Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach — Hotel in Sarasota

Wife and I stayed here for our 1 year wedding anniversary. She grew up going here and another nearby resort. So she was familiar with the Sandcastle even though it was the Hemsley when she was younger. First off we can't speak for all of the negative reviews but our room was nice and updated. Was it great, no. Could it use some TLC yes and that was the bathroom area. While I was ok with the bathroom overall I did find the toilet to be on the shorter end they could install a taller toilet IMO. The tub looked as if the reglazing around the drain was poorly done and started to flake or look chipped. She found hair(not hers) as soon as she went to use the tub for the first time sadly that was bad cleaning service. She felt they did a good job updating the floor in the rest of the room but didn't update the dated tile in the bathroom area again just a visual issue not a functional one. The lobby was very nice and clean. Staff were wonderful to work with and not a signal issue. The new girl that checked us in was great. On-site amenities include a pool deck bar, a beach towel Hut to get fresh towels as often as you wanted, free water bottles as well as pool/beach toys offerings. Beach Chairs and umbrellas are included in your room stay. Also a fully staffed restaurant is on site providing Breakfast including buffet at 20 bucks per person but also can order meals from the menu. To Lunch and Dinner entree options. We did try the Breakfast twice and lunch once during our stay. Breakfast buffet was great no complaints there. Staff was very attentive to us refilling our drinks and taking away empty plates. Lunch was ok atleast the options we chose. Her Coconut shrimp was almost too breaded and overcooked. My grouper sandwich was ok wouldn't go out of my way to order either entree again. The chicken quesadilla was good. We didn't try dinner as we had plans out and about each night. Overall the price was good for the room, the restaurant was good but can get expensive if eating there every meal, the pools were good however only 1 of the two pools was heated and it did get somewhat crowded with just the one heated pool in mid January. Imagine cost savings and rental capacity wasn't worth heating both pools. The beach is huge and appears to be groomed everyday or atleast every other day. However the large shells did seem to be spread out and can be painful walking across them barefooted. Highly recommend water shoes or flops to walk closer to the water to save your feet. The hotel building it self is dated. Reminds me of a classic gulf coast Beach resort from the 80s. Items needed repaired and painted which I am sure the management has a decent plan for upkeep. It is a smoking free resort however did find people sneaking smokes and even a hint of illegal smoke but with the wind it could of been from next door. The parking garage is a tight fit for larger trucks believe its 6'8". Sadly smaller cars took the outside parking and even some of the lower level parking causing the taller trucks to park sideways. Hint if your vehicle is well under the 6'8" park on the upper levels and save room for the larger trucks. If you are flying in and getting to this resort and not renting a vehicle as the resort offers shuttle serice to the circle, you will be well taken care of. If you are used to staying at condos with full size kitchens and cooking your own meals and even have larger families don't think this will be cost effective option. But each to their own. We enjoyed our short stay. In July we head to our usual condo in Longboat Key where staffing can be extremely rude. Not the case...

I should’ve known better to stay here— and I did. I’d read dozens of bad reviews. Roaches. Bed bugs. Mold. Bad plumbing. Creepy, unlit corridors. Rooms and public spaces in disrepair. Lousy service. Broken air conditioning. These complaints were constant themes.

And yet, I still booked a night here. Despite the negative reviews, how bad could it really be? After all, the Sandcastle is owned by the same company that owns some of the area’s best hotels, including Lido Beach Resort, The Resort at Longboat Key and Zota Beach Resort. Granted that stellar track record, why would the Sandcastle be an exception? Booking a room for the night here was going to cost me almost $350—hardly small change. Surely this hospitality industry leader would give me fair value.

What’s the worst that could happen?

As it turned out, our experience here confirmed all the negative reviews. Our long night was as bad as it could be.

It was a long list of insults and failures. This is just a sample …

Roaches? Yep. Fridge broken? Check. Broken air conditioning? Yes, indeed. I noticed the thermostat had been set on 70 when we arrived—but the room was pretty hot. Later that night, when we returned from dinner, the room felt like a sauna. We kept turning the thermostat down — and 50 seemed as low as it could go. At this setting, the AC started roaring like a ship’s engine — and an engine room is a bad place to get a good night’s sleep.

By 2 a.m. my nerves were shattered.

Other irritations included a drawer that stayed completely open, leftover garbage from the last guest, ripped curtains, a clogged shower, and a sad rusting balcony. It was just a very depressing and rundown room. There was not one thing in the room that said welcome to our resort. Relax. We got you.

But we stayed anyway.

After we changed to go to our appointments on St. Armands, we stopped by the front desk to tell them about the AC and fridge. “What do you want us to do about it?” asked the nonplussed desk clerk. “You want a discount? We can only give you $25 off.” In full disclosure, she also mumbled something about sending a repair crew to look at the AC. Because we’d soon be leaving, we didn’t take her up on it. We didn’t feel comfortable having repair people in our room while we were gone —and might still be there when we came back.

What she should have said was …

“I am so sorry. How can we make it right? I know you’re on your way to an appointment, but it will only take us 15 minutes to move you to another room. I have a suite with the AC and fridge working. It’s much bigger than the room you’re in and we hope it will make up for the inconvenience.”

But she didn’t say that.

The next morning, I asked to speak with Tim Hunter, the manager. Alas, he didn’t come out to speak with me. Guess he didn’t care.

So, I told the assistant manager about our unhappy experience at the Sandcastle. She was initially defensive, but finally agreed to refund us $100.

Here’s what I can’t believe. That the people who own some of our area’s best hotels have the nerve to keep this deteriorating junk box palace open. It may have been glorious in its heyday. But it’s disgusting now. They should be ashamed of taking money from unsuspecting guests. But they can do it because of everything that’s outside their deteriorating walls—the magnificent Gulf of Mexico.

So, don’t follow my example. Wise up, and believe the bad reviews. Stay...

Very disappointed! I have stayed at this resort several times over the years, and it has definitely changed. I received an email 24hrs after the option to cancel had expired informing me that I would not be able to access the resort/beach till 1pm. I have stayed at this hotel and many domestic and international and have NEVER been told I could not access the resort/beach. The worse part was I wasn't notified till canceling was no longer an option. When we received access to our room the room was hot. We lowered the temperature and closed the curtains. When I went to take a shower, I could not get hot water. When I turned the knob back to the labeled cold, I almost burned myself because it was backwards. An hour later the room was still hot. We called the front desk, and the phone was staticky, and we were not clear if they understood us, but no one ever showed up. We went to the front desk, and they were under the impression someone had gone to the room. We went out to dinner and came back to the room was still hot. We called the front desk again and they sent the maintenance person back. He explained he had already been to the room, and it was an old unit there was nothing he could do. If we liked he could change out the AC filter that was filthy and looked like it had not been changed in well over a year. He suggested we keep the curtains closed to keep the room cool. I was very confused by both statements considering AC filters typically are changed out monthly when you have the cheap ones. Any AC will not work properly if you NEVER change out the AC filter regularly. Then the second statement was confusing since we had paid extra for a beach view. He wanted me to close the curtains when I paid for a beach view. I called the front desk again and asked for a room change and was told there were no other rooms available. I then asked to speak with a manager. The lady at the front desk tone was obviously very annoyed but I stayed patient. In reality I had the right to be annoyed not her since I paid for a room with AC and beach view which I was not getting. She told me the manager was not available and I had asked if she could have her reach out to me when she was available and she said she did not know when that would be. At this point there was absolutely no way my husband and I could sleep in the room. It was way too hot and stuffy. We started to pack up to head out and got a knock at the door. There was another maintenance person with a tiny desktop fan and asked if we requested a fan. I couldn’t believe that was the solution I was being presented. I apologized that they sent him over and explained we were leaving that it was very hot in the room. My husband had asked him if he could sleep in here and he had agreed it was too hot. We stopped at the front desk to check out and the lady said she needed to inform the manager we were checking out who was just in the back office. Funny thing was the manager had NEVER called me back and didn’t even have the courtesy to come to the desk to speak with me. I will NEVER be staying at this property again. They have lost my business and my families. This was...