Hammock Beach Resort

For a place that bills itself as oh so posh - its not. When I found out it was a Salamander resort I had high expectations. I remember when Shelia Johnson the first one in Middleburg VA and there was so much buzz about attention to detail and perfection. Except for the ocean itself(and the guys there that oversaw the towels & umbrellas there, they were great), I saw little of that. For instance: Left to our own devices to find our room which was supposed to be an upgraded ocean view. Well, you could see a bit of the ocean if you went on the ocean and peered around other building but view? No. There was a definite moldy smell in the hallway outside our room. And a plant in a plastic cleaning bucket in front of the door of the room two doors down. No convenient place to charge phones Safe not functional No full length mirror in the room No nightlight in bathroom No bath mats in bathroom Hair dryer had seen better days and could barely get my very short pixie cut dry Weedwhacking & leafblowing at 8:30am Rotted wood under the refrigerator in the room No ice in room and no indication of how to acquire any No go cups in the room so no way to make a cup of coffee to take to the beach to watch the sunrise Cheap plastic cups AND cheaper plastic utensils at the pool restaurant. I mean fast food cheap. Chik-Fil-A has better quality utensils. Not enough staff anywhere. Staff at pool more interested in playing with each other in a closet type room than greeting guests and giving them towels and those tacky wristbands we had to wear. Woman at front desk who checked us in didn’t know who Shelia Johnson is - despite the fact that her name is plastered all over marketing materials in the room. Required to wear paper wristbands in the pool area Only 3 bath towels in the room, and housekeeping never brought the extras we called and asked for. “Sprayer” not working in middle of retention pond outside of our room. So it really looked like what it was - a murky pond surrounded by weeds with a non-functioning fountain. All of this the second week in September when the place was all but empty. Read less

Okay so I had high expectations of this place. We love close and know quite a few people who have vacationed here, so we booked our anniversary getaway. Upon check in we went all the way to our room only to find the keys they had just given us didn’t work so we had to walk all the way back with our infant and 7 year old to stand back in a long line just to get ew keys. We went straight to the pool to get lunch ( the burger was the best part of the trip) since our bags weren’t there when we got up. We went back to the room after two hours and our luggage still was not there! I had to call the front desk and tell them I had a starving 9 month baby that needed her food! I will say the grounds are absolutely beautiful and the pool/ slide fun. But customer service is lacking. They talk to you as if they are doing you a favor. They can’t be bothered. The room service pizza we order wasn’t great. But The bed was one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in. The decor is extremely old and in need of a serious makeover. I was underwhelmed overall. Read less

If you live in Central Florida and are looking for a beach resort within driving distance, this is a great spot. I’ve been to this location on a family trip as well as on a nice, romantic getaway. The staff have always been pleasant and friendly. There is a nice private section of the beach where they have designated chairs and umbrellas. The pool area is decent with a small, lazy river and slide. My main recommendation would be for them to be better about having rooms available at checkin time as both times my room availability was quite delayed. Read less