars who were going to join me today. The manager was more i don't care how long you have been a regular. Your going to pay or leave. And I left after spending more than $400 on Monday and at least that the week before. And a majority of that was tips. Thank you and I hope beachcomber and Jimmy B's can come to some sort of consideration for bringing back a player's card membership but name it Jimmy B's players card which would allow regulars locals a way to park for free across the street. Just show your card or swipe it. But pushing locals out isn't the best for business. And it doesn't matter how other resorts do things go back to what helped your employees and locals to make money and locals have a place to park who attend your establishment. Name...

Our room (#103 possibly ADA compliant) had no place to put your things in the room. There is no bureau, table, or desk. We had to open up the ironing board and use it as a table. And yet there was an ottoman?! An ottoman is an accessory piece of furniture. There's no chair, why would you have an ottoman?

The lighting in the room is wholly inadequate. The room has no ceiling light, no switch when you enter, it is dark, yet the light between the beds hangs lower than it's shade and blinds you. And the switch for that BEDSIDE lamp is above the light and you have to stand up to turn it off. Having no light switch when you enter the room means you can't see anything trying to get to where the light is to turn it on. There's a light switch farther into the room that does nothing, you can't even press it one way or the other, and one of the small lamps didn't work at all. The floor to ceiling window needs a sheer curtain so you can let light in without feeling like you're in a fishbowl. The opposite window faces right into people's cars in the parking lot so to have any privacy we had to have the shades closed and it was too dark to see anything with the poor lighting. Also the floor to ceiling curtain is mounted beyond the door frame and blocks the door from opening and closing.

There is no counter in the bathroom for your things and no shelf in the shower. I guess your supposed to keep your soap and shampoo on the floor!? Gross. The shower doesn't drain, instead the water all puddles outside the shower on the bathroom floor. Also no vent fan in the bathroom. The bathroom lights are mounted upside down (and off center) so they light the ceiling instead of your face in front of the mirror. The full length mirror is mounted in a weird tiny hallway to nowhere. There isn't enough room to use it since your right up against the mirror. There was plenty of room to mount it in a usable space. The safe isn't affixed to anything someone can just pick the whole thing up and walk out the door. That's safe!

The musician (11/6/23) sounded so terrible we couldn't stand to be around the beach bar. His voice was so raspy it hurt your throat just to listen to. The entertainment was terrible, the big pool closes at dusk, and there's no hot tub, so we didn't even want to hang out at the hotel.

To sum up, there's no place to put your things, you can't see anything in the room but everyone can see you, and there's water on the bathroom floor along with your bar of soap. The most terribly designed and furnished room I have ever seen.

My recommendation, stay at Thunderbird on Treasure Island. We were there the other half of our trip and have...