I saw a previous reviewer stating that this resort is trying to be a 5-star resort and from my brief experience there, I would have to agree. Honestly, based on the hotel marketing and guest reviews I was expecting an amazing resort & was completely taken aback with the reality of when I saw it in person. It’s run down, not at all a resort worthy of an $800 per night room price tag. Upon our return, I looked at the management photos of this resort again & realized that most were taken from 2015-2018, which explains a lot. They're from 8-11 years ago & sadly the resort just doesn't look like that. It appears that that some rooms have undergone renovation since then, but sadly ours had not.
Let me start by saying that I booked a Premium Beachfront Beach House room with 2 queen beds, directly through the hotel, 2 months in advance for a beach vacation with my 85-year-old Mom. We deliberately chose the Beach House at La Playa as it was directly on the beach & would reduce the amount of walking to & from the beach for my Mom, who is mobile but walks with a cane. We were excited to be able to not only have a premium gulf view but also have easy beach access.
Our visit actually began quite well with the valet team. They were welcoming & efficient and as they took our luggage out of my vehicle, the bellman directed us to the lobby. This was where our experience began to fall apart. To reach the lobby they directed us to climb up about 10-15 steps, which my Mom said she was ok climbing, however it would have been nice to have a more accessible entrance for her. I’m not sure if there is one or if the bellman was just insensitive, but it would have been nice for my Mom not to have to climb those steps. Upon arrival into the lobby, we began the check-in process. I knew our experience was going to be challenging when Michael at the front desk said “Unfortunately, we don’t have any direct gulf view rooms right now & the only room I have available is at the north end of the building. However, it’s still a great view …in fact it’s one of the best views that we have”. He also went on to say that that there were some big, “elite’ parties from the north-east that were occupying the center of the building where the best beachfront rooms were. Excuse me??? Was he really trying to say that one guest was more important than another?? Not great, but I tried to overlook his very inappropriate comment as we made our way to the Beach House building. We had to walk through the back of the restaurant to a door that lead outside to another steep flight of steps & then walk past the patio bar in the pool area to get to our building. A poor design and very cumbersome, even for a perfectly able-bodied person. We arrived into the Beach House and took the elevator to the 2nd floor. Upon opening the door to our room, we were greeted with the nastiest smell of mold, outdated furniture that looked nothing like the hotel photos and a view that was anything BUT the direct oceanfront view that we had booked. The building curves on each end so our view was 1/3 gulf, 1/3 of a stack of beach chairs and 1/3 of an active construction site with 2 bulldozers moving back and forth. Hardly a “premium beach view”. We ended up returning to the lobby where I told the front desk this room wasn’t what we had booked and that we would be leaving. To my amazement, I was told that since we were canceling, we’d be charged one night’s deposit of $735. What???? I asked to speak with a manager as I reiterate that we were not canceling, but leaving due to the resort being unable to provide the type of room that we had reserved. The resort did end up crediting my credit card for this deposit, but our trip was ruined. We ended up scrambling to find another hotel and ended up at the Inn On Fifth, which oddly enough is now owned by the same Noble Hotel Group. I’d stayed there 7 yrs ago so hoped that it was still as good. While our stay there was fine & we made the most of being on 5th Avenue, it wasn’t the beach vacation that my Mom had wanted. A very disappointing experience at La Playa.
