Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina
Marina Standard Guestroom - 2 Doubles
I arrived to the property and found my way to the room. MrsWT73 had checked in the night before and was already settled in her assigned room. The photos are from the next morning and from throughout the stay. It is situated right near the draw bridge of one of the entrances to the Fort Lauderdale inlets which presented a great opportunity to get some photos from the bridge.
The initial arrival is good as it can get for a hotel that appears to be 30 – 40 years old. The hotel had a small but compact lobby that always had people in it.
First the good: The property is situated right on the canal waterways of Fort Lauderdale. This means that depending on your room assignment, you may get the opportunity of seeing some terrific hardware (yachts!) floating right outside your room. There is water on two sides of this hotel so there is great opportunity to get some water views in. Overall, this was probably the most impressive feature of the hotel.
There was also a pool with occasional morning sun. Unfortunately, there is no real view from the pool, other than that of the towers themselves.
The property is pretty well maintained. It’s definitely an older four star property that’s had several updates over the years. The property has several low rise (3-4 story) buildings they call villas (everyone else would call them wings) that surround an outdoor pool, centered with a 6 story tower that is the newer part of the facility. The property has had mixed reviews on Trip Advisor, but I think if you’re coming to Fort Lauderdale and spending $300 a night on a hotel room on water, instead of a $450 on a beach, then you need to adjust the expectations slightly. There is no way anyone should confuse this with a resort property. It’s a waterfront property with access to a pool.
Our smaller than average, but consistent with the era, double bed room assignment had a great view of various things floating by. My apologies on the mess, but MrsWT73 won’t take the DSLR with the gigantic lens to take photos prior to messing up the room. LOL.
The bad: there isn’t much around this property if you have a car. While there is a Chipotle, an Bayoni Italian restaurant and the Boatyard restaurant about a 7-10 minute walk by foot from the property, I can’t imagine many guests that are of the hotels’ target audience actually walking the distance. There is a Walgreen’s Pharmacy across the street from this complex.
MrsWT73 wasn’t too impressed with this place. I won't share the wording here, but needless to say it wasn't up to her usual high standards. All in all, it was a nice introduction to Florida with better things to come.