Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach

Giving 2 stars as the location is superb, Great beach real estate. Building: run down. Rooms, shabby, frayed and stained carpet, peeling wallpaper, cracked and peeling tub. Hard beds. Resort charge: 25$. Includes beach chairs. Also includes newspapers to yr room daily which you might get if you are on the first floor. In our case, not enough papers both days, per staff "they shorted us". Internet: Be prepared to turn off pop-up blocker if on, as this is an older internet connection. Be prepared to figure it out yourself. Room service: OK. Housecleaning: No safe keys for either safe. Coffee: Very small one cup coffee maker. Restaurant: Good, actually. Visited in May, place covered and I mean covered w lovebugs. Bugs, not people. We had to cover our faces to run to the car. Our door was swarmed. Our car was covered. I understand that there's not much you can do when these lovebugs swarm in May and September, but perhaps a warning, or acknowledgment by staff, or someone coming through every hour to sweep them off the walls? I wonder what other hotels/motels do? Read less

1- It was built in 1953. 2. It appears that the last "re-decorating" was some time in early 1980. 3. Yes, the property is old and showing her age. Now that I've got that out of the way.... If you're the type of person who moves and cleans behind you refrigerator twice a month, this isn't the hotel for you. However, if you like GREAT service, good food, heated pools, large CLEAN rooms, well made cocktails, an attentive beach staff and probably the best beach front hotel accommodations in Sarasota then the Sandcastle is for you. We stayed in room #229. The balcony is huge and comfortable. The suite was large and had a fold out queen size bed. The bedroom was quite large with a very comfortable mattress and pillows. And the bathroom - my 6'8" son took 2 baths in the largest bathtub he has very seen. The room was very clean. Yes, the outside of the from door had 2 small rust spots. And for all you compulsively "neat freaks" l did find a spot of corrosion on the inside lower corner of the master bathroom door! Ha, ha - the place is not perfect. But I will tell you this, our room sparkled it was so clean. I didn't edit any of the photos with this review. It's simply that clean. To repeat, every one on site was so nice. Paula and Missy at the pool bar were awesome. Missy even chose our "filet mignon" lunch special. It was frankly better than any steak you would find on St. Armand's Circle. My Parisienne breakfast was just as good. I'm not a buffet guy so I can attest that the dishes we ordered off the menu were as food as any of the local "off property restaurants". Dare I say, surprisingly good! The entire pool and beach were attentive and eager to please. Jhonnanie (apologies for butchering the name) and the rest of the beach staff were more than happy to move chairs, set up umbrellas and get additional towels as needed. Both pools were clean and warm. Touches like: umbrellas, beach and pool towels, chilled bottles of water and toys/games included with your stay harken back to the days of "getting more than expected". Hats off to Salina (the front desk manager) who could not have made us feel anymore welcome when we arrived. Her and her staff genuinely made us feel welcomed and made certain we attended too. If you want a pocket book friendly resort that puts you steps from the Gulf of Mexcio and has enough amenities that you can stay on property the whole time, then this place is for you. My family and i loved it. Read less

Front desk and restaurant staff were great. Pool and beach were clean and nice. Unfortunately, the hotel is being torn down next year so they are NOT doing any repairs. Stairs and steps are disgusting. Elevators are smelly, dirty and scary. Rooms were clean but very old. Location is right on the beach. Parking is free but there is a $25 a day resort fee. They have a free shuttle to St. Armand's Circle. Great restaurants. No convenience stores for miles. Buy anything you might need before you get there. Read less

We stayed here 2 nights for a class reunion, which we had also done 2 years ago. There has been more deterioration since 2017. I’ve heard this place will not be remodeled as it would be too costly...oh dear. Our room sure needed some TLC. The pool is large and nice and the food good. The beach area is nice also. Staff are friendly. Check out took a bit as the internet was down which is the same thing we were told 2 years ago. I’m not sure it ever works properly. Oh well....we managed to have a good time and there is a hotel shuttle to take folks to St Armand’s Circle. Read less