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Reviewed 17 April 2010

We had a wonderful time at Bungalow Beach Resort!

What a great location! Amazing view! We loved watching the sunsets, pelicans and dolphins right out our door. We loved our bungalow, #101, right on the beach. The room was perfect for my wife, eight- year-old daughter and myself. The people working there were very friendly, and we had such a good time, we plan to return next year. My wife and I were both celebrating our 50th birthdays with our daughter the end of March 2010 and we had a great time.

We have traveled a great deal and vacationed on three different continents - North America, South America, and Europe. This was one of our best vacations. I have read some recent negative reviews about BBR, and I do not agree. Bungalow Beach Resort is not like staying at a brand new five star resort; if that is what you are looking for this may not be for you. There is no daily maid service and the amenities are not five star. We had to get use to the sand and some of the other quirks of staying on the beach in an older resort, but that was part of the fun. The charm, location, and staff are wonderful.

We loved the character and charm of this resort built in the 1930’s. We liked walking down the beach to restaurants, shelling, watching dolphins, and pelicans. We liked parasailing for the first time, and all the other activities and attractions in the area. Be sure to eat at Starfish Company off the Cortez Bridge for great fresh seafood - get there and get in line before they are open; it is very popular.

Again, thank you Bungalow Beach Resort. We will be back!

Date of stay: March 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled with family
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Thank Sissebagamah
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 15 April 2010

I will preface by saying the weather was extremely chilly and windy during our stay, so that's likely dragging down this review. Anna Maria Island is quaint and beautiful. The sand is powdery white -- the water aqua blue. We were looking at the location because it was recommended by a dear friend and ultimately choose Bungalow Beach Resort after Trip Advisor rated it one of the 10 Most Romantic in the world. Wow! This place must be fabulous.

The place is charming, but tiny. The motel is situated on a busy bend in the road. The rooms appear much more spacious online, but in reality appliances are mini in size. We had to turn on the heater, which was a window unit. It was really very loud, which made nights a bit sleepless. We traveled with our toddler, which I would not recommend at this location, especially in a studio room (especially when they "forgot" to get a crib). Again, the cool weather and high winds left us with little to do. The pool was too chilly to enjoy and tiny, but cute. The shower was super small and that made it hard to get the wee one cleaned up. Also, you clean your own room and make the beds, which was a bit of a surprise.

So, I hate to be a sour puss, but this place is only makes sense if the weather is great and if you travel without little ones (or if you go for a larger room, which were $360+ a night). If we go back to Anna Maria, we will for sure rent a home on the beach with a pool/hot tub. This way if the weather is cool, we can enjoy the view, cook and play inside in a more comfortable setting.

Highlights: Ginny & Jane's for breakfast and Beach Bistro -- pricey, but topnotch service. The Sandbar is on a beautiful location. The food's fine. Had we not nearly been blown off by the wind on the Rod & Reel Pier, that was adorable too!

Date of stay: March 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled with family
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1  Thank FayhooFam
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 14 April 2010

We arrived in a steady rain. With our unit keys #114 in hand and luggage we struggled to enter as the key would not take until forced was applied. Little did we know what lied ahead. Not good. Here's a list of items missing in our tiny unit: Dining table, chairs, corkscrew, juice glass, water glass, ice trays, teaspoon, dish drainer. Items defective: paper towel holder, sink plug, faucet (NOTE: these three gave out within five minutes!). Other observations: Mold on sliding doors, no screen on sliding doors, a lovely basket on bed contained an empty grocery plastic bag, beach-side trash container remained full until day we left (six days later), restroom at pool was filthy and also had excrement on seat. Day after arrival, we presented the missing items list to the general manager and they delivered. Following day, we again came to the office to report towel holder, sink plug and faucet. With the GM sitting up front, the Owner "Gayle Luper" appeared from the side. Luper took over heard our remarkscomplaints and immediately became confrontational and over-bearing. Never an apology. She took offense at my description of her towel holder coming from "the Dollar Store". She refuted everthing we said. We told her she had taken the joy out of our being there. It was a very heated exchange. After a turn we simply walked out. NEVER AGAIN.

Date of stay: April 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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4  Thank mayoui
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BungalowBeachResort, Manager at Bungalow Beach Resort, responded to this reviewResponded 27 April 2010

When these guests checked in, they immediately came to the office with a list of “problems” (including no deck off of their room to sit on).They also complained that there were no ice trays…I explained to them that we had an industrial ice machine inside the pool gates and that he had an ice bucket in his room with a liner. We do not use ice trays for sanitary purposes. (who knows what the guests before put in the trays, or if they washed their hands and also they break after a short time and leak water into the freezers) We immediately retrieved all of these items and moved a table and chairs from another unit into their unit. They also said that there was a plastic bag in the wicker basket…it was funny seeing as they bought groceries from Publix and the same bags that they had their groceries in matched the bag in the basket. There was definitely no bag in the basket prior to their arrival! Joann (our housekeeper) has been with us for 10 years…and would never leave such a thing. They came to the office again approx. 2 hours later still complaining that they had no deck to sit on and asked “why we couldn’t build one for them to sit on”. Which obviously was not an option. They told me that the sink stopper was broken into 3 pieces and that the paper towel holder was loose and that the lock key hole was “sticky” to the front door making it hard to turn the key to unlock the door. We immediately had Santana (our maintenance man) fix the key hole and tighten up the paper towel holder. The sink stopper was not broken at all! They came to the office approx. 6 times over a 24 hour period asking that we fix the above things…which we did (short of building a new deck). The last time they came into the office, I handed a note to Gayle (the owner) asking her to please help me. They were becoming very rude to me and calling our hotel cheap and cheesy and that obviously we bought everything from the dollar store. Gayle then switched seats with me and began talking to them. He began raising his voice and verbally attacking Gayle about the issues. Not once, did Gayle raise her voice to him. She informed him that she very much so takes pride in Bungalow Beach Resort and assured him that nothing came from the dollar store (seeing as he was insistent on telling her so). Gayle offered to find another hotel for him and refund his money. He said no that he didn’t want to leave but did want a refund of his entire stay. If they hated it here that bad…why did they want to stay? They also mentioned on Trip advisor about housekeeping. Why did they leave Joann a tip then? He said that his travel agent booked the room and that they had a choice of renting a larger room for more money or the smallest for the cheapest rent. He chose the smaller room to save money. I (Cory) informed him that everything about #114 is listed on our website, no surprises! He also told me that they just came from a cruise. From day one, he told me that he planned to write a terrible review on Trip Advisor regardless of what we did for them. The staff actually bent over backwards to accommodate them. He complained that there was mold on the sliding glass doors…when Joann and I walked over to clean the doors…there was absolutely no mold to be found. He also said that Gayle was confrontational and never apologized. Totally untrue! She apologized that they seemed to be having a rough time and again offered to find them another hotel to stay at and give them a refund. And again…they wanted a refund…but also did not want to leave. In my opinion: nothing we could have done would make these people happy. They absolutely continued to verbally abuse Gayle and the cuss words were completely unnecessary coming from his mouth. In 10 years, I have never heard Gayle raise her voice or become confrontational with anyone. It’s a shame that someone can leave a review on Trip Advisor and be 90% untruthful. We strive to make each individual happy and to make their stay with us relaxing and enjoyable.

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Reviewed 24 March 2010

This property could be so much more with some renovations and updating. The location is ideal and the beach pristine. We had been to Anna Maria Island a few times before and love it but this was our first time at BBR. The rooms are quite small and I don't believe any of the bungalows are completely detached. Adjacent room and in-room noise can be an issue (not much sound barrier for either). I knew our unit (114) would be small and I can live with that, but the lack of size would be more tollerable with an updated design with features like a wall mounted TV and more counter space. And I have to agree with some reviews that complained about cleanliness. The bottom line - for the rates BBR is charging, they need to renovate.

Date of stay: March 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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Thank Ron H
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 17 March 2010

My principal complaint with Bungalow Beach is that they advertise (and we found them) on bedandbreakfast.com when they are NOT a bed and breakfast (no breakfast). On that website they also say that they accept bedandbreakfast.com gift certificates (they do not) and that they have Wi-Fi (which is only available if you sit outside by the pool). What is worse is that they said in an e-mail that they would accept our gift certificate, subsequently charged our creedit card for the entire amount, and ignored three e-mails and two phone calls from me asking them to use the gift certificate as they had agreed. When we checked in, they informed us that that “Bungalow Beach is not a B&B,” they don’t serve breakfast, and they don’t accept the gift certificates. Also, they don’t respond to e-mails, since their computer “is not working right” (it worked fine to respond to my reservation and to check us in) and “it takes 30 minutes to send an e-mail.” Obviously they never responded because we would have cancelled the reservation...
Beyond these problems, the place is just OK. The location, right on the beach, is great, but the bathroom fixtures are grungy, and there is no service to speak of--little things like no sugar or sweetener for the coffeemaker, etc.
Before making a reservation at this place, I strongly urge everyone to read the terrible and poor reviews on this website so you know what you're getting into. Luckily, ours was only a one-night stay,

Date of stay: March 2010
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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1  Thank JustUsAlexandriaVA
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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