The Henderson, A Salamander Beach Resort and Spa Review

Beautiful place to get away to, love the tub but bed was too soft for me. Staff was friendly and very helpful. Food was delicious, Chef Gary, duck was the best bite , easily on my top five

This place is beautiful, and very close to the beach. Very nice to visit or plan an event.

Beautiful rooms and right on the state park. Highly recommended. Hosted our conference there. Food outstanding!

It is a good place and all but they have hidden fees they charge you for self parking and they charge you 29 $ for room service even thought they don t even clean but overall they have good customer service and good food.

Gorgeous property in Destin, Florida. Rooms are wonderful, complete with master bath, separate shower and soaking tub. Patios have great outdoor furniture. Lovely pool with outdoor bar. Private beach access less than a minute walk.

Celebrated our 30th anniversary in December 2017 at this beautiful A+ property. From the moment we arrived we felt like family. We stayed in a king room overlooking the pool and view of the ocean. Absolutely stunning views.
I would like to thank Nicole, Me Lanie, Dottie, Tommy, and Margarita and for their beautiful smiles, pleasing personalities and offering suggestions for us to make our 30th anniversary a memorable experience .
I highly recommend the Salamander spa. It is a gorgeous spa that offers all you would ever ask for. You will not be disappointed - I suggest any or all - facial , couples massage, manicure , and pedicure - awesome service from the front desk to any service you chose to receive ! I would also like to recommend eating at the Henderson Beachwalk Cafe - exquisite dinner !
My husband and I were blessed to be able to share our 30th at the Henderson Salamander Beach And Spa Resort. We will be back hopefully sooner than later !!!!

Great comfortable rooms, nice resort. Desk staff were very knowledgeable and helpful.

Absolutely beautiful place! We went here for a ball and the grounds are maintained very well with a great atmosphere. Only recommendation is to have more parking spots offered.

It's very upsetting when you pay over $300 a night and you can't use the hot tub and a hamburger costs $21. Absolutely not worth the money!!! What am I paying for???

Beautiful resort. Courteous and accommodating staff. Loved it here

The location is perfect. Real close to water. Private location. Not juyst anyone can get in.

What a beautiful resort. The banquet rooms were very,nice

My family and I love the Henderson beach resort . This newly built resort is amazing . It backs up right next to a beautiful state park and has an incredible view. We can t wait for next time !

Where to start. We booked this trip through a Amex as a 5 star preferred hotel. When we arrived our room was not yet ready (two hours after check in) so they put us in a different room. The room was tiny! We stayed in the main hotel so i think most of these 5 stars are other rooms on property. Also when we arrived to room it was not clean! Sand all over bathroom and bathroom rug and also the shower had clump sand in it. In the rooms there is nowhere to put your clothes so we lived out of suitcases for a week. We decided to utilize the balcony for wagon and sandy items however we must have been under the bar because it smelled of cigarette smoke 24/7 so our ocean view balcony was ruined :( there should be a no smoking policy for sure. I will say the staff is mostly international students and they were a joy to get to know and so kind-they were the positive of our experience for sure! As far as eating at the resort goes, it s very over priced and not quick service at all. Over all the hotel felt understaffed and over booked. For a 5 star luxury hotel i don t see at all how they have that rating. Maybe it was a fluke during our stay but even the quality of the amenities were lacking. We loved that every day at 1 pm they offered crafts for the kids on the lawn but be prepared, you pay extra for everything. For paying $500 a night to stay, i totally expected little things like they to be included. Also found it strange that the lazy river didn t have any type of floats-maybe it s a Texas thing but totally expected floats. I hate to leave bad reviews but i wish i would ve known ahead of time so we could have stayed elsewhere.

This hotel is amazing from the best custom service the best pools clean rooms the people parking your car we had 0 problems and I think it is amazing and you should try it so if you think it is overpriced trust me it isint and I hopefully will come again :)

Great white sand beaches and emerald green Gulf water. Feels tranquil and unspoiled but just off the Highway. Sites are wide and deep with plenty of foliage for privacy. Bathrooms are the best we have used, clean, hot water and space. Easy use dump.

My family and I stayed here for the first time during Spring Break and were blown away. The service is truly 5 stars and the staff are wonderful. As a treat we ordered room service and it was so nice. The pool is great as is the pool side bar/food station. Truthfully, it was a little intimidating because it is an upscale resort but neither the staff nor patrons are snotty. The only critique I have is the all extra charges for valet parking (a must because self-parking is at the bottom of a rather large hill). Even still, I gave the resort 5 stars because the valet is worth it. Will definitely stay here again and recommend it to friends and family.

Great! Lazy river so warm and fun for whole family.

Nice and clean. Very professional. I would definitely recommend this place to everyone.

Beautiful new resort, pool is great for kids. Staff is kind and seems to want to help but there is obviously some major communication problems between guest services and housekeeping. After multiple requests over a few hours for pull out couch linen(over booked double queen room booked) we had to go find a house keeper and get them myself.
We have stayed several times because our kid love the pool and beach is phenomenal, right next to state park.
Only problem with this place is housekeeping never seems to get our requests for service even after being away from room for hours and being promised it will be taken care of by front desk.
Seems like not enough staff and a computer/messaging system that either is not being checked or no one is trained to use.

Overall great resort but had to give 3 stars due to cost of rooms one would expect to have better quality of service. Hopefully they get the issues worked out as we really enjoy the place just the housekeeping needs improvement.

Not to say the room wasn't clean when we got there, it was very clean when we arrived. They just couldn't seem to get it cleaned even when we were out most of the day(9am-2pm and then 330-7pm for dinner).
Even would give them a call each time letting them know we would be out for a few hours.

Based on my experiences I don't think housekeeping was getting our messages.

Add some more staff and improve training they should be able to provide a 5 star experience no problem. The resort itself is excellent.

Amazing, so much better than I expected defidently reccomend. Also great for the price.

Wonderful resort. Beautiful resort. Very nice staff. Very family friendly. Great rooms and lobby. Not too many people. Great pools and beach access. Highly recommend

Love love love the Spa. Yesterday was my husband and I s 5 year wedding Anniversary and my husband is deployed so he ended up setting up this surprise for me through our friends so I wouldn t piece anything together. Everyone was so nice but I did feel a little pushed off and not really noticed or as catered to since I wasn t the one paying because again this was a surprise my husband set up but that s ok it didn t fully ruin my my experience and I still plan to come back just won t celebrate anything here. The Lounge Room is incredibly relaxing and peaceful. Unfortunately since my friend and I are both pregnant and both in-between our 1 and 2 Trimester we were limited in what we could enjoy. So we just relaxed and both had mains and pedis. And we both can t wait to come back we definitely want to get massages next time.

Really great facility, grounds and location. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. The food we had was delicious and we enjoyed nice bartending as well.

Beautiful hotel and excellent service, nearby beach and restaurant inside.

We got a call from a GM who gave us a free night credit based on previous review and concern @ the checkout. She asked us to come back to earn our business again. We did, we went in June. It was perfect. We found out from a staff member that the Elevator had broken over Labor Day weekend (we checked out on Sept 2) last year so it made us laugh at that thought that we might have heard the problem starting. Anyways, I was glad for the opportunity to stay again and had a very enjoyable time. They had waiters at the pool this time which was delightful and they are offering late night meals which are DELICIOUS. We also ate dinner on site - please do this. Its fantastic and one of a kind. Honestly this is a hotel that once you check in all amenities are there. You really don't have to leave if you don't want to.

Previous review from Sept 2019:
When we checked in I paid for a KING bedroom. I was placed in a double queen bed room, which I immediately requested to be moved from. Took 2 hours for them to move me to the right style room. We called at around 4:30 pm to let them know there was a strange double knocking noise because we were trying to take a nap and just could NOT do it. We stayed in room 343. It is the first room in the hallway just right of the elevator on the third floor. Well they let Engineering know who came up while we were at dinner. He came up again at 9:30 pm to help us with our A/C unit because it wasn't working either and was sending an error message. (the error message was a no connection to wifi - was not the problem, but there were no directions on how to properly set the thermostat). While the Engineer is there he tells us that he thinks the noise is coming from the duct work or the elevator. Which, we already KNEW. The noise had stopped and so we assumed it was fixed.
Until....
it is 8:04 in the morning and we awake to a thud noise, followed by another thud noise, and another. Consistent, non stopping. We put pillows over our heads in hope to get some continued sleep, can still hear it. Every time the elevator passes the third floor it created this thud, it is the elevator shaft and it is so loud that it echoed through the walls into our room. We hardly slept. We were bitter because of it, I know. I looked at reviews to find out we were not the only ones complaining about this. Google and Expedia has customers that state they have heard this noise from the elevator ballast going up and down constantly. The noise is likely heavier concentrated during check in + check out times which is why we didn't hear it anymore at nearly 10 pm at night...
But the cherry on top of the cake was when I told the manager for the day Nicole Panzica and she seemed to think I was fabricating the fact that I didn't get any sleep because of the stupid elevator. Of course she was not aware of us calling that morning at 8 am and speaking to Nicole about the noise

One of the most nicest resorts my husband and I have stayed at. We randomly searched a resort at Destin and this one was beautiful! The water is so clean and emerald. It is a private beach so its practically empty when we went in November. Clean resort and very relaxing!

Enjoyed our 2nd stay here for another bday of mines. I love the beach and pool.

Fabulous spot to get away , the staff could not have been nicer.

Arrived at this beautiful resort just for the day. I was making a professional stop on my way to Texas from Miami. The staff were very helpful, and my room was spotless. I have no complaints, hopefully I can stop here for an extended vacation next time.

Beautiful hotel and the outside areas are so relaxing.

Everything was amazing!!!!!! We had such a great view and it was just

Awesome place. Clean. Courteous staff.
Great location. Walking distance to stores etc. Lots of fun on the beach activities.

Customer service was five star. Facility was super clean and beautiful. Could not expect any better than what we experienced

Second stay, great room and service! Beach amenities are fantastic.

Sadly, we were disappointed. Our AC and shower did not work. Our room was not serviced multiple days. Due to COVID we were told that towels and trash only would be serviced daily unless otherwise instructed. Even that was not taken care of daily. We opted for a resort instead of an Air BNB because room cleaning is important. We asked for the room to be cleaned twice, it took a third day of asking before the room was cleaned once.

The Henderson is simply amazing!! It is the real deal, perfect in every way. I had one of the best facials I ve ever had in my whole life at the Salamander Spa (the Essential Balancing Facial I believe it was called). Also the Thursday night happy hour is really great, which is located in the lounge which - of course - is also beautiful and cozy.
Both pools are the best pools and patios in Destin!! LOVE. There is also a lazy river, pool bar and poolside service?! Yes, please!
So many cute little spots within the resort...like the rooftop terrace (photo below) and the ice cream parlor!
The Henderson Beach Resort is a local GEM!

We were here three days wasn t bad but to many kids,you have to pay 45 dollars a day to use chairs on beach,restaurant is average. Service was awsome very friendly and kind people but don t think we would come back pool way to busy both pools. If you have children great place

Location was easily accessible. It was very well decorated for the holidays. The spread was really good they had a nice selection of many different types of food for our dinner event. The bathrooms were impeccably clean. And the drink service was very quick. Overall fantastic venue.

Nice hotel in the beach front resort of Destin. Rooms are clean and well appointed.
Bar staff are knowledgeable and friendly, my favourite was the lady who had her toenail removed and still turned up for work. Now that is teamwork, dedication and love for the job.
Bar food is good quality and very tasty. IPA is good too.

I want to start this review by saying the property is very nice and supremely well decorated. The front desk staff and valets were a dream. However, there were a couple things that I did not love about this stay. First, we were put in a handicap accessible room, despite no one in our party being handicapped. This has happened to me before and it's been ok, however, the shower in this room was terrible. Water went all over the floor outside of the shower and you had to awkwardly stand in the corner to be able to be under the shower head. Second, the staff at the pool bar were not very friendly and did not seem super experienced. We frequently waited a long time to get drinks with the staff either appearing very flustered or seeming very flippant towards us. The bar was also out of key ingredients for some cocktails. Overall, I would return to the Henderson again, as the property is beautiful, they just didn't hit on some details that I would expect for a resort at that price point.

We came last year and sadly, there is a difference in staff, housekeeping, ease of getting water and food, and much more due to COVID, I'm guessing. The staff does not seem very trained, lots of miscommunication and housekeeping always had to be called in order for us to get towels, trash taken out, and new sheets. The pool waiters were very few and far between. No water available or towels for the adult pool and the ambiance was just much cheaper. You are charged for every little thing even though I paid $4000 dollars for my vacation. You'd think some things would be included staying at a "resort". Also, the concierge was not very friendly and the service was all together disappointing compared to the year before.

Republicans of Okaloosa met here for Jeff Hinkle to jumpstart his campaign. Ritzy place.

The Henderson was a great getaway for my family. We really enjoyed the private beach access, the friendly staff, and the many accommodations provided. From now on when my family and I come to Destin, this is where we are going to stay. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation spot.

Great place for corporate meetings. Staff was friendly and quick to help!

Beautiful hotel. Rooms are wonderful. Everyone that works there is helpful and polite. Great wedding venue.

Stay 2 nights in Destin as part of our Louisiana / Florida road trip. The beach is beautiful and easily accessible from the hotel, but the pool is also worth it with a lazy river. The service is excellent and the rooms very comfortable, in short everything is for a relaxing and enjoyable stay.