We (myself, my daughter and my sister) stayed at this hotel in April 2011, everything was great. The front desk was helpful and very pleasant to deal with.

My husband and our 5 month old son were going to be in town for my cousins wedding. The mother of the bride had blocked certain rooms at this hotel for wedding guests and specifically told me that the rooms were $75 a night for wedding guests and that she had been told by desk clerk, Amelia, that they were making exceptions for our family dogs (which are all very small/house trained etc) When I called to make the reservation, I spoke to Amelia and elaborated on the fact that the following day, my mother would be bringing our dogs (2). Amelia told me it would $75 per night, with the dogs, and that she would make sure to make our reservation for 2 adjacent rooms on the first floor so that we had better access to take the dogs outside. Fast forward to the day of check in, we walk in with our bags and I give the lady at the front dask, general manager Grace, my name. She ran my card and handed me a keys for rooms on the 2nd floor. When I questioned the fact that I was told I would be on the first floor because of my dog, Grace told me point blank that they do not accept dogs at their hotel, and furthermore, incinuated that I was lying about ever talking to Amelia ??? She said if I had talked with her, she would have put notes in their system about the wedding/dogs/first floor etc. Another man walked out from his office area, and started telling me that Amelia always follows protocol and most likely never spoke to me. I told them that I would not just show up to a hotel with my 5 month old and our bags, and expect to be on the first floor, pay $75 for the wedding guest rate, and bring our dog if I had not made these arrangements over the phone ( 2 weeks in advance!). They refused to call Amelia, stating that she was on vacation, and that if I must stay at their hotel they would charge me $60/night for our dogs. This was almost the cost of the room itself!! I asked them what that price was for and the man told me it was for the "special treatment" they have to do after dogs stay in the room. (Which contradicts the statement that they NEVER except dogs) Side note: a friend of mine used to work at a Holiday Inn in Gainesville where it is $10/night for a dog!) I started calling around to other hotels as I sat in their hotel lobby, while Grace and the man at the counter made several comments in the background such as "fine if you want to stay at a dirty hotel that accepts dogs!" "you must want to stay some place that has roaches!" "why dont you just go to motel 6!" Finally, the man told me that if we promised to keep both dogs in one room they would only charge us $30. Out of frustration, and the fact that we were already there and had unpacked the car of my sons things "pack and play, stroller, walker, etc etc" I agreed and we stayed there for the two nights even though I was very upset. Bottom line, Grace and the man who I think may have been her husband were very rude, and obviously should not work in the hotel industry. Amelia should not be taking phone calls either, seeing as how everything I talked with her about was never even put into their system. I recently read many bad reviews of this hotel since this incident and there are many complaints about Grace. Her name tag says hotel manager....She isn't managing things well if their are so many complaints about her. The situation would have been entirely different if she had tried to rectify the situation by apologizing to me for the inconvenience and miscommunication, and charging me the typical $10/dog charge. But calling me a liar and trying to charge me $60 per dog is ridiculous!!!! Maybe this is why every one else was at the Comfort Inn down the road!

This hotel provided everything I expected for a hotel in this area and price-range. I've stayed in the Sarasota-Bradenton area on business severla times a year since 2006 and this is the best hotel for the money Ive seen yet. Most seem to be about $30 more and there are some real dumps in $100 per night price range in Sarasota.

This is a great overnight stop and also has a larger than usual pool area. Everything was perfect with this Holiday Inn Express.