Our room was disastrous.  The sheets had every kind of stain you could imagine: grease, pen and bodily outright.  The coverlet still had ketchup and a French fry on it.  The kids' pillowcases had the prints of sneakers on them.  The glasses had lipstick!  When the people upstairs took a shower, it rained in ours (the plaster fell into our tub while we were unpacking).  It was atrocious.  We called in the manager and asked him if he would let his kids stay in such a place.  He agreed it was unsanitary and gave us back our money.

Please do not keep recommending the place!!  It is rundown, scrapes and scratches everywhere.  The food was only a notch above the bland meals at DisneyWorld.  Ridiculously overpriced for what you get.  The only thing of value was that the staff was mostly pleasant.  But management needs to renovate or they'll all be out of work soon.

The Colony Responds

by Liza Kubik, Public Relations Manager

It is true that the room was not up to The Colony's standards of cleanliness upon the guests' arrival, which appeared to have started an unfortunate chain of events. The Nixons stayed one night and although arrangements had already been made to move them to another suite, the couple decided to check out of our resort. Mr. Nixon, who even though upset by the first 24 hours of his stay, was very complimentary to all the staff on property, called to say that they were leaving. 
We are regretful and apologize, but you can rest assured that this is not at all acceptable to management and ownership! We are extremely proud of our garnered awards and accolades and guarantee that this experience absolutely will not happen again.

I am attaching a letter that we would be sending to the Nixons had we received the comments directly.

From Kate Moulton, General Manager:

Dear Mrs. Nixon,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with Kyle McCarthy at the Family Travel Forum after your recent stay at The Colony Beach & Tennis Resort. Through your communication while you were at the resort, we became aware of some very significant shortcomings in our servicing of your suite before your arrival.  While our commitment to the highest standards of cleanliness and service are paramount, it is all too clear that we completely missed the mark. 

We've taken your comments very seriously. Your report assists us in recognizing a greatly needed change in assignment for two members of our housekeeping team. Not only should the performance of the suite attendant have been at a significantly higher level but also, the inspector who released the suite for occupancy did not meet the prescribed procedures for her performance. Both of these individuals were removed from active work and placed in an intensive re-training program directly with the Director of Housekeeping. 

We are continually updating our suites and buildings and, in fact, have a number of exciting improvements in the works. While most will be subtle, the overall look and condition will be greatly enhanced.  We are such a large property, and it is a very time-consuming venture. We understand that we have some work to do, and are working diligently on the challenges a property in such close proximity to the sand, salt and water encounters. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience and highly anticipated holiday you experienced. 

Warmest regards,
Kate Moulton 

Ms. Nixon responds to Colony Apology

Thank you for following up on our experience at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. 

Ms. Kubik mentions that arrangements were made to move us to another room.  On the contrary, part of our frustration was that management told us no other accommodations were available!  We asked the first day we arrived, when it was apparent that the room had not been cleaned.  Then we asked again after the first night, when the shower ceiling disintegrated over our heads.  We had no choice but to check out, because maintenance people needed to access our room.  If indeed they had hoped to change our impression of their resort, this was never communicated to us.  We were not familiar with Florida's west coast, and trying to find other accommodations in the middle of spring break was an unpleasant surprise.

Beth Nixon

[Editor's Note: Since the Nixon's last visit, The Colony Beach and Tennis Resort has improved their accommodations and has been awarded #5 Top Family-Friendly Resort in the United States by Child Magazine in 2006. Tennis Magazine recently awarded the hotel The Best Family Resort.]