Need help with resort recommendations in Sanibel
 

Planning a trip with my husband to Sanibel in March, 2007. We have never been there. We are looking at the following choices: Sanibel Inn, Song of the Sea, Seaside Inn. Are these located on the beach? Would you recommend one over the others or any other choices for small upscale hotels?

We love staying at Pointe Santo de Sanibel (aka Premier Properties). Right on the beach, nice pool, rooms with balconies overlooking the beach. We love it & return over & over again.

Is this resort family-friendly? We will be visiting this area in November with a 4 and 2 year old.

We see alot of families there (young & old). The pool & beach is great.(Not to mention the tons of seashells) There is a hot tub. They have childrens' recreational activities, but there is not a daycare/babysitting service. It is a beautiful place.

janeikins,

We have been to Sanible many times but have never been to the resorts you have listed but I believe they are all nice properties. I don't think I have read any poor reviews on them.
I just wanted to add my 2 cents about Pointe Santo for what it's worth. We have stayed at Pointe Santo, once last year. It is a nice property and the condo unit we had was beautiful. It faced the ocean and had wrap around views of the beach. We too rented from Premier Properties but you can rent condos from direct owners. There were a few things we were not happy with at Pointe Santo. The pool is extremely small for the size of the complex. The pool will be crowded. The other issue we had about the pool was that is closes twice a day for an hour for adult only swim. When we went last year I believe it closed at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. We have kids and this was a huge downer for them. For what we paid to stay there I was a little put off by that. Our last issue with Pointe Santo was the childrens club. That was a joke. The woman who was running that was so unquailified to was comical. Hopefully they have someone new.
That said, Sanibel is our favorite place to vacation. Our favorite place to stay is Casa Ybel. We have also had friends stat at Sundial on Sanibel and South Seas on Captiva and loved those places as well.

I would not characterize any of the hotels you mention as upscale. Prices are high on Sanibel but there are no really luxurious or even "upscale" hotels. Sanibel is for relaxing and not giving a damn about "upscale". Many love it and almost as many hate it. Put me in the love category as I moved to the area because of the island and its ambiance. LMF

There is a forum on TripAdvisor dedicated to questions on Sanibel. You may want to post there also

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...d_Florida.html

I see from your other posts that you only want to stay 3 nights on Sanibel. The Pointe Santo de Sanibel mentioned above is a condo complex which may require a 7 night stay, esp. in March which is high season, so these may not work for you. I agree with the above poster that there are not a lot of upscale hotels on Sanibel, there are in fact not a lot of hotels at all, there are however many condos, most of which rent by the week. The only hotel I know of the three you mention is the Sanibel Inn, which is next door to a condo complex in which my parents have had a condo for many years. The hotel is on the beach, and the public areas are nice, I would not call it upscale or boutique and have not seen the rooms in about 15 years so can't really give a comment on them at all. They have a very good restaurant. The beach is very pretty. The hotel is located near the causeway entrance which IMO is a plus as you don't have a long drive to and from the airport when you arrive and leave. The hotel is a short drive or easy bike ride to some good shopping and restaurants and down to the lighthouse at the end of Sanibel. It is a longish drive out to Captiva, but certainly doable for day of shopping or for dinner in the evening.

Have you look at tripadvisor.com for reviews of the three hotels? I find that t be a useful source.

IF you want an upscale hotel, you may want to look at Naples and consider the Ritz-Carlton.