Magnolia Pointe, BW Signature Collection — Hotel in Sarasota

I spent 5 nights at the Magnolia Pointe at the end of June 2024. It was a positive experience and I would be willing to stay there again.

While the hotel is not directly in downtown Sarasota, most of the downtown hotels are much more expensive so the Magnolia Pointe is reasonably priced for close proximity to downtown. It's about a 15-20 minute drive to downtown or a 25-30 minute drive to SRQ airport or tourist locations like Lido Beach or The Ringling. There are two convenient restaurants (Culver's and Bob Evans) in easy walking distance (around 5 minutes). There are also two small shopping areas (with a bunch more restaurants and some grocery stores) within a 5 minute drive or 30 minute walk.

The hotel offers a free breakfast every morning from 6 AM to 9 AM. There was an excellent selection of fruit. They had apples and oranges every day, and bananas 4 out of the 5 days. The highlight was the mixed fruit which they had every day and which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is composed of Dole Tropical Fruit Salad (pineapple, papaya, and guava) combined with manually prepared cantaloupe. They also offered juices and coffee. The cereal selection was adequate with 3 basic types (corn flakes, raisin bran, and a generic version of fruit loops) and you could also get bagels or toast. The hot food was a little disappointing. The scrambled eggs tasted a bit too buttery and the potatoes were bland and flavorless (such that after two days of trying I stopped getting potatoes). They also had a rotating breakfast meat which ranged from sausage patties (decent but overcooked), bacon (good), and two types of sliced ham (one was okay the other was delicious). One day they had breakfast pizza but it did not look appetizing and I did not try it. They did not have a waffle maker but they did have a pancake machine but on one day it made small pancakes and on another day it made medium sized ones.

The hotel shares a pool with the nearby Ameniti Bay hotel (which is also part of the Best Western brand) and the pool has a Tiki Bar (both are open until 10 PM). I didn't use the pool but hung around there with some colleagues who did use the pool and enjoyed it. The receptionist also bragged about a grill being available but the grilling area was a bit sad - it was just a small area at the rear entrance, overlooking the busy road. There were posters for Thursday Trivia and Saturday Bingo but I didn't partake in any of those activities.

The hotel and my room were modern, clean, and quiet. Ample towels were provided, there was a small fridge, and the bed was comfortable. Internet worked great, the TV was easy to use and had a good selection of channels (including HBO). The only points of criticism I had were the chair and the shower set up. The chair seemed to be broken and I could not adjust the height. I ended up having to sit on two pillows to reach a comfortable height to work at the desk. There was not a convenient way to reach the bath towels from the shower. Also, the shower and shower curtain were poorly designed such that water was consistently getting outside of the tub and on to the floor even when the shower curtain was fully drawn.

The staff was friendly. However, the receptionist was often not at the front desk and so sometimes it was hard to find someone if you needed something. Also, there were many basic information areas that the receptionists were not knowledgeable about (such as availability of ride share...

This property has an unusual setup: two different hotel brands under the same roof. The east wing is Mainstay Suites; the west wing is Sleep Inn. We stayed in the Mainstay wing for a week; then we booked a Sleep Inn stay only to find out it was just down the hall! ||||Pros: clean rooms, comfortable beds. The Mainstay Suites have a kitchen with a full-sized fridge/freezer; microwave and a hotplate (a nice addition we wish more hotels would have available). Breakfast (included with the room price) was very good and the menu changed daily. All throughout our stay, all the staff was super nice and accommodating.||||Cons: the desk chairs! We stayed in different rooms and the desk chairs were the same in each - couldn't adjust the height or lock the back upright. I had to use 3 pillows (sat on 2, 1 for lumbar support) to get work done on my computer and minimize back discomfort. If you're traveling for business and working out of your room, this is a big deal. The only other negative was the wifi; it timed out at various times during the day (usually 2 or 3) requiring one to login again. Most hotels you only have to log in once per day max. I got bumped out of a video conference and during a webcast because of this. Management really needs to have their IT folks address this.||||All in all a good stay, but when we return to Sarasota for an extended business stay it will probably be somewhere else due to those stupid chairs. Very unfortunate because outside of the chairs and wifi, we...

Location is great. Very accessible. Lobby is clean and well lit . David C at front desk is friendly and helpful. Room at first look was decent for price. When I turned down the sheets, getting ready to go to bed with my family of four, that’s when the nightmare began! The towels had hairballs in them. What’s worse was …When I folded back the blankets, there were tons of black bits that appear to be dirt , hair strands and what looked like nail and skin. It was beyond gross! 🤮 on both beds the sheets looked crinkled like they had been slept in and soiled. Actually I’m 100% sure they were! They were for sure not clean sheets! You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out. I was appalled. My kids were tired and it was late in the evening. I reached out to the front desk, David tried to help by bringing us clean beddings , blankets etc. but since there was no housekeeping , I had to put them all on MYSELF! What an ordeal! This is so not right. David told me he will let his GM Ashley know in the morning and she will reach out to me. I shall update tomorrow. I need Magnolia to do me right. We shall see.

Update : GM acted swiftly upon hearing the incident. She called to inform she has process the refund And will look into it. Which is right. All the time spend on pacifying tired kids and wasted on changing sheets at a hotel!! Let alone the angst are the intangible that ought to be compensated but not. We did wake up to a hot breakfast at the lobby Counting...