Hotel Effie Sandestin

Beautiful hotel, terrible front desk staff. This is a BEAUTIFUL hotel! The lobby and rooms are wonderful. The non-valet parking is fairly sparse and a bit of a walk, but we always found a spot. We had both in room dining and ate in the restaurant and weren’t very impressed by either. We did eat at the Henderson one evening and the food and service there were excellent! The rooftop pool and bar at Hotel Effie are very nice and add to the premium feel of the property. The spa services were top notch. The front desk staff are very rude, act as though they are the guests at this premium hotel, rather than servicing people’s needs and were generally aggravating and non helpful. There were unauthorized bar charges on my bill and when I asked the front desk to research, the tall female staffer with a foreign accent who “assisted” me made me feel as though I were lying until she finally apologized and credited the charges back. I was so insulted that I asked to speak to a manager and she stated the managers weren’t available. We loved our stay there, but won’t be back due to the staff’s attitude and terrible customer service.

Somewhat surprised by some of the less than stellar reviews of this property - our experience was great overall (perhaps there have been some changes). Checked in on 12/29 for the New Year's weekend, and left on 01/01/2024. Fernanda checked us in (and also happened to help check us out), and she was wonderful! Very friendly and accommodating, and answered all of my questions (and there were many) thoroughly. She was knowledgeable and made sure everything, including our resort credits was applied correctly and accurately without any issues. The resort itself was also very nice. We got a great deal on our room rates and received upgraded rooms with tons of space and wonderful views. We were able to catch some of the fireworks/drone show on New Year's Eve from our rooms. The amenities across the board were great. The Effie offered daily cookies in the lobby at 5 pm, which were delicious, we took advantage of all the fun things to do in the Village (road bikes around the entire neighborhood and to the beachside facing the gulf), played tennis, and a bunch more. We went out to the village to watch the New Years countdown and the fireworks/drones in person, which was fantastic. Super up-close, and quite well done. The food at Ovide was wonderful, though there were a few meals wherein they were missing a lot of food options/ingredients, and the food was sometimes inconsistent (we ate there several times, and there were instances when the pancakes were served without any toppings (which was rectified once we brought it to their attention), orders of the same dish had vastly differing amounts of food (french toast was served with 4 pieces sometimes, 6 in others, with like a handful of banana slices and a tiny bit of syrup, versus completely drenched and completely loaded with bananas; side orders of fruit had varying number of pieces/varieties, etc.). Nonetheless, the food itself was delicious, and our server on 2 occasions, David, was incredibly friendly and kind as well. Despite the inconsistencies, it was a good experience overall. Our New Years holiday weekend at the Effie (and first in the Sandestin area) was a blast overall. Thank you for hosting our family :)

Overall beautiful hotel and staff. Only knock is that the ladies that cleaned our room leave napkins after we ate on the table and the table was not wiped so it still had coffee and food stains when we got back to the room. Not a big deal we cleaned it ourselves. Again would have been 5 stars but the high standards with everything else we just thought the cleaning crew should have had the same high standard as expected. Overall we would stay there again.

Wonderful stay at the Effie! Elizabeth was fantastic and super helpful with all out questions. Shout out to miles who gave us assistance with the room tablet and our bags. High quality staff experience. The room was well appointed and the roof top bar/pool was great way to end the day. Had breakfast in hotel which was a bit pricy but great! Would love to stay again!

Wonderful stay! We loved this property! Everything was immaculate and everyone we encountered was very welcoming and friendly. When we arrived , the young lady Tanesha was very kind and attentive. It was my husband’s birthday and when we returned to the hotel, she had a bottle of wine placed in our room. Going above and beyond is an understatement. Although we didn’t utilize the valet parking, the gentleman’s always engaged in conversation with us! So kind. We will definitely be back soon!!

Beautiful hotel, terrible front desk staff. This is a BEAUTIFUL hotel! The lobby and rooms are wonderful. The non-valet parking is fairly sparse and a bit of a walk, but we always found a spot. We had both in room dining and ate in the restaurant and weren’t very impressed by either. We did eat at the Henderson one evening and the food and service there were excellent! The rooftop pool and bar at Hotel Effie are very nice and add to the premium feel of the property. The spa services were top notch. The front desk staff are very rude, act as though they are the guests at this premium hotel, rather than servicing people’s needs and were generally aggravating and non helpful. There were unauthorized bar charges on my bill and when I asked the front desk to research, the tall female staffer with a foreign accent who “assisted” me made me feel as though I were lying until she finally apologized and credited the charges back. I was so insulted that I asked to speak to a manager and she stated the managers weren’t available. We loved our stay there, but won’t be back due to the staff’s attitude and terrible customer service.

Overall beautiful hotel and staff. Only knock is that the ladies that cleaned our room leave napkins after we ate on the table and the table was not wiped so it still had coffee and food stains when we got back to the room. Not a big deal we cleaned it ourselves. Again would have been 5 stars but the high standards with everything else we just thought the cleaning crew should have had the same high standard as expected. Overall we would stay there again.