Guest reviews The Resort At Longboat Key Club

by VirginiaChicken Virginia

Newly renovated rooms & amazing staff!

Best staff ever! These people worked themselves to death & nothing but "can do" / positive attitudes. We always stay at 5 star luxury resorts. Was very hesitant to not stay at the Ritz in Sarasota. Wanted to be on the beach & since the rooms were newly renovated, took a chance. Every single person we encountered gave 5 star service across the lobby, Latitudes, pool & beach. I don't know all the names, but here are a few I'd like to acknowledge: Beach: Jane, Jordan, Cameron & all the other guys down there Servers: Mike G, Paula, Cheryl, Kim, Alex...there were more but I often paid compliments at the time when in Latitudes to the manager on duty....all of which were amazing!!!! 2 female managers in there. Front desk: Noah & other young guy on night of 4/10 The GM is wonderful! On a 6 night stay, we never got sick of the food, nor drinks like we do at most places.

by ElizabethS103 Atlanta, Georgia

Eager to please but understaffed!

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at this resort. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath suite with a full kitchen and washer/dryer, which I highly recommend if you are traveling with a group or with family. The hotel and rooms were recently renovated and are bright, modern and open. The weather was gorgeous for Spring Break (lucky us!) PROS: Location - on the south end of Longboat Key - close to Sarasota and St Armands Beautiful white sandy beach and blue water, sunset views from oceanfront buildings (1, 2, 3 & 4) Buildings 5-7 have lagoon views. Design of rooms - modern, spacious, clean and new (great job on those!) Nice resort amenities - heated pool, fitness center, spa, golf courses, use of bikes and beach chairs are complimentary with rooms (daybeds and umbrellas are extra - $250-350 for daybeds and umbrellas are $25 each) Complimentary towel use on the beach and pool area Large daybeds on the ocean are padded and come with two wooden chairs you can take to the shore (other chairs must stay where they are set up because they can rust, I was told). They are pricey but worth a splurge if you can get one - they are on the front and you can reserve them a day in advance. 2BR has a full kitchen with stainless appliances, full size high capacity washer/dryer and Keurig coffee maker with supplies Friendly, helpful staff (especially Jane, who was manager of the beach staff) Gym and golf courses were nice and there are walking trails by the lagoon CONS: There are no bathtubs in the rooms - only showers. I like baths and was sad. There was not enough staff for the number of guests which led to long lines, hour long waits for food or drinks - especially on the beach. Reservation system for daybeds and golf was cumbersome and it was challenging to get a staff member on the phone. I waited in line for 45 minutes to pay $250 for a daybed the following day. One pool and hot tub for seven buildings is not enough! They were overcrowded- You cannot bring your own beach chairs, umbrellas or coolers onto their beach Food is expensive, but good if you can get it (room service came quickly) Lots of families with kids (which was OK for us, but if you want an adults only experience, this is not the place for you). One day, a toddler was having a meltdown right in front of our chairs, lol! There is a mad dash for beach chairs in the morning. I had to go out before 7am to find any close to the ocean. You can put your things on the chairs and then when the beach shack opens at 9am check in and you can add towels, tables, daybeds and umbrellas (the latter two you must pay for). Overall, I recommend this resort, but if you can go at a time that is not as crowded as Spring Break, I would do that. The hospitality industry is definitely back in Sarasota!

by sathyar249

Birthday!!!

I would give NEGATIVE 5.👎👎👎👎👎. We booked a room for one night-3 friends from Florida to celebrate a special day. Booking done through hotel agent- charge $1350. 00 for one night. Booking.com had it for half the price. I was promised a direct view while the booking sites don’t- ha ha. Our room 4102 had no ocean view at all . No they didn’t change the room. Like a perfect storm it rained as we took a walk on the beach. The reception said no they don’t have umbrellas. POOR Customer service. We walk to the room in rain - There is a pile of garbage in front of the door. Next morning I ask for 1 hour grace for check out to take the zoom meet that got pushed back. The manager says absolutely not. There you have it, high way robbery with cost, no customer service. The manager said he would give resort a second choice- You decide. For me me a definite NO NEVER 👎. Sathya Reddy

by Smnolktbls

The purpose of a beach vacation?

First of all, the resort is beautiful and the beachfront is gorgeous. Major, major problem is the disorganization of the beachfront management. The inconsistency of having access to a chair and umbrella is unacceptable, considering the cost of this place. You are not able to have enough chairs for the number of people in your group. We have 4 guests in our party staying in a room that allows 5 guests max-so why can only 2 guests have chairs? There is a resort fee that we are glad to participate in-but for only a fraction of your family? In addition, spending up to an hour waiting in line to even get beach amenities is ridiculous. Such inefficiency for a place like this. Otherwise, LBK is wonderful. Hope you guys can make some positive changes for future guests.

by Adele3721 Des Moines, Iowa

Not a 4 Diamond Resort

Let me start by saying 2 things: Covid has been a great excuse for resorts to charge more and give less and this resort is one of the worst for taking advantage of the situation to the detriment of the guest. Second: Do not be fooled by the false advertising on their website; this is not a luxury 4 Diamond resort. The room remodel is low quality... one of the cabinet doors above the closet gave way and fell on my husband’s head and the dishwasher did not work and we had to go thru 4 dreadful attempts from the maintenance staff to fix it. There are also never enough chairs at the beach or the pool and to add insult to injury, once you do snag some chairs they charge $25 for an umbrella. There is a $25 additional amenity charge and I have yet to figure out what amenity they are giving that we are actually receiving. We were notified 2 days before arrival that rooms would only be cleaned every 3 days ( a covid thing and not mentioned on the website) Furthermore every time you need additional towels, body wash, shampoo etc you must text for it because the rooms did not get the daily service. Maybe you will get what you needed or maybe you will just get a bunch of bars of soap instead of the body wash as kept happening to us. I tried to get coffee pods and they would only give 4 per time which meant it was necessary to request daily. We were in a king junior suite and paid an average of $910 per night. Our room was supposed to be beachfront but it was over the pool which was very loud with families. One day we were unable to get a chair at the beach or the pool even though there were many empty chairs, they allow guests to “hold” them by putting a personal item on them. They can stay vacant for hours and they do not manage this at all but allow it even though guests were complaining that there were no chairs. The front desk staff was very apathetic and unhelpful when complaints were made. My advice if you stay here: be sure to get the lowest rate possible because this place is not worth the amount we paid. You should also be prepared to vacation in an over crowed ant hill and know you are on your own if you experience any difficulties. I would also recommend not having a room over the pool area.