I'm a college student from KS that wanted to go on a fun spring break for as little cost as possible. Main Stay definitely exceded our expectations for the price we paid. It's close to the beach, which has lots of free public parking, and close to all of the good restaurants an nightlife. The staff at the front desk were more than willing to help us with good places for dinner and how to get there. The only complaint we had was that our shower head was spraying water all over the bathroom floor and toilet, and although we reported it as a problem our first hour of being there, they never fixed it. Luckily we figured out a temporary way of fixing it, or it would have been a flood in our room anytime someone showered. It is DEFINITELY a Spring Break friendly hotel, which was such a relief considering many of the hotels in PCB wouldn't allow anyone under 25 to make a reservation and had very expensive security deposits, which by the way is still required here during SB, $200-but you get it back as long as the room isn't damaged. We had a great time staying here though and it is reccomended for anyone wanting to be near all the action without paying for the overpriced hotels located on the beach.

This hotel is new...that's the best feature, it's clean and fresh.

We booked this hotel for Memorial Day weekend because we are choicehotel members and found it on their website. We also booked it because we are a family of 5 and everything on the beach that would fit us was $180-$200 per night at least. The location was good (although it's right on Hwy 98 and you could hear the traffic very well), about a mile and a half from the beach. However, Panama City really needs to invest some serious money into the roads...since they've allowed so much growth the traffic is crazy and with just 2 lane highways along the beach the pace was a crawl. Although I guess if I didn't have 3 kids in the car I would have considered myself cruising the strip instead of being in ridiculous traffic. :-) Problem is that with all the growth it's impoosible to see the beach from the road anymore unless you're staying at one of the MANY high-rises that line the shore.

As far as the hotel is concerned I would highly recommend it for business travelers who aren't there really for leisure. One thing that was not stated on the website nor when we checked in is that this is an extended stay hotel. This was our first stay at a MainStay so I don't have experience and to me the name alone was not clear on that I guess. This means no housekeeping until the 3rd night. A single traveler (or even a couple) wouldn't use up the towels as fast and keep the room a bit cleaner I would imagine. We stayed 2 nights and with three kids we ran out of towels the first day and had to clean everything ourselves. The room had a mini kitchen which was very nice - full refrigerator, two burner stovetop, sink with mini dishwasher and a microwave. The beds were extremely comfortable and the bathroom was roomy. The rooms did not have any dressers so with the 5 of us we had to pretty much live out of the suitcases...and extended stay would have been a pain. Oh yeah, another thing is to make sure you stay no higher than the second floor - only one elevator and it's very slow.

The amentiies were decent mainly again because their new...the pool was small but clean and with no jacuzzi. The "business center" was a small desk with a computer and printer near the front desk...it looked like they placed it there as an after thought. The breakfast area was small and the breakfast included the basics - packaged pastries, cereal, juice, milk and coffee. With the full mini kitchen this did not bother us since we brought groceries to prepare breakfast ourselves.

The staff was friendly but it didn't seem genuine...at times I felt that we were kind of a nuisance keeping them from their work. I didn't have any specifics to that, it's just the way I felt - my wife felt that they were nice enough.

Anyway, overall we probably won't stay here again only because it really doesn't offer the things that we want when we travel. But this doesn't mean that it's a bad hotel...again, it's clean, the rooms are comfortable and roomy with very good amentiies and the staff is decent. I would definitely recommend it for business single or couple travelers, not families.

Great place to stay in Panama City Beach, Florida. Right on Hwy 98 and close to Beaches as well (Alt 98 close by). Friendly service, Clean rooms, beautiful new facility, all the amenities, even a full refrigerator, dishwasher, dishtowels, microwave and stove top.

Hair dryer and iron in room. Desk and internet access worked well. Plenty of towels given. Reasonably priced for the area.

Really enjoyed our stay.

I just returned from Panama City after a short visit on a business trip and was lucky enough to stay at this new hotel. They were almost sold out every night because of spring break but the kids were not too bad. being a few miles from the beach is a plus if you're a business traveler like me because all the kids want to hit the beach and the clubs at night and I'm able to get a good night sleep. The rooms are nicely decorated with fully equiped kitchens that also, to my surprise, included a dishwasher... and the 32"LCD TV is also a plus and something you do not see all the time. They offer a nice decent breakfast and a laundry facility on site is a plus. They have also a fitness room but it lacks the weights, it only has 3 machines. Best of all, the staff is very friendly and they go above and beyond to make sure their patrons are comfortable. I'll be back Panama City on assignment several times this year and will definatley stay at the Mainstay again... highly recommend.