The Island Resort at Fort Walton Beach — Hotel in Santa Rosa Island

This is clearly a joke! I travelled with my husband and three teenage children. There is no way I spent almost $5k for 4 nights to be in a cheap motel! I am a pretty forgiving person but our stay here was absolutely horrible! We paid for the pool deck rooms (2) and I don't know why we did because it was open and free for any and everybody to use. Other guests came and hung out on our decks and sat in the chairs which are literally outside the glass door that separates the deck from the bedroom!! (There is also no privacy film on the door or glass window looking directly into the pool. So everyone that is in the pool is looking right at you if you have your curtains open) I also love that when they were finished chilling on our pool deck, they left their trash ie: beer cans and cups behind for us to walk out to. You might as well not have any walls because you are going to hear EVERYTHING from the adjoining room. I listened to kids screaming and attempting to open the door between our rooms. I heard drunk adults all hours in the hallways. The smell of weed constantly filled the air in the hallway and not to mention the vaping and cigarette smoking at the pool. But no smoking right? ok. Don't get hyped for the "grotto" it is small and not the cleanest to walk into and around. Wear your swimsuit shoes or flip flops! The DJ began his party everyday and played for 4 hours. I get that but sound proof the rooms that are literally right there!!! It made being in the room unbearable. You couldn't go and try to have a reprieve because the music was just as loud in the room as it was outside. Then we dealt with the breaker being blown. Luckily we were not in a room that was affected but it did affect the Coastal Kitchen and their ability to prepare meals. After the first day the breakfast went down hill, I am assuming because of their inability to cook. They offered no lunches or dinner and told me my only option was the Cabana grill with a bartender who wasn't the friendliest with options such as three maybe 3-4 inch fish fingers that cost $19!!!!! There was also some sort of Island grille situation which was closed a lot and when I did see it open, didn't look appealing. Think old rundown wooden hut with a busted speaker playing scratchy music.. Speaking of breakfast, when we booked the rooms breakfast was included in the astronomical price. However, when we went to eat, we were told that it only covered two guests per room, leaving us to pay for one person. At checkout I asked was that their policy or the booking website's policy. I was told there is a box you have to click to add more breakfasts to your room if you need them. Well, I went and looked because I was curious if we had indeed overlooked it and if it is there, it's very well hidden so not something easily seen for guests to be made aware of. Just another added expense. The parking is another issue. Their lot isn't big enough to accommodate their guests so you have people circling the parking lot playing musical chairs to get a spot. There is a parking garage next door but that is a walk and was truly a last ditch choice. The two $8 bottles of water in the room were an absolute insult and a joke. The security is none existent. They give you bracelets to scan to open the doors to the hallway you are on and your room door but the hallway doors are never closed completely, to include the ones that lead to the outside! Everyone just holds the door open for everyone including staff so what's the point?

Lastly, the wifi is spotty.

I can go on and on about this "resort" but I will stop here because I am getting angry all over again. The pictures are extremely misleading and I feel like I have been conned. I have tried to locate an email for the general manager, Ken Trumbull and the experience supervisor, Dharlene Miller but they have made that pretty difficult. This is not the end for me. I will be looking into a partial refund and also my receipts that they have yet to send me days later with charges that I paid for but have no idea...

My recent stay (Aug 16, 2024) at this resort was HORRIBLE!!! Run as fast as you can. We booked at this hotel due to the proximity to the beach, but unfortunately, due to the chaos, we were unable to enjoy it. And we were ready to GO!! First, I arrived at the hotel late in the night (at 1:30 AM). When I arrived, I was greeted by nice employees at the front desk (or so I thought). Charles was wonderful and made sure we made it to our room safely as I traveled alone with my children (the youngest child being 12 months old). Unfortunately, though, when looking around our reserved room, I noticed that the door to the outside of the resort would NOT lock. So this meant that ANYONE from the outside passing by could walk into our room (my children and I were staying here). Maintenance was called to look at the door, and maintenance determined that the door was indeed broken and could NOT be fixed during the night. We had to walk back all the way ACROSS THE RESORT to the front desk with our luggage and my kids. It took the front desk a whole HOUR to find another available room due to the nightly system back-up/inventory audit that we had to wait for them to perform. (My 12 month old was awake at this point and now ready to play) It was AFTER 3 AM that we were given a new room. We were placed in a room that was a lower grade or, should I say, lower in price than the original room that I reserved. The front desk said that they could possibly offer me a complimentary breakfast for my inconvenience, but that NEVER happened. The front desk also mentioned, by an employee named King (I guess he was acting as the night shift supervisor), that they would see about reimbursing me the difference in the hotel room for the night, but that NEVER happened. ALL NIGHT in the new room, a loud buzzing noise came from the room. I recorded the noise on my phone and informed the front desk around 6 AM. They agreed that they heard the noise from my recording as well. Still, the ONLY thing that they offered me was to switch back to my original room AFTER they got a different maintenance to come over to fix the outside door (as the resort is undergoing some work). Or I could move over to the room next door on the poolside of the resort, which was still of lesser value than my original booking. If I wanted to be on the poolside, then I would've booked a poolside room! Later that day, I spoke with another manager, Terrence (I think that was his name). At this point, the hotel was booked to capacity, is what I was told. There was still NOTHING OFFERED for my inconvenience after not being able to get a solid 3 hours of sleep after traveling ALL day!! So I requested to check out b/c, at this point, I was OVER dealing with this hotel/resort!!!! Terrence did, however, take care of my stay for that day (it was still reasonably early in the day), and he was apologetic and was also confused as to why it took so long to place us in another room the previous night. He informed me that if I wanted to talk to someone about the previous night's stay, then I would need to talk with ANOTHER manager who was above him. I left my contact information. I have called back to this hotel several times and I have YET to speak with Alexis (the other manager) about this matter. She has NOT returned any of my calls to this day!!!! I have left several messages with different workers at the front desk, including with Terrence. I agree with previous reviews that say the front desk employees have attitudes. In my experience, the day shift employees did give off attitude vibes. While waiting to speak with the manager, they waited on other customers who walked up to the desk after me without even knowing if I was waiting to talk with someone specifically. UNTIL after the fact, they asked after assisting others who walked up. This was a very HORRIBLE experience with the money you paid for your stay. The parking was HORRIBLE. Please take your money and find someplace...

I stayed at The Island Resort from June 6–9, 2025, and unfortunately, the experience was underwhelming, and did not match the cost.

Upon arrival, the front desk staff was unwelcoming and did not acknowledge us, despite driving 6+ hours for a birthday celebration. He handed us a map with our room number and told to do our best to find parking near our building. No other directions were given, and reaching the “Beach House” building required navigating through the entire pool area. Had clear instructions been provided, we could have taken a much simpler route around the building. We also couldn't find parking near our building and had to circle the lot several times before settling on the parking garage, without any staff assistance for our luggage.

When we located our assigned room, the wristband fob didn’t work. We then discovered that a child was inside the room indicating that the front desk had written down the wrong room number. I called guest services from the hallway and was transferred between three employees before confirming our actual room, which was next door. Once inside, we found black and pink mold around the shower floor. When reported, staff casually responded that “it probably just needs caulking.” If so, this should have been taken care of prior to our arrival. The bathroom sink did not drain properly either.

The balcony had its own issues. The HVAC unit from the room above was leaking, and water was dripping directly onto our balcony railing. You could visibly see pink mold on the ceiling where the HVAC had leaked through the above unit's floor. It made the balcony uncomfortable to use.

While we did have a pool view, it was extremely noisy from morning until evening due to the concentration of children at that pool. We were not informed in advance that the other heated pool was under construction, which limited options for quieter relaxation. The Grotto bar near the pool had broken frozen drink machines throughout our stay, which seemed like an odd oversight for a beach resort.

The beach bar was nicely located with direct beach access, but staffing was an issue, since only one bartender was working at a time, it took a while to order anything, and this was consistent across all bars on the property. On Saturday night, the beach bar closed early without notice. Staff told guests it was because “most people check out early on Sunday,” which should be irrelevant given the resort charges a daily fee regardless of occupancy.

Other issues included extremely thin walls and uncomfortable pillows, making it hard to get a good night's sleep. Let's just say that I need a vacation and a neck massage after this "vacation."

Outside of the resort’s control, the water quality at this beach was very poor during our stay, full of algae and seaweed that stuck to our swimsuits. We were told that this property is located near the pass, and so the water quality is more so effected by how quickly the tide turns over here. The purple flag was up at the beach for dangerous marine life, and jellyfish which weren't present in Destin or Miramar Beach. We spent a day in Destin, and the service was overall friendlier and the water was much clearer there. Also, traffic in the Okaloosa Pier area is currently very congested due to bridge construction, a five-minute trip to Publix took over 30 minutes to return. Besides the Boardwalk next door, this area is one of the most unwalkable beach areas that I've ever been to.

In summary, if you're looking to use the pool as a day-long distraction for kids and don’t mind mediocre food or poor service, then this is the resort for you. But for the nightly rates, parking fees (especially when you have to park in a garage on the opposite side of where your room is) and added resort fees, the overall experience was disappointing and I would...