Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Resort

[James&Rob]

Has anyone stayed at this motel I hit it on Priceline for 52.00 for a pre stay cruise may 2 thanks for your imput

[parfect]

We stayed there for one night last month prior to our Sovereign cruise. For the price, it is very acceptable. Rooms are typical motel standards. Nice swimming pool, decent restaurants, and access to a huge beach. From the beach, you can see the cruise ships coming and going.

[mnsawyer]

I'm not sure if this is the same Holiday Inn but we drove around the Cocoa Beach area the morning of our cruise and my DH and I both commented that the Holiday Inn was the best looking hotel on the strip and wished we had stayed there instead of in Orlando. For $52 on Priceline you've got a great deal either way. Check out tripadvisor.com as well for reviews. Enjoy!

[moni]

James&Rob, Are you sailing on the May 6th cruise? We're having a nice little roll call going under Sovereign May 5th. (someone else getting startet early).

 

By the way, we're staying at the Holiday Inn Oceanfront on May 5th....and two more couples from our roll call thread. Come on over and join us.

[James&Rob]

HelloMoni

 

We are sailing may 2 the week befor you guys thanks James

[shabcruzn]

I'm glad you asked about the Holiday Inn--we are staying there July and was wondering about the quality!!!!

[legalwife]

It has been a few years since we stayed there, but I would try calling a couple of days before and ask if you could be upgraded to oceanfront room. They may or may not do it, but worth a try.

 

When we ate there, the restaurant was awful, but again, that was a few years back and only one night.

[Sea Turtle]

Do they actually market that hotel as a resort? That's incredible. Forewarning: My first and last experience at this property is almost two years old, and my review is long. You asked for an opinion so following is mine.

 

 

Holiday Inn/Cocoa Beach via Hotwire-Trip Report-July 2003

 

I have just returned from an overnight stay at:

 

Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach - Oceanfront, FL

1300 N. Atlantic Avenue

Cocoa Beach, FL 32931

(321) 783-2271

 

Please note my report is in reference to the Holiday Inn not the Holiday Inn Express.

 

I used (for the first time) Hotwire to secure a reservation at a beachfront hotel in Cocoa Beach, FL. The option that came up was for a ‘value’ accommodation at $89.00, and the ‘seller’ for me was the price for a Saturday in the middle of summer at a beachfront hotel. Sounds good, right?

 

I arrived at the Holiday Inn/Cocoa Beach (herein referred to as HICB) between 1400-1430 on Saturday, July 19, 2003. The line for the front desk was almost out the door. In fact security had closed the main entry into the lobby because of the masses and redirected people to another door. The area was filled with hot, sweaty, smelly people (guests that had arrived early in the day had been allowed to use the pool/beach facilities until check-in time). By the time it was my turn to speak with a front desk rep I had decided I really didn’t want to stay at this hotel. There were too many kids for my liking, and people in line that had already been there for the entire day said the beach and pool were overly crowded. So I said to the rep ‘it looks like you are probably overbooked and I will gladly give up my reservation if you will release me from the prepaid reservation’. HICB said ‘even though the hotel is overbooked and we could use the room, Hotwire hasn’t paid us yet so we can’t credit you’. Okay, I can appreciate that they haven’t been paid but if they in fact have a strong relationship with Hotwire and they are overbooked and could really use the room that I was willing to give up, I would think HICB management would bend the rules. There are ways they could have paid me back without handing over cash (i.e., issuing points to my Holiday Inn Priority Club account). HICB management said they would gladly cancel my reservation; however, any refunds would have to come directly from Hotwire. Well, I had read the rules on Hotwire so I was left with no choice other than to accept the reservation. Mind you I’m still in the lobby—haven’t even seen the property/room. I would like to note at this point that the man who processed my check in was very nice and apologetic unlike the superior he consulted with regarding my request.

 

With key in hand I proceeded to the room. The section assigned is a 2-story motel not a hotel. There is nothing about this property that can be classified as hotel. Not even the section in the rear that has a few ‘suites/villas’ that face the water. You drive your car up to your room, and if you’re on the first floor, you get out and there is the room door. This motel was built in the ‘60s, and as far as the refurbishment that supposedly took place in the late ‘90s, well, from the outside it appears to be non-existent.

 

The Room:

I can’t get the door open. It’s a card-key system and the green light comes on and the door handle moves; however, I can’t get the door to budge. I found a maid down the way, and asked her for assistance. She got the door open in a second but she was pushing down so hard on it. I made her stay with me until I could get it open—it was a struggle. Finally the door opens but not all the way because it’s banging into the writing table. I walked in and the room stank!! I don’t know what was causing the odor but without being too graphic it smelled of a cheap room deodorant trying to mask the smells from use of the bathroom facilities. And, oh, those renovations from the ‘90s they appear to be a ton of paint, a border on the walls at ceiling level (as horrid as those things are they were ‘in’ in the ‘90s), and a new floor mounted air condition/heat unit. Okay, now I am tired (been up since 0400), it’s hot (temp display on the nearby drug store was reading 99), it’s the most humid day of the Florida summer so far, an hour has elapsed since I first entered the lobby of the HICB, and a ‘hell of’ a big thunderstorm is rolling in over Port Canaveral. As I see it I can bite the bullet and stay overnight at the HICB and go enjoy one of the things I came to do in the area (see the Carnival Glory sail for the first of many Saturdays to come after having put friends onboard her earlier in the day), or I can chuck it all and head home. Well, cruise addict that I am I decide to put up with the HICB and stay for the sailing of the Glory. I go out to the car to bring in my things and I see people next door getting in their car to leave. So I asked them had they stayed here yet and was it ‘scary’. Two of the women looked at me, chuckled and said if HICB did away with the rooms and their restaurant (not Mambos sp? in the back—they said that restaurant was good) it would be a good place to stay. They said their bathroom was totally gross with mold. At least my bathroom didn’t have mold but it did have this creepy slip resistant thing in the tub that I assume is normally glued down; however, this one wasn’t sealed down in certain places so when the water got underneath it during a shower it felt like something was moving under your feet.

 

I got some sleep at this facility with the aid of a worn out mind & body along with an over-the-counter pain/pm pill. I awoke at 0600 and thought it would be nice to see the sunrise from the beach so off I went. Remember this is not an oceanfront hotel just beachfront—there is no walking out your slider and/or balcony and being on the beach/hearing the waves. The beach in front of this hotel was nasty. Covered in litter from the HICB walkway all the way down to the water’s edge. It made me very sad so back to the room I headed to get my things and leave. I had two shots left on my throw away camera (have a digital cam but didn’t have it with me otherwise I would post pics now) so I snapped a shot of the frayed carpet seam at the bathroom door, and a delightful photo of two dead roaches (yep, they slipped in during the night –no telling where in the room the live ones were once light hit the room) and footprints on the inside of the door. Last thing I do in the room is attempt a check out via the TV. Well, that would be too easy of a request, wouldn’t it? I’ve been charged for the room. And to add insult to injury the HICB direct charge is $70.00 versus $89.00 Hotline snagged me for. I immediately drive to the front desk. The rep that asks ‘may I help you’ can’t so he calls someone else out front. After ten minutes of not saying much of anything other than ‘can I help you’ this man hands me a HICB receipt that says zero balance. At that point I asked for a comment card, and said to the man, ‘Holiday Inn should be ashamed to associate its name with this property’. He never once acknowledged anything I said nor could he produce a comment card. I asked if he was a manager, NO. I asked if a manager was available, NO. All I wanted or could do was leave the property having learned two things. One, never stay nor suggest to anyone else that they stay at the HICB. Two, never book nor suggest to anyone else that they make a reservation with Hotwire. In most situations I will give a second chance but in this case, it’s just not warranted.

 

 

Cc:

Hotwire - http://www.hotwire.com/customer-care/contact.jsp

HICB – Jane.haskins@ICHotelsgroup.com

Corporate - http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/guest_relations

[James&Rob]

I have found out that this motel has gone through a complete renovation, 3 years ago was a long time many thing can change in 3 years thanks anyway

[Nliedel]

Was this the hotel so damaged in the hurricane last year it closed for a time for repairs?

[James&Rob]

That is what I have been told I guess Ill find out next week an booked there may 1 prior to my Sovereign cruise I hit it on priceline I have used priceline befor and never had a problem so we will see Ill let you guys know when I return have a great one James

[Sea Turtle]

so we will see Ill let you guys know when I return have a great one James

 

James&Rob--I look forward to your hotel review upon your return. Hopefully two years has indeed brought about some changes at this property.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[mnsawyer]

We were in the Cocoa Beach area for a Glory cruise two weeks ago and we passed by a beautiful looking Holiday Inn right on the beach side. Not sure if this is the same Holiday Inn but it looked beautiful and we thought the best on the strip. There was a Holiday Inn Express but it was on the other side of the street.