Based on the good reviews we took a chance on the ...

Based on the good reviews we took a chance on the DiamondHead. We had our son and his friend with us - both 17 yrs. From the beginning we realized it wasn't what we expected. My list of pros & cons is below. The main issue was realized upon check out on Feb 27th, 2020 after we left the hotel and went to our next destination on Sanibel. I quickly realized that I'd left my engagement ring, cosmetic jewelry (which was in a box) and face lotion tucked in the back of the top left bathroom vanity drawer. I immediately called the hotel and someone said they'd look into it. They called back Friday and said that housekeeping hadn't "found" it. This left us very upset. My husband decided to go back to the hotel to fill out an incident report and to get with the hotel's insurance. I truly believed that the ring & other items would be placed with the management and we'd get an immediate call, but that didn't happen. It's now been 6 days since they went missing and we're working with the management to find them. Heather has been very supportive. I don't want to file with the police or go through insurance filings, but that may have to happen. I'd like to know if anyone else might have had a similar experience?

I would have given this hotel a 1 rating but because the staff was very nice, I gave them extra point. However the cons outweigh the pluses for our family.

Pros:
- Staff was friendly from check in to check out and calls to housekeeping were promptly responded to.
- Close to the Times Square with lots of food choices. Walking or biking to places is the only way to get around, so you stay fit. *See traffic issues under Cons below.
- Hotel "wrist bands" got us into our rooms and allowed us use of facilities.
- Cell phone service/wifi was good.
- Large Screened Balcony overlooked the pool with a little bit of ocean view, but that was a great room asset!

Cons:
- Traffic! I've never seen this kind of bottleneck on vacation. The locals all say it's normal to wait 2 hrs to get out? Just for that I wouldn't stay near Fort Myers Beach this time of year. My husband and I went to Publix (sound on Estaro about 1.5 miles). It took us almost 2 hrs to get back! This needs to change.
- All items were ala carte... chairs were $15/day per person; umbrellas were additional for 2 people.
- Bar restaurant food wasn't that great (fried foods were better than the grilled); drinks were good but quite expensive - except at happy hours.
- Pool chairs were always filled - very tight quarters; the 1 pool was quite small for the hotel and was filled body to body most of the time except for after dark and very early am; same with the 2 small hot tubs; these hot tubs were right out in the middle of the pool area, not isolated in a corner area like most hotels.
- Happy hour crowd - we like a couple drinks during vacation, but the atmosphere at this hotel was a "spring break like crowd of over 55's". Happy hours are promoted at most hotels from 2-6 weekdays so many take advantage of hopping around. Not that the people weren't nice, all were very friendly, but most were very tipsy by 5pm. Our boys found this humorous, but it got old quickly for us since that wasn't our main reason for being on vacation.
- The weather wasn't cooperating and hotel had very little to offer. The strong winds caused issues with getting out on any craft or boat or flotation device, so we had to find other ways to keep our teens busy. Since the hotel doesn't offer activities we had a hard time finding things to keep our teens occupied. We played some volleyball, but there wasn't anyone there to organize games so that became boring quickly. At other "resorts" we've been to we were offered other activities.
- Pull out sofa bed was very uncomfortable. Asked for extra mattress and that helped a bit.
- Workout room was tiny and had a terrible view of the roof top and another building.
- No hooks for towels! No bathroom fan!
- Hallways looked dismal like a grey cement parking garage.