Great Hotel W/O: Hollywood Beach Tower: My #1 Choice For Accommodations In Hollywood
Written: Oct 04 '03 (Updated Oct 09 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: nice unit, friendly staff, very nice location
Cons: horrible parking
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this hotel because of its great location and personable service!
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| jetbluefan1's Full Review: Hollywood Beach Tower |
We recently stayed at the the Hollywood Tower Hotel & Resort after visiting Ft. Lauderdale and Naples, Florida. The highlight of our trip to Florida was most likely our stay in Hollywood, while the worst part of the trip was the Song Airlines flight back to New York City. Yeah, you haven’t seen me complain...
As RCI Timeshare owners, we have first priority for rooms at any resort that has a deal with RCI. Hollywood Beach Tower & Resort is an independent resort, but it was bought by RCI which made us top priority. We pay around $2,000 a year to keep up our member status, and we get much over 100,000 points to use as “RCI Money”.
Just to give you an example, 40,000 points could buy you a 7-night stay at an RCI Gold Crown Resort in Orlando during the winter. Hopefully this statement will help you with understand the value of the points. You don’t have to use your points for a whole week depending on what type of deal you have; I personally am allowed floating time.
Something really neat about RCI is that if there is a unit available 14 days prior to the date you are looking to book, you can claim the unit for a week or less at only 9,000 points! That’s what happened in our case, and I surely was surprised when I heard we were only going to pay so little. But we have so many points that it doesn’t really matter how many we use.
Hotel
Hollywood Beach Tower’s parking is very odd. While being free, which is a plus, there were signs posted that said Park at your own risk. So is some guy going to come and crack the glass? Is someone going to try to kill me? Is someone going to cut the brakes? There should definitely be some type of security monitor in the parking lot - even if parking is free.
The parking lot is located under the hotel and had only like ten parking spots. There was also some graffiti and a lot of wood particles on the ground, but another sign asked us to excuse the appearance since the hotel is making major renovations. The ceiling was very low, and three of the ten parking spots were for handicap people. There is a several-level parking garage right next to the hotel just in case the hotel parking is full.
The hotel is located night next to Hollywood Beach Resort - not Hollywood Beach Tower Hotel & Resort which I’m writing about. However, both resorts are owned by RCI. There are quite a few restaurants in the area, and right behind the hotel is the beach. Since we stayed at the Hollywood Beach Tower Hotel & Resort the day after a huge thunderstorm, the beach was full of seaweed and we didn’t go swimming at all.
Right in front of the beach is the Hollywood Broadwalk - not Boardwalk. This is a cool place made only for pedestrians. There is a street where people can walk, run, and do whatever they desire. A side of the street is only for people who are biking, and we saw many people taking full advantage of that. The Broadwalk runs next to many restaurants, tourist shops, and an abandoned mall.
The second day that we stayed at the Hollywood Beach Tower Hotel & Resort, there was a Latin Festival. We enjoyed it very much - we had Spanish food, listened to Spanish bands, and were approached by Hispanics who were trying to sell us things. There were like a gazillion booths with clothes, bathing suits, paintings, and prize drawings to sign up for.
Check-In
Check-in was at 3:00. When we walked in, we were greeted by a very friendly and laid back agent. He talked to us about the resort, our vacation, and the best restaurants in the area. He joked around a lot and was efficient in giving us our keys. Since we checked in at 2:00, he asked if we wouldn’t mind waiting for housekeeping to finish with our rooms. I was happy that he asked instead of telling us to wait. He also asked us to make a $100 deposit fee. We did get the $100 back during check-out which is allowed no later than 10:00am.
The lobby is separated in two different parts: an upstairs and downstairs. Both levels can access the two marble elevators, but the first level is mostly for people who are checking in or have any questions for the front-desk agents. Up the stairs at the second level of the lobby was a large sitting area, restrooms, and area attraction pamphlets that told us information like, “Disney World, located in KISSIMMEE, Florida, is home to the new Mission: Space attraction.”
The second level is also where the game room and fitness center are located. It’s also the only hotel entrance to the pool, beach, and Broadwalk. It’s also the level of the Hobe Cafè...I’ll get to that later.
Unit
Our unit was like an average hotel room, but there was a connecting door leading to a sitting room, kitchen, and another bathroom. There were also two entrances - one for the kitchen area, and another just for the bedroom. The room’s main colors were a turquoise and an
off-white. There were huge curtains for the two big windows, and the view allowed us to see in inner-coast.
The unit was extremely clean and spacious throughout. None of the furniture was scratched, but it seemed that the kitchen’s cabinets were getting old. The room is stalked with an extra cot, extra sheets, comforters, and an iron along with an ironing board. There are a few extra toiletries available if you look in closets too.
I felt extremely safe in the room. Both doors had a set of instructions about opening the door to unexpected guests. First of all, there was a peep-hole, an extra lock, a chain-lock, and the door locked automatically when closed. The instructions on opening the door to unexpected guests was to wait for a phone call by the front desk to see if anyone was planning on sending a worker up. It also said not to open the door to technicians unless they showed a hotel badge.
Our bedroom was very luxurious. There was a king-sized bed, full-sized dresser, large mirror, two chairs, and a cable-tv. Like the tv in the sitting room, there was a STARZ channel offering movies free of charge. The movies that we watched on the STARZ channel included John-Q, Sweet Home Alabama, Blue Crush and American Pie. Usually hotels don’t offer this channel.
The bedroom also has a bathroom. It was pretty spacious and the shower was fair with water pressure. I had no problem with getting the right temperature. That information might sound useless, but I have heard complaints that other hotels don’t offer the simplest of needs to a guest. The bathroom’s counter was a bit short of space, so we ended up keeping our toiletries on the dresser in the bedroom itself.
The bathroom next to the kitchen was a lot more spacious that the one in the bedroom - so that means the size was more than adequate. There was plenty of counter space...way over the average amount for a bathroom. There were no cabinets in the bathroom to keep the toiletries; I guess that explains the extra counter space.
The kitchen was somewhat useless. There was a microwave, a million cabinets with plates, bowls and silverware, but there was only a mini fridge. The refrigerator couldn’t even fit our cooler box - it could only fit a few soda cans and just a box of grapes. The sink was quite tiny, but we never had any use for it as we just drank from the soda cans or water bottles.
The sitting room was home to an open-up couch, spinning chair, a lot of floor space, a huge armoire piece with a cable-tv, and a glass table with five large and comfortable stairs. There was also a VCR and stereo system. A stereo system for a hotel seemed just a teeny bit odd to me. The room had marble floors and had a lot of space to move around. There were also assorted plants and paintings.
Housekeeping
We put up our “Do Not Disturb” signs at night and didn’t take them off until we left the unit. We had no problem with intrusions by the housekeeping staff. Our room was cleaned very well. It was vacuumed, dusted, and the towels, soap bars, shampoo bottles, and toilet paper was restocked. Bed linens are cleaned every three days in an approach to saving water.
Facilities
We never did use the game room or fitness center. However, with just a glance, I noticed that the fitness center had only four machines. There were also around five video games. I noticed that neither rooms were air conditioned which just plain sucks. There was a window in the game room where kids could order food from the cafè.
The pool was one of our main hot-spots in the hotel as we didn’t want to swim at the beach. The pool was recently redone - I think it was May. The pool’s deepest part is 4’ and its shallowest is 3’. It was also very small and could only hold a capacity of around 15 people comfortably. There was also a hot-tub.
The pool area was beautiful. There were many tanning beds and chairs. Along with two water fountains, there is also a towel bar for fresh towels. There is no charge to use these towels as long as you give them back. The area is decorated with lion sculptures, and two of the sculptures have running water spitting out of them. There is also a brand new grill.
Dining
The Hobe Cafè is Hollywood Beach Tower Hotel & Resort’s diner. You can dine inside, but reservations are sometimes needed. There is also a large sitting area outside in the pool area. There is a window to order from the pool area instead of ordering inside. Some of the items include:
Breakfast:
Bagel w/ Butter...$1
Bagel w/ Cream Cheese...$1.50
Croissants...$1.75
Muffins...$1.25
Cold Cereal...$1
Scrambled Eggs w/ Toast...$1.95
Bacon, Eggs w/ Toast...$2.95
Eggs & Pancakes...$2.75
Pancakes...$1.95
Waffles w/ Maple Syrup...$2.50
“Almost” all day items:
Chicken Wings...$4.95
Fried Mozzarella...$4.50
Chicken Fingers...$4.95
Fried Calamari...$4.95
Jalapeno Poppers...$4.25
French Fries...$1.95
Onion Rings...$2.50
BY THE BUCKET - Chicken Wings - 20 pcs...$9.75 - 50 pcs...$19.50
Subs-Sandwiches-Burgers:
Grilled Cheese...$1.95
Grilled Ham & Cheese...$2.75
Tuna Sandwich...$3.50
BLT...$3.25
Turkey Sandwich...$3.95
Hamburger...$3.75
Cheeseburger...$4.25
Hot Dog...$1.95
Turkey Melt...$4.95
Tuna Melt...$4.95
Philly Cheesesteak...$5.25
Entrees:
Fish & Chips...$4.95
Open Faced Turkey...$5.95
Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce...$5.25
Linguini w/ Clam Sauce...$5.95
Desserts:
Chocolate Pudding...$1.25
Jello...$1
Sugar Free Cheesecake...$2.75
Rice Pudding...$1.25
Chocolate Cake Slice...$1.95
Pumpkin Brad Slice...$1
For breakfast one day, I ordered the BLT. It came with bacon, lettuce, and huge tomato slices. The bacon had little to no meat on it, but it was still delicious...after all...who doesn’t like bacon? There were also mayonnaise packets, but the mayo didn’t come spread on the toasted bread. For hotel food, it was fair. And for the price, the friendliness of the service and the quick speed of the delivery of the food, it was worth it.
Quick Notes
• You are given two remotes upon check-in. Make sure to return them at check-out.
• Guests must be 21-years of age or older to check-in.
• Local 800 numbers are free. Long distance calls are $1.50 for the first minute, and a $1 charge for each minute after.
• Beach towels are for sale for $10 at the front-desk.
My Thoughts
I would recommend the Hollywood Beach Tower Hotel & Resort. In fact, I can’t wait to book my next stay with them. The unit was very nice - roomy, clean, and pretty well taken care of. I felt very welcomed by the Southern hospitality that the staff members offered. The location is very good - convenient to the beach and Broadwalk.
The only down parts of the hotel is that the pool is a bit small and dinky though it is new. Also, it would be nice if the kitchen in the unit was updated a bit. Overall, I will definitely stay there again when in Hollywood, Florida.
Great Hotel Write-Off
This review is for the Great Hotel Write-Off. It’s hosts: Lyagushka and Tombarnes have done a fantastic job putting it together. The main cause for the write-off was to expand the amount of hotel reviews on the site. Visit: http://www.angelfire.com/moon/lyagushka/index.html for much more information. Also, SurgRN911 has pitched in by adding many hotels to the database, with this hotel being one of the many that she added. Thanks!
Recommended:
Yes
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