Our family has stayed at Westwinds two times in 2011 - a week in April and a week in August. Sandestin is a great resort with beautiful landscaping, great maintenance of common areas, and friendly employees. We rented one unit from Resortquest - it had just been refurbished and was absolutely beautiful. We rented the other unit directly from the owner via Home Away. Although the unit was very clean, it needed some TLC and investment to make it really a nice place to vacation. I wouldn't rent directly from an owner again. There are many great restaurants and nice shopping very close to Sandestin.

Westwinds is really nice. The pool is large and well maintained with plenty of chairs. The beach is beautiful and the chair attendents are very friendly. The lobbies and hallways are well maintained. We found all of the other guests to be very friendly and didn't see anyone acting inappropriately.

Neither unit provided an amenity card and we didn't miss it. We rented beach chairs directly from the attendant on the beach and rented bikes from Coastal Cruisers. We didn't ever want to take the tram so not having access to it wasn't a problem.

We would stay here again in a completely renovated unit. Otherwise we would try to go closer to downtown Destin for convenience since it seemed we drove that way alot. We'd also like a property with a larger stretch of beach so you have a straight on view of the gulf and more space for chairs without having to have multiple rows.

My wife and I have stayed a week or two in Westwinds for the past 14 years. We started out renting directly from Sandestin and then moved to renting from owners. We always had great experience with Sandestin but we eventually learned from others that we were paying a huge premium. When we have rented from owners we have had mixed experiences - usually the condo is not clean at check-in and often there are countless maintenance issues. We have noticed some concerning general trends for West Winds. (1) the class of clientele is on a downward spiral - lots of cigarettes, tattoos and foul language - diapers in the pool (2) pool and hot-tub maintenance is lacking (3) security of the property is in bad shape - the entire stay this year the gate from pool to ocean was not functional so we got to enjoy our time with a number of beach stragglers because nobody was checking wrist bands (not once was anyone from my family asked about a wristband).

Dining: We ate at McGuires, Lagniappe (twice), Fisherman's Wharf, Crab Trap, Fuds, Another Broken Egg

Room: We rented room 4826 on the 16th floor from MyVacationHaven and it was very clean with very few maintenance issues. They were responsive to our needs and we will definitely rent through them again.

We rented 2 2BR condos at the Westwinds thru Resort Quest. I have used Resort Quest many times without any problems, but this time was not good. I was not impressed with the condo #4819 at all. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. The pictures are deceiving. The bath tubs did not drain so you had to stand in sandy dirty water while showering. Only 2 people could take hot showers as there was not enough hot water. Because we rented thru Resort Quest we did not receive any of the "perks" that we were told when we rented the condo. Don't expect to get free tennis, or bikes, or kayaks. There was not a manager around that we could find. The furniture needs updating as well as the mattresses. The pool was nice as was the beach chair attendant. He was very helpful. The "tiki hut" by the pool was an overpriced deli. A hot dog was $14! There was a fire on one of the floors above us. My son and grandson were in the condo and did not hear the fire alarm. I have been going to Destin for many, many years and this was our worst experience!
One day, however, we went to the Sandestin Hilton which was VERY nice!. Lots of room by the pool, reasonably priced food and drinks with waitresses that brought drinks to you. A pizza hut for the kids, and an ice cream parlor. They also have a very good breakfast buffet and a sushi restaurant that my kids loved. I would go back there and stay!

We just left from our 4 night stay at Westwinds. Absolutely a wonderful place to stay! Our condo was very spacious, extremely clean and had everything we needed. View was breath taking. Landscaping gorgeous. Huge pool! The only suggestion we have is a poolside or beachside tiki hut/bar. A place to enjoy an adult beverage. They do have a walk up snackbar down by the pool that serves alcohol but it just wasn't inviting. We WILL be back soon.