The Spa at Emerald Grande

My husband and I just returned from 3 nights at the Emerald Grande. First, let me say we enjoyed (almost) every minute and we had a fantastic time! The hotel was very nice. Our room (a 3 bedroom unit right off of the pool area) was very spacious. When I saw where our room location was, I was concerned about noise, which ended up not being an issue at all. The room could have been a little bit cleaner. There wasn’t anything obviously gross, but just generally could have been a little more attention paid to the details. We stayed for 3 nights. The first 2 mornings of our stay we were woken up each morning by someone saying they were hotel staff reminding us to check out by 10 a.m. The first day the call came at 8:15, the second day it came at 7:45. We complained to the front desk, but they claimed that nobody on their staff had called us and they had no record of it. So we were very unhappy with the response we received from the hotel. They offered to take $ 15 off of our bill — big deal. We made use of the spa. It was fantastic! Gorgeous views from the ladies changing area, with wine & beverage service in the relaxation area. Melissa gave me what was possibly the best deep tissue massage I have ever had. The elevators can be a little bit slow. I read other reviews complaining that there is only 1 beach shuttle — we had no problem with that. There was always more than enough space on the shuttle to accommodate everyone who was wanting to go to the beach. The most we had to wait for a shuttle was 10 minutes. Overall this hotel was great and we would definitely return. With Harborwalk Village located just below the hotel, it was so convenient and we had absolutely no need to leave our hotel and Harborwalk area. There were so many restaurants to choose from. We would have liked to stay another day or two because we didn’t have enough time to get to all the restaurants we would have liked to try. Everyone local who we spoke to said May and September/​October is really the best time to go. They told us it does get pretty crowded June-​August. So if you don’t have to worry about kids missing school, I would definitely recommend sticking to May or the early fall.

I love this place there’s nothing bad about it go there it may be a little on the exspensive side but it’s worth it

I loved the views! There is a whole section of the pool patio and hot tube set aside for those 18 and over. It is in a great spot for sunset. The units were beautiful and set up for plenty of people to stay in one unit. Loved the boat shuttle to the beach! Plenty to do in the evening and great food all around!

Do not stay in Penthouse 26 West Wing. The view is amazing but the traffic noise from Hway 98 is relentless, plus the loud music from the clubs below and the clanging and banging of the elevator made this luxury 4 BR Penthouse stay feel more like being strapped next to a busy interstate with a tempting tv image of the azure blue water Destin is famous for. We couldn’t open the doors or enjoy the balcony due to non stop traffic noise. We did a pre check in visit a couple of months in advance of our stay. The COO took us on a tour and assisted us in selecting our Condo location but neglected to clue us in to the level of noise we were forced to endure for our 5 night Thanksgiving stay. The parking garage and layout of the public areas is very confusing and not well explained to unfamiliar guests. Very comfy beds and chef prepared in room Thanksgiving feast was wonderful. But this is a one and done for me. There are too many beautiful options at other places without the noise pollution. I came for the waves, not the traffic noise. Everytime I think of the trouble I went to visiting the property in advance to assure my family of a good choice I can’t help feeling robbed by someone who should have known and shared the info about traffic noise. A gracious host doesn’t do that to unsuspecting guests.

Spent the weekend here with my family for my uncles 50^th surprise bday events. Loved the area, great room setups & amazing service. With a setup right by the beach your room’s views are immaculate depending on where your located. Luckily for me we were high up lol. Besides the 6hr drive from Tampa I’d do it again & again & again. Loved it

Sorely disappointing. For almost $ 1100 for 3 nights, I expected more. Room overlooks highway & parking lot (room 210). Only ok rooms (chipped mirror, scratched table) & 3d bedroom had bunk beds & no closet. Definitely not what we paid for or expected. We did request to be moved but was told that was not possible as the place is completely booked. Also hair in the shower (not ours of course-​ugh). I would not come here again.

This place looks great on the outside, but putting lipstick on a pig still gives you nothing more than a pig. The rooms look great if you don’t see well, but they aren’t very clean. Mild in the shower, dirty kitchen, and one shower that flooded the whole bathroom was just the start. The furniture has been well used and in need of replacement. The pool is too small to accommodate size of resort. The elevators are ridiculous. Got stuck in one that was fully packed with 90 degree temps and no AC, and hotel would not resolve. Had to call 911 to have firefighters crack the door open. Front desk staff refused to discuss. If you are with Wyndham, be ready for hard, deceptive sales practices. They say they want to provide you with updates, but it’s only a guise for sales. They prey on the ignorant and attempt to make you feel stupid for not buying. Our sales guy, Boone, was very well trained and equally cunning and deceptive. Don’t buy a timeshare no matter what. They make consistent promises and don’t deliver. Find another hotel!

Great time. Always something to do here.

Hot hallways, very slow elevators, DVD player does not work, not impressed! I was led to believe this was a top notch place. More like a 2 star motel! Really!

The rooms are large and very comfortable. However, the staff are some of the worst I have ever encountered. The front desk staff are mostly college kids and interns and are rude and unwelcoming. When asked even the simplest question, they act as though it is an imposition. The housekeeping is a total mess. Often, rooms will be forgotten about during the housekeeping rotation and, when cleaned, the staff will skip over major parts of the cleaning process. And don’t forget anything at home because the hotel will not provide extras of ANYTHING. I had to beg the maid staff for an additional roll of toilet paper after first being told that guests have to purchase their own. The rooms are not cheap so this seemed ridiculous. Also, the staff is very rude at the pool and the beach. They are a little over the top about the towels and will even refuse to give you more than one beach towel when they are «running low». The building is newer but is already falling apart. They have routine power failures where the power will go down for about a minute. Not scary until it happens to you in one of the many inconvenient, slow and occasionally not fictional elevators. The AC routinely stops working in various parts of the building and sometimes it gets to close to 85 degrees in the lobby and grand vista areas of the hotel. Both are major public traffic areas. I have been here for 5 weeks for work and I am extremely disappointed with almost everything except the rooms themselves. When presented with some of the hotel’s shortcomings, the staff was rude and condescending. This hotel, even with the nice rooms, is not worth the extra expense.

Nice «looking» building, horrible staff, and infrastructure. Boiler went out so all showers were with room temp water. Broken elevator, so sometimes it was a 30 min wait to go up or down. One ice machine down in the parking deck. Did I mention we had missing bulbs in most of the rooms. Don’t be fooled by its fancy exterior. BTW staff is never able to help, they love passing the buck.

Ok so the rooms are fine but everything else about this place is just poorly done.
One pool for the whole place. One boat to take you to the private beach. One set of elevators that are convenient. In other words one and done for me.

Return visit to the Emerald Grande and, once again, couldn’t have been a better stay. Front desk, housekeeping staff friendly as always and love that Starbucks is now right downstairs!
Was there for a wedding and the waitstaff who handled the reception was exceptional. Hats off to the catering department. Well done.
Same great view… same great weather. Can’t wait to return to paradise.

This was our first time at the Emerald Grande and we will be back next year !!! We had the three bedroom condo overlooking the harbor, and as always, the service, food and accomdations were first class !!! Enjoyed the water taxi to the private beach and the margaritas while sitting in the emerald green water. We have loved Destin for years and are so excited about going back next year. This is a very family oriented resort, all the entertainment is just an elevator ride away. It does not get much better than this !!

If you love a whore, ala Miss Kitty, this place is for you. It’s all dressed up, trying to be fancy, but underneath lies a dark place. Customer service is lethargic although the bellman was great. if you examine closely, it’s not clean. The main problem I have is Wyndham Resorts, which I will write in a separate review. After spending a fortune on «platinum» status, I have been directed to a room on the second floor, overlooking a four lane highway, fumes, smells, and noise. The Wyndham people, whom I had to call because those on site are only authorized to sell, put me on hold for half an hour, but I first learned that they really don’t own this property but just have a few rooms here. There are 4 towers, and we were assigned the parking garage farthest away. We were able to fix that but were not assisted by anyone at the main desk. They don’t know much. Security assisted my husband with that. I would save my money and go to a more modest place in this beautiful location. They provide a ferry to the beach, which seems very nice, free wifi, nice kitchen, ok bathrooms, but over the top furniture that ‘s tawdry looking.

Very nice accommodations — I really like this place. Had a four-​bedroom condo, and it was very clean and well furnished. Bed was pretty comfortable, and linens were clean and fresh. Bathroom was spotless, and big, walk-​in shower and big shower-​head were nice touches.
WiFi is free.
The fitness club is very good, as is the pool area.
I would book this again.

Definitely 5 stars on the view and the Firework show ! This was the third time that we have stayed there. We love the Emerald Grande. However, this past stay was not the trip that we were accustomed to. I’m not sure if Management has changed in the past year or what could be going on there, but in 2010 the stay was a 5 star, in 2011 our stay was a 5 star, this year, dropped to a 3 star. The upkeep on the building interior has declined dramatically. There were several stains on the carpets, (hallways and rooms), lots of marks on the walls, dents in the elevator doors, baseboards pulling away from the wall down the hallways, etc. Housekeeping was a C– at best. They did not have fitted sheets on the beds so every time you rolled over in bed, the bottom sheets would bunch up under you. We called the front desk and requested fitted sheets and they said that they no longer had them but are going to bring them back as there have been a lot of complaints in regards to that. (I hope they do) We had a full house in our room and needed extra towels but were told they were low on towels and out so we needed to wash our own (???) really (??) paying $ 490 per night, I was not planning on having to do laundry so that all in the unit could have towels to shower. They did leave us free laundry detergent though so that we could wash. That was appreciated. We decided to BBQ one night and I was really surprised that they charge $ 20/​hour to use their gas BBQ grill. That seem ridiculous as, once again, paying $ 490 per night, I would think that should most defiantly be a part of the amenities. They no longer have ice machines in the building so that was a pain. They said to go down to the bar and they could give us some but it was so busy down there that it was impossible (and not fair to them) to interrupt the staff from doing their job to get us ice. I think they should at least have 1 ice machine in each tower… I don’t think it is necessary to have them on every floor… If I were an owner I would not be pleased at what is going on there and I know that the owner’s monthly dues are pretty pricey.
It’s really a shame though as this property is in the perfect setting for a family vacation and after experiencing great stays there, this one was a letdown. I always spoke so highly about the EG to my other family members and this trip my side of the family joined us and I felt bad as the experience was less than ideal. EG is on the high side of prices in that area and in the past I felt was worth it. Not sure if we will be returning after this past stay as there are other properties out there that, are now, probably a better value.

Give it a miss. The facilities are nice, but the people are not service oriented. Mr. J. Roberts of Client Customer service needs to go to Hotel Management school and take Benji, front desk clerk with him. These gentlemen need additional training.
If you want service, go to another place.
Contact Mr. Craul, impossible. So buying a condo there, forget it.

I stayed at the Emerald Grande (condo hotel) for my first visit to Destin. It was just great! We had a 2 bedroom (more on that later) and had two balconies that looked out to the east side of the water. We went there for a work function and didn’t dine at any of the restaurants at the hotel but attended two dinner receptions and one breakfast. They were all held outside near the pool deck and we enjoyed the beautiful view. The service staff was very nice and food was great. My favorite was the first night when we had a «clam bake» with clams, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes all served in a netted bag. Cute idea.
The room itself was very nice. Clean and well stocked with plenty of kitchen supplies i.e. plates, wine glasses, etc.
My only «warning» if you will is that the room we stayed at was considered a 3 bed, 2 bath. It was just two of us so it really didn’t matter but the 3^rd «bedroom» had a set of bunkbeds in it and a small TV. It’s about the same size as a walk-​in closet. More importantly it didn’t have a second exit, only the door i.e. window or another door for fire safety. I wouldn’t have let my child sleep in that room without an exit like that. Small, small chance but if there was a fire or other disaster you couldn’t access the people in that room a second way. I’m not really sure with egress laws how they can sell this as a 3^rd bedroom but if you need 3 «real» bedrooms make sure they describe which type of room you are getting. They have different lay outs so I’m assuming they have other options.
One other thing… when we got our bill we saw that we were charged $ 20 each day for breakfast. When we asked about it we were told that was for the breakfast that was «included» in our package. We were never told that breakfast was «included» and in fact asked that upon check in. We wouldn’t have opted for that as breakfast was already provided for us. The manager said he «supposed» he could take it off our bill and we said darn right you will!
But all of that said I would easily stay at the hotel again. Again, beautiful hotel great location. It’s connected to «Harbor Walk» with new stores and restaurants all right there. Some of the restaurants are more tourist traps but we did find some good places to eat. See my other Destin reviews if you are interested.

Well, at first I was pretty impressed. There are beautiful views, we stayed in a spacious and modern 3-​bed/​3-​bath condo, and the gym and spa are also fantastic. The one thing that cancels everything out is that the reason I was there was my friend’s wedding, which was also held at the resort. Well, everyone stayed for a few days leading up to the wedding for rehearsal dinner and bachelorette/​bachelor parties and the day of the wedding at noon, the hotel calls to ask when the bride is checking out. Apparently, despite reserving until the next morning, the resort had scheduled the bride and groom to check out the day or their wedding 2 hours before the ceremony and then said that there was no way that they could stay because they were completely booked and didn’t even have a one bedroom available to replace the suite that myself and the other bridesmaids had to scramble to pack up after the ceremony before riding to the reception. Talk about a nightmare. Eventually, they were able to furnish a one bedroom, but come on! The bride almost lost it before her wedding, and they were trying to kick us out in the middle of hair and make up for a room that had already been paid for.