GRAND PLAZA HOTEL & BEACHFRONT RESORT

First the negatives. Let’s just get that overwith: A few dislikes in our room, like a broken TV remote, non-​working phone, very small garbage cans and the walls are so thin, you could hear conversations and even burping in the next room! Also, there’s not a lot of places to sit inside the hotel besides the restaurants. Food and breakfast buffet at the Palm was just OK and much of it was cold or rubbery, like they didn’t really care what they were serving. It was better ordering off the menu. This made it difficult over a cold and rainy weekend with limited options inside. Also, beware, slippery floors. The positives: GREAT beach location, pricing for the room for what we got, clean room, staff from the front desk, security, maintenance and housekeeping were all wonderful and fast to respond. LOVED having a private balcony overlooking the Gulf and hearing the music at BONGOS! That place was wonderful and the musicians there were always talented and fun to hear. Tami at the front desk and Rico from maintenance were memorable people who made the stay a nice experience despite the crummy weather weekend. Thanks for EVERYTHING! Amazing views from Level 11 and Spinners too!

Excelente recepcion habitacion muy amplia regresaremos pronto. Bongos grill good foods and bigs drinks.

I could not begin to tell you how pleased I am with my visit. I stayed here a few nights while my dad was having surgery in a nearby hospital.
The rooms were spacious, clean and comfortable.
The staff was off the chain in their courtesy and professionalism.
There was a water pipe that broke in my ceiling and I could no longer occupy my original room; the staff worked quickly and found me an even nicer room with a better view of the beach. Additionally they gave me an open tab at any one of the incredible dining areas and bars in the hotel.
Parking was excellent.
The proximity to the beach was perfect.
I will return!

The rooftop bar is swanky awesome. For the cheap people that drink bud light and eat fried chicken nuggets this may not be your scene.

The Good — Staff was very friendly, Food was good, Great view, Nice pool.
The Bad — Dont plan on sleeping, The noise from the clubs lasts way into the night. Apparently its ok to sit by the pool and yell until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.
To be fair this is a wedding resort so people are celebrating, before and after.
Which is probably why the Hotel is lenient and permissive to all the late night noise.
At one point the couple next door were arguing for the 5^th or sixth time our last night there, and their dog started barking, Not sure how the Staff didnt hear it. Apparently the Man in the room was impaired in some way because he was trying to get through the adjoining door to our room because he couldnt figure out how to get out and slam their door yet again.
At this point we gave up on sleeping and just got up and left at 3:00 in the morning.
This is the last time I will ever stay at a Hotel with a club or Wedding Chapel.

Good hotel, great location and helpful staff. We booked this hotel through
and were not happy with our room initially. They gave us a bay view room and it was terrible, we stayed the first night at this room because they said no other was available. The person who checked us in the first time was not very helpful. After contacting the front desk expressing our dislike, staff member called Steffanie saved our trip ! She was able to move us the next morning to a ocean view room for a little more money, and that made all the difference. She was professional, friendly and super helpful. After we switched rooms, my girlfriend and I, had a great time in St. Pete. We loved the beach, the cabana bar and the roof top restaurant. The only bad thing I have to say is that the rooms need to be upgraded. Shower head and water pressure were terrible. Furniture is old. This hotel has great potential, but I feel that management and/​or ownership are trying to save money on that end. Instead of replacing things they are fixing it and patching things up. I would be back here but mainly for the great staff experience, not so much for the amenities and for the rooms.

The location of the grill is what attracted us to eat here, but it is the food that keeps us coming back. Nowhere else can you sit wih your feet in the sand, with a cocktail and food as good as this. Bongos gas everything you could want in a bar&grill. The entertainment was great and suited the location very well, and you can really get lost here and end up staying all afternoon! We will be back!

Stayed here for 6 nights. Nice hotel and great staff. Had an issue with our room that Brittany, the manager, handled very promptly & professional.
We loved the food at the restaurants!!! Especially enjoyed sitting at Bongo’s Beach Bar & Grill with our toes in the sand.
We were happy with our entire visit.

Do NOT pay the $ for a penthouse. The wedding parties are super loud, as they should be, but we didn’t pay extra to have people singing outside my door or knocking looking for a bathroom. Good bye $ 499

This hotel was exactly what my wife and wanted. for our vacation. Not too fancy that you lose all of the nice to have amenities like free wifi and parking, yet nice enough that you feel like you are being treated. Has a great outdoor pool area to relax in and directly walk out onto beach. Staff in every area of the hotel were pleasant and helpful. Dinner and sunset at on-​premises establishments was an added bonus as both Bongos and Spinners had great food and views. Bongos live entertainment was great as well with acustic guitar and singing each night. The room was spacious and comfortable with fridge, safe, balcony and beds for four to sleep. There are some areas of the hotel common areas/​hallways that could use updating but we didn’t mind. We’ll be back!

I rented a beach front room for the weekend at this hotel (third floor). I had hoped to be a little higher up but it was still a good view of the beach. The room was clean. It had a nice private porch to sit and listen to waves. The pool was just below, but not noisy. I recommend it.
Karen H

This hotel is in desperate need of a renovation. Damian at the front desk however was fantastic.

I made the mistake of booking a package through cheap tickets and the grand plaza was one of the only hotels that was beachfront. That’s about the only good thing about this hotel and I’m a simple person to please and usually don’t complain. Where do I start? For one there beds feel like paper (literally), they don’t have curtains in there room instead they have shutters that don’t close all the way. So when it’s morning time it’s as if there are fluorescent lights lighting the whole room. If u have jet lag or want to sleep on your vacation it’s nearly impossible. I would bring a blind fold if I were you. And then there’s the fact that they don’t really clean your room. When we first got there we immediately felt the debri of build up on our feet from the tile floor. (They don’t have carpet). My boyfriend and I decided to test if they even swept or mopped at all by leaving two crumbs of muffins in two different places in our room. It was no surprise that four the five days that we were there so were the crumbs. And then there was the AC. It barely works and it was hot in our room when we left it at the lowest temperature possible non stop the entire time.
There beach towels and shower towels are all paper thin too. We had to go to walmart just to buy our own.
In short, there sheets are horrible and the rooms are hot and dirty. I would highly recommend staying somewhere else.

The worst experience ever. We booked this through Delta travel (they have already received an earful). We booked an ocean view room, the first room overlooked the air conditioning units. The second room they showed us was already occupied. The third room had a leaking air conditioning unit that rendered the balcony unusable. The woman at the desk kept blaming the «new» girls for the room errors. The manager refused to engage with us on this. The pool service was terrible, Corey walked by us 5 times before we finally flagged him down. The restaurant staff was better.

I was very disappointed in this hotel. We arrived and they told us we were upgraded to the PH, which sounds great but the door to the suite was right next to the glass door/​wall of the reception hall that was all set up for a reception that night. We could hear them talking while we were in our room and couldn’t imagine how loud it would be when they started the party. They moved us to the other side, where we could still hear the reception and we didn’t sleep the whole night because of the food carts rolling around on the floor directly above us. Aside from the view and the beautiful beach it was a waste of money.

Great atmosphere on the beach at the Grand Plaza hotel. Drinks are a bit pricey, but otherwise a fun place to be.

Very enjoyable stay. Booked a beach front room with a Saturday night arrival. Our first nights room was on a corner though and it was a pretty tight fit for three. But, in the morning, we asked if we could move to a more central beach front room with a little more space and they quickly did this and even moved our luggage to the new room. Staff was very accommodating and friendly the entire stay. It can get a little crowded there on the weekends with weddings, but would stay again when in the area.

Nice hotel with a great retro design and nicely updated rooms. Our room had a great view of the beach and I loved the private balcony. I question the credibility of some of the negative reviews I’ve seen. Bongos restaurant was a favorite.

The staff are very friendly. While the check-​in times are pretty strict (they say they’ll try to get you in earlier…), they will let you leave your belongings with the conceirge and enjoy all of the amenities that the hotel has to offer. The hallways are really narrow, especially around the tiny elevators. When I was there, there were several weddings, which is not unusual. However, it made for even more people to navigate around in the lobby and elevator areas.
There are rooms with amazing views available. Rooms, although aren’t terriby «warm» or swanky, there is a microwave and refrigerator as well as mini-​mart across the street. At sunset, the bar offers a complimentary shot of alcohol. The bathroom is small, but clean and the shower hot with good water pressure. For the price, it’s a good deal. I would stay here again.

Bongo’s Beachside Bistro — their restaurant
Sadly, this is one of the worst restaurant meals we’ve ever had. The frozen drink was fine and the waitress was pleasant and doing her best. The clam chowder was edible — a major plus here — but not sure there were any clams in it. The bruschetta came swimming in vinegar and was basically inedible. We ordered coconut encrusted mahi-​mahi with salsa on the side. First try had the mahi-​mahi plopped right on top of the salsa. On the second try the salsa disappeared but the mahi-​mahi tasted like deep fried soap. We won’t be going back.

We booked a penthouse suite which is smaller than the last hotel room we were in at a real hotel. It is old and run down the cleaning staff must be nonexistent the tub had pubic hair in it, there were bugs and mold. I saw mixed reviews on other sites don’t believe any of the stock hotel photos. I really wish I had listened to the negative reviews about this place.