St. Petersburg / Madeira Beach KOA Holiday — Hotel in Seminole

We reserved our cabin a few months before our trip to make sure we could get a spot we liked. The cabin was gorgeous, well furnished, and with many comfortable amenities, all while beautifully nestled right up against a bed of mangroves along clear, warm Florida waters. Our cabin was loaded with towels, blankets, dishes, small appliances, and anything you might expect in any quality hotel accommodation... But the view!! Wow! You would have a hard time getting a view this nice anywhere else for this price. This should have been completely a 5-star experience.

Unfortunately, I will be taking stars away from my review for this KOA campground, however. Though we had no issues with friendly, accommodating, and knowledgeable team members, a small selection of the other campers left much to be desired.

We were very well educated upon our arrival of pet rules during our stay. Having two older, advanced age, medium-sized, low-energy, and well-behaved dogs, we don't often leave them at home nor trust boarding locations with their extensive medication regimens. KOA was recommended to us by another "pet parent" couple we know and we were looking forward to spending a few days relaxing by the water with our friendly, old boys.

To our dismay, our very first day, less than a handful of hours into our stay, someone was scolding us for something regarding our pets. An elderly couple, sitting in chairs with a dog of their own, yelled at us from their porch when our old dogs, just barely a few inches off the road and onto the grass slightly from the asphalt, couldn't be helped to have a quick pee. I apologized and tried to explain to them that we were on our way to the designated dog area, however I had little control on their bladders outside in what I understood was dog-appropriate space. I apologized profusely and could hear further crude comments as we walked away.

The next day we unfortunately had another unpleasant experience walking our old dogs, which we exhaustingly do multiple times a day due to their age. A family inhabiting a nearby camp site, once again, scolded us as our dogs had to have a movement just barely off a paved area. I have never left a dog "stool" behind and didn't plan to do so today, but their yelling from their RV's porch after my dog had already been mid-poo was terrifying to the dogs and horrifically embarrassing for me.

After this second issue with nearby campers I did place a call to the KOA Team to clarify the rules for our dogs and was assured that this was okay and, as a pet friendly campground, I was not in the wrong, nor had any control, regarding my dogs' bathroom behavior.

I loved the camp grounds and our site was gorgeous, but the "dog police" mentality of the other campers made our stay very much NOT a dog-friendly trip. I hesitated to leave my site with my old boys the remainder of our trip and really felt we missed out on some wonderful opportunities with our aging pets that could have been better suited in another campground or even a pet-friendly hotel.

I hope that, going forward, the same effort that was taken to ensure I knew the pet rules and expectations might be extended to those without pets (or with strong opinions) so they might respect other pets and families permissions to the camping areas within the grounds just as much as we were hoping to. Another option to consider would be to allow more dog-friendly areas, as there are only two small, fenced dog areas that are quite far from many of the campsites, making them poorly accessible to most pets, especially those that might be older.

All in all, an "okay" trip for the price we paid per night. I would not be able to comfortably recommend this camp ground to those with pets and, considering the openly opinionated, vocal, uninvited input from other campers, I may not even be comfortable recommending to those that might be bringing children. Great for a quiet, adult couple, but be prepared to defend your family - furry or otherwise - if you stray from the hot asphalt of the curving, oak-leaf...

We have been going to your site as a family for over 15 years.    I remember celebrating my daughters 3rd birthday there and she is now 19.  Normally we rent cabins.   This time I rented a cabin (CL 16 and an rv 613 site upgraded to de 29). I also rented other cabins under different family names.  Our group totaled 3 cabins.

This trip was different.  Let me start off with my rv site.   After my wife and I set up our entire site, we started to smell sewage.  The smell was overwhelming and it forced us to set up a canopy in front of our camper which didn’t help.  We saw how all the rv sewers were hooked up and just figured it was normal.  The following morning it was so bad we decided to report it to the front office.  The woman older blonde haired) immediately seemed irritated.  She basically said it was my job to knock on my neighbors door and tell them to check their sewer connection.  I’m not a plumber, but it the connection looked like it was good.  I also don’t work for the camp ground and didn’t want to go knocking on folks doors.  I felt it was your responsibility to ensure folks are connecting their equipment correctly if it’s disturbing other people.    My wife and I are respectful and amiable people.  My wife asked if we could be relocated and it was a big hassel for the woman to check.   The woman eventually put us across the road to DW 29.  My wife asked if your camp ground could waive the upgrade fee and she bluntly refused just saying “no”  what’s 26 dollars?  I know people have bad days, but the attitude was unacceptable.

So now to the cabin.  When we arrived we noticed the A/C in the bedroom to the left wasn’t functioning and it appeared as the door to the cabin had been tampered with.  So we called the office and on the phone they made us feel like we didn’t know how to operate an AC unit.   Eventually they sent down a worker and he confirmed the door frame and the AC were broken.   The front office said all they can do is send a fan.  “I thought …man I just spent a lot of money at least fake like you care about fixing it.. I mean I know it’s not your family staying In  There “ So when we inquired when they will send the fan they advised when one becomes available. The fan wasn’t delivered and we were advised someone came by the cabin while we weren't (doesn’t maint have keys?) We went to the front office.  We spoke to a woman I believe her name was “Georgi”.  She was very irritated and rude as-well.  Now I know your saying ..”oh no she is a very nice person and is never rude”. But to us she was rude and unhelpful.  She told us there wasn’t a fan available yet and to come back later.  My son who was visiting from the military also noticed her attitude.   My son checked the office an hour or so later and the fan was available.  He stated the same woman was there and she was still irritated with him.

Another issue we had with the cabin was there was no propane in the propane tank and or the regulator on the tank wasn’t working.  We called and the person at the desk stated they would send someone over to take care of the issue.  They never showed up and the grill still didn’t work.   We already decided to use a grill at a family members site.

I planned to stay at your campground since December.  I paid hard earned money for services that I felt were lacking and or missing.  We also travelled from 2.5 hours away.   Customer service is important when running a business.  If you have miserable / over worked people  working the front desk it’s going to cause problems.    Why did I write this email? Because I was unhappy with your campground and dissatisfied with some of the services that I paid for. I also reached out to KOA and received generic corporate responses. The manager to the facility never responded. I remember when the camp ground check in use to write the visiting family names on a board so they could see on arrival, it made them feel welcomed boy have...

I would like to start by saying there is an unrecognized star at the St. Petersburg KOA named Monica. I will share about her in closing. My wife is a respiratory therapist and with Covis travel now full time. We travel with a 32 foot travel trail, a large truck, a scooter, an 8 pound Yorkie named Barney, and a fat cat named Nala. Barney was walked through the Koa campground 5 times a day and we both agree that the facility and camping was very clean, spacious, and manicures. My wife and I wnotes burg got ribs to rest our tired bodies from long hours at our respective careers. A lot of family fun has been the ongoing theme! We were also grateful to be a part of the synergy when most weekends were booked to capicity... Now about Monica. My wife felt very safe as Monica was the first face she’d see when coming back to the campground during the evening. Monica accompanied by another staff member made sure all incoming vehicles were KOA guests only. She was quick to greet me with a warm smile and genuinely made sure we were safe both coming in and going out of the campground. She made mention the the Pinellas Trail that borders the campground has many walks of life that can wonder to the facility. She made sure that NEVER happened on her watch. Also once when taking a late night soak in the hot tub, I also was politely asked to call it a night as she made sure all pool areas were secured and cleaned for the next day of fun in the sun! It’s a beautiful thing when a human being cares so much about other human beings. Now as far as check in staff and management...I was not pleased as we were paying $1040 a month for three months and was now asked to pay $1400 as they are in season. No warning and I was hoping being my wife comes home weary from watching watching patients die of Covid and this KOA has become her oasis, they should of been more flexible with the rates. Also it was like her blood sweat and tears fell on deaf ears when I was looking even for a bit of empathy as I feel terrible sometimes what she endures. But what really grinds my gears is that I told the main manager that Monica did was a favorite of mine and after a week of making mention of how well she cares about us campers it went in recognized after the manager exclaimed she would let her know! Hence this long detailed review... In closing, just at your lot fee and happy camping, the personality of the KOA is within the the ladies and gentlemen rising around in the yellow golf carts making sure trash is picked up, people are safe, debris is...