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Husband and I decided to try someplace new for a weekend getaway and chose this place based on the Gaido’s name and the website stating it was newly renovated. We stayed in the “Gulf View Luxury King Ground Floor with Private Hot Tub” or “Mike’s Corner” room. This room boasted several amenities such as: upscale linens, private hot tub, THREE flat screen TV’s, Bluetooth music center, enhanced bath with separated shower/tub, wet bar, with a private entrance and patio.  What they DON’T tell you is that : The “upscale linens” stick to you all night because the AC doesn’t cool properly and you sweat all night long. The tiles in the bathroom sag with what appears to be water damage. The “private patio” is literally on the corner of a very busy intersection. Therefore, loud cars drive by all the time. There is also a sidewalk VERY close to your “private patio” which causes people to walk right by the “private patio” and your room at all hours of the night. The entrance to get back into your room from the patio/hot tub area does not have an operating lock on the door. The aluminum shutters are not made to be actual barriers to keep the public from getting into your room, and since there is a broken lock on the actual door back into the room, we had to band it shut to feel it safe to even sleep at night. The main entrance from the parking lot is also dark and not well lit at night. Does not feel safe at all. The hot tub is rusted all around the bottom and barely reaches 101 degrees. There are only TWO TV’s and only ONE of them actually works part of the time. The Bluetooth center never worked properly either. The wet bar has a filthy, rusted, and dusty plugin 6” plastic fan hooked on it that was not even plugged in. There was no purpose for this nasty fan aside from apparently showing the type of thing that is completely overlooked by the maintenance and cleaning crew. The seats besides the wet bar are stained with who knows what. The one door is also missing its knob. The enhanced bath needs a new plug to help actually hold water and the cool waterfall and other extra showers don’t work either. The soap dispensers are rusted and dirty. The electrical sockets are all rusted as well (we understand it’s by the Gulf, but have you not heard of using plastic or another material that might hold up better?) The doors will look like they have been jimmied open at least a couple of times. The tiles are not even fully covering the ceiling. If I were the Gaido’s family, I would be ashamed to put my name and reputation on this hotel. If this little hotel is this bad, I’m curious what their restaurant kitchen looks like? If it weren’t for the last-minute trip and non-refundable payment, we would have just left. What a waste of $700 bucks and we will never go back that’s for sure!! See pictures as to why you may want to skip this place too.

The $40 plus tax park and cruise, and round trip shuttle to the cruise port sounded like an amazing deal after comparing parking at the port. Shuttle from the hotel to the port went smooth. Returning was terrible. On disembark day, I called the hotel at 7:30 AM to make sure we knew where pickup was and the shuttle bus number. We arrived at the pickup place at 9:45 am and confirmed with port staff we were in the right location. At 10:19, I called the hotel to check on the shuttle’s route. I was told the driver was at the hotel picking up passengers and headed our way in about 10 minutes. At 11:00, I called the hotel again to check on the shuttle as we had seen several other shuttles come and go repeatedly. She said we had been waiting way too long and he should be there shortly and if he didn’t arrive in a few minutes to call back. I called back around 11:30- was told they would personally talk to the driver and they would call me back. I missed the call but called back promptly and was told a driver was on the way. Just before noon, a Mercedes’ shuttle #405 van pulled into the designated parking spot. He said he would take us to Holiday Inn Express and I told him we needed the resort and he said he would take us. He was not a charter bus that had dropped us off and he definitely was not bus number 803 as the hotel had told us . He said he was normally a private shuttle but he was filling in and helping out and would take us. He was confused as how we had waited so long but overall was apologetic and friendly given we had sat in the sun waiting for a ride for over 2 hours at that point. We arrived back at the hotel and I stopped at the front desk. The staff apologized and said that this driver wasn’t even their driver and was just a nice driver to bring us back and was not affiliated with the hotel. The manager I believe apologized and thanked me for the feedback and said she would get with the shuttle company to improve their service. She also said they would get us taken care of at check in and all set up for our stay. When I told her we were only there to pick up our vehicle and head out on our 7 hour drive, she just said oh ok I thought y’all were staying not leaving. She made no attempt to compensate us for the trouble or the terrible experience of sitting out in the sun for two hours. Won’t stay here again or recommend it. If you’re cruising, just pay the extra money and park at the port so you can leave in a timely manner!

The hotel was perfect for what we wanted apart from the dark & dreary decoration of the rooms... dark browns, mustard & dark orange colors were not what I expected at a seaside resort! I imagined walking into a light blue or light green room as you'd see in the condos to rent. These colors were just dark & desperately need renovating. The bathroom had seen better days for sure...the bath base looked slightly grubby but it had a raised anti slip mat which often retains a darker appearance & the shower doors were streaked & didn't fit together properly. Basically it was a bit messy & unappealing! However, the facilities were excellent. Balconies are great w/ wonderful views. Club ten level allows a child free zone, which makes it way quieter & offers a free delivered breakfast or a voucher to reduce your breakfast bill @ Blakes Bistro & I believe free valet parking (apart from tips of course!) The restaurants here at The San Luis are excellent. Everything we ate here was delicious but expensive. Service was excellent also & all staff were extremely attentive & friendly.