My mom and I stayed in the hotel in February 2012. Hotel is about 20 mins from Ft. Lauderdale airport

Prior to arrival, I was able to talk to concierge, reservations regarding all my requests, such as fragrance free toiletries, stools for showers, etc...

I booked ocean view 1 bedroom suite. However, when we arrived they put us in a 6 floor regular room facing the city. It took me couple of minutes to realize we were in a wrong room. I called up front desk and it looked like they already realized their mistake by then. They were very apologetic and upgrades us to a deluxe 1 bedroom suite which was ready in about 30 mins. They also sent us some food as their apology. I think the difference between regular 1 bedroom and deluxe 1 bedroom is higher floors.

The view was great! The room HUGE! Very large kitchen with all needed appliances. They had pots and pans but no baking dishes for the oven. When I called up to see if they had one, they said they would need to buy it. So, that was weird. Huge bathroom and very large balcony. It was one of the largest hotel rooms I have been in.

Room service was good. I had some dietery restrictions and it took a little bit of figuring out, but they were able to accomodate me. They even had gluten free pasta. You can also order from Il Mulino menu, so we did that without going to the restaurant. Mom went to Publix supermarket which is about 5-10 mins walking distance from the hotel.

There were couple of TVs in the room with an awesome digital system for ordering movies. There were a lot of choices, it was awesome!

A/C stopped working at one point, but they were able to fix it up in no time.

We went to spa one time for some massages. It is very big and has their own small pool and patio to sit outside, which is nice. Massages were very good. The indoor relaxation area was quite big with nice lounge chairs, snacks and tea. However, no bottled water? Bizarre...They had those large water containers with lemon/lime and ice, but i just wanted bottled water which they said no to. One very good thing about the spa: all their products are natural without chemicals, which was very refreshing. I have sensitivity to perfumes, so it was very nice for me not to get a headache in the spa. Spa also had a very nice sauna and steam room with some cold showers.

Mom and I went to Bel Harbour shops using the house car. It's about 15 mins away and has a lot of nice boutiques.

There are 3 pools in the hotel. There weren't that many guests, so we had a lot of choices where to sit. They play only occasional music at the pools, but i would prefer that no music is played. Every person has an ipod now. And i would like to relax and read my book if i don't want to listen to music. No reason to force it on you, but i guess all hotels do it. I was just thankful they played it once in a while, so i used my earplugs only then.

There is a restaurant by the beach/pool. There are also nice seating area on the grass by the beach if you want to have a view of the water without being in the sand.

So apart from couple of snafus the trip was very good and I will definitely come back.

Ok was very excited to come to the Acqualina for a weekend trip. Got there and was informed that my room was not ready. I thought no problem, so the young lady took me outside to have a bite to eat at costa grille. Service was good there. Food not bad either-burger and fries. Hung out there for a while and went back to check to see if the room was ready. I was told that they were cleaning the room. Ok so I waited a while and then decided to go to the spa for a treatment because my room was not ready. Went to front desk and room was finally ready. The young lady apologized for it taking so long to get my room. Started to get comfortable since I've been up traveling for over 10 hrs. Started to take off my clothes and get a call "you got the wrong room and we have to move you". Really?? Ok I'm now very annoyed at this point. How can a 5 diamond resort make such a mistake? I complain and the front desk and said they will rebate $350 for the night. Ok, but my time is worth more seeing this was suppose to be a relaxation weekend. Oh, I'm paying $750 per night to stay here by the way. So the bellboy moves me and I have such a crappy view. Ok you mean to tell me I couldn't get a ocean view for all the inconvenience? Ok I ask the bell boy to have the manager contact me and no phone call. I appreciate the $350 discount but really did not expect this level of service at a resort with the 5 diamond reputation. Let's see how the rest of the trip goes. At First I was in a ms Collins room and now the new room has a welcome card for ms turner. I'm neither one of these people. It has to get better. Trying to make the most of my weekend.. Ok it's 8:30pm and loud siren is going off along with bang in afternoon. This is crazy! Very disappointed. Called o font desk and hotel is sold out so i am stuck. I Did get wine and cheese sent to my room earlier.

This is a review of the spa only. We stayed in Hollywood Beach and I spent the first morning after our arrival at the Acqualina Spa. It was beyond fantastic! I love going to spas, but I'm kinda picky about it. I don't want to go to a "spa" that's in the back of a hair salon, or wellness center, or gym. I want it to look, feel, smell and sound like a real spa.This place delivers!! I scheduled a body wrap followed by a Swedish massage. After check-in, a lady came and gave me a tour of the place. Very dimly lit with rich brown tones. Running water in different locations to give nice sound. Large back area with lockers, showers, steam and sauna rooms. She assigned me a locker and showed me how to use the digital combination. Now, it is a big deal to carry around a locker key? No. But I loved not having to worry about it. In my locker was a robe, slippers, a towel and shower cap. I changed into my robe and went into the relaxation area. This is another area they did a great job on. Although it was one big room with lots of lounges, they seperate most of them by walls, or wood screens, so even though you are in a large room, it feels like you're secluded. The room has huge fantastic windows that look over the pool and jacuzzi. Each lounge has a side table with a little reading lamp and a set of headphones. Smart!
My body wrap was done expertly in a treatment room with a shower. After the wrap, while I was washing off in the (frosted glass) shower, my therapist prepared the room for the massage. Each room has it's own sound system and you can choose between spa music, jazz and classical. I thought that was a great touch since sound is a very important part of the whole experience in my opinion.
Took a shower after my spa lunch. Outside of every shower they put a bath mat, shower cap, disposable razor and small packet of shaving cream. Awesome! Back in the locker rooms, you'll find hairdryers, hairspray, mousse, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. They even had a sign that if you needed a curling iron or flat iron, you just had to ask. Even though the locker room was dimly lit, they had a lighted makeup mirror so you could see to apply makeup. I challenge you to find one thing that you could say, "I wish they had...." I really think they thought of everything!

We chose the Acqualina because we were trying to accomodate a six month old and an 18 year old. Both were beyond successful. The suite that was stayed in was perfect for all of us. We were a party of 6 and the accomodations were beautiful. The kitchen and the appliances were prestine. The rooms and the bathrooms were phenomenal and the view from our terrace was heavenly. We had a suite that had a two king rooms and an office area with a twin bed and a queen pull out couch. The crib was a little scary wobbly so we created a bed out of the pull out couch mattress and pillows. It worked great and the baby slept through the night. The ocean air is very soothing. From one terrace we could see the sun rise over the ocean and from the terrace in the other room we could see the sun set. It was gorgeous. The staff was helpful and very aware. We felt very safe staying there. The security was excellent. The pools and the cabanas were fabulous for spending all day at the pool. We spent many hours in research to find the perfect place and the Acqualina was one of the few places that had beach side service and a private beach. The security from the beach side was very tight also so you never had to worry about strangers wandering up from the public beach. We never asked for anything that the response was not that they would see what they could do or how that could be done. The pools were open 24 hours a day which was very nice. The italian restaurant in the hotel was fabulous and the service was extraordinary. We had never gone to Florida for a resting vacation until this trip but we will definitely go again and we will stay at the Acqualina. We ventured out one afternoon for parasailing and the other resorts did not hold a candle. The town shuts down a little earlier than we would have like but simply because we wanted to go to Starbucks. The spa treatments were excellent. The room has a full size refrigerator and freezer which is great if you want to bring groceries or snacks. The espresso/coffee maker in the room made excellent lattes, americanos and espresso. This is the place to go if you ever think I just want to finish reading my book.