Siesta Key – Great Beaches & Horrible Hotels Says a New Study
Normally, Suncoast visitors, especially the beautiful Siesta Key, talk about the amazing beaches and sunsets that are memory-making. There are tens of thousands of visitors to the area each year, and tourism tops the sources of income for the amazing locale. Unfortunately, a recent survey by planetware shows that Siesta Key is number 4 in the U.S. Cities with the Worst Hotel Service. You heard that right, and the information backing the study up is even worse.
To attain the rankings, the study compiling team would take the percentage of all hotels in the region to find a percentage that was 1 or 2 stars. We should add at this juncture that this does not mean that all hotels are rated badly, and Siesta Key, like other cities have many amazing hotels – this is just an average. Still, it is troubling, considering the volume of reviews for many of these cities.
No smoking signs are gaining traction in many hotels across the country. “Over the years, hotels have had to adapt their smoking policies just like bars, restaurants, and office buildings,” says Javier Rosenberg, president of the Americas for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which includes the Radisson brand. Guests often don’t want to risk the smell and damage left behind by smoking, even when they might be smokers. It is, therefore, no surprise that smoking topped the list of negative comments left for hotels in the recent compilation of feedback.
Housekeeping oversights and repercussions take up several spots on the list. For Siesta Key, maybe heading out to the beautiful beaches and not expecting the indoors to be the highlight of your trip could be the best option. Bed bugs, rude staff, no toilet paper, and such woes are high on the list of growing traveler complaints in the master list of issues.
Siesta Beach boasts over two hundred and fifty places for accommodating your next vacation or guests visiting you. Be sure to check the individual reviews carefully and dig in to find the right hotel for your needs. Reviews can be the bane of a hotel’s existence, but they should be a great rule of thumb for all travelers to research.
Of course, the hope is that the hotels continue to learn from the reviews and improve as time passes. Covid had a terrible impact on staffing and retaining good personnel in many places; hospitality hit the hardest in the Suncoast area, second only to food services. Hopefully, we will see continued improvements in the coming years, and rankings will only go down on the worst lists and up on the best places to visit.
Feature Photo Courtesy of Deposit Photos