Ramada Plaza Beach Resort & Destin West Vacations Review

We have stayed here for almost 10 years. Love the penthouses with the hot tubs. We usually stay in Oct and it's perfect time for a hot tub at night.

I love the location and the place. The only downfall is in October they are still not heating the pools except for one at Ramada Inn. That means you have a very limited number of options unless you want to be very cold. It's unfortunate for the kids. Other than that, we love it! Hang a left when you get onto the beach, and set up shop at Beasley Park. Way less crowded, and it's an open beach to the public.

We love this place! So many pools and hot tubs and the lazy river

When leaving the hotel I left one of my drawers of clothes in the room. The hotel called and said the housekeeper found my clothes and would send them back to me. When I received my clothing it had clearly been picked over. I had several items missing ie; all of my undergarments (very disturbing), athleta work out clothes, nice tank tops to go to dinner, all missing.

I have called the Destin West daily inquiring about my missing items. They have been completely unresponsive. Every time I call they say something else will call me back by a different name and they will recheck the room. I've never once received a call back.

I absolutely would not stay at this resort. Clearly a housekeeper or whomever put the clothes into a bag for sending went through my drawer of personal belongings.

More importantly, the hotel has shown zero interest to try and help the situation or offer any concession. It is very upsetting hotel management would not take something like an employee stealing personal items more serious. I would not recommend this resort to anyone.

Found spiders in rooms, room needs repairs. Doors are broken, bath/shower drains are plugged. Room was not clean. Service at front desk was terrible. They were very rude to us.

We had a wonderful vacation here ! And planning another one as we speak !

Lots of dead fish on the beach. It was nice but I'm not coming back because of that.

Great place to vacation. Lots of stuff for kids and adults

Our vacation was amazing here in Ft. Walton Beach thanks to Destin West Vacations! Their service was amazing and we were very happy with our apartment!

Destin West Rv Park is great. Can use all amenities of The Island Resort. The Island Resort has food but only sandwich type meals. No French fries because on deep fryer.

SO many things for the family to do so many places to see. I loved it. Best vacation ever.

I do not recommend staying here unless you want a headache. My wife stayed with 2 guests recently and had a horrible experience. 1) the room was not clean. 2) sometime after checking in they noticed marker writing on wall. It didn t register with my wife that it should be reported like a hole in the wall or something physical beyond touch up paint. The spot in the wall had been attempted to be cleaned giving them the impression that it was in the process of being worked on. So while on road home they get a call stating we were going to be paying $250 for the writing on the wall and that we signed saying no damage when we checked in. The management has 0 interest in applying common sense to a situation and understanding this may not be appropriate to hang a signature on a guest who has no little kids that would write on the wall. Even enough common sense to compromise and say you know, you did sign this but we can see that you don t have a guest that would do this and can understand that you may not think touch up painting would need to be reported how about we reduce the fee to 1/2 of the $250. Not this bunch, you signed it, we got you.

Additionally, still renting the condo out, who else are they gonna stick with $250? So if everyone else is booked and this is your only option, assume nothing and and call in everything you see.

Will update this review if they decide to exercise some common sense and understanding for their customer.

Room is very nice and spacious. Love the large balcony (corner condo). Being condo's the amenities are more up to the owners than the complex so ymmv. Lazy river and pool areas are perfect for the kids (4 and 8). Beach access is alright depending on where your room is but it's doable. Would recommend and I would stay here again .

Great place to vacation. We were in one of the gulf side condos. Views were great and rooms were nice. Plenty of swimming amenities for young kids to enjoy. Only downside is the day of check-in and having to wait on your room. They didn't call me until 6:00 when we were out to eat at supper. That's 8 hours they had time to clean our room. Definitely need more house cleaning staff to better that process. Other than that, great place.

We had a great time. Amenities were great for the kids and adults. Long walk to the beach from the bay side but they make it easy.

We stayed in 507 managed by a lady named Tina at sugar sands vacation rentals. EDIT->Check out my full review on Airbnb and see the managers response to my honest review. In short I was called a liar BUT my pictures below say otherwise! (((507 Destin W-Gulf Front- Beach Ser- Lazy River) <-EDIT
The location is great and the shared amenities are a bonus HOWEVER this place is clearly being ran down and some NOT ALL owners are keeping up with maintenance! Our room was musky and there was a huge area of mold around the bathroom ceiling vent. The carpet was crunchy and it smelled of mildew strongly! Even the showers had mold all up in the grout!! These owners need to realize people are paying for vacation not to deal with their lack of attention.
It took the manager 4 hours to get back to me on the matter and then played it off like I was crazy because I think the property has mold and they clean their carpets regularly. No maam! I can see and smell the mold in here! I was refunded the full amount thanks to the travel app I booked through! I d avoid all properties unless stated that they are newly renovated AND I d take all positive reviews on travels apps (Airbnb) lightly because most people are just being nice even if their trip was horrible. Future renters don t like renting to people that have left low ratings in fear that they too might get a low rate. Also, hosts that suck can rate you badly and call you a lair (in attempt to restore their listing) if there is ever a problem and it stays on your profile for further host to see. All I can say is look up every property on every site you can to see if it s really legit. If you do check out my full review on Airbnb take note of all of the previous reviews. Surely, I wasnt the only one that noticed this unit was due for maintenance. According to Tina all of the damage was a beachy stress look.

Just ok. Lacking on site food options ( none at all). Pool beachside is very basic and laid back. No music, wifi, entertainment, etc. Units to stay in are nice but a lot of money for not much extra around this 'resort.'

Beautiful atmosphere and the perfect location for a vacation.
Love it!!

We have been coming here for around 5 years and have enjoyed it. My 1 star is because of how bad it is getting at night around the lazy river. Too many disrespectful teens. My 5 year old daughter was almost hit in the head twice by a football. A lazy river is not supposed to be a sports plex.

Spacious rooms, lazy river, multiple pools, beach access, pedestrian bridge to cross from Bayside to beachside.

Our recent stay at the Destin West property was great.....relaxing and accommodating. We will certainly plan to return.

Lazy river, mutiple pools, private beach access, great views.

Room cleanliness was very low. Had black feet from just walking in the room and some of the furniture was damaged in the balcony. Would not return without asking for current pictures of the apartment

Loved the views, great location with a lot less traffic then what we ran into in Destin. Walk to the Beach from the bay side was a bit far, but the lazy rivers and pools were a plus. The resteraunt nextdoor was a disappointment, overpriced and super greasy.

The lazy river is the longest on the gulf coast. The complex is huge with condos and pools on both the bay and ocean side. Centrally located on okaloosa island etween Destin and Fort Walton Beach. it's just a 10 minute drive to Destin to the east or fort Walton to the west with plenty of restaurants.

Let me just start by saying I called and reserved my honeymoon and spoke with them about my wedding in June. The wedding was on Oct 7th. We paid for a penthouse and got the honeymoon package for 6 nights. Alot of my friends and family also More

Good value, great location and overall nice place to stay

Great vacation!! The lazy river, pools, & beach were excellent!! The condo was comfortable for 6 people! Just one suggestion... needs a larger coffee pot! I enjoyed sitting outside on the balcony in the mornings drinking coffee & looking out at the bay & lazy river. Excellent vacation spot!

The good points and bad points:

Upside - Great layout of amenities on the bay side. Lazy river and pools are well maintained, and the landscaping is gorgeous.

Downside - for three years, our room was not ready until after 6:00PM on our day of arrival. Also, when we finally get our room, the cleaning was obviously rushed and half done. We end up cleaning up ourselves.

Also, the neighboring condo group has placed no trespassing signs just to the right of the beach access. To the left, the lifeguard umbrellas are lined up for hundreds of yards in a dense line, so if we want to use your own chairs and actually see the water, you must walk down to the beach in front of the Ramada.

This has nothing to do with the resort, but as an additional FYI - The surf on this area of Oakaloosa Island is a smelly brew of june grass between June and October.

Overall, it was a good stay. We were disappointed that our check-in time of 4:00 wasn't an option because our room wasn't ready, so we had to sit in our car until it became ready. Another issue we had was not being allowed to use our own floats in the pool. My five year old was playing on her turtle float, and a lady made us take it from her because it "wasn't allowed"...that was annoying. Other than those two things, it was great.

We had a blast on the lazy river and floating in the pool. And the view of the bay from our balcony was beautiful.

Check in is easy but parking and finding your room is a hassle. We stayed in pelican. The room was very clean and spacious with a view of the pool and beach. The room also came with beach chair service. I recommended getting a room with chair service if your a beach person. The chairs are first come first serve and people are there at 8 am to claim theirs. I also love the lazy river pool. That was my favorite place to be. The atmosphere is great.

We have gone back the last 6 years and have enjoyed it every year! The only hiccup we ran in to (which is not their fault) was the company responsible for chairs and umbrellas (La dolce) did not follow protocol for first come first serve. It appears that people were reserving and/or paying the employees to reserve spots in the morning. Really unfair considering we got to the beach at 8:45 to get our spot. Other than that, the place is amazing and we will continue to go back every year!

Nice condo, enjoyed the lazy river. Definitely worth visiting again.

Love the condos. Easy access to beaches, shops and food. Best vacation ever!

I liked the place it was so clean and so nice everything was so pretty and everyone was really nice I enjoyed this place and I recommend you staying here to

Beach access has gotten out of hand. Have stayed here for the last 5-6 years in a row and never seen it so hard to find a place to put chairs/blankets out near the shore because the beach chair vendor had the entire coast line filled with empty chairs. Went to the front desk to ask what the deal was with all the signs on the beach and they said they didn't know anything about it. Hard to believe seeing how with a little googling a found several news stories on Destin news sites. Wish I knew this before I booked the vacation. Also worth mentioning, we went during the off season so I can't imagine what it's like during the middle of the summer. Boat slip prices are crazy considering there were only three boats tied up the whole week. Why not drop the price some and get more business. Pools, gym, elevators, room, etc. were clean as usual. Pretty sure my family will try another resort next trip.

Love this place, my new favorite vacation destination

This is our annual Beach vacation place. We usually get one of the large corner units in Osprey on the bay side. These easily accommodate two large families. There is a sky bridge connecting the two resorts, their swimming pools, and providing access to the beach. Plenty of aquatic options for the kids to take advantage of.

Lovely apartments! Large and spacious and well located

There were a few issues with the condo 603 Osprey that we rented on 7/22/17-7/29/17.There weren't as many beds as promised and a broken sofa bed that management did try to resolve.The problem that I had was the ceiling in the bathroom of our bedroom fell exposing mold.When I went to the office to report the incident and my concern about the exposed mold the manager rudely said I had a better chance of getting bit by a shark than getting sick from the mold in our room.He was wrong because I suffered the worst asthma attack . Which ruined the last 2 days of vacation fun with my grandson.I told them about my stay on their website.I didn't even get an apology.

Stayed at Destin West bayside. Room 306 pelican. Nice overall. Some outdated fixtures in the bathrooms. Wifi provided but slow speed. Small washer and dryer in the room. One bathroom with standing shower and the other has a standard tub shower. Easy access to the pool and lazy river but a 20 minute walk via the sky bridge to the beach.

If you are a non smoker don t expect to be able to
Enjoy your time out on your balcony without smelling someone else s cigarette smoke. We are in a non smoking unit but the people below us diagonally smoke all day long. I have bad reactions to cigarette smoke and I have a 2 month old baby. So we can t even have the balcony doors open. We won t be staying here again...

Have stayed here numerous times. It is a great place to stay! Lazy river and pools bayside, fishing from the peir, a sky bridge to the beach is awesome so no worries about busy highway! Beautiful beach veiws! Condos are always nice and the workers are all genuinely nice and helpful!

Property is beautiful and located in a great location close to watersport rentals, pier, shopping, and restaurants. Unit itself, Heron PH #4, is an amazing unit. Very roomy, comfortable beds, beautiful view, private hot tub. Lazy River was close and pools were clean and very nice. The only reason I am not giving this property 5 stars is the slow response to maintenance request. I emailed Mala the contact on the business card we received upon check in on a Tuesday morning to let her know that our outside lights were out, and the a/c in the master bedroom did not appear to work. I got no response. So I called at 5pm, when we arrived back to our unit and also added to that service request that the microwave went out. She said they wouldn t get to it until tomorrow morning as maintenance had left for the day. The next day, maintenance didn t show up until 1pm and did not know anything about the microwave. He wrote down the model of the microwave and said he would get back to us about it. As 5pm approached, I called the front desk who knew nothing about the microwave, although I had emailed once, called once and spoke directly to maintenance. I had to email the owner directly who got the ball rolling apparently. The microwave was finally replaced Thursday evening, 2 days later. This was after Labor Day weekend, so not many guests were there when I called. I would understand if it was very busy, but it was a ghost town on Tuesday after Labor Day. Not sure what happened here it seems not characteristic for this property as everything else was amazing at this property. We would definitely come back again I think this was a one off fluke.

My experience here was awful. The doors would not open, there was mold everywhere, my younger sister had an allergic reaction, a complete disappointment and a rip-off. We contacted the office to check out the mold, no body from the staff came after they endured they had sent someone. We waited 20 minutes. We walked in and walked right out.

My stay was wonderful. Everything was great in our condo. My family really enjoyed themselves.

This place was nasty. We booked for 3 nights and it was dirty. The bed squeaked every time you moved, the furniture was old and broken, the refrigerator made a horrible noise every night about 2:30 for about an hour that would wake you from a dead sleep.
The towels under the sink were wet upon arriving. The wall next to shower had been wet and was beginning to mold.
Upon arriving and opening the front door, it was falling off of the hinges and had to tighten back up with a butter knife.
Great access to the beach, the only positive thing to say about this resort. Paid a lot money to go in July the prime time and will never stay there again.

Destin west vacay was great! my family really enjoyed the condo which was a pent house, the only dissapointment was that the hot tub was not working and the microwave though they gave us another microwave and refunded hot tub cleaning fee. We Enjoyed the lazy river and off course the white sand at the beach. Will definately return.

Great price for the time I went. Very good location. Only problem is not all pools are heated like they advertise. Only one or two are.

Lazy river was the BEST! Rent an umbrella for the beach for the best experience. Unfortunately the walk is long and good health is necessary to get to and from the beach

I've gone here since I was five. The rooms are always beautifully decorated! This place has an overall safe and fun atmosphere.

In the words of my 7 year old son "Mommy, This was the Best Vacation Ever"!!!!!

We love going here!! It s great for kids!! The condo Pelican 407 could have used some up dating and cleaning... we only had 4 towels, 2 in each bathroom, we went to the office and they did provide a garbage sack full!! the patio could have used a washing!! Our feet turned black and the table for dinner was not very sturdy! The tv cabinet would not stay open without proving it open...
The kids loved the lazy river and the beach was a walk but well worth it!! We will be back but will be a little picky on the rooms

The grounds are not kept up well on the beach side condos. Also I had someone throwing ice at me from the 6th floor even though I was just sitting quietly by the hot tub mind my own business. Kind of strange. Mostly a low rating because the place needs new paint and is not being kept up.

Great customer service and prices, you wont regret spending whatever free time you have here.

Helpful staff, lobby area is under construction but the pool areas are nice

Love this place & can't wait to enjoy it for the second time soon!

Excellent. Volleyball tournament for the weekend and great location

Have been going to this location for many years with my family of four and have been very happy with everything for the most part. This is the first time renting from destin west vacation rentals. It was nice except the floors were so dirty I had to wear something on my feet to keep the from turning black. There were no extra blankets for beds. No extras of anything. The beach chair rental situation has become worse and worse over past few years. Now if you don t pay $25-$35 dollars for a chair you are forced to not sit close to water or have to walk a good ways to be next to water if you can find a place. The bubbles on hot tubs haven t worked in years. I will keep going back again unless it just gets worse or they do not improve some of the things I mentioned.

Nice location, easy access to the beach (overpass bridge), not too crowded (early May). Clean and relatively quiet. Stayed on the second floor with direct access to the pool and lazy river, which was convenient.

Love this facility and stay every year here, primarily on the bayside. Love the lazy river, although this year was way busier and more hectic than normal during this time of year (I guess due to Covid.)

Balcony and amenities are great! Villas and condos are very spacious and gulf a bay views from nearly any room. We love coming back year after year.

I went to Destin with my family for a vacation! It was good at first, the rooms were great and the pool/beach was awesome. But, I have many complaints. First, when we checked in the lady was not very informative and had an attitude. We were so excited to be here but her attitude ruined the first few seconds we got there after a long trip. She didn't tell us how to get to the beach, where our room was, what building we were in, if there were any activities, how to get to the pool, rules, parking, etc. She gave us a booklet and just let us go. We were left in the dust. We found our room and building ON OUR OWN. We got settled, and headed immediately for the beach. Only thing was, we had no clue how to get there. We had to ask many different guests for the location. Finally we headed over the bridge WITH THE DIRECTIONS OF OTHER GUESTS and made it to the beach. We assumed we would have seating from the hotel. Obviously we were wrong. You had to RESERVE seating. It is $39 for one set up of two chairs and an umbrella. Ridiculous. After a couple days of just sitting in ones unreserved, we were asked to buy them or else. Mind you, I have a family of 7. This $39 price is for one day. After a couple days of being at the beach and learning ON OUR OWN we went out to eat. As we were walking around and getting some food, we saw all these activities to do that none of us knew about. With 5 children, this would've been helpful to know. I never leave reviews like this but we paid good money for this trip. I think we are all fed up.

Stayed in sandpiper 407 for 7 days! While the grounds and pool are nice the condo was awful! We had no TV in the living room for 3 days, black mold on the ceiling in the master bathroom, the beds were horribly uncomfortable. My daughter had to sleep on a pallet in the floor because the sofa bed they advertised for was bent so bad the bars were in her back. Sad my sisters stayed in a different condo and paid the same amount as us and it was perfect! Never again Sandpiper 407!!!

Its a great vacation spot, the beach is gorgeous!! Very nice place to sleep while on a Florida trip.

Great place for a family vacation. Excellent facilities and the kids loved the pools. Well, so will the adults. Easy walk to the beach too.

The room was first class. Beautiful view from the balconies. The staff and owner are very friendly. Good atmosphere. The rooms were VERY clean. We could not have stayed at a better place. We will definitely be back!!!

Our family has stayed with Destin West for almost two decades. The convenience of the resort and it's amenities are what keep us coming. Our room had spectacular views of the bay to include the sunrise and sunset.

However, this last trip has us looking at the surrounding resorts. Destin West is starting to show it's age. Our room was somewhat grimy. There was mold growing around one of the vents. More mold around the corners of the walls and ceiling. Our nightstand lamps had stains on the shades. There was quite a lot of dust in common areas such as dressers and nightstands. With COVID around, this is not something you want to see.

The lazy river was quite dirty every day, even with regular cleaning. There are lots of broken tiles, mildew, and mold around the buildings and common areas. The elevators were filthy with no ventilation.

We still love Destin West but we may think twice before staying here again.

Room was huge, clean, beaches were beautiful couldn't have asked for mor

We had a wonderful stay. Thanks to the owners for a well furnished and lovely condo #504. The facility was great. We had a bay view and lazy river view. Could not have ask for a better vacation

Very nice
Bad area

The best part about this place were the amenities. Access to the other pool areas was great and the swim up grotto bar was amazing. My only complaints was the fact that there was no parking. We had 2 vehicles.with 2 parking passes and I had to park next door and risk getting my car towed. If you stay here you need to make sure your car is parked by 6 o'clock or you will have to do the same.

Great location and in close proximity to some great restaurants and attractions. Some condos are nicer than others, so find out what you're getting

We had an amazing time. The loved the new up dates! Already planning for next year!

Awesome vacation at an awesome resort. Loved the beach access and ammenities. We had 3 generations there on vacation and there was something for everyone! We stayed 6 nights and seven days without issue and will return soon!!!

Great condo, great staff, love the lazy river but love the groto pool next door (included) even better.

Awesome Condos. Nice set of pools. Love the lazy river. Easy beach access. Clean and well maintained. Definitely will return.

I went here with my buddy to hang out with a few other friends and basically all we did was play some beach volleyball and it was fun and I had a good time

I really really enjoyed myself and would go back again and again!!!

Great location and friendly staff. I would stay here again.