The Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel

Our family fell in love with this affordable resort! We loved that our room was only a few from beautiful Lido beach which made the trip so much more relaxing. The beach side pools were a wonderful addition to the beach. The hotel room and some of the exterior was "dated" but the staff keep it very clean. We also all noted that the staff were very friendly! We will definitely return!!!

We were there 6-13 to 6-15, 2 adults, and 2 children. We had a corner gulf view room #371, 2 excellent views from the front and the side. We paid $147.00 per night (great rate). The room was big enough for 4 of us(2 double beds 2 living room chairs with a small coffee table and a small dinette table with 2 chair and a fridge-- no microwave). Very clean! The room a little out-dated (old looking), but everything else at the resort looks pretty nice. (of course is not the Ritz Carlton.) Very close the beach, just few steps (10-15). The service was very good-nice people! The restaurants were good but go to the st. Armands circle (one mile) food is excellent. For breakfast, go to the blue dolphin cafe- outstanding breakfast. We had a great vacation at the Helmsley.

Let me say I was a little bit nervous when I booked this hotel. I prefer to stay in the Hilton hotels, but when I was looking for a hotel on the beach for Memorial Day weekend I found this hotel at a really good price on a travel website. I went ahead and booked it with the idea of it only being 1 hour from home and we could always leave if we needed to. We arrived and when we checked in we were told that we were put in a courtyard view room instead of the pool side room that we requested. I was not very happy, but when we arrived at our bottom floor room with a really nice patio I was so greatful. The courtyard rooms are really nice because they have patios. The pool can get loud at night so courtyard is to me the way to go, unless you want to pay the extra money for the Gulf view rooms. The furniture was not fancy nor was the room, but it was one of the cleanest rooms I have ever been in. The beach was absolutely beautiful and the two large pools were really nice. The beach towels that are supplied are not very big so we took two towels for each person, it really beat having to bring all of our own beach towels. The hotel also supplies beach chairs for free and you can rent an umbrella for $10 per day. The hotel is a little over a mile from St. Armand's Circle and the hotel supplies transportation to and from the circle, it was really nice because parking can get difficult. This hotel is one of the few "Old Florida Hotels" left. Nothing fancy, but very enjoyable. The only bad thing we found was the rooms that are on the "North side". These rooms literally face the parking garage and all you see are the cars when you open your door. There is no way to even get sunlight in the room. I would not stay in one of those rooms no matter how much I saved! This hotel and Lido beach are the best untold secret out there! My husband, my one year old, and myself had a wonderful time. We will definately return this summer.

It is a great place with great service.

Great Location - On the Beach. I went to Florida for a wedding and the bride's mother booked a few rooms for out of town guests. The location was great. The hotel offers two pools, a restaurant and it's located right on a beautiful sandy beach. When I arrived it was during a full moon and because I was three hours ahead (coming from California) I went out to the beach and I was the only person around. It felt like I was on an island by myself. The hotel is also right next door to the Ritz Carlton making it even more fun!