Hilton Vacation Club Bayside Resort Panama City Beach — Hotel in Upper Grand Lagoon

I recently booked a stay here for a few nights with my partner. The place did not meet standards at all. To start, the staff is uninformed on the system they use to manage guests and reaching an individual with the proper knowledge to assist you is like pulling teeth. Despite having nearly everything in order and needing to make one transaction at the front desk, check-in took almost 30 minutes. The elevator was dirty, and they know their inspection is overdo because they don't keep the inspection certificate in sight. They also claim that it is a pet free resort but none of the staff was attentive enough to notice that multiple people had snuck their small dogs in, and barking was heard all through the night. Upon exiting the elevator, the windows are poorly sealed, the hallways are disgusting, and the smell of mildew is prevalent all the way down the corridor thinly masked by the smell of cheap cleaning product. Upon stepping into the room, the cause is immediately obvious. The bathrooms have ZERO ventilation. There was mold and mildew in nearly every crevice, causing the paint and grout and caulk on wall and door to be bloated, peeling, or completely gone. The shower also has no grip and is a serious hazard aside from the mold shoved behind the soap dispensers. There was a microwave, a coffee machine, and a mini fridge provided right near the door and not one of them worked. The drywall separating the kitchenette from the bathroom was spongy??? and attempting to simply unplug an appliance caused me to almost put a hole in the wall. Behind the bed was littered with used condoms, wrappers, and various dubious junk. If my phone had fallen back there, I would sooner have thrown it away than attempted to clean it. The mattress had another comforter under the fitted sheet and as we had been itching the first night, out of curiosity, I picked it up on our second night there to find the bed was stained and musty. It was stained yellow and brown??? The locks on the "balcony" were broken and even when I had managed to get the door open, it was pointless because the door opens outward and hits the ledge leaving about a foot and a half of space to squeeze out there. Pointless. There were cobwebs in the curtains filled with dust and when I moved the small armchair there were crusty white stains hidden underneath. I didn't even try the sofa because the smell it left on a towel I threw over it made me tear up. The TV barely worked at all and the adaptive brightness they have on it is so terrible you can't even see the screen. The room phone doesn't even work, which didn't matter because there was rarely anyone at the front desk. I went down a few times to find out if I could at least move rooms but even when there was someone there, they either didn't have access to the computer, or the computer wasn't working at all. The pool also states no unsupervised children under the age of 16 but that's pretty much all it was. I wasn't too upset about that because walking outside is an assault to the nostrils. Just urine and chlorine. The only benefit was the bar because at least they did their job. Also, they advertise an ice machine, but I wouldn't go near that because the ice I got out of it smelt like rot. They couldn't even keep my payment in order, and I ended up overpaying nearly 200 at checkout because their systems are so old and slow that even though the charges were already posted on my account nothing was coming through for them. Also, I booked the room with a promo on their website and upon getting there paid the full price without it regardless. I've tried calling management and even when the call goes through, I just end up left on hold at the front desk. A refund wouldn't be enough to fix this. This isn't even three stars. This barely makes one. Don't...

Bluegreen Owners less than 2yrs & wouldn’t recommend buying into Bluegreen. Multiple issues from lack of cleanliness to poorly maintained room. We should have known this was going to be another disaster of a property when upon arrival we walked in to see a big puddle of water in main lobby with no wet Floor signs up, it was nearly 4pm & we were told “Room was not Ready as, was still being cleaned”. Upon entering Room we found our View was of a Roof, Bathroom Towels were Stained/Wet, toothpaste on counter backsplash, Bathroom Vent hanging down (was not a working vent fan) & half a Roll of Toilet Paper. Called Front Desk, told to leave Towels on Floor in Hallway & Clean Towels/Toilet Paper would be brought up, 20 or so minutes later we were handed a Bag of Towels & a Roll of “Paper Towels” that, we had to Fold & place in Bathroom ourselves. Went to unpack to find the Sliding Closet Doors (both we’re together in the Middle when arrived) would not close as, slide left to right & vice a versus; you also had to hold the doors open just to hang up & remove cloths otherwise they slammed into your arms. Upon opening dresser drawers they had hair/dirt in them & dresser drawer on top Left fell out when opened. There was dirt & Food Wrappers under bed closest to door. We cleaned these items as, we were not going to waste anymore of our time having to wait for someone to come & clean when it should have already been cleaned especially when we’d been told “it was being cleaned & was after 4pm before we were able to check-in”. The 2nd Day had to call Front Desk again as, TV was not Working. Elevators were concerning as, 2 incidents we thought we were going to be stuck in them. Walked along catwalk from Room to Elevators which clearly halls & Railings were not cleaned or vacuumed as, there was debris on the Floor in Front of 1 Room & a Dead Moth/other bugs on railings our entire stay. We kick ourselves everyday that we let ourselves get conned into buying Bluegreen Points as, with ever poor experience, excuses why the Property is in that condition & calls to come to meet during our Vacation it just becomes more infuriating & then to top it off every time you turn around prices are increasing, there’s website issues, etc.,. We don’t come on Vacation to have to sit in our Room & wait for Staff to deliver clean towels, “re-clean” our Room or come & make Repairs as, once we’ve unpacked we don’t want Staff in & out of our Room when we’re not there because, clearly Staff can’t even be trusted to properly clean/maintain Rooms so, we certainly don’t want them in our Room once we’ve put our belongings in there nor, should we have to. We know nothing will come of the issues we had because, they’ve already taken our Points & Hotel was made aware but, choose to ignore us which, shows the major difference between Bluegreen & Higher Quality Accommodations because, for the rare issues you might have with them they, would at least provide some sort of compensation. Also this Property is not in Walking Distance to anything i.e. Shopping, Restaurants, Bars, etc. The Property is on a Golf course but, feels more like you’re walking into a Retirement Community & furthermore BG has a “Pet Policy” in which, only Service animals as, defined by the ADA are Permitted but yet, we watched People holding random Dogs walking up to the Front Desk with them & had a Woman come into the Elevator holding hers, if truly Service Dogs they should have some type of identifying Vest on & would not be barking to the point of disturbing other Guests as, written about in another...

I was sold a vacation after a visit to a Bass Pro Shops location. The employee sold me on the vacation by telling me the sales presentation would be 90 minutes and LOW pressure. I told him ("Cody", from the Cary, NC location) that I have been to a time share presentation before and I didn't enjoy the experience. He assured me this would be more pleasant that anything I'd experienced before. I bought the package and used my $50 store credit gift immediately. Wife booked our vacation a few months later. Found out that not all locations are available without a fee. We had to pay $50 to get access to the Panama City Beach location, but it would come with an extra day. We agreed. On the day we arrived we were surprised to see how far the location was away from any desirable beach. We found out the location used to be a Sheraton Hotel/Resort and the re-branding and upgrades are pending (as evidenced by the temporary banner covering the Sheraton sign). After walking in to what we were expecting would be the location we were staying at, we found out that we were being sent to another location about 20 minutes away. I was disappointed that I had done in person what I feel could have been done by phone. Surprisingly, the hotel we were sent to was preferred over the resort location. It was a Hampton Inn right on the beach. GREAT location! BUT.......even though we were required to be a married couple, they set us up with a room with 2 separate beds. We requested another room with a single king bed, and they gave us a room intended for ADA citizens. The AC unit in the room was dripping water so bad that a large portion of the floor near the window was completely soaked. Not to mention the door to the room was REALLY tough to open. I felt sorry for anyone actually in a wheelchair that would have to try and open it. Our first night at the hotel ended in a HORRIBLE experience. The fire alarm started going off at around 7AM. It was going for at least 15 minutes as we panicked getting ourselves and our things together for an evacuation. I called the front desk but the phone went to a busy signal. As soon as we got all our things together and walked out, an employee said it was a false alarm. We woke to alarms again the next morning as they tested the alarms. Going to the sales presentation was unorganized. The check-in desk was away from the room where the initial meeting was held. So we waited for nearly 5 minutes to be aproached by the many employees walking around ignoring us before realizing there was a place to go check in. We were told that our presentation would be 2 hours long, not 90 minutes. The lady giving the initial presentation said that she was substituting for the regular person so the presentation would end much quicker than normal (estimating 45 minutes.....we were quietly delighted). By the time I looked at a clock (because I had become concerned with the amount of time we had been there) we were at 2 hours and 45 minutes, and I had become exhausted with what turned out to be a HIGH pressure sales environment. Blue Green gave me the $150 gift card as promised, but they stuck me with the taxes/fees associated with the hotel stay which ended up being about $180. I don't know if the rooms at the resort are nice or not because I wasn't permitted to stay there. I did not enjoy my experience with Blue Green or the dishonest sales pitch I was given by their associate Bass Pro Shops. Blue Green has galvanized my position to never be swayed by these sales...