Tropical Winds Oceanfront Hotel

The restaurant on site served good food at very reasonable prices, and the hotel is pet friendly in a real way. My dog loved the staff and all the extra affection they gave him. There is a $75.00 pet fee, which I understand since some owners aren't very responsible. We were there for 9 days and saw no bed bugs or roaches, or signs of them. We were on the 8th floor, and the same housekeeper looked after us most days. She went above and beyond with towels, wash rags, trash bags, and more. Check-in and check-out at the front desk were amazing. The property is older, but for the price, location, cleanliness, and convenience, it was well beyond what I expected. There are no steps directly to the beach right now because of previous hurricanes, but the parking lot connects to beach access, so getting there wasn't inconvenient, despite what others have said. You can't please everyone, but the property and amenities worked well for my family and me. We'll definitely book here again next year when we're in Daytona for our week-long races. They made customers for life out of us!

The fifth-floor room had a beautiful ocean view, comfortable beds, and a shower that worked properly. The small on-site café's breakfast was delicious and well worth it. Staff were helpful and responsive when our key cards stopped working and when the TV remote would only let us watch golf for several hours. Our first room, on the 4th floor, was less pleasant. The keys didn't work at first, and the shower knob took extreme effort to pull out to turn on. We moved to the fifth-floor room on our second night after extending our stay. The pool area was disappointing, with only about eight usable chairs. The others were broken or dirty, so it was hard to relax there. Beach access also takes some navigating: there isn't direct access from the pool. You have to leave through the front, cross the parking lot, and use the same access point vehicles take to drive and park on the beach. We saw a truck with bald tires get stuck in the sand, and four guys had to push it out. We stayed at Tropical Winds Resort in Daytona Beach. On Friday night, the entrance and hallways looked dated and in need of an update, though the rooms showed signs of improvement. The views and café were highlights, but maintenance, amenities, and the beach access setup could use work.

The café was a bright spot. It was unexpectedly open on Monday when it was supposed to be closed, and my kids were thrilled with the grilled cheese. The prices there have stayed the same for at least the last 5 years. We'd been coming to this same hotel for 13 years, through a couple of ownership changes, and always had a pleasant time. This visit felt completely different. We used to arrive early, park, go to the beach, and get a call when our room was ready, always before 100. This time, the front desk boy said check-in was at 4, though he thought we could get in before 3. When I came back at 330, he said the cleaning crew was still working. There was only 1 car in the lot when we arrived, and all but 3 rooms had balcony chairs set out for new guests. That was our first clue things had changed. After we got the key, the elevator and hallway smelled strongly of Marijuana, despite no-smoking signs everywhere. The room was clean, but smelled odd and of stale smoke. The bed was uncomfortable, with two comfortable-style things over what felt like box springs, then a mattress pad and sheet. The sofa bed we used for the kids wasn't comfortable to sit on either, so the mattress was uncomfortable too. We checked reviews and quickly realized the place must have changed hands again, since they were horrible. We hadn't looked before booking because we'd never had an issue. We checked both beds for the bedbugs mentioned in a review and didn't find any. After being out for a few hours, we came back to roaches on the room door and in its cracks. We checked again for bedbugs and still found none, so we stayed the night. The stairs still haven't been fixed to provide direct beach access, which was difficult with small kids. We had to go through the parking lot and walk down what will soon be beach access for cars. Near where we parked, there were a few used needles. I watched the maintenance man pick up trash the next morning, but the needles were still there when we left. Do yourself a favor and don't spend your money there. They don't deserve it. When we left the next day, our car and 2 others were in the lot.

Having to keep going back to the desk because the keys kept deactivating was very stressful. There was no direct beach access either, and it wasn't worth what we paid. The room was okay, nothing special, but the musty smell hit as soon as I walked in. There was a roach on the bathtub. It needs updating: the stove was rusty through the paint, as were the shower head and some moldings. The smell of weed was constant everywhere. The restaurant was only open until 2 and closed Mondays, though my husband went for breakfast on a Tuesday and it was closed too.