SureStay by Best Western Sarasota Lido Beach — Hotel in Sarasota

This is going to be long but please bear with me. The hotel was grungy with a tiny office with one of those creepy booking windows to the outside. The “lobby” was tiny and smelly and equipped with about seven feet of counter space, a toaster, a coffee maker, and a dorm room fridge. The manager assured me that there would be a “continental breakfast” in the morning. My room was nasty. Dirty carpet, ramen noodles in the sink, gross hairs in the tub. Nothing worked. The tv didn’t turn on when I arrived and the manager, after some coaxing, showed up to condescendingly use the extra remote the helpful front office person brought up to help. Managed to get a few grainy channels to appear. But hey he assured me that the new TVs were coming soon. I tried to take a shower and managed to get either a gush of lava or a drizzle of ice water out of the scaly, grimy pipes. The water actually squealed coming out of the pipes like the water didn’t want to be there either. The hair dryer didn’t work, and when morning rolled around (yes I was still there because everything else was booked) the coffee maker emitted a drizzle of oily liquid. I travel with instant coffee because I have been subject to coffee disasters before in hotels. So I tried to microwave some water to make instant coffee. The microwave made a burning, electrical smell so I used hot tap water to make my coffee. I went to get ice for my cooler to prepare for a long work day…and the ice machine didn’t work. I went to the office looking for ice and the manager came out to the ice machine, verified that it was indeed not shooting ice out. He opened up the machine and found a hose unconnected. Didn’t apologize. Just smirked. I told him that nothing in my room worked. The hairdryer, the microwave etc and asked him to please see to it as I would be working all day. I arrived back that evening and nothing had been done. Went to the front office and was told that the manager was at church and would contact me when he returned at 9. 9:15 I call down to the office and, after some mumbled excuses, the manager agreed to bring me items that would (hopefully) work. He arrives and tells me that he doesn’t believe that the microwave is making burning smells but here is another one anyway. WTH. He also brought me a hairdryer and a Keurig that still had water in it. This is the most poorly run and poorly maintained hotel in which have ever stayed. And I travel a lot. The front desk clerk, a young woman, was very good, very bright and doing her best, but the place itself...

This hotel is so convenient and close to the Sarasota/Bradenton airport (5 minutes away), and right around the corner to the Ringling Bros. Museum, which is a must see. We stayed for 4 nights before going to spend a week in Anna Maria Island, and we found that this location was such an easy drive not only to the airport, but to various restaurants, shopping and most especially Lido Key Beach, about a 20 minute drive to free parking, a gorgeous beach, food/drink pavilion, $2 a day huge pool right on the beach, etc. The staff at the hotel is excellent. They are SO nice, especially Sandra who went above and beyond to make our stay pleasurable. She deserves a raise lol, we just loved her! The rooms are very clean thanks to the hard-working hospitality team. The beds were very comfy, there is a separate sink outside of the toilet and shower which is very nice, and the shower pressure was awesome. The rooms have a nice size fridge and microwave, and there is a couch/table and desk for extra seating. The continental breakfast open until 10 am was typically yogurt, cereal, english muffins, toast, bagels, oranges, bananas, choc chip muffin packs, coffee, oj, etc. and was just enough and always fully stocked. Parking directly in front of your room is so convenient too. We came back a week later to stay another night before flying home, and we spent time chilling by their pool area. It is dated just a bit, nothing fancy, and the pool is not heated, but it served it's purpose for us to lay in the loungers and get some final Florida sun! Sandra was there again to say goodbye, and we assured her that we WILL be back when we are in the area again! Can't say enough good things about this hotel and it's staff and owners! Very reasonably priced compared to other hotels in the area too. And Best Western has perks for their members...

First negative about this place is they overcharged for the one night of our stay by over $50! We were beside ourselves. The price shown was not the final total that we were billed (so they had to have updated by increasing the price in their system while the payment was being processed. And there was no way to cancel since the reservation was on the day of our stay. Now for the condition of the unit. It was really pathetic, virtually an old dump with nothing updated except exterior paint. In addition to the run down room, they allowed a disheveled homeless guy to loiter on the steps (going up to the 2nd floor0 who was asking us as guests for money. We had palmetto bugs in our room, the lights wouldn't turn on. When the host came she had to plug in all the lights and didn't bother replacing the bad light bulb next to our bed. One item that stood out like a sore thumb was the bathtub floor towel. All the towels and bedding were dry and rough as in being old and worn out (very likely little detergent, if any, was used for laundering). At one time I imagine the unsightly cloth was originally white but from all the use (from who knows what) it was now dingy gray with what looked like asphalt or tire marks left on it. Unbelievable! Do not be fooled by the one picture shown of one of their rooms (probably where the owner lives if it's actually on the premises). One word for this place that comes to mind is...