There are two separate things that this review covers – the Costa Hollywood Beach Resort itself -- and Stay Sol, the property management company that owns the unit we stayed in, which is #405 North Tower.
THE RESORT: This was a last-minute plan to get away for a week and there are certain things we wanted, such as a patio with an ocean view and a pool, being within walking distance to things because my son and I wouldn’t have access to a car during the day, and conveniences like a kitchen with a good-sized fridge and microwave. This property checked all of those boxes. It is a lovely, clean, new feeling resort. In the future when we have more time to plan, we would probably trade the space, newness and luxury feel for something a little smaller and less expensive that includes things I actually need when I’m traveling over 1000 miles from home (like fresh towels, trash bags and a broom to sweep up the sand that inevitably gets tracked into a beach condo).
As far as the resort itself, the staff, etc., we had very little interaction. We had no housekeeping services (more on that a little further down). There is a huge, beautiful rooftop pool and hot tub area with a bar and grill. Again, we would prefer something smaller and homier where staff isn’t policing guests for the beverages they are holding in their hand because they didn’t buy them at the bar. The “no outside food and beverage” policy seems to be selectively and inconsistently enforced, and also wasn’t something we were aware of when we booked the property. One day guests are being closely scrutinized and the next day people are wheeling coolers across the pool deck and no one is bothering them. The bar and grille is pretty expensive and I ended up paying 40 bucks for an order of wings and a mixed drink. I was dumb enough to ask the bartender what the total on the bill was because I didn’t have my reading glasses on and he neglected to inform me that the gratuity was included. Live and learn.
Parking – The fee is $35 per day. It is valet parking. I personally have a fundamental problem with feeling forced to hand someone cash for the privilege of accessing my car that I’m already paying a hefty daily rate to park. Some valets seem to not expect a tip and take off quickly and others linger.
STAY SOL: We would not rent from this company again. The morning after we checked in, we noticed we only had one chair on our patio when everyone else had at least 2. There were 3 of us staying there. The photo in the Airbnb listing had 2 chairs. We wanted our second chair. We asked at the desk and they said because the unit was a “privately owned residence” we had to deal with the owner. Now mind you Stay Sol is a property management company with 150 listings on Airbnb. They are large enough to have their own vans, which are parked in the area frequently and for long periods of time. So, this is not just one individual private owner who happens to be a cheapskate. My husband reached out via email to ask about the chair and the fact that we did not know when or how we were going to get more towels over and above the 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels and bathmat that were in the bathroom when we checked in.
At that point we were informed that because this was a “privately owned residence”, linen service is not included. This really needs to be made crystal clear to people flying here from long distances, especially because there is no access to laundry facilities on site. They do say “no essentials” which I interpreted to mean no shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet paper, etc. – so I brought those things. But there are plenty of things here that aren’t essentials – like a cabinet full of dishes and coffee mugs. We easily could have bought disposable. There’s a dishwasher but they only provide one packet of dishwasher detergent so unless you go out and buy more you are hand washing dishes anyway (there is a small bottle of dish soap). The person my husband was dealing with from Stay Sol via text said they would provide another set of towels as a courtesy. That never happened and no one ever addressed the issue of our missing patio chair. So basically, Stay Sol provides ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE. We were fine with no housekeeping and handling our own trash – as a matter of fact, we prefer that. However, since one inevitably tracks sand in from the beach, it would make a lot of sense for Stay Sol to provide a broom and dustpan. And we did bring beach towels, so we survived. However, when you consider we paid over $3000 for seven nights including the daily rate, a $25 per night resort fee, the parking fee and a $50 one-time registration fee, the fact that fresh towels can’t be provided at that price at least every other day is a little ridiculous.